Chapter 319: Colosseum (27) “Farewell, Chang Xu”

Not long ago, Chang Xu had pondered a question: was it worth exchanging his own life for the death of others?

At that time, his answer was no, because he wanted to live, and killing Qi Si was also for the sake of living more freely and without threat.

But what if the Chips on the other side of the Balance were other people’s lives?

Since Chang Xu could remember, he had been surrounded by Ghosts, their fangs bared, claws out, and bloodied, grotesque figures dancing around him like ancient shamans. When they discovered he could see them, they became even more aggressive, wanting to approach him, tear at him, and replace him.

Their overt, undisguised malice fueled his hatred of death and, correspondingly, ignited a strong desire for survival. He stubbornly lived on and, as he grew older, gradually gained the ability to contend with the Eerie, becoming an existence feared by those Ghosts.

He finally heard the Ghosts’ words. Unlike the menacing screeches he remembered, they became exceptionally polite once they realized they couldn’t harm him.

They began to teach him various principles of survival, one after another, trying to explain that he was also one of them. And those principles indeed helped him survive in the orphanage.

But Ghosts were ultimately cold, not warm like humans.

As soon as Chang Xu stepped into the sunlight, they scattered, only to surge back like a tide when he returned to the shadows.

They wanted to keep him, like viscous quicksand dragging creatures that had stumbled into it, until it submerged their faces and entered their mouths and noses.

Yet, Chang Xu knew he didn’t want to live his entire life in a place without sunlight.

The young boy ran through the corridors, protecting the food in his arms from the older children’s chase. A stone door appeared at the end of the corridor where there had been none before. He stepped inside and saw gold locked amidst gnarled vines, emitting dusty light.

When he grew up, he was nicknamed “Monster” by the children for his hundreds of victories. Those fearful, rejecting gazes were colder than the Ghosts’ touch. He disliked it, so he stayed away from crowds, often sitting by the tightly closed orphanage gate, lost in thought.

Whenever someone entered the orphanage on a sunny day, the gate would be pulled open, and a golden beam of sunlight would slant through the crack, bisecting him, then slowly spreading to illuminate his face.

A couple who had donated to many charitable foundations came to inspect the orphanage. The dignified and kind woman placed a Rubik’s Cube into his hand, and the lingering warmth caused his cold hand to tremble nervously.

He watched the door open with a creak and close with a creak, knowing that outside was the human world, warm and bright, unlike the Eerie and the monstrous.

He suddenly wanted very much to be a human.

If anyone had grown up in that orphanage, they would surely have a vague impression: there was a big, clumsy guy who never lost a fight, initially alone, but later always surrounded by a group of children.

Chang Xu was willing to lend a helping hand to protect children who actively sought his help, as if it were a proof of humanity, a Ritual of transformation into a human.

But his keen intuition for emotions also allowed him to perceive the children’s fear and disgust. He knew that in their eyes, he was still a monster, not one of them.

Until… Ning Xu appeared.

Ning Xu was the first person to look at him like a human, and for a long time, the only one.

“Humans are not born to be beasts,” the woman said with compassion, extending her hand and leading him into the human world.

After that day, Chang Xu once thought he had finally become a normal human.

He could freely go to various places, touch light and warmth anytime, anywhere; he could eat fresh, universally accepted human food, rather than rotten rats; he could blend into crowds, no longer attracting strange glances… He could detect the deliberate and exploitative intentions in others’ kindness, but it was already much better than the hostility he had encountered in the past.

Thus, he diligently participated in various trainings against the Eerie, meticulously adhered to human morals, and ultimately entered the Eerie Game.

Each instance amplified the darkest parts of human nature, and Chang Xu, bathed in petty calculations, felt lost more than once.

“What’s the difference between humans and Ghosts?” he asked Ning Xu. “They’re all the same: bullying the weak and fearing the strong, clinging to life and fearing death, living for profit.”

Ning Xu told him: “Humans save humans, while Ghosts only kill humans.”

He thought, he would be human after all… At this moment, in the Colosseum instance, Chang Xu stood up, took down the black wolf mask from the wall opposite the door, and hung it on the blank wall.

The beast-faced Sphinx opened its eyes, gazing at him with pity: “You wish for me to grant your wish, don’t you? Even if the price is true death?”

Chang Xu said: “Yes.”

He enunciated each word: “I wish for you to grant my wish: kill Qi Si.”

The Sphinx’s eyes flickered with golden light, just like the glimmer he had seen at the end of the corridor many years ago.

The value in Chang Xu’s points column rapidly decreased, accompanied by the rampant spread of lime marks across his face.

“Suppose a madman wants to compete with you in killing. Within a limited time, whoever kills more wins.

“If you win, nothing will happen; if you lose, he will destroy the world. What would you choose?”

In last night’s dream, the black-robed, golden-eyed deity asked him this question again.

At this point, Chang Xu finally knew the answer, and the choice he would make.

“I will stop that madman from killing, and then kill myself at the last second, so I will have killed one more person than him.” He looked up, his voice calm, “I win, and they will live.”

He once thought that what he pursued was survival without threat. Only now did he realize that there was something even more important above that.

Merely living aimlessly, driven by the instinct to survive like a beast, was a life he had endured for eighteen years and disliked.

The Identity Card in the upper right corner of his vision swirled with black mist, and the book filled with legal statutes rapidly turned pages, finally settling on a certain chapter.

The higher golden temple suddenly crumbled, the red-robed High Priest shattered into specks of light, and a black-robed Judge descended the steps, his phantom spreading across the heavens and earth.

【Judgment complete… The criminal Qi Si is sentenced to capital punishment】

The scarlet King chess piece above Chang Xu’s head disintegrated into fragments, and the blood-stained cross was drawn back into the card face, re-hanging on the Judge’s right hand.

At the same time, all players heard the system broadcast:

【main quest “Kill Qi Si” completed】

【Congratulations to the player for clearing the multiplayer instance “Colosseum”】

【At the feast of the gods, the people of the gods dance to entertain them, and the arrogant gods laugh heartily】

【Seasoned with the blood of the dead, with the skulls of corpses as wine cups, humans and beasts alike fall into drunkenness】

Liu Yuhan lay on the straw bed, the knife wound in her chest no longer aching, the blood stopped flowing, and her life state was frozen.

Nian Fu and Qin Mu simultaneously looked up, the petrification process on them halted, and the sensation of hunger was nowhere to be found.

“How could he die? Didn’t he say he would resurrect?” Nian Fu murmured.

Qin Mu gave a bitter smile: “It seems I was wrong, he still isn’t the person I’m looking for.”

Lena Ann sat up with a jolt from the straw bed and said, “Cool.”

Remembering that Dong Xiwen was nearby, he quickly put on a worried expression: “Dong, is our boss really done for?”

Dong Xiwen ignored him, just staring blankly at the void before him, half wistful, half relieved.

Two seconds later, he let out a soft breath: “It’s just over like that… Too simple, right? I feel like I’m dreaming…”

It did feel like a dream, yet it was also within reason.

Green sat under the tiger mask, quietly flipping through the notebook full of plans that Chu Xun had left behind. One page clearly stated:

“Scenario Six: On the fifth day of the instance, due to food shortages, someone (speculated to be Liu Yuhan) voluntarily sacrifices themselves to provide food, and Chang Xu, to save them, chooses to ask the Sphinx to grant the wish of ‘killing Qi Si’.”

The petrification progress on Chang Xu also halted due to the instance’s completion, and various strange and eerie scenes flashed before his eyes.

Grotesque beasts surrounded the white temple, giant golden eyes opened and closed in the void, all trembling and prostrating.

Black patterns writhed like snakes, and animals rushed into the blood pool, smearing themselves with plasma to suppress the spread of the anomaly.

Humans were led onto high altars to be bled, wars of spears and swords brewed on the borders, and gods who had not appeared for a long time quietly descended, telling all humans and animals:

“A new god will be born among human heroes, and then He will eliminate all curses.”

Colors and sounds gradually faded, and silvery white characters appeared on the system interface, accompanied by an emotionless narration.

【Skin peeled, flesh carved, bones crushed and marrow sucked, spirit and flesh all turned to dregs, severing the past, pulverizing the future】

【The Colosseum of civilization and race, who asks the merciless gods for the final judgment】

【Colosseum Normal End – “Evil God’s Feast” collected】

Is it almost over? It must be over soon… The prompt 【Automatically teleported out of the instance in three minutes】 was long overdue. Chang Xu gently struggled with his arm, shaking off fine bits of lime onto the floor.

He dragged his legs, stiff from semi-petrification, towards the door and pushed open the stone door.

Blinding brightness poured into the room, exposing his entire being to the daylight that had replaced the night at some unknown time.

He once again saw that blazing golden light, like the scorching sun, but he knew it was not light, but the eyes of an Evil God.

Countless cognitions flooded his mind, and he instantly knew what that golden glimmer he had seen in his childhood was.

He had encountered the Eerie Game much earlier than he thought; everything had been anchored, and he was a chess piece on the gambling table.

“You failed,” Li said. “Because of your actions, the dead have returned to the human world.”

【New God determined, Colosseum instance facets are merging】

Blood-red text wildly darted before his eyes, his vision blurring and clearing rapidly as if submerged in water and then pulled out. The earth trembled, the air grew viscous, vast amounts of matter were being compressed into a small space, and more things were intruding.

Chang Xu inexplicably recalled a saying he had once heard: if all humans on Earth were kneaded into a ball, it would only be a meatball one kilometer in diameter.

He didn’t know what was about to happen, but he surmised it wasn’t good. He didn’t know the cause, process, or outcome of this event, but his intuition told him it was inextricably linked to the Evil God before him.

The chained temple trembled in the high heavens, and a fierce wind swept through the Colosseum, carrying all the animals to spiral in the air.

Stone doors shattered into dust, and players stumbled, grabbing doorframes to avoid being swept away.

Fan Zhanwei and Chu Xun’s stone statues turned into rubble, scattered by the wind across the heavens and earth; Qin Mu’s human skin mask was blown away, revealing a White Crow’s face.

Chang Xu laboriously took a step forward, finding that he could still barely move. Fate Poker remained sealed, so he condensed the black Life Severer in his hand, turning into a phantom that instantly moved before the golden eyes.

He had no other thoughts in his mind, nor did he know the origin of this action, but his intuition told him this was the last chance.

The cold glint of the blade froze in mid-air, like a drop of amber encasing an insect’s body.

Chang Xu floated before the enormous, sun-like golden eyes, his entire body bound by a viscous force, unable to move.

His ears were filled with mixed shrieks and various strange, indecipherable sounds. He saw a scarlet figure materialize before him.

The young man wore a red suit and trousers, and where the wound that should have pierced his body was, soft black and white feathers covered it, appearing from afar as decoration on an intact body.

The person who should have died appeared casually, bringing with him the horror of a vengeful spirit returning to the human world.

How did he come back to life? Or had he never truly died?

Chang Xu saw Qi Si say something to the eyes, and the owner of the eyes, the Evil God Li, responded to him.

Chang Xu couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could guess it was likely a negotiation, and he was a Chip on the table.

After an unknown amount of time, he saw the red-clad youth turn around, a playful smile on his face, walking towards him step by step.

His ears could hear again, and he heard Qi Si sighing, saying: “I thought you were finally smart for once, but it turns out to be this boring charade of foolishly adhering to universal values.

“Someone once slaughtered wolves to save deer, which instead destroyed the grassland. Wolves eating deer, deer eating grass, is a perfectly normal rule, just like the instinct for survival written into everyone’s genes.

“Without being in the game, what standing does an observer have to interfere? You are not a god, so what right do you have to Judge me?”

Qi Si seemed eager for an answer, tilting his head to look at him, confusion in his eyes, yet not reflecting Chang Xu’s shadow.

That confusion flickered away, replaced by deep malice. The red-clad youth held the Sea-God Scepter and walked up to him, suddenly laughing like a demon: “Even if a god comes to Judge me, I ought to try and see if I can kill them.”

Qi Si’s laughter echoed through the heavens and earth, carried by the wind, imbued with a drunken madness like a Dionysian feast.

Chang Xu wanted to retort but couldn’t make a sound, only hearing the dead man, who had crawled back from hell, say with a mocking tone: “This topic is actually quite interesting, but unfortunately, you probably won’t have the chance to research it. Next holiday, I’ll burn some incense for you and then we can discuss it.”

That ill-timed sense of humor again… Chang Xu felt a violent pain bloom in his chest, as the Sea-God Scepter, carrying the salty tang of seawater, pierced through his chest.

Qi Si flipped his wrist and slashed downwards, crushing his heart and internal organs, then pulling out his intestines, determined to create a gash even more severe than the wounds inflicted by Life Severer before.

The pain, exceeding its threshold, began to fade. The world before Chang Xu’s eyes plunged into darkness inch by inch, his consciousness gradually dimming, no longer able to grasp or piece things together.

Finally, the last string connecting him to the world also broke, and he only heard a whisper scatter in his ear.

“Farewell, Chang Xu.”