So This Is What Hatred Feels Like

Before the prison break, Yaxiu had met Ronald alone in the cafeteria once. Ronald was merely a tool to him, but it would be false to say Yaxiu felt not even a shred of pity. For that reason, Yaxiu had once probed Ronald about his plans after the escape—whether he would simply part ways with Langna or assassinate him. If it was the latter, Yaxiu could have reached a consensus with him—regardless of the circumstances, after fulfilling Harvey's contract, the escaped convicts were bound to fight amongst themselves first. It had nothing to do with interests or grudges; it was purely a matter of trust. When you couldn't be certain whether someone else would strike to harm you, you had to strike first. Facing a crowd of death row convicts who had crawled out of a cesspool, it was always right to assume the worst, filthiest, and scummiest motives from them, because they, too, judged decent people by their own scumbag hearts. If Ronald needed it, Yaxiu could have secretly coordinated with Igola and Harvey so that the four of them could focus their firepower on Langna when they fell out. After all, the bald werewolf was indeed the strongest among them in combat prowess, and belonging to the ruling Moon Shadow race only gave everyone all the more reason to take him down. Yet Ronald had explicitly refused Yaxiu's kindness. He was grateful for Yaxiu's help and proposal, but he adamantly refused to let Yaxiu and the others meddle in his affairs. It wasn't that Yaxiu looked down on Ronald, but for a gang hitman to actually have principles when it came to killing was a bit too absurd. Ronald hadn't explained much either, merely shaking his head and stating that an intervention by Yaxiu and the others would only ruin his revenge. "I must make Langna feel true agony." ... Ahead was Gerard swinging the Blade of Ruin; behind was Ronald, harboring a long-calculated hatred. Langna's expression held neither sorrow nor joy; he merely tilted his head slightly when he heard the whistling wind of the steel pellet. Then, a shadow descended. *Pfft!* Gerard's chainsword actually ground to a halt after cutting into a person. He felt the miracle-infused blade bite as if into the hardest metal, the thickest mire, all its power absorbed by the frail frame before him. And this bizarre sensation of impact... Splattering blood whipped across Langna's face like a scalding lash. Looking at the figure shielding him, he lowered his eyelids slightly. The reason Ronald had been able to become a "Gold Beak" while merely possessing the strength of a One-Wing Sorcerer was that he had obtained an esoteric faction in the Void Realm that allowed him to craft disposable steel pellets equivalent to artifact spirits. Through meticulous preparation, the destructive force of these pellets could match Two Wings, naturally allowing him to assassinate Two-Winged Sorcerers by catching them off guard. Among them was a pellet called the "Blink Steel Pellet," which allowed Ronald to teleport to its location. During the time following their escape, Langna had gone to great lengths to help Ronald gather the materials for a Blink Steel Pellet and refine one—Ronald's old safe houses where he stored his gear had long since been demolished, confiscated, and auctioned off by the Sin Hunting Hall. There were far too many moments where this Blink Steel Pellet could have been used; for instance, just moments ago, three critical junctures had arisen where he should have used it to disengage, yet Ronald hadn't used it. He had chosen to use it here. As Gerard pulled back his chainsword, Ronald collapsed backward like a clump of mud. Langna caught him, the wound gushing blood to reveal the grim, chilling steel bones within. This was the secret to how Ronald used the steel pellets: he did not propel them with sorcery power, but instead used his own steel skeleton as a base to generate magnetic force to guide them. Besides serving as a casting medium, the steel skeleton also granted Ronald formidable defense. This skeletal frame was itself a miracle; seemingly frail, Ronald could disperse and cushion any impact through the steel bones throughout his entire body. Even Langna had never managed to bite off a single one of Ronald's bones. Thus, the moment Gerard struck Ronald, this Gold Beak was already dead. He had successfully blocked Gerard's full-force blow, but the cost was that every bone, organ, and muscle in his body was crushed by the tremendous impact. Langna felt as though he were holding not a person, but melting ice cream. Ronald seemed to have deliberately kept his face intact, allowing Langna to clearly see his final expression: the corners of his mouth curved up and his eyes narrowed slightly, seemingly smiling. Langna could see resentment in it, could see relief, and could even see a hint of... pity. Hefting Ronald's corpse onto his shoulder in the same motion, Langna slammed a hand against the floor of the high platform. "I pray for the Dark Side of the Moon." Hundreds of strange runes abruptly surged across the high platform, and the Blood Moon cast down a dark red radiance. In an instant, the platform turned into an absolute forbidden zone, repelling everyone upon it—including Langna and Gerard! Gerard unfurled three wings and hovered in midair. He stared at the Void Realm passage being painted over with dark light, his face looking thoroughly grim. "How did you—" "You must have read my dossier and know that I once was an elite Moon Shadow priest, right?" Langna set down Ronald's corpse and glanced at the group of priests watching the platform from not far away. "In the Hunting Festival, the priests' greatest utility is not granting blessings, but being responsible for sealing and destroying passages. "After so many years, the ritual for 'Dark Side of the Moon' remains largely unchanged. I can still easily trigger the sorcery procedure prepared inside the platform, complete the final step, invoke the power of the Moon Shadow, and completely shut down the Void Realm passage." Gerard was no longer in a hurry now. Having watched with his own eyes as Yaxiu stepped into the Void Realm passage, he returned to his usual demeanor as a captain of the Bloodmad Hunters. "But that also means you won't be escaping." "To me, Shattered Lake Prison, Kaimeng City, or other nations make no difference." Langna took off his cloak, revealing his beardless, hairless, ferocious face. "It was only that Ronnie longed to escape, so I did everything within my power to fulfill his wish. "Just now, Yaxiu helped Ronnie. I hope this return gift satisfies Yaxiu." "Yaxiu Heath—he truly is a devil more bewitching than a Veela," Gerard sighed. "To think that even a Moon Shadow traitor is willing to sacrifice himself just to facilitate his escape." "Who said I'm sacrificing myself?" Langna stripped off his shirt, exposing a muscular physique sculpted like marble. "You mean you think you can run from me?" Gerard gave his chainsword a slight flick, shaking the blood from the blade into a mist of red. "I'm not a sorcery power purist, but just now you exerted all your strength merely to barely withstand the edge of my chainsword. I don't believe you have the capability. "Besides, I'm somewhat disgruntled tonight, and I want to go home early to rest. When all's said and done, I'm already working unpaid overtime." A vicious glint flashed across the white-haired hunter's red eyes. "I will no longer abide by the safety protocols in the *Sin Hunting Hall Enforcement Regulations*. To anyone trying to stop me from clocking out, I will show no mercy." Seemingly unable to sense Gerard's murderous intent, Langna asked calmly, "As fellow darlings of the Blood Moon Sovereign, do you know the difference between the Moon Shadow clan and the Blood Saint clan?" Gerard answered without hesitation, "Moon Shadows govern life; Blood Saints guard death." "Yes, Moon Shadows govern life, Blood Saints guard death. This represents not only the division of labor between the two clans, but also summarizes their personalities. The Blood Saint clan possesses a deathlike calm, while the Moon Shadow clan forever retains the passion of newborn life." Langna glanced at the Moon Shadow priests curiously looking on from nearby. "Yet in my eyes, that saying can also be interpreted as: the Blood Saints are all filthy adults, while the Moon Shadows are all mischievous children." Recalling his big-tailed wolf subordinate Amy, Gerard had to admit Langna had a point. At that moment, the white-haired hunter realized something and fixed his eyes on Langna. "Langna Kios, you seem..." "'Only those pure of heart, who remember to pray into the night, may transform into Moon Shadows on the full moon when wolfsbane blooms,'" Langna said. "From childhood, I realized I was different from other Moon Shadow chosen. They were full of passion, emotional and impulsive, pure and naive, simplistic yet greedy. I was the exact opposite—I was born without emotions, without desires. "Interestingly enough, I still became a Moon Shadow in the end, turning into a werewolf that can only transform within shadows. The priests told me to conceal myself, but most sorcery spirits of the Moon Shadow faction require emotions as fuel, so I had no choice but to rely on the help of the 'Affection' sorcery spirit. "Perhaps it was fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, that in the Void Realm I obtained a taboo ritual of the mind faction. The ritual's effect allows a sorcerer to harvest emotions from others, seemingly meant to complement miracles that require burning large quantities of emotions. "Yet to me, emotions were precisely what I needed. I needed to harvest feelings; I needed something to fill the void in my heart. "I improved the ritual, but the process also became bloodier. I was caught before long, and my secret was exposed. But the church did not execute me—the church never executes a kin—so I was sent to Shattered Lake Prison, where I could continue my research. "I would plant 'Affection' in a target's heart while letting affection flood my entire body. I tried my best to act out the look of 'love,' but there was never any result. Devoid of emotion, no matter how many emotions I harvested, in the end I still could not understand, nor could I feel them. "Yet just now, watching Ronnie die before my eyes, the wasteland in my heart sprouted its very first shoot." Langna clenched his bloodstained fists. "After nine years, I have finally attained emotion." Gerard asked with keen interest, "Is it love?" "No. It is hatred." A faint ripple of emotion finally surfaced in Langna's tone. "Ronnie hated me so much that he had to die right before my eyes! "He knew all my feelings were a facade, knew that any revenge would be meaningless to me. The only way to make me feel agony was to make me attain emotion. "That was why he wanted to break out of prison, why he wanted to leave the Blood Moon, why he accumulated hope and accumulated joy, only to choose an opportune moment to die before me in the most tragic fashion, bursting like foam. "In doing so, that twisted tree in his heart—watered by hope, fertilized by joy, warmed by the sunlight of freedom, yet rooted in the soil of agony—would bear its most dazzling fruit and plant it deep within my soul. "He succeeded, and I have succeeded as well." Langna raised both thumbs and used Ronald's blood to trace two bloody streaks beneath his eye sockets. "So this is what hatred feels like." Seeing this scene, Gerard's brow twitched violently as unpleasant memories surged back into his mind.