Цзянху Фэн Цинчэна и Мо Сибэя

Глава 27

Do you really think you're a god?

Ye Xiao finally spoke. He walked to Tong Jianguo's side, and the two of them faced Li Xiaojun's gun barrel side by side. No matter which one was hit by the bullet first, the other would draw his gun and return fire.

"That's right! Your joys and sorrows, your births, aging, sickness and death, everything about you is completely controlled by me. What you say, do, and even what you think, whether it's hypocritical, greedy, or evil, is all clear in my eyes! In this world of divine secrets, I know everything and I am omnipotent. I am your omnipotent Lord, I am—God!"

"You're crazy."

Li Xiaojun moved the gun barrel in front of Ye Xiao, widened his wrinkled eyes, and said sternly, "Ye Xiao, are you an ungrateful person? You should be extremely grateful to me. I made you a world-famous figure. You are a star in the hearts of millions. Isn't this what you've always dreamed of?"

"I'm sorry." Ye Xiao stared fearlessly at the muzzle of his gun and coldly replied, "I don't need it."

“Poor man, you’re already out of touch with the times! The 21st century is the era of reality TV, the era in which all ordinary people become the protagonists, and everyone has to see their true selves: desire and greed, selfishness and cowardice. You can’t imagine how sacred and great this is.”

Ye Xiao muttered to himself with disdain: "Contradictory! Absolutely brain-dead! You damned international media, trying to fabricate lies to cover up the truth, distort the facts and manipulate everything! Your truth is based on lying."

"Are you talking about me? No, when people think they have gained complete freedom, they have actually fallen into an even more invisible slave, wearing a shackle called fantasy! And I am the god who saves them, because I have shown them the truth—the real you, the real life, the real society, the real you! Everyone in the world has the right to see this great reality show, because life is inherently dirty, all novels, movies, and even beautiful wishes are fantasies, and real life is always more powerful and more cruel."

"Please, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Truth is God!"

"so--"

Just as Ye Xiao was about to speak for him, Li Xiaojun interrupted—

"I am God!"

Is he God?

These words echoed throughout the entire Kingdom of Rakshasa, as if amplified, and were deafening to the surviving refugees.

Tong Jianguo shook his head: "I thought I was already ruined, but I didn't expect you to be even more ruined than me. You're beyond redemption!"

Under the intense midnight lights, the platform of the Great Rakshasa Temple transformed into a stage. Li Xiaojun, now the leading man, declared to himself, "Now, the final judgment begins. I read the verdict to you—Ye Xiao, you are guilty of the crime of anger. You are forever filled with righteous indignation, yet you know nothing of necessary compromise. You are as stubborn as a stone, and in the end, you will shatter both the world and yourself!"

After reading the verdict against Ye Xiao, he turned his gun on Sun Zichu: "You, Sun Zichu, are guilty of arrogance! You think you know everything about heaven and earth and can discover all the secrets of history. You don't respect others and have caused countless disputes and hatreds."

Next was Lin Junru. Li Xiaojun looked into her eyes and said, "You, Lin Junru, are guilty of the sin of desire. You crave everything, to enjoy the pleasures and love of life, yet you completely lack self-control."

Next was Elena. Li Xiaojun said in fluent English, "You, Elena Amsonova, are guilty of the sin of sloth. You are unwilling to do anything yourself, completely immersed in useless imagination, and have ultimately fallen into the abyss of vampire superstition."

Li Xiaojun quickly switched to Chinese, pointing the gun at Dingding: "You, Dingding, are guilty of pride! You think you have received some kind of divine revelation, that you can see through everything, that you can predict the future, and even dare to reveal heavenly secrets."

The next person to be tried was Xiaozhi, the leading lady he had personally invited: "You, Ouyang Xiaozhi, are guilty of lust! After deceiving everyone, you used your beauty and false innocence to seduce Ye Xiao. Although you are so young, you want to obtain extraordinary love, control the men you try to seduce, and even be both the white rose and the red rose. A woman's boundless desires will destroy everything, and will also destroy yourself."

These words made Xiaozhi blush. She lowered her head and hugged "Xiaobai" and "Tian Shen" tightly, which also caused the wolfhound to bark wildly.

Ignoring the wolfhound's threat, Li Xiaojun turned the gun back to Tong Jianguo: "You, Tong Jianguo, are guilty of jealousy! I know you've been secretly jealous of me since childhood; even during our time as sent-down youth, you were still jealous that I was more handsome than you, jealous that I attracted more girls; after we both fell in love with Lanna, you became even more jealous, though you never dared to say it out loud! And now you're still jealous of me. Compared to your life of hardship, you're jealous of my success, jealous that I'm the ruler of an empire, jealous that I stand here speaking as a god, jealous that I manipulate your fate in the world of celestial secrets!"

Faced with Li Xiaojun's aggressive pronouncements of doom, Tong Jianguo remained fearless, dismissively saying, "No, Li Xiaojun, you overestimate yourself, and you underestimate your brother—from childhood to old age, I have never been jealous of you."

Even though Lana, whom I deeply loved, eloped with you, I never resented you in the slightest! And now, I feel sorry for you. You meticulously planned all of this; what will be the outcome? You finally found your biological daughter, lost for twenty years, but she refused to go with you and instead died at your hands!

"Shut up, or I'll kill you!"

Tong Jianguo's words finally hit a nerve, and Li Xiaojun pressed the gun against his forehead.

"This is the punishment you have borne yourself, but it's a pity for the innocent Yu Ling." Tong Jianguo sighed to the sky. Even if his head were smashed by a gun at this moment, he would have no regrets. "You, Li Xiaojun, are the guilty one! Pride, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, lust—all seven deadly sins are in you. You are doomed!"

"Enough, it's all over!" Li Xiaojun interrupted him roughly, taking a few steps back while holding his gun. "The Creator spent six days creating the universe and all things, including humankind. I also spent six days creating the great 'Heavenly Secrets' reality show in front of audiences all over the world."

"You consider yourself a god; that is the heinous crime of blasphemy!"

Elena stood up and shouted, suddenly remembering her mother who had retreated to the mountains of Romania and become a devout Orthodox Christian again.

But Li Xiaojun completely ignored her, holding his gun and continuing to shout, "After creation, the Creator rested on the seventh day. Today is also the seventh day of the 'Heavenly Secrets' reality show, and I need to rest too..."

This last sentence put everyone on high alert. Ye Xiao took a step forward fearlessly, his fingers twitching instinctively.

Bang!

As a bullet whistled through the air, gunpowder smoke billowed from the muzzle of Li Xiaojun's gun...

The Complete Version of "The Secret of Heaven Season 4" Chapter 11: Collapse (Part 2)

02:00

Early morning.

Another terrifying gunshot rang out!

Xiaozhi closed her eyes in anguish, imagining the scene of Ye Xiao bleeding profusely from his chest. When she opened her eyes again, Ye Xiao was still standing there unharmed, while the sound of gunfire continued to echo in the Land of Rakshasa.

It turned out that Li Xiaojun's gun muzzle had deflected downwards by a few degrees, and the bullet hit the stone slab under Ye Xiao's feet. The flying sparks caused the bullet to ricochet, grazing his ankle. If it had deflected by another centimeter or two, it would have broken his leg bone!

This is just a warning.

However, Li Xiaojun really needed to rest, but before he could rest, he had to do one thing—carry out the final judgment.

The next shot would no longer be a warning; he raised the muzzle a few degrees and aimed it at Ye Xiaojian's strong eyes.

death penalty?

In the final silence, time seemed to stand still. The five pagodas, hundreds of meters high, and the ancient statues, smiled down upon them.

Everyone is waiting...

"Li Xiaojun!"

They didn't get the bullet; instead, they got a loud and powerful sound.

Everyone turned around at once, and saw two figures slowly walking towards them, one big and one small, holding hands as they crossed the square, which was illuminated by several large lights and looked like a stage.

When the two figures walked up to everyone, Li Xiaojun's eyes widened suddenly, his eyeballs almost popping out!

The older one was an elderly man in his eighties, with a robust body beneath a full head of white hair, piercing eyes staring straight ahead, and a straight back that clearly exuded the demeanor of a soldier.

The younger one was a fifteen-year-old girl, whose name everyone knew—Cheng Qiuqiu.

Time fell silent for another half minute. Qiuqiu, who had been missing for a day and a night, finally returned. But the elderly man who was leading her was a complete stranger. No one had ever seen him before. He had suddenly appeared at the end of the story!

Except for the very top.

Yesterday morning at the villa entrance, Dingding saw the old man with her own eyes—it was him! She even exchanged a few strange words with him, but no one, including Ye Xiao, believed her. Now, he was standing right in front of her, and it was definitely not a dream.

"you?"

Li Xiaojun's gun trembled as he turned towards the old man, a man nearly thirty years older than himself.

The old man calmly replied, "Yes, it is me."

"Horse—Hidden—Dragon—"

Li Xiaojun pronounced this once-great name slowly and deliberately.

Ye Xiao and Dingding were both startled when they heard the name—Ma Qianlong? Wasn't he the most legendary Chinese of the 20th century? He was also the founder of the mysterious Nanming City, who once held absolute power as the highest official of Nanming for decades, causing countless controversies but undoubtedly a miraculous figure.

But wasn't he already dead?

On September 9, 2000, Ma Qianlong died of a sudden heart attack at his residence at the age of 80.

Ten days later, a grand funeral ceremony was held, and the entire city of Nanming turned out to see him off. His ashes were kept in the Nanming Palace...

Xiaozhi was equally stunned. She grew up in Nanming City. Her grandfather was Ma Qianlong's old subordinate, and she often had the opportunity to see Ma Qianlong when she was a child. She was even held by Ma Qianlong himself, so she naturally had a deep impression of him.

Therefore, Xiaozhi is the best witness, and the old man in front of her is Ma Qianlong!

Although she looks much older, her unforgettable face and features, as well as her figure, have hardly changed. In particular, her deep eyes radiate an infinite legendary aura, making her recognizable even after many years.

Tong Jianguo shook his head in disbelief. He had heard of Ma Qianlong before, but now that he had seen him in person, was it just an illusion after death?

The most surprised person present was, of course, Li Xiaojun.

Because Ma Qianlong was his greatest enemy in his life.

Although Ma Qianlong once valued him highly and gave him the most important opportunity of his life, it ultimately almost destroyed him. Twenty years ago, he plotted to assassinate Ma Qianlong, but after failing, he almost lost his own life and was forced to abandon his wife and daughter to flee to the ends of the earth. He lost his beloved Lan Na and his daughter Yu Ling.

He believed that Ma Qianlong had died in 2000, and it was precisely because of the loss of Ma Qianlong that Nanming City collapsed during the "Great Empty City Night" in 2005, becoming such a tragic sleeping city.

Could this figure before me be just a dream? Or a ghost that has emerged from hell?

"I'm alive."

Ma Qianlong smiled and nodded. He released Qiuqiu's hand, allowing the fifteen-year-old orphan to return to her group.

Qiuqiu gratefully returned to Elena's side. It was this old man who saved her life and allowed her to perceive a certain power, so that she was no longer lonely or afraid.

"So...so...you weren't dead at all." Li Xiaojun smiled bitterly, but his pistol was still pointed at Ma Qianlong. "You deceived the entire Nanming City, and you deceived the entire world!"

“I’m disappointed, Li Xiaojun,” the eighty-year-old man shook his head. “After all these years you still don’t understand me. I don’t need the world to know I exist.”

"If that's the case, why hide yourself?"

Now, this place has become a battleground for Ma Qianlong and Li Xiaojun, with all the lights focused on them. But who is the director behind the scenes?

“I know what you want to ask—” Ma Qianlong slowly uttered five words, “The Night of the Empty City.”

"Yes, everyone wants to know the truth about the 'Night of the Great Empty City,' and since you're still alive here, you can't escape being implicated!"

Ma Qianlong sighed softly at the gun barrel: "There's no need to hide it anymore. The Nanming City that I built and prospered is now facing complete destruction. I'll tell you the secret of 'Night of the Great Empty City'."

"explain!"

Li Xiaojun's breathing became rapid. In fact, Ye Xiao, Tong Jianguo, and the others were all waiting impatiently, because everyone was getting closer to the final "secret".

"Yes, I'm here to tell the whole story—my death in 2000 was a hoax, a way to completely withdraw me from the political arena and stop me from getting involved in things that bore me. I know many people hate me, and many people love me. I was the focus of everything in Nanming City, but that wasn't my intention. I didn't want everyone to revolve around me, and I didn't want Nanming City to become Ma Qianlong City; otherwise, that would be fatal! So, at the beginning of the 21st century, I had to 'die'! To completely disappear from people's sight and let the residents of Nanming City choose their own future."

"This is not like you at all."

Faced with Li Xiaojun's contemptuous accusations, Ma Qianlong laughed heartily, "I was right after all. You'll never truly understand me. After my funeral in 2000, I lived in a secret underground space beneath my statue in the city park, decorated like a submarine—that was my dream when I was young: to be a Chinese Navy submarine captain, fighting deep in every ocean in the world. But I can't go anywhere; I can only stay several meters underground, like lying in my own grave. Of course, I'm not completely isolated from the outside world. There's a hidden organization that serves me, collecting intelligence from the surface and perfecting the 'Southern Ark' plan—I'll tell you more about it later. There are also people supplying me with food. There's a secret orchard in the forest outside the city, directly connected to my submarine through a tunnel. I occasionally go there to breathe fresh air and pick some fruit."

"You really are cunning and shrewd."

“Please don’t interrupt me, Li Xiaojun.” Ma Qianlong hesitated in front of his gun. “Actually, the so-called ‘Night of the Great Empty City’ should be called the ‘Chaos of the Great Empty City’—a disaster that only Sodom suffered! When the whole city was engulfed by a virus, countless people died from poisoning, and countless animals went mad and killed humans, my autonomous government, which I had painstakingly built up over decades, was completely paralyzed. The originally united political forces were ruthlessly split into two extremely opposing and hostile camps. I tragically witnessed my old subordinates and soldiers turning against each other, killing their own flesh and blood! A brutal civil war has begun, and the residents of the entire city are about to be trapped and die. There are only three possible fates for them: first, to die from the virus; second, to be killed by mad animals; and third, to be killed by the artillery fire of the civil war. In short, it is complete death and destruction.”

"You want to be a savior again? Just like when you led your desperate soldiers to build Nanming City."

Ma Qianlong shook his head painfully: "I am no savior. The 'other world' I created was so short-lived. The utopian world I dreamed of was overthrown by selfishness and greed, vanishing in just thirty years. Nanming City went from the sacred land of Canaan to the suffering of Palestine! But how could I—how could I stand by and watch my people suffer? How could I stand idly by while the massacre unfolded above my head? I had to step forward to turn the tide. This is the responsibility bestowed upon me by fate. This is the 'Nanming Ark,' a secret organization under my control, which I prepared more than a decade ago. Because I had a premonition that Nanming City, nestled in the mountains, concealed a crisis behind its prosperity. And whether it was open or closed, it might lead to the same ending—destruction."

"What a brilliant example of planning ahead."

"But I didn't know when that day of destruction would come, and I hoped it would never come, at least not in my lifetime. But I never expected it to come so soon! I have built a Noah's Ark for my people—five percent of the enormous gold revenue from Nanming City is allocated annually as a secret fund, which has accumulated into an astonishing fortune over the years. Thirty percent of this money has been used to secretly process investment immigration for every resident of Nanming City, according to the city's household registration system, from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all the way to all the countries in the European Union. I have also issued a passport to a small Pacific island nation to each resident, which allows them to enter dozens of countries and regions visa-free and obtain legal status in their destination countries. Another forty percent of this money has been used to open an account in a Swiss bank for each Nanming resident, depositing a substantial allowance for use in times of emergency."

Li Xiaojun nodded in admiration and said, "It's truly flawless!"

"Finally, when the 'Night of the Great Empty City' arrived, I was forced to emerge from the underground submarine. When the leaders of both sides in the civil war saw me, they were all speechless with astonishment, and even though I was already dead, I still possessed supreme authority in Nanming City. After less than thirty minutes of my mediation, the brutal civil war quickly ceased, thankfully without causing much damage. Soldiers who were shooting at each other an hour ago had laid down their weapons and come together. What followed was an even more serious problem—a rampant virus! And various animals that were frantically attacking humans. I could control all the people, but I couldn't control the animals, much less the plague. All the residents of Nanming City were still in danger of annihilation. After an extremely difficult weighing of the pros and cons, I finally decided to fully activate the 'Nanming Ark,' completely abandoning the city I had created and sending tens of thousands of innocent citizens to safety."

How did you do that?