Xia Yang recalled those memories, and remembered the person before him.
This flayed, mangled monster hiding in the dark shadows was the master of Hanhai Blood City.
His name was Gao Ming.
"You gave me the protection of Hanhai's rules because Number Two died, and now it's my turn?" Xia Yang still wore a gentle smile. He cared nothing for good or evil, and conventional morality could not constrain him at all. He was a madman in the real world, and a normal person in the World of Delirium.
"You know I'll help you. Not because I'm particularly fond of you, but because I don't want this World of Delirium destroyed. I don't want the fate of all these madmen to collapse. You know—I really like it here." Gao Ming had previously imprisoned Xia Yang in the Execution House, but he had gained his freedom in the World of Delirium. If this world collapsed or Gao Ming's soul was annihilated, he would vanish along with them.
Putting the knife of the heart back into his bag, Xia Yang put away his lighter. Even in pitch darkness, he could see Gao Ming's body.
"In the end, you might have nothing left, and we're doomed to fail anyway."
"Illusion can't be killed. Every death brings a rebirth in someone new. Time is wrapped in your skin, prolonging its lucid periods, and you might both go mad at once. Aging and Blood Color fell into Number Two's trap and became part of Delirium, but Forest's seeds are still here, and Blood Color hasn't truly died. The most dangerous one is Number Zero, that unknowable who followed us from reality into the World of Delirium. He'll soon calculate the truth of this world. He even sent one of the World of Delirium's madmen outside.