Chapter 1417: The Last Backbone

Wailing wind and snow swirled around the dilapidated radio station.

On this land permeated with the smell of blood and the stench of the deep sea, a girl in a yellowish-brown coat sat quietly amidst the ruins. Her hand tightly gripped a gun handle, her knuckles starkly white.

Teacher Ye was dead. No one knew how long the wisp of thought-storm he'd left within Xiaotao would last. Every word Xiaotao spoke now could be the last sound of her life.

Nervousness, fear, bitterness, despair.

No one knew with what immense mental fortitude the girl sitting before the radio now bore all this. No one had imagined that she, once nurtured within the Mother Tree, would now have to become the last backbone of the Integration Faction.

Yes, her body trembled with fear, but her gaze was resolute as never before.

She took a deep breath and opened her lips once more.

"We are both heretics... and sinners."

The moment these words rang out, all figures listening to the radio across different domains paused slightly.

On the streets of the South Sea Domain, already overrun by the Forbidden Sea, the Pu family, desperately trying to fight their way out, and Han Meng, moving through the ruins, both simultaneously looked up in the direction of the radio.

Han Meng's black enforcer's trench coat fluttered in the wind, his gaze complex.

"The defense line fell because of us, and the South Sea Domain was destroyed because of us... Perhaps in your eyes, we are heinous criminals, unforgivable... Perhaps hearing my voice will make you feel sick."

"But there are some things I must say... And now, I am the only one left to say them."

Xiaotao closed her eyes, and the images of bodies dead by Teacher Ye's gun flashed in her mind, pain clouding her face.

Teacher Ye was dead, and everyone from the Integration Faction was dead too. At this rate, every child of the Integration Faction would bear eternal infamy, buried beneath this wind and snow with their eyes open in death. How would future generations judge them?

Ungrateful wretches, sinister traitors, malicious heretics skilled at disguise, filthy scourges cloaked in human skin.

The very existence of the Integration Faction would be defined as pure 'evil.' They would be trampled underfoot by the eyes of posterity, their spines crushed, denying all the beauty and innocence they once possessed, leaving them forever condemned to curses and accusations like stray dogs.

Xiaotao knew that even if she tried to clarify things for the Integration Faction, hardly anyone would believe her.

But whether they believed or not was their concern.

At least the Integration Faction had once tried to reveal the truth to the world, tried to let people understand more about their past... Even if only one or two people ultimately believed her, it would be enough.

"We truly didn't know that our minds and bodies no longer belonged to us... We were like puppets on strings, firmly gripped in the palm of the Disaster of Thought, becoming its tools, becoming sharp blades piercing humanity."

"We never intended to harm anyone..."

"We just wanted a 'home.'"

Tears streamed down Xiaotao's cheeks, dripping onto the ground and freezing into frost in the wailing cold wind.

Xiaotao's voice was choked. She took a deep, forceful breath, trying to calm her voice as much as possible.

"Since childhood, my brother taught me that if you do something wrong, you must take responsibility..."

"I know apologies are useless, but we have already been atoning... Even if this can never truly compensate for the mistakes we made, we truly... truly couldn't do more..."

"We are heretics, sinners, pathetic wretches controlled by thoughts..."

"But we are not cowards!"

The remnants of the thought-storm in Xiaotao's mind gradually dissipated. Chaos and violence once again tried to seize control of her body.

Xiaotao's already reddened eyes became even more bloodshot. Her entire body trembled violently, her sharp claws began to lengthen, and her voice grew hoarse, as if she were gradually devolving into a beast.

Xiaotao knew her time was up.

Her chest heaved violently, and she huddled into a ball in front of the radio. The hand gripping the gun handle trembled incessantly. It took almost all her strength to slowly raise it.

She personally pressed the cold muzzle against her own chin.

In that moment, Xiaotao thought of many things.

Fear? Nervousness? Anger? Bitterness? She seemed to feel none of it anymore.

Memories surged through her like a tide, from the moment she first stepped into the Integration Faction's Mother Tree as a child: every class, every dismissal, every moment of laughter and play, every birthday, every New Year's Eve... The warmth of these memories diluted the coldness of the gun muzzle. She seemed to see familiar figures on the other side, waving warmly to her.

Her lips parted slightly, uttering the South Sea Domain's final words:

"Our birth was wrong, and our existence was wrong..."

"But our love was not."

Bang—!!

This was the Integration Faction's final echo, the penitence of the penitent, and the elegy of fate.

The moment blood splattered across the ruins, Xiaobai burst through the door from outside, his heart-wrenching wails mixing with the endless wind and snow, deafeningly loud.

The instant the gunshot echoed, upon the throne in the underground palace, a figure draped in a large red theatrical robe abruptly opened his eyes!!

They were eyes heavy with a hangover, bloodshot. He stared intently in the direction of the radio, the last few words echoing in his mind like thunder, completely dispelling his drowsy stupor!

"Xiaotao!!"

Chen Ling wasn't clear about what exactly had happened in the South Sea Domain, but from Xiaotao's fragmented words, an ominous premonition arose within him.

Without a moment's hesitation, Chen Ling's large red theatrical robe instantly turned black, his hair strands floated upwards one by one, and a terrifying aura swept through the entire underground palace!

Activating his thought-storm, Chen Ling's consciousness swept through the individual minds within the storm, finally locking onto a specific figure...

"Xiaotao—!!"

"Xiaotao—!!!"

Xiaobai cradled the girl lying in a pool of blood, crying out with heart-wrenching screams, but the only response was the wailing wind and snow above the ruins.

Just then, the scene before him wavered slightly. The hem of a black theatrical robe brushed lightly against his cheek...

Xiaobai froze.

He looked up to see a familiar figure standing beside him, black robes fluttering in the wind. The person looked down at the two bodies of Teacher Ye and Xiaotao, a hint of confusion in their eyes...

"Your Majesty... King Chen Ling!!!"

A sliver of light finally returned to Xiaobai's ashen eyes. Like a drowning man grasping at a final straw, he cried out and reached for Chen Ling.

But the next second, his body passed directly through the black theatrical robe, causing him to stumble and almost fall to the ground.