The End X Who Agrees X Who Objects

The moment the hand shadow fell, Rabbit Escape's original body leaped out of the shadow and landed lightly on Jiang Ye's shoulder.

Its crimson eyes darted around, issuing a silent command.

The next second, countless black rabbits poured madly from the ground, as though an entire sea of ink had overturned.

They did not attack Dodge directly. Instead, they covered the entire battlefield, blocking his sight, disrupting his perception, and sealing off his only remaining line of sight layer by layer.

All Dodge could see were black shadows flying everywhere.

"Out of my way!"

He growled and slammed his left palm against the ground. Dozens of earthen spikes burst forth, impaling a ring of Rabbit Escape clones around him on the spot.

The shattered rabbits dissolved into black mist, but the gap had barely existed for half a second before even more rabbits surged in behind them, wave after endless wave.

Rabbit Escape's original body crouched on Jiang Ye's shoulder and casually waggled its ears.

As long as it was not defeated, there would be no end to the clones.

Under cover of the tide of rabbits, Divine Dog: Totality moved.

Its massive body glided silently along the ground, its black-and-white fur blending in with the swarm of Rabbit Escape clones.

Dodge could not see where it was at all, but Divine Dog: Totality's sense of smell kept its target firmly locked on. With every dodge and every sidestep, Totality's claws tore into the earthen armor on Dodge's body before his senses could catch up.

Torn apart, healed.

Torn apart again, healed again.

Dodge trembled all over with rage, but there was nothing he could do.

Rabbit Escape completely blocked his vision and drew his attacks in different directions. Every time he unleashed an Earth Spear, he cleared out a swath of rabbits, but he could not kill them all.

Every attack he unleashed consumed more of his aura.

Meanwhile, Divine Dog: Totality attacked more and more frequently, its claw marks growing deeper and deeper.

As time passed, Dodge could clearly feel his life racing toward its end.

The power gained through restrictions did not come without a price.

The aura drawn from the earth was burning through his body at a rate beyond what it could bear. His vision began to blur, his left arm lost all feeling, and every breath tasted of rust.

Jiang Ye stood in the distance, never once attacking personally from beginning to end. He murmured to himself.

"Almost."

He had noticed that the frequency of Dodge's attacks had begun to drop.

The intervals between his Earth Spears grew longer, and his armor regenerated more slowly.

At the same time, the Rabbit Escape swarm finally found an opening. Dozens of clones pounced on Dodge's back at once, briefly entangling his right hand, the only one he could still move.

In that fraction of a second, Divine Dog: Totality suddenly sprang into action.

The massive mastiff leaped out of the swarm of rabbits and clamped its gaping jaws directly onto Dodge's chest.

Its fangs pierced the earthen armor, smashed through the fractured layers of rock, and sank into flesh.

Squelch!

The next moment, Dodge's body was bitten clean through.

Those clouded eyes looked at Jiang Ye one last time.

Resentment and anger mingled in his eyes, but he could do nothing.

His pupils dilated, and all strength left his body in an instant. He hung motionless in Divine Dog: Totality's jaws.

The breath of life was completely extinguished at that moment.

The Rabbit Escape swarm receded like the tide, withdrawing into the depths of the shadows.

Divine Dog: Totality opened its jaws, and Dodge's body fell heavily to the ground.

A closer look showed blood pouring from the wound through his chest, quickly spreading into a dark red pool on the scorched ground.

Jiang Ye walked forward and looked down at Dodge's eyes, still open in death.

There was no expression on his face.

There was no need for sympathy.

The rules of Meteor City had been clear from the very first day.

There was no fairness here, no mercy.

If you didn't kill him, he would kill you.

Jiang Ye had never had a second path to take, and neither had Dodge.

He crouched down and was just about to reach out and close Dodge's eyes.

Suddenly, a faint red light appeared in the wound bitten through Dodge's chest.

At the sight, Jiang Ye's eyes narrowed sharply.

Without time to think, he stomped his right foot into the shadow. A pitch-black current of aura instantly surged from the ground and enveloped his entire body, forming Shadow Armor in an instant.

At the same time, Divine Dog: Totality's massive body moved in front of him to shield him at incredible speed.

Boom...!

Dodge's chest exploded.

The blast sent the surrounding rubble and debris flying several meters and left a shallow crater the size of a washbasin.

Black smoke and dust drifted through the air, which was thick with the pungent smell of explosives.

When the aftershock of the explosion faded, the Shadow Armor was covered in cracks.

Jiang Ye brushed the dust from his shoulder and looked down at the crater.

"Even in death, he had to pull a dirty trick."

He spoke quietly, his tone carrying no anger, only a sigh of feeling.

The bomb had probably been implanted near Dodge's heart beforehand, set to explode as soon as his heart stopped.

If he had not reacted quickly, and if Totality had not blocked some of the blast in time, the impact might not have killed him, but it would have left him gravely injured.

"The people of Meteor City really aren't simple."

There was no need to think about it. Dodge had surely been prepared to die from the very beginning.

From the day he became the leader of the Rust Bone Gang, he had known that sooner or later someone would kill him.

So he had implanted a bomb in his body.

It was not meant to take his killer down with him, but to ensure that whoever killed him would not come to a good end either.

Jiang Ye stood up, his gaze falling on Dodge's head, which had rolled to one side.

The explosion had only destroyed the parts below the chest, leaving the head intact.

The expression on Dodge's face was still frozen in the final moment before his death, a mixture of resentment, anger, and disbelief.

Jiang Ye bent down and picked up the head.

Just then, a jumble of footsteps and shouts came from not far away.

The patrolling thugs from the farm had finally arrived.

They rushed past the burning remains of the mansion, treading over rubble and pieces of flesh strewn across the ground.

When they saw the scene before them, they all stopped.

A giant black-and-white dog nearly two meters tall at the shoulder lay in the middle of the ruins, radiating a suffocating pressure.

Beside the giant dog stood a twelve-year-old boy, drenched in blood, holding a head they all knew well in his right hand.

That face.

It was Dodge Daichi's face!

The entire scene fell deathly silent in an instant.

Someone swallowed, his legs beginning to tremble.

Someone else's gun hand began to sweat, and he quietly took a step back.

Jiang Ye glanced over the group.

They formed a dense crowd, at least thirty or forty strong, with more still running over from the distance.

They carried guns, knives, and iron clubs. Clearly, they had come for him.

But there was no anger in their eyes, only fear.

Seeing this, Jiang Ye held Dodge's head high.

His voice was not loud, but it rang out with unusual clarity across the deathly silent ruins.

"Now, I'm the leader of the Rust Bone Gang."

The boy stood in the center of the ruins, holding the head. The blood covering him had yet to dry, and the tip of his foot rested beside Dodge's headless corpse.

His gaze swept slowly over everyone present, the corners of his mouth curved in something between a smile and a smirk.

"Who agrees?"

No one dared answer.

"Who objects?"

Deep in the crowd, someone's gun fell to the ground.

The sharp clang of metal striking the ground broke the deathly silence.