Chapter 430: Truth (Two in One)

Ding Xunchun had not been killed; instead, he had been brought back to Peace Mansion.

He was delivered straight to Quan Dazhong.

Lying on the ground at death's door, he watched Quan Dazhong approach.

"Ah, Xunchun, tell me, why?" Quan Dazhong asked. "Why did you have to hear it?"

He squatted down and patted Ding Xunchun's cheek. His gaunt face leaned in so close it was practically pressed against Ding Xunchun's. "If you hadn't heard, I wouldn't have had to act so soon."

Ding Xunchun's vision was entirely blood-red. His whole body throbbed with agony, but he managed a faint smile. "Go ahead and finish it... Heh."

"No, no, no."

Quan Dazhong chuckled. "How could I bear to do that?"

He leaned in close to Ding Xunchun's ear. "Tell me, who were you talking to?"

"What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about," Ding Xunchun said with another strained smile.

It wasn't that he couldn't say; he simply didn't want to.

The man in front of him wanted him dead and had already made his move, while the person on the other end had tried to save him—he just hadn't listened.

Taking a step back, he genuinely didn't know the person's identity anyway.

But Quan Dazhong burst into uproarious laughter. "Foolish! Ding Xunchun! Too foolish!"

"You think I'm the one who harmed you? And that guy wanted to save you? Or do you think I really don't know who tried to kill you?"

He leaned down and murmured, "Do you think I don't know who pushed you all to my side?"

Ding Xunchun couldn't hide the shock in his eyes. Quan Dazhong smiled smugly. "You know? The moment I saw you, I thought the two of you were so alike. So alike. That unscrupulous method of climbing the ranks, and that utterly cold-blooded personality."

"Hahaha, it's hilarious."

"That guy still thinks I'm the same person from back then. He doesn't realize I've sat in this position for fifteen years, while he's rotting in who knows which sewer!"

As if he had held it in for years and desperately needed to vent, Quan Dazhong pressed on without a pause. "You think he's helping you? Hmm? Do you even know him? Do you know just how cold-blooded he is?"

"Do you know who leaked your information?"

Ding Xunchun's pupils violently contracted, and his body began to tremble.

"That's right, yes..."

Quan Dazhong leaned down further. "It was him. Even though the person was anonymous, I could smell his scent. A treacherous, rotten, and slightly frigid stench of the sewer."

He took a deep breath, an expression of sheer enjoyment crossing his face. "That's exactly the kind of person he is. You think he's looking out for your best interests, helping you climb? In reality? You are absolutely nothing to him."

"There is no one in this world he cares about! No one!"

Ding Xunchun's face turned ashen.

Watching his reaction, Quan Dazhong grew even more excited. "Yes, yes, Xunchun! Just like that! That look of absolute despair—remember it all, and take that feeling with you to the grave!"

"No, that's not right."

Ding Xunchun shuddered. Suddenly, a light sparked in his eyes, like a drowning man clutching at a lifeline. "Why would he expose me?"

"He should have kept me around. He already told me to draw my blade. He should have at least waited until I made my move against you."

"Hahaha."

Quan Dazhong laughed, clutching his stomach as tears squeezed from the corners of his eyes. "Don't you get it yet? Because he doesn't trust you at all!"

"You stupid pig!"

"He figured that rather than waiting for you to confront me and risking me turning you against him again, it was better to just let me kill you."

"That way, the value of the recording in his hands would skyrocket!"

"You think he wouldn't record what I said?"

Ding Xunchun's face paled once more, but a moment later, another thought seemed to strike him. "Then why did you make a move against me?"

He looked up, staring at Quan Dazhong in disbelief. "Or are you not planning to kill me after all?"

"You could say that."

Quan Dazhong smiled. "Killing you doesn't seem to do me any good. Rejoice, Xunchun. At the very least, you get to live safely until the general election is over."

A trace of bewilderment flashed through Ding Xunchun's eyes.

Even though he was temporarily spared, he didn't feel thrilled. Being treated as a pawn in a game between these two felt incredibly awful.

Still, it was a reprieve...

Squelch.

Ding Xunchun stared down at his abdomen in disbelief.

"I have a story to tell you."

The Dagger that had appeared in Quan Dazhong's hand at some unknown point was plunged straight into Ding Xunchun's gut. Watching the man tremble with horrified eyes, he flashed a cruel grin. "The story is a bit long, but you should live long enough to hear the end of it."

"Quan Dazhong will definitely make a move."

Papa Rat held an apple with his two small paws and took a bite.

However, his small face was etched with a deep frown.

He had always believed that Quan Dazhong was unaware of the Origin Plants, but to his surprise, Quan Dazhong actually knew.

With things turning out like this, the situation was looking grim...

"I don't know if you still remember who the previous president was."

Quan Dazhong smiled. "You don't need to speak. Save your strength."

"I'll say it. It was Park Il-jae, right?"

"That guy was far more brutal than I am. He used armed suppression, gagged the public, and didn't care in the slightest about the feelings of the people in the Anthill."

"My mother died under the treads of his armored vehicles during a protest."

"She just went out to buy groceries, and she never came home."

Quan Dazhong's expression didn't change at all when he mentioned his mother. His tone was so light it sounded like he was discussing something entirely unrelated to him.

"My father... was a decent man, but that was about it. He didn't gamble, because he had no money to gamble with. He didn't drink Happy Water, because he couldn't afford it. Back then, people couldn't even afford clothes or shoes. Most robberies happened just to snatch the food right out of people's hands."

"He often suffered indignities outside but didn't dare vent on others, so he took it out on me."

"I had a big appetite. I was constantly hungry to begin with, and getting beaten only made me hungrier."

"So, eventually, I ate him."

After two seconds of silence, Quan Dazhong suddenly seemed to skip over a massive chunk of content, jumping straight to the end of the story.

Ding Xunchun gave a shudder.

Quan Dazhong chuckled. "I scraped by like that until I was in my thirties, and then I met him."

"That guy sought me out because I killed my own father."

"He said he needed a ruthless character. Otherwise, he couldn't beat Park Il-jae, and even if he won by some fluke, he wouldn't be able to clean up the mess left behind."

"He didn't just recruit me at the time; there were many others, like Liao Junliang. Of course, none of us knew about each other at first."

At this point, he looked at the terrified Ding Xunchun. That skeletal face seemed to be grinning. "You've figured it out, right?"

"That's right. Liao Junliang was also one of his creations."

"I don't know what that guy felt when you made your move against him, but when I found him in the elevator, I noticed he still had a smile on his face."

"That's the terrifying part about that guy. He's a true monster. He can discard everything for his goal, and the people he teaches become exactly like that."

Ding Xunchun's mind was a tangled mess.

He recalled Liao Junliang's final words, and two words suddenly echoed in his ears.

"Draw your blade."

"When a person is no longer understood by anyone, all they can do is swing their blade. Otherwise, the blade will be swung at them."

He was the one swinging the blade.

Liao Junliang was the one who went misunderstood, the one at whom the blade was swung.

When Liao Junliang died, he became the next Liao Junliang.

He suddenly felt that despite sitting in this position for so long, he had never truly understood the game.

This was a bottomless quagmire, and mired deep within it, he suddenly felt a chill.

Quan Dazhong roared with laughter. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes. When I first began to understand that guy, I had the exact same expression you have now, Xunchun."

"That guy led me up the ladder. He thought he had me completely under his control and wanted to use me as a puppet."

"But what he didn't know was that I'm far more ambitious than he ever was!"

He bared his sharp teeth. "I didn't want to be some puppet, nor did I want to be the man pulling the puppet's strings."

"I am simply me, Quan Dazhong."

"As my position rose higher and higher, more and more people joined my team."

"In the eyes of outsiders, my actions were entirely open and aboveboard. I refused to employ even the slightest conspiracy. Everyone called my victory a miracle, but what they didn't know was that it was all because that guy was operating in the shadows behind me."

"And then I succeeded."

Ding Xunchun felt his head spin. He knew his life was forfeit, but the doubts in his mind only multiplied. "So why exactly are you killing me?"

"What good does this do for you?"

If he died, the recording in his adversary's hands would double in value.

If he lived, he would only be locked up for a month.

"Because I don't like you."

Quan Dazhong beamed. "Because I despise you. You harbor treasonous intent!"

"And I am going to prove to him that just as I won last time, I'll do the same this time!"

"The recording? He'd better release it soon! I'll show him the consequences!"

He took out the Crystal that symbolized the Heavenly Kingdom Weapon and waved it in front of Ding Xunchun.

Ding Xunchun found it harder and harder to breathe.

"You... you're actually going to use the Heavenly Kingdom Weapon just to kill him?!"

Once a Heavenly Kingdom Weapon was activated, even with many buildings fortified by Weird Energy, half the district could be instantly wiped out.

"It's worth it."

Quan Dazhong's face hardened, as if this were a matter of the utmost gravity.

Ding Xunchun's eyes were already beginning to lose focus. He whispered, "He pushed you all the way to this position... What exactly did he do to you to make you hate him this much?"

Quan Dazhong maintained a cold expression and withdrew his hand from Ding Xunchun's abdomen. Suddenly, he froze. Then, in Ding Xunchun's fading vision, a seam split open down Quan Dazhong's back, accompanied by the sickening sound of tearing flesh.

A black cat.

A hideous, ferocious black cat.

Shedding its human skin, it appeared right before Ding Xunchun.

"I will kill him."

Quan Dazhong's face was filled with murderous intent, his voice incredibly hoarse.

Ding Xunchun's eyes went wide.

The president of Peace Heavenly Kingdom was a bionic species, only he could never completely shed this human skin.

This "rumor" was said to have originated from within Seven Stars.

But who could have ever imagined that it was actually true?

"That... that person... is the leader of Seven Stars..."

Leaving behind only those final words, Ding Xunchun died. He breathed his last, his eyes refusing to close.

"No, he isn't."

Quan Dazhong's expression was calm. He reached down and forced Ding Xunchun's eyelids shut.

"I am."

Having said that, he let out a long breath, as if he had finally unburdened himself of every secret locked in his heart. He walked behind his desk and took a seat.

Yes, the leader of Seven Stars.

The mastermind who had incited every incident within Peace Heavenly Kingdom was none other than his alternate identity.

In truth, a little thought revealed just what an absolutely perfect identity it was.

Assassinate those he couldn't openly move against, eliminate the plutocrats he couldn't legally touch, manufacture crises, and then resolve them to highlight his presidential competence and win the public's trust.

Coupled with amassing wealth and intelligence...

Heh, what a joke.

Big Rat, you lost last time, and you still won't win this time.

"Remember, you must find that one person you can trust no matter what."

This was the final "lesson" that wretched Rat had given him: "If the day comes when you reach a point where you cannot trust anyone, you won't be far from total defeat."

"And for now, I will temporarily serve as the person you can trust."

Disgusting!

Just thinking about it made Quan Dazhong want to vomit.

Even at the very end, that guy was still gaslighting him.

Truly sickening.

He rinsed his mouth with water and then sneered.

No one could be trusted. That was the key to his impending victory.

"This isn't going to be easy... Not easy at all..."

Boss Rat's face was fraught with worry.

He and Quan Dazhong were no longer the same two people from back then.

The resources currently in Quan Dazhong's hands couldn't be overcome with mere "petty tricks."

He tossed aside the apple core and reached down to brush off his suit. "Still, when the boat reaches the pier, it will naturally go straight."

Perhaps because he had finally made up his mind, his current mood was much calmer than before.

It was just that the brat ignoring his messages still left him feeling quite irritated.

Suddenly...

His gaze shifted. He hurriedly pulled a bag of dirt out from his pocket and placed it in front of him.

Countless glowing green spores materialized just outside the Weird Energy barrier surrounding his body.

This location was extremely close to an Origin Plant, so the vast majority of the spores came from the polluted pool right in front of him.

Normally, after drifting out from the Origin Plant, these spores would gradually scatter and become chaotic as distance increased. But things were different now. Some kind of energy tide seemed to be surging, compelling the spores to stream together in a specific direction. Even the force with which they pelted against his Weird Energy barrier had grown stronger.

"What is this...?"

Boss Rat scratched his head.

Had it not been for his unique mastery of Anomalous Energy Detection, even another Seventh Rank expert might not have sensed the shift.

Should he...?

Go take a look?

He stared in the direction the spores were flowing, his eyes flashing.

Peace Mansion.

Quan Dazhong stared at the changing flow of spores in front of him with ecstatic joy.

It appeared!

The signs of that lifeform had appeared once again!

Exactly as predicted!

It was a lifeform that operated on a pattern, much like the ebb and flow of the tides.

Without delay, he hastily tidied up the room and slipped out the back door.

"It's about to end."

Inside a certain building, Yan Jing's gaze was profound and dark.