Chapter 681: Human Nature
Chen Chaofa shouted, “Tang Siluo that bitch is in your Hexi. She hid in your Hexi. A bitch is a bitch. No matter how well you treat her she won’t appreciate it. If I don’t kill her I won’t be reconciled. I won’t be reconciled.”
So to kill Tang Siluo, he blew up the entire Hexi?
An Ran suddenly felt her evaluation of Tang Siluo had never been wrong. That person really was useless, nothing but a burden to everyone.
Nearby, a few deeply hidden followers who tried to save Chen Chaofa were all taken care of by Luo Feifan who had been waiting in ambush. Among the remaining crowd, no one knew how many more of Chen Chaofa’s people were still mixed in.
But it no longer mattered. Chen Chaofa was beyond saving. The Flesh Flower had already burrowed through most of his body. Except for his head, nearly all of him had been eaten.
Yet Chen Chaofa could still speak. He lifted his head and looked at An Ran. Suddenly his expression turned vicious and he let out a twisted laugh.
“You think there is no betrayal around you? Those people act like they obey you, respect you, but when crisis comes who would sacrifice themselves for you? You protect them but it’s not worth it. I really want to see the day you’re betrayed, how furious you’ll be.”
Of course. That was all Chen Chaofa had planned. He never intended to kill An Ran. He wanted to kill Yun Tao and live on disguised as him, so he could keep stirring discord. In his mind he had already created countless scenarios to break An Ran apart, to drag her into betrayal.
Including making Zhan Lian sleep with some woman, or having An Ran’s child stab her when grown.
He wanted to watch An Ran’s face collapse the way his had, and hoped she would become just like him, wanting to kill the whole world. That, to him, would be satisfying.
“Human nature is full of distrust and submission. I didn’t kill them. They didn’t trust one another. They picked up weapons and slaughtered each other. This world is filthy, rotten. No matter how loyal two people look, eventually they betray, for all kinds of reasons. Husbands, wives, parents, children, siblings, none of them are exceptions, none.”
His muttering was drowned beneath the sound of the Flesh Flower chewing bone. It devoured his brain, then his face, his eyes. In the end nothing was left. Even the bones dissolved. Not a drop of blood remained. He was gone—completely swallowed.
On the snow, the blood-red tendril of the Flesh Flower rose high, curling toward An Ran.
She reached out and stroked its hardened surface, praising it.
The pleased Flesh Flower sank happily back into the snow and vanished.
Far ahead, Yun Tao, who had walked away, stopped and looked back at An Ran and the group.
Seeing him safe, a small figure burst out from a building—Hengheng, finally let out. He ran straight into Yun Tao’s arms.
An Ran watched Yun Tao kneel to console the child.
She turned and sighed to Zhan Lian beside her. “I don’t know if it’s because of Chen Chaofa getting in my head, but I actually think what he said… kind of makes sense.”