Chapter 220: Death Cycle (XVIII)

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Chapter 220: Death Cycle (XVIII)

Shang Ke had chosen the “be killed” route from the beginning, but he had never intended to carry it out so soon. His plan was to spend a year or two with his man, another year or two building up hatred, and then another year or two loving and fighting him before finally completing the objective step by step.

Reality, however, never seemed willing to give him room to maneuver. Under the violent collision of mental power, Shang Ke had reacted on instinct. Somewhere deep in his consciousness, sacrificing himself for his lover had already become a conditioned reflex. He did not think that kind of “sacrifice” was noble. More often than not, it only hurt the person he loved.

What he had not expected was that this “sacrifice” would be real. The instant he lost consciousness, time seemed to stop for him. There was no notification that the mission had been completed and no return to the System Space. His soul became completely lost in endless darkness, without awareness or sensation…

Zuo Xian staggered to the place where Huo Xuan had disappeared and discovered that the corpse on the ground was not the Zombie King, Di Kui. Its build was similar, but its features were twisted and its muscles had atrophied, as though its body had once been crushed beneath an enormous weight. Every bone appeared shattered.

If it was neither Di Kui nor Huo Xuan, then it was most likely the General-class zombie with the spatial ability. Several kilometers around them had been reduced to an empty zone; aside from their group, there was probably no other living human or zombie capable of approaching.

Then where had Di Kui, Huo Xuan, and Shang Ke gone?

Zuo Xian looked up at the sky. A faint feeling settled in his heart that perhaps… none of them would ever return.

Di Kui carried Shang Ke through the abandoned city without any destination, moving in a daze as countless broken images and memories flashed continuously through his mind.

As he passed a truck, the figure reflected in its window was not Di Kui at all, but Huo Xuan. Di Kui did not notice. He simply kept walking.

Before sunset, he found a reasonably comfortable place to rest. He carefully laid Shang Ke down, then sat beside him and patiently waited for him to revive.

Di Kui could no longer remember clearly what had happened inside the dark space. He only knew that when Shang Ke died, he had driven his hand through Huo Xuan’s chest and seized his heart, while Huo Xuan’s blades had shredded Di Kui’s arm to pieces.

Di Kui lowered his eyes to his arm and found it completely intact. His chest, however, ached faintly, as though a piece of it had been hollowed out. He could not feel a heartbeat at all.

Di Kui puzzled over it only briefly before dismissing it. The only thing he cared about was when Shang Ke would come back to life.

From past experience, Shang Ke’s longest resurrection time was twenty-four hours. At the latest, he should wake by sunset the following day.

Di Kui waited from night until dawn, then from dawn until sunset. He watched Shang Ke’s blood dry, his flesh stiffen, and his wounds remain completely unchanged. There was no sign of healing. Shang Ke lay there like a true corpse, utterly silent.

Di Kui thought that perhaps this resurrection simply needed longer. He would wait. Shang Ke would definitely wake up.

Like a stone statue, Di Kui sat beside the bed and stared fixedly at the person lying there. Day after day, month after month, he remained even as the body decayed and dust accumulated around them.

Three months later, a group of mercenaries fled into the abandoned city while being pursued by zombies. During the fierce battle, one mercenary was blasted backward, smashed through a wall, and rolled into a room. When he climbed out of the rubble, he discovered that someone else was inside. A man sat cross-legged beside the bed, staring intently at the… bones lying upon it.

“Y-You’re Boss Huo!” the mercenary shouted excitedly. The man’s skin tone looked strange, but that face was far too familiar to mistake.

The man beside the bed did not move, as though he had heard nothing.

“Boss Huo, thank God we found you here! We ran into some trouble. Could you please—” Before the mercenary could finish, several zombies rushed through the broken wall and lunged at him with claws and teeth bared.

The mercenary instinctively activated his ability. Lightning exploded through the room. Pale blue arcs shot through the zombies like a vast net, spreading rapidly until they enveloped the entire space.

A dull bang sounded. The skeleton on the bed shattered beneath the electrical strike—and with it, the world Di Kui had been forcing himself to believe in finally collapsed.

Blood-red light flashed through Di Kui’s eyes. A suppressed roar tore from his throat, and his figure vanished. He snapped the mercenary’s neck without mercy. Then the surrounding zombies began tearing apart one after another. The mercenaries and zombies still fighting outside met the same fate. Within only a few dozen seconds, everything fell silent. Severed limbs scattered across the ground were the only evidence that a massacre had occurred.

Covered in blood, Di Kui returned to the room and stared at the shattered bones on the bed. At last he was forced to face the cruel truth he had refused to acknowledge: Shang Ke was truly dead. He would never revive again.

From now on, no one would prepare milk for him, comb his hair, search out good food for him, buy him new clothes, wander across the world with him, endure one boring day and night after another at his side, or embrace and kiss him without the slightest fear or disgust…

Having someone beside him had been so wonderful. Shang Ke had taught him patience, restraint, and how to live. Yet the person who had taught him all of it had vanished from his world just like that.

Di Kui stood rigid among the ruins, his eyes bloodshot. The pain became impossible to contain. Tears suddenly poured down his face, full of despair and fear, and he cried like a helpless child.

【Don’t call me “human.” Call me “Shang Ke”…】

【Di Kui, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you. Why do you kill people?】

【That unkempt look of yours may be down-to-earth, but it isn’t elegant or glamorous enough.】

【A kiss should be like this… A caress should be like this… Control your strength. Don’t hurt the other person.】

【Seriously, stop making me worry all the time…】

【Di Kui, I’m back.】

No. You would not come back again.

Never. You would never come back again…

Lost in grief, Di Kui failed to notice a mole slowly appearing on his palm. It rested there in silence, listening to his broken sobs as though grieving together with him.

After an unknown amount of time, a voice suddenly sounded inside Di Kui’s head: 【Stop crying. Think of a way to bring him back.】

Bring him back? Could Shang Ke still be saved?

“How?”

【I… I’ll send both of you back to the beginning of the reincarnation cycle.】

“Reincarnation?”

【You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it. All your intelligence is over here with me.】

“What do you mean?” Was he being mocked?

【In the end, the Reincarnation Lamp’s curse trapped all of us. This mission was impossible from the start. If I kill Shang Ke, his soul will be destroyed beyond recovery. If Shang Ke kills you, the same thing will happen to you.】 The Crimson Skyfire represented unwavering fidelity—and only one’s beloved could destroy it.

“His soul will be destroyed… Are you saying Shang Ke’s soul is already gone?”

【No. I used my own life to preserve the fragment of Shang Ke’s soul that remained. He still has a chance to revive!】

“How do I revive him?”

【I already told you. Return to the world of the very first reincarnation and place his soul back into his body.】

“The world of the first reincarnation?” Di Kui only half understood, but one thing was clear: Shang Ke still had a chance to return. “What do I need to do?”

【Nothing. Just remain true to your heart.】

“What is my true heart? And who are you?”

【I am you—the one who began the cycle of reincarnation.】

Before entering reincarnation, Chen Xiao and Shou Mo had each split away part of themselves: one hun of Chen Xiao’s soul and one po of Shou Mo’s entered the Reincarnation Lamp. Under the curse, they were doomed to spend lifetime after lifetime unable to remain together. Eventually, Chen Xiao’s hun fused with the Reincarnation Lamp and gained the power to restart the cycle. Shou Mo’s po, meanwhile, was inscribed into his body as a tattoo in the first world of that restarted reincarnation. The Crimson Skyfire on Shang Ke’s chest was the po Shou Mo had lost. Only after reuniting with it did he become whole and gain the possibility of changing their fate.

But just as they were about to succeed, the curse struck back and forcibly issued an impossible trap mission. If Shang Ke completed it, one of the two of them would inevitably have his soul destroyed.

Fortunately, by violating its own rules—allowing the mission to be completed without granting the promised reward—the Reincarnation Lamp’s curse destroyed itself. Chen Xiao’s soul fragment gained final control and could activate reincarnation once more, sending Shou Mo into any world within the cycle.

Di Kui, who possessed no memories, could not understand any of this. But Huo Xuan—the fragment now in control of the Reincarnation Lamp—understood everything. To save Shou Mo, he would have to separate completely from the main soul and become the Reincarnation Lamp’s artifact spirit, losing forever the ability to reincarnate alongside his main self.

The main soul, in turn, would lose all marks and memories of the reincarnation cycle. From then on, in each new life, only Shou Mo would retain the memories of what came before. Chen Xiao would live each life without them, and only after Chen Xiao’s death would those memories return to the fragment within the Reincarnation Lamp.

His love for Shou Mo was no different from the main soul’s. Yet if he wished to keep the reincarnation cycle running, he could not leave the Reincarnation Lamp and merge back into the main soul. He had tried to replace the main soul before, but every attempt had failed.

The main soul could personally live through every reincarnation beside Shou Mo, then forget everything and begin a new chapter. The artifact spirit would have only the memories.

【Di Kui, are you ready? Go save Shang Ke.】

“Wait. You still haven’t told me what to do.”

【I already did. Remain true to your heart.】

Chen Xiao, the Crimson Skyfire has already shattered. If forgetting causes you to surrender your right to love him, then “he” will replace you at any cost. So, Chen Xiao, you may forget everything else—but you must never forget your love for Shou Mo.

The cycle of reincarnation began again. Chen Xiao was sent back to the first world of the original cycle and became General Ravel of the Draconis Empire.

Shang Ke, meanwhile, became Cage, the son of General Utrecht, leader of the resistance. He had secretly returned to Draconis Prime from Tayma, only to be captured by House Kruse’s men. They subjected him to brutal interrogation and torture in an attempt to force him to reveal the resistance members hidden within the regime.

When Shang Ke opened his eyes, he found himself restrained in a metal chair. A mechanical arm shaped like a syringe hung above his head, its pointed tip spinning continuously with a high-pitched whine.

“I’ll give you one more chance. Tell us everything you know, and we may consider sparing your life.” An unpleasant voice echoed through the sealed room.

Something about the scene felt strangely familiar to Shang Ke.

“In that case, let’s see how long you can keep that stubborn mouth shut. The national flower of our Draconis Empire is the Crimson Skyfire. It has seventy-two petals, layered one over another like blazing flames. I imagine your father would be very pleased if we tattooed our Empire’s national flower onto your body, don’t you think?”

The Crimson Skyfire? The Draconis Empire?

What was going on? Where was he? Why was he here?

Shang Ke’s mind was a complete mess. All he could do was watch as the mechanical arm approached and fired a laser, tracing the outline of a flower of flame across his chest.

“Ah!” The agony tore a scream from Shang Ke’s throat—and with it came wave after wave of chaotic memories…

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