Chapter 352
Chapter 352
Chapter 352
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 352 – Lan Qi: Master of Killing the Heart
The Governor’s Office doors extended to both sides, crafted from ancient maple felled three hundred years ago, carved with great care, and framed with fine silver inlay—noble and steeped in centuries of history.
Inside the office, an unnatural silence reigned. Even Anello’s earlier hoarse shouting had come to an abrupt halt, no longer echoing through the wide halls of the governor’s third floor.
“Loren…!!”
Anello’s body, bound by the anti-magic ice spikes, throbbed with sharp pain every time he was moved, but the physical agony was nothing compared to the terror clutching his heart.
Seeing Loren again, his breathing quickened. Each inhale came with a choking sound, as though the air itself froze in his throat.
The surrounding noise blurred, until only the sound of his heartbeat remained in his ears—fast, erratic, chaotic. His limbs were completely immobile, and the distance between himself and Loren felt like an insurmountable chasm, a gulf that could never be crossed.
In his terrified eyes, the dread was bone-deep, like invisible chains binding his soul.
On the sofa sat two figures—Lan Qi and Sigrid—both appearing utterly composed.
Lan Qi sat on the left side, poised like a chess piece on the board, gently stroking the black kitten in his hand.
Beside him, Sigrid leaned lazily against the sofa back, chin resting on one hand, her fingers draped over the armrest, radiating a restrained but overwhelming power—as though a single gesture from her could make the entire Empire tremble. She cast a glance at the kneeling Anello, her look one of cold, lofty judgment.
Their temperaments could not be more different—one as refined as a poet, the other as imperious as a queen—yet somehow, they shared an unexpected harmony.
Seeing this scene, Anello’s eyes brimmed with fury, despair, and disbelief.
He had thought that after his departure, High Priest Loren would first take control of the weakened Bishop of Batten.
But this woman seemed to have already built mutual trust with Loren.
Could it be that the Bishop of Batten had long since betrayed the Protos Empire and entered into some unspeakable pact with Loren…?
Anello could no longer comprehend what he was seeing. A storm of emotions surged violently in his chest, as if he were drowning in a flood.
That sense of losing everything, of plunging into an endless abyss—he could no longer bear it.
Breathing heavily, vision swaying, he sought any possible escape, but every last scrap of reason screamed at him: there was none.
Suddenly, he roared:“Loren!! You sanctimonious, despicable hypocrite! Didn’t you say you’d spare me?!”
His voice was shrill, filled with grief, fury, and unwillingness.
“…”
Lan Qi’s lips remained slightly upturned in that calm smile, which in this moment only made Anello’s terror worse.
“I’m not killing you,” Lan Qi replied gently, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. “You’re alive, aren’t you?”
The simple response cut like a blade into Anello’s heart, making his body tremble violently again.
He could not comprehend why the legendary High Priest Loren—reputedly so noble—was so cold, so cruel, so fond of toying with others. He was even worse than some of the sadistic Cardinals in the Church of Resurrection.
Anello took a deep breath—it was the last bit of strength left to him.
He turned to Viscount Levin Kingston, his voice cracking with bitter despair:“You’ve been deceived! He’s Loren, High Priest of the Fate Goddess Church of the Southern Continent—an enemy of the Empire! If you do this, you’ll all be criminals! You don’t understand the disaster you’re bringing upon yourselves!!”
But…
Neither Kingston nor the elite guards moved, nor did they show any sign of believing him. They didn’t even seem to care.
Their gazes were cold, terrifyingly indifferent—like they were looking at a madman who had completely lost his mind.
Viscount Kingston shook his head with a faint chuckle, stepping lightly to Lan Qi’s side. Bowing respectfully, he said:“Governor, as always, your foresight is perfect. Everything has unfolded just as you predicted.”
At that moment, Anello’s last bit of hope shattered.
The icy despair that wrapped around him was worse than the frost freezing his body.
His final thread of hope broken, he felt as though he had lost everything.
“He’s a liar! You’re all being deceived by this liar!!!”
Anello screamed and laughed hysterically, as though finally driven mad by the absurdity of it all.
His cries of anguish were his last desperate plea, but the others in the room did not react.
They merely watched him, as if he were nothing more than a distant landscape in a cold desert—untouched, unmoved, remote.
At last, Lan Qi sighed.
He looked down at Anello with those compassionate, all-seeing eyes, as if gazing directly into his naked soul.
But unlike the mocking cat-and-mouse game Anello had felt before, there was no cruelty in Lan Qi’s gaze now.
Only pity. Only regret. Like a kindly old headmaster looking at a student about to be expelled.
Anello’s trembling hands pressed against the floor, struggling to steady his body and his emotions.
His eyes were full of confusion and terror, staring at Lan Qi, trying desperately to find some shred of truth—or any possible chance of survival—in those fathomless green eyes.
No matter what, it was Loren who captured him. As a believer in the Goddess of Fate, surely he should be merciful, right?
He said he would save him with love. He promised not to kill him!
“Loren, let me go. Someone like you shouldn’t dirty your hands with me,” Anello pleaded, tears rolling down his pale, determined face.
He looked like a misunderstood child, unable to understand why everything had become so strange and so cruel.
“Saint Son, don’t believe his—”
Sigrid’s voice was full of restrained fury, but Lan Qi raised a hand, signaling her to trust him and let him speak.
Lan Qi kept his gaze on the Son of Annihilation. The merciful, saint-like light in his eyes did not fade.
“Do you think the purpose of rules and laws is primarily for prevention, or for retribution?”
“It’s prevention! Prevention! I swear I will never oppose the Fate Goddess Church again! I swear by the Goddess herself!”
Anello answered as if grasping his last hope of survival.
But Lan Qi only smiled—sadly, almost regretfully—and shook his head.
“It’s retribution. Deterrence and reforming criminals are secondary. But when one does evil, there must be retribution. When one does no evil, they must not suffer. This is the foundation of justice and punishment—retribution is its most essential role.”
Lan Qi’s expression grew uncharacteristically solemn as he told Anello the correct answer.
Hearing this, seeing Lan Qi’s attitude, Anello’s lips trembled. His hollow pupils seemed to glimpse the fate awaiting him.
The coldness around him deepened, and everything grew blurry—even his sense of existence seemed to fade.
“Spare me… otherwise Lord Askson will not spare those innocent priests of the Fate Goddess Church…”
Anello repeated this over and over, his sobs growing weaker each time, until they were almost inaudible.
“Why? I’m not a member of the Fate Goddess Church.”
Lan Qi blinked, slightly surprised, and asked in a puzzled tone.
“…?”
Anello froze.
Did Loren just… deny it?
Was he still playing dumb even now?
“I am Rocky McCarthy.”
Lan Qi raised his hand slightly, stating it plainly.
“No!!! You’re Loren! If you kill me, Askson will find out and avenge me!”
Anello’s scream was almost feral. He could no longer tell what was real or false. Since stepping into this office, the entire world had felt like a nightmare.
But the only thing he had to cling to—his last belief—was that this man was Loren.
Lan Qi sighed helplessly.“Why don’t you believe me? Every word I said to you is the truth.”
He took out the [Forged Stone Tablet – Wind] and also showed his Imperial ID to Anello.
The card clearly bore the name—Rocky McCarthy.
“See? I was just joking with you on the Snowfield.”
Lan Qi gave a sheepish smile—whether it was out of guilt or because even he could no longer keep a straight face, no one could tell.
Sid finally burst out laughing, clutching her stomach, unable to stop as she looked at Anello’s stunned expression. She pounded Lan Qi’s shoulder, tears in her eyes from laughter.
At that moment, Anello’s eyes widened in realization.
“A…ah…”
Only after becoming a complete prisoner did he finally understand—he had a chance to kill the Bishop and Saint of Batten back then.
But out of fear, he had been tricked, led step by step from the gates of heaven into an inescapable abyss.
His eyes turned blood-red, as if soaked in blood, ready to burst.
Every cell in his body trembled, his jaw clenched until his teeth creaked, dark red tears sliding from the corners of his eyes—not tears but blood—the ultimate proof of a rage so consuming it threatened to tear him apart.
“Rooockyyyy McCarthyyyyy!!!”
The Son of Annihilation’s scream was a howl of utter despair, the signal that his mind had finally collapsed.