Jiang Rui could no longer remain kneeling and collapsed to the floor. Having only just learned the truth, he was about to die. No one would have welcomed that.
Looking lost, he muttered to himself, "I don't want to die. I don't like any way of dying."
"All these years, I've thought about how to kill you every waking moment and devised more than a dozen deaths for you," He Zhan said. "To keep you from dying prematurely in an accident, I sent many people to protect you. When Zhuo Rusui wanted to kill you, I even risked saving you. After all the trouble it took to reach today, you have to pick one."
Chilled in body and soul, Jiang Rui said, "Even if you wanted to toy with me, haven't all these years been enough? Why didn't you kill me sooner? Why drag it out until today!"
"You were my anchor in the illusion. As long as you were alive and the hatred remained, I wouldn't forget the real world."
"Until just now, when I suddenly realized none of this meant anything," He Zhan said. "Naturally, there was no need to keep you around anymore."
Jiang Rui murmured, "I have decent talent, willpower, and methods, yet every step has been so difficult. So you were suppressing me from the shadows all along."
"Outside, you always thought I was good for nothing and merely lucky. Did you think I'd only gotten ahead of you here through luck, too? You need to understand and accept a fact: you've never been as good as me. Either you have what it takes or you don't. You didn't outside, and you don't in here."
"Hahahaha! I've only just realized-you're a eunuch. How did it feel to have that thing cut off? Whether I can