You're Going to Die

Clashes at the Dome Leaderboard level often defied common physical sense, far beyond what the naked eyes of ordinary men could follow. At this moment, suddenly hearing the agonizing wails, fighters on both sides across the battlefield gradually stopped and turned back. For the moment, none of them understood what had just happened over there. Just moments ago, it had clearly been Alphonse pressing an inescapable killing offensive. Yet now, clutching the right shoulder where his arm had been severed, he was thrashing and howling on the ground. That right arm of his, still gripping a short sword, lay tossed aside, withered and shriveled like a lotus root baked dry under the blazing sun away from water. Blood, red tinged with fly-wing blue, splattered across the ground. *Bang!* On the other side, Han Qingyu's backward momentum did not stop, and he slammed heavily against the thick dead iron plating that had been stripped bare of mud. He was covered in blood, his body appearing limp and drained of strength, particularly his left arm, now freed of its bandages, which hung limp and unable even to grip a blade. Yet his feet were still straining forward to hold him up while his back pressed hard against the wall—like a stubborn child determined to declare "I won," refusing to collapse and insisting on saying it on his feet. The dead iron wall was slicker than earth and stone. In the end, he failed to keep his footing, slumping down hard onto his rear... Raising his head as his chest heaved in violent, agonizing spasms, Han Qingyu offered a weak and awkward smile toward the distance. His teeth were stained with blood, and blood surged from his mouth. Then his head lowered slowly, leaving only the sound of labored, strained breaths. In truth, at this moment right after the reversal, Han Qingyu's overall condition was no better than that of Alphonse lying on the ground minus an arm. The life source energy devoured from Alphonse's body using Alphonse's own specialty had been rejected by the bone source; it had achieved nothing at all. Having forced out that burst of power, Han Qingyu was now near the end of his tether. Had this still been one-on-one, and had Alphonse been ruthless and brave enough, there would have even been an excellent opportunity for him to kill Han Qingyu just now. But that did not happen. Perhaps because of the loss of his arm, having gone so long without suffering an injury of this magnitude, and because Wu Xu and the others were right outside, Alphonse appeared to have already judged himself defeated. When Wu Xu and the others shifted their horizontal formation into a column, extending inward to secure the position, the outcome was sealed. "Qingzi." "Qingzi?" In uncharacteristically gentle and cautious tones, Wen Jifei and Rusty Sister each called out, keeping a wary eye on Alphonse on the ground and his men flanking either side. *Drip, drip. Hah, hah.* "...Yeah," Han Qingyu looked up, leaning against the wall as he responded. Then, bracing with his back, he pushed against the wall and slowly stood up. The liquid source energy had fully replenished and begun repairing his body, and the bone source was gathering anew. Han Qingyu still possessed formidable recovery powers—while inferior to Wu Xu's, they were nonetheless beyond ordinary comprehension. For instance, his left arm had truly been ruined moments ago. Later, it had recovered a fraction. After delivering that slash, it was ruined once more, and seemed even worse this time. Steadied against the wall, Han Qingyu tested taking a step forward. With just that one step, Alphonse whipped his head around to glare at him. Struggling violently, he crawled forward on his remaining left arm until he bumped against the base of the wall. Only then did he sit up, turning to press his back against the wall, watching him with terror in his eyes. "I only want to live," Alphonse said as his opening words. The entire area fell silent, everyone turning toward Han Qingyu. "Oh." Han Qingyu seemed reluctant to respond at first, pausing in hesitation before answering, "But three years ago, my teammates who died on the plateau wanted to live too. They survived by the skin of their teeth through battle after battle against the Great Spikes. "All the young geniuses who died here over the past decades wanted to live too. The dreams they held to uphold humanity were never realized. I think, even if they had to die, they would have wanted to die on the battlefield holding the open skies. I don't know how many names among them were meant to become heroes of humanity, but there must have been many..." As Han Qingyu spoke, he took another step forward, dragging his blade. "Right, there's a man in the City of Iniquity named Shu You. He asked me to pass along a message: back then, on the Antarctic expedition fleet, there was an ordinary Grade B warrior named Solyou. He had a debt of blood, and asked me to collect it on his behalf." "No, you are mistaken, Major Qing," Alphonse shook his head, surprisingly calm. "They are merely bugs. In the coming era, except for people like us, everyone else is a bug." Those words stunned everyone present. "I don't know what you truly are, but you possess my specialty. That means your Yanxiu state likely shares the very same flaw as mine, doesn't it? Perhaps you haven't realized it yourself yet. "Compared to other Yanxiu, we don't have long lives. It isn't fair... I had no choice. I only want to live," Alphonse continued. Han Qingyu looked at him in silence. "Can you understand?" Because of this, Alphonse pressed earnestly. "I can. Wanting to survive—there's nothing wrong with that," Han Qingyu nodded. Alphonse's eyes lit up. "Honestly, if you ate shit every day just to survive, I could understand. I wouldn't look down on you; I'd even wish you good health, a long life, optimism, and fortitude." Han Qingyu said slowly: "But you eat people! "You devour those fools who shout about fighting for all that breathes, with no retreat in battle—and who actually go out and do it!" Finished speaking, Han Qingyu raised a hand to keep Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, and the others from approaching. He continued forward, raising the blade in his hand. This finishing blow still had to be delivered by him. Not out of an obsession with killing Alphonse with his own hands, but because he knew all too well how terrifying the desperate burst of the Dome Leaderboard's fifth rank could be. Seeing him approach, Alphonse shifted further back against the wall, the look in his eyes shifting as if, before making his final stand, he still wanted to try one last thing. He said: "I can teach you." "Teach me what?" "The way to eternal life." "Have you achieved it?" "Not yet, but I'm on the path, closing in! I have a method to sustain myself, and in the end I can attain eternal life..." Alphonse spoke rapidly, desperately. Yet Han Qingyu cut him off. "No. You're going to die," he said. *Kong-clack!* In that split second, the unexpected occurred. Just as everyone was waiting for the final clash between the two, and Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, and the others were poised to leap in at any second... The dead iron wall behind Alphonse suddenly sprang upward. This iron wall was far thicker than the one Wu Xu and the others had encountered earlier—perhaps nearly ten meters thick. The iron wall shot up only to crash back down, leaving Wu Xu and the others almost no time to react. In that instant, Alphonse's figure shot backward like lightning, darting right into the passageway. No one had anticipated this twist... Perhaps this was what Ne meant by the struggles of a man so utterly degraded; to live, Alphonse had prepared everything down to the finest detail, and would do anything. The descending iron wall, crashing down amid thunderous roars, weighed perhaps tens of thousands of jin. A streak of blue light chased inside—it was the large blue light column sword that had remained by the corner of the wall. A figure darted in right behind it—Han Qingyu. "You must die," his voice rang out. At the same time, another streak of blue light carried another figure in pursuit. ... Now that the situation had shifted and Han Qingyu could match Alphonse on his own, holding a slight advantage even, he naturally wouldn't go without bringing a helper—so long as he kept that person safely behind him. He had chosen to bring Rusty Sister. First, because the window of opportunity was fleeting: with dead iron weapons alone, he couldn't pull Wu Xu along that fast, whereas Rusty Sister had the small column sword on her. Second, Rusty Sister wasn't afraid of Alphonse's devouring specialty, making her useful. "Rusty Sister." In the tunnel ahead, Alphonse was fleeing frantically. Steering the two column swords in hot pursuit, Han Qingyu turned his head to offer a few instructions: "In a moment, you—" He and He Tangtang stared blankly at each other. He Tangtang was clutching the small blue light column sword to his chest, hair and gaze equally disheveled, staring at him in bewilderment. Here was how it happened: when breaching the wall earlier, it had been Wu Xu wielding the small column sword. When they landed, He Tangtang had been the first to charge forward, and Wu Xu had pulled him back. Unaccustomed to column swords, Wu Xu had tossed it behind him and drawn his spear to join the fight. He Tangtang had picked up the small column sword.