“I killed him, sob, are you satisfied now?”
Luke pulled the trigger without hesitation, letting the roar of the gunshot echo before the statue.
Lynch didn't make a sound; his body suddenly jerked backward from the force, and then he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Luke sobbed, trembling all over as he scooped up the oblivious little Nara and shouted into the void: “Give Clara back to me, give me back the life we had before. I don't want any more changes.”
“Offer the sacrifice upon the altar, and I shall grant you a return to normalcy.” A cold, feminine voice echoed throughout the space. “The god does not break promises, provided you have truly fulfilled my requirements.”
“I, I, I...” Luke was trembling so hard he dared not look at Lynch's corpse. He averted his gaze, grabbed one of the body's hands, and dragged Lynch toward the stone slab.
“Daddy, look.”
The little girl's innocent voice startled Luke, but his movement to look back was only halfway through when a chill hit his stomach; a pointed cane had pierced straight through his body.
It was Lynch's cane.
Lynch pulled the cane out with force, took advantage of the momentum to roll to his feet, and quickly moved to the side, ducking behind the statue.
Of course, Lynch wasn't dead. The moment he realized Luke had murderous intent after saying sorry, Lynch had activated the phase defense in Miss Valente's necklace without hesitation.
And so, Luke's shot had passed through Lynch's head, but it had only passed through a phantom image.
It was just that Luke was too guilty to look, and Lynch didn't want to test whether the gun was accurate and fast within seven paces, so he simply cooperated by trembling all over and falling down.
Luke wasn't a professional, either; he hadn't thought to fire a follow up shot nor had he noticed anything unusual. He had started dragging the corpse directly, and Lynch certainly wasn't going to be polite—he had struck with his cane, showing no mercy.
To commit murder for the sake of fawning and begging was an intolerable humiliation, but injuring someone in self defense was another matter entirely. Lynch did it without any pressure, even in front of the man's daughter.
With a scream, the daughter slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground. Luke clutched his stomach, his expression twisted, but he still tried his best to raise his gun toward Lynch's position.
Suddenly, gunfire erupted and bullets flew wildly. Even the little girl lay on the ground covering her ears, but Lynch had already hidden behind the statue, letting the tall monument provide complete cover.
Phew, that was close. The human heart is truly unfathomable.
Having reached a safe spot, Lynch finally let out a sigh of relief, only then feeling the lingering fear.
He had upheld the respect and kindness for life found in modern civilization, but the other party was not necessarily the same. The ancestors were right: one should not have the intention to harm others, but one must have the vigilance to guard against them.
If it hadn't been for the little girl's words giving him a warning, he might have truly fallen for it. He wondered if the child was truly oblivious or just acting, as she had warned him on both counts.
Ding.
“Come out, hurry up and come out, bang.” The desperate, hoarse shouts of Luke came from across the way. “I can't lose Clara, I want to reclaim the life we had before.”
To hell with you. Your family's lives are lives, but mine is just grass?
“Come out, I beg you, come out.”
Luke knelt on the ground, his voice growing weaker and weaker, while Lynch just watched him coldly, ignoring his final struggles entirely.
Bang. Luke struggled to fire one more shot, and as if remembering something, he grabbed his daughter's hand tightly.
“You said that quota was always reserved.” He seemed to have grabbed a straw of hope, suddenly raising his voice in eager anticipation. “Daughter, my daughter, let her return to the life before. The two of us will give up our quota for her.”
“That is possible, but I said that your family only has one quota—the only one.”
This time, it wasn't the eerie female voice, but a real one. Several people walked over from the edge of the lawn; it was the same monster girl in fancy clothes with the black fan from the beginning.
“I, I, I understand. Remember your promise.”
The dying Luke seemed to understand the subtext of the monster girl, suddenly turning the muzzle of the gun to his own chin. He looked at his daughter one last time and then pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The gunshot rang out, and his head burst like a water melon. Lynch's heart tightened as he peered at the scene of death through a crack in the statue.
The monster girl had already arrived at the front with five men in black. Luke's corpse lay face down on the ground, and little Nara was lying on top of the body crying. The flesh and blood splattered from the corpse landed on the stone slab, but by now, the slab had absorbed it all.
At this moment, the stone slab seemed to have absorbed some kind of power, and several strange patterns suddenly lit up. As these patterns glowed, even the slab turned completely into a phantom image. This made Lynch's eyes widen, his breathing quickening, because he remembered that these patterns were exactly the configuration of the railway network on those mystery documents.
It couldn't be such a coincidence. It had to be here, there was no mistake. It was very likely that jumping into the phantom image would lead him back.
Although he couldn't be one hundred percent certain yet, the possibility was high. Matters had reached this point, so it was necessary to give it a try.
“Clap, clap, clap.” A smattering of applause rang out. All the pursuers faced the direction of the statue, or rather, looked at Lynch behind the statue.
“A nice struggle, outsider. Although you haven't managed to please us yet, the fact that you made it here has already surprised us.”
In front of the stone slab, little Nara had already been seized by several men in black, and the monster girl was standing to the side with a face full of coquettish smiles.
“In consideration of the fact that you've managed to pique our interest, I'll give you one last chance. It's the same request as before: kill this family and end this game. We will let you see the eldest sister and tell you the way home.”
Lynch sighed, walked out from his hiding spot, and approached the monster girl without any defensive stance. Ignoring everyone else, he went straight to Luke's corpse to retrieve his pistol and ammunition.
With a raise of his hand, the muzzle was already pointed at the still struggling Nara.
“Is that how it is?” Lynch held the gun, his feet moving in a leisurely stroll as he slowly paced toward the stone slab, continuing to ask, “But I have a question. You already promised Luke that you would let her return to a normal life. If you make me kill her, what happens to that promise?”
“We never said we would protect her for a lifetime. It is you who kills her, so what does that have to do with us? We certainly haven't broken our promise.” A joyful laugh emanated from behind the monster girl's fan. “We are honest; we never break our promises.”
“Yes, you just lead others into the abyss.” Lynch sneered, instead putting away his gun and mocking them, “You lot, every single word is just playing with human hearts. It seems that this is what gives you the most pleasure. I should have realized this from the experience of this family. Heh, and for me, it's actually the same, isn't it? I've realized it now: from the very beginning, you've been baiting me into killing their family. If I had actually done it, the outcome certainly wouldn't have been as simple as you told me.”
The girl in fancy clothes covered her face with her black fan and chuckled: “Do you think you still have the power to choose, outsider?”
“I do.” Lynch had already paced to the side of the stone slab, his back to it. “What would happen if I took a step backward? Would I go back to my own world?”
The fancy girl's smile stiffened, but she quickly returned to normal. “You can try it and see, outsider. I said from the beginning that you have the power to choose. Very well, the game has reached its end. Now make your own choice: follow our request to end everything, or trust your own judgment and try the unknown result. There is only one chance to choose; once you choose wrong, you will have no chance to regret it.”
“So... if I choose correctly, I'll have a chance to regret it, right.” Lynch suddenly revealed a cold smile, squinting his eyes as he said in a deep voice, “You clearly could have done it yourselves, yet you chose to repeatedly provoke others to take pleasure in it. But do you really think everyone will be fooled like the Luke family? Heh, a choice between life and death? I fear that no matter which one I choose, the end result will be just like the Luke family—being thoroughly toyed to death by you.”
“I have already seen through this tactic of yours—playing with human hearts.”
Rate on N.U.
