absurd deduction game.

Perhaps Edgar was already dead.

It was only because his physical transformation was more extreme than his consciousness that he mistakenly believed he was still human and that there was still a possibility of leaving.

When his thoughts leaned toward humanity, his words and actions perfectly matched Edgar in life. But when madness manifested, and his already alienated brain realized what he truly was, the monstrous side pierced through the facade, revealing a chaotic and twisted obsession.

He slowly raised his head, his turbid eyes fixed on Yu Xing, devoid of any human warmth, filled only with a cold, venomous hatred.

“I helped you… find the truth… destroy the ‘heart’… clear the way for your departure…”

"And yet...you...will abandon me?"

"Stay here...and perish...with this damned city?"

The surrounding tremors intensified, and a viscous, dark red liquid, like blood and tears, began to seep from the walls of the flesh membrane.

The hum of the coordinating core machinery became sharp and piercing, as if sounding an alarm.

A powerful and chaotic mental fluctuation, centered on Edgar, swept out like an out-of-control storm!
The whispers that were already in the air now seemed to be infused with a soul, becoming clearer and more vicious, frantically assaulting the minds of the three.

Yu Xing stood rooted to the spot, letting the resentful mental assault batter his mental barriers, unmoved. His gaze remained calm, even carrying a hint of understanding.
His previous conjecture is being confirmed.

This city of terror is more tightly bound to Edgar White, the "recorder," than they imagined.

Qu Xian held the Azure Blood Sword horizontally in front of him, and the chilling blood aura spontaneously formed a barrier, shutting out those malicious whispers.

She looked at Yu Xing, silently conveying her question.

The actor narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing the ripples in the surrounding rules caused by Edgar's intense emotional fluctuations. The faint smile on his lips deepened, as if he had already foreseen the final act to be performed, starring despair.

The air inside the underground chamber was extremely tense, like a fully drawn bowstring.

Faced with Edgar's question, a mixture of despair and resentment, Yu Xing finally spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through all the noise and chaos, carrying an undeniable calmness:

"It's not abandonment."

"But you, Edgar White, have already become the city itself."

"The only way to leave here is..."

His words, like a final verdict, echoed in the oppressive space.

"...so that you and your city may rest in peace."

Yu Xing's words were like the last boulder thrown into a stagnant pool, completely shattering all the remaining rationality in Edgar White.

"Peace of sleep...? To...peace of sleep...with this city?"

Edgar repeated these words, his voice first a very low murmur, then suddenly rising and twisting like a machine tool out of control, bursting into hysterical laughter!

The laughter was no longer a human sound, but a piercing noise that was a mixture of metal friction, gear breaking, and electrical short circuits, frantically assaulting the eardrums and the soul.

"Hahaha...you...you ungrateful thieves! Plunderers!" His only remaining right eye was completely filled with blood red, the turbid pupil shrank to the size of a pinhead, burning with the purest resentment and madness accumulated from thirty years of despair.

"I gave everything! My soul! My body! My time! I became this monster, neither human nor ghost! All to record the truth, and to wait for a sliver of hope!"

"I've waited for you! I've guided you! I've given you the clues I risked my life for!" His body trembled violently with extreme rage, and more dangerous sparks flew from the mechanical connection, making crackling sounds.

"Now...you've used me...like throwing away a rag used to wipe away blood! And you still have the audacity to say...let me 'rest in peace'?!"

“Why—!!”

The final roar was no longer a simple sound wave, but a mental storm mixed with all of Edgar's negative emotions, exploding outwards from him like a tangible tsunami!

Om-!
The entire underground chamber emitted a mournful wail, as if it could no longer bear the weight.

The dark red fleshy membrane wall writhed and expanded violently to an unprecedented degree, with the large blood vessels on its surface bulging as if they were about to burst open and seep out more viscous dark red liquid.

The ancient coordinating core mechanism emitted a sharp, dying scream, its runes flickering and energy flow descending into complete chaos.

But this is just the beginning.

As Edgar's emotions spiraled out of control, the Coordination Core he relied on suddenly emitted a blinding, ominous red light!

The light did not shine directly onto the surrounding fleshy walls, but rather projected countless chaotic and fragmented scenes onto the surrounding fleshy walls and even the entire underground space, much like a projector!
In an instant, Yu Xing and the other two seemed to no longer be in the gloomy underground chamber, but were forcibly pulled into a bizarre and constantly changing nightmare theater.

They saw the Harvest Square in Yolikev, bathed in warm sunshine, with people dressed in decent clothes moving about. But the next second, all the faces of the pedestrians turned into empty, numb shadows, and the sky was replaced by a writhing, dark purple membrane.

They saw the interior of the Lighthouse Bookstore, with its neat bookshelves and the air filled with the scent of ink. Young Edgar was talking quietly with the bookstore owner. But in an instant, the wooden structure of the bookstore melted and twisted, turning into a terrifying library made of skin and bones. The books on the shelves opened and closed automatically, uttering insane murmurs.

They witnessed a bloody banquet, with guests twisting and dancing wildly in the blood moon, while Edgar hid in the shadows, recording everything with trembling hands, his face filled with fear and... a secret, twisted thirst for knowledge.

They even saw the scenes of the three of them being attacked by shadows on the streets when they first entered the city of terror, fighting against knowledge monsters in the library, and getting stuck in a loop on the clock tower steps—all of which seemed to be recorded by an omnipresent "eye"!

"Do you see that?! Do you see that?!" Edgar's frantic voice echoed through the shifting scenes, like a narration for this nightmare. "This is my 'work' of thirty years! This is the 'price' I paid! I recorded everything! This city! It is my prison! And my work! It exists because of my consciousness! It comes alive because of my pain!"

Boom!

The ground shook violently, as if an earth dragon were turning over.

The hardened organic ground beneath their feet cracked, revealing the pulsating, even more vibrant, dark red flesh and blood beneath.

The fleshy dome above their heads began to press downwards, as if the entire space was contracting, trying to squeeze and crush them. "You owe me!!" Edgar roared, and his body began to undergo a horrifying transformation.

The metallic parts bulged out even more menacingly, like an exoskeleton, while the parts that still retained human tissue rapidly withered and dried up. His right eye completely lost the last bit of human radiance, transforming into a constantly rotating, complex structure made up of tiny gears and blood vessels, coldly locking onto the three of them.

“Since you refuse to take me with you…since you want to take away my last hope…” His voice became heavy and strange, a mixture of his original voice, the sound of metal scraping, and the whispers of countless shadowy figures, “Then leave your power…your souls…become new nourishment for my ‘work’! Become a part of me! Accompany me…to be recorded eternally!”

The surrounding projected images suddenly contracted and condensed, transforming into countless semi-transparent dark chains made of fragments of memories and negative emotions, like living venomous snakes, coiling towards Yu Xing and the other two from all directions!

These chains not only possess physical attack capabilities but also contain powerful mental pollution. Once entangled by them, one will be immediately dragged into Edgar's insane and chaotic abyss of consciousness.

At the same time, the red light of the coordinating core machinery condensed into a thick torrent of energy, like an angry giant python, accompanied by Edgar's twisted will, and first blasted towards Yu Xing, who was standing at the forefront.

At this moment, battle was inevitable.

A cold glint flashed in Qu Xianqing's eyes. Without saying a word, the blood sword emitted a clear and melodious hum, and the chilling blood-red sword energy swept out like a crescent moon, accurately slashing at the flying chains of memories.

The sword energy collided with the chains, producing a piercing sound like shattering glass. The chains broke and scattered into chaotic streams of spiritual energy.

But more chains came one after another, seemingly endless.

The actor remained standing in place, facing the sweeping attacks. He merely clicked his tongue softly, seemingly bored with the scene.

He did not directly confront the chains or the energy torrent, but instead put his hands in his pockets and lightly touched the ground with the toe of his right foot.

In an instant, the deep green moss spread rapidly from him like a living tide!
Instead of attacking Edgar or the Coordination Core, the moss quickly covered the surrounding writhing fleshy walls and cracked ground. Wherever the moss passed, the wildly throbbing blood vessels seemed to be suppressed by some force, and the writhing slowed down significantly. Even the chaotic images projected on the ground began to distort and show static, like a poorly received television screen.

He was undermining Edgar's absolute control over the region's environment.

Facing the oncoming torrent of energy imbued with Edgar's mad will, Yu Xing neither dodged nor evaded. The eerie blue light in his eyes was like a will-o'-the-wisp burning on an icy plain, deep and cold.

He didn't even use any branches.

He simply raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and made a loose grasp on the raging torrent of energy.

hum-

A black, deep, and decaying mist spread out from the center of his palm.

The torrent of energy, powerful enough to tear apart souls and melt metal, vanished the moment it entered the black mist, its speed drastically reduced and its light rapidly dimmed. The mad will contained within it was completely silenced, without even a ripple, before being utterly smoothed out and annihilated.

In the end, the seemingly devastating torrent of energy completely dissipated into nothingness less than half a meter from Yu Xing's palm, leaving only a few insignificant embers, which he casually brushed away.

Edgar's "eye," made of gears and blood vessels, suddenly froze, and the wildly spinning gears seemed to pause for a moment.

He couldn't understand why his attack, which he had launched by mobilizing the core of coordination and infused with thirty years of accumulated resentment, was so easily neutralized.

Yu Xing lowered her hand and looked calmly at Edgar, whose appearance was terrifying and whose mind was insane, as if she had just brushed away a speck of dust.

“It seems we were right.” His voice remained steady, clearly reaching Edgar and the two people behind him in the chaotic and turbulent space.

"The City of Terror, this ancient god's 'testing ground' and 'recording tool,' is not currently in a stable state entirely maintained by the ancient god's will."

"Its true 'foundation' is what holds the rules of this city and makes everything work..."

Yu Xing spoke slowly and deliberately, revealing the cruel truth:

“...It’s you, Edgar White.”

"Your consciousness, your soul, your fear, despair, thirst for knowledge that have been constantly distorted, amplified, and solidified over the past thirty years, and... this overwhelming resentment at this moment, are the last 'energy' and 'program' that have kept this city from collapsing immediately after its heart was destroyed."

"Destroying the heart only cuts off its ability to send out coordinates."

"And if you really want to shut down this 'recording tool' and leave here..."

The last vestige of pity vanished from Yu Xing's eyes, leaving only a cold, resolute determination to carry out the necessary mission.

"The only solution is to 'delete' you, the core."

"I'm sorry, Mr. White."

"We cannot repay your 'debt' in the way you wish."

“And now, it’s time for your curtain to fall.” Yu Xing’s words, like a final death knell, echoed in Edgar’s utterly deranged mind.

"Delete...the curtain falls..."

Edgar's right eye, made of gears and blood vessels, suddenly stopped turning and froze in a deathly silence.

Immediately, an aura far deeper, more desperate, and more violent than before erupted from the depths of his twisted body and collapsing consciousness, like a volcano that had been dormant for thousands of years!

"what--!!!!"

That wasn't a sound; it was the lament of the rules, the wailing of existence! The entire underground chamber—no, the entire city of terror—trembled violently in this ultimate despair and resentment!

Rumble, rumble—!
The fleshy dome overhead began to peel away and drip in large pieces, like melting wax, revealing a deeper and more chaotic darkness behind it, as if the city was beginning to disintegrate from the inside.

The ground cracked inch by inch, and the dark red, fleshy foundation surged and boiled as if it were alive. Countless pale arms and twisted faces struggled out from the cracks, emitting silent screams. (End of Chapter)