Chapter 386

Chapter 386 The Hero’s Last Stand!

Wanyan Zhengyong suddenly felt like a joke.

All these years, being called the supreme overlord of the northern underworld had apparently gone to his head a little. In this moment, Wanyan Zhengyong finally understood why Su Rui had said he was arrogant before.

Standing before this razor-sharp young man, everything he had done tonight was arrogance taken to the absolute extreme!

All the other side had done was reveal twelve subordinates, and his carefully laid killing trap had already become meaningless. His hundred-plus elite men had an overwhelming numerical advantage, yet in the face of those mere twelve people, they had no ability to resist whatsoever!

Supreme overlord? Destined royalty? What a colossal joke!

Over a decade of painstaking scheming, hoping to achieve success in one stroke, yet never imagining it would come to this. A resounding slap to the face!

If Su Rui were to intervene forcefully, then any confrontation with the Qinglong Gang would be completely out of the question! He could forget about ever claiming Ninghai, that fertile land of his dreams, for the rest of his life!

He had dreamed of conquering the entire East, yet before he had even taken a full step forward, someone had already chopped off five toes with a single blade!

But all these years, he had been living for this very goal! If the Yuanwei Gang could no longer achieve the conquest of Ninghai, how was he supposed to carry on with the rest of his life?

“Wanyan Zhengyong, I’m giving you ten seconds. Put down your guns and leave!” Su Rui’s presence surged with an overwhelming force, his gaze radiating an intensely oppressive air!

As if sensing what Wanyan Zhengyong was thinking, Tian Bingyi seemed to feel uneasy as well, but still urged, “Boss, as long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood. Let’s bow our heads for now.”

Bow our heads!

Bowing your head just once means bowing your head forever!

Hearing those words, Wanyan Zhengyong’s gaze seemed to dim.

He considered himself a king, someone who had never bowed his head to anyone in his entire life!

But if he refused to bow, not only would his own life be forfeit, the hundred-plus brothers who followed him would also die here!

Su Rui had given him ten seconds to think. Wanyan Zhengyong had already made his choice in the very first second.

Yet the choice made in that one second was something he could hardly bring himself to say aloud even if given a hundred years.

The air in the entire screening room seemed to freeze solid, suffocating beyond measure!

The seconds ticked by one after another, and for the members of the Yuanwei Gang, each second truly felt like a year!

Finally, at the tenth second, Wanyan Zhengyong utterly abandoned the shred of dignity that had fallen to the dust-covered floor, looked at Su Rui, and said with great difficulty, “Everyone put down your guns.”

Just four simple words, yet they seemed to drain every last ounce of strength from Wanyan Zhengyong’s body!

An indescribable sorrow filled the hearts of every Yuanwei Gang member. Watching their boss concede defeat, each of them felt wretched inside, hesitating, with no one willing to be the first to lower their gun.

Watching his subordinates’ reaction, Wanyan Zhengyong’s eyes turned bloodshot as he roared hysterically, “I told you to put down your guns, didn’t you hear me? I, your boss, am not dead yet. Are you really going to stop following my orders?”

His voice was no longer booming, filled instead with hoarseness, carrying the feeling of a hero at the end of his road!

Hearing those words, the Yuanwei Gang members all dejectedly lowered their weapons, the sound of pistols hitting the floor merging into one continuous clatter!

Su Rui watched all of this coldly, without offering any comment!

Listening to the sound of those pistols hitting the ground, Wanyan Zhengyong had already closed his eyes! The pain in his heart was known only to himself!

Tian Bingyi glanced at the boss, then turned to Su Rui and said in a somewhat desolate voice, “Can we leave now?”

Looking at this exceptionally outstanding young man, old Tian felt a storm of mixed emotions!

“You can go, but not him.”

As Su Rui spoke, he once again pointed toward Wanyan Zhengyong from across the room!

“He has already conceded defeat!”

Seeing Su Rui refuse to let it go, Tian Bingyi grew anxious! Was Su Rui really intent on killing Wanyan Zhengyong?

Su Rui glanced at him sideways, his face full of mockery, and said, “What good is conceding defeat? Didn’t I also concede defeat ten minutes ago? I even begged him to let my companion leave. Did he agree?”

At this point, Su Rui’s eyes were blazing with sharp intensity!

He growled, “Tian Bingyi, tell me out loud, did he agree?”

Tian Bingyi could not answer Su Rui’s question. The answer was obvious. Wanyan Zhengyong had not agreed to let Lin Aoxue leave at the time, otherwise Su Rui would not be pressing so relentlessly now!

Wanyan Zhengyong still had his eyes closed. He had always been the one holding others’ lives in his hands. This feeling of his own fate being out of his control was absolutely terrible.

Lin Aoxue’s beautiful eyes remained fixed on Su Rui. The image of this man in her eyes was now radiant and magnificent beyond compare.

Apollo, the sun god! The deity of the western dark world! The man standing by her side, Lin Aoxue’s side!

“If the Twelve Divine Guards hadn’t appeared, Aoxue and I would already be dead by now.”

Su Rui looked at Wanyan Zhengyong and said coldly, “I gave you a chance back then, but you didn’t cherish it! I asked whether you would let Lin Aoxue leave. I asked three times, and you refused three times! Without a moment’s hesitation!”

“But now, I have something to say to you. Three strikes and you’re out!”

Hearing these words, Wanyan Zhengyong kept his eyes closed, but his eyelids trembled several times!

Tian Bingyi, listening from the side, felt his heart begin to tremble. So when Su Rui had said those things, it hadn’t been empty words! He hadn’t been begging Wanyan Zhengyong at all. He had been giving him a chance!

If Wanyan Zhengyong had agreed to let Lin Aoxue leave at that time, would the outcome now have been different?

Everything in this world is connected by cause and effect. Whatever seed you plant, that is the fruit you will swallow!

After a long silence, Wanyan Zhengyong finally opened his eyes and said, “Everyone leave. I’ll stay.”

Having said that, he seemed to have aged a dozen years in an instant! The sharpness and dominance that had once defined him gradually faded away!

Everyone heard the dejection in Wanyan Zhengyong’s words, and an uncontrollable trace of sorrow rose in their hearts!

The winner takes all, the strong command respect. That is simply how this world works, nothing more than the most basic law of survival.

Could it be that a generation’s great warrior was truly about to fall here?

Tian Bingyi stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with Wanyan Zhengyong, and said softly, “I’ll stay too.”

Once all the Yuanwei Gang subordinates had withdrawn from the screening room, Su Rui looked at the two men standing across from him and said coldly, “Wanyan Zhengyong, shouldn’t you be thanking me for sparing so many of your Yuanwei Gang members?”

Thank him?

Indeed, thanks were in order!

If the roles were reversed and Wanyan Zhengyong were the victor, not a single one of those hundred-plus people would likely have survived!

Yet Wanyan Zhengyong raised his head and said indifferently, “There’s nothing to thank you for. Kill me or cut me up, do as you please.”

Every word was filled with utter disillusionment!

Meanwhile, Tian Bingyi was calculating the distance between himself and Su Rui. It was only about ten meters. At his speed, he could close the gap in the blink of an eye. If he could seize Su Rui as a hostage, perhaps he could save Wanyan Zhengyong’s life!

At that moment, Su Rui’s gaze shifted directly toward him, and he said with a face full of mockery, “Old Tian, you’d better not make any rash moves. Otherwise, I guarantee your death will look just like that man’s earlier.”

The screening room was still thick with the pungent smell of blood, and Su Rui’s eyes were filled with icy light!

“Old Tian, don’t make any rash moves. Today’s matter is something only I can resolve.”

When Wanyan Zhengyong said those words, he had omitted one character. The full meaning was — only my death can resolve it!

“I don’t need you to die.”

Su Rui looked at the Yuanwei Gang boss who had aged several years before his eyes and said, “I don’t want your life. Leave one arm behind, and you can go.”

Leave one arm behind!

Everything you do must account for the consequences. If you do something wrong, you must bear the price!

By comparison, Su Rui’s demand was already extraordinarily merciful!

The Twelve Divine Guards were somewhat doubtful. If they only crippled one arm, wouldn’t that be like releasing a tiger back into the wild?

But when the Sun God acted, he surely had his own plans. Their doubts were not needed!

Making the Yuanwei Gang boss leave behind one arm meant that half his life remained here!

“Why not kill me?” Wanyan Zhengyong asked in a hoarse voice, his tone completely stripped of its former resonance, yet carrying a trace of bewilderment.

“This is no different from killing you.” Su Rui said coldly, “Do it yourself, or shall I?”

“Yes, it truly is no different from killing me.”

Only those who have experienced the setbacks of the strong can truly understand the state of mind that follows.

With that, Wanyan Zhengyong drew a golden short sword from his waist. It traced a golden arc through the air and cut into the joint where his shoulder met his arm!

The blade, sharp enough to cut through iron like mud, seemed to meet no resistance at all. Wanyan Zhengyong’s left arm was severed by his own hand!

Scalding blood gushed forth!

Wanyan Zhengyong let out a grunt of pain, clenching his jaw tight, the muscles on his face trembling, his face drenched in sweat!

Looking at the arm that had fallen to the ground, Tian Bingyi closed his eyes in anguish!

When you’re under someone else’s roof, you have no choice but to bow your head!

Ten minutes ago, they had believed victory was within their grasp! Yet ten minutes later, the situation had undergone a world-shattering reversal!

The great overlord Wanyan Zhengyong had actually been forced to sever his own arm in this small screening room!

Lin Aoxue witnessed such a scene for the first time, a look of being moved flashing through her eyes, while Su Rui remained expressionless as ever.

Wanyan Zhengyong endured the bone-piercing agony radiating from his severed arm and bent down with great difficulty, picking up the severed limb with his intact right hand!

“As you wished.”

With a low roar, the Gang Boss Wanyan hurled the severed arm toward Su Rui’s position!

Su Rui had no desire to catch the thing, nor any need to verify its authenticity. With a wave of his hand, the fire from Holman’s Vulcan cannon had already erupted!

The severed arm was blasted to pieces in midair, like a rain of blood falling from the sky!

Feeling the fragments of flesh and blood spattering onto his face, Wanyan Zhengyong closed his eyes once more!

“Since Gang Boss Wanyan has also paid his price, let us be on our way.”

With that, Su Rui took Lin Aoxue by the hand and headed toward the screening room’s exit, with the Twelve Divine Guards following close behind!

Throughout this entire process, Wanyan Zhengyong didn’t even have the interest to open his eyes and look!

Yet just as they were about to reach the door, Su Rui suddenly stopped, turned his face back, and said, “Gang Boss Wanyan, Ninghai is not a place you can simply reach out and take. Go back to the north. If you keep entangling yourself here, I’m afraid the entire Yuanwei Gang will be destroyed because of you.”