Chapter 1751: Fire

Seeing the diary, Li Laide's heart tightened.

Like a child whose deepest scars had been exposed, an inexplicable tension and shame surged in his heart. He ran quickly to Chen Ling's side and grabbed the diary tightly in his hand.

"What..."

"Exactly did you do?"

Li Laide gritted his teeth, but Chen Ling did not respond to his questioning. He just watched the Chengtian Domain quietly, the breeze blowing through his hair, his ruby-like eyes as calm as water.

"Didn't you say you wanted to settle things with me? Why didn't you kill me?" Li Laide pursued the question. "And why did you snoop through my diary?!"

"Li Laide."

Chen Ling interrupted his words.

Li Laide was startled. In the gentle breeze, he saw Chen Ling turn his head slowly to look at him, his eyes revealing an indescribable, complex emotion...

"You... don't let me down."

Li Laide stood frozen in place.

He didn't understand what Chen Ling was saying, nor did he understand why Chen Ling showed such a look... But he could feel that Chen Ling seemed to have made a very important decision, so much so that his gaze seemed to pierce through the past and the future, deep beyond imagination.

Chen Ling ultimately did not replace Li Laide's past and personality... The reasons behind this were complex. Beyond various worries, for a moment, the image of the Fifth Red King appeared in Chen Ling's mind.

Regardless of his feelings for his master, there was a time when he truly became a pawn. Walking this path, no one understood better than him the pain of even one's own existence being fake. His confusion, his questioning, were mountains pressing down on his heart...

He seemed to have been just a hair's breadth away from becoming the person he hated most.

Chen Ling knew very well that for the "Opera Performer Nameless" who carried the fate of humanity, perhaps that version was the correct one. But at least at this moment... he didn't want to make a choice that went against his own heart.

He wanted to try to see how far he could guide Li Laide without using the methods of the Fifth Red King.

"Then what you said about settling things..."

Chen Ling stood up slowly. "My settling things with you... has just ended."

"...Ended?" Li Laide was stunned. His thoughts raced like lightning. He frowned and looked down at his hands, asking hesitantly, "What... did you do to me?"

Chen Ling did not answer.

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

At that moment, a sound of electromagnetic interference came from the portable radio in his pocket.

Chen Ling frowned and took the radio out of his pocket. Intermittent sounds drifted into his ears, and immediately after, a cold murderous intent began to permeate the air!

Li Laide felt the surrounding temperature drop rapidly. He shivered and asked instinctively: "What's wrong?"

Chen Ling's scarlet eyes, like those of a fierce beast, looked toward a certain direction in the Chengtian Domain, and he said coldly:

"Truly... seeking death."

……

Li Shangfeng walked alone across the prosperous Xuanwu Avenue, step by step from the brilliant commercial district to his own dim and quiet neighborhood. This sense of disconnection made one feel as if they had been pulled out of the world, feeling as if everything just now was just a dreamlike illusion.

To be honest, Li Shangfeng still envied the group of people living on Xuanwu Avenue. He had also fantasized that if he and his sister lived there, they would likely be living in luxury, majestic and imposing, entering and leaving the most high-end places in the Chengtian Domain every day, making others extremely jealous... How cool would that be?

But fantasy is fantasy after all; there are always some things more important than that kind of decadent life.

Li Shangfeng walked on the quiet, dim street, casting the conversation with Brand to the back of his mind. He took a deep breath of the cool air and exhaled slowly... his heart calmed down.

At the same time, a faint smell of burning drifted into his nostrils.

"Something is burning..."

Li Shangfeng muttered to himself.

Just as Li Shangfeng was suspicious, figures carrying water buckets rushed past him in a hurry, and noise and commotion came from the next street...

Li Shangfeng looked in the direction of the sound, and a red glow had already illuminated the night sky like daytime.

A fire??

Wait...

That direction is...

Li Shangfeng's pupils contracted sharply, and a possibility he couldn't believe no matter what surged into his mind... He immediately took off, sprinting at full speed toward the direction of the fire!!

……

Raging flames licked the walls of the repair shop, the high temperature turning the metal shelves inside red-hot.

Rolling thick smoke now covered every corner of the factory, like oppressive and deadly black clouds, reducing visibility to the minimum. In this concentration, it was impossible for a human to breathe normally.

"Damn it..."

In the sea of fire, Plum Blossom 8's fists clenched silently!

Angry veins coiled on the boy's hands and neck, his eyes ferocious and red. He roared, wanting to punch the wall next to him to vent his anger, but his fist just passed through it lightly...

"Those animals... if it weren't for the fact that we don't have physical bodies right now, I would definitely..." Plum Blossom 8 was shaking with anger.

Several other illusory figures walked out of the sea of fire. They looked at each other... It was the first time they had seen the usually gentle and polite boy show such intense murderous intent.

It wasn't just Plum Blossom 8; all the Twilight Society members standing here felt like volcanoes ignited in their hearts, anger clearly written on their faces.

"Calm down, Plum Blossom." Square 9 comforted him,

"At least no one is hurt for now... Li Lanhua is still alive, and these shelves and boxes won't cause too much loss."

"They are simply insane!!" Heart 7 said angrily. "If you have the guts, come and cause trouble openly?! What kind of skill is it to kidnap a child while the adults aren't home?!"

"We've already notified Lord Red King immediately; he should be here soon..."

"I hope nothing happens to Li Lanhua; I quite like this kid."

"Is someone following Li Lanhua?"

"Our people have already followed. No matter where they take Li Lanhua, we can lock onto his location."

"Sigh... with Heart 9's temper, when he comes back and sees this scene... won't he be furious?"

"I reckon it won't be as simple as just being furious..."

“……”

Just as the Twilight Society members were talking, exclamations sounded from outside the repair shop!

The next second, a figure rushed into the sea of fire regardless of his life, like an unstoppable train, knocking over the tottering shelves, and then stood in the raging flames with eyes splitting in anger...

"No..."

"How could this happen... how could this happen?!!"

"Lanhua..."

"Lanhua!!!"

Flames licked Li Shangfeng's skin, leaving behind charred marks, but at this moment, he seemed completely unable to feel the pain, looking at everything before him with eyes splitting in anger.