novelraw Chapter 501: You Can't Be Trusted
Chapter 501: You Can't Be Trusted
Endless darkness churned around him. Lu Li waited quietly until a faint light flickered in the distance.
Lu Li watched it for a long moment before heading toward it.
At the end of the dark path, a grayish fog shrouded the area.
Lu Li crossed the boundary between darkness and fog and stepped into it.
The fog was thick, limiting visibility to just a few meters. As Lu Li moved forward, the mist swirled in his wake.
After covering about ten meters, Lu Li's head snapped around.
The sound of footsteps emerged from the fog, and in the next instant, a figure lunged at Lu Li, swinging a fist.
Lu Li raised his arm to block the blow, but the force behind the strike was laughably weak.
"Richard?"
Lu Li frowned, watching as Richard, his attack having failed, retreated back into the fog.His clothes were wet, his leg still bandaged—it was the same Richard.
"You know, after everything I've seen, a thought occurred to me: you're a better fit to be the Ancient God's vessel than I am," Richard's voice drifted from the fog, making it impossible to pinpoint his location.
"Calm, intelligent... it seems nothing can unsettle you... Your qualities drive me insane with envy. I finally understand why, even though I was the first to touch it, it chose you."
Lu Li slowly scanned his surroundings. "I have no desire to be the Ancient God's vessel."
"Oh? And what if I told you how to get rid of the Bloody Tentacles? Would you just walk away?" Richard's voice, seeming to come from all directions, was laced with irony and some other complex emotion.
Perhaps he regretted not eliminating Lu Li sooner, or maybe he was considering helping him with the tentacles just to get him to stay away.
Lu Li remained silent, and Richard's chuckle echoed from the fog.
"Haha... Hypocrite... you crave that power too."
"That's not it. I just don't want it to fall into the wrong hands," Lu Li replied calmly.
Suddenly, the sound of rushed footsteps erupted behind him—dangerously close!
Lu Li spun around, drew the Second Pistol, and aimed it at the charging Richard.
He hesitated for a fraction of a second. Moving silently, Richard was already on top of him, grabbing Lu Li's wrist and forcing his arm upward.
Bang!
The deafening shot momentarily dispersed the fog around them. The bullet shot skyward, leaving a vortex of mist in its wake.
Using a street-fighting move, Richard slammed his elbow into Lu Li's chest.
If Richard hadn't been exhausted and injured, the blow might have broken Lu Li's ribs, but as it was, it only sent a sharp pain through his chest and forced him back half a step.
Richard made no attempt to grapple. While Lu Li was still off-balance, Richard slapped the pistol from his hand, sending it flying into the fog.
Without hesitating, Richard lunged after the gun.
Lu Li regained his balance and watched as Richard snatched the pistol and vanished into the fog.
The bullet had been fired; the pistol was now useless.
After a few hurried footsteps, the fog fell silent again. Richard, like a hyena, was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"Hm... the wrong hands?" Richard's mocking voice drifted from the fog.
"Lu Li, you've seen it all, haven't you? My foolishness, my madness, and my ambition. You know why I'm doing all this! You're an exorcist, an investigator—you understand better than anyone that the end is coming! That the ancient beings, the In-Between, the entities from the cosmic depths are closing in! Only immense power can protect us!" By the end of his tirade, Richard was shouting.
Lu Li remained calm, seemingly unaffected by Richard's frantic outburst. "How do you know you'll be able to control that power? Certainty can change a man... and it can also break him."
"One has to try! That's the main difference between me and you self-proclaimed sages!"
"You know nothing about these beings," Lu Li shook his head. "Their power is beyond our imagination. The moment you inhabit the Ancient God's shell, you could be consumed by its boundless consciousness. Or worse, you'll lose yourself to its malevolence and become a new monster, one that will destroy humanity."
"We must control power, not let it control us."
It was entirely possible. Many exorcists who had turned into monsters ultimately died from the contamination.
Every one of them thought they could preserve their essence, but in the end, they were all devoured by the abyss.
Like... Anna.
"I will succeed," Richard answered.
This was the core of their disagreement.
Two ants were talking by their anthill. One, having accidentally climbed a small mound, saw the vast expanse beyond and was terrified. He realized he could never leave his tiny anthill and that any creature could easily destroy his colony. The other ant, however, believed the anthill was the entire world, and they, its rulers, were the kings of that world.
Lu Li realized it was pointless to argue with a madman and said, "Before we head underground, I want to deal with the Bloody Tentacles in my mind. But right now, I can't side with someone who has killed thousands for his own ambition. Too many innocent people have died because of you."
"You want to avenge a bunch of ordinary people?" Richard, who had initially been pleased by Lu Li's words, suddenly shouted, "They were all going to die anyway!"
Something whistled through the air as a dark shadow flew past.
Richard had thrown the pistol he'd picked up at Lu Li, as if it were a rock.
Lu Li leaned aside slightly, dodging the projectile. There was no sound of it landing. "You don't have the right to decide who lives and who dies. You can only decide for yourself."
"Their sacrifice was necessary!"
"That's not for you to decide."
"Perhaps you're right..." Richard's voice came from all around, as if he were everywhere at once. "But I'm already here, and I won't back down."
"What a shame. I thought that we, sharing a common perspective, could have cooperated, perhaps even become friends..." Richard sighed with feigned regret.
"Wait," Lu Li wanted to ask one more question. "What was the third trial?"
"You still don't understand? This is the third trial."
"It threw us in here to fight each other, like an arena. Only the survivor gets the reward."
"You can't beat me," Lu Li said calmly.
In his exhausted state, even with a surprise attack, Richard couldn't seriously harm Lu Li.
"Really?" A sneer crept into Richard's voice. "I don't think so... Why do you think I can see you, but you can't see me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Richard's figure emerged from the fog right beside Lu Li and lunged at him.