Chapter 1033: Lonely

Qilin ascended through the rising rain to hover beside the manipulated Rain River. He lifted his hand, and God of Water's energy manifested as shimmering blue light, streaming into his fingers in countless luminous strands.

In Telekinesis' gentle grip, Rain River descended slowly to the pavilion.

“Rain River!” Citrus, vision blurred with tears, rushed up to hold her unconscious companion.

Above the lake, Qilin spread his arms and lifted them. With double the power, God of Water sent countless water drops rushing from the lake to the sky, going outward.

In only a little more than ten seconds, the remaining third of the lake water was drained.

Qilin was drenched. A hazy green light flickered under his shirt and tie. There hid the vertical green eye the size of a fist—the physical manifestation of the Psyche Rune Circuit and Summon Rune Circuits, combined and merged with him. He named the combo Lonesome Emperor.

He looked down at Zhang Wei. “Don’t blink, Zhang Wei. The show’s getting started.”

Surnamed Li suddenly saw the future in ten seconds.

“No!” she shouted with disbelief, her gaze incredulous and shocked. “No, impossible! It can’t be... What are you doing, Qilin?! Stop!”

It was too late. Qilin had already spread his arms and looked up at the night sky, eyes blazing with blinding green light. His voice boomed with earth-shaking power:

“All.”

“Will.”

“Be.”

“One.”

...

Whoosh

.

Tremendous psychic energy surged and turned into crackling green “currents”, jumping between the raindrops and instantly forming a half circle. The power touched every soul caught beneath the downpour.

Even Zhang Wei, with his Confidence, could sense the psychic power’s incredible might and unusual quality. His body went numb, and the back of his head suddenly felt light.

It was as if the force had untethered his soul for a moment before it settled back in his body.

Splash

. The rising rain above the Green Lotus Lake fell upon Zhang Wei, drenching him.

He touched the rainwater on his face and looked back at those in the pavilion. Everyone had fallen unconscious, either sitting in wheelchairs or lying prone on the ground. All of their eyes were dazed and flickering green. They mumbled unintelligible syllables in their dreams.

Zhang Wei would like to rush over to wake them, but his rationality told him that it would be suicide.

Qilin slowly landed before Zhang Wei.

He was drenched and pale, panting slightly with a strand of hair sticking to his forehead. He was weak.

He had just used level 8 Eidos’ ultimate skill: All Will Be One.

With the help of the pouring rain, he put every awakener near the Green Lotus Lake into a deep dream. They would not wake up without outside influence.

Two were dreaming a dream he tailor-made for them, Gao Yang and Surnamed Li. That took a toll on his psychic power and energy.

Gao Yang’s dream was a sweet dream of victory, while Surnamed Li’s was the doom brought about by the Malediction.

Qilin had been preparing for the dreams for a long time, when Eidos was still level 7. He could put particular targets into dreams.

He had also prepared a dream of the Gates of Closure for Dragon, but Dragon hadn’t shown up tonight.

Qilin knew Dragon. The fact that he hadn’t shown up meant that he wasn’t going to. He was either still hibernating or up to something grander, but Qilin didn’t care.

Qilin had used up much of his energy. He cut off his control over all the corpse puppets and gave himself a shot of energy replenishment before Zhang Wei.

He let out a long breath, feeling his energy slowly recovering. It would take days to get to 100%, but it was possible to recover 50% quickly.

That was enough. He still had a suicidal last resort that would help him complete his plan.

He looked at Zhang Wei with his lips curved. “You and I are the only conscious awakeners now.”

“No, there’s also Dragon!” It frustrated Zhang Wei that Qilin had gotten what he wanted, to the point that Zhang Wei shot back, “Dragon will stop you.”

Qilin regarded him calmly. “Perhaps. But once I get the twelve Rune Circuits, Dragon won’t be a problem.”

“Not necessarily!” Zhang Wei was fooling himself, but he couldn’t give up hope, or he would break. He could only put his hope on Dragon despite him not liking the man much. “Dragon’s the overlord! Even without the Rune Circuits—”

“You misunderstood, Zhang Wei,” Qilin interrupted him slowly. “I meant that once I get the twelve Rune Circuits, I’ll no longer have to fight Dragon. He can do whatever he wants. It won’t matter.”

Zhang Wei blinked. “What...do you mean?”

“In pride monsters’ language...” Qilin smiled faintly. “I’m turning in my answer sheet.”

Zhang Wei’s brows furrowed. He couldn’t figure out the tangle of mess in his mind. He seemed to have realized something, but he couldn’t make sense of it.

“Come. Let’s get the Rune Circuits first.”

A cane appeared in Qilin's hand. He gripped it with his prosthetic hand and limped along the lake's winding corridor as if on an evening stroll.

Qilin had all the time in the world tonight.

After hesitating, Zhang Wei pushed his wet hair back and caught up—not trailing behind Qilin, but walking beside him.

Zhang Wei had had enough of the servile act of obedience. He thought recklessly,

Fuck it. I’m doomed anyway. I’ll be myself before I die!

Qilin didn’t seem offended by Zhang Wei’s change in attitude; in fact, he seemed quite pleased.

“Zhang Wei,” Qilin said in a serene voice like he was chatting with an old friend. “I once wondered why the Heavenly Way created Confidence as an obstacle when it had pointed out the only way and given me the power to go down the path. Your Talent is my bane—you nearly killed me last time. You could have destroyed everything Sir Jiang and I worked for.”

“Maybe it doesn’t want you to get too full of yourself,” Zhang Wei said sarcastically. “It’s showing you that you ain’t the biggest shot in the world. There’s always someone greater.”

Qilin smiled. “No, I think the Heavenly Way took pity on me.”

Zhang Wei wasn’t sure what to say.

“This is a lonely path,” Qilin said. “Afraid that I may collapse under the weight of the loneliness, the Heavenly Way brings me a witness, however shortly he would be around.”

Zhang Wei couldn’t believe his eyes.

Wait, what’s that?

Why does Qilin suddenly seem...fragile?

When he said that, he even seemed pitiful and unlucky. I couldn’t help but sympathize with him.

No! It must be Eidos influencing me! Wake up, Zhang Wei! Don’t fall for it!

“Listen, Zhang Wei. There’s one thing I’m going to tell you first, and it’s the most important of revelations.” Qilin walked out of the corridor and reached the lakeside. With the cane, he took one stone stair at a time and got to the top.

He turned around and looked at Zhang Wei, halted at the bottom of the stairs.

“The Gates of Closure never exist.”