Mutated Tao

Chapter 1004: Mental Illness

“Please die.”

Everyone froze at Qing Wanglai’s words.

He caught everyone off guard. No one, not even Li Huowang, had anticipated him to say something like that. They didn’t think he was capable of it.

“Fuck!” Ba Nanxu cursed.

With a deep drag of her cigarette, she prepared to blow Qing Wanglai’s head off.

However, Zhao Shuangdian stopped her. “Don’t be rash. Let him finish.”

Unlike the others, Zhao Shuangdian remained eerily composed.

Qing Wanglai turned to Li Huowang. “I need you to die. The projections on both sides must shrink simultaneously. You don’t see what I see, Li Huowang. You can barely contact the other projection, but I have a way to contact my true self and figure out what to do. This is the only way.”

Li Huowang’s eyes narrowed. “Every projection? Every projection? Are you saying everyone here—including the Simings—is just a projection to you? You want to destroy everything? This is your plan?”

Qing Wanglai nodded confidently and without hesitation. “Li Huowang, you have to see the bigger picture. Some things must be sacrificed for the greater good.”

Li Huowang stared at Qing Wanglai as though seeing him for the first time.

Qing Wanglai smiled faintly and patted Li Huowang’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I know what you’re afraid of. But our death this time is not the end—it’s the beginning. We’re just projections, less important than you think. Once the crisis is over, we can be projected again and live in peace.”

Li Huowang’s mouth parted slowly. “You crazy bastard!”

Li Huowang finally understood what kind of person Qing Wanglai was. He wasn’t just misguided. He was deranged—a madman, a lunatic!

Disappointment flickered briefly in Qing Wanglai’s eyes. “Li Huowang, you’ve let me down. I thought you’d understand. I thought you would become my ally.”

But Qing Wanglai was faster. He twisted his neck and dodged the bullet. As he did, he grabbed Li Huowang’s wrist and wrenched it aside to make him stumble. Then, he quickly took out his own gun and pressed it against Li Huowang’s temple.

“Don’t move!” Qing Wanglai yelled.

Now, no one dared to shoot. They were afraid that the other party would shoot first.

Qing Wanglai looked down at the severely injured Li Huowang and smiled. “Stay still. You’ve already lost too much blood. I chose the moment to show myself carefully. If you were at your peak, I might have actually died.”

Bam!

Behind Qing Wanglai, someone kicked the door open.

A man entered the room, bombs strapped to his chest and a detonator clutched in his hand. Reflective sunglasses obscured his eyes, and he seemed oddly nonchalant, idly playing a game on his phone with his other hand.

“Don’t move!” he barked. “One wrong step and we all die!”

The presence of the explosives created a tense atmosphere.

Even Zhao Shuangdian stopped typing, glaring at Qing Wanglai. “Qing Wanglai, do you really think it’s appropriate to weaken our forces before the final battle?”

Qing Wanglai shrugged. “Appropriate? Do you think unity will help us win? Don’t be foolish. You don’t even understand what we’re facing. Isn’t that right, Li Huowang?”

He turned to Li Huowang, his usual smile missing. “If you calculate with the flow of time in this projection, you should know that that thing will reach the real world in eight days. Eight days! That’s all we have.

“We have no time to waste. If my plan fails within that time, not only will our projections on both sides be destroyed—our real bodies will vanish too.

“The outcome is set no matter what we do in those eight days, so why not destroy our projections on both sides now? That way, our true selves have a chance of survival.”