135: Chapter 135 I'd rather be ashes than a charlatan

The roar of the red star crashing to the ground was deeper than thunder, making Chen Fan’s eardrums ache.

He looked up at the blood-colored fireball, his throat tightening—Su Shuang’s words "Don't trust the light" were still stuck in his heart like a red-hot iron poker.

"Buzz—"

A burning sting suddenly shot from his dantian.

Chen Fan stumbled half a step, instinctively pressing his hand against his chest.

The Star-patterned Jade Pendant there was glowing a ghostly blue as it absorbed Su Shuang’s residual blood; blue flame surged along his skin’s lines up to his neck, exploding into a star map before his eyes.

His pupils constricted—the dense red dots on the star map were flickering at 0.8-second intervals, each corresponding to the trajectory of sparks splashing from the red star.

"Is this... the system's simulation?" He panted, his molars grinding together.

The last time the critical hit system upgraded was when he killed the Wolf King in the Silver Dungeon, but this star map was clearer than any skill prompt; even the dark shadow of the Light Erosion Judge diving from the clouds was marked as a dark red dot.

"Chen Fan!" The Light Erosion Judge's voice exploded, laced with the sound of grinding metal.

The Shadow Guard's Glazed Armor shimmered a cold white in the red light, and the light blade condensing at his fingertips was aimed straight at Chen Fan’s throat—it was a "Scavenger" weapon specially provided by the system to break a player’s obsession.

Chen Fan didn't dodge.

He stared at the red dot representing the Light Erosion Judge's attack trajectory on the star map, sidestepping at the last 0.1 seconds as the light blade grazed his ear, slicing off a lock of hair.

The recoil of the Heart Returning Blast surged up from the soles of his feet; he used this momentum to leap into the air, his right punch wrapped in critical hit system energy as he slammed it into the seam of the Light Erosion Judge's shoulder armor—the weak point marked in red on the star map.

"Crack!"

The Glazed Armor shattered into a flurry of silver shards.

The Light Erosion Judge was sent crashing into the Sixth Gate, a web-like crack appearing on his visor.

Chen Fan was about to follow up with another punch when he saw the Shadow Guard raise his hand, the light blade at his fingertips trembling: "We... also wanted to live." Before he could finish, the light seemed to be drained from him, and he dissipated into the wind as silver-gray ash.

Chen Fan hung in mid-air, the critical hit system energy on his fist gradually fading.

He looked at where the Light Erosion Judge had disappeared, his throat bobbing—that voice sounded too much like the dying whispers of Old Zhang from the construction site, just like the pleas for mercy from those players before being erased by the system.

"The Seventh Gate? No, it's the sixth," Yun Que's voice came from below.

Chen Fan looked down and saw the blind girl holding Su Shuang as she retreated to a corner; Su Shuang’s fingertips were still hooked on Yun Que's sleeve, like a leaf that could drift away at any moment.

"Boom—"

The Sixth Gate suddenly let out a dull thud.

The words "Selflessness" on the door panel seeped black mist, and an old woman's voice rose from the mist: "Are you willing to forsake yourself to gain eternal life?" As soon as Chen Fan landed, the scene before him changed—he was wearing a gold-embroidered red robe, standing on the command deck of an Alien Mothership, with billions of people kneeling at his feet, system interfaces floating above their heads showing "Loyalty 99%."

"You have finally become order itself," the system's mechanical voice boomed overhead.

Chen Fan looked down and saw a scepter in his hand; the blue flame at its tip was exactly Su Shuang's Fox Clan Fire Seed.

He suddenly laughed, the sound shaking dust from the mothership's ceiling: "I didn't cry when three of my ribs were broken while hauling bricks at the construction site, and I didn't flinch when the foreman docked my pay and I had to huddle under a bridge eating steamed buns. I didn't trigger a thousand critical hits just to sit here and be a puppet!"

He swung the scepter and smashed it into the ground.

The energy of the Heart Returning Blast exploded in his palm, the triple recoil directly flipping half the mothership over.

The red-robed Chen Fan in the illusion retreated in terror, only to be burned to ashes by the blue flame.

When the black mist dissipated, Chen Fan was kneeling on the solid ground, blood still seeping from the wound on his left shoulder, but his smile was brighter than the red star: "Mist Crone, I got this question right!"

"The Seventh Gate," Bai Qi's voice came from deeper within.

Chen Fan looked up and saw that the old man's Star-dial Staff was down to half its length, stardust falling at his feet like a handful of crushed diamonds.

The crack in the sky grew wider, and the light from the red star leaked in, dyeing Bai Qi's white hair blood-red.

"If you take another step, the heavenly punishment will incinerate your divine consciousness," Bai Qi's hand was shaking. "That is not a trial, it is..."

"It's because you're afraid I'll see through your broken sieve," Chen Fan wiped the blood from his face and walked toward the Seventh Gate step by step.

He could feel his memories slipping away—what did the osmanthus tea Su Shuang brewed yesterday taste like?

Was the cement he hauled at the construction site the day before yesterday No. 325 or No. 425?

But as long as he touched the jade pendant at his chest, he could remember the flutter of Su Shuang’s eyelashes when she said "Don't trust the light," and the scent of jasmine drifting through the Teahouse when she first smiled at him.

"As long as I still remember her name is Su Shuang, I am not your pawn," he said to the door.

The door opened.

Mirrored walls rose from the ground, each reflecting a version of Chen Fan: one wearing Scavenger armor, one holding a butcher's knife, and one sitting at a system console typing on a keyboard.

In the center mirror, "he" wore a star-patterned dharma robe, the sword shadow of the Star Breaker spinning at his fingertips: "You won, so come and be the new system."

Chen Fan stared into the eyes of the man in the mirror—they were as black as his, just as bloodshot, but there was no shadow of Su Shuang in them, no smell of construction site dust, and no resentment from being called "stinking laborer" by the foreman.

He suddenly roared, his voice making the mirrors hum: "I’d rather be ashes than a charlatan!"

He gathered all the critical hit system energy into his fist; the recoil of the Heart Returning Blast wasn't directed outward, but slammed into his own chest.

Intense pain surged like a tide, and his vision went dark, but he saw the illusion in the mirror crack like a spiderweb.

The star map overhead reversed, the jade pendant and the qingqiu jade clicked together as one, and the sword shadow of the Star Breaker emerged from the void, the inscriptions on the blade glowing with blue light as if chanting some ancient battle song.

Bai Qi knelt.

The broken Star-dial Staff fell to the ground, and the stardust no longer fell, but instead flew toward Chen Fan: "What you conquered was not a trial... it was the 'god' you were meant to become."

The clouds suddenly split open.

Chen Fan looked up and saw the core of the Sky City—it wasn't the palace he had imagined, but a giant upside-down coffin.

The coffin was covered in names, some he recognized, like Old Zhou who was erased by the system to save his teammates in the Silver Dungeon; some he didn't recognize, their names glowing with a faint blue at the edges, as if they were still struggling to come back to life.

"This isn't a sanctuary... it's the grave of the previous rebels," Yun Que's voice was as soft as a sigh.

She walked to Chen Fan's side holding Su Shuang, the bloody tears in her blind eyes already dry. "The Starlight Tower is the same; they seal the souls of rebels in coffins and call it 'purification'."

Chen Fan looked at the center of the coffin.

A ball of ghostly blue light flickered there, resonating with the jade pendant at his chest.

The critical hit system suddenly vibrated, and a notification exploded in his mind: [High-dimensional synchronized signal detected. Source: Residual soul within the coffin].

He clenched his fist, and the blue flame of the Fox Clan Fire Seed rose in his palm, burning the back of his hand red: "Since they're all graves, then this time, I'm going to turn it into a birthplace."

Before he finished speaking, a crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the giant coffin.

Chen Fan looked up and saw silver light seeping from the crack—as if some ancient mechanism had been activated, or as if something was slowly rising from the darkness.