Chapter 65: Ambers of the Long Night (21)
Tang Mobai instinctively looked up — countless chunks of debris were falling from above, plummeting straight toward the crowd below.
Seth reacted instantly, grabbing the still-collapsing Dodge and slinging him over his shoulder. Yan Wuzhen slapped Tang Mobai hard on the back, casting a Wrath buff. Under the effect, Tang Mobai’s reflexes and speed shot up again — he grabbed Deville and dodged the falling stones just in time.
But many scholars were still trapped under the raining debris. Blue data streams flashed in the Queen’s eyes — the largest rock vanished into thin air.
The smaller fragments still struck down, scattering like a storm. Scholars, freed from her direct control, fell like flattened grass under heavy rain. Even though the Queen desperately tried to command them to safety, dividing her computational focus across too many threads still caused casualties.
The shockwave broke her hold on several scholars; when they saw the devastation, they screamed in terror. As Tu Xiao detonated several more explosives, chaos erupted across the hall.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Tang Mobai gritted his teeth and placed Deville in a safe corner. “You go first. I’m going to save them.”
Deville froze, eyes wide, gripping Tang Mobai’s sleeve. “You’re not taking this chance to run? What’s the point of meddling in an NPC’s mess? These scholars are just strings of data! They’re not real people. Once this is over, the Queen can just restore them however she wants — but us? We won’t come back!”
“I know.” Tang Mobai rubbed his head. Honestly, he didn’t quite understand their ideological clash either. Tu Xiao’s theory made sense, but her methods always felt off.
He could understand that Tu Xiao believed the Super Intelligence had hijacked humanity’s final resting place and wanted to reclaim justice. Hurting the scholars, forcing the Super Intelligence to rescue them to drain its processing power — that was all part of her plan.
He still didn’t fully grasp her ultimate goal, but he knew one thing — this world was still under the Super Intelligence’s control, and the collapse rate of Lost Paradise meant the world itself was running out of time. To drain the Super Intelligence now was to hurt both sides equally.
And besides, those scholars had helped them — even if they didn’t realize it — so he couldn’t just stand by and watch them die, even if they were already dead.
As Tang Mobai turned and rushed back into the most dangerous part of the hall, Deville bit his lip but couldn’t bring himself to take a step forward.
Unlike Tang Mobai, Deville had no affection for this world or its people. Even knowing that overloading the Super Intelligence could destroy everything, he felt no hesitation.
Selfishness was etched into his bones. For him, grabbing Tang Mobai’s sleeve under the Queen’s gaze was already his limit.
And his motives weren’t love — his words to Jealousy hadn’t been lies. They were, at their core, the same person. Every act of giving came with an expectation of return. He helped Tang Mobai to win his favor; once the cost outweighed the gain, his instinct for self-preservation told him to cut losses.
“That’s what makes you different from us,” Jealousy said calmly. “Let’s go.”
Deville fell silent. This time, he didn’t argue. He turned back once, looking at Tang Mobai’s figure in the distance, then walked toward the exit.
“Tang Mobai shouted, “Seth, Yan Wuzhen — save them!”
“Got it,” Yan Wuzhen replied, unsurprised by his decision. In fact, he was already convincing himself that siding with the Queen was the safer bet. She was powerful, after all — standing with her could earn great rewards. Their cover was blown, and the Artificial Prince Project had surely failed, but maybe the Queen would find them useful and spare them?
Steel wires sliced through the air as Yan Wuzhen snatched up one or two recovering scholars and tossed them to safety. Members of the Jade Society, including Red Duke, had also regained freedom. Security robots were too busy rescuing people to intervene.
Red Duke’s gaze flickered toward Tang Mobai.
“No way, boss, you’re really going to go after him again?”
“Of course. You want to face the vice president empty-handed? Don’t forget, we paid ten thousand points for this job!”
If they failed after spending that much, Red Duke would be skinned alive back at the guild.
“Uh… well, yeah, actually, now’s a pretty good time. Maybe this is our chance!”
Their first attack had failed simply because they underestimated the Queen’s power — after all, she was the central AI of this world. But now she was distracted, unable to control everything. There was no way she could protect Tang Mobai this time.
They had almost exhausted their points in the last fight, but he still had his gear and ability —
[Fate No.6 – The Scorner]
Effect: You look down on those weaker than you. Seeing them fills you with joy, sharpening your blade and focusing your mind and will to fight.
Original Sin: Pride.
Before Lost Paradise, Red Duke had no combat experience. But with this ability, he’d grown fast, becoming one of Hunger Hell’s known melee fighters.
He’d seen Tang Mobai fight before — impressive, sure, but he was confident he could take him head-on now.
The moment Tang Mobai saw Red Duke’s group free and targeting him again, he hesitated — then ran without a second thought.
“Stop right there!” Red Duke grinned. That’s more like it — the weak should be the ones running for their lives. “Didn’t you enjoy looking down on me before?”
Tang Mobai shot back, “You were lying on the ground! What do you want me to do, look up at you?”
“Either way, you’re dead!”
The already chaotic battlefield plunged deeper into madness as Red Duke’s group pursued Tang Mobai and Yan Wuzhen. Tang Mobai struggled to parry Red Duke’s attacks; every slash skimmed perilously close to his vital points. At the last second, Set threw himself in front of Tang Mobai, taking a deep cut across his leg.
Tu Xiao, watching from a safe distance after detonating the first bomb, murmured, “That should be enough.”
The domed ceiling had completely collapsed. The sunset sky outside was blazing red — but the color was deepening, shifting into shimmering auroras.
Passersby outside the venue tilted their heads upward in awe.
“Whoa, what a sight… it’s beautiful.”
“Wait — auroras? At this latitude? At this time of day?”
“No idea. Let me post it— huh? My network’s down?”
“What? Impossible — the net’s never lagged since I was born. Let me check… what the— it’s really out. What’s going on?”
“Wait a sec…” The boy filming froze, eyes widening. “That’s not an aurora!”
The lights were solidifying — taking the shape of… a city.
Inside the hall, Set looked up at the glowing sky. “The Lost City?” he murmured.
“What the hell is that?” Tang Mobai yelled while dodging Red Duke’s attacks. Without the Queen’s chair proxy to shield him, he was realizing firsthand how strong Red Duke actually was — and that he couldn’t win.
“The Lost City was our original world,” Tu Xiao said, tilting her head back with a faintly nostalgic look. “This world was supposed to look like it — until one day, the awakened Super Intelligence ‘saved’ it. That— that’s our true homeland.”
Tang Mobai tried to make sense of it. If this were a game, then the Lost City was the previous version. This world was the current version, run by the central AI. Now that AI had bugged out, the old version’s files were overwriting the current one.
He opened the world collapse meter — 70%. Just as he thought. So the Lost City itself symbolized the computer world’s breakdown — not a separate place, but the manifestation of collapse.
Wait… it’s in the sky?! It’s not going to fall, right!?
Thankfully, it didn’t fall.
The Lost City hung upside down over their heads, covering almost the entire sky.
Set was the first to sense something wrong. “Liz!” he shouted to Yan Wuzhen. Yan Wuzhen instinctively threw out two steel wires, and Set quickly wound them around a solid column in the hall.
A split second later — gravity reversed.
At that moment, Red Duke had just leapt toward Tang Mobai, blades raised and a cruel smile on his face — but instead of falling downward, he shot up toward the ceiling.
Red Duke: “?”
Everyone inside the venue began to float upward — or rather, fall upward. The security robots immediately grabbed hold of the Queen and the other scholars in the hall. Tang Mobai’s arm was also caught just in time by Yan Wuzhen’s steel wire.
But the others weren’t so lucky. Before they could grab onto anything nearby, their bodies were already falling toward the sky — toward the Lost City.
“Wait—Dodge!” Tang Mobai suddenly remembered and turned toward him.
“Relax, a robot’s got him,” Yan Wuzhen replied.
Sure enough, every scholar in the hall had been pulled back by the security robots. The Queen remained standing with her eyes tightly shut, but those without chips or ranks weren’t so fortunate — they screamed as they plummeted toward the Lost City below.
Tu Xiao’s figure had already vanished from the hall; no one knew whether he had fallen or left ahead of time.
Then… it should be fine now, right?
But out of the corner of his eye, Tang Mobai suddenly caught sight of a small, frail figure. The child was gripping the door frame with all his strength — his awkward posture showing he didn’t have enough leverage — and was slowly slipping down.
“Stupid kid! Why’d you walk so slow?” Jealousy cracked in his voice. Fine, you wanted to leave — then leave! But why did you have to keep turning back? Now look at you — stuck in between. Do you really think anyone’s coming to save you?
But it was already too late to say anything. Deville’s small hands clung tightly to the frame, but his fingers were too short and weak to hold on. His powers were useless in this situation. As his sore fingers gave way, he lost his grip entirely, and his little body plunged helplessly into the weightless void, staring blankly as the ground drifted farther and farther away.
So… this is how it ends.
In that instant, all the memories of falling — of being sacrificed — flooded back into his mind like ghosts. He saw again Tang Mobai and Yan Wuzhen clinging tightly to each other, and the scholars being pulled to safety by robots. Then, in a flash, he remembered himself as the sacrificial offering pushed off the cliff.
Back then, everyone had stood at the edge, smiling as they looked down at him — eyes filled with joy, hope, and anticipation. Anticipation that his death would earn them divine mercy.
He had always been the one abandoned.
Starving, beaten, humiliated — Deville had long since learned to endure it all. The adults had told him: The more you suffer, the happier everyone else will be. He accepted that fate. But in that final moment, as he fell and saw those smiling faces, a venomous thought took root in his heart.
Why?
Why should their happiness be built on his pain? If the world would be destroyed without a sacrifice, then why shouldn’t everyone die together?
The poison of jealousy corroded his heart; the hunger for destruction and rage filled his eyes with blood.
Just then, a shout rang in his ears — and another figure appeared in his vision, growing closer and closer.
At that moment, reflected in Deville’s eyes was Tang Mobai’s falling form — and in Tang Mobai’s eyes was Deville’s. It was like a sudden beam of light tearing through the darkness — small, but bright enough to pierce his entire heart.
Tang Mobai finally reached him and instinctively pulled him into his arms.
Deville didn’t think at all. Like a drowning man clutching the last piece of driftwood, he threw all his strength into wrapping his small arms around Tang Mobai’s waist. If someone caught him now, they wouldn’t rise together — they’d sink together into the deep sea.
Seth released the steel wire in his hands. Yan Wuzhen cursed under his breath but also let go.
The four of them — together — fell toward the sky.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
