Chapter 1023: Eve of Despair

The Silver King’s snap echoed, and a moment later, a figure walked into the room.

The man was draped in a black robe, his palms engraved with mysterious alchemical patterns. He kept his head bowed, his eyes revealing a respectful glow.

"He is..." Looking at this person, Lou Yu felt very familiar.

"A former member of the Witchcraft Association, current leader of the Rat Party, once hailed as the most gifted alchemist... Dulan," the Silver King said leisurely. "My subordinates had dealings with him before and left a mark on him, but he was too good at running away, and it took several days to capture him alive...

I have replaced his memories, and now he is completely under control. With him here, collecting the last two Philosopher’s Stones shouldn't be difficult for you."

Lou Yu glanced at Dulan a few times, then returned to the bench and sat down.

"Is it starting?"

"A few more hours, I suppose..." The Silver King rested his chin on one hand, looking at the deep night outside the window, and slowly raised his other hand, as if to reach through the window and grasp the entire world.

"It is time to change the world."

……

"It’s almost dawn..."

"Hasn't Wu Duo come back yet?"

Fang Liangye stood by the window, looking at the gloom under the deep night, and couldn't help but ask.

"...Not yet," another Rat Party member said, also somewhat hesitant. "Logically, she should have been back by the afternoon... It’s several hours later than expected."

An ominous premonition hung over Fang Liangye’s heart.

At the same time,

A commotion came from outside the warehouse.

"You made us work ourselves to death for three days!! Now our targets are almost finished! Why can't we rest?!! Do you know how many people have died in the factory these past few days?! Do you really have no humanity at all?!!!"

A worker roared angrily at the factory entrance.

The burning torches in the hands of the Fire-Tamperers dispelled the night, revealing his grim, furious face and the bloodless faces of the many workers behind him.

Outside the factory area, white sheets were messily covering bodies. Under each sheet was a worker who had died in the factory. In just a few days, the number of workers had shrunk rapidly, and the remaining workers were almost all sick. They no longer had the strength to speak, only the endless wailing of resentful spirits in the wind.

The Fire-Tamperer said expressionlessly:

"The King ordered you to speed up production for these three days. It’s almost the third day... The targets haven't been met, and no one can rest."

"Open your eyes and look at them! They’re already sick! They’re dying!! We need doctors! We need rest!!"

"The Wuji Domain doesn't have that many doctors... And you don't have time to rest."

The Fire-Tamperer raised his gun, aimed it at the man roaring in anger, and continued, "Seeing as you still have plenty of strength, I won't kill you. Go back and continue production... Otherwise..."

After two days of torture, the number of workers was decreasing rapidly, and there weren't many left who could still produce... At this point, even the Fire-Tamperers didn't dare to kill at will. After all, the more people who died, the fewer people there were to produce.

At this juncture, everyone was crucial.

Looking at the red-rimmed eyes of the crowd, which revealed unwillingness and anger, the lead Fire-Tamperer narrowed his eyes and spoke again:

"There’s one more thing... I know there are still Rat Party members hiding among you. However, don't count on them to save you... Now, they are no different from the real rats in the sewers."

The Fire-Tamperer gave his companion a look, and a woman covered in wounds was dragged up and kicked to the ground in a bedraggled state.

The moment they saw her, the pupils of everyone in the warehouse contracted sharply!

"Wu Duo?!?"

The one covered in wounds was none other than Wu Duo, who was supposed to have gone to find Mr. Fu. She was tied up, seemingly having gone through a battle... She lay on the ground, her gaze inadvertently looking toward the warehouse, then immediately moved away, as if deliberately controlling herself not to pay attention to it.

"Where are your other companions?" The Fire-Tamperer squatted down, pointing his finger at the crowd in the factory area. "Are they among them?"

Wu Duo pursed her lips tightly and said nothing.

"Do you still think someone can save you? Do you know that just yesterday, your leader was captured by the Ruling Proxy? You rats in the sewers have no way out at all. Confess now, and I might consider sparing your life."

Wu Duo stared at him fixedly, with no intention of speaking. The Fire-Tamperer was about to say something when a poisonous insect from nowhere suddenly bit his hand.

The Fire-Tamperer screamed, crushed the insect, and then looked at Wu Duo in a rage:

"Drag her away! Drag her to the clock tower and shoot her!!"

"Then hang her corpse on the clock tower and let those rats in the sewers see what happens when they go against us!!"

Several Fire-Tamperers immediately dragged Wu Duo away toward the end of the abyss-like street.

The Rat Party members in the warehouse had red-rimmed eyes. They immediately wanted to rush out and kill those Fire-Tamperers, but were held back by their companions:

"We can't go out now. Going out now is equivalent to telling the Fire-Tamperers that the workers were hiding us... It will implicate those innocent workers!"

As soon as this was said, everyone froze in place. "Then what do we do?! Watch Wu Duo get captured and shot? She didn't betray us even to her death!"

"If we can't fight here, then we’ll go straight to the clock tower and snatch her back!! There’s still some time before dawn, we’re not without a chance."

"The leader and Wu Duo have both been captured, we have no way out... Screw them!"

“……”

The last few Rat Party members seemed to have given up everything. They waited for the Fire-Tamperers to leave and then rushed out together.

Fang Liangye was about to follow them, but was pushed back:

"Mr. Fang, don't go... Just protect yourself."

At the end of the day, Fang Liangye was just an ordinary person. If a fight really broke out, he would only drag everyone down... Of course, the Rat Party members didn't think from the beginning that they would be able to come back alive this time.

Just as the Fire-Tamperer said, Dulan and Wu Duo were both captured, and the Rat Party was completely finished...

They looked deeply at Fang Liangye and then disappeared into the street without looking back.

Fang Liangye stared blankly at this scene. In a trance, the figure of the young boy running into the rainy night seemed to overlap with everything before him... A familiar sense of powerlessness surged in his heart again.

"Damn it... it’s like this again... it’s like this again!!"

Fang Liangye’s eyes were bloodshot. He recalled the faces of Xiao Yu and Wu Duo, recalled the touch and warmth of falling asleep in an embrace last night, and an unprecedented anger surged in his heart... He was angry not only at the Fire-Tamperers who captured Wu Duo, but also at his own weak and powerless self.

Just then, his fingertips seemed to touch something, and he slowly pulled a playing card out of his pocket...

[Six of Hearts].