As long as you were fast enough, even a heart plucked from a chest would keep beating.
But it had all happened far too fast. The last shred of Hou Shu's consciousness drove him to say fiercely, with a hint of urgency, "See, I wasn't... lying..."
Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump... thump...
After a few beats, deprived of its blood supply, the floating heart rapidly lost its vitality, and Hou Shu collapsed to the ground.
His eyes were wide open, yet a faint smile of secret delight lingered on his face, looking utterly bizarre.
"You killed him."
Miss Sakura 2.0 glanced at the motionless Hou Shu. She showed neither horror nor pity, as though she were merely stating the simplest of established facts.
Xiao Luo SIR said nothing. The heart that had stopped beating slowly descended, finally settling into Hou Shu's palm.
He held his own heart, and in that moment, his life seemed whole again.
Yet in this scene, Miss Sakura 2.0 sensed a mysterious, profound harmony of life. She murmured instinctively, "If a person could hold their own heart, would they be able to see themselves more clearly...?"
"He might not be able to yet," Xiao Luo SIR suddenly said.
Miss Sakura 2.0 froze, instinctively looking at him... then back at Hou Shu. A bizarre scene unfolded: Hou Shu's body suddenly jerked and twitched several times.
This body should have already lost all vitality, yet now it began moving stiffly.
Bang—!
In an instant, Hou Shu's body exploded completely, turning into an eerie cloud of blood mist. Blood-red light once again filled the cavern, and crazed laughter rang out.
Within the blood mist, Hou Shu's hideously contorted face could faintly be seen forming from the bloody energy.
**"So that's it! So that's it! I understand now! The true meaning of