Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Fourth finger —

With his thumb and forefinger simultaneously gripping his left and right eye sockets, the karmic fire drilled into his finger bones and exploded violently inside his skull!

He roared:

"Four!!!"

Fifth finger —

He punched the stump of his right fifth finger, shattering the metacarpal bone with his fist. Bone fragments pierced his palm, but he didn't feel any pain. He just felt it wasn't enough!

"five!!!"

……

"Seventeen!!!" — The karmic fire burned through his left wrist, and the styloid process of the ulna fell off silently!

"Twenty-three!!!" — The fat tissue under the right kneecap was burned away, leaving it charred and curled up!

"Forty-four!!!" — His left eye socket was hollowed out by karmic fire, leaving only a burning black hole!

"Eighty-nine!!!" — The manubrium of the sternum has separated from the body of the sternum, and the chest cavity has collapsed!

Li Rui's voice had already crackled.

Shouting until my throat bled, shouting until my vocal cords were overloaded, shouting until every breath I took carried a strong, bloody smell!

"One hundred and fifty-seven!!!" — The costal cartilages snapped one by one in the karmic fire!

"Three hundred and sixty-five!!!" — The collarbone was folded in half by the flames!

"Seven hundred and eleven!!!" — The greater trochanter of the femur exploded in the flames!

"Nine hundred and thirty-one!!!" — The thyroid cartilage was burned to dust by the karmic fire!

……

at last.

He paused for a moment.

It's not that I want to stop, it's that my throat is completely cracked and I can't shout anymore.

His lips were moving, but no sound was coming out, though his hands were still burning.

He looked down and saw that his fingers were torn open, and blood was dripping down his fingertips onto the exposed surface of Zhang Ziqian's heart.

"hiss--"

The blood vaporized instantly.

His blood and the sins of his enemies evaporated together.

He raised his left hand and grabbed Zhang Ziqian by the neck.

The section of trachea was exposed, and the cartilage rings were still slightly expanding and contracting.

He pinched it inch by inch.

Lips open and close silently:

Nine hundred...seventy-two...

Cartilage rings—Third ring, sunken! Fourth ring, cracked! Fifth ring, shattered!

He released his grip, and the trachea rebounded, with air hissing in through the crack.

Zhang Ziqian is still alive.

We still have to live.

They also had to endure the excruciating pain of being burned by karmic fire.

Endure the excruciating pain of bones being crushed inch by inch and tendons being torn apart one by one.

And—in the illusion, he repeatedly "became" Su Xiao—

He was strangled 972 times.

It was dragged 972 times.

Nine hundred and seventy-two times, he looked at the discarded brooch.

He breathed his last breath nine hundred and seventy-two times.

Then I woke up.

Die again.

Li Rui raised his head and looked at the "human specimen" on the seat that was still breathing, with its skin peeled off, exposing its muscles, fascia and bones.

The fire of karma is still burning.

It was lit 972 times and extinguished 972 times.

With each extinguishing of the flames, the sin is lessened by a little.

Each time it is lit, the flame dims by an inch.

Li Rui knew.

It's almost burned out.

This will be the last time.

He slowly raised his right hand.

With fingers spread and palm facing down, it was held directly above Zhang Ziqian's heart.

Directly below, at the heart that is still faintly beating through the thin pericardium.

Zhang Ziqian's empty eyeballs rolled, a pleading look appearing in his pupils.

Was that a struggle for survival?

Or is he seeking death?

Li Rui ignored his pleas, and finally, a sound escaped his lips:

"Nine... hundred... seventy... three!"

Then, he slammed his palm down hard!

I'll throw all my weight, 973 regrets, and 100 million longings at this place!

boom!

!

!

The flames condensed into a crimson chain, instantly wrapping around the heart three times—

Bound this still faintly beating, sinful heart tightly to the fire and roast it!

Li Rui leaned down, his face less than a centimeter away from those exposed eyeballs.

His face was contorted in pain, his eyes were bloodshot and almost black, and blood and tears had etched deep lines all over his face.

He spoke, his voice hoarse and broken:

"You... owe... her..."

One word, one breath of fire.

"One...hundred million...times..."

One word, one burning.

"It...can't...be...completely burned!"

As the words fell, flames erupted from his palms, and three balls of fire exploded simultaneously in his chest, abdomen, and skull!

The flames blazed brightly!

Zhang Ziqian's body convulsed violently in the flames of karma—

For every inch of sin burned away, an inch of flesh and blood turned to nothingness.

Then--

The heart, bound by chains of flame, was finally allowed to burn through during its nine hundred and seventy-third burning!

A crimson line of fire enters from the left ventricle and exits from the right atrium.

Like a ray of dawn piercing through the eternal night.

It burned through the dark carriage.

The fire burned through this unnamed section of road.

It burned through that long period of despair!

……

Gradually, the light dimmed.

There was only one hospital gown left on the chair.

The patient's gown was empty inside.

Li Rui slowly straightened up.

The night wind blew in through the broken car window.

He looked out the car window—

In the far east, there is no light on the horizon.

It was the darkest time of night.

And he was already in the deepest part of the night.

For the first time, a smile appeared on Li Rui's lips.

That wasn't a laugh.

That was the satisfied panting of a wild beast after licking the flesh and blood of its enemy clean from its claws.

------

It was 1 a.m. on the suburban highway leading to the Anning Mental Health Prevention and Treatment Center in Chenxi City.

A young man in a designated driver uniform is carefully avoiding potholes on the road while riding an electric bike.

Suddenly, the car headlights swept across the roadbed ahead, illuminating a striking silver-gray hue.

That was an armored truck.

The car was parked at an odd angle in the middle of the road, with the driver's side door wide open.

The side of the car appeared to have hit a stone pillar on the roadside; the hood was slightly deformed and wisps of white smoke were rising from it.

The young man stopped his electric scooter and mustered his courage to take a few steps closer: "Sir? Do you need any help?"

There was a deathly silence all around, except for the "tick-tick" sound of the engine cooling down.

He walked around to the driver's seat, peeked inside, and his heart skipped a beat.

The car was empty.

The key was still hanging on the ignition lock, and the indicator lights on the instrument panel flickered faintly in the darkness.

What terrified him most was the back seat.

The iron gate there was also open, and a set of blue striped hospital gowns lay slumped in the middle of the chair, sleeves and trouser legs hanging loosely, as if the person inside had evaporated into thin air a few seconds ago, leaving only a layer of peeled skin.

The young man shivered, and with trembling hands, he pulled out his phone and dialed the police.

……

1:30 a.m., Seventh District Police Station.

Zhou Wenbin, the duty officer of the Criminal Investigation Department, pushed open the car door and strode into the accident scene.

He is thirty-five years old this year and has been working on the front line of criminal investigation for many years. His eyes reveal a calm and authoritative demeanor.

"Team Leader Zhou." A police auxiliary officer who was taking photos straightened up. "We've checked. The license plate is registered under the name of Anning Mental Health Center. The hospital just confirmed that this car should be carrying Director Sun Weimin, driver Sun Qiang, and patient Zhang Ziqian back to the hospital."

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Special thanks to "月盏枫" for the "Master Certification" and other gifts!

Special thanks to the "Little Tiger Who Doesn't Eat People" for the "Master Certification"!