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Even the bones were translucent. Those bones that were heart-wrenching, those that one could hardly bear to look at, were as clear and bright as jade, as captivating and heartbreaking as a carefully sculpted work of art… clean, broken bones. Long bones split in two, all the bones, big and small, whole and incomplete, were so clean it seemed deliberately treated, leaving not a trace of soft tissue, all as pure as jade.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [48]: Not far from the bone, there were some black, net-like fragments.

—Among the ice walls of the pool, which are taller than a person, there is a head.

Fair skin and dark eyes.

Fair skin. Dark eyes. Fair skin conveys peace and tranquility; deep within the dark eyes lie anxiety, astonishment, sorrow, joy, anger, helplessness, concern, hatred—everything. All existing emotions.

A Ding knelt down.

To worship.

He finally found the answer for himself.

※ ——What to drink if there's no water? ※ ...

Drink urine.

—What if you finish drinking the urine?

Drinking blood.

※ ——What to eat when there's no food? ※ ...

It eats everything edible. Even flies and mosquitoes.

—Even those aren't there?

There are still people.

Cannibalism?

Yes. Cannibalism.

Ading kowtowed.

look up.

(Thank God. Thank you for finally finding the answer.) — Or perhaps, this is the very answer he has been searching for?

—Or perhaps, his entire life was simply for this answer?

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ My dear, the ground has collapsed again. Before life arrives, you must save her.

In the beginning, life was simply about learning and mastering. Learning cunning, mastering evil. Only then could one fulfill one's mission.

Ultimately, life is simply about learning and mastering. Learning a kind of beauty. Mastering a kind of eternity. Only then can one don another protective suit, adopting a more cunning and wicked demeanor, and employing more beautiful and alluring lies, to adapt to new environments and fulfill new missions.

My dear, you have completed your mission. You will be more beautiful, more captivating. If you are willing to adapt to those new environments, then rest in peace. Otherwise, challenge the evil. In your new life, learn to be more hypocritical, more despicable.

Go and become their child. Go and fulfill your anger, achieve your purpose. Go and declare war on all those who love you blindly.

As long as you don't love them.

※ ...

His handsome face showed no trace of sorrow; in fact, a smile played on his lips.

That was a painful answer.

But isn't that a kind of eternal happiness?

He pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled happily. Afterward, he walked to the pool, jumped into it, and stood before the pool wall.

He pressed himself against the pool wall and looked upwards.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [49]: The heat emanating from his body was absorbed by the solid ice. His body was glued to the ice wall. He gazed at the head in the ice, the eyes in the ice, the black hair in the ice.

Then, he kissed her gently, so gently.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ Rong has passed away. The Rong he loved so deeply—Tong Rong—has passed away.

Without water, they drank blood; without food, they ate each other. This is just one scene in countless tragic struggles for survival that humanity has enacted throughout history. It's merely a choice made out of desperation. In this eternally dark realm, in this pristine land of despair, wouldn't such a thing have happened sooner or later?

But why Rong?

Why was Rong, who traded her life for the last bit of food, unable to bear witnessing the tragedy unfold, and thus leaving this mortal world prematurely? — In the stillness, she offered up her last remaining food: herself.

But if the dead are unaware, can the living find peace of mind?

But that's no longer important. What matters is Rong's fate.

It's Rong.

He slammed his palm onto the ice.

A crack appeared. Countless cracks appeared. The cracks spread, and inside the ice, on the outside of Rong's face, they had already split open. The cracking continued, and Rong's face was now covered with tiny cracks.

The cracks resembled a spider web.

Like a web of fate waiting for its prey.

But online, it was Tong Rong.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ The tremors continued. Tiny cracks persisted. His body was rejected by the ice—he slid down. He plunged into the pool. Water splashed everywhere, onto the ice and onto the sides of his head embedded in the ice. Two lines of text appeared.

—Heaven has a virtue of cherishing life.

—The Tomb Master, A Ding

The characters are raised, written vertically, in regular script. Solemn yet sorrowful. Between the two lines of text is the head of Rong, caught in the web of fate. On the right, the five characters "Master of the Tomb, A-Dong" are adorned with tears. Between "A" and "Ding" are two teardrops.

One crystal floats on the ice, resembling the head of a Dong people; another is hidden within the ice, like a pearl or jade tear flowing down Tong Rong's cheek.

※ ...

Tears fell into the icy pool.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life. Yes. Heaven is inherently evil. It admires the strong and fears evil. When you are in unbearable pain, it insists that you continue to endure, solely for that pitiful, perhaps possible, so-called hope, so-called dawn, or even just a vague afterlife; when you beg it to help the weak and save the weak, it ignores you, coldly watching how the strong, and how they, stifle the hope and dawn of the weak. Occasionally, it will have moments of kindness and perform good deeds, but only when you have become so stubborn that even it is helpless. But given the chance, it will cut off everything for you just when you think you have found a way out... Heaven's purpose is only one: to appreciate, to appreciate indifferently—the struggle between life and death, the resistance between the weak and the strong, the battle between good and evil, the conflict between sorrow and joy; Heaven's love of life is merely a perverse way of satisfying its own desires.

Now, Heaven has taken Rong away. It chose the most tragic, desolate, cruel, and sorrowful way—yet it still reveals the true meaning of kindness and universal love.

Does Heaven have a benevolent nature towards life?

Yes. Heaven has a benevolent heart. At least, it allowed him to live. It allowed him to see and understand all of this. In that sense, it truly has a benevolent heart. But it did not allow Rong to live. It did not prevent Rong's tragic and horrific fate. Therefore, there must be a new contest, a new conflict—and thus came the Lord of the Tomb, the Lord of the Tomb A·Ding※ ...

The "Grave" is a world of death and darkness. In this world, there is only death. Only despair. Including its master. In the world of the "Grave," nothing can be alive. The one who exercises the right of death is the "Master of the Grave," and now, he is the "Master of the Grave," so only he exercises this right, only him. Only the "Master of the Grave, A. Tong."

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ “A·Dong” is a combination of “A·Dong” and “Ding Dada”. Between the two is a separator, representing indelible tears.

When Rong died, A Ding was already dead; A Ding was resurrected for love, living for those he loved and those who loved him. But with Rong dead, A Ding's life lost all meaning. Rong was eaten, and so did Ding Dada; Ding Dada lived for love, for family, friendship, human relationships, and emotions—but with Rong eaten, all those emotions vanished. Ding Dada also lost his reason for living. Now, he is the master of the tomb, the master of A Ding's tomb, living to die, living so that all life may follow death. And A Ding, he lives to die.

Those who live do so in order to die.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [50]: Weeping in the icy pool, A Ding resolved to kill. He killed himself first, and was killed by himself. He is—Ding Dada.

Tears streaming down his face in the icy pool, Ding Dada resolved not to let a single person leave alive. He would let himself die first, dying from his own "letting go." He was the master of the tomb.

Tears streaming down his face in the icy pool, the tomb's occupant resolved to exercise his right. He wanted death. Not life. He was: — the tomb's occupant, A. Ding, the Emperor's New Clothes, flowing swiftly. Those who ate the "flowers" were all unconscious.

The eldest brother is no exception.

He had intended to help Wang Jia and Wang Mu with Xiao Chan, but when they saw the others devouring the purple flowers in the stream and smelled their delicate fragrance, their hunger became uncontrollable. They returned—soaking in the warm, rushing water—and began to eat as well.

It causes unconsciousness.

The nine members of the Self-Reliance Alliance have also fallen into a coma.

Once the "flower" was consumed, the hunger was temporarily dispelled, but the drowsiness became uncontrollable. Eight and a half of the nine people were unconscious, with Zhu Qian in a semi-conscious state. In the warm water, steam rose, and in her semi-conscious state, she saw terrifying hallucinations. She saw: —Zhu Qian committing suicide. (She had already died? —Die by suicide?) —A terrifying, dazzling purple light flashed incessantly. With each flash, something terrifying yet indescribable appeared. (What was that like? A paramecium, something we learned about in animal class?) —The purple light continued to flash, and that thing, magnified a million times, was changing. With each flash, there were some changes, as if it was growing, evolving. (Is it the evolutionary process of a paramecium?) —The purple light stopped flashing, and something appeared. It was a shoe. (The unfamiliar shoe she was wearing!) —Silence. Deathly silence. (But she was alive. Zhu Qian was alive. Oh, so I wasn't dead after all…) —Only her mind had come back to life. She regained her five senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell—and developed thoughts, consciousness, and emotions. She recalled everything memorable from her past life, realizing that she was no longer herself. She felt pain, sorrow, sadness, helplessness, fear, and joy…; but she couldn't move. Her brain couldn't control her muscles and bones; even basic reflexes were gone. She was numb, insensitive to heat, cold, and pain. (Where are my muscles and bones? Where is my form?)—Many tiny (indistinct to the naked eye—but how do I know they're indistinct?) strangely shaped things (like shoes, like paramecia) surrounded her, attacking her in waves; her skin cracked, countless tiny lines intertwined, her skin peeled away, her muscles dissolved, her bones shattered, all her form vanished, she disappeared.

—What remains is the brain. But those glittering things continue to invade, one after another pouring into the brain, into the "radiance bodies" of brain cells, where they linger, gather, multiply, and become the new masters.

—A purple light flickered, and purple flowers appeared. Purple flowers, like floating love, drifted in, gathered, clung to, crowded together, pressed down… Bones appeared, muscles appeared, internal organs appeared, nerves, meridians, blood appeared, and even the surface of the skin appeared. Pores opened, and hair appeared; everything had been reproduced. Only the “radiant bodies” within the brain cells remained dead; the “radiant bodies” of the heart, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, lungs… had vanished… (A completely new me?) She finally fell unconscious. Unconscious… dead… stopped at the point of the spiderweb-like resonance, and Adin sat cross-legged. He was going to kill. To kill everyone alive in this tomb.

But to kill, one needs the power to kill, which A-Ding lacks. To kill, one needs the means to kill, which Ding Da-Da lacks. To kill, one needs the opportunity to kill, which the Tomb Master lacks. Yet, the Tomb Master A-Ding possesses the power, the means, and the opportunity. (However, he is currently only A-Ding.) He cultivates the "Four-Hand Fist" and "Thousand-Change Kick," which are based on "demonic energy" and belong to "demonic arts."

Whether it's martial arts or qigong, both are based on the concept of "demonic power." Both require the convergence of yin and yang, the unblocking of vital energy channels, and completion of the most crucial stage. Only then can he possess invincible power, unpredictable methods, and the power to seize opportunities at will, becoming the true Ding Dada, the fearsome Lord of the Tomb. He also becomes synonymous with death: Lord of the Tomb, A-Ding. Otherwise, he is merely A-Ding, simply A-Ding with martial arts skills, just as he is now.

They may lack power, but they have the means and the opportunity.

Methods reflect a person's wisdom and mindset. He's never been stupid. Otherwise, he couldn't have become the first student council president and then a group leader after starting work. The reason he's never instilled fear in anyone is simply because his mindset wasn't wicked, ruthless, vicious, or shameless enough; but what about now?

Timing is a combination of circumstances and opportunity. Circumstances have evolved to the point where he must become the master of the tomb, A.D., while opportunity still needs to be waited for and created.

And at this moment, he is waiting and creating.

Sitting cross-legged here is the first step in waiting and creating: knowing the other.

※※※※※

They awoke one after another from their coma, and the green light was as bright as day.

To the eldest brother's astonishment, Xiao Chan, Er Gou, Xiao Dao, Chen Xing, Huang Zilan, Wei Yiyi, and An Yingying had all returned to their normal appearances. Their naked bodies had skin as clear and white as jade, as if it had been transformed, and their hair was jet black and lustrous, far surpassing the effects of any famous brand shampoo or body wash advertised. Each of them presented themselves to the world in their most handsome and beautiful state, and their figures had been adjusted to a state of near perfection. He couldn't see his own face, but he could see his body and hands, and without a doubt, he was no different from the others.

He could feel his strength was at its peak. But he couldn't find his clothes. On the ground by the stream were his packages—not only were the ones he had brought down, but the lost packages were also there. A complete set of sixty kinds of tomb-robbing tools, not a single one was missing.

This should undoubtedly be a cause for celebration, but the eldest brother frowned, and a hint of fear even appeared deep in his eyes.

The group exchanged glances when suddenly the three women let out a soft moan and covered their chests as they submerged themselves in the water, their faces flushed red. They dared not look at the others. But this only made things worse, as the men stared greedily at the three women with wide eyes.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [51]: Awakening from fear, the eldest brother was startled and said in a deep voice: "This is the 'Meng Po soup,' which has the miraculous effect of reviving the soul and regenerating flesh; just like a newborn baby, naked and clean, this is our current situation! 颐牵丫笊谕耍∷裕颐潜匦氚淹跫缀屯跄狙杆倥吕矗∨卸戏轿唬?"

But he immediately realized that survival seemed to be a secondary issue for them at this moment. All three disciples, including Chen Xing, were experiencing an uncontrollable surge of lust. The three women, on the other hand, were terrified.

He immediately realized that he was actually feeling impulsive!

He frowned, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the stream. The ground beside the stream was icy cold. As his bare feet touched the ground, a chill immediately seeped into his body from his Yongquan acupoint, and his desire subsided.

"Small shovel!"

Xiao Chan looked at him.

"come out!"

Xiao Chan hesitated for a moment, then stepped out of the stream. After landing on the ground, he wanted to turn back. The leader shouted again, "Xiao Chan!" Xiao Chan froze. He paused, closed his eyes, and slowly turned his back, avoiding looking at the three women in the stream. But his face was contorted, showing how difficult it was to suppress his desires.

"Chen Xing!" the leader called again.

Chen Xing froze for a moment, then immediately stepped out of the stream.