Five Hundred Years of Humanity Pawned Away, Otto Reduced to a Machine Running Only for His Obsession

What he had said to that blueprint—"Whatever is left, no matter what it is, can be traded to bring her back"—had laid his cards bare. There was no world in his eyes, no all beings. There was only Kallen.

"Using the entire world as collateral." Gu Yuena's voice was so flat that it carried not the slightest ripple. "He had converted every relationship from those five hundred years, every child he raised, every territory he protected, into a price that could be exchanged. The cover of the ledger he calculated bore the words 'Schicksal,' but every page inside was filled with 'Kallen.'"

Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Eye flickered faintly, his voice carrying a chill born of insight. "So that deal with Fu Hua, on the surface, had been him 'protecting Divine Continent' in exchange for bringing her into Schicksal. But viewed through this logic—the safety of Divine Continent was merely another piece of raw material he had invested into the long project of 'reviving Kallen.' He protected Divine Continent because if it collapsed, he would have no chessboard left. He was no guardian. He was a custodian, keeping the board from being overturned for the sake of his ultimate goal."

"Then it makes sense why he had been expressionless when Vera died." Tang Wulin's voice was heavy as iron. "He had long stopped treating human bonds as things with value of their own. Every relationship, every person, was an investment in his eyes. Vera's seventy-three years were the time cost he had put in. Once she died, the cost was cleared, the account logged out. He needed no emotion—she was just a number."

A'Dai scratched his head and, unusually, spoke up. His muffled voice carried a stubborn confusion. "But those two passages said he had 'nothing left but obsession,' and that