Chapter 1277: You Disappoint Me

"Damn it!!"

"How could this happen..."

On the edge of the Nanhai Realm, inside an abandoned steel factory, a figure wearing a tattered bright red opera robe was sitting on the rusty stairs.

Drizzling rain fell on the uneven muddy ground, gathering into a small puddle. Pu Jianyue looked at the unfamiliar, scar-faced self in the reflection, and an indescribable sense of eeriness surged into his heart.

He didn't know why he had lost his head and gone to find the Queen of Clubs for help when he was being hunted by the Silver King.

Thinking about it now, that was undoubtedly an extremely stupid decision. Although he escaped a disaster, he directly exposed the whereabouts of the Queen of Clubs and the others, and the Red King in the shadows might not be able to take action according to the plan anymore...

Pu Jianyue didn't know what was wrong with him. He only felt that the "Heart of Hearts 6" of the past shouldn't be like this.

Pu Jianyue felt as if he had split into two people: one calm, decisive, and ruthless, capable of leading demigods like the Silver King in circles; the other cowardly, brainless, unable to even tolerate the smell on his clothes, like a pampered, useless young master...

"This isn't me... I should be the world-shaking Heart of Hearts 6... Damn it... what on earth is going on with all this?!"

"I... I..."

"Which one is the real me?!"

"Silver King, what on earth did you do to me!!!"

Bang—!!

Pu Jianyue's eyes were bloodshot, and the negative emotions in his heart poured out. He punched the stair railing next to him heavily, directly shattering a row of railings in the steel factory into fragments, which clattered to the ground.

Metal fragments bounced gently on the ground like silver sand. In the gray, misty rain outside the steel factory, a figure walked slowly toward here.

Perhaps his footsteps were masked by the sound of the falling fragments, or perhaps he made no sound at all while walking. He was like a ghost in red, and it wasn't until he was almost in front of Pu Jianyue that the latter reacted abruptly and looked up...

The next moment, he froze in place.

It was a figure also wearing a bright red opera robe.

The bright and magnificent vermilion opera robe seemed like an妖异 (eerie/bewitching) blood flower blooming in the fine rain. The moment he appeared, all the colors around him dimmed. The strong visual impact seemed to sting one's eyes, making one subconsciously look away... But those crimson pupils and that near-perfect face could firmly pin one's gaze onto him.

Calm, crazy; peaceful,妖异... Contradictory feelings gathered in one person, like some kind of addictive drug—both fearful and wanting to get closer.

For some reason, the moment he appeared, a thought inexplicably rose in Pu Jianyue's heart:

Only such an existence was worthy of the title "Heart of Hearts 6."

"You..."

Pu Jianyue looked at him blankly, his cracked lips trembling, but he couldn't speak.

The vermilion opera robe stood in front of Pu Jianyue, those crimson pupils looking down from above at the disheveled young man, his expression as indifferent as an iceberg:

"You disappoint me."

At this moment, a strong sense of frustration welled up in Pu Jianyue's heart.

This feeling was hard to describe, like a performance he had put all his effort into, wanting to get closer to a character he could only look up to, only to realize when the person himself stood before him that he could never become him no matter what... not even comparing to a single strand of his hair.

Everything he had tried his best to do seemed clumsy and ridiculous.

Pu Jianyue realized it: he was just a failed counterfeit. He stared at Chen Ling blankly for a long time, his whole body trembling. He let out a hysterical roar and reached out to grab Chen Ling's collar:

"It's you!! You're the one manipulating me?!"

"Give me back my memories... give me back myself!!!"

That red-clad figure was like a ghost in the rain, stepping back lightly, and Pu Jianyue grabbed nothing but air.

Pu Jianyue's eyes were bloodshot. Frustration, anger, and shame—countless negative emotions burned his spirit. Wearing a tattered counterfeit opera robe, he looked like a clawing madman in the rain, rushing toward Chen Ling again and again.

But he couldn't even touch the hem of Chen Ling's clothes.

The bright red earrings swayed gently in the wind. Chen Ling looked at the crazed Pu Jianyue indifferently, dodging casually while speaking calmly:

"From the very beginning, I shouldn't have held any expectations for you... This was my miscalculation."

"Asking you to play the role of Heart of Hearts 6 is too difficult..."

"You, just be a good tool."

Dense brush and ink flew out from around Pu Jianyue, intertwining into a large, complex character for "Hand," wanting to grab Chen Ling's figure... But as Chen Ling lifted his sleeve slightly, a crimson giant hand woven from red paper almost covered the sky.

If Pu Jianyue's hand was about the size of a three-story building, then Chen Ling's "hand" was half a skyscraper.

A counterfeit, after all, is just a counterfeit.

In Pu Jianyue's astonished and terrified pupils, the red-paper giant hand directly crushed all the ink around him. The sky-filling red paper blocked Pu Jianyue's vision, and before he could recover, a palm slammed down firmly on the top of his head!

Bang—!!

Pu Jianyue felt everything go black, and he passed out completely.

The flying red paper burrowed into Chen Ling's sleeves. He glanced casually at the unconscious Pu Jianyue, grabbed his collar with one tentacle-like hand, and pressed his other hand into the ruins of the steel factory. Reshaped electric light flickered, and he didn't know what he had made—something the size of a fist—before slicing open Pu Jianyue's stomach and stuffing it inside...

After finishing all this, Chen Ling stood up slowly, dragging the unconscious counterfeit "Heart of Hearts 6" and walking step by step under the gloomy sky.

……

"How is it? Have you found Chen Ling's whereabouts?"

"No, that hole is too deep. Our people went in and searched, but didn't find any other exit... He must have sealed the path himself."

"Just let him run away like that??"

Outside the prison, which had almost become ruins, several Pu family members looked at the pitch-black hole and let out helpless, long sighs.

"Why are you sighing... not finding him is a good thing. Otherwise, who among you could beat the Mocking Disaster?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. We still have to put on a show."

"But what on earth is Chen Ling trying to do? He exposed those two Fusers himself, and then went to such great lengths to save them..."

"Who knows? Isn't it said that the Mocking Disaster loves to do things with a twisted sense of humor? Maybe this time is the same."

"I don't get it... I really don't get it."

"What about that Law Enforcer?"

"He was suppressed by the family head. Fourth and Sixth are now escorting him back to the Pu family together. He shouldn't be able to come out for a short time... Things have caused such a big scene, we might have to hold another Alliance Council to specifically discuss his matter."

"You have to say, he's really something. Chunshu gave him a way out, but he just wouldn't take it... Did he really have to take it to this point?"