There was only dead silence.
Jiang Tongguang staggered forward, panting, his eyes fixed on the enemy before him.
The corpse said nothing, remaining silent as ever. Only Jiang Tongguang's expression changed, from shock to bewilderment, then to rage bordering on madness.
He had gambled his life, exhausted every resource, and compromised with the other directors again and again for this fourth incursion into Deepdark, until he no longer recognized himself, until he had become someone even he despised.
For his own revenge, he had willingly sent the Association's finest to their doom. He had spent every ounce of his strength to reach this place.
He would fulfill his mission, even if it killed him.
But now, when he pushed open the final door, he did not find his enemy.
His enemy was already dead.
Dead?
How the fuck could you die?!
Get up! Right now, this instant, immediately!
He covered his face and roared soundlessly.
For one instant, he nearly tipped from uncertainty into madness, and from madness into utter loss of control. Yet in the end, what pulled him back from the precipice was the very hypocrisy that had sickened him all these years—and Gustav's final request before his departure.
"Even if there's only one left."
In that last moment before they parted, the chairman waiting alone had quietly pleaded, "Please bring them back if you possibly can."
And so he lowered his head and looked at the corpse before him once more.
He gave it his undivided attention.
There was no mistake. This was indeed Bei Gong's corpse. Its aura and traces were identical to his, and even the wound left on his chest by the Molding Artisan's [Concord] matched the Association's records.
He died?
But that couldn't be right!
Having regained his composure, Jiang Tongguang shook his