My starting summon is a small skeleton
Chapter 453: 450 Truth

Chapter 453: 450 Truth

Underground Palace, in front of the Mysterious Altar.

Tie Xiong retrieved the fragments from Zhang and Zhao and placed them on the altar, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“That should be about it; now only the pieces on Lu Wu should be left.”

“Is that so? Well, I’m about to deliver them to you now!”

As soon as Lu Wu’s voice fell, Tie Xiong’s expression changed. He subconsciously wanted to do something but was a step too late as a terrifying power hit him.

Tie Xiong was sent flying.

And just as his body was lifted into the air, several forces struck him simultaneously.

One after another, longswords appeared, easily piercing through his body and nailing Tie Xiong to the altar.

An ambush, executed beautifully, a must-kill strike.

However, just as Lu Wu had pierced and nailed Tie Xiong onto the altar, he immediately sensed that something was off.

Too weak!

The power Tie Xiong displayed was just too weak.

Not to mention the fragment that Tie Xiong had mastered, his power at Epic 3 stars alone should not have made him as weak as he appeared.

After all, at this moment, Lu Wu had only unleashed power equivalent to that of Epic 3 stars.

So, Lu Wu instinctively felt that there was a problem.

And in the moment Lu Wu’s eyebrows furrowed, Tie Xiong in front of him lifted his head and gave him a faint smile, “You don’t need to wonder, there is a problem.”

The next moment, Lu Wu felt a power within him beginning to awaken.

It was as if someone was about to wake up from inside his body.

Lu Wu’s face immediately darkened.

How many times had this happened?

Including this time, this should be the third time someone was trying to awaken from within his body, right?

Why, one after another, did they all wish to come out from his body?

What did this mean?

Did his body seem like a place anyone could just come and go as they pleased?

What angered Lu Wu even more was that he already had a vague guess about who was appearing in his body this time.

If nothing unexpected, it should be that leader of the Zero Organization, the one who was said to master everything, the Zeroer.

Lu Wu did not want, nor would he allow, his body to be handed over to him.

So, as that power began to awaken, Lu Wu started to struggle, to suppress that power.

No matter what, he did not want to become a puppet.

At this moment, Lu Wu mobilized almost all the power he could use.

Little Skeleton, Little Golden Dragon, Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword…

The power of the four Summoned Beasts, the Epic Power of All Things, the power from Old Bone that he had obtained not long ago, and the power of the fragments.

Lu Wu mobilized all the power he could.

But the effect of suppressing that power was still unsatisfactory.

Meanwhile, Tie Xiong, who was nailed to the altar like a specimen, looked at the struggling Lu Wu and shook his head, “It’s impossible, don’t struggle, your fate was decided the moment you spoke.

The great lord of Return to Zero spent centuries setting up a grand game, and you are the final piece he needs in this game; you cannot imagine what kind of painstaking efforts the great lord of Return to Zero has made on you.

Your achievements today are one hundred percent attributable to the great lord of Return to Zero, so you absolutely cannot resist him.”

“To hell with ‘impossible’!

I am going to resist just to show you; just you wait, I will definitely twist off that old bastard’s head.”

Lu Wu was furious, further mobilizing his power, gritting his teeth and erupting with all his might, but to no avail.

And while Lu Wu desperately struggled without success, Tie Xiong suddenly asked another question that baffled Lu Wu, “Do you know the real identity of the Zeroer? Do you know your own true identity?”

At this time, all of Lu Wu’s attention was focused on resisting that power; where would he find the time to care about such a nonsensically bizarre question?

Clearly, Tie Xiong knew as well, so after asking, he provided Lu Wu with the answer.

“The Zeroer is your dad!”

“Boom!”

With that calm statement from Tie Xiong, Lu Wu’s mind buzzed, and he involuntarily lifted his head to look at Tie Xiong, “What did you say?”

“I said, the Zeroer is your father, your father is the Zeroer!”

“Impossible!” Lu Wu could hardly imagine this, but Tie Xiong’s words left him at a loss for words.

“Why is it impossible? Be honest, do you really understand your father?”

Yes, does Lu Wu truly understand his father? Understand Lu Haikong?

He had to admit, his knowledge about Lu Haikong was truly limited.

And obviously, Tie Xiong knew much more about Lu Haikong than Lu Wu did.

“Your father is the Zeroer; there’s no doubt about it.

Your life has been arranged from the moment you were born.

Your talents, your friends, the people you love, these were all set from the start.

Even including your pets.

From the first Little Skeleton you summoned, to the Little Golden Dragon given to you by the great lord of Return to Zero, that bird you met at the Sea Suppression Tower, and the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword you obtained in District 11.

All of this has been pre-arranged.”

“Not only were they pre-arranged, but even Cimu Qingzi, Li Kai, Old Bone, and so on.

Do you feel that your life is full of freedom?

In reality, all of that is a sham; every step you take, every deed you do, every person you meet, every moment of emotion and outrage have all been meticulously orchestrated.”

“Everything, simply because the great lord of Return to Zero needs a suitable medium to fuse so many Gate Fragments.

Do you know why you were sent to that Blood-colored Space before?

Because fusing so many Gate Fragments requires two forces, one is the power from Old Bone you just obtained, and the other is from the Holy Angel with whom you have a half-Contract.

You have now completed the life that has been set for you, and it’s time for you to reach your end.”

Having calmly finished, Tie Xiong watched as Lu Wu’s emotions neared the brink of collapse.

Indeed, who wouldn’t fall apart after facing such a situation, finding out that everything experienced was orchestrated by someone?

Naturally, Lu Wu couldn’t take it.

He was thinking.

Desperately thinking of how to refute Tie Xiong’s point of view.

Normally, Lu Wu had an eidetic memory; his mind should have been agile, recalling anything swiftly; finding a reason to refute should have been plausible.

But at this moment, as Lu Wu’s mind started racing, he found he could hardly find any grounds to argue.

The more he thought about it, the more desperate he became, feeling as if it all might actually be true.

He was a character set in place; his life seemed scripted.

However, just when Lu Wu was on the brink of complete despair, he suddenly noticed a blind spot.

“No, how could I forget this? Perhaps Lu Wu’s life was predefined, but I am not the original Lu Wu; I’m a transmigrator, merely an inheritor of Lu Wu’s identity.

His life is false, but I am real!

Yes, and I have my system!”

At that moment, Lu Wu’s eyes lit up.

He sprang into action, no longer restricting that emerging power but throwing himself onto the altar.

More precisely, he dove into the multitude of Gate Fragments.

Harnessing the power of Golden Finger, Lu Wu frantically absorbed all the Gate Fragments atop the altar.

This was the only method Lu Wu could think of, his sole reliance.

At this time, the system proved extraordinarily cooperative, accelerating the absorption of the Gate Fragments.

It took only about ten seconds for the most contact with a Fragment before it was fully absorbed by him.

As Gate Fragment after Gate Fragment was absorbed, Lu Wu felt his power skyrocketing without limit. Terrifying energy surged, and soon his power reached an epic zenith.

Here, besides feeling an unprecedented strength, Lu Wu also sensed the world around him to be incredibly fragile—a fragility that seemed to suggest he could tear it open with just a little effort.

Both intuition and the world’s oppressive forces told Lu Wu to stop getting stronger, warning that something undesirable would happen if he continued.

But at this point, Lu Wu simply couldn’t stop.

The power within him persisted. He hadn’t suppressed it entirely yet; he needed to keep growing stronger.

So Lu Wu continued to devour the Gate Fragments.

As he absorbed the Fragments, the surrounding environment began to sway as if the heavens and earth could no longer contain him.

Just then, the massive Underground Palace started to operate.

The altar started functioning as well.

As the altar whirred, the space around Lu Wu gradually stabilized.

But this was evidently not a good sign; it all appeared to be part of someone else’s plan.

And that plan seemed to include Lu Wu’s ascension in power.

Sure enough, when Lu Wu absorbed the last Fragment, his body underwent a startling transformation.

His hair, his skin, his blood, began to change bit by bit, turning jade-like, shifting toward the unknown.

Simultaneously, an explosive power burst forth from the depths of Lu Wu’s heart. The next moment, his mind went blank, and he stood there motionless, devoid of all consciousness.

Right as Lu Wu stood immobilized, the altar suddenly became active, and numerous chains emerged to fully bind and constrain him.

At this moment, Tie Xiong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Not easy, but it’s finally done!

My task is completed too; now all that’s left is to wait for the Zeroer to return.”

Meanwhile, in another mysterious world.

Lu Haikong opened his eyes, revealing two vastly different expressions and emotions in each.

If Lu Wu were there, he could probably distinguish two different people just by those eyes.

The one on the left belonged to his cheap adoptive father, while the one on the right was the Zeroer whom Lu Wu had never met but heard of countless times.

Tie Xiong’s words to Lu Wu were a mixture of truth and lies.

The reality concerning Lu Wu and Lu Haikong was the same.

In fact, Lu Wu wasn’t targeted from birth; initially, it was Lu Haikong.

Although Lu Haikong was not exactly the Zeroer, the two were somewhat one entity.

Twenty-some years ago, the Zeroer made an attempt.

He tried to combine the Gate.

That attempt nearly cost him his life; in the end, he had to fuse with Lu Haikong to survive.

Subsequently, Lu Haikong embarked on a journey of cheating and began a life entangled with the Zeroer.

The Zeroer, parasitizing Lu Haikong, continued to grow stronger as Lu Haikong did, and by now, he had fully recovered to his peak from two decades ago.

At this time, the very essence of Lu Haikong’s consciousness was being eroded.

Even the last bit of his resistance was extinguished the moment Lu Wu was captured.

Now, by looking into Lu Haikong’s eyes, it was evident that the one on the left, which belonged to Lu Haikong, was slowly being assimilated by the Zeroer.

In fact, this assimilation had started months ago.

It merely accelerated after what had happened with Lu Wu when Lu Haikong’s last hope vanished.

At this rate, within two or three days, Lu Haikong would be completely assimilated by the Zeroer, becoming a part of him.

Then, the Zeroer could return to the Alliance, to the Underground Palace, to meet Lu Wu.

The actual moment Lu Wu became a target was after his transmigration.

For a being of the Zeroer’s caliber, Lu Wu’s transmigration was glaringly obvious.

He keenly sensed the peculiar aura on Lu Wu and even noticed the system in his possession.

The focus was on Lu Wu’s system.

After a few probes, the Zeroer was ecstatic to find that Lu Wu’s system contained the energy he had been longing for—the power to merge the Gate.

So, he began to set his sights on Lu Wu, starting to manipulate him like a chess piece.

Then, as Tie Xiong partially revealed, he guided Lu Wu towards power, creating fortuitous opportunities for him, until he reached a certain level. Then he pushed Pang Duddu into the fray to ignite Lu Wu’s emotions.

His goal was to catalyze Lu Wu’s growth.

Subsequent events unfolded just as he controlled, Lu Wu, after Dudu’s death, began to grow explosively in strength.

Within just over a month, the fruit he had been anticipating ripened.

At this point, the Zeroer began his harvest.

Then there was the issue of Tie Xiong bringing people to siege Changping Secret Realm, pushing Lu Wu deep into the Secret Realm.

After Lu Wu emerged, Tie Xiong appeared promptly, leading Lu Wu to the Underground Palace, all to entice him into absorbing the Gate Fragments.

These Gate Fragments had been tampered with, making them especially easy for Lu Wu to absorb.

From start to finish, it took just a few minutes to resolve the issue.

But while absorption was easy, digestion was not so straightforward; the full force of the power burst forth, turning Lu Wu into jade.

At this time, Lu Wu was practically the Gate.

This was the Zeroer’s grand scheme for Lu Wu—transforming him into a vessel for the Gate, and he had now achieved this goal.

Up next, the Zeroer’s centuries-long plan was on the cusp of becoming reality.