Chapter Ninety-Six: When I Return, the Dragon Kings Shall All Be Here

Across from the hospital, atop the high-rise.

Lin Liuli dispersed the small divine core circulating within her body. The aura around her began to fade, wisps of heat rising in the air around her frame.

She looked toward the hospital rooftop. After dispersing the Vermilion Bird divine core, she could no longer make out what was happening there.

But she knew. Everything had already settled.

Azure Dragon was dead.

Even the small divine core had been driven out, and the eruption of its power had been suppressed as well.

The source of all this chaos had been utterly extinguished.

And yet, there was little joy on Lin Liuli’s face. There was even a trace of sorrow and grief.

Because she had clearly seen it moments before: after Azure Dragon’s small divine core was forced out, a will bearing a white mask had emerged.

“The priest’s will…”

Lin Liuli murmured. She pressed her red lips together, her eyes trembling faintly.

If Azure Dragon’s small divine core contained the priest’s will, did that mean hers did too?

No—it should be said that it surely did.

“The priest’s will… lies within the small divine cores in our bodies. Why?”

Lin Liuli dared not imagine it.

Perhaps, when the fruit ripened and the time came…

the priest’s will within her might one day seize and take over her body without her ever noticing.

The Lin Liuli of the past might not have thought this way.

Back then, she believed the organization’s purpose was noble. She believed that although many of its actions were wrong, they were all for the same goal.

But now, the more she saw, the more she felt that everyone in the organization was hideous beyond words.

They were selfish. Their so-called peace was nothing but a scheme to destroy the world.

Lin Liuli felt dazed and adrift.

She was utterly disappointed. If Du Fang had not forced the priest’s will out of Azure Dragon’s small divine core, she might never have known the truth.

And in the end, she would have died without ever realizing it.

“Vile.”

Lin Liuli was completely, irrevocably disappointed in the Divine Core Organization.

She had truly seen its real face.

Not far away, the driver, Old Chang, was also staring blankly in the direction of the hospital.

His scalp prickled, his whole body trembling. For the first time, he felt immense admiration for his boss’s foresight.

“As expected of the boss—he really can see everything coming!”

“Good thing we didn’t believe Azure Dragon and join the siege.”

“Otherwise… we’d all be dead!”

Tears of emotion glimmered in the single eye of Old Chang.

He glanced at Lin Liuli, shook his head, and no longer bothered with her.

Because Old Chang knew it was all over.

With Azure Dragon’s death and Ox-Head and Horse-Face being taken down, this grand hunt launched by Azure Dragon of the Divine Core Organization had ended exactly as it began: with the hunter slain by its prey.

“Too tragic…”

Old Chang shook his head.

His body melted into the darkness, as if turning into a pool of liquid. With a soft whoosh, he vanished.

When he appeared again, he was already beneath the building.

Hat on, overcoat on, head lowered, he moved forward in a low profile.

Then suddenly—

His body stiffened.

As he was crossing the street, he saw a military truck.

Old Chang raised his head in disbelief and turned to look at it.

On the truck, he saw Dream Walkers standing in solemn formation, detaining a hunched figure.

The moment he saw that figure, Old Chang felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

“B-Boss!”

Old Chang was thunderstruck.

The boss… had been captured?!

Impossible!

The boss was the Black Dragon King of the Heavenly Demon Organization, a top-tier city-destroying powerhouse. How could he possibly… be arrested?

With the level of the Dream Walkers in Jinling City, there was no way they could hold the boss.

Could it be…

Old Chang trembled violently all over.

Could it be the one on the hospital rooftop?

Even from such a distance, had the boss still been caught in the fallout?

Too frightening!

Even someone as steady as the boss could not escape?!

On the military truck, Wen Ji wore sunglasses. His brows furrowed slightly, as if he had sensed a sharp gaze.

He turned his cold profile slightly and looked toward the roadside.

But there was nothing there.

Wen Ji’s brows drew together in cold suspicion. “Was I mistaken?”

In the alley, Old Chang pressed his back against the wall and clamped both hands over his mouth. Tears of useless misery slid from the corner of his one eye.

“Waaah… boss… even the boss is gone!”

“What am I supposed to do now?”

Old Chang felt as if his soul had been ripped away.

After a long while, he wiped away his tears.

Then, running madly through the post-rain streets, heedless of the puddles underfoot, he raced to a black luxury extended sedan parked by the roadside several streets away.

When Old Chang reached the car, his whole body shuddered again.

Seeing the yellow ticket stuck to the window, he felt a wave of misery rise from the bottom of his heart.

The boss had been arrested.

And the car had been ticketed too.

This world was far too harsh.

Old Chang yanked the door open, sat down in the driver’s seat, buckled his seatbelt—

Then he started the engine and stepped on the gas.

On the slick road, the luxury car roared, drifted through the curve, and whipped around in a turn.

“Boss, I won’t abandon you!”

“I’m going back to the organization to tell the other Dragon Kings! I’m going to inform the organization so they can… break you out of prison!”

Old Chang pressed the accelerator hard.

After the tires skidded for a moment, the car suddenly surged forward, turning into a streak of black lightning that shot out of Jinling City.

He was not fleeing.

This was a strategic retreat.

He would return.

And when he did—

it would be with all the Dragon Kings assembled, ready to break the boss out of prison!

“Boss, wait for me!”

…

…

“Head of the family?”

Du Fang was slightly stunned.

“You’re the head of the family, then what am I?”

he asked in confusion.

After all, the panel of the Loving Family made it perfectly clear.

Head of the family: Du Fang.

He, Du Fang, was the head of the family.

The silver-haired Du Fang reflected in the lake seemed to fall silent for a second.

Then he said lightly, “You are also the head of the family. I have already said it—you are me, and I am you.”

“But clearly we are two different wills…”

Du Fang sounded a little argumentative.

“No, you do not understand.”

said the silver-haired Du Fang.

“At present, I do not wish to explain too much to you either. Simply enjoy the beauty this world has brought…”

“You do not need to think about becoming stronger, nor do you need to rush to become stronger…”

The golden pupils of the silver-haired Du Fang seemed to span time and space as they met Du Fang’s gaze.

Du Fang immediately grew anxious. “Why can’t I become stronger?”

After a moment of silence, the silver-haired Du Fang looked quietly at him. After thinking for a long time… he finally spoke slowly, giving an explanation.

“Each time I come out, my aura leaks. Naturally, you will grow stronger…”

“But after you grow stronger, trouble will follow in endless succession.”

“So the more times I emerge, the less time you will have left to enjoy the beauty of this world.”

The silver-haired Du Fang looked deeply at Du Fang.

Du Fang was speechless.

That reason… really did seem watertight.

He shook his head, but he still liked the feeling of striving.

“Even so, I will still slowly improve myself, temper myself, and make myself stronger…”

Du Fang had his own stubbornness.

“There is no need. You have already stood at the summit.”

“No matter how strong you become, you still cannot surpass…”

the silver-haired Du Fang said faintly. But before he could finish, he was interrupted.

“No, there is a need!”

“What if you can’t come out? What if you disappear?”

Du Fang argued with complete seriousness.

The silver-haired Du Fang was cut off mid-sentence, his brows faintly knitting. Yet Du Fang’s words left him stunned.

“So, if you do disappear, and I’m faced with some sudden crisis, I can still rely on my own strength to struggle a little. Maybe a miracle will happen?”

Du Fang went on by himself.

The silver-haired Du Fang fell even more silent.

Why are you so stubborn?

“You see? That’s right, isn’t it?”

Du Fang crouched down and looked at the silver-haired Du Fang in the lake, smiling brightly.

The golden eyes of the silver-haired Du Fang seemed to blaze like fire as he looked at Du Fang’s radiant smile.

Then his eyelids lowered slightly, hiding those golden pupils.

“Suit yourself. In any case, I have already warned you.”

“I’m tired. I do not want to speak with you anymore.”

As those words fell, the silver-haired Du Fang waved a hand, as though he had lost the argument and was throwing a small tantrum.

Du Fang only felt the lake begin to churn with towering waves. Everything before his eyes vanished.

On the hospital rooftop, Du Fang suddenly opened his eyes.

His mind returned to reality.

The corners of Du Fang’s mouth lifted slightly.

Another me within my body?

Head of the family?

This head of the family…

is rather tsundere.