Chapter Forty-Six: The Avenger

"I am going to kill you." Mo Wen's voice was hoarse yet resolute, like flint striking steel, ready to ignite a flame at any second.

"This is retribution for you killing my comrades."

He cared nothing for promises of resurrection; he knew only that a debt must be paid.

Mo Wen advanced once more, striking.

117 slowly turned his head, gazing at the approaching Mo Wen. The expression on his face completely collapsed, twisting into a grimace.

"Even as a flawed product, I can still repurpose the shattered remains. Before you stands not just me, but the collective sum of all the remnants from the [Syndicate] whom you have slain."

"It is not that I cannot kill you."

"I am glad you have chosen to forgo your last chance to stop."

"At long last, every voice in my mind tells me that you must be destroyed."

"I, too, wish for vengeance."

How could our bonds, our determination, the countless days and nights we poured into this, be any less significant than yours?

117 reviewed everything. He could hear the voices of predecessors, mentors, those who admired him, former enemies, and later friends.

Their voices were utterly shattered, just as their souls could never be restored.

He knew there were minor flaws in the [Syndicate]'s methods, but he loved the [Syndicate] and everyone within it. He hadn't needed to come here and risk eventual liquidation by Qi Shiming, nor did he need to ruthlessly slaughter the trespassers.

The final insurance policy had already been completed during the previous delay.

Yet he could not endure it.

Inexplicable otherworldly interloper! Without you, everything would have proceeded smoothly. No one would have discovered any anomalies, no one would have resisted, and no one could have breached the orbital fortress. Even if the [Syndicate] were eventually liquidated due to the troubles of recent years, it would have been at the hands of respectable individuals, rather than being cut down by some incomprehensible brute.

You are a mistake. Among all those you killed, how many were respectable? How many only needed repentance? How many were entirely blameless save for standing in your path?

Driven by rage, you indiscriminately obliterated every single one of them.

So many of them only required the destruction of their physical vessels to let them calm down a little...

I refuse to let you live!

You alone are unforgivable!

"The Ocean-Creating Project, lead director—Canglan. According to the plan he formulated, humanity would have reclaimed the azure oceans in six weeks. You killed him once, yet his sense of duty forced him to forsake the possibility of a flawless resurrection, gambling his life in a desperate fight that shattered his soul into dust."

Billions upon billions of tons of seawater appeared abruptly around 117, as if they had existed there from the beginning, enveloping Mo Wen as well.

And this time, aside from gathering upon Mo Wen to hinder his movements, there was no other flow of force within Mo Wen's range of perception.

Yet within Mo Wen remained the momentum of his charge. If he were to independently assign the accelerated effect to that force alone...

The kinetic energy on Mo Wen split into two forces that canceled each other out.

"Crime prevention expert—Libra. Accumulated prevention of over 2.8 million impulsive crimes, indirectly saving the lives of more than 120,000 people. Most adept at counseling others by dividing empathy equally."

"He willingly dedicated himself to the consciousness upload project, making a vital contribution to humanity's eternal life. At the same time, he was one of the primary supporters of replacing and phasing out old humanity. While continuously promoting technological optimization, he invested all his non-essential assets into the modification of children, anonymously helping a cumulative total of 26,823,551 children adapt to the new era."

Confirming that Mo Wen was restricted, 117 did not approach rashly. Instead, he transformed into a luminous bird.

Surrounded by seawater, he spread his brilliant wings and cautiously drew near Mo Wen.

"Raymond Bronson, founder of Life Pharmaceuticals, leader of the New World Project's Life faction, current titan of the life sciences field, father of the New Neumen."

"He and his professional team prevented a viral bomb from wiping out humanity during the corporate wars. Afterward, through technological iteration, he lowered the cost of nearly ninety percent of medical procedures, vigorously promoted free basic healthcare services, and resolved over 98% of human genetic diseases. Countless lives were saved because of him."

"He forged Zero's biological form, recreating ancient psionic lifeforms. Had things gone as planned, he would have used Zero's power to rebuild the ecosystem."

"A week ago, he excitedly told his students that children of the future would be able to watch flocks of birds arrayed across the sky, goats leaping among the rocks, and moles peeking out from the soil. They would realize that beyond mankind, countless beautiful lives populated this world."

At that moment, induced by 117, a golden wave of psionic energy swept across the Stairway to Divinity, causing countless human figures to emerge.

Men, women, the elderly, children... They came from different industries, different regions, wearing different attire, yet speaking a unified language to express a single sentiment.

"We wish to be resurrected. Could you please let go?"

117 said calmly, "You chose resistance. But you never asked those deceased ordinary people whether they wanted to mount a resistance at the cost of having Zero destroyed and themselves denied resurrection."

"No, you must have noticed it long ago. Even with that psionic hacker's continuous efforts, she could never make those lucid individuals within the consciousness network choose to help you sabotage our plans."

"In fact, there are those who hate you, furious at your rebellion."

Mo Wen could feel those gazes.

Millions of pairs of eyes were staring at him. Boundless malice and anger surged toward him; they regarded him as an enemy.

"Why! Must you slaughter everyone to be happy, you monster?"

"What did the [Syndicate] ever do to wrong you? If the [Syndicate] hadn't refused to give up, we wouldn't even be alive."

"Why obsess over minor accidents? This is a great cause! We, the victims, don't even care—what right do you have to come and obstruct us?"

"Mr. Raymond's medicine saved countless lives, yet you just killed him like that. Even if he made a minor mistake, did he deserve to die? Did he deserve to have his soul scattered to the winds like this?"

What a clamor of voices, Mo Wen thought.

He knew very well that everything 117 did was meant to completely invalidate the justice and necessity of his and his comrades' actions—inflicting psychological torment far beyond mere physical death.

He would not refute, would not seek excuses, and would not attempt to correct these people's views, even though he had already spotted the flaws in their rhetoric.

If they deserved death, they died.

Mo Wen did not care what others thought; for him now, he would only press forward.

Amidst the chorus of the masses, 117 took the form of a bird of light, gathering boundless psionic energy. They transformed into the ultimate light and heat, preparing to inflict the final punishment upon Mo Wen.

The lingering echoes of countless the fallen converged upon him; he would never lose!

The next instant, 117 was blasted into fragments by his own power.

This was the first time Mo Wen had directly manipulated a portion of someone else's time... Ah, no, the last time he affected Canglan, that water was his true body; this was actually the second time.

Even if an enemy could react to his movements under super-acceleration, probably no living organism could withstand the flow of its own bodily fluids and biological reactions being accelerated by an unknown magnitude, bursting violently straight through their body.

[Current Prosthetic Stability: 52%]

Mo Wen broke free from the current, ignoring the surrounding golden waves and crowds, and flew toward the next level.