Luo Qiu lifted the token from Aamon's hand, examining it for a mont.
The diamond-shaped token had a three-dinsional feel, engraved with a peculiar emblem. It carried a faint yet balanced and peaceful energy flow.
"Why are you giving this to ?" Luo Qiu set the so-called legacy key down and looked at Aamon's bloodshot eyes, filled with pain.
There was no transaction trigger—Luo Qiu was certain of that. This was the first ti he encountered a situation resembling a deal, outside his role as the boss.
Aamon weakly said, "Besides you... I can't wait for anyone else... Maybe you're a good person, maybe... maybe you're not... but for ... you're the only one... I can entrust my final... my last wish to... I won't make you work for free... This key... can give you... a chance to inherit the power of the ancient Round Table knights..."
Luo Qiu glanced at the key again.
Aamon struggled to breathe. "Since... since I left... my seat has remained vacant... All these years... no one has completed the trial... This key... can provide an unofficial entry... If you're lucky and strong enough... you too... can gain that power..."
So, this was essentially a backdoor pass. If there was a strict organization behind the Twelve Round Table Knights, ensuring that only those worthy could inherit the title, this key could bypass those controls, granting the holder a chance to enter the hidden realm behind the key and qualify for the trial.
But Luo Qiu shook his head. "Old man, to be honest, this opportunity is of no use to . But I’m willing to help you. What do you want to do? Kill you now?"
Aamon stared into Luo Qiu's eyes, speaking slowly, "Young life... Our eting is fate... The clarity in your eyes reminds of the gaze of the Goddess of Justice... Maybe you won't beco a knight... but you will certainly be a gentleman... In you, I sense humility and nobility... You... you are a man of your word..."
Luo Qiu calmly said, "Old man, flattery doesn't suit you. What exactly do you want from ? You still haven't said clearly."
Aamon replied, "I wasn't wrong... I hope... you can find my granddaughter... Elizabeth. She's a half-vampire, half-human... She's in pain... If she can't overco this pain... please... please help her, help her face death as a human."
Luo Qiu was silent for a mont, under Aamon's expectant and anxious gaze. "In my view, any form of life is proof of existence. To cling to a fixed identity, even at the cost of choosing death... Why would you make such a choice?"
Aamon opened his mouth wide but couldn't speak.
Luo Qiu continued, "Are you making this decision on behalf of your granddaughter?"
Aamon's breathing suddenly beca rapid.
Luo Qiu finally said, "What is her choice?"
Aamon's eyes dimd. His grip on the legacy key slackened as if all his strength had left him in an instant.
Aamon's vision blurred. He seed to hear voices, Elizabeth's voice, calling out "Grandpa" again and again...
Suddenly, Aamon tightly grasped Luo Qiu's hand. Despite being devoured by zombies, enduring endless bites, he had survived—yet now, tears filled his eyes.
"Please, let her live. I want her to live. I just want her to live." Aamon gripped Luo Qiu's hand with all his strength, his ravaged body sitting up.
His eyes were dim, but the light within showed the final spark of life before it burned out.
"Let her! Live! Live—on—!"
He roared.
Luo Qiu did not blink, his lips slightly parted, but he said nothing for a long ti as he gazed at Aamon. The old man’s body had beco stiff and motionless—he had even stopped breathing.
"This is..." Luo Qiu softly said, "This is your choice."
Aamon remained still, his hand gripping Luo Qiu's like an iron clamp. But Luo Qiu knew that this old man’s life had reached its end.
Luo Qiu gently pried Aamon's fingers open and laid his body down. He looked at Aamon’s wide-open eyes and mouth, still roaring, and lifted the necklace with the legacy key from his body.
Holding it in his palm, the necklace coiled around his hand twice. Luo Qiu clenched his fist, then looked down at Aamon and softly said, "I accept."
Afterward, Luo Qiu gently closed Aamon’s eyes with his hand, leaving it there for a mont.
There was no martial master's fabled burst of inner energy, yet Aamon's body suddenly shattered.
Like a broken mirror, pieces of him flew away from Luo Qiu, turning into light particles that swirled around him.
The room brightened as if a galaxy and nebula had been born, with a single beam of light slowly rising at the center.
This was all that remained of Aamon—his thoughts, his will, his desires, his soul.
Luo Qiu gently caught the soul in his hand, producing a box with his left hand. He placed Aamon's soul inside.
It wasn’t a transaction item, didn’t need to be registered, nothing of the sort. It simply needed to remain quietly inside the box to avoid dissipating.
The box had a transparent center, through which the star-like glow constantly radiated, srizing anyone who looked at it.
Luo Qiu sighed softly, stood up with the box in hand, and the faint light slowly faded, returning the room to its normal state.
anwhile, the zombies whose bodies had been destroyed but not yet dead were crawling toward Luo Qiu, emitting aningless cries.
"Rest in peace as well."
The zombies in the room shattered without leaving a trace of blood or flesh. Luo Qiu then glanced at the upper corner of the room before quietly leaving.
...
The screen embedded in the wall clearly showed Luo Qiu’s gaze.
"He... he noticed us?"
This was the innermost laboratory, a pure white room. Uncle Jin's eyes were wide with shock and even a bit of fear as he looked uneasily at Tu Shenyi.
Undoubtedly, they had witnessed everything, from Elizabeth's rampage to Aamon's final monts—monitoring most of the events in the underground labyrinth through the caras installed at key points.
Tu Shenyi casually glanced at another screen and calmly said, "If you saw the caras, wouldn't you think of sothing?"
"I just..." Uncle Jin frowned, shook his head, then hesitantly said, "I just got scared by that look... I can't explain it, but I felt a chill for no reason."
Tu Shenyi said coldly, "He wasn't looking at you. Just focus on your work... Why haven't you found it yet?"
Uncle Jin steadied himself. "You an, Cythacyl?"
Tu Shenyi said, "Among these guys, the easiest to deal with is actually Takizawa, who seems the most cunning, while the hardest is Cythacyl. He's a dark rchant with many unclear connections to the Magician's Association, and his ancestors used to be the owners of this place... there are too many uncertain factors."
As he spoke, an alarm suddenly went off in the room.
Uncle Jin was startled, quickly picked up a remote control from the table, aid it at one of the screens on the wall, and pressed a button.
The image that appeared on the screen was none other than Cythacyl!
At this mont, he stood before a huge steel door, holding a whip made of red light in his hand, which he was continuously lashing at the door. Each strike left a dent in the steel, and the cracks in the door were widening. It wouldn’t take much longer for the door to break under Cythacyl's attack.
"How did he get here?!"
Uncle Jin was both shocked and furious... After all, he was still just an ordinary person, as fragile in the face of superhuman strength as an ant.
"You stay here, I'll go et him," Tu Shenyi said as he stood up and pressed a button next to the table.
The table suddenly triggered a chanism, and the 'Worry-Free' series items on it quickly sank into the table — the table, rather than just being a table, was more like a platform.
Tu Shenyi walked briskly out of the room, and after the door closed, Uncle Jin’s breathing suddenly beca heavier. He moved to the edge of the platform, fumbling around.
However, after trying for a while, he still couldn’t trigger the chanism. Uncle Jin frowned, then moved to the door, pressing his ear against it and listening for a mont.
Then, Uncle Jin quickly took out a small bottle from his pocket. He opened it and sared the liquid inside onto his fingers — a blood-red liquid, it was blood.
Using the blood-stained fingers, Uncle Jin touched the platform’s chanism again. A click sounded as the chanism was evidently triggered.
Uncle Jin’s face lit up with joy as he watched the containers of the 'Worry-Free' series slowly rise. His breathing beca more rapid!
"I’m not one to trust your word alone..." Uncle Jin muttered to himself, "I trust myself more."
…
A zombie flew backward, unable to withstand a strike from Song Da’s Vajra Palm.
However, more zombies sward toward Song Da, seemingly endless no matter how many he killed.
The temporary team of Song Da, Zhong Luoyue, and Natasha had managed to avoid one wave of zombies, only to run into a brand-new one shortly after.
These zombies seed to appear from everywhere, and their numbers were increasing... So of them were so decomposed that they hardly resembled humans anymore, yet they were still incredibly fast.
"Where are these things coming from?" Natasha asked in terror, grabbing Zhong Luoyue’s arm tightly.
The sudden grip made Zhong Luoyue wince in pain, prompting Natasha to quickly let go. "Sorry, did I hurt you?"
Zhong Luoyue shook her head, "It's not your fault, I was already injured."
The spot Natasha had grabbed was below Zhong Luoyue's shoulder, where she had been wounded during a fight with Lady Eve. But seeing Zhong Luoyue's pale face and the sweat on her forehead, Natasha felt guilty and quickly asked if she was okay.
Zhong Luoyue gestured for silence.
Though Song Da was protecting them, ensuring no zombies could get close, it placed extra pressure on him.
"Don’t make any noise, don’t distract him. It’s dangerous. If he falters, we’ll be in even more danger. We absolutely cannot beco a burden," Zhong Luoyue whispered.
Natasha nodded quickly and covered her mouth.
Zhong Luoyue gently touched her injured shoulder, wincing in pain but biting her lip to suppress any sound.
There was no telling how many zombies were in this underground maze, and this situation couldn't go on forever. Eventually, Song Da would run out of stamina, and then the question would arise: would he still be able to protect them? Or would his decision to stay or leave test their trust in each other?
Anxiously, Zhong Luoyue observed the never-ending swarm of zombies. Suddenly, she noticed sothing strange.
The clothes on the first wave of zombies, though tattered, were clearly modern. But the ones erging now were dressed in old, worn leather armor, and their bodies were more severely decomposed.
Could these zombies be from ancient tis?
As she pondered this, Song Da suddenly let out a shout, jumped into the air, and slamd a zombie's head with a powerful palm strike, shattering it.
Panting, Song Da turned back and said, "Hurry, let's go!"
The latest wave of zombies had all been killed by Song Da’s strikes, but he was now drenched in sweat, his face completely soaked.
Seeing this, Natasha hastily pulled out a pack of tissues from her pocket and rushed to wipe the sweat off Song Da’s face.
The corridor was stiflingly hot. Not only Song Da, but Zhong Luoyue and Natasha were also drenched in sweat.
Natasha, wearing light clothing, had her clothes clinging to her body because of the sweat. As she gratefully wiped Song Da’s sweat, her body almost pressed against his.
Realizing the awkwardness, Natasha sped up her movents, making the situation less uncomfortable.
Zhong Luoyue noticed their interactions but had no particular thoughts, deciding not to comnt. She simply took the chance to catch her breath.
Just then, Zhong Luoyue suddenly felt a sharp pain on her neck.
From the darkness behind her, a face suddenly erged...
It was Lady Eve!
Her fangs were already deeply embedded in Zhong Luoyue’s neck. "Finally, I’ve found you, my beautiful child!"
Zhong Luoyue’s lips parted, and instead of pain, she felt an odd pleasure coursing through her body, making her entire being more sensitive.
She couldn’t help but let out a sound that was a mix of agony and a hint of excitent.
"Mm… ah~~~"
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