On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

After taking a deep breath, Jiu You completely emptied her mind. The noise of the arena audience, the shouts of the gladiators, and all other noises seemed to disappear in that instant. In Jiu You's world, only Tang was left.

After realizing this, Jiu You was not nervous or afraid at all. Instead, she became even more excited. The small injury on her arm was nothing to her. Soon, amidst the gasps of the audience, Jiu You actually used Tang's signature move from her chest and summoned a flaming longsword that did not belong to the opponent.

It was as if she was saying to Tang, "See? Mother, she succeeded. She did it."

That's why today's match is something many gladiators are secretly looking forward to. After all, Jiu You and Tang, this mother and daughter, are far above them, and they want to see what kind of exciting battle will unfold between these two "strongest" fighters.

A jet-black sniper rifle was drawn from his back. As a gunslinger who was also a cultist, he activated his ability, and his eyes began to glow red as he stared intently at the arena below.

The audience initially tried to catch the movements of the two, but then gave up. It was just too fast. All they could see were the constantly flashing afterimages of the arena and the sparks of fire colliding and shattering.

Under the gunman's cursed ability, the trajectory of Jiu You and her daughter's high-speed movement was finally fully captured by the gunman. He quickly aimed and pointed the gun at Jiu You, waiting for the next opportunity.

By concentrating all his mental energy on a single point, he achieved the pinnacle of swordsmanship, unleashing a truly flawless strike in a state of "no thought"—[Crimson Slash].

The audience had never seen anything like it before, and the atmosphere reached its peak.

But soon, as her mother summoned a flaming longsword from her chest, the intense flames reflected Tang Bing's cold face. Jiu You had seen her mother like this before; it was the expression she truly wore when facing an enemy.

Since the mother used her knife elsewhere, how did she manage to block her own attack?

The shot was easily blocked by Tang's blade and burned to ashes in the flames. Before Jiu You could feel happy, she realized an even more serious problem. The girl's expression turned panicked and fearful.

Jiuyou wanted to retract the strike, even if it was off target, but it was too late. From the moment "Crimson Slash" was unleashed, there was no possibility of retracting it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called the ultimate technique, the "flawless strike."

In previous training sessions, Jiu You had never been able to successfully use this final move that her mother had taught her.

As expected, the mother and daughter, who were evenly matched, finally broke away from the fierce battle, switched places, and were now about ten meters apart.

Caught off guard, Jiu You could barely dodge her mother's attack, let alone catch it. The blade grazed her arm, and after staggering back several meters, she regained her footing. A cut appeared on the left side of her sleeve, from which blood was seeping out.

Jiu You had already exerted all her strength in just this one strike, leaving her no room for retreat. In that fraction of a second, she could only watch helplessly as death drew ever closer.

In a competition like this, nobody wants to listen to the host's nonsense anymore; they just want the game to start as soon as possible.

A premonition of danger, triggered by her body's instincts, caught Jiu You off guard. An intense chill emanated from behind her, as if some deadly attack was coming from behind, aimed directly at her heart.

Looking at her mother's familiar figure across from her, Jiu You initially subconsciously treated this battle as a training session, perhaps even more of a performance, so she deliberately held back and didn't use her full strength.

This is not a performance.

The gladiators held their breath, focused intently, and tried their best to learn a few tricks from this fierce battle.

It seemed like a lot had happened, but in reality, it all probably took less than a second. Jiu You was once again enveloped in despair, watching helplessly as death descended, but not on her, but on Tang.

Meanwhile, another group of people

The deputy leader on the platform smiled with satisfaction at the fierce battle between the mother and daughter below. Then, seizing the opportunity, he gave a wink to the gunman next to him.

Soon, with the arena closing, only the mother and daughter remained inside, standing facing each other.

My mother is serious.

until

The mother's knife came too, but it wasn't aimed at Jiu You, not from the beginning. It was a hidden gun shot from the audience, aimed at Jiu You's heart.

However, in the next moment.

From Tang's eyes, Jiu You understood what her mother wanted to say: if they continued fighting like this, it would be difficult to determine a winner. In that case, they might as well use the next move to decide the outcome directly.

Finally, in the view of all the spectators outside the arena, the mother and daughter each unleashed their strongest strike, switching places with each other once again.

Immediately afterwards, huge shouts of surprise rang out from all directions of the arena.

All that could be seen was the figure of one of the mother and daughter on the sidelines, who quickly collapsed to the ground, and that person was Tang.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Jiu You rushed over like a madwoman. She hugged her mother, who was lying on the ground, but as the one who wielded the sword, Jiu You knew best the power of her strike; even her mother was...

Amid the girl's screams and cries, Tang's life force rapidly faded.

But in the end, Tang's face showed no pain, nor did it express hatred for the mastermind behind the scheme. Instead, there was only a hint of relief, as if he were pleased that his daughter had wielded such a brilliant blade, a touch of reluctance, and a final trace of...

I am sorry.

Chapter 253 Elegy for Sinners (Part 2)

"Hey, have you heard? That arrogant dragon widow is dead!"

"What?! Tang is dead?! How is that possible? I've watched several of Tang's matches. Forget killing him, no one could even hurt that female Tyrannosaurus Rex!"

"You haven't been at the base lately, have you? Didn't you see the big news about the mother-daughter showdown a few days ago? It was Tang's daughter who killed her mother with her own hands!"

"Oh my god! Is this true? I heard Tang was especially good to her daughter, how could this be?"

"Hey, you don't know this, do you? I have some connections in the arena. According to people inside, Tang's daughter has already secretly sided with the arena organizers in order to compete for first place, so you know what I mean."

"It's a real pity. I saw it long ago. Tang's daughter has taken so many benefits from the base in the past six months. She's a traitor who eats his own flesh and blood. I'm not surprised at all."

"Tsk tsk tsk, the arena is probably going to be in big turmoil now."

"That's right, you'll see when you go and see for yourself. All those gladiators who followed Tang before are now bloodthirsty, looking like they're looking for that daughter to avenge Tang!"

"That's more like it! This is what an arena should be like. What were those half-hearted matches before? Did they think it was child's play? I bet there's more to come! I have to buy a ticket now!"

The streets and alleys of the Gurasai base were buzzing with talk of yesterday's arena match.

Especially when it comes to murder.

But who should she seek revenge against?

The gunman is dead.

At this moment, Jiu You finally reacted. It was an instinctive reaction from her body. The girl subconsciously raised her hand to counterattack. In this situation, she didn't pay attention to controlling her strength at all. What was an ordinary blow to her was, when placed on the old gladiator, it sent him flying, crashing heavily to the ground, where he was seriously injured and coughed up blood.

These loyal gladiators, who once regarded Tang as their spiritual leader, knew that they were no match for Jiu You, yet they still challenged him to a life-or-death struggle.

Throughout the process, although Jiu You's heart became increasingly closed off, her strength and skills were growing at an incredible speed.

Moreover, the one who truly killed his mother was himself.

There was not a single unnecessary movement.

At least until she atones.

However, when the girl tried to imitate her mother, she was met with a series of challenges from gladiators.

When she looked at the other gladiators around her, their eyes held the same look, but even more so, a look of vengeance.

Her self-destructive behavior and loss of outward emotion made her knife faster, more precise, and more capable of delivering a fatal blow.

"Gladiators, are you here for revenge too?"

Did the gunman have any connection with the organizers behind the scenes? Jiu You didn't know, and she didn't know what to do. She couldn't find any evidence, and even if she did, what could she do? She had never thought about such a complicated question before. In her entire life, apart from being with her mother, she had been constantly practicing martial arts.

Yes

She cannot die yet.

But gradually, as time went on, Jiu You began to speak less and less, until finally she fell completely silent.

Jiuyou's mind was filled with thoughts of suicide.

In the dead city base filled with filthy corpses, only Jiu You, who sat on the skull throne in the arena and had transformed into an evil dragon, asked them that question once again.

She's like a machine, accepting challenges, finishing them, and then waiting for the next challenger.

Afterwards, the organizers first mourned Tang's passing, and then quickly held a grand championship award ceremony for Jiu You, giving all the flowers and applause to the girl on the stage who looked like a walking corpse with empty eyes.

Some gladiators still clung to a sliver of hope, desperately rushing towards Jiu You, wanting her to give them the truth and tell them that things weren't as they seemed.

Finally, after killing yet another gladiator who came to "take revenge," the will of the Turbid Calamity descended and chose the girl in the arena to become one of the "Turbid Calamity Kings" who would destroy the world.

This insidious tactic quickly took effect, convincing the gladiators that it was all a scheme orchestrated by Jiu You and the organizers to kill Tang.

The Tang dynasty was abolished.

But Jiu You didn't answer; she just stood there blankly like a puppet.

After losing her mother, what is the meaning of her life?

But soon, the expression on her mother's face before her death kept appearing in Jiu You's mind. It was a kind of reliance, a reliance on hope. A voice in her mind kept telling her that she had to live no matter what.

In that instant, a massive cataclysmic event erupted across the entire area centered on the Gurasai base, destroying all living beings or turning them into cataclysmic monsters. All the survivors within the base, including the high-ranking officials, could not escape and were all turned into cataclysmic corpses.

The host loudly praised Jiu You's unparalleled talent, extolling the refinement of Jiu You's swordsmanship, saying it was no less refined than Tang's martial arts skills. It could almost be said that all of Tang's previous honors and awards were now deliberately given to Jiu You.

It was because Jiu You, the daughter, was jealous of her mother's status and envied her position that she committed such a vicious act, and that she colluded with the organizers to kill her mother in a despicable manner.

Under the deliberate manipulation of the organizers behind the scenes, some things, once they happened once, would happen a second and a third time. Many of them were gladiators hired by the organizers to deliberately die, but at that time, Jiu You was no longer able to think about anything.

The injury to the old gladiator finally pulled Jiu You out of her daze, restoring some expression to the girl's empty eyes. She was at a loss and hurriedly tried to rush to her aid, but all she received was the old gladiator's scornful and contemptuous look.

Even if Jiu You tried to stop and didn't want to hurt them, they attacked like madmen, risking their lives to take revenge on Jiu You. Without Jiu You having to lift a finger, they would collapse from exhaustion until they bled their last drop of blood.

Jiuyou gradually became numb.

As a result, more and more gladiators died at Jiuyou's hands.

The organizers quickly brought the scene under control and apprehended the person who fired the shot. Unfortunately, the man seemed to be afraid and committed suicide. It was discovered that he had been plotting this for a long time and was a gladiator who had been defeated by Tang before. He harbored resentment and caused today's tragedy.

Jiuyou ended her dazed state, hoping that she could at least preserve everything her mother had once possessed: the arena rules she had painstakingly established, and her determination to change the arena.

The power of turbidity originates from negative emotions, and the girl in question is undoubtedly an abyss of negative emotions, which causes the turbidity within her to expand even further.

This concludes the story of the "evil dragon" in Dream Zero.

Until one of the oldest gladiators who had followed Tang the longest, seeing Jiu You's silent demeanor, became enraged and drew his sword, slashing at Jiu You.

To avenge Tang?

This is something I should do first.

No matter how careful Jiu You was, a battle is a battle. Once the first gladiator was accidentally killed by Jiu You, things spiraled out of control.

She used to try to talk to every gladiator who challenged her, even though most of the time she only received vicious insults.

She is the biggest sinner.

Having finished reading the entire Liao Ji, we have now arrived at the end of the story we first encountered.

Deep down, every act of killing adds to Jiu You's sins and hatred—not hatred for others, but hatred for herself.

But this time Liao Ji shook his head.

He already knew the key to the Evil Dragon's Dream and how to obtain it, just like the Witch's Mark had been, the Evil Dragon's Mark that could pull Jiu You from the real world into the dream.