Chapter 98: When Reaching a Dead End, Turning Back Reveals Sentiment

Opportunist Faction Chamber.

Xu Qingzhao stood alone beneath the flickering lamplight, gazing at the blood pool with a slightly bitter smile on her delicate face.

Ever since she entered this secret chamber, she had remained motionless, like a statue. More than ten minutes had passed, yet she hadn’t moved an inch.

Not far behind her, the massive bronze door stood wide open—unlike those of the Court Faction and Prince Huai’s faction, which were tightly shut…

It was as if fate itself was toying with this outwardly cold but deeply emotional and unfortunate woman…

The Star Gate had given her two choices.

Time was running out.

What path should Xu Qingzhao take?

…

Court Faction Chamber.

The four teammates, who had once fought side by side, now resembled bloodthirsty beasts, desperately trying to kill each other with ruthless efficiency.

Near the blood pool—

Xing Tao still hadn’t managed to grab the dagger, forcing him into a brutal close-quarters brawl with the Horsekeeper.

“Smack!”

“Smack!”

“…”

The sound of fists pounding flesh echoed repeatedly. The Horsekeeper, pinned beneath Xing Tao, had already taken several heavy blows to the face. Blood streamed from his nose, and his vision had become a blur.

When it came to pure hand-to-hand combat, Xing Tao was the Court Faction’s strongest fighter, with the Horsekeeper following close behind. The scholar and Guo Cai’er ranked lower.

“Huff… Huff…!”

Xing Tao panted heavily, his vision swimming. His chest burned with suffocating pressure—whether from the effects of the red toxic gas or sheer exhaustion from the brutal struggle, he wasn’t sure.

But there was no time to think or recover. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Guo Cai’er had already been knocked down by the Scholar’s iron rod, losing her shuttle weapon.

“AHH!”

With a furious roar, Xing Tao grabbed Horsekeeper’s head with both hands, yanking it up before slamming it down onto the sharp edge of the blood pool’s stone steps.

“Thud!”

A dull, sickening impact rang out.

Xing Tao felt the Horsekeeper’s skull tremble violently in his grip. The next moment, his opponent’s eyes rolled back, blood pooling from the back of his head as his entire body convulsed.

The effort left Xing Tao drained. He staggered sideways, clenching his teeth as he struggled to get back on his feet. His furious gaze locked onto the Scholar.

“Fuck you! I’ll kill you!” Xing Tao cursed hoarsely, using the ground for support as he pushed himself up. His footing faltered for a moment before he steadied himself and charged at the Scholar.

One step, two steps…

“Thud!”

Just as he was about to reach his target, the supposedly unconscious Horsekeeper suddenly lunged at him from behind, clinging to his back like a rabid monkey. Using the momentum and weight of his body, he dragged Xing Tao down.

“You— you bastard…!”

Xing Tao crashed to the ground and twisted around to fight back.

“You two… You two must die together! You have to die together!” The Horsekeeper shrieked like a madman, his fingers digging into Xing Tao’s throat like iron clamps, pressing so deep that his nails tore into flesh.

Blood gushed from the wounds. Xing Tao, already struggling to breathe, now felt his entire face swell as if it were about to burst. His legs kicked frantically.

But the Horsekeeper wasn’t done. His mouth opened wide as he lunged down—

“Chomp!”

His sharp teeth, combined with the sheer force of an adult’s bite, instantly tore into Xing Tao’s cheek. Warm blood gushed into Horsekeeper’s mouth, spilling down his throat and nearly making him gag.

“AAAHHH!!!”

Xing Tao’s body convulsed in agony, his strength faltering as his hands pushed weakly against the Horsekeeper’s chest.

Suppressing his urge to vomit, the Horsekeeper clamped his jaw shut, tearing away a chunk of flesh with a brutal shake of his head.

“RIP—!”

The blood, along with a chunk of flesh the size of a matchbox, was ripped from Xing Tao’s face.

The scene was eerily similar to a hyena tearing into its prey—cruel, brutal, and horrifyingly simple…

Why was the Horsekeeper fighting so desperately? Why had he suddenly changed his mind and decided to kill Xing Tao as well?

It was simple—once the bowstring was drawn, there was no turning back. Since he had chosen to stand with the Scholar, and the Scholar had reacted so fiercely, there was no possibility of reconciliation or switching sides mid-fight.

Even if he now turned against the Scholar and joined forces with Xing Tao and Guo Cai’er to take him down, what would happen after the Scholar was thrown into the blood pool?

Whether out of revenge or to ensure their own safety, those two would undoubtedly kill him without hesitation…

There was no other option. Either you die, or I live.

So, the Horsekeeper had to fight to the end—otherwise, everything he had done before would be nothing but foolish and naïve.

Lying on the cold ground, Xing Tao’s eyes bulged from strangulation, yet he still struggled to look toward the distance.

Against the wall, the Scholar was swinging his iron rod mechanically.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“…!”

One strike, two strikes, three strikes.

Guo Cai’er gradually stopped struggling, her body going limp on the ground. She had clearly lost consciousness from the repeated blows.

In a battle devoid of supernatural abilities, tools, or the Star Gate enhancements, a woman was at an absolute disadvantage in the most primal form of combat.

“Huff… huff…!”

The Scholar braced himself against his iron rod, his legs trembling. But after just a brief pause, he lifted the rod again in fury, smashing it down on Guo Cai’er’s waist.

“Fight back?! Why are you fighting back?!”

The frustration, despair, and sorrow he had bottled up over the past few days found a brutal outlet in this violent struggle. His rage poured out like a flood…

“Step, step!”

With his chest heaving, the Scholar stepped toward Guo Cai’er. First, he kicked away the shuttle beside her, then confirmed with his eyes that she was completely incapable of resisting. Only then did he grab hold of her hair.

A scraping sound echoed across the floor as the Scholar dragged her toward the blood pool like a lifeless dog.

Not far away, Xing Tao, still being choked, turned his head with great effort and saw Guo Cai’er’s bloodstained face and neck, her arms hanging limply—possibly broken.

But as her body was dragged into the central light, Xing Tao noticed something…

Her eyes were open, staring blankly at the ceiling, her expression void of life.

She wasn’t unconscious—she had simply given up resisting.

She neither looked at Xing Tao nor said a word, as if she had accepted the Scholar and the Horsekeeper’s decision, wanting nothing more than for it all to end quickly.

The sight of her empty gaze shattered something inside Xing Tao.

“AHHH!”

A furious roar erupted in the chamber.

Pinned beneath the Horsekeeper, Xing Tao somehow found a surge of strength and managed to throw him off.

“Thud…!”

The Horsekeeper, his mouth still full of blood, rolled across the ground and happened to grab hold of the short knife lodged nearby.

Xing Tao, his legs trembling, pushed himself up from the ground. “Don’t… don’t touch her.”

Five meters away, the Scholar gripped his iron rod, staring at Xing Tao with an expressionless face.

“You… you want to win, don’t you?” Xing Tao’s torn cheek made his face look monstrous, like a ghost from hell. “You want revenge for No. 11, don’t you?!”

The Scholar remained motionless, watching him.

Xing Tao swayed, his steps unsteady, but he forced himself to remain standing. “If you want to win, you can’t kill her. Her Identity Tag is ‘Mute Woman.’ The price she pays is that she cannot speak a single word in this Star Gate… But her supernatural ability is incredibly powerful. When the final battle comes… she could be the key to victory.”

“This game… requires communication. And yet she can’t speak. Do you understand how great a disadvantage that is? How steep a price she pays?” Xing Tao shook his head slightly. “In the Star Gate, abilities that come with a cost… you all know how valuable they are.”

The Scholar and Horsekeeper continued to watch him.

Having said all he could, Xing Tao said no more, only looking at Guo Cai’er with bloodshot eyes.

In that moment, his ghastly face twisted into a smile.

As his facial muscles pulled into that smile, the torn skin on his face was squeezed, causing fresh blood to gush out violently.

Xing Tao’s smile was ugly—horrific, even.

But in Guo Cai’er’s eyes, as her vacant gaze slowly regained clarity, that expression became the last bit of warmth in this world, the final trace of safety in her heart.

“I… I know you don’t like me that much, but I like you.” Xing Tao staggered as he looked at her. “We’re teammates. To everyone else, we’re an unbreakable pair that can always trust each other.”

Guo Cai’er stared at him, then suddenly shook her head violently.

“Heh… I told you, I’d take care of you.”

With those words, still smiling, Xing Tao suddenly bolted toward the blood pool.

He ran with absolute resolve—without a shred of hesitation, giving neither the Scholar nor Horsekeeper any time to react.

“Whoosh!”

As he leaped onto the steps, his scarred face turned back to look at Guo Cai’er one last time.

“Goodbye, teammate! Live on, Cai’er!”

In a blink, with a soft splash, he disappeared into the blood pool.

Five seconds later, a voice echoed in the room.

[Martial Artist sacrifice successful. Court Faction player -1.]

“Ahhh!!!”

A woman’s heart-wrenching scream reverberated through the chamber, filled with despair, with the agony of losing the last bit of warmth, the final sense of safety in this world… a complete breakdown.

The Scholar froze for a moment, then collapsed weakly onto the ground—but he no longer chose to kill her.

…

“Thirty!”

“Twenty-nine!”

“Twenty-eight!”

“…”

The countdown echoed through the secret chamber of Prince Huai’s faction.

Facing the blood pool, Tang Feng was about to close his eyes.

He had a cleanliness obsession—he loathed looking directly at such a murky, unknown liquid…

Time was up. He was ready to jump.

“You think you’re the hero from Titanic or something? You think this is some grand sacrifice?”

Ren Ye’s voice suddenly rang out.

The others, who had been resigned to their fate, instinctively looked at him—including Tang Feng.

Ren Ye glanced at them, speaking concisely, “I’ve been thinking—figured something out—but I don’t know… if my judgment is right.”

“What are you planning?!” Li Yan was the first to react, stepping forward immediately. “I thought about it too, but we can’t!”

Ren Ye’s lips twitched slightly in hesitation. Then, he stepped onto the edge of the blood pool, patting Tang Feng’s shoulder.

“Ever since I got involved with this Star Gate… I’ve always had this feeling that someone—somewhere, in the open, in the shadows—was watching me, pushing me, helping me… like they wanted me to reach a certain destination.”

“I don’t know why… I don’t know what makes me special. But still, I just want to say… thank you. But the path I must walk—I won’t run from it.”

“Shit, you—!”

“Whoosh!”

Just before the countdown reached zero, Ren Ye dove headfirst into the blood pool.

“Splash!”

His body was instantly engulfed by the crimson liquid.

In the brief moment before silence fell, they heard a muffled explosion from within the pool.

His body—seemed to have detonated inside, flesh and blood bursting outward like a grotesque human firework.

[Leader Prince Huai, sacrifice successful. Prince Huai faction player -1.]

[The Heavenly Pardoned One has chosen death. The final level of the tomb will remain sealed forever. The remaining players may continue the challenge—if you succeed, you will receive the original rewards and inheritance of the Princess’s Tomb.]