Chapter 69 (Catching Bugs)
When listening to the annihilation progress data conveyed by Shen Wenyan, Shen Jian was still able to barely hypnotize himself that it was just a number and suppress his increasingly restless and angry heartbeat.
But on the day when half of the parallel universe was annihilated, Shen Jian, sitting in the chair, still clearly felt the chain of shocks brought about by the destruction of one part of the world.
The land feels the same sorrow, hums, roars, awakens the stones and buildings to dance wildly, and makes a desperate struggle against the world like hell weeping and forgetting to hunt ghosts.
In their last indulgence before death, they tear open their brown bellies and display their ugly, hideous polyps to the terrified world. Then they are confused and sad to find that the people they have fed all their lives are showing looks of horror.
It howled in agony and rolled all these ungrateful humans into its stomach.
Shen Jian stood in front of the glass window. The vibrations reached the base of the tower, but were far from enough to destroy it.
But Shen Jian's breathing quickly quickened, and his pale face, which had not seen the sun for a long time, turned a faint red. He suddenly turned around and pressed his fingers on the map with trembling hands.
"Here, here, and here..." He morbidly pointed out all the collapses he could feel, his eyes filled with shock and pain so deep that it overflowed.
…Listening to the annihilation progress data conveyed through the paper with rules and regulations, Shen Jian could really force himself not to think about how many lives were lost.
However, when this number rushed into this world like a flint lightning at a speed that he could not bear, smashed into the air, and made the wall scream in pain, tearing open the abyss, tearing out cracks, taking away living lives, and swept violently with the real fishy wind, broken limbs, babies and women's torn naked organs, it could really bend Shen Jian's eternally straight back.
The world is destroyed, the universe collapses, and death occurs.
He was silent for three seconds, not knowing whether he was in shock or the world was in shock. Finally, he slammed his fist on the table with an expressionless face.
With a bang, Shen'an, who was standing outside the door, suddenly looked at the solid door that blocked his view. He drew his sword without even thinking about it. With a flash of cold light, he avoided the heavy falling debris and wood blocks and stepped into the bedroom.
"Sir." Shen An tensed his body, his wrist still holding the sword backwards.
He almost immediately crossed the mess and quickly stood in front of Shen Jian, and without saying a word, he fiercely grasped Shen Jian's bleeding right hand.
"Sir, what do you want to do?" Shen An asked calmly. His dark eyes were even dirtier than the black sky outside the window filled with black soil particles. His hands were still shaking.
“…” His leader didn’t look too good, but his subordinates’ calls obviously brought him back to his senses a little, pulling him out of his horrific imagination.
Shen Jian seemed to calm down a little because of this. He closed his eyes and called out softly, "Shen An."
"Yes, sir." Shen An replied calmly.
There were pebbles hitting the glass window continuously, like a torrential rain, and the sudden and hazy sandstorm and the continuous calls for help filled Shen Jian's brain.
Shen An silently grasped Shen Jian's right hand, staring closely at the leader who seemed to be hurt.
He wanted to draw the curtains and then raise the second layer of the window plywood to block out the wailing outside the window that made his eardrums throb and sting, and it would be best if he could let Shen Jian think quietly.
Those cries could pierce his heart and make it bleed, but Shen Jian's anxious expression of not wanting to wait for the truth could make him commit suicide on the spot.
But he didn't dare to let go. He knew too well how much his leader wanted to end this world destruction, and he was afraid that if he let go for a second, Shen Jian would be able to tighten his grip on even a tiny white thread and strangle his artery.
"...Sir." Shen An called again, "I talked to the leader of the Wuyan Tower, and I no longer expect him to be able to stop you."
Shen An looked at Shen Jian's expression without any fluctuations, and gritted his teeth, "Neither Shen An nor Mo Yi are me, you don't owe me anything, you don't need to be so nice to me, I know."
Shen Jian finally had time to turn his head and glance at Shen An. He quietly looked at his subordinate who was pursing his lips and shaking his hands, and took out a trace of pain from his heart and handed it to Shen An.
Silence spread, and after a moment, Shen Jian said in the scarlet storm that painted the French windows red, "Let it go."
The leader seemed to calm down, his inky irises were as steady as melted millstones, able to withstand any cold or torture.
Shen An looked at him cautiously for a while, then slowly let go of his hand and took a step back.
But his right hand was still on the hilt of the sword. He lowered his head and glanced at the leader's wrist, which was pinched by him and left a circle of black and purple. His eyelashes trembled, "I will go to receive the punishment later."
Chen Jian lowered his head and looked at the map indifferently, seemingly unconcerned about Yu Ju's injuries, and whispered, "What did [Chen Jian] teach you? Don't worry about him."
Shen An clenched his hands, still lowering his head tightly to prevent Shen Jian from seeing his expression, and repeated again with a stiff throat, “I am not them, sir.”
Shen Jian pressed his entire body against the pale fingertips, pointing to the central and southern parts of the area where the ground fissure was most severe, and paused when he heard the words.
He slowly raised his head and looked at Shen An.
The subordinate still had the stiff and unwilling expression when he came in, and the words rolled down to Shen Jian's fingertips like ice cubes, "...Don't treat me as them, don't put the guilt you feel for them on me, sir."
"I don't want it." His dark lips were paler than death, and he almost trembled as he resisted his leader. "Do you treat your subordinates in this indulgent way? - Can you treat me the same way as ordinary subordinates?"
He would rather die on the front line farthest away from Shen Jian. He would rather fight for Shen Jian until his death, and never see the leader he was loyal to again before his death, than be treated as another person by Shen Jian's side and suffer all kinds of false glory.
What's the point!? What's the point!? He screamed in the dark and silent way, is his loyalty so cheap? Is it necessary to use other people's achievements to cover up and protect it?
Shen Jian's fingertips holding the map turned even paler, and he stared at Shen An in silence for a while.
He didn’t know what Shen An was thinking, but his expression easily pulled Shen Jian back to reality from his trance.
He wanted to pull Shen An out of the historical cycle of becoming Mo Yi or Shen An, and let Shen An be Shen An and not anyone else, but he didn't know what Shen Ximu was thinking.
Oh, in fact, he didn't know what any of his subordinates were thinking, for example, they were able to disobey his orders for his safety and do things that other subordinates of the Wuyan Tower could not do.
His thoughts jumped from the disaster to the Tower of Invisibility in another time and space where he was waiting to return, and then to the leader of the previous world who died quickly and left behind a group of subordinates.
He finally understood how that man had the heart to stab his sword into his heart after hearing the ending - now he was so cruel when he heard the screams of the sword hitting the heart valve beside his ear - perhaps it was because no subordinate dared to disobey orders and come forward to stop the leader, just like the situation of [Chen Jian]; but Shen Jian was at least a little hurt by Shen An's stab in the heart.
Then, he thought of Mo Yi, who had waited for twenty years at the bottom of the sea guarding the empty throne just to see him again.
Shen Jian lowered his eyes and remained silent for a while, then slowly let go.
“Yeah.” Shen Jian returned to his calm attitude towards normal subordinates and allowed Shen An’s request for punishment.
He was actually a little surprised how Shen An found out that his kindness only slowly emerged after Mo Yi. Before that, he would even punish his subordinates severely for a small mistake, just like Shen Pingyan and Shen An mentioned before.
Shen Jian slowly locked his eyes on Shen An, who was clearly pushed a distance away by the leader, but he raised his head as if he had received a great gift from heaven and choked slightly, "Thank you, sir."
Shen Jian shook his head and seemed to calm down a little. At least he was in the mood to sit down, supporting his chin with his hands.
Shen An followed with a sigh of relief, his eyes lit up, even wetter than the puppy that Shen Jian hadn’t touched, “The leader of the Wuyan Tower has investigated to the bottom, soon, soon, that’s all, sir, please be patient for a little while.”
Shen Jian smiled and looked at his subordinates quietly, “Then, if I am really the mastermind, can you watch me die?”
Shen An was silent again.
Then, in front of Ana Shen, he shook his head slightly.
Shen Jian: “…”
Shen Jian was so angry that he laughed.
"You really disobeyed orders openly." Shen Jian taunted with a subtle expression, "If this is considered treason, you will be cut into pieces in the Wuyan Tower."
"If any of your subordinates stood here, they would not agree with you." Shen An lowered his eyebrows, but refuted without pause, with an expression that was determined to fight to the end and let Shen Jian do whatever he wanted.
Shen Jian took a deep breath.
"Bang." A sound like a dead swallow hitting the glass rang out, breaking the still stagnant atmosphere in the room.
Shen An quickly turned his head to look at the source of the noise, a little faster than Shen Jian, and he almost immediately wanted to go over and close the curtains.
"Stop." Shen Jian's words nailed him to the spot.
The leader sat behind the table, turning his eyes indifferently and staring at the piece of glass covered with scarlet blood.
A thigh part with its inner muscle texture exposed clanged against the dirty wall of the wash pit, and the broken bone surface was facing Chen Jian.
Shen Jian said nothing, and fixed his gaze on it without moving.
Shen An turned his back to Shen Jian, staring at the window, praying that this collision was just a special case, but soon he prayed that he was knocked down and overturned, his lumpy muscles were like openings, and dense, tiny pieces of flesh and blood were thrown onto the glass window like minced meat by the sandstorm. The milky white fat particles and fresh meat blocked everything, as if there was hell on earth behind the glass.
Broken limbs kept being rolled up and hitting the glass surface, causing the scattered flesh to splatter everywhere.
Shen Jian pinched his purple and blue wrist, letting the stinging pain penetrate deep into his nerves, and forced himself to calm down.
He had seen far more brutal mincing on medieval battlefields.
If, if, if this really wasn't planned by him, if what Yun said was not true.
Shen Jian rolled his throat, trembling and compressing the pain in his cramping stomach.
"This is just an impact." Shen Jian said slowly, fixing his eyes on Shen An's stiff back, "Imagine, Shen An, what it will be like when the world is truly destroyed."
He couldn't see the gloomy expression, but that didn't stop him from continuing.
Shen Jian was very calm, and he declared: "Once [Shen Jian] finds out it was me, I will commit suicide immediately."
After a brief pause, Shen Jian leaned back, "...Come here, Shen An."
"I will tell you how to notify my Wuyan Tower and your colleagues to handle the aftermath."
Shen An didn't move, and Shen Jian waited for a while.
After another moment, he asked coldly, "Are you not done crying yet?"
After a moment, Shen An raised his hand to wipe his face with his back to him, then turned around with red eyes, “Mr.
He took two steps forward with difficulty, his fingertips pressing on the hilt of the sword.
Shen Jian said calmly, “You don’t want to know what the consequences will be if you draw your sword and stab yourself now.”
He threatened nonchalantly, "Perhaps, I will take back the name I gave you?"
Chen An burst into tears for the second time in an instant. He shook his head and loosened his hand that was tightly holding the sword. His open palm showed traces of paleness from the force he had exerted.
At this moment, he felt a little resentful of why he had asked the leader to take back the privileges he had given him. Perhaps the leader would not force him to listen to the so-called legacy now...
The dark corners of his eyes twitched and he closed his eyes.
Shen Jian pursed his lips and glanced at Shen An, then looked away, forcing himself to harden his heart, "The first order is more important than my personal seal and the flag raised by the Wu Yan Tower. I am not allowed to end my own..."
"Shut up."
His voice was interrupted by another deeper voice. Shen Jian was startled for a moment and raised his eyes instantly.
His gloomy mood suddenly became complicated. He moved his lips, moved his head one unit, and looked towards the door.
[Chen Jian] stood at the door with a calm expression, glancing at the scene that seemed like a separation between life and death, "Although I support all your decisions, can you wait for me for a while?"
"Don't you really believe in yourself, or are you tired and want to just die like that leader?" [Chen Jian] walked over and pinched his counterpart's chin, looking at him coldly.
Shen Jian's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he shook off [Shen Jian]'s hand and took two steps back with the chair, but his aura did not weaken at all, "Don't insult him."
"Isn't this a way to protect other people's dignity?" [Chen Jian] mocked, "But you can't do that when it comes to yourself?"
He glanced at Shen Jian, smoothed his breath, and put a headset with tassels on the table.
Shen Jian's pupils shrank, and he suddenly looked directly at his younger self.
"One good news, one bad news." [Chen Jian] said coldly, "You are not the rubbish that wrote this little world-destroying script."
Before Shen Jian could react, Shen An first lowered his head, clenched his fists and shed tears.
Shen Jian still pursed his lips and looked at [Shen Jian]. He seemed to have come back to his senses, but also seemed to be still dying somewhere. He asked in a hoarse voice, "What about the bad ones?"
[Chen Jian] glanced at the headset.
"Talk to your subordinates. This is not bad news. The bad news is that the ground is cracking so badly that about 70% of the people have fallen into the ground. So we are going to take off at all costs."
[Chen Jian] glanced at his counterpart, "I hope you don't think I've abandoned them."
Shen Jian held the headset in silence for a while, then slowly said, “No.”
His heart finally calmed down like a light feather, and his thoughts focused on the current situation.
“Yeah.” [Chen Jian] replied, looked at Shen Jian calmly, and then took a step back.
He bowed his head slightly and knelt down.
Shen'an suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at his leader.
But Shen Jian didn't look surprised at all, still lowering his eyes to look at the headset.
"Since his threat has been ruled out, then Shen Jian is the supreme commander of this battle." [Shen Jian] did not even look at Shen An, and explained calmly, "In fact, we must eliminate his suspicion because this battle must be commanded by him, isn't it?"
“…Shen Jian?”
The leader, wearing the highest honors and covered with medals and ribbons, raised his head slightly and his eyes fell on Shen Jian's shoulder.
He had witnessed many tributes from his subordinates, and now he could do much better than any of them.
Shen Jian had already stood up, put on the headset and listened to the ticking sound of the connection inside, his eyes were calm and natural.
"Yeah." Shen Jian acknowledged the title, "Get up."
"Now, it's your home court, sir." [Chen Jian] stood up and watched indifferently as Chen Jian walked over him and took the flag-raising seal that symbolized the highest authority of the Wuyan Tower.
Amid the scarlet and black fury, the first flag of the Tower of Invincibility was raised.
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