Chapter 199 VS Chenlong 2

At first, I thought it was unlikely that the young girl Lu Chan would be able to cast a mental spell on Chen Long, given the vast difference in speed. If she tried to cast a spell at Chen Long at close range, she would probably be killed before she even got started. However, she took advantage of Chen Long's ability to hear the entire area of ​​the stronghold, allowing him to hear her voice, which contained mental magic, even from such a distance.

The shadow and dust from Chenlong didn't reach her area, and there were no shadows around her that would allow Chenlong to teleport there easily, even though she was surrounded by flames. Even if Chenlong did teleport to her vicinity and then rush at high speed to stop the spell, I would have ample time to react and intervene. She probably calculated this perfect opportunity; even without the power to fight, she was a battle-hardened level 5 Impermanent being in the past, and her combat awareness should not be underestimated.

But Chenlong not only did not rush to stop her from casting the spell, he did not even react to her mental magic.

"—No brainwashing?" She repeated the other person's words in disbelief. "How could such a thing be..."

“A perfectly intact piece of porcelain cannot be repaired because it has never been damaged. Your attempt to correct my brainwashing is futile, because I have always acted with my own clear will,” Chenlong said. “Besides… haven’t you ever considered this question?”

"...What's the problem?" the young girl Lu Chan asked in return.

"If Ying Lingyun really possesses the ability to easily brainwash even level-one Wuchang, why has he only used it on me and never on you?" Chenlong asked sharply. "Have you really never thought about it... or are you unwilling to think in this direction?"

"..." The young girl Lu Chan fell into a long silence.

That was a miscalculation.

According to my past assumptions, the simplest way to break through the "portal armor" without relying on overwhelming power is to use methods that do not require traversing space. "Curse attacks" fall into this category, as do "mental attacks." The girl Lu Chan attempted a mental attack.

This approach has failed. Am I supposed to master the "curse attack" on the spot?

And... Chenlong was actually not brainwashed?

So why did he switch sides to Ying Lingyun and the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau? What could he gain from it?

As my mind raced, Chenlong teleported back, unleashing a fist gleaming with a dangerous white light. This time, the fist finally struck me, then exploded like a missile hitting its target, blasting me away.

This was his strongest attack so far. If his previous attacks, which struck my soul, only caused physical pain akin to being punched, this one felt like being struck head-on by a spiked club. If the soul had bones, my bones would probably be cracked.

But his own fist shattered and exploded.

Lu Youxun once described to me the drawbacks of Chenlong's "comprehensive enhancement" ability—that is, if the enhancement intensity is not properly controlled, the enhanced person's body will overload and explode.

But I've never heard of such an overload explosion being used as a self-destruct attack method.

The next instant, his lost fist returned to its original shape as if time had reversed.

This wasn't his own super-fast regeneration, but rather a rewind repair by the power of reboot. Unlike those who obstructed and hindered me in every way, the power of reboot was his partner.

His self-destructing fist attack wouldn't be easy to use outside, and even if he could regenerate at super speed, it would definitely consume a lot of his mana. Moreover, since it's a self-destruction that can attack the enemy's soul, it will most likely also cause considerable backlash to his own soul.

However, with the blessing of the power of restart, the cost to his body and soul is negligible, as is the consumption of physical strength. In the words of a virtual game, as long as he is inside this base, he is essentially carrying around a fully automatic "infinite health potion" and "infinite mana potion." And even if he suffers damage that instantly empties all his health bars and falls into a state of death, he will be resurrected with full health and mana in the next second.

He also comes with a "portal armor" that's practically "infinite defense." I haven't even figured out a way to damage him yet, and he's already showing me this cheat mechanism.

Even someone like me who enjoys challenges couldn't help but wonder if this level was a little too difficult.

"If that's the case, why did you betray Luo Shan... betray me?"

At the same time, the young girl Lu Chan asked in disbelief, "You could never have done such a thing in the past!"

“I have never changed, Lu Chan.”

Relying on the "Teleportation Armor," Chenlong actually answered questions from his old friends while fighting me: "I always fight to save more people. That was true in the past, and it is true now. It's just that I found that I couldn't achieve this goal in Luoshan, so I switched to the Humanitarian Division."

"Moreover, if we're really talking about betrayal, it was you who betrayed our path first."

"I am the one who betrayed you?" The young girl Lu Chan seemed to doubt her own ears.

"Century-based governance turns ordinary people into slaves, while transcendence turns them into resources. And the former will eventually succumb to the latter; the ending is the same. You clearly see this, yet you still talk about believing in changing Luoshan from within… Are you serious?" Chenlong said in a deep voice. "No, you're just weak, just running away—"

"We all once swore to fight for more people, yet you care more about the few you interact with than the majority you should save. Don't rush to deny me. If I gave you a chance to sacrifice those you know to save a million times more people far away, could you do it? You can't, Lu Chan."

"So you can't go against your position as a Witcher, and that's your weakness."

"The moment you make this choice, you are no longer one of my kind."

Regardless of whether it is a sign of weakness to be unable to sacrifice a few familiar people to save the majority of distant people, I think there is a point he made that is not without merit—according to the future analysis that the young girl Lu Chan made for me before, there is indeed a contradiction between the "position of the demon hunter" and the "position of the hero" who wants to save ordinary people.

Since Chenlong, like Lu Youxun in the past, has a sense of righteousness to save ordinary people, it is not incomprehensible that he would choose to stand on the opposite side of the Witcher.

With the fact that mental magic was ineffective right in front of her, the young girl Lu Chan could only process and accept his words, and then asked in return: "...So what about you? In order to prove that you can abandon the few people around you, you sold your friends to the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau?"

Chenlong said coldly, "Experimental subjects of the level of Chengji Wuchang are not so easy to capture. The Humanitarian Division needs to complete the last piece of the puzzle of 'modified human technology'; and there is a 'traitor' in front of us who trusts me one hundred percent. There is no reason for us to let him go."

The young girl, Lu Chan, clenched her fists, seemingly unable to control her emotions. I could vaguely sense the turbulent thoughts churning within her, so I spoke for her.

"Is the Humanitarian Division a better choice than Luo Shan?" I said. "Using Witcher for unethical human experiments can at least be considered as using Witcher as an enemy; but now you don't even spare ordinary people, and you're creating a large number of monsters in the outside world that endanger social security. Is this the justice you're pursuing?"

“My body was personally modified by Ying Lingyun, and he left a backdoor in it. For now, I am unable to resist him or stop certain extreme actions of the Humanitarian Division,” Chenlong said. “Sooner or later, I will make Ying Lingyun pay a bloody price; and I will not let go of any of the high-ranking officials and backers of the Humanitarian Division who want to monopolize the results and become the second Luoshan.”

"However, I don't believe the current Humanitarian Division is entirely wrong. To surpass the behemoth that is Mount Luo, we cannot simply choose clean methods. The bloodshed we are experiencing now is for the sake of the future world—"

"After the deed is done, I will naturally have no face to continue living. I will expose my crimes to the world and accept the trial and death I deserve."

"This is my determination. Someone as naive as Lu Chan is destined to never understand me."

"Yes, I don't understand... There's no greater cause that requires sacrificing one's conscience."

The young girl Lu Chan finally calmed down and said, "—Perhaps you really have never changed, Chenlong. It's just that I misunderstood you in the past. Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, you were just a self-righteous madman."

She seemed to have finally lost all hope in Chenlong.

But I felt that I had finally seen through Chenlong's true colors, and at the same time, I couldn't help but have other thoughts.

Chenlong's starting point seems to be very good, but for this wish, he even had to sacrifice his friends who once shared the same ideals.

It wasn't for profit or for feelings, but for the obsession in their hearts that they were willing to go to such lengths to become so ruthless.

I can't like him, I can't empathize with him, and I absolutely don't want to be like him. However, on the other hand, I see in him a twisted, dramatic brilliance that would never intersect with the path of a normal life.

The immortal monsters and shadow-changing monsters who died at my hands in the past, although they possessed incredible power, all revealed their vulgar desires as they died.

Wanting revenge against those who look down on you, wanting to do whatever you want with power, wanting to gain a higher status... It's not that vulgar desires are bad, but simply having them makes you feel like they're on a similar footing to you—ordinary people who gained great power by chance. No matter how bizarre the battles with them may be, they can't truly transport me to another world.

Chenlong, however, is different. Even if his wish is what the young girl Lu Chan calls "self-righteousness," it is definitely not the desire of an ordinary person.

He seems to be shining in my eyes right now.

He is undoubtedly someone who dwells in a mad realm completely different from the ordinary world, and I am now on the same stage as him, communicating and fighting with him. So I am also undoubtedly someone who has transcended the ordinary world and is a member of this bizarre and magical realm.

And now, I am about to become the executioner in his story, to bring his story to a final close.

"Say what you will. Your attempt has failed anyway, and mental magic is useless against me. Zhuang Cheng, you can't do anything to me, you're doomed..."

Chen Long paused halfway through his sentence, then asked warily and confusedly, "...What are you laughing at?"

(End of this chapter)