73: A fatal choice! Killing is salvation? Not killing is destruction?

Just as Xi Xi’s clear voice shouted “National Celebration Day,” a sudden change occurred!

It wasn't an explosion, nor was it the flash of a blade. Instead, it was something formless and intangible, yet more terrifying than any weapon—Sorrow.

Behind the trash can, Chen Mo raised his head. In the depths of his lifeless eyes, a chasm leading to hell opened.

The boundless sorrow, enough to weigh the entire world and blessed by the Demon God Ziche, erupted like a black flood breaking its dam, with him at its center!

Buzz—!

A visible, gray-black ripple spread across the entire square!

The rainbow in the sky faded. The joyful anthem became twisted and mournful.

The tens of thousands of fervent and happy faces in the square froze simultaneously the moment this ripple swept over them!

An emotion forgotten for countless ages, defined as “original sin,” began to proliferate wildly in their hearts like a virus.

They didn't know what it was; they only felt as if an invisible hand was clutching their hearts.

An uncontrollable urge to cry welled up.

“The foundation of the Happiness Field has been shaken!”

“Now is the time! For our deceased family members!”

The Hawk Faction Leader let out a beast-like roar. He ignited the pre-prepared high-explosive core, etched with runes of mourning.

He charged towards the high platform like a vengeful meteor, fearless of death!

On the high platform, Chief Minister Le Blanc’s pupils suddenly contracted!

‘Damn rats!’ she cursed inwardly.

Yet, she maintained a composed smile on her face. She didn't rush to protect Xi Xi immediately.

Instead, with a flick of her wrist, a colorful ribbon woven from pure “happiness energy” instantly wrapped around her, forming a perfect shield.

Then, she issued a cold and sharp command: “Happiness Protocol · Highest Level! Purify all ‘expression abnormals’!”

Boom!!!

The Hawk Faction Leader detonated himself as he approached the high platform.

The violent explosion unleashed a terrifying shockwave. Xi Xi screamed, thrown to the ground by the blast, her magnificent princess dress covered in dust.

She was stunned, staring blankly at the crowd below. She saw it.

She saw that the smiles had vanished from the faces of her cheering subjects, replaced by an expression she had never seen before, twisted and pained.

She watched as the Happiness Guard, like drawn blades, rushed into the crowd, brutally injecting glowing “happiness injections” into the necks of those who weren't smiling.

Thus, a series of horrifying scenes unfolded.

People wept silently while letting out neurotic, uncontrollable laughter.

Why?

Xi Xi’s little mind couldn't comprehend it at all. Why did the celebration explode? Why weren't people smiling anymore? Why were the guards hurting them?

As she was lost in thought, a shadow, like ink seeping from the void, silently appeared behind her.

It was Shadow Empress Ye Liuli!

The dagger in her hand, imbued with law-breaking poison, cut through the air with cold killing intent, aiming directly for Xi Xi’s fair nape!

“Buzz—!”

A whooshing sound echoed. The moment Xi Xi felt a fatal threat, the core instinct of the Happiness Field was triggered!

A torrent of pink law, a hundred times stronger than before, powerful enough to annihilate souls, erupted from Xi Xi’s body, striking Ye Liuli, who was within arm's reach, like divine punishment!

Ye Liuli’s expression changed. She couldn't block this power!

In the nick of time, a golden radiance, faster than the torrent of law, enveloped the area.

It was Gu Yanci. He had ascended the high platform at some unknown point. He didn't look at the world-destroying pink energy.

He merely gazed calmly at the frightened Xi Xi, and in a voice seemingly imbued with all of human civilization, epic and profound, he slowly spoke: “In the name of humanity, I grant you sorrow.”

As he spoke, the law followed!

His humanistic divine power didn't forcefully resist; instead, it acted like a key, precisely “unlocking” the underlying logic of the Happiness Field!

The moment the violent pink torrent touched the golden radiance, it dissipated into nothingness as if an illusion!

The law was temporarily shielded!

Time seemed to stand still at this moment. The smile on Le Blanc’s face cracked for the first time, and she stared at Gu Yanci in shock.

The Happiness Guard’s movements faltered because their highest code of conduct had encountered a paradox.

And Ye Liuli’s dagger stopped steadily before Xi Xi’s neck. The sharp blade had already broken her tender skin, a trace of blood seeping out.

The entire scene was silent. Xi Xi didn't cry, nor did she beg for mercy.

She merely raised her pure, innocent, and bewildered eyes, looking at the black-clad older sister radiating a cold aura before her.

With a childish voice tinged with a hint of grievance, she asked the question that made the whole world seem absurd: “Why… don’t you smile?”

Xi Xi’s utterly innocent question, like an invisible needle, pierced through the violent and chaotic facade of the scene, causing time to fall into an eerie stagnation at this moment.

Yes, why not smile?

This question, like a curse, echoed in everyone’s hearts, prying open their memories sealed by reality.

Chief Minister Le Blanc’s smile once again showed an undisguisable rigidity. In the depths of her cold eyes, a childhood scene she had long buried resurfaced like a ghost… a dark, damp alley.

It reeked of rotting food. Young her hid behind a trash can, watching her parents huddled in a corner.

Her father looked exhausted from working thirty hours straight. Her mother, unable to find food, looked at her hungry daughter with heartache, turning away to secretly wipe a tear.

Just then, Happiness Guards in white uniforms appeared, bringing “happiness.”

“Detected B-level mental pollution, abnormal expression.”

“Detected A-level mental pollution, appearance of contraband ‘tears’.”

Cold pronouncements rang out. She watched helplessly as her parents were pinned to the ground.

The cold metal “Eternal Smile Correctors” were forcibly installed on their faces, cruelly pulling their mouths upwards, fixing them into a perpetually weeping smile.

At that moment, extreme fear and sorrow overwhelmed her. She didn't cry.

She didn't even dare to show a hint of sadness. She used all her strength to flash the most brilliant, sweetest, and most impeccable smile at those white devils.

She survived. From that day on, she understood.

In this world, sorrow was original sin, tears were a death sentence, and a “smile” was the only pass, the sharpest weapon, the only ladder to the pinnacle of power!

She wanted to become the rule-maker. She wanted everyone to wear the same “smile mask” as her parents!

…Fragments of memory pulled her back to reality. The shock in Le Blanc’s eyes had transformed into bone-chilling killing intent.

She didn't want to kill assassins, but all ill-intentioned heretics who dared to challenge the “Smile Law” upon which she depended for survival!

And at the center of the explosion, in the Hawk Faction Leader’s rapidly dissipating soul, echoed his wife’s final scream.

His wife, merely because on their wedding anniversary, she looked at the withered flowers he had given her, remembered their prematurely departed son, and shed a tear of remembrance.

Because of that single tear, she was deemed a “severe virus carrier.”

Before his eyes, she was burned to ashes by a high concentration of “happiness injection.”

His battle was not about ideals, nor about the future. He only wanted revenge, in the most tragic way, to tear open a wound of sorrow in this land of false joy!

Meanwhile, a young Happiness Guard, eyes red, injected a “contaminated” person with a pained expression. In his mind was the image of his younger sister.

The girl who once cut her wrists due to depression had, under the embrace of the Happiness Field, transformed into the carefree, eternally happy angel she was today.

In his eyes, these assassins who created chaos and spread sorrow were devils who sought to destroy his sister and the happiness of this beautiful world!

He wasn't committing violence; he was saving! He was defending hard-won happiness!

The public in the square felt even more so. Their brains had long been formatted by “happiness.”

They watched the standoff on the high platform, filled with confusion and anger.

They couldn't understand why anyone would reject happiness, why anyone would destroy this perfect celebration?

In their eyes, the Joint Squad and the Grief Front were an incomprehensible group of madmen.

Avengers, guardians, ambitious individuals, the ignorant… everyone’s will, everyone’s tragedy, everyone’s obsession, all converged on the high platform at this moment.

Gu Yanci watched all of this calmly. The golden domain constructed by his humanistic divine power isolated the external clamor.

The past, present, and future of these people were as clear to him as lines on his palm.

He knew this was no longer merely an assassination, but the “infection” that followed the lancing of a festering boil.

Through the mental link, the other members of the Joint Squad also felt these surging emotional fragments.

Their once clear mission objective now felt incredibly heavy.

Ye Liuli’s hand, clutching the dagger, trembled slightly for the first time.

She looked at Xi Xi’s still bewildered eyes, then glanced at Gu Yanci, who was as calm as a god beside her.

A thought arose in her mind: ‘Are we… saving this world, or destroying it?’

To kill, or not to kill?

This question was no longer solely about the success or failure of the mission.