54: Chapter 54 Ugly Ghost, Kneel Down

Wang Kun, along with his [Myriad Soul Annihilation Wave] which condensed endless resentment and half of his soul, completely vanished from this world like a smudge wiped away by an eraser. Not even a trace of residue remained.

The suffocating silence on the battlefield lasted for about three seconds.

Then, it was broken by a shrill, distorted scream.

“No—!!!”

It was Qin Weiwei.

She watched helplessly as Wang Kun—the important contact for her infiltration mission, a key combatant of the Thousand Faces Cult's allied forces, and an incredibly powerful Eight-Armed Corpse Demon in her eyes—was casually erased with a simple swipe by that suddenly appearing, god-of-slaughter-like phantom image of bai qi.

That wasn't a battle; it was a crushing defeat, a complete and certain erasure!

Extreme fear, like ice water, instantly drenched her entire body, freezing her limbs stiff. She looked at Lin Chen's profile beside her, which remained calm and even slightly bored, then at the phantom image of bai qi in front of him, whose blood-red eyes slowly scanned the battlefield like a god of death inspecting his domain. Qin Weiwei's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

She suddenly broke free from Lin Chen's grip, which had loosened slightly due to Wang Kun's instant kill (or perhaps he let her go on purpose), and fell to her knees on the cold city bricks with a thud. Her hands desperately grabbed Lin Chen's pant legs, tears and snot instantly covering her face. All her previous charm, all her calculations, and all her pretenses vanished in this moment, leaving only the most primal fear of death and instinct for survival.

“Brother! Brother Lin Chen! I was wrong! I truly know I was wrong!” she wailed, her voice hoarse. “I was forced! It was the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader! He used evil techniques to control me! I couldn't help myself, Brother!”

She lifted her tear-blurred face, trying to squeeze out a pitiful expression, but under extreme terror, that expression was only distorted and ridiculous.

“Look at our past feelings, for the sake of all those times I called you Brother, spare me! I beg you, spare me! I'm willing to do anything! I'll work like an ox or a horse! I'll be your most loyal servant! I know many secrets of the Thousand Faces Cult! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you all of it!”

She spoke incoherently, kowtowing desperately, her forehead hitting the city bricks with dull “thud” sounds, quickly becoming bruised and purple.

Lin Chen looked down at the woman at his feet, who was covered in tears and snot and looking utterly wretched. There wasn't a ripple of emotion in his eyes—neither anger nor pity—only a high-and-mighty, all-seeing indifference.

“Feelings?” He softly repeated the word, the corners of his mouth curling into a faint, cold arc. “Are you referring to the ‘feelings’ where you pretended to be my sister, gained my trust, then secretly drew a defense map of the Fortress and leaked it to the enemy, leading them to attack and wanting my life?”

Qin Weiwei's entire body shook violently. She snapped her head up, her eyes filled with disbelief.

How could he know so clearly?! He even knew about drawing the defense map?!

Lin Chen didn't give her time to think. He raised his hand, and at some point, a black crystal shimmering with an eerie light appeared in his palm—[Memory Fragment: Gift of the Greedy Ghost].

He casually tossed the crystal into the air.

The crystal floated up, its eerie light spreading, projecting clear moving images above the city wall—

It was Qin Weiwei in her room late at night, carefully drawing the structural diagram of the Fortress by a dim light;

It was her folding the drawn map into a paper bird, chanting an incantation, and the paper bird flapping its wings and flying out the window;

It was her meeting with a figure shrouded in black mist, whispering false intelligence about Lin Chen being “heavily injured”;

There was even a scene of her alone, gritting her teeth and cursing at the air, “That idiot Lin Chen deserves to be killed by the Thousand Faces Cult”...

Scene after scene, case after case, the evidence was as solid as a mountain!

“No! This isn't true! It's a fabrication! It's an illusion!” Qin Weiwei screamed in denial, her face as pale as a ghost, but her voice seemed so weak and powerless in the face of the concrete evidence.

Looking at those images, any trace of sympathy the soldiers on the city wall might have had for Qin Weiwei instantly vanished, replaced by burning rage and disdain.

“Pah! Traitor!”

“What a great performance!”

“Brother Chen, you can't spare her!”

Lin Chen ignored the soldiers' discussions. He bent down, reached out, and used two fingers to pinch Qin Weiwei's chin, forcing her to look up at him.

His movements seemed gentle, but the force from his fingertips made Qin Weiwei feel as if her jawbone was about to be crushed.

“Qin Weiwei, or rather, the ‘Painted-Skin Ghost’ of the Thousand Faces Cult,” Lin Chen's voice was calm, yet it carried a judge-like coldness, “your act ends here.”

Qin Weiwei's pupils dilated with despair. She saw the undisguised killing intent in Lin Chen's eyes.

“No... you can't kill me! If you kill me, the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader won't let you off! He's ten times more powerful than me! A hundred times!” She made a final struggle, trying to threaten him with the power behind her.

Lin Chen smiled, a smile filled with disdain.

“Don't worry,” he let go of her chin as if he had touched something filthy, casually took a cloth from a nearby Yin soldier, and slowly wiped his fingers. “I won't kill you.”

Qin Weiwei was stunned, and her eyes instantly erupted with a light of wild joy, as if she had caught the last straw: “Re... Really? Thank you! Thank you, Brother! I...”

“Because,” Lin Chen interrupted her. After wiping his hands, he tossed the cloth aside and looked toward the distant Thousand Faces Cult camp, his tone carrying a chilling mockery, “you still have one last bit of utility value.”

He paused, and as Qin Weiwei's gaze turned suspicious and uncertain again, he said slowly:

“I need someone to bring a ‘gift’ back to that sect leader of yours who hides his head and shows his tail.”

A gift?

An extremely ominous premonition rose in Qin Weiwei's heart.

A moment later, she knew what this “gift” was.

Lin Chen's gaze fell upon the remaining enemy troops on the battlefield below, who had completely lost their will to fight due to Wang Kun's death and Bai Qi's arrival, trembling in place like headless flies.

He pointed at those routed soldiers and calmly instructed the Yin Soldier Centurion standing by:

“Clean them up. Leave none alive.”

“As you command!”

The soul fire in the Yin Soldier Centurion's eye sockets flared up, and he waved the command flag in his hand.

The Yin soldier legion, which had long been ready, surged out of the Fortress gates like a black tide! They were silent, yet they carried a bone-chilling killing intent like that of the Netherworld, pouncing on the already terrified remnants!

This was no longer a battle; it was a harvest!

Wherever the Yin soldiers passed, whether they tried to resist or knelt to beg for mercy, all were torn apart by cold blades or eroded and annihilated by Yin baleful ghostly energy! Screams rose and fell, but they soon fell silent.

Qin Weiwei knelt on the city wall, watching this one-sided slaughter below with a cold body. She finally understood that Lin Chen's so-called “cleaning up” was to use the lives of these thousands of enemy troops as part of the “gift” he was sending to the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader!

Then, what about the other part?

She didn't dare think about it.

Soon, the slaughter below neared its end. The Yin soldiers began to silently clean up the battlefield and collect the spoils of war.

Lin Chen withdrew his gaze and looked back at the deathly pale Qin Weiwei, the spine-chilling arc at the corner of his mouth rising again.

“As for you,” he said leisurely, “you will be responsible for personally delivering this ‘great gift’ to your sect leader.”

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Two Yin soldiers stepped forward, one on each side, and hauled the limp Qin Weiwei up from the ground.

“No! Don't! Lin Chen! What exactly are you going to do to me?!” Qin Weiwei struggled frantically, her fear making her completely lose her composure.

Lin Chen didn't answer; he just waved his hand at the Yin soldiers.

The Yin soldiers understood and, dragging the screaming Qin Weiwei, walked toward the interior of the Fortress, headed straight for—the special teleportation point inside the Underworld Fortress that connected to the Netherworld!

Lin Chen was going to... teleport her directly in front of the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader?!

How was this sending a gift? This was blatant provocation! It was killing the heart!

One could imagine how furious the Thousand-Faced Sect Leader would be when he saw the terrified Qin Weiwei and learned the news that the frontline army, including Wang Kun, had been completely wiped out!

Lin Chen stood on the city wall, watching the direction where the Yin soldiers had disappeared with Qin Weiwei, then looked at the battlefield below being rapidly cleared, and at the phantom image of bai qi standing like a rock beside him. He let out a soft breath.

This battle was won.

Won cleanly and decisively, won effortlessly.

He raised his hand and looked at his slender fingers, as if he could see through his skin to the nearly infinite nether talismans flowing within the system.

Power—this was the pleasure brought by absolute power.

All schemes, all resistance, were paper tigers in the face of absolute “pay-to-win” power.

He turned around, ready to order the repair of the city walls and reward the troops.

Next, it was time to meet that so-called “younger brother,” and... explore that mysterious Ancient Netherworld.

New challenges seemed even more interesting.