Hong Zhong

“Hong Zhong! Trust me! Don’t run! I’m not trying to hurt you! We had a deal!”

Li Huowang’s body was nearly flat against the ground as he strained every muscle, desperately trying to explain himself.

But the Hong Zhong before him now had a completely different mind from the one who had vanished before.

He looked at Li Huowang, the corner of his mouth curling up. “Heh heh heh, trying to trick me? You’re still a bit green for that. I~don’t~buy~it.” With that, he started crawling again, slowly putting more distance between them.

Watching this, Li Huowang felt like he was about to vomit blood. He had finally gotten the guy to agree to come with him, and then, right on schedule, the man had forgotten everything that had just happened!

He couldn’t even spare a thought for the deathly Siming hanging over his head. Gritting his teeth, he poured all his strength into crawling after Hong Zhong.

“Don’t you feel it? The pressure above us is different now! This place is a nightmare. Do you really want to stay in this loop forever? Trust me! I’ll get you out!”

“Just because other people have tricked you doesn’t mean everyone is trying to! Think about it! Think about our situation! Which is more worth your while—staying here or leaving with me?!”

Despite Li Huowang’s earnest pleading, Hong Zhong remained unmoved, trying to get as far away from the shadow of Kui Lei as possible, and also as far away from Li Huowang.

Li Huowang understood. The man couldn’t hear a word he was saying. The earlier Hong Zhong had seen his own record carved into the great pillar. This one had no clue what his past self had been through.

In this situation, Li Huowang knew that no matter how much he said, the other man would only grow more suspicious.

Hearing the whirring sound of the wheel begin to fade, Li Huowang gritted his teeth. Bracing himself against the oppressive pressure of the Siming, he forced himself to stand up.

The melting of his body accelerated, but he couldn’t afford to care. He used every ounce of his remaining strength to chase after Hong Zhong.

Moving was faster than crawling. When he finally caught up, he lunged, pinning the man down. “Stay still!”

If gentle persuasion wouldn’t work, he’d have to use force.

“Alright, I get it. What you’re saying is true. Let go of my hand, and I’ll go with you,” Hong Zhong said, staring at Li Huowang’s face.

“Don’t give me that! It won’t work! I know you don’t believe me right now! The second I let you go, you’ll run!” Li Huowang glared, his body melting like a wax figure.

“You think I’m lying now. Fine. Pretend I am! But either way, we need to get out of here first! First, we get out of Kui Lei’s range! Then I’ll explain everything!”

If they stayed much longer, he wouldn’t just fail to convince Hong Zhong; his soul would dissolve halfway through his explanation.

Hong Zhong stared at Li Huowang and finally gave a slow nod.

When they started moving again, Hong Zhong no longer held them back. Together, they strained toward the exit. As they moved, Hong Zhong’s body began to melt too.

Soon, they had no energy left to watch each other. All their focus was on getting out alive.

The places where their bodies were melting started to stick together, fusing them like conjoined twins.

But no matter how far they crawled, the melting didn’t slow down much.

Even without a mirror, Li Huowang was certain he must be unrecognizable by now.

“What did you and the other me do to piss this thing off? You mess with a Siming too? Are you both insane?” Hong Zhong grumbled, his tone laced with resentment.

“How could we have provoked it?! The thing just showed up on its own!” Li Huowang answered with difficulty.

The two of them struggled onward under the deathly Siming’s pressure. The life-or-death situation left them no breath for talking.

Just as Li Huowang thought they were slowly making their way out, something unexpected happened. A gaze fell on him from above. “Kui Lei is looking at me?”

The moment the thought occurred, Li Huowang froze. He felt his body lock up completely, and his consciousness began to dissolve along with his flesh.

He was dying. It was a feeling. The feeling everyone has when they’re about to die.

On the brink of death, his gaze involuntarily drifted upward. The deathly Siming, which he couldn’t even bear to glance at before, now seemed strangely warm and inviting. The warmth it radiated felt like a mother’s embrace.

Gradually, Li Huowang felt himself drawing closer to it. A smile spread across his face.

As he got nearer, the thing above began to change shape. It flattened out, transforming before his eyes into a pitch-black mirror.

In that mirror, Li Huowang saw himself, turned jet-black. Their eyes met, and in that instant, he glimpsed some of the Heavenly Law contained within it. Some rules.

The mirror was a part of him, and also a part of Kui Lei. Every living thing was born with “death” within it. Every living thing had always been a part of Kui Lei.

And the sum total of all “deaths” was Kui Lei. The world changes in a thousand ways, but death never changes. Death is eternity.

He didn’t know how long he stared, but right when he was about to see exactly how he himself would die in the mirror…

The mirror seemed to be pushed by something else. It shattered completely. And then, that overwhelming warmth vanished.

Feeling as if reborn, Li Huowang blinked and realized the thing above his head was just… gone.

Suddenly, he felt a sensation of emptiness beneath him. A violent falling sensation hit him as he plummeted downward at tremendous speed. He realized that only his face had floated up; his body was still attached far below.

When he came to again, he found himself standing in the same spot, as if a long time had passed.

Then, both of them collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, thankful to be alive.

“What… just happened?” Li Huowang tried to piece together the memories, but found he had already forgotten most of what occurred.

He didn’t know why, but it seemed he had narrowly escaped disaster.

“Did Ji Zai do something?”

After catching his breath and thinking for a moment, Li Huowang turned to Hong Zhong. “Do you know the pattern of how this thing appears?”

“Didn’t you say it yourself? My memory only lasts an hour. Do you think I’d know what happened before?” Hong Zhong looked at him with a sardonic expression.

Hearing this, Li Huowang dropped the question. This Hong Zhong had no brains left; all of the previous Hong Zhong’s mind was carved into that great pillar.

But regardless, the fact that he could touch a Siming and still be alive was incredibly lucky.

Forget it. If I forgot, I forgot. Better not to think too much about things related to the Siming.

The crisis of death had passed. Now it was time to deal with Hong Zhong. Still panting, Li Huowang turned to look at the Mahjong-faced man sprawled on the ground beside him.