Thuong Sinh turned around, walking back on the old path. Every step he took on the floor left a pitch-black scorch mark. His killing intent was so dense that the wall paintings and vases around him spontaneously fractured.
"Stop him! Kill him!"
The shouts of the Top Floor security squad rang out. A series of combat robots and elite mercenaries poured out from the intersections. Thuong Sinh did not even spare a glance. The Marsh-Blood Sword in his hand at this moment no longer emitted a faint purple light, but a deep crimson color like blood. He glided, his figure a blur amidst the hail of laser fire.
Rip! Rip! Rip!
Every sword strike unleashed was a storm of extreme poison. The guards, before they could pull their triggers, felt their throats turn ice cold; the blood in their bodies was boiled by the toxicity, gushing out from their eyes and ears. Even the sturdiest robots were sliced in two like thin sheets of paper. Wherever Thuong Sinh went, blood flowed. He slaughtered them all, leaving not a single soul behind, and not a single plea for mercy went answered.
He kicked open the elevator doors, used his hands to tear apart the thick steel layer, then lunged straight down the ventilation shaft leading to Special Interrogation Room No. 1. When Thuong Sinh's feet touched the ground of level B4, the space here reeked of the pungent stench of flesh and chemicals. He entered the old room, where the burned-faced male 001 was still shackled to the chair. But this time, surrounding him were three doctors in white protective gear; they were busy dismantling the leads plugged into his head.
"Stop."
Thuong Sinh's voice rang out like a call from the realm of death. The three doctors startled and turned, looking in horror at the blood-soaked figure with fiery red eyes standing at the door.
"You... how did you get in here? Where is the security?" one stammered, his hand still holding a pair of pliers stained with cerebral fluid. Thuong Sinh did not answer; he stared fixedly at the figure on the chair. That body was no longer convulsing. The deformed head slumped to one side, the vacant eyes now completely gray, devoid of even a spark of life.
"How is he?" Thuong Sinh asked hoarsely; every word emitted carried a pressure that caused the floor beneath his feet to fracture.
The lead doctor trembled, backing away: "It's... it's over. We used him excessively." "The final source code extraction process burned out all his neural neurons." "His brain became clinically dead five minutes ago..."
Crack—!
Something inside Thuong Sinh shattered at that moment.
Boom—!
A world-shaking surge of internal force erupted from Thuong Sinh's body. This time, it was no longer black aura, but deep crimson Blood Poison like lava. The black veins on his face began to crawl upward; his eyes completely lost their whites, remaining only a crazed, fiery red.
"No more value... is that so?"
Thuong Sinh muttered every word, his voice as hoarse as a demon's roar from the bottom of an abyss. Immediately after, a heavy explosion rang out from deep within his body. The deep crimson Blood Poison surged out from his pores, spreading around like a flood of blood.
The air in the interrogation room suddenly turned nauseatingly pungent.
Before the three researchers could retreat, the surge of Blood Poison reached their feet. The protective footwear and flesh that touched the toxic blood immediately hissed, being corroded and rotted instantly.
"Ah... help...!"
The lead doctor screamed tragically as Thuong Sinh stepped forward. He did not use his sword but reached out with his black-gloved hand, clenching the man's face. Blood Poison from his palm seeped through the skin, flooding into the eye sockets and mouth. In just a few brief seconds, the screaming died out; the face had been decomposed by the poison, leaving only a pile of black, slimy bone and flesh.
Thuong Sinh frantically lunged out of the interrogation room. At this moment, he was a fierce beast driven mad by injury.
Encountering anyone wearing a research uniform in the hallway, he simply swung his arm. The surge of toxic blood splattered out, sticking to them like droplets of the highest concentration acid. They fell to the floor, writhing in pain, beginning to self-corrode their own blood vessels and internal organs.
He kicked open the doors of the adjacent laboratories. A researcher was about to press the alarm button; Thuong Sinh appeared behind him, ten fingertips digging deep into the man's shoulders. Blood Poison from his fingernails traveled straight into the opponent's heart, causing the man to die where he stood in absolute terror.
He slaughtered them all. There was not a single redundant movement; not a single plea for mercy was heard. The entire hallway of level B4 was flooded in the deep crimson of toxic blood and the corpses of those who called themselves "the elite of knowledge." These people had used his brother's life for experiments; now, he used their lives as a sacrifice to the soul of the dead.
The tower shook violently as systems short-circuited, burning with a charred smell. Thuong Sinh stood amidst the wreckage, his fiery red eyes without whites staring at his own hands—the hands that had just ended all those who tortured his brother.
He slowly returned to the interrogation room, looking toward the metallic chair. The Blood Poison around his body still surged, dripping onto the floor drop by drop.
Thuong Sinh walked closer to the chair, his hands soaked in toxic blood touching the chains. He gently picked up the thin, cold back of Thuong Vu. The Blood Poison seething within him retracted slightly, as if afraid its own ferocity would harm this corpse that was no longer whole.
"Let's go home."
Thuong Sinh had now lunged out of the tower through the hole he created, using Sword Kinesis Flight amidst the twilight sun. His state had now returned to normal.
At this time, at the small camp in the forest:
Lam Thanh Moc was sitting in the house when she suddenly sensed something; stepping outside, she saw a black streak stretching across the house, flying straight past toward the high cliff behind.
"Thuong Sinh..."
Thuong Sinh stood on the highest cliff peak, where the howling wind blew through his hair weathered by wind and frost. The twilight sun was as red as blood on the horizon. The demonization state had completely receded, leaving a pale face and vacant eyes, terrifyingly still.
In his hands, Thuong Vu was weightless.
"Here... you can see the whole view of this place," Thuong Sinh whispered, his voice dissolving into the wind.
He used his hands, digging up every piece of earth beneath. Every handful of soil that fell was like a knife-cut.
Lam Thanh Moc ran up from the valley, panting. When she saw that solitary back and the deformed corpse placed beside it, she froze.
"Thuong Sinh... that is..." Lam Thanh Moc stepped closer, her voice choking.
"My brother," Thuong Sinh replied briefly, his hands never stopping their piling of earth. "My remaining kin."
He picked the flattest stone slabs, stacking them into a sturdy, square grave right at the edge of the abyss. When the final handful of earth was piled on, Thuong Sinh stood up. He stared toward Iron City, which was beginning to light up in the distance—a magnificent beauty built upon the blood and bones of people like his brother.
Lam Thanh Moc gently placed her hand on his shoulder, sensing the slight tremor beneath the coat soaked in dried blood: "What do we do next?"
"Keep living." "The blood debt has been paid."
Thuong Sinh wiped the Marsh-Blood Sword, which still bore several bloodstains; a soft friction sound rang out in the quiet space. Thuong Sinh turned around; if his eyes before were like an abyss, then now, those eyes were even deeper, as still as the universe having just experienced a massive explosion.
It was no longer the depth of hatred or rage, but the depth of a bottomless lake after a storm has passed. In those eyes, it seemed the joys and sorrows of the mortal world had been tightly compressed by him. He looked at Lam Thanh Moc; that gaze carried no pressure yet gave her the feeling she was standing before an immovable mountain.
"Let's go."
He walked lightly, every step leaving no sound, as if he had completely merged with the breathing of the forest and the night.
Lam Thanh Moc quietly followed behind, looking at Thuong Sinh's solitary back under the twilight sun. His silence at this moment did not make her feel at ease; on the contrary, it made her heart feel as if it were constricted. It was the stillness of one who had lost everything; she could no longer restrain herself. Lam Thanh Moc took a few quick steps, then from behind, she wrapped her arms around him.
Her face pressed close to his back, which still held the smell of blood and his coldness.
"You can be angry, you can roar..." "But do not carry this terrifying silence alone."
Thuong Sinh's body stiffened for an instant.
Lam Thanh Moc's embrace was like a fragile yet incredibly sturdy thread, tethering him to this world, preventing him from completely sinking into that deep abyss in his eyes.
Thuong Sinh let out a long breath; the cold aura around him seemed to vanish a little. He did not push her away, nor did he turn his head to look, but his hand rested on the hands wrapped across his chest.
"Thanh Moc..." "My blood is very cold. Near me, you will only see darkness," his voice was hoarse.
"Darkness is fine too." Lam Thanh Moc tightened her grip even more, as if afraid that if she let go, he would vanish into the eternal night. "If you are in the darkness, I will be the spark beside you." "Just do not turn your back on this world... do not let your brother see you become a walking corpse."
The mountain peak held only the sound of wind whistling through the rock cracks and the heartbeats of two people relying on each other. In Thuong Sinh's deep eyes, a tiny, flickering spark of light suddenly appeared, then vanished into the deepest layer.
Thuong Sinh sensed the warmth of Lam Thanh Moc, a luxury he thought he had lost forever. He stood still, letting her tears soak into his shoulder. After a long while, Thuong Sinh gently placed his hand on the back of hers, squeezing slightly as a response, then slowly unraveled the embrace. He turned around; though his gaze was still deep, it had lost its cruel coldness.
"Thank you, Thanh Moc."
He finished speaking, then turned to walk back toward the camp. He did not go inside the house but chose a flat rock and sat upon it, the Marsh-Blood Sword placed across his knees. He sat cross-legged, back straight, eyes closed but his senses spread out to cover the entire surrounding area.
The forest wind whistled through the rock cracks; occasionally, there was the growling of mutated beasts from afar, but as soon as they touched Thuong Sinh's killing intent, they all went silent and hid away.
Under the dark moonlight, Thuong Sinh's shadow stretched long across the ground.
Lam Thanh Moc stood at the door looking out; seeing his silent back amidst the night, she smiled sorrowfully and went inside. When Tieu Viem saw the atmosphere surrounding Thuong Sinh, he also guessed something had happened and thus did not disturb him.
And so, a quiet night passed, gently and silently.