Chapter 29: Killing the Heart, Destroying the Spirit—The Final Curtain for Charles (Combined Chapter)

Chapter 29: Killing the Body, Destroying the Spirit — The Fall of Charles (Combined Edition)

The Lighthouse was completely swallowed by the dense cloud layer. Visibility dropped to less than two or three meters; everything before the eyes was a vast expanse of white.

"Erica, take Ran Bing to the upper levels first. Leave this to Mark and me," Luo Ke said calmly.

"Understood!" Erica crouched down, letting Ran Bing hop onto her back.

"Be careful," Ran Bing whispered. She shared one last affectionate glance with the beast-form Mark before disappearing into the mist.

The ending where Ran Bing died had finally been changed. There was no petrification into flesh-soil, and certainly no "Wong Wong Crushed Ice" (a reference to her tragic popsicle-like fate). Luo Ke felt relieved; who doesn't appreciate a happy ending?

"Roar!"

At this moment, Mark’s purpose in dismantling the Lighthouse was no longer just to avenge Ran Bing, but to crush this stagnant mire and completely liberate the humanity of the Lighthouse that had long since lost its way.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—*

The next second, an endless barrage of bullets pierced the clouds and smoke, trailing flames as they rained down upon them.

"Beast Form!" A cruel arc curled at the corner of Luo Ke's mouth.

Mark felt a terrifying aura suddenly rise beside him. He instinctively retreated a few steps, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The handsome man was gone, replaced by a massive, eight-meter-long skeletal spine-insect. Densely packed bone claws glinted with a cold light, and a ferocious, sinister head stood proudly, its eyes scarlet yet brimming with cold rationality.

Bullets striking his body felt like nothing more than a gentle touch, unable to leave even a single mark. Luo Ke merely had to wave his back-mounted bone blades to shred the bullets into dust.

When a dozen heavy mechs tore through the clouds, the pilots were struck as if by lightning. Compared to Mark’s beast form—which, while unconventional, was still somewhat recognizable—the other creature, a hybrid of insect and serpent, looked excessively terrifying and nightmarish.

"Why have you stopped?! Keep... firing!" a deputy commander of the City Defense Force, handpicked by Charles, bellowed. But as he glanced forward, he instantly went silent, his throat emitting a continuous, trembling rattle.

"When did another Ridge-Back appear?" He felt like crying, yet forced himself to issue the order through sheer terror: "All fire, full power!"

*Boom—*

Mark suddenly launched himself from his position, crashing into the ranks of the City Defense Force. Caught off guard, the soldiers were thrown into chaos, leaving a trail of bloody sludge in their wake.

The deputy commander, who had been shouting orders, bore the brunt of it; Mark swatted him into a meat patty with a single blow.

*Bang, bang, bang, bang.*

Bullets poured down like rain, but Mark pushed through the onslaught, continuing his slaughter.

"Wait! Where did the other beast go?"

The men looked back, unable to find a trace of Luo Ke.

"Do you hear that?"

"It sounds like it's above us!"

Several men looked up, their faces turning deathly pale in an instant. A flash of white moved through the clouds, nimbly scaling the structure of the Lighthouse.

*Swoosh—*

Luo Ke’s tail swept downward. His bone blades acted like a meat grinder; a series of dull thuds echoed as flesh and bone were torn asunder, leaving over a dozen men dead before they even knew what happened.

With Mark in the open and Luo Ke in the shadows, the hundreds of soldiers could only suffer the onslaught. Some suffered mental collapses, firing blindly and causing multiple friendly-fire casualties.

"It’s coming for me!"

A pilot dropped his rifle and drew the heavy broadsword from his mech's back. Just as he raised the blade, Luo Ke leaped from above, using his powerful body to coil tightly around the mech.

Luo Ke wrapped his arms around the mech’s head, his muscles bulging with immense force.

*Pop!*

The cockpit was ripped clean off, revealing the terrified soldier inside. Then, a bone blade pierced through, delivering a lethal blow.

Throughout the battle, Luo Ke was careful not to completely destroy the heavy mechs. After all, the mechs themselves were innocent, and in this resource-scarce wasteland, every destroyed mech was one less for humanity. He was destroying the Lighthouse's corrupt system, not the future of the human race.

*Whoosh!*

The Lighthouse broke through the cloud layer, and the view cleared.

Mark and Luo Ke continued their rampage. The pursuers, driven to madness by fear, fired wildly, blowing up the Lighthouse's fuel lines, thrusters, and other vital equipment.

Within mere minutes, the fundamental functions required to keep the Lighthouse airborne were severely damaged. Continuous explosions caused one suspended Dust-Dweller district after another to plummet into the abyss.

***

The Lighthouse lacked power and began to drift and descend slowly.

The navigation control room was in a state of absolute chaos. The situation was far grimmer than expected; the fuel tanks had been compromised, and with massive leaks, the fuel that should have lasted less than a month was now only enough to keep the station aloft for another ten minutes!

The Lighthouse was in grave danger.

The cabin door opened, and a group entered.

It was Jing Nan, followed by Mo Cheng, Penny, and Donnie, who had followed Luo Ke’s plan to rescue the imprisoned commander. Luo Ke knew that only someone as skilled as Jing Nan could ensure the Lighthouse didn't simply crash and explode.

Upon entering, she acted as if she had returned to her own kingdom. She was the queen. "What is the situation?"

The technicians in the control room were her subordinates; seeing their leader return naturally brought them a sense of hope.

Jing Nan studied the alarming data and sighed, "We only have two choices: let the Lighthouse crash, which will result in over ninety percent casualties, or activate the reserve fuel to ensure a relatively controlled landing."

"Can we adjust the landing coordinates?" Mo Cheng asked, handing a set of coordinates to Jing Nan.

"Yes, these coordinates are nearby, but..." Jing Nan sighed. "Forget it. Even if we don't land today, without refueling, the Lighthouse can only stay in the air for another twenty days. You were right; rather than waiting for death, it is better to take a gamble."

Her eyes became resolute. "Everyone, back to your posts! Ensure a safe landing for the Lighthouse!"

***

Central Command Hall.

Charles stared viciously at the monitors. Only a few high-ranking members of the Lighthouse's Light and Shadow Church remained by his side. Hearing the screams of agony over the comms, they shook like leaves.

"How could it come to this?"

"4048! 4048! I had no grudge against you, why!" Charles roared repeatedly, his right arm bandaged to slow the blood loss.

But the power of the beast was eroding his body, slowly annihilating his vitality. Combined with the effects of the Scarlet Essence, Charles was now bordering on insanity, his consciousness on the brink of collapse.

"Oh no! Lord High Priest, they seem to be heading this way!" His sycophants were paralyzed with fear.

Charles, however, looked up, glaring with uncontrollable fury at the transparent glass.

He could faintly see a heavy mech being thrown toward them by a "person."

Luo Ke returned to his human form, flung the last mech aside, and unfurled his Wings of Dance, following the trajectory toward the command hall.

Mark followed closely behind, leaping from the heights and smashing into the glass.

*Crash—*

The glass shattered. The heavy mech crashed to the floor, breaking into pieces and crushing a high-ranking church member who had been trying to escape. The other high-ranking members did not fare any better; they were cut in half, their deaths a sight too gruesome to behold.

A figure blurred into existence, coming to a stop directly in front of Charles. Luo Ke’s bone blade left a deep gouge in the marble floor, blood still dripping from its edge.

Before Charles could react, he felt hot breath on his neck. His face stiffened as he turned around.

*Swoosh!*

Mark’s claws swept upward, severing Charles’s remaining left arm.

"Ugh..." Charles collapsed to his knees in front of Mark, his expression horribly twisted in agony.

He began to laugh like a madman. "Mark! Look at what you’ve done! The Lighthouse you protected your whole life is about to fall. Countless Ridge-Backs are waiting below for a feast. Everyone will die! The last spark of humanity is about to vanish, and it is all because of you!"

"Heh! Because of Mark?" Luo Ke mocked. "Stop trying to pin the blame on us. Do you not know what you’ve done? Mark has always been diligent, fulfilling his duties and striving for everyone’s benefit. But you!"

Charles rasped, "Is it my fault? No! The only reason he took every step I wanted him to is because he couldn't endure the rules of the Lighthouse, couldn't accept his loved one being forced into a reproduction mission, couldn't bear to watch the Dust-Dwellers die. He is just too naive and too kind!"

"That's right, Ran Bing’s reproduction mission was a trap I set. Mark and that Dust-Dweller were killed on my orders. There were never any rebels. Everything that happened during the 'Far-Going' expedition was orchestrated by me. But everything I did was for the sake of the Lighthouse, for the continuation of human hope!"

"But you have destroyed it all! You are the true culprits!"

Charles roared, his face a mask of disarray, his skin pale from blood loss.

Luo Ke laughed. "Is that so? In your eyes, everyone is wrong, and only you are right? Just because you were saved by some creature with stars on its face when you were a child, you think you’re a savior? You think you’re destined for greatness?"

Charles froze, his pupils constricting. "You... how do you know about that!"

"Has the Light and Shadow Church you led ever done one decent thing? Whether Upper-Dwellers or Dust-Dwellers, to you, they were all tools to be slaughtered. You manipulated the Church and the Law Enforcement Agency at will, ignoring the Three Laws, using the rules everyone followed to play with their lives.

"In reality, you have always been a jealous, sinister villain, wearing the skin of a savior to satisfy your own desires, using high-sounding excuses to cover up your dirty deeds. You had countless ways to negotiate and cooperate with Mark, yet you chose to kill this true hero of the Lighthouse, keeping everyone in the dark. Because you were jealous of him. You are narrow-minded and could not tolerate anyone more outstanding than yourself."

Luo Ke stepped closer, his words becoming increasingly sharp and ruthless, staring into Charles’s numb eyes. "You, Charles, are the true architect of the Lighthouse’s destruction!"

***

"Heh, hehe," Charles stood stunned for a moment, then burst into a sinister laugh. "That's right, so what if I’m jealous? I don’t understand why Morgan wouldn't give me the position of Lord of the Lighthouse. I am his son! It is only natural for a father to pass his throne to his son. Mark just goes down there, kills some monsters, and brings back supplies—what right does he have!"

"Indeed, Mark is the bridge between humanity and the Mana ecology, and he is the true hope for humanity. But I was not reconciled. Even if he is the savior, I would make him a savior who kneels at my feet—"

"As for those Upper-Dwellers and Dust-Dwellers, what difference is there? In my eyes, their lives are worthless, just a pile of tools with utilitarian value."

The conversation ended. Outside, the world was in chaos; countless broken structures fell past the windows. A gale surged in, and the temperature plummeted.

The Lighthouse was falling. An aged era was coming to an end.

Charles had finally confessed his crimes with his own mouth.

"4048, Mark, actually, we could cooperate. As long as the three of us join forces, the Lighthouse will surely unlock the ultimate secrets of the Mana ecology, and humanity will be completely reborn!" Even now, Charles was struggling, trying to use this as a bargaining chip to save his life.

Luo Ke shook his head and pulled a headset from his collar. "Sorry, even if I agreed, I don't think the others on the Lighthouse would."

Charles looked stunned. "What do you mean?"

"From the moment I started speaking to you, I opened the Lighthouse’s full-frequency broadcast. Every word you said has been transmitted to every corner of the Lighthouse. You have personally announced your own sins to everyone."

Luo Ke smiled faintly. "In other words, no one on this Lighthouse will ever believe in or respect you again. You have jumped into the abyss you dug for yourself."

"What! *Cough, cough... Pfft!*"

Charles’s expression changed instantly. His eyes trembled, and his face, already near death, grew even paler. He was so furious he coughed up blood.

Even as the people of the Lighthouse were gripped by the panic of the descent, they were shocked by Charles's actions. It turned out all the suffering was caused by this "High Priest" who preached reason and compassion.

Their faith had collapsed; it was a scene of total social and spiritual ruin.

"Your Light and Shadow Church has fallen, your guards are all dead, and your years of effort have gone down the drain because of your own folly. You and your 'Lord of Light and Shadow' have collapsed in the hearts of the people. Your faith has become a joke. They will only feel hatred and disgust for you, cursing you for decades, for centuries. From this moment on, you are truly alone."

"Charles, you thought you were the protagonist, but in reality, you were just a clown who brought disaster upon everyone." Luo Ke continued to twist the knife, killing the body and destroying the spirit.

With every word, Charles trembled, collapsing to the ground, shrinking back like a worm, shivering uncontrollably.

He no longer had any of the majesty of the High Priest. His luxurious robes were stained with grime, and his face was filled with the cowardice and panic of someone whose hypocrisy had been exposed. Fear of death filled his eyes.

"Your Lord of Light and Shadow won't save you, because you aren't worth it." Luo Ke finished his final sentence and cut the full-frequency communication.

Charles’s heart turned to ash. Resentment, anger, despair, sorrow, and fear erupted within him. His spirit was riddled with holes by Luo Ke’s mockery.

"Don't come over here!" He looked at the approaching Luo Ke, shivering uncontrollably.

Suddenly, Charles’s screaming stopped. He stared blankly at Luo Ke, who was transforming into a hideous monster, his spine twitching spasmodically.

"You, you are all... New Humans?!"

With Luo Ke in front and Mark behind, he was trapped.

*Mmph...*

Streams of blue light were sucked from Charles’s body. He watched helplessly as he petrified bit by bit. The threat of death pressed down on him so hard he couldn't even speak.

Luo Ke and Mark fed on him, crushing the parts that turned into flesh-soil into powder as they went.

"I am not reconciled..."

Charles wailed through a face full of tears, struggling in vain, dragging his mangled upper body toward the exit.

In the end, half a piece of flesh-soil with twisted, agonizing features was all that remained.

*Snap—*

Luo Ke stepped on it, crushing it into dust. Mark blew a breath, and the dust of his flesh was swept away by the wind, carried off into the distance.

Charles was dead. The era of the Light and Shadow Church had officially come to an end!

Happy Children's Day to everyone!

Brothers, stop stockpiling chapters; you're going to starve the author to death!

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No more updates for today; this was two chapters combined!

(End of Chapter)