Chapter 89

Released on July 1, 2026

He suddenly turned his head and saw the man who had always been standing behind him let out a long breath, finally revealing a smile. “Colonel, we’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

In that instant, every muscle in Horne’s body tensed. He realized something was wrong: if they were here to rescue him, why was Ben Yian the only one who had actually driven to pick him up? Even Ben Yian had been deceived by them!

The moment he tried to break free, a flash of cold light appeared as a knife thrust toward him.

The blade plunged vertically into Horne’s thigh, driven in with such force that the hilt nearly sank completely into his flesh.

“Ah—!” Horne cried out, his whole body collapsing backward.

Cold sweat instantly poured down his forehead.

With his hands and feet bound, and facing several people from the Military District, he was at a severe disadvantage.

Why was this happening? Enduring the excruciating pain that drilled into his core, Horne forced a few words through his clenched teeth. “You…”

Horne tried to stand, but the two men in front of him rushed forward, shoving him back into the chair and pinning his shoulders to restrain him fully.

“Let go!”

“Colonel, we can’t beat you in a fight, but with your hands and feet immobilized, what can you do?” One of them leaned in close, pulling a knife from inside his clothing.

With his hands cuffed behind his back and his legs bound to the chair legs, Horne writhed in agony from the knife embedded in his thigh, cold sweat drenching his body.

“You… you.” He gritted his teeth and spat out those two words, unable to continue.

The next second, the knife was yanked from his leg.

Blood flowed down the hilt, and the gaping wound in his thigh gushed violently.

His muscles trembled.

“I wasn’t even sure Ben Yian could pull it off,” the man said with a laugh. “Colonel, I’ve wanted to kill you for months.”

The man behind him was far more emotional. He charged forward, roaring, “You can’t let more people die because of you? How can you say that? Do you even know how many people have died because of you?!!!”

“Look down there—it’s all your fault! My whole family… I’m the only one left!!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, another sharp blade sliced through the air, piercing straight through Horne’s other leg.

“Ah!” Horne gasped wildly in pain. He clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, and in the midst of his body’s tremors, he shouted, “Ben Yian!”

“Don’t shout!”

It hurt so much, so much. He wanted to break free, but the pain drained all his strength. As his hands twitched, the hands clamping his shoulders locked him down tighter. His arm muscles strained to their limit, grinding painfully against his wrists.

He couldn’t break free—the mechanical cuffs couldn’t be snapped by hand.

“Me too! My family—they were just going south to buy things for me, and they died in the explosion!! Horne!! What will you use to compensate?!!!”

“I can’t rest until I kill you myself. Go die, go die!”

With that, another knife plunged into Horne’s abdomen.

He let out a muffled grunt. Horne didn’t know what he was thinking anymore—perhaps that day, the button he had pressed. His lips were deathly pale, his body shaking all over. Enduring the agony, he summoned unprecedented strength and strained against the mechanical cuffs binding him.

Snap! They loosened slightly.

“Ah—”

The knife was pulled from his thigh and thrust toward his arm. At the same time, one of them pinned his nearly freed hand as a blade pierced through his palm and into his lower back.

“Aaah!” A scream of intense pain.

It hurt so much. Ben Yian, come out, save me.

“It’s all because of you! If not for you, that day I would have… I would have… aaah, go die!!”

“Aaaaah—”

Why was this happening? They might as well just kill him outright!

Horne’s screams grew hoarse. The moment he saw Ben Yian appear, he barely had the strength left to beg for help.

“Ben… Ben Yian, save me…”

Ben Yian frowned slightly but stood motionless.

Blood covered his clothes, his legs, his arms, his abdomen—even his face and hair. The floor beneath him was soaked.

And Ben Yian just stood there. The more indifferent he seemed, the greater the terror in Horne’s heart.

Thud! A heavy muffled impact.

Horne couldn’t hear clearly; his ears rang.

“Ben Yian…”

Ben Yian walked up to Horne, knelt halfway, lifted his head, and gently caressed the bloodied face.

Horne’s eyes couldn’t focus. He just vaguely looked at Ben Yian, gasping for breath. Each gasp brought the sensation of blood flowing out, life slipping away. He watched powerlessly as Ben Yian drew near, unable to move.

“Little Horne, do you know what your biggest mistake was?”

His voice and gaze were both gentle, but terror instantly filled Horne’s eyes.

He had realized it.

Ben Yian wasn’t here to save him.

He tried to shrink back, but he couldn’t move at all.

Ben Yian… impossible!

He had sensed something off the moment Ben Yian arrived—that was what made it feel impossible.

Thud!

Ben Yian leaned in close, whispering in his ear, his voice still soft. “Do you still not know, even now, why the button you pressed activated the Self-Destruct System?”

It was so quiet only the two of them could hear. In that instant, Horne’s eyes widened in utter disbelief as he stared at Ben Yian, unable to breathe.

He had never considered it. He had thought of misunderstandings, frame-ups, fabricated evidence—but never Ben Yian.

“You…” As Horne opened his mouth, blood poured from it.

A look of unprecedented horror and panic twisted his face.

Ben Yian winked at him and curved his lips into a smile. “Besides you, no one remembers that I was originally an engineer.”

The only one who remembered had never suspected him.

“You’ve been planning this since…” As Horne spoke, he felt all his blood surging out. “I… I trusted you so… so much.”

He had been plotting from before the Gray Building. Ganal’s government’s clearance for them wasn’t negligence—it was a trap they were lured into. The Gray Building evidence that Ben Yian held was his loyalty pass to Ganal’s government.

But they had all trusted Ben Yian, thinking it was as safe in his hands as in their own.

So his so-called double-agent role—it was he who had been under surveillance.

When had this started?

“It was a long time ago, but I didn’t plan to actually do any of this,” Ben Yian said as he straightened up, kindly explaining. “After all, I told you, Little Horne—I like you. I didn’t want to do this. But unlike you, child of God, I need to secure a way out for myself, whether with your side or Ganal’s.”

He had laid ninety-nine steps of the scheme. If possible, he would have stopped there forever, forever the guardian.

But Ben Mu had died.

Thud thud!

He didn’t want revenge on Horne specifically. He just thought everyone might as well perish together—it didn’t matter. So Ganal’s government must have been shocked too.

“Thank you for always trusting me unconditionally. Little Horne, your biggest mistake was your persistence, your kindness, your stupidly naive trust!” By the last words, his tone turned vicious, almost grinding his teeth in malice.

“I…”

But weren’t you saved the same way?

Horne could barely speak anymore, his voice choked in his throat by blood. “Wh-why?”

“I want to ask why too! I liked you so much—why didn’t you see me? Your eyes were only on that waste. Do you like the guy who causes you trouble every day that much? Do you have a masochistic streak?” Ben Yian asked slowly.

Someone behind him grew impatient. “Why so much talk? Kill him already—give the people he killed some justice!”

The voices blurred together.

“Don’t rush.” Ben Yian drew his knife, the cold blade reflecting Horne’s terrified face.

He began to convulse—an uncontrollable reaction to extreme fear. He wasn’t afraid of death; he was afraid of this Ben Yian who was completely beyond his imagination.

“Have you ever thought about how you’ll die?” Ben Yian held the blade before Horne’s eyes, nearly touching his eyeball. “In life, you only figure out how to live once you know how you’ll die. I’ve figured it out. Have you?”

Thud! Thud! Violent impacts shook Horne’s weakly beating heart. He could no longer tell where the sound came from—like distant mines, but not quite.

Ben Yian started laughing, doubling over in unfamiliar, wild laughter that Horne had never seen before.

“I don’t want to die, Horne. What are you even holding onto? Fusion is the only hope—don’t you get it? We need immortality for humanity to survive. What are you clinging to? That laughable obsession with moral purity, hahahaha.” As he laughed, he slowly stood. “You think your kindness is conviction? Ha, actually, you’re just unable to let go of the hatred from your parents’ brutal deaths. So stupid, Horne.”

Thud thud! Thud thud!

Horne’s lips trembled. “You… you…” He gritted his teeth and, weakly, forced a smile. Softly, he said, “Now you know… the difference… between you and Hels?”

Ben Yian’s face changed, and he suppressed it immediately. “I don’t care.”

Horne’s lips curved slightly before drooping powerlessly. “You do… otherwise, you wouldn’t… hate me.”

“Shut up! I’m sick of your heroism!” Ben Yian suddenly shouted. He dropped to his knees and roared at Horne. “In your light, I’m forever just logistics! You never see my strengths! You think you can protect everyone? You’re just stubborn! So what if you have ideals? This world, this world…”

“This world won’t let you live so cleanly!!”

Horne felt dizzy, as if all his blood was draining away. He barely endured the near-fainting pain, his throat trembling as he said, “If… if you’re just doing this… to make me doubt… myself…

“I… I won’t… I refuse!! Ah—”

A scream that tore his voice.

A knife plunged into his chest cavity, then pulled out and thrust in again.

“Aaah!!”

“What won’t you do? What?!” Ben Yian went berserk, stabbing again and again into Horne.

Excruciating pain, unbearable agony. His already riddled body faced even deeper hatred.

“I won’t give up!! Never abandon it!!” His eyes bulged, tears mixing with blood streaming down.

Blood was drawn in, then splattered out.

Thud, thud—

He would never abandon his conviction, his kindness.

“Then go die! Go die! Take your kindness to hell!!”

“Aaaaaah—”

It hurt so much, so much. Help, was there anyone to save him? Where was Hels? Where had he gone?

One stab, another, nonstop—from abdomen to heart, thrust in, pulled out.

“Go die! Go die! No one lives!!”

Blood splattered the walls, the faces of the men nearby. Through cracks in the wall, a drop flew out, over the ruins, landing on someone fleeing below.

“Aaaaaaaaah! He-Hels, ah—save.”

Thud, thud—thud—

“Aaaaaah!!”

Thud, thud—thud—

“All die!!”

Thud, thud—thud—

Cold onlookers, the deranged and irrational, the blood-soaked immobile man, the one madly smashing the glass.

Thud, thud—thud—

Such a familiar rhythm—what did it mean? He couldn’t remember.

Horne’s mouth gaped open; he couldn’t even scream anymore.

This was a way of dying he had never imagined in his life.

Endless pain and terror swallowed him into darkness, and there was nothing more.