49: Chapter 49 Showdown

"Brother, let me explain!"

Qin Weiwei was pinned against the city wall by two nether soldiers. Her hair was disheveled, and her white dress was covered in stains. She wept piteously, the self-destruction rune on her chest still faintly glowing.

"The Sect Leader forced me! He poisoned me with a Gu parasite; if I didn't obey, I would die!"

She struggled to pull open her collar, revealing a wriggling black mark at her collarbone.

In the distance, the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader shook his head frantically, his eight eyes filled with terror: "Nonsense! You were clearly the one who sought me out!"

Lin Chen sat on a grand armchair, leisurely cracking melon seeds.

"Continue." He spat out a seed shell. "I love watching dog-eat-dog fights."

Qin Weiwei crawled forward two steps, her voice sorrowful: "Brother, believe me! I really was forced! That old monster threatened me with my whole family's lives..."

"Didn't your whole family die a long time ago?" Lin Chen raised an eyebrow. "A car accident last year, remember?"

Qin Weiwei froze, her tears flowing even harder: "It... it was my foster parents..."

"You were abandoned at the orphanage gates at age three. Where did foster parents come from?"

"..."

A silence fell over the city wall, broken only by Qin Weiwei's heavy breathing.

She suddenly stopped crying.

The pitiful expression on her face shattered like a mask, revealing a hideous hatred beneath.

"That's right, I just want you dead." She slowly stood up, her eyes venomous. "From the day you refused to acknowledge me, I swore I would destroy you!"

Lin Chen smiled. "That's more like it. Acting is so exhausting."

He snapped his fingers, and a holographic projection appeared in the air—

It was the scene of Qin Weiwei swearing an oath before the Thousand Faces Cult altar:

"I, Qin Weiwei, hereby swear to take Lin Chen's life!"

"Once successful, the Thousand Faces Cult will help me rebuild the Qin family!"

Then came the footage of her poisoning Lin Chen's tea;

Surveillance of her stealing the defense maps;

Audio recordings of her conspiring with various factions...

Instance by instance, piece by piece, everything was made public.

The captives below the city wall watched, dumbfounded.

"I never thought she'd be so vicious!"

"She acted so well!"

"Bah! Ungrateful wolf!"

Qin Weiwei's face was deathly pale, but she suddenly let out a cold laugh:

"You think you've won?"

"Look at what this is!"

She violently tore open the skin on her chest and pulled out a beating heart from her flesh. The heart was as black as ink, its surface covered in blood-colored runes.

"The Heart of Malice!" the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader screamed. "When did she refine that?!"

Qin Weiwei laughed maniacally: "Lin Chen! This heart is linked to your bloodline! If I die, don't even think about living!"

She squeezed the heart with force—

Nothing happened.

The heart continued to beat normally in her hand, without even a single crack.

"How is this possible?!" Qin Weiwei frantically pounded the heart. "Explode! Explode already!"

Lin Chen sighed and pulled an identical black heart from his pocket:

"You mean this?"

"I swapped it for a pig's heart last night, fresh from the slaughter."

He casually tossed the heart to Zhang Hao. "Go grill it, it's an extra dish for tonight."

Qin Weiwei stared at her empty chest, then at the heart in Zhang Hao's hand. She was completely stunned.

"Oh right," Lin Chen added, "when you were swapping the defense maps, didn't you notice 'Copyright Reserved, Infringement Will Be Prosecuted' printed on the back?"

He tapped on the system:

[Intellectual property infringement detected]

[Infringing Party: Qin Weiwei]

[Compensation Amount: 100 million nether talismans]

The number on Qin Weiwei's wrist instantly changed to [-100,000,000].

"And the cup you used for the poison," Lin Chen continued, "was bought from my ceramics shop. Tenfold compensation for fakes."

[Consumer fraud, fined 5 million nether talismans]

"The paper birds you used to transmit intelligence are from the courier company I invested in."

[Commercial espionage, fined 10 million nether talismans]

"Even the clothes you just tore were custom-made at my clothing store."

[Willful damage of property, fined 2 million nether talismans]

Watching her debts skyrocket, Qin Weiwei finally broke down completely.

"Aaaaaaah—!!!"

She rushed toward the edge of the city wall like a madwoman, wanting to jump off.

She only ran two steps before being bounced back by an invisible wall.

[Triggered 'Attempted Suicide Tax': Fined 10 million nether talismans]

She collapsed on the ground, crying and laughing at the same time:

"Just kill me... please kill me..."

Lin Chen crouched down and wiped his hands with the fabric she had just torn:

"Remember, in this place, your life is mine."

"Without my permission, you don't even have the right to die."

He summoned the nether soldiers:

"Take her to the Super-Grade Repentance Room."

"Let her experience what it truly means to wish for death."

By the time Qin Weiwei was dragged away, her eyes were completely hollow.

The Thousand-Faced Sect Leader watched this scene, all eight of his arms trembling:

"De... Demon... You are a demon..."

Lin Chen turned to look at him. "Your turn."

The holographic projection switched—

Letters of the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader conspiring with various forces;

A list of the suicide agents he had secretly trained;

The treasures he had hidden in various places...

There was even footage of him secretly writing in his diary every night:

[Was humiliated by Lin Chen again today, was so angry I ate three bowls of rice]

[Secretly practicing a hundred ways to curse Lin Chen]

[Dreamed that Lin Chen called me 'Daddy,' woke up laughing]

The captives wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

The Thousand-Faced Sect Leader's old face turned beet red. "That... that was sleep-talking! It doesn't count!"

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow. "Then what about the private stash of money you hid under the latrine?"

The projection showed the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader secretly counting a bundle of nether talismans, then stuffing the money under a brick in the cesspool.

"That's... that's..." the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader stammered.

"That's the travel money you prepared for your escape." Lin Chen finished for him. "A pity..."

He tapped the system:

[Illegal concealment of assets detected]

[Confiscating all illicit funds: 3.52 million nether talismans]

[Additional fine: 10 million nether talismans]

The Thousand-Faced Sect Leader watched as his last savings were cleared to zero, let out a scream, and fainted.

Lin Chen waved to the nether soldiers. "Wake him up, let him continue working to pay off his debt."

Having dealt with the two moles, he looked at the other captives:

"Anyone else want to try being a mole?"

"Surrender now for a 50% discount on penalties."

The captives were so scared they all knelt down together:

"We wouldn't dare!"

"In life we are the Fortress's people, in death we are the Fortress's ghosts!"

"Boss, please monitor us at any time!"

Just then, the system notification sounded:

[Ding! Hidden quest 'Purge the Moles' completed]

[Reward: Netherworld Pass x1]

[New Map 'Blood-Colored Nether River' unlocked]

A black card appeared in Lin Chen's hand, engraved with an eerie pattern of the Nether River.

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly:

"Finally, I can take a trip to the Netherworld."

Suddenly, Qin Weiwei, who had been dragged to the stairwell, jerked her head up:

"You can't go! There is..."

Before she could finish, a bolt of heavenly thunder crashed down, charring her to a crisp.

[Secondary leak of secrets, executed]

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow.

Another one trying to stop him from going to the Netherworld.

It seemed the secrets there were not small.

He put away the pass and said to Zhang Hao:

"Get ready, we leave tomorrow."

"Remember to bring the POS machine."

Zhang Hao was stunned. "Going to the Netherworld... and we need a POS machine?"

Lin Chen smiled:

"Of course."

"I hear the ghosts there are particularly fond of defaulting on their debts."