The off-road vehicle set off from the Eternal Night face, straight towards the Twilight Belt.
Under the starry sky, a large, desolate field of white ice flicked past the car window. Cold, silent, and empty.
Bai Mo moved his gaze away from the window and turned to look at Fu Yucheng sitting beside him. “Yu-ge, what are your plans after we go back? The false Mo Ziwei…”
Fu Yucheng held the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. “In nine hours, we’ll arrive at the Twilight Belt. The false Mo Ziwei doesn’t know that we went to the ice fields. He probably believes that we’re already dead in the desert…”
Bai Mo nodded. “Alright, what do we do then?”
Fu Yucheng mused, “Once we get to the Twilight Belt, we should leave the vehicle and go to Old Sun first. We’ll hide in his tower for a few days, and then tell Mo Ziran the truth about the situation.”
He paused, then added, “Then, we should try to contact the old Mo family members that are still in Fort Hurricane, like Mo Ziran’s two uncles or his father’s old subordinates. As for the training camp, we can contact Song Lan… The more people we can mobilize, the more control we’ll have over the situation.”
Bai Mo frowned and asked, “But, what if that fake Mo Ziwei has prepared for it and comes to us determined to fight to the death? Even though he’s just one person, he’s very strong. In my opinion, we shouldn’t wake the sleeping tiger. Let me sneak into Fort Hurricane, and take advantage of…”
Fu Yucheng felt like the was a little bit ridiculous. “Little Mo, I have already said that I will not let you go assassinate people alone. We have ironclad evidence against him, and there is an heir that everyone knows about, Mo Ziran. With that, we can take him down while working in the open. As this fake Mo Ziwei is an A-level manipulator, he is very strong indeed… but that doesn’t mean he’s impossible to fight against.”
The boy pursed his lips, a little reluctant.
He still wanted to say more, but before he could Fu Yucheng waved his hand firmly. “Okay, don’t say another word. If something happens to you, who will pick the fishbones out for me in the future?”
Bai Mo was stunned for a moment before he realized what the man meant. Immediately, a hint of sweetness slowly spread through the boy’s heart.
" "He lowered his head and secretly mulled over the words several times before finally saying, “Alright, I get it.”
“Good. It’s just an impostor of Mo Ziwei, he’s not worth your life.” Fu Yucheng looked at the endless ice field ahead of them and couldn’t suppress a sigh. “Speaking of that, Admiral Mo Hanchuan was said to have always lived in an honest and upright way. How could he have such a descendant…? Oh well.”
Bai Mo casually picked up a book lying next to him. “’Beyond Good and Evil’… Perhaps good and evil are not so far apart.”
Fu Yucheng muttered, “Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.”1
“Yu-ge, what are you saying?” Bai Mo was momentarily taken aback.
Fu Yucheng smiled and replied, “This is an old German saying. Um… It basically says that when you stare into the abyss, the abyss also stares back at you; when fighting a monster, you should be careful not to become one yourself.2 In that book you’re holding, there’s a translation of that sentence, I remember that it’s on the 146th page.”
Bai Mo turned to the 146th page and saw the sentence on the yellowed page. ‘When you stare into the abyss, the abyss also stares back at you; when fighting a monster, you should be careful not to become one yourself…’
He frowned slightly. “What does this sentence mean?”
Fu Yucheng shook his head. “Well, you should figure it out for yourself. I have read the original German version of ‘Beyond Good and Evil’. There are many things in it that are worth thinking about. You can keep this translation for now, and flip through it when you have the time.”
Bai Mo blinked and carefully held the book in his hands.
He thought for a while and finally asked, “Yu-ge, how do you know all these things? Did your teacher teach you all of this?”
Fu Yucheng didn’t respond right away. “Huh?”
Bai Mo hesitated before continuing. “Knowing Ancient German, some astronomy, the way psionic power works, and many other things… In the Central Empire, all non-technical knowledge belongs exclusively to the aristocratic education system, and civilians aren’t qualified to learn it. Oh, that’s right, Yu-ge, in the past, you told me… about your teacher, he used to be an aristocrat in the Ecoregions, and then he was sent to the Industrial zone because of a crime he commited. Did he teach you all these things?”
Fu Yucheng was silent for a moment, and smiled in a slightly forced way. “Yes, my teacher taught me all those things. He knew a lot.”
Bai Mo blinked, feeling that something was off.
Fu Yucheng turned his head away, avoiding his gaze, and cleared his throat. “Don’t think that much about it, you kid… We’ve almost arrived at the Twilight Belt.”
A wide brown earth desert appeared in front of them—they were now out of the ice fields.
Bai Mo still had more questions, but suddenly his expression tensed up. “What’s that sound…? It’s a drone!!”
Sure enough, there was a buzzing noise approaching them. The noise was getting louder and louder, and then, dozens of drones appeared in the air.
On the distant horizon, hundreds of armored vehicles were lined up, silent and dangerous.
“Shit, it’s an ambush!” Fu Yucheng cursed quietly, and then suddenly turned the steering wheel around.
The tires screeched sharply against the ground. Their vehicle turned on its head, and a large amount of dust rose up from the rear of the vehicle.
However, at some point, a dense array of armored motorcycles had already appeared behind the off-road vehicle, far in the distance.
In front of them, there were more than a hundred armored vehicles lined up; at the back, there was a dense array of armed motorcycles, and in the middle, in a large open area, a single solitary vehicle stood.
" "Like shooting fish in a barrel.3
At this time, an armored vehicle slowly drove out of the formation.
‘Mo Ziwei’4 stood on the roof of the car, still wearing a green ghost mask, showing just a fair, delicate chin, calm and elegant, like the true son of a good family.
He stared at the off-road vehicle in front of him, thought for a while, then tilted his head slightly.
Immediately, four soldiers wearing exoskeleton armor stepped out, escorting two people.
It was Mo Ziran and Old Sun.
‘Mo Ziwei’ sighed softly. “Fu Yucheng, get out of the car. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee their safety.”
His voice was soft and deep, but everyone in the vast earth desert could hear it clearly.
An old man from the Mo family took a step forward helplessly, and whispered, “Fort Master, it’s one thing if you kill this old man Sun, but Ziran is a member of the Mo family, after all, so it’s not like… Fort Master, listen to my advice, as your third uncle.5 Just forget about this. Siblings fighting each other, that sort of stuff will only get ridiculed by outsiders.”
“Third uncle, your advice is indeed reasonable.” ‘Mo Ziwei’ smiled softly.6
Almost simultaneously, a cold blue light flashed.
A headless body fell to its knees, and a head full of gray hair rolled underneath the vehicle.
“But third uncle, you forgot one thing. I don’t like when people make comments about… my decisions,” ‘Mo Ziwei’ said in a light tone while wiping off the blood from the hook, slowly and methodically.
Everyone around exchanged glances and, for a while, they all fell silent.
“Fu Yucheng, are you really not going to get out of the car?” ‘Mo Ziwei’ sighed. Then, with an impatient wave, the hook directly lifted Mo Ziran onto the roof. “Don’t you have any affection for this brat at all? Didn’t you put yourself in grave danger by hiding him, knowing that he stole my things?”
Mo Ziran knelt before ‘Mo Ziwei’’s feet, his voice trembling. “Brother, I, I didn’t…”
‘Mo Ziwei’ paused, looked at him in disgust, and turned his back at him. “Shut up, don’t call me your brother.”
Mo Ziran was almost crying. “Brother, what’s the matter with you? When we were kids, you obviously cared for me so much, and made so many toys for me… Do you still remember, brother, when I was three years old, how you spent all night making me a small wooden horse? You got so many bloody blisters on your hands… Why are you…?”
‘Mo Ziwei’ turned around, unable to bear it any more, and slapped the other fiercely. “Are you deaf? I. Told. You. To. Shut. UP!”
Having been struck, Mo Ziran fell off the roof of the vehicle, his head buzzing.
He was stunned by this merciless slap, and he sat down dumbfounded, looking up at his brother who was behaving in such an extremely strange way.
‘Mo Ziwei’ stared down at him, his dark eyes filled with malice.
The two looked at each other.
Then, the hook hanging around ‘Mo Ziwei’s arm slowly flickered with a faint blue light, and then rose up like it was alive
At that moment, Mo Ziran suddenly felt that his brother hated him very, very much.
He was not just using him to threaten Fu Yucheng, he really… intended to kill him.
“Wait, wait!”
“Fu Yucheng, are you finally willing to get out?” ‘Mo Ziwei’ snorted and raised his head impatiently.
Fu Yucheng and Bai Mo slowly got out of the vehicle one after the other.
Bai Mo was holding something in his hand.
The thing was wrapped in layers of black plastic, and it was impossible to clearly see what it was.
‘Mo Ziwei’ stared at the thing, his eyes slowly widening. For some reason, an extremely ominous feeling rose up inside of him.
He murmured, “What is that?”
For some reason, at that moment, his voice, which was always soft and pleasant, sounded a little hoarse.
Fu Yucheng looked at him from the distance. “I think you already know.”
“You… you actually went as far as to… you dare… to take him…!” Mo Ziwei stared at him, his lips shaking uncontrollably.
“You’re the one who did it, why would I not dare?” Fu Yucheng chuckled. “Little Mo, open it.”
Bai Mo bent down, gently placed the object on the ice,7 and then slowly uncovered the plastic sheets, layer by layer.
Across the huge desert, the silence was deafening.8
“AAH——” After a long, long time, a terrible, ear-splitting scream suddenly cut through the deathly silence.
Mo Ziran stared at that head, shaking like a leaf. “Brother… my brother… it’s my brother… brother…!”
Everyone in the desert seemed to had turned into a salt statue from the shock.9
The elders of the Mo family, the guards, the instructors and soldiers from the training camp… Thousands of eyes were now staring at the head on the ground.
After another long pause, loud chatter suddenly spread out.
As they talked among themselves, many people kept looking at the ‘Mo Ziwei’ who stood on the roof of the car. But now, their eyes were completely different, full of shock, fear, grief, hatred, killing intent…
‘Mo Ziwei’ stared at the head on the ground. His whole body had frozen, and even his breath seemed to have stopped.
After a long time, he slowly closed his eyes and said in a dull voice, “Fu Yucheng, you shouldn’t have done this. You know… I didn’t intend to kill you.”
Fu Yucheng sneered. “You didn’t intend to kill me? Wow, thank you so much. Mo Ziwei… No, I shouldn’t call you by that name, even your surname might not necessarily be Mo. Many years ago, a pregnant woman left Fort Hurricane alone. I guess she must have hated the child’s father… chances are that she wouldn’t have let future generations inherit that man’s surname.”
" "‘Mo Ziwei’ stared at him for a while and then suddenly smiled. “You are really smart. No wonder that man feels uneasy and asked me to keep an eye on you for him.”
Bai Mo felt a little puzzled. “Yu-ge, what is he talking about?”
Fu Yucheng looked at ‘Mo Ziwei’, with a frown. “What do you mean?”
‘Mo Ziwei’ smiled and did not answer.
Then, he stretched out his hand and slowly removed the delicate ghost mask from his face. “You’re right, my surname is not Mo. I carry my female ancestor’s last name. My surname is Mei. My name is… Mei Nianxue.”10
The mask fell to the ground and broke to pieces.
Everyone present couldn’t help but gasp. Some people even shrieked quietly, “Monster!”
That face… No, it couldn’t be called a face anymore.
Only a delicate chin and beautifully shaped lips could be said to be intact on his face. The upper half of it that had been covered by the mask had large, ferociously distorted flesh, and the only thing left of where a nose should be was a black hole.
Mo Ziran, at his feet, stared at him blankly, forgetting to even cry.
Mei Nianxue looked down at Mo Ziran, and slowly revealed a malicious smile. “Are you afraid? While you and your brother were enjoying your fortune and prosperity, I was searching for food in the kitchen trash bin, at the bottom of the freighter. And then the cook poured hot oil on my face.”
He raised his head to look at Fu Yucheng again, a sneer at the corner of his mouth. “Fu Yucheng, since you are so smart, do you know why?”
Fu Yucheng looked at that terrible face, feeling his throat tighten up. “…The original group that migrated to the Devil’s Antarctic had been afraid of Mo Hanchuan and Rong Qian going to war, and so they had to go all the way there. As for Mo Hanchuan, they must have felt some resentment towards him… and as a descendant of Mo Hanchuan, you would naturally be resented and hated by them. Your childhood must not have been too good.”
Mei Nianxue couldn’t help but sneer more, and then enunciated carefully. “Not. Too. Good?”
His tone sounded even more mocking when saying the word ‘too’.
Fu Yucheng stared at him, and suddenly sighed. “In other words, you have suffered a lot of pain and humiliation since childhood… But that is no reason for you to do evil.”
Mei Nianxue tilted his head slightly. “Do evil? But Fort Hurricane belonged to me to begin with.”
As he spoke, he swung the hook.
The spectral hook curled around Mo Ziran’s neck and easily lifted the boy up.
Mei Nianxue stared at Mo Ziran from up close. “If it wasn’t for Mo Hanchuan… who gave away Fort Hurricane to you bastards… why would my great-grandmother have chosen to go to the ice fields? Why else would I have been born in that cursed place? Why would my mother have died so early, leaving me alone to live like a rat?
“Everything in Fort Hurricane should be mine! Mine!”
The more he talked, the more excited he got, and suddenly, he grabbed Mo Ziran by the neck. “Look at you, such an innocent face. It’s disgusting… You, your brother, your father, your grandfather… You took everything from me, so you all deserve to die!
“You and your brother, you lived a carefree childhood in Fort Hurricane, while I was like a rat that could never see the light, hiding under the darkest corners of the cargo ship, fighting with the disgusting mutant mice for a few food scraps.”
Mei Nianxue’s teeth snapped together, his slender and powerful fingers tightening more and more.
Mo Ziran was being choked so tightly that he couldn’t say a word, and two lines of tears flowed down his face.
“But, when your good brother showed up… he faced me in the dumpster, and the first words he said to my ugly face were- ‘Don’t be afraid. Come with me, I’ll take care of you’. How ridiculous, how hypocritical…! He took everything from me, yet he still pretended to be a God saving those who suffer, exalting himself up and sharing his mercy with the world!”
Shit is gonna go down and it’s not gonna get any better woo boy.
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