Chapter 569

Explaining this whole thing in detail is kinda troublesome, but if I simplify it… everyone who participated in the mission from the Scorpio Division except for Senior Algernon who didn’t show up is already inside my belly having a meeting.

Previously, under the “generous feeding” of three seniors, I had temporarily gained strength at the level of 59 Taint Values, just a little bit short of the minimum requirement to “rip open the world plane.”

But Director Scorpion’s soul was extremely “tough,” and I couldn’t digest or absorb it at all. However, with the power of the ‘Guardian Death Hound,’ I managed to “suck” out a bit of strength from his soul, making up for that last tiny gap.

In short, it’s all thanks to eating my teammates.

…

“You don’t want to talk about it?”

Looking at Leon silently across from him, Prince Andre nodded indifferently and said: “Then I won’t ask anymore. Anyway, my painting has been ruined by you, so even if I knew how you did it, it wouldn’t change anything now… Hmm… let’s move on to serious business.”

Under Leon’s watchful eyes, Prince Andre tilted his head back and looked at him calmly: “I have to admit, your previous evaluation of me was correct. I am indeed a coward, always lacking the courage to face my own mistakes… Lord Leon, do you want to know what I think of you?”

Honestly, I’m not really interested, but judging by your expression, whether I want to hear it or not, you’re definitely going to say it…

Looking at Prince Andre who raised his head and stared at him, whose emerald green eyes no longer held hatred and anger but only a sense of resolution, Leon couldn’t help but sigh inwardly and responded:

“Alright, how do you see me?”

“Greedy. In my eyes, you are a very, very, very greedy person.”

Among Leon’s somewhat surprised expressions, Prince Andre, who had said “very” three times, explained calmly: “I let Artefact control six royal direct-command legions to besiege the royal palace. Facing well-organized elite legions, without knowing what other cards I might have, you still chose to consume extra strength and knocked out all soldiers, not killing anyone throughout the process.

Later, when attacking Zone 1 Research Area and destroying the Mechanical Intelligence core, you clearly knew you might encounter Director Scorpion, yet you chose to infiltrate the cooling lake alone, not bringing Level 1 Cleaner Algernon who was an important combatant, instead letting him act independently and seize the chance to rescue people in Zone 1 Research Area.

It’s not hard to see from these two responses that you are a very, very, very greedy person, willing to take many unnecessary risks just to complete tasks as perfectly as possible, almost unwilling to accept any “losses” or “exchanges”…

Hmm… Or you could say, you’re a kind-hearted good person.”

“…”

After blabbering on a lot, handing Leon a “good person card” along the way, Prince Andre continued analyzing unhurriedly:

“You hate involving innocents and are accustomed to respecting life. I guess there must be a set of extremely special concepts in your heart, which differ greatly from those of other cleaners in the Clearing Bureau, or even most people.

Finally, you seem to have a fanatic-like stubbornness towards your own set of beliefs. Once you’ve decided something is right and judged that you can bear the consequences, you will definitely act immediately.

I even vaguely feel that if the ‘rightness’ of the thing you need to do is high enough, even if you judge that you cannot bear the consequences, as long as it’s worth it, you would still try to accomplish it.

For you, your life is important, but sometimes it’s not so important. You’re not afraid to put your life on the scale… Lord Leon, am I accurate in my judgment of you?”

“…”

Uh… Though not entirely correct, it doesn’t seem wrong either…

Not fearing death is true. After all, I’m currently occupying the position left by the ‘Guardian Death Hound’ and still holding onto its powers. If I die, I’ll surely be taken away by the Deathscape to guard its gate.

So for me, even if all three immortality layers are broken, the worst-case scenario is dying early and becoming an old man at the Deathscape’s gate. Although this isn’t a great outcome, it’s not unbearable.

“My judgment seems to be fairly accurate.”

After waiting for a while and seeing Leon not rebutting, Prince Andre chuckled lightly and then said coldly:

“A person like you, if directly killed, probably wouldn’t feel much pain. You’d only regret not being able to do your best. For someone like you, death might not even count as punishment.

So if I wanted to take revenge on you, I would only destroy the ideals you believe in, making you watch the things you’ve been chasing get cruelly torn apart right in front of you! Only then can I truly hurt you and make you experience the same deep pain as me!”

“…”

“Lord Leon, listen carefully.”

After finishing an extremely middle-school-revenge-style declaration, in a world dyed orange-red, Prince Andre sat cross-legged and glared at Leon coldly:

“What you’re facing now is, aside from ‘The Royal Night Banquet,’ my most satisfactory piece of work, named ‘Crocodile Kingdom Under the Sunset.’ This painting has absorbed the world fragments from ‘The Royal Night Banquet’ and completed the erosion of the entire Crocodile Kingdom.

And next, the sunset in this painting that has already fallen will climb back up from the horizon and continuously approach the entire Crocodile Kingdom until they merge, burning everything to ashes.”

Seemingly to prove his words were true, Prince Andre waved his hand backward, and the sunset on the distant horizon, which only had an arc edge above the ground, actually climbed upward slightly.

As the sunset reappeared, the surrounding warm orange-red afterglow suddenly brightened and began shifting toward a more vivid yellow. A wave of heat that made one anxious also surged from the distant horizon, instantly baking the lush green grass around them, curling and turning it yellow.

“Lord Leon, it’s time for you to make a choice.”

Facing the increasingly intense golden-red sunset behind him, Prince Andre first lifted his hand, pointing at the sunset behind him, then pointed at Phelia behind Leon, explaining:

“I’m already dead. Now Phelia is the last living member of the Crocodile Royal Family. If she dies too, the Watchtower Palace that protects all humanity will immediately suffer a huge weakening.

So if you still want to complete the task of protecting humanity, you must protect her. However, if you want the sun to stop and prevent the one million three hundred thousand people in this painting from being roasted alive, you have to give me her corpse.”

After explaining the “game rules,” looking at the somewhat stunned Leon in front of him, Prince Andre’s lips curled slightly, full of satisfaction: “Lord Leon, I estimate it will take me about an hour to finish painting this enormous sun completely, so you have an hour to slowly consider your choice…”

“Here.”

“?!?!”

Seeing Phelia thrown directly in front of him, landing with a thud, Prince Andre’s smile froze instantly.

Isn’t it… Isn’t your choice a bit too fast? Without even hesitating once?