Chapter 1035: More

Qilin stopped to look sideways at Zhang Wei, lips curled. “Zhang Wei, am I such a villain in your eyes?”

Knowing that he had made a slip of the tongue, Zhang Wei averted his gaze.

“I didn’t lie to you. Luqi killed himself.” Qilin spoke, a genuine sadness in his voice. “He said that at least he could choose his death. That was his last resistance to the Mist World.”

Zhang Wei opened his mouth but then closed it.

“It hit me hard.” Qilin’s smile turned bitter. “I thought that even when others wouldn’t understand me, at least Luqi would. Yet he didn’t understand, and he didn’t agree with me.”

He sighed. “From that day on, I stopped looking for understanding in others. No matter how lonely I would be walking down this path, I would walk on my own.”

“So you made up the Gates of Closure and told everyone that collecting the twelve Rune Circuits would open the Gates, all for your plan?” Zhang Wei asked.

“Yes.”

Who are you to decide for us?! What makes you think you’re right?! Are you fucking nuts?!

Zhang Wei hid his rage under a calm mask. “How did you know that you would succeed? How did you know that the twelve Rune Circuits would allow you to realize your plan?”

Qilin didn’t immediately explain. He gently opened the glass door to the fast food restaurant.

Zhang Wei paused. He briefly considered if he should just turn around and run, but his rational mind made him follow Qilin inside.

After closing hours, the dining area lay quiet under warm light. The smell of fried food and butter hung in the air.

A man in sportswear sat by a window, head resting against the glass, lips curved into a smile, eyes flickering green.

“A perfect ending...not even a punctuation mark out of place... Haha, I’m indeed...a genius...”

A minute later, Qilin took the Poison Rune Circuit from Gregor and turned him into a living puppet with Lonesome Emperor.

“Stand by.” Qilin turned to leave the place.

“Yes, sir!” Gregor shot to his feet.

...

Not long after, Qilin brought Zhang Wei to a bamboo forest in the park, where moonlight scattered into fragments through the leaves.

Since it was difficult to talk as they flew, Zhang Wei couldn’t wait to ask his question as soon as they landed. “How do you know what the twelve Rune Circuits do?”

“Because of the Miracle Rune Circuit,” Qilin said.

Zhang Wei’s eyes widened. “So you...learned everything through the Miracle Rune Circuit?”

“To be more precise, I’ve glimpsed those truths through the Miracle Rune Circuit.” Qilin narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice growing heavy. “There are many uses to the Miracle Rune Circuit, one of which is an index.”

“Index?”

“Were the Mist World a book, the Miracle Rune Circuit would be its index. Reading the titles listed in the index would tell you the ending of the book.”

Zhang Wei was unconvinced. “May I check it then? I want to see it.”

After a second, Qilin snorted. “Do you think it’s that simple?”

Zhang Wei didn’t respond.

Qilin tapped his limping leg with the cane. “I saw it through level 7 Eidos, and a mere glance almost killed me. When I woke up, my leg was crippled.”

Ha! Serve you right!

“Oh, that’s quite dangerous.” Zhang Wei suppressed a laugh.

Qilin turned around and walked into the bamboo forest. “Compared to the danger, the loneliness is greater. It’s destined to be a journey no one would understand.”

Qilin emphasized twice that he was lonely. He must really be feeling it. Come to think of it, he has no friends to talk to outside of Sir Jiang, so no human friends at all. He’s been keeping all the secrets and plans in his mind for decades. Even if he succeeds in the end, no one will know what he’s done. What a nutjob.

Zhang Wei fell into deep thought.

Qilin had discovered Ke Yo and Liao Liao in the forest. The two young women lay on the ground in stealth clothes, eyes widened with flickering green light as they whispered in their dreams.

Ke Yo spoke with joy and guilt, “Finally, you’re awake... I dragged you down. Someone like me is undeserving of you...”

Liao Liao’s expression spelled only fear. “No, I’m not dying here... I want to live until a hundred. I want to live until the end...”

Using Telekinesis, Qilin took the Support Rune Circuit from Ke Yo, transforming both women into living puppets.

He didn’t have to go through all the trouble. If he managed to draw everyone to the vicinity of the Green Lotus Lake, he would only need two to three minutes to quietly turn everyone into living puppets, and it would cost only a third of his energy. Then he could use all the puppets for himself; a great bargain it would be.

However, that would have been risky.

Facing Gao Yang required the greatest caution. After careful deliberation, Qilin had chosen to use All Will Be One despite its enormous energy cost. He had decided to give Gao Yang no chance to even approach him, securing his victory with that single move.

The price was steep: even after injecting himself with energy medicine, Qilin had only slowly recovered fifty percent of his power. That was why he now had to do the footwork of tracking down the Rune Circuits and contracting living puppets.

Whether he contracted the puppets hardly mattered; the ending was already written.

Yet Qilin was cautious by nature. He would not lower his guard until the moment of success, and he always prepared contingency after contingency for unexpected developments.

“Stand by,” said Qilin.

“Yes, sir,” the two young women responded in perfect unison, standing at attention.

Qilin closed his eyes. With his control over the awakeners with All Will Be One, he tracked down the last three Rune Circuits quickly.

The Buff Rune Circuit was on Qing Ling, a kilometer away.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The Guard Rune Circuit and the Time-Space Rune Circuit were five hundred meters away at the northern entrance of the park, held by someone Qilin couldn’t be more familiar with—Gao Yang, trapped in his sweet dream of victory.

Qilin held his cane out to Zhang Wei. “Let’s go.”

This time, Zhang Wei didn’t immediately obey.

On one hand, curiosity gnawed at him; on the other, he was trying to buy time. Though it might prove futile, he had to try.

“Qilin, what is the Spinning Top plan?” Zhang Wei mustered the courage to ask. “If you want me to be your witness, let me play the role fully!”

Qilin laughed, walking up to Zhang Wei. “Take a guess.”

Zhang Wei had some theories. “Are you going to have everyone live in dreams of your creation, where time was infinite, thus achieving immortality?”

Qilin shook his head. “That’s not all of it.”

Not all of it? Then I’m on the right track.

Zhang Wei used his imagination and came up with something bolder. “I got it now! You weren’t just putting everyone in a dream. You’re having everyone live in the same dream! That’s the wonderland you’ve made for everyone!”

Qilin shook his head again. “There’s more.”