Cry

One day and one night.

The next morning.

Knight Lost saw the familiar Glittering Sand.

When he saw the signal fire, he turned back without hesitation. His father, Samuel, although just a country nobleman and far from being comparable to the big shots in the capital, still possessed the decisiveness and talent that an excellent nobleman should have.

The father knew that capturing Princess Tina and handing her over was the most important task for the Good Family.

Therefore, this recall must be due to something extraordinary.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Knight Lost decided to return.

Although the eldest prince's mission is more important... it is, after all, his home.

They traveled all the way to their hometown.

From afar, Lost could see sparse black smoke rising from the direction of the manor, like the final note of a catastrophe. The once bustling and prosperous Glittering Sand Town was deserted like never before. The once smooth and clean streets were covered with messy pebbles and debris, and many roofs had been blown off. Now, you could see people carrying bags and driving cars, fleeing from the town.

His expression froze instantly.

My heart was gripped tightly.

What happened? What happened? Have the elves attacked? Or have Goth's reinforcements arrived? Why is this happening? What happened to Glittering Sand? How are Father and the others?

The arrogant and indifferent demeanor of the past was gone. Even the most shrewd and aloof person could not maintain their composure after suddenly seeing the desolate and ruined state of their hometown.

Lost drew his sword, abandoned his exhausted horse, and strode into the town.

"You! Stop right there!"

He stopped several townspeople who were about to leave, grabbed them by the collar, and shouted, "What happened? How did the town become like this! Where is the lord?"

The townsman recognized him and said tremblingly, "Knight... Sir Knight, something terrible has happened! It's a demon! He used evil magic to cruelly kill so many people, and he summoned hellfire to destroy the lord's manor! We have to flee! If we don't escape, he'll catch us and torture us to death!"

Lost's heart sank, and he snapped, "Nonsense! What demons! What hellfire! If the demons of Brimstone Purgatory were to emerge, would you still be alive?"

The townsman, with limited knowledge, didn't even know what the Brimstone Purgatory was. He stammered, "Sir, sir, it really is a demon! Only a demon could be so cruel! And that magic... you can see for yourself if you don't believe me! The fire burned for a whole day and night!"

That's what they said.

But Lost could see that hidden in the eyes of this lowly man, besides fear and awe, was an inexplicable sense of pleasure... or rather, schadenfreude.

That look in his eyes shocked Lost, terrified Lost, and made Lost afraid to think about it.

These damned bastards!

A flash of blood, and the town resident was decapitated. Lost said in a sinister voice, "You are subjects of the Good Family, how dare you abandon your lord and flee! You all deserve to die!"

Those traveling with him screamed in terror and scattered in all directions. Lost's sword flashed as he pursued and slashed, and in a short time, he had killed them all.

Then he strode towards the Glittering Sand Manor.

Everything he saw along the way weighed heavily on his heart.

The once bustling town has become desolate, the streets are deserted, and the distant docks are in ruins. Everyone who lived there, and everyone who stayed there, has fled. And all of this happened in just two short days... Everything has changed completely.

What exactly happened?

He gripped his sword, his pace quickening as a sense of foreboding grew within him.

With his usual arrogance and limited perspective, he would disdain to stoop to the level of a lowly commoner; killing him would be too dirty for him. But just now, he swung his sword and began to hack and slash, not only because of the rudeness and disgust in the other party's eyes, but more importantly, because fear was spreading in his heart.

He had to do something to suppress the unease in his heart.

After walking along this road to the very center of town, turning north onto the main road, which leads to the Glittering Sand Manor, Lost felt a sudden jolt in his heart.

At the intersection ahead, rows and rows of heads were piled up.

Stacked high.

His body trembled, and he rushed forward in shock and fear, trying to identify the dead, afraid of finding his father's and the others' heads inside.

But the next moment, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Stonewall Jonathan..."

He recognized the head above; a fierce face covered in scars, filled with boundless terror, pleading, and despair. He must have endured immense fear before his death.

This man is the leader of the most troublesome gang of thieves in the area.

"Damn bandits, how dare they come to Glittering Sand to take advantage of its misfortune...!"

Lost felt slightly relieved, then let out a cold laugh and severed the head with a single sword stroke. Clearly, Glittering Sand must have encountered a great calamity, causing the civilians to flee in panic and bandits to take advantage of the chaos. But these bandits' lives remained here forever, meaning...

"Father and the others are unharmed; they even have the strength to wipe out the thieves..."

With this thought in mind, his worries lessened considerably, and he rallied his spirits to continue forward.

They walked all the way to the manor.

No, the manor no longer exists.

Lost stared indifferently at everything before him.

Two days ago, he had arrogantly questioned Kang De here, calmly disdained Kang De, and issued the order to surround and capture him with equanimity, like a high-ranking star looking down on everything below.

Now, he could only look at the ruins of his home, witnessing the destruction of the ancient Good Family. The walls had collapsed, the lawns burned, and the beautiful buildings were now ruins. The entire estate was scarred, with an eerie flatness and scattering marks on the ground, as if an unstoppable force was erupting from the center, pushing everything around it in all directions.

The ground was littered with corpses.

The corpses were melted into the earth by the scorching Flame.

A corpse charred and deformed by intense burning.

A corpse suffocated by the scorching, murky air.

The ground was littered with corpses and people—knights, soldiers, nobles, and commoners. At this moment, everyone's fate was the same, regardless of status or power. In the face of death, all beings were equal.

Lost stood there, feeling a chill run through him.

My mind went completely blank.

Magician.

Only a magician could do all this.

And only an extremely powerful mage could accomplish all of this!

Damn it! When did the Good Family provoke such a powerful enemy?! Who is he anyway?!

Despair and rage gripped Lost's heart.

Then, he saw something.

Those were things standing amidst the ruins. The shocking scene from before had left Lost's mind reeling, leaving him no time to discern the details within the ruins. Now, he saw them.

A few wooden stakes stand amidst the ruins.

People were tied up on them.

One of them is...

"Father!"

Lost's screams were hoarse and desperate, his mask of arrogance completely ripped off. He could no longer look down at the earth with pride, and could only tumble and crawl towards the wooden stake.

Immediately afterwards, a howl like that of a lone wolf rang out.

"Lynch!"

His eyes were bloodshot, and he was almost insane. Bound to the stake were his father, his younger brother, the knights of the castle—all dead, his family, his home, everything he owned.

His whole world.

However, a soft whimper reached my ears.

To Lost in his current state, this sound was no less deafening than the loudest thunder.

He looked up sharply and saw the other survivor, her sister, whose eyes were bound, mouth was gagged, and body was tightly bound, only able to twitch slightly and make faint sounds.

A ray of light shone into Lost's world.

He didn't really like his younger sister; rather, he didn't care about her. Although she had some talent, her personality was twisted and her vision was limited. In the future, she could only marry into a family worthy of Glittering Sand and wouldn't be able to bring him any help, since he was going to follow the eldest prince.

That's all.

I don't care.

They were just ordinary siblings, without any particularly strong sibling bond.

But now, an overwhelming sense of emotion welled up within him. He recalled the times he and his siblings played together when they were young. Back then, everyone was so innocent and pure. A small thing could make them happy all day, or a small thing could keep them silent all day... But the next day, everything would be just like usual.

He has never loved and longed for his family as much as he does now.

Lost rushed forward, drew his sword, and cut the ropes, catching his sister in his arms. He removed her blindfold and the rope from her mouth. He checked her complexion; it was good. Although she was terrified, her face wasn't deathly pale, her breathing wasn't weak, there were no signs of blood loss, no signs of torture, and no injuries. That was good, very good. Even if she was alone, even if...

--Hey, what's that strapped to her back? Why does it feel hard?

Hannah also saw her brother.

His eyes were filled with extreme terror and tears.

She yelled, "Brother! I'm strapped with a bomb, help me quickly..."

Lost did indeed hear those words.

Although I don't know what the bomb is.

But I saw the look of horror and shock on my sister's face.

He probably already understood what the so-called bomb was.

In an instant, he sensed extreme danger approaching. In a flash, his Dou Qi surged and his power soared. With a flick of his arms, Lost tossed Hannah, whom he was holding, far into the air.

Hannah felt herself being lifted into the air as if floating on clouds. Before she could finish her sentence, she realized what was happening. She reached out as if to grab Lost's hand, but it was too far away. The rest of her words turned into screams of endless despair and terror.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Then, flames flashed.

A violent flash and roar erupted from behind Hannah, the powerful impact blasting her body in two, into fragments, with blood and debris raining down.

Immediately afterwards, a huge explosion erupted from underground.

The instant he threw Hannah, Lost mustered his Dou Qi and retreated rapidly. A terrifying force rose from the ground, and a powerful shockwave shook his strong Dou Qi, injuring his body and vibrating his flesh, causing Lost to spit out a mouthful of blood and his left arm to twist irregularly.

But he ultimately escaped the maximum blast radius.

It was blown to the ground by the shockwave.

He was lying on the ground.

Watching flesh and blood fall to the ground.

He watched as his father and Lynch's bodies disappeared.

They watched as an explosion rising from the ground destroyed everything in front of them.

Everything.

He was stunned.

I just watched helplessly.

His eyes were vacant, like a walking corpse.

"Ha."

Laughter.

Laughter rang out from ahead.

"Clap clap clap."

Applause.

Someone came from behind the manor.

Lost stared blankly in that direction.

Then, the pupils slowly contracted.

He recognized the man: Kang De, the Joker, the Cathayan.

In that instant, he understood everything.

And it felt utterly absurd.

Why...?

A mere Joker who doesn't even know martial arts?

Kang De walked toward Lost, his feet sinking into the scorching ground.

He greeted us with a beaming smile.

"Hi."

"Your sister's gone up."

He said.

Lost just stared at him blankly, his gaze growing increasingly fixed and fierce.

Kang De ignored him and continued, "You are too impatient and too selfish. Are you happy to see your sister is still alive? But when danger comes, your first reaction is to throw her out. Your so-called happiness is just wanting to find a spiritual anchor after losing everything. I understand that feeling very well, really."

"But I have something to tell you."

Your sister didn't finish her sentence.

Do you know what the second half is?

Kang De smiled and said, "I told her that the bomb I strapped to her would explode, but there was a way to detonate it. The detonation time was set to ten seconds after activation. In other words, if you can patiently listen to what she has to say and remove the trigger on the bomb within ten seconds, your sister won't explode. I think, for someone as capable as you, three seconds wouldn't be a problem, let alone ten."

"So, do you know why your sister screamed so pitifully after you threw her out?"

"Because she was once very close to being born."

"But in the end, what killed her was the selfishness of the last relative to whom she had placed all her hopes..."

Lost's eyes trembled, his body trembled.

He was breathing heavily.

He couldn't even speak.

He stared at the falling debris, his lips trembling.

His facial expressions shifted constantly: fear, regret, rage, shock, avoidance, denial...

Kang De said calmly, "Last night I planned to put the bomb in her stomach, so you wouldn't have been able to dodge it and would definitely be half-dead by now. But when I was about to do that, a dead person jumped out and messed things up for me. This guy who's always holding me back forced me to change my mind."

"Looking at it now, it's working well. I really like your expression."

"I much prefer your current self to your previous arrogant, condescending attitude. You should humble yourself as much as you thought you were high up before."

"That's called retribution."

Lost hissed, "It was you, you did all of this..."

"Yes."

Kang De took the shotgun, pulled back the handguard to raise the bolt, and clicked.

He said, "Cry."

￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥

PS1: First update, 4000 words!

PS2: So, the last chapter didn't include a proper dissection, and someone got so worked up, yelling about dropping the book, dropping the book, dropping the book! It's unbelievable. The plot is so contrived that Kang De's hesitation and choice are directly related to the ending of this volume. Damn it, when I write a simple plot, people say "oh, how cliché!", but when I write a slightly more complex structure with a little setup and narration, they yell "I can't stand it and I'm dropping the book!" Can't they be a little more patient? It made me get up at 1 or 2 AM to read a post and then run back to add a couple more lines, so I didn't get any sleep. Damn it.

PS3: Of course, most of you are patient and tolerant. I said I would trust you, and I won't let you down, so please keep watching.