Chapter 732: Gathered Here

Qi Xia stepped out the door and, after just a few steps, spotted a corpse lying quietly by the side of the road.

The back of the corpse was a mangled mess of flesh and blood, as though several characters had been carved into it.

A trail of dragged bloodstains led from the casino entrance all the way here, suggesting this was none other than Xiao Cheng, who had participated in the gambling match alongside him earlier—now dead.

But how had he died?

Narrowing his grayish-white eyes, Qi Xia took a few steps forward, crouched down slowly, and examined the words on the corpse’s back.

**”The Beginning of Subversion”!**

Qi Xia reached out and traced the four characters with his fingers. Strangely enough, though the words had been carved into the corpse’s back in an extremely brutal manner, faint traces of handwriting could still be discerned.

It looked like his own handwriting.

“How odd…” Qi Xia muttered under his breath. “How did I carve these words into you?”

He paused for a moment before curling his lips into a smirk. “Don’t tell me… you’re actually **‘Dreamweaver’**, are you?”

Unfortunately, the dead corpse couldn’t answer him.

Qi Xia stood up, flicking the blood from his fingertips, then cast a cold glance at the corpse. “If you really are ‘Dreamweaver,’ dying here is too merciful for you. Come find me at **‘Paradise Gate’** later—I’ll arrange a more fitting death for you.”

The corpse lay motionless on the ground.

Qi Xia slowly smiled. “Did you hear me?”

After a few seconds of silence, he seemed satisfied, as if he had received a response, and turned away from the street, heading in the direction of **‘Paradise Gate.’**

Meanwhile, Chen Junnan, who had been trailing behind, shot Qiao Jiajin a meaningful look. Nearby, Zheng Yingxiong and Tian Tian were also hiding behind a corner, observing everything covertly.

“Old Qiao, did you see that?” Chen Junnan whispered.

“I saw it!”

“Old Qi’s completely lost his mind…” Chen Junnan muttered.

“But why are we secretly following him?”

“Didn’t you just tell me the guy wasn’t lying to us? Now he’s heading to **‘Paradise Gate’**—and what kind of place is that? That bastard Chu Tianqiu is waiting for him there. If we don’t tail him, what if he gets screwed over?”

“Ah… now that you mention it…”

Zheng Yingxiong, his expression grave, spoke up. “Chen Junnan is right. That Chu Tianqiu’s scent is… strange.”

Before Zheng Yingxiong could finish, Chen Junnan stepped forward and pressed a hand on his head. “Hey, kid, what’s this ‘Chen Junnan’ nonsense? Call me ‘Bro.’”

Zheng Yingxiong irritably swatted Chen Junnan’s hand away, then adjusted the crown on his head. “I’m serious. His scent is almost identical to Qi Xia’s—hovering between **‘Zodiac’** and **‘participant.’** The only difference is that his is much fainter…”

“What the hell does that mean?” Chen Junnan frowned. “Are you saying Old Qi’s already a **‘Zodiac’** now?”

“Not exactly…” Zheng Yingxiong shook his head. “Just now, for a split second when he opened his eyes, I didn’t just smell **‘Zodiac’**—I smelled **‘God.’** But the scent faded almost immediately. I don’t know if Qi Xia suppressed it himself… or if there’s something else going on.”

“**‘God’**…?” The group froze momentarily before Chen Junnan scoffed. “Little Zheng… you even know what **‘God’** smells like? The only scent I know is **‘Six Gods’** cologne.”

“I don’t know what **‘God’** is supposed to smell like, but the moment the scent hit me, I just knew.” Zheng Yingxiong replied firmly. “My instincts don’t lie.”

Tian Tian glanced at the others before interjecting, “But isn’t the whole reason we were gathered here… to create a **‘God’**? Meaning Qi Xia is…”

“He can leave now…?” The same thought flashed through everyone’s minds.

Chen Junnan’s expression darkened further.

“Old Qi…”

—

On the playground at **‘Paradise Gate’**…

Han Yimo and Zhao Haibo stood shoulder to shoulder, their faces pale and their breathing ragged as they stared at the three figures standing a hundred meters away.

The scene around them was eerie—corpses littered the ground, each with a grotesque, blossoming wound in their abdomen.

Both the corpses and the surrounding ground were smeared with a layer of black powder, as though something had shattered into fragments.

And hovering directly above them was a sinister black sword, exuding a sharp killing intent as it scanned the area like a hunting eagle.

“These three are tough to kill…” Han Yimo muttered, his gaze hollow. “Dr. Zhao… can you still maintain your **‘Echo’**?”

Zhao Haibo nodded blankly.

Han Yimo frowned. “Hey… are you losing your grip? Repeat our plan back to me.”

Zhao Haibo swallowed hard before speaking slowly, “We’re following Chu Tianqiu’s orders to kill everyone here… So we teamed up—you summon the **‘Seven Black Swords’** to kill, while I destroy them if they go out of control and try to kill you instead…”

“Good, that’s it.” Han Yimo nodded. “Glad you remember. Right now, I’m wielding the **‘Black Sword,’** and you’re in the **‘White Robe’**—we practically look like a legendary assassin duo now…”

“You’re the one who’s losing it…” Zhao Haibo shook his head violently. “And can you control that damn sword properly? This is the fourth time—can’t you aim?”

“I told you…” Han Yimo sighed. “Once my **‘Seven Black Swords’** are summoned, they act on their own judgment, seeking out the **‘wicked’**…”

The two of them turned their gazes toward the three figures in the distance, their expressions darkening.

Could it be… that those three weren’t **‘wicked’** at all?

Han Yimo had summoned the **‘Seven Black Swords’** four times now, yet every single one had turned on him instead. Zhao Haibo had been forced to shatter them repeatedly, leaving both of them severely overusing their **‘Echoes.’**

“So… are you the most wicked person here?” Zhao Haibo wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Impossible… the first attempt worked just fine…” Han Yimo took a deep breath. “It’s probably just probability. Let me try again.”

Several dozen meters away, Zhang Shan pressed a hand to the cut on his arm, sensing that something was off.

“Shit, that’s a blade wound…” he muttered. “That black thing flying at us earlier was a sword?”

Just a few minutes prior, Zhang Shan had led Old Lü and Little Glasses to **‘Paradise Gate.’** The sight of countless corpses had barely registered before a black object came hurtling toward them. Zhang Shan had reacted swiftly, tackling the other two to the ground—but not before the object grazed his arm.

After missing its target, the black object swiftly turned midair, and before the trio could even make out its shape, it shot back the way it came, vanishing into the distance.

Zhang Shan glanced at Old Lü and Little Glasses. “You two alright?”

“Y-Yeah… we’re fine…” they stammered, still shaken.

“Good…” Zhang Shan scowled. “Who the hell are those two bastards?”