Chapter 1462: Tears of the Red King (Finale) (Expanded)

Chen Ling had to admit that the Red King had succeeded.

If the Red King had guided him step-by-step from the beginning, acting as a dutiful master and leading him to become stronger, then when the moment came for the Red King to ascend to the heavens, and he had to peel off his face only to find it was A-Yan... Chen Ling couldn't imagine how much pain he would have been in.

The Red King had deliberately controlled the distance between them, appearing only when most needed and disappearing when things were fine, even going so far as to deliberately guide him to hate him, diluting the master-disciple bond between them...

Precisely because of this, when Chen Ling discovered the Red King’s true identity, although he was pained and broken, it didn't reach the level of Chen Yan before him.

“Was even our affection part of your calculations...” Chen Ling closed his eyes bitterly.

The Chen Yan of this world had completely collapsed.

After crying until his tears ran dry, his eyes became hollow and vacant. He listlessly accepted the identity of the new Red King, listlessly took the Red King card given to him by the Gray King, and then listlessly walked away...

Even though the human realms outside were in chaos, and even though the Twilight Society members were as busy as ants on a hot pan, he couldn't muster the slightest interest.

He was like a statue, sitting in front of the Red King’s grave day after day, staring blankly.

Until,

Spade 6 and Club 6 heard the news and rushed over.

The companions of the 6-generation spoke to Chen Yan, but Chen Yan responded in a daze, the light once in his eyes gone, along with the youthful spirit he should have had... Eventually, Club 6 couldn't stand it anymore and backhanded the new Red King with a resounding slap!

“Do you know how chaotic it is outside? Only Lingxu is left struggling to support the human realms. We can't even keep up with recovering the corpses of the fallen Nine Monarchs... All of us are counting on you, and what are you doing? Just sitting here like a rock?!”

“Heart!! If you want to give up on yourself, fine! But don't drag the Twilight Society down with you!!”

“Don't forget, our goal is to restart the world. Only then can we prevent humanity’s fate from becoming a tragedy, and let those who shouldn't die live on! Only then can humanity find a glimmer of hope!!”

“If you can't be this Red King, then let me do it!”

Club 6’s slap woke Chen Yan up.

He finally struggled out of the pain of losing his brother twice, stood up before the tombstone, his bright red theatrical robe fluttering in the sobbing wind. His shattered gaze gradually regained its firmness, even revealing an unprecedented sharpness and depth.

The passing of a loved one is painful, but he could not remain immersed in pain forever. This world had already failed, and he had to fulfill his brother’s dying wish: to complete the restart!

“From now on, I am no longer Heart 6 Chen Yan...”

“I...”

“am the Red King of the Twilight Society.”

……

“Director Chen, are you saying...”

“that I will meet another you in the future?”

In the era archive, Yang Xiao looked at the Red King Chen Yan before him in confusion, seemingly unable to understand.

“To be precise, that is not me,” the Red King replied calmly. “He is the Red King candidate for the next world, the Heart 6 of the Twilight Society...

He will look like me, Chen Ling, but fundamentally, he is not me, nor is he my brother... My brother and I have both tried, but we both failed in the end... Therefore, I will create a brand-new ‘Red King,’ one who might be the strongest Red King in history.”

“Sounds like you already have an idea.”

“Just a preliminary idea... I want to make a World-Ending Calamity the Red King of humanity.”

“A World-Ending Calamity???” Yang Xiao was shocked. “Isn't... isn't that too crazy?”

“The previous five generations of Red Kings have tried everything, but none could save humanity... So, I have to take a risk and try,” the Red King paused for a moment. “Besides, I found something deep within the Embers of Civilization, something that might help me suppress that World-Ending Calamity.”

“Something? What thing?”

“A theater.”

“A theater?”

“It doesn't seem to be a theater from our world. It might come from the former Gray Realm, or perhaps an even more distant world... But it does possess some unique power.”

“But even if you can suppress the World-Ending Calamity, how could it possibly fight for humanity?”

“That is why I will imbue it with human personality and thought... I want to make a World-Ending Calamity become a ‘human’.”

“This... is indeed too crazy. Do the other Nine Monarchs know about this?”

“Only you know for now. Later, I might reveal the news to Lu Xun, and perhaps a few other Nine Monarchs I trust, like Ji Xuan and Su Zhiwei... After all, a calamity is a calamity. Even if he wants to be human, humanity won't accept him so easily. He may face hardships in the future that we cannot imagine, and he... he might need your help.”

The Red King paused for a moment. “Especially you, Yang Xiao. If nothing goes wrong, he will also descend into the Aurora Realm, which means... you might be the first Nine Monarch he encounters.”

“I understand. I will help him,” Yang Xiao smiled slightly. He closed his eyes and sighed with some emotion:

“...I hope he can redeem the me of the new world, just as you once redeemed me.”

“He will,” the Red King replied without hesitation.

“He is the Calamity, he is Chen Yan, and he is Chen Ling...”

“He will be a very good person.”

……

I have arranged everything.

Whether in the era archive or in the real world.

After Lu Xun knocked the Red Star off course and it grazed the Earth, the human realms fell into chaos. Under the siege of the six great World-Ending territories, the human realms were almost completely wiped out, with only the Lingxu Realm remaining.

But at the same time, the world underwent some terrible changes.

Human civilization regressed once again, and the microorganisms of this world seemed to be affected as well, reverting to their most primitive forms. Various ancient plagues and diseases became rampant, coupled with the widespread death of crops, flooding famines, constant natural disasters and earthquakes, and the World-Ending Calamities lurking in the shadows...

The Lingxu Realm held out for less than a month before completely collapsing, and I successfully recovered the corpse of the Lingxu Monarch...

Then, I restarted the world.

In the new world, the Hibernation Plan was launched as smoothly as in the previous world. The Nine Monarchs of humanity fell into slumber, and I also found a way to enter a similar state. Centuries passed in the blink of an eye, and after I awoke, I went to the Ghost Mockery Abyss first thing.

I waited patiently for a long time, finally waiting for the Mockery Calamity to enter a chaotic state of split personality. I stuffed the mysterious theater I had prepared, the fragments of the Weapon Path Ancient Treasury, and the character biography into one of the consciousnesses, and used the memorial tablets left by the first four generations of Red Kings to suppress it...

Although I paid a great price, I succeeded.

I brought the suppressed Mockery Calamity back to the Third District of the Aurora Realm. At that time, the “me” and “Chen Ling” of this world had already been buried in the mass grave. Even though a long, long time had passed, my heart still trembled when I saw this scene again...

At that moment, I had a thought: I wanted to save my brother, to find a way to keep him alive, even if it was just to talk to me.

But my reason told me I couldn't do that.

The Mockery Calamity, “me,” and “Chen Ling” were all indispensable parts of this plan. I was no longer the emotional “me” I once was; I couldn't let personal feelings affect my decisions. Saving humanity was the most important thing.

I saved the “me” who still had a breath of life left. He asked me a few questions, I answered them, and at his pleading, I swapped everything between him and Chen Ling, letting his brother live on in another way.

Sure enough...

No matter which world it was, the former “me” would always make the same choice.

I awakened the consciousness of that Mockery Calamity personality, and it began to merge with the body of “me” and the memories of Chen Ling... I knew this was an incredibly bold move. The difficulty of combining a World-Ending Calamity, the Theater God Path, the Shaman God Path, and the Weapon God Path was several times greater than the research the Calamity of Thought had done on the fusion of humans and calamities.

But when I stood in the distance, watching that figure draped in a bright red theatrical robe stumble through the rain and knock on the door, I knew...

I had succeeded.

……

He is the Mockery Calamity,

he is Chen Ling,

he is Chen Yan,

he is the Heart 6 of this era...

he is...

the future Sixth Generation Red King.