Chapter 959: I Was Pretending

"Wait..."

A voice sounded from the comms channel, but it was too late.

No one gave the order, and no one pressed the launch button. The missile seemed to have a mind of its own, whistling over everyone's heads, then a violent explosion almost knocked everyone to the ground!

Boom—!!!

A miniature sun bloomed in the air, and amidst a deafening roar, Chen Ling's figure was swallowed before everyone's eyes. Even the very edge of the cliff was pulverized.

"Fall back!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd quickly retreated. The rocks beneath their feet continuously shattered and fell amidst the roar, and cracks spread underfoot. Only when they were completely away from the spot where Chen Ling was blown up did they stop, still shaken.

"What happened?" an angry voice demanded from the comms channel. "Who gave the launch order?!"

Everyone exchanged glances. After several seconds, the pilot of the helicopter spoke, bewildered:

"No one gave an order... I didn't even press the launch button. It... it just flew out on its own."

"How is he??"

"He was hit directly by the missile; he's been eliminated."

"..." The voice was somewhat hoarse. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, we all saw it... There were also devices on site that recorded the entire thing. His body was torn apart by the explosion."

Silence fell over the channel. The person was silent for a long time before slowly uttering three words:

"...Stand down."

Everyone took one last look at the blasted, collapsing cliff, seemingly still reeling from the image of Chen Ling opening his arms and embracing death moments before. It wasn't until the helicopters and off-road vehicles began to withdraw that the few Divine Way users came back to their senses, following the main force, gradually disappearing into the vast wilderness...

In the office of Bureau 749.

A man with graying temples slowly hung up the phone.

"...You all heard it too." He swept his gaze over the two people seated before the desk. "The 'Ghost Mockery' Doomsayer has been killed. Even if I wanted to give him another chance, the fact is, it's already happened."

Bang—!

Lu Xun slammed both hands heavily on the table, creating a dull thud.

"What do you mean 'no one gave the order, the missile launched itself'? Do you even believe that yourself?!" Lu Xun roared, uncharacteristically furious. "How many times do I have to say it? Director Chen is the savior of our exploration team! If it weren't for him, we would never have made it out of Shennongjia! How could someone who willingly protects researchers without asking for any reward possibly be the culprit behind the world's destruction?!"

"Regarding the missile launch, I will investigate it thoroughly and give you an explanation," Director Sun said after a moment of silence. "But what a person does now has no direct connection to what they might do later... Master Chonggui is the foremost diviner of this era; his prophecies are never wrong."

Director Sun took a photograph from a drawer and placed it on the desk.

"These are Master Chonggui's exact words of prophecy. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourselves... sixteen characters in total, every single one boding ill. How could such a being be considered a 'good person'?"

The photo showed a slip of paper with two lines of blood-red text:

*Ghost Mockery Doomsayer, descends upon the mortal realm**An era of chaos, heaven and earth shall condemn*

Looking at these lines, both Yang Xiao and Lu Xun's expressions turned grim. The prophecies certainly contained no good tidings, and the final phrase "heaven and earth shall condemn" made it sound as if Chen Ling had committed some unforgivable crime.

"Director Sun, perhaps you've forgotten, we are scientists." Yang Xiao, usually not one to speak much, spoke up. "We only believe in facts we've witnessed ourselves. Your baseless superstitions won't convince us."

"Baseless superstitions?" Director Sun was taken aback. "No, this isn't baseless superstition..."

"No need to say more to him."

Lu Xun looked into Director Sun's eyes, disappointment etched on his face. He casually snatched the photo, turned, and headed for the office door. "Let's go."

Yang Xiao turned and left without hesitation, not even sparing Director Sun another glance.

Director Sun made no attempt to stop them. He simply stood still, watching their retreating backs, and spoke again:

"Lu Xun, regarding Zheng Tianlei's unauthorized imprisonment of you for experiments, give me two more days to investigate; I will certainly give you an explanation..."

Bang—

Before Director Sun could finish, the two slammed the office door shut, cutting off his words.

After leaving Bureau 749, Lu Xun's expression remained exceptionally grim. He walked along the street with his head down, silent and clearly worried.

Seeing this, Yang Xiao hesitated for a moment, then spoke:

"Actually, you don't need to be so pessimistic..."

"Pessimistic?" Lu Xun glanced at him. "The person is dead. That's not pessimism; it's a fact."

"Perhaps... he didn't die at all?"

Lu Xun suddenly stopped. He stared intently at Yang Xiao, his face as serious as when he confronted Director Sun.

"...What do you mean?"

Yang Xiao didn't answer immediately. Instead, after glancing around to ensure no one was watching, he took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Lu Xun. The phone screen was on, showing the message page. The most recent message was from a garbled phone number... The content of the message was simple, just three words:

"I faked it."

Lu Xun: ?

"The message was sent thirty seconds before Director Chen's reported time of death, and he's the only one who can send messages from a garbled number like this." Yang Xiao shrugged. "I sensed the message earlier, when we were in front of Director Sun, but you were too emotional, so I kept quiet."

"This... how is this possible?" Lu Xun frowned deeply. "He was hit directly by the missile; there was hardly any residue left of his body. Everyone present saw it... How could he possibly be alive after that?"

"Don't you find it strange? No command, no operation, yet the missile launched itself... Think about it carefully, there are only two people in the world who could do something like that."

"Who are those two?"

"Director Chen, and me."

"Are you saying he launched the missile at himself? To escape?" A sliver of light returned to Lu Xun's dim eyes. "He's dead, and he faked it??"

Clackety-clack, clackety-clack—

On a train slowly departing from Shanghai, a tall woman sat by the window, cracking sunflower seeds and leisurely watching the scenery outside, seemingly quite content. The train had now mostly left the Shanghai area and was temporarily stopped at a district station, where a few passengers walked on the platform.

Just as the train doors were about to close, a young man with a grotesque mask hanging from his waist stepped onto the train... He stood by the carriage door, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, finally landing on the woman by the window.

A slight smile played on his lips.