Act17 Freedom

Foreword:

Emperors are slaves to history.

Leo Tolstoy | War and Peace

[Part 1: The Storm Is Coming]

"Listen up, Mali Pero —the situation is dire." Pellegrini shouted to the puppet through the Storm Eye, "I've been exposed, there's nothing we can do about it. Perhaps other soldiers can slow their march, but in this era, the more you do, the more easily you get caught up in the complex vortex of struggle, unable to stay out of it. The two nameless scourges are already on their way—I need you to act immediately!"

Mali sits by the indoor pool in his suite; he has been reborn.

--I was relieved from the unbearable hunger and thirst.

The woman in the pool was none other than the cheerleader he had a brief affair with before. This woman had been relentlessly pursuing Mali, and finally, she ended up in his belly.

On the tiles of the hot tub lay a set of broken bones. It had no skull, only the pelvis and jawbone, which were difficult to gnaw on, floating cleanly in the water.

What do you want me to do?

Mali Pero's eyes lit up with excitement, and he clenched his fist.

Oh no, perhaps it should be called "it" more appropriately; it can feel the power within its body surging with the blood, flowing to every part of its body.

Its destructive power is immense. With just a light touch of a finger on the water's surface, the Storm Eye's divine power creates violent whirlpools. With two fingers pinching the skeleton of its female companion, a gentle force causes the bones to crack and turn into bone powder under the rubbing of the fingers.

"Kill Shao Jinghao and Daniel; these two are the gunsmith and the General of Tears's darlings."

"Why should I listen to you?" Mali Pero, weighing over 150 pounds but possessing the rebellious spirit of a 200-pound man, retorted, "Mr. Pellegrini, why? Now that I've tasted human flesh, I feel my soul has become free."

"Then why should I follow your orders and do something so dangerous?"

"Killing these two people will only allow the Nameless One to hunt me down to the ends of the earth, while you will remain uninvolved and bear no risk whatsoever."

"I want to live on, to live happily and peacefully forever."

"If I continue to participate in the Moon God Cup, I can gain wealth and fame, power and status."

"I can destroy this evidence of cannibalism, continue consuming the hybrid monster's condiments, and hide in human society, just like you, becoming an Immortals."

"Mr. Pellegrini, I won't sit at the table unless I have a satisfactory amount of money."

The eyes and mouth within his palms became ferocious and menacing. Pellegrini never expected that this pawn would actually try to turn the tables and become the master!

Pellegrini has engaged in countless human trafficking activities, and many foolish traitors have tried to escape his control.

--Mali Pero wasn't the first; he also had specific solutions, but these words really infuriated him.

"Aren't you afraid I'll immediately retract the power of the Storm Eye?! Aren't you afraid of dying? Have you always been this brave?!"

Mali Pero retorted, "The arrival of the nameless one has indeed made you lose your mind, Mr. Pellegrini. The panic in your words is the source of my confidence—as for whether I'm afraid of death, fortune favors the brave."

The rookie calmly walked out of the pool; the bones in the tub had completely turned to powder and flushed down the drain.

"If you can really take back the power of the Storm Eye, then try it! You brought this unfortunate life into my life, took Yukiko's life, and turned me into something inhuman."

"You are the one who transformed me, turning me into a cannibalistic demon, both in spirit and body."

"It seems you really don't have many capable men left. If you want to take the Storm Eye from me, who else can help you accomplish this? Who will help you kill?"

Pellegrini shouted, "Aren't you afraid I'll kill Groba?! Kill your brother?! Kill your whole family?!"

"My heart is already cracked," Mali Pero said sarcastically as she put on her clothes. "I'm capable of killing Yukiko with my own hands, disemboweling her and devouring her alive. I might as well make the cracks bigger and throw away all the useless things."

"I am your slave," Tolstoy said—"Emperors are slaves to history."

"Everyone is like this, tethered and imprisoned by all sorts of chains, iron chains and copper hooks biting into our bones."

"To break the chains, one must suffer great losses, be skinned alive, and have one's flesh cut off."

"I used to think that my brotherhood with Groba Pero was the most important thing in the world, but these days, Mr. Pellegrini, you have let me taste wealth and beauty, and made me realize that there are so many wonderful things in the world."

"If you find someone new, you have to forget your old love, right?"

"I'm a selfish person. When I woke up from my muddled life, I realized that I didn't care about Groba at all. I only cared about myself. I cared about my own feelings. I wanted to be a good older brother and to stand up to my father! To stand up to the powerful patriarchy! As for what happened to Groba, I didn't care at all."

"You—" Pellegrini was shocked. He had only wanted a useful dog, but it had turned out to be a heartless wretch. "Hahahaha!"

Instead of getting angry, he laughed, thinking that Mali Pero was truly a genius!

If this had happened six years ago, this kid would definitely have become a powerful figure. His selfish and self-serving heart alone would have surpassed that of many mentally fragile and deranged leaders of the Madness Butterfly Religious order.

"What's wrong, Pellegrini?" Mali Pero buttoned up his collar, still looking meticulous, just like the gunsmith's two students and Fiego.

They all deeply admired gunsmiths, and their methods of doing things and the little details of their lives reflected the serious and demanding nature of gunsmiths.

Pellegrini asked the price, "What do you want?"

Mali Pero: "Give me back my brother, and give me back my books."

Pellegrini: "That's all?"

Mali Pero: "Can't it be done?"

Pellegrini immediately said, "After it's done, I'll tell you where Groba Pero is hiding."

"I don't accept the idea of working first and getting paid later," Mali Pero threatened. "You might as well just tell me directly that my brother is dead."

"Why would you think that?! Why?" Pellegrini asked calmly, but his heart was in turmoil.

Mali continued, "Because both Groba and I considered the gunsmith our savior."

He raised his right hand, index finger pointing to the sky—

"--When I was being beaten by my parents, when these legal criminals were inflicting legal torture on me, no one could save me."

"The civil affairs official who came to mediate only told me to live a good life. Even Guangling Zhixi couldn't put those two scumbags in jail!"

"Only gunsmiths, only the gunsmiths on videotapes, he told me that again and again!"

Mali Pero gripped his shirt with his other hand, wanting to touch his burning heart.

"Fight back!"

"So, Mr. Pellegrini, Groba, who is younger and less sensible than me, should already be dead at your hands."

"My parents, who worshipped money and power, should have knelt at your feet long ago. You two conspired to kill him—just because this fool believed an anonymous fairy tale and decided to fight you to the end."

"Just pretend he's dead! Mr. Pellegrini, now you've lost another bargaining chip. How are you going to convince me?"

The mouth on the palm remained silent for a moment.

Pellegrini really couldn't figure out what the child was trying to express.

The unknown represents fear, and fear makes him shrink back.

Mali Pero's stance is wavering. He has indeed swallowed human flesh and there is no turning back. In the power struggle between the Immortals and the nameless, this kind of traitor will definitely be the one who dies the most tragically!

What did he really want? Groba was dead, but besides that, he also wanted a book?

Books? What books?! What on earth is making him so obsessed?!

Pellegrini suddenly realized--

--There was indeed a book at the scene of Yukiko's date with Mali Pero.

Besides the lunchbox, there was also a copy of Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms"—which served as an insulated pad for the lunchbox. Along with the evidence at the scene, it was thoroughly cleaned up by the employees and destroyed nearby, turning into a cloud of black dust at the coal-fired power plant's waste incineration site!

"The book you wanted, it's not..."

Mali Pero: "It's the book you're thinking of. It was a gift from Yukiko; it's the only thing she left me."

"How am I supposed to find it for you!" Pellegrini cried out in disbelief, "It's already burned to ashes!"

"I appreciate your honesty," Mali Pero said with a smile. "You no longer treat me like a child, Mr. Pellegrini. You finally understand that lies meant for children don't work on me—if you had said that this matter needed to be put on hold, that you should go look for it again, perhaps we would have had nothing to talk about."

At this moment, Pellegrini couldn't peer into Mali's heart through the Storm Eye! A thick barrier of psychic energy separated them. The boy had already undergone a transformation. "What do you really want?"

"As proof of our friendship, Yukiko carefully selected and sent me a book from batch number FS10401 at the bookstore. Its title is A Farewell to Arms—a Hemingway novel. I love it dearly," Mali Pero said slowly. "Go find it. Yukiko used it to express her love for me. It's easy to find; the title page says 'Reading is always beneficial.'"

"Yukiko explained this slogan to me very carefully, pointing to the book as she explained it."

Without you, I'm like a soldier without armor and weapons, not knowing how to go on living.

"This is the original text from the book. Can you understand this feeling of love, Mr. Pellegrini?"

"Go find it, find it, and then give it to me."

"This is more reliable than all contracts, agreements, and human trafficking in the world."

"If you can find it, it costs 112 Hui Stone Currency. Bookstores sometimes have promotions, and right now you can buy it for only 70 yuan."

"Give it to me, consider it my childish tantrum."

Without hesitation, Pellegrini replied immediately, "Act now."

"You must act immediately," Mali Pero replied. "Don't try to fool me with clumsy lies."

[Part ② - Fight Back]

Buy a book?

Pellegrini simply found Mali Pero's demands utterly unreasonable!

Really? Just one book can make this kid obey? Is that true?

His rich life experience told him that many strong-willed warriors actually have this quirk!

They only need one or two tokens to ignite their inner courage; it is their belief, their very lifeblood.

The belongings left behind by Yukiko were so important to this boy, and this strange ritual shook Pellegrini's resolve.

--If he actually manages to kill the gunsmith's student, but I can't deliver the reward to him, things will get very bad.

For just seventy Hui Stone Currency and a tiny bit of effort, you can gain Mali Pero's trust and his friendship! This deal sounds incredibly worthwhile and profitable!

It's just a matter of asking a subordinate to find a few bookstores nearby and buy a book; it only takes a few tens of minutes by car at most.

If you can't even do this simple thing right, Mali Pero will completely turn his back on you!

His ability to kill the gunsmith's student demonstrates his exceptional talent and makes him an outstanding warrior!

He's fighting desperately on the front lines, while I, Pellegrini, can't even do something this simple—this kid will become an enemy of the Immortals Alliance, and one of the most formidable ones at that!

"FS10401! The book is called <A Farewell to Arms>! -- Kids, get your spirits up!" Pellegrini shouted, beckoning to the armed men around him. "Find this book! Quickly! Find it! You go!"

Inside the RV, the other henchmen of the Immortals all cast puzzled glances at them.

"Boss, what does this mean? Are we going into the city?"

Pellegrini did not remain at the outpost to await his doom. Just as Jason Megan had speculated, the makeshift Eagle's Nest was not safe; it could only serve as a deployment point for soldiers to change equipment, leaving behind some scapegoats to delay the Nameless Ones' entry into the city.

He switched to another RV, disguised as a mobile food truck that spanned Forty-One District and Forty District, with an interior modified to be covered in armor and bulletproof glass.

The vehicle traveled along the intercity highways surrounding Forty-One District, occasionally stopping at logistics hubs to do some business, selling hamburgers, Fries, fried chicken nuggets, and hot dogs. Sometimes, when passing by the Cangyue Lake resort, the Immortals would even offer ice cream to the children with a beaming smile.

The commander needed to maintain a reliable network connection, occasionally communicate with soldiers at the front, and frequently return to the public communications range of Forty-One District —at this moment, they were twenty kilometers from the nearest town, and it was uncertain whether they could find Hemingway's works in this cultural desert.

Two groups of people headed in opposite directions to buy books, hoping to be among the first to get Mali Pero's favorite items. Pellegrini decided to hold back, parking the food truck on the side of the highway and waiting for the team to return.

Pellegrini was very excited; Mali Pero's performance impressed him greatly.

--This young man is determined. If he can devote himself wholeheartedly to the cause of the Immortals Alliance, he will surely become a useful and sharp weapon in the future.

"Well, Mali Pero! I've already set off for the bookstore to pick out a gift for you myself!"

Pellegrini is still lying, just like your boss who always makes empty promises.

Mali Pero sneered, "Really? Mr. Pellegrini, do you still think of me as a child? Someone as suicidal as you, would you really go into the city willingly? Your joke is infuriating."

"Oh! Oh! I was too excited!" Pellegrini quickly corrected himself. "Anyway, I've already asked someone to find the things. You need to act immediately."

Mali Pero entered the restroom, faced the mirror, tidied her appearance, and headed to the gym on the 24th floor to fight Daniel and Hao Bro to the death.

"Open your eyes and watch carefully."

He opened his palm, and Pellegrini stared straight at him.

"The Storm Eye you gave me will make killing these Homo sapiens without any soul power a piece of cake."

"Hehehe, yes! Yes, yes! Yes, yes, yes!" The gaping maw left in the palm of his hand burst into laughter.

Mali Pero remained motionless, his face ashen. No one knew what he was thinking, but strange remnants of psychic energy lingered around him.

These days, paranormal events and bizarre dreams have kept him awake at night, causing him immense anguish.

The eyes on the fleshy palms could only see Mali Pero's cold face.

In the mirror, Little Groba, covered in blood, lay on his brother's shoulder, his soul gradually dissipating and turning into pure spiritual energy.

His frail spirit reached out and wrote crooked words on Mali Pero's vest.

"Elder brother."

"Revenge! Brother!"

"Your Yukiko is inside your body, you've devoured her, she'll never be reincarnated!"

"Can you hear me?"

"She's crying! And there's another one, the older sister you just ate! They're both crying!"

"Stop being slaves! For freedom!"

"Fight back! Fight back!"