Chapter 127
Chapter 127 Five Qi Chao Yuan II
Ye Desheng's world collapsed completely in that moment.
He didn't understand!
He couldn't comprehend it!
He refused to believe it!
He didn't dare believe it!
But the devastating news kept coming.
When darkness fell that night, Li Xue was suddenly attacked by a black-clad masked figure on her way home. A fatal stab to the abdomen—though her life was fortunately saved—permanently destroyed her ability to bear children as a mother.
Then, the following morning, Han Fei walked into the police station and turned herself in.
She straightforwardly confessed to the full extent of her crimes: murdering Ye Desheng's mother and uncle, and viciously attacking Li Xue.
……
"What a melodramatic ethical tragedy."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord wore a smile across all 3 of its faces as it watched Han Fei trembling before it.
"Once lovers, now the ruthless murderer of his own mother."
"No wonder Ye Desheng was so crushed by the blow that he abandoned his laughable moral principles entirely."
"And became the rotten, disgusting creature he is today."
"Han Fei, oh Han Fei—how much innocent blood has soaked into those beautiful hands of yours?"
"You…what do you know?!!"
Han Fei cut off the Thousand-Face Demon Lord's mockery.
She raised her head, both eyes bloodshot.
"That's nothing more than the self-righteous, out-of-context judgment of people like you who sit high above everyone else!"
"You nauseating monster who steals the memories of others—what laughable right do you have!"
"To stand here and pass verdict on my entire life?!"
Han Fei's chest heaved violently.
Because in this absurd world, she alone knew…what filthy truth had unfolded that morning after Ye Desheng left.
……
In that true memory.
The moment Ye Desheng had guiltily stepped out the door, Ye's mother called.
On the phone, Ye's mother's attitude shifted in an uncharacteristic way—suddenly warm and kind.
She called Han Fei's name affectionately, extended a hypocritical invitation for her to come over, claiming she wanted to solemnly discuss the wedding preparations with her.
The naive Han Fei genuinely believed Ye's mother had been moved by their love and had accepted both her and the innocent child growing in her womb.
She even went to the trouble of buying a large pile of expensive supplements before she knocked on that security door.
But what awaited her was not a warm reconciliation between mother and daughter-in-law.
It was a trap!
The moment the door swung shut, Ye's mother's hypocritical mask shattered completely.
She flung a pair of black stockings and a middle school photo of the two men at Han Fei's face, delivering her verdict with smug satisfaction.
"Desheng has long been carrying on behind your back with the warden's daughter—these are the love tokens she sent him!"
"Who do you think you are? Take the money and get rid of that bastard child in your belly!"
Han Fei refused to comply even at the cost of her life.
Ye's mother then showed her true hand—she called out the intellectually disabled younger brother.
"Get rid of the abomination in her belly," she said with a cold smile.
"Then do whatever you want with her?"
Han Fei was driven to despair. She backed into a corner and pulled out the fruit knife she carried for self-defense. "Stay back! Come any closer and I'll kill him!"
But the simpleton couldn't understand a word and lunged at her with a smile.
The thud of the blade sinking into his chest became the final note of that tragedy.
"Ahhhhh!!"
"You wretched woman—give my brother back his life!"
Ye's mother went mad, swinging a kitchen cleaver, screaming for Han Fei's death.
In the violent struggle and resistance that followed, Ye's mother collapsed into a pool of blood.
When Han Fei slumped to the floor covered in wounds, Ye's mother's phone lit up.
It was a message from the warden's daughter: "Auntie, when is Desheng arriving?"
Han Fei's mind wasn't clear in that moment. She stepped forward and instinctively checked the chat history.
Then she looked at that pair of stockings, looked at the bodies on the floor, and broke into a deranged laugh.
Han Fei understood.
After reading through the chat history, she saw it all clearly—the stockings, the demand for an abortion, all of it had been the scheming of that woman pulling strings from behind the scenes, every word a poisoned insinuation aimed at Ye's mother.
The other party had approached Ye's mother first.
She had only ever wanted to live a decent life—why was it so impossible?
Why hadn't they left her even a single path out?!
"Since there's no way back, then in for a penny, in for a pound…"
She knew Ye Desheng's movements. She wanted to make that woman who had destroyed her life pay a devastating price before she was caught.
Make her pay the price she deserved!
……
The morgue was terrifyingly quiet.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord's gaze suddenly shifted.
Or rather—
Ye Desheng's gaze shifted.
Those eyes filled with shock and anguish.
He hadn't known.
He had known none of this.
Due to the rule excluding family members from their own cases, he had not been involved in the investigation.
And in that same moment, Ye Desheng was struck by a sudden realization.
He had been numbed by the poison of the former warden's "kindness and pacification" for a full 18 years.
He hadn't known that his own rise to the position of warden had been a piece of his enemy's plan all along.
The other party had intended to keep him living inside a lie for the rest of his life.
To make him hate to his very core the woman who had risked her life to protect his flesh and blood.
Drip.
A single warm tear suddenly slid down the Thousand-Face Demon Lord's contorted face.
Gods do not weep. Monsters do not weep.
That tear belonged to Ye Desheng.
Han Fei watched that tear fall and laughed—a sound sharp and wretched. "Shocked, aren't you?"
"So the murderer you've hated all these years was actually the person who owed you a debt for a lifetime."
"Now that you know…"
"It's time for you to wake up, isn't it!"
"Not for my sake—for our daughter's!"
"Ye Desheng, show the resolve a father is supposed to have!"
"Don't you dare!"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord let out a shriek and moved to suppress Ye Desheng's soul.
But it discovered to its horror that as the number of souls it had devoured grew, the Body Seizure ability of its mask was waning.
That soul, which should have been powerless and cowardly, erupted in this moment with an unimaginable force.
A force called love!
It had begun to fight back!
Ye Desheng recalled the Joker's former mockery.
【Your absurd path to godhood is nothing but a pitiful delusion.】
"Yes—how mighty the soul truly is."
"Even a wicked god must proceed step by step. What right does an ordinary man who has committed monstrous sins have to lay hands on divinity?"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord's eyes turned pure black—and Ye Desheng reclaimed his body!
He raised his trembling hand, reaching to touch Han Fei's weathered face.
But midway through the motion, he stopped.
Then slowly withdrew his hand.
He wasn't worthy.
All these years, he had wallowed in self-destruction—gambling, card games, corruption.
He had even used the authority of his position as warden to torment Han Fei again and again.
He had poured all of his pain out onto her.
Only in front of their daughter had he retained even a shred of humanity.
He was a complete and utter beast.
"Ahh!"
Ye Desheng let out a roar and, seizing the brief moment of clarity, released Ye Yilin from the Fusion.
Ye Yilin, drenched in blood, fell to the ground. Han Fei rushed forward, pulled her into her arms, and drew her away from Ye Desheng.
"Mom…"
Ye Yilin buried her face in the crook of Han Fei's neck and wept openly.
"So…I have a mom…"
Han Fei said nothing. She only bit her lip, eyes burning red.
Watching the mother and daughter clinging tightly to each other, a smile appeared on Ye Desheng's face.
But the next second, his features began to distort again.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord was coming back!
"Do it!!"
Ye Desheng screamed at Han Fei, "Do it now!!"
Han Fei closed her eyes. Tears flew from her lashes.
Without another moment's hesitation, Rule Force Field erupted in full force—Plunder!
The hand of the rule seized the mask on Ye Desheng's face and wrenched it away with savage force!
Without the mask's support, Ye Desheng's body began to melt rapidly, like a pile of rotten mud.
Chen Daozi, Tiffany…
The skulls and heads that had been forcibly fused to him began to detach one by one.
His one remaining face turned toward the mother and daughter not far away. His throat produced a low, gurgling sound.
He had so much he wanted to say—he wanted to ask if it had hurt back then. He wanted to ask how she had endured all those years. He wanted to say that if he could do it over again, he would sooner die than attend that dinner…
But in the end, with every last ounce of his strength, he forced out only 3 words.
"I'm sorry…"
"Dad…"
Ye Yilin looked at her father drawing close to death and cried out.
Han Fei still gave no answer.
She only held her daughter, eyes closed, letting her tears wash away 18 years of injustice and despair.
It was over.
Everything was over.
Just as the mother and daughter believed the nightmare had finally lifted—
"Heh heh heh…what a deeply moving family drama."
A thick tendril of black smoke suddenly rose from behind the blood and water left by Ye Desheng's dissolution.
"What a pity…you overlooked the single most fatal step."
Han Fei opened her eyes. Her pupils contracted in an instant.
The thing speaking was not human at all!
It was that cursed object every game participant had dreamed of obtaining.
The Fate Slot Machine!
Accompanied by the sound of grinding metal, the Fate Slot Machine's casing slowly opened.
From within, a bloated, rotting hand reached out.
That hand picked up the mask lying on the ground and fitted it back over Ye Desheng's face.
The black smoke dispersed. The phantom of the Thousand-Face Demon Lord once again loomed over the entire morgue.
Or rather—its true body had only just descended.
The Fate Slot Machine was the Thousand-Face Demon Lord itself!
From the very beginning, it had fused itself into this S+-Grade cursed object!
Han Fei held her daughter, and it felt as though every drop of blood in her body froze in that moment.
She finally understood—the so-called "vessel" the Demon Lord had spoken of was never Ye Desheng at all…
It was this Fate Slot Machine, the vessel carrying the greed and desire of countless souls.
The resolve she had steeled herself for in the face of life and death now seemed so pale and powerless before this absurd truth.
The true despair had only just begun.
Bunny-Bunny