Mr. Duan leaned back in the leather seat of the taxi, his posture relaxed and casual.
He didn't look at the driver in the driver's seat; his gaze was calmly fixed on the bustling street scene rushing past the car window.
The air conditioner in the carriage was blowing cold air, and the meter was ticking regularly.
“You used to spend the most time with me.”
Mr. Duan spoke in a relaxed tone, as if he were chatting casually with an old friend he hadn't seen for many years.
"Your soul was carefully selected by me from the Seventh World and brought here by my own hands."
"How could I not notice it?"
Mr. Duan turned his head and looked at the kind and amiable middle-aged face in the rearview mirror, a faint smile playing on his lips.
In the driver's seat, the driver's hands tightened suddenly around the steering wheel.
The veins on the back of his hands bulged out, and his knuckles turned a pale white from excessive force.
He didn't turn around or reply immediately; he just stared intently at the traffic light ahead.
Mr. Duan didn't mind his silence. His gaze became somewhat profound, as if he had pierced through the false prosperity before him and returned to an era long ago.
Do you remember the first time we met?
Mr. Duan gently tapped the floor of the carriage with the tip of his cane, producing a dull sound.
"Back then, you were just a small-time professional in a guild in Peter City."
"What was your professional rank back then?" Mr. Duan paused for a moment, pretending to think, then chuckled, "Oh right, it was only rank C."
In that perilous era, C-level professionals weren't even considered cannon fodder; they could only struggle to survive in the quagmire at the very bottom.
"But you are exceptionally decisive and calm."
Mr. Duan's tone unusually carried a hint of genuine appreciation.
"I still remember that battle. Facing that level 30 Calamity BOSS, your guild leader, an A-rank professional, was so scared that he dropped his weapon and fled with his men."
"Only you."
Mr. Duan looked in the rearview mirror and said, "A Class C, yet you have the courage to challenge it head-on. Even with half your bones broken, even if you can't even stand up straight, you never put down the knife in your hand."
"It was that persistence that made me decide to take you away."
Upon hearing this, Bo Ning's expression became complicated.
His breathing became heavy, and his chest heaved violently a few times.
The light ahead is green.
Bo Ning took a deep breath and silently restarted the vehicle.
The taxi emitted a low rumble and once again merged into the bustling crowd.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged driver in the driver's seat began to gradually change his appearance.
The disguise on her face faded away like ice and snow melting away.
The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes quickly smoothed out, and his gray hair turned a deep black. His once kind facial features became angular.
In just a few seconds, he transformed into a young man with sharp eyes and a cold expression.
This is who he truly is.
Bo Ning, one of the top powerhouses in the Eighth World.
"gentlemen."
Bo Ning's voice was no longer the calm, feigned one it had been before; instead, it carried a hoarseness that betrayed a sense of having weathered many storms.
“I started in the Seventh World, and I have been following you since I was eighteen.”
He didn't turn around, but his voice trembled slightly, suppressing a great deal of emotional turmoil.
"I have always felt that you are the dawn of all mankind. You pulled us out of the mire of despair and gave us hope to live."
"You led us to create the Eighth World, giving us the most glorious moment for humanity."
"But why?"
"You, who are like a creator god, why would you personally destroy this eighth world?!"
As his question, filled with hatred and incomprehension, fell...
The once bustling scene outside the car collapsed instantly, like a soap bubble that had been popped.
The surface of the towering office building has peeled away, revealing the rusty steel frame inside;
The huge electronic advertising screen flickered a few times, then went completely out and shattered.
The once smooth asphalt road cracked and collapsed as if it had been hit by a magnitude 10 earthquake.
The crowds walking through the streets and the speeding vehicles all turned to ashes at that moment and scattered with the wind.
The surrounding area was filled with dilapidated buildings.
Roads were collapsed everywhere.
The once vibrant city lost its luster in the blink of an eye, turning into a desolate, apocalyptic scene.
This is the true face of the Eighth World, and a wound in their hearts that will never heal.
Despite the dramatic changes in his surroundings, Mr. Duan showed no unusual expression.
He remained seated upright in the back seat, his breathing rhythm unchanged.
He tapped lightly on the car window, looking out at the gloomy and dilapidated world.
"The human race, once the eighth world, was glorious and powerful."
"At one point, I also thought I had found the power to defy the will of Heaven."
"But in reality, you in the Eighth World are just like this piece of glass."
He tapped the car window with the tip of his cane.
"It may look solid, but it will crumble if it gets even a tiny crack."
"You all believe I betrayed humanity." Mr. Duan withdrew his cane, his gaze darkening: "In truth, back then, some members of our human race had already secretly defected to the Heavenly Dao."
Upon hearing this, Bo Ning's hand on the steering wheel suddenly stiffened.
"In order to preserve the spark of the era, and to prevent the Heavenly Dao from completely annihilating us."
"I had no choice but to resort to this tactic."
Bo Ning continued driving with a blank expression.
The vehicle was moving very slowly, its tires screeching as they rolled over gravel and scrap steel.
"gentlemen."
Bo Ning's voice was cold as ice, devoid of any emotion.
"Do you think I would still believe you now?"
Mr. Duan smiled.
He was not at all surprised by Bo Ning's attitude.
"I know that we are now on opposite sides."
"It's already beyond repair."
Mr. Duan straightened his cuffs and looked out the car window at the gray sky.
"But some truths must eventually be revealed to the public, right?"
The moment he finished speaking.
High in the sky, a sudden change occurs!
The dark clouds were forcibly torn apart by an extremely violent force.
A blinding red light, carrying a world-destroying momentum, crashed down like a burning meteorite at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye!
The target was this slow-moving, abandoned taxi!
"boom--!!!"
A deafening roar echoed throughout the ruins.
The ground shook violently, and the remaining half of the surrounding buildings were instantly reduced to dust by the terrifying shockwave.
The violent energy directly created a terrifying crater tens of meters in diameter at the location of the car!
Countless fragments of rock and metal debris, mixed with smoke and dust, shot into the sky, obscuring the view.
The tremors lasted for a good ten seconds before slowly subsiding.
The smoke and dust gradually dissipated.
At the edge of the giant pit, a woman with short red hair stood proudly.
Her face was filled with anger, and she was surrounded by violent red energy, which even slightly distorted the space around her.
She looked into the deep pit.
All that could be seen in the deep pit was the wreckage of the car, which had been crushed into a pancake, but there was no sign of Mr. Duan.
"part!"
The red-haired woman was furious and roared with anger.
"You come out here!"
"I'll beat you to death!"
The violent roar transformed into tangible sound waves, instantly dispersing the remaining smoke and dust around them.
A slight noise came from the ruins not far away.
Mr. Duan stood unharmed on a broken cement slab, still holding his black cane, not even a speck of dust on the hem of his clothes.
He looked down at the enraged red-haired woman and clicked his tongue twice.
"Honglian, you still have such a fiery temper."
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