Chapter 720: The Weight of Guilt

As Lu Xin’s suppressed, enraged roar echoed, his Distorted Force Field flared with fierce intensity.

Instantly, the air around him began to warp layer by layer.

Like rippling shockwaves, the distortions surged to the surrounding walls before bouncing back.

In that moment, the Distorted Force Field overwhelmed the entire Office, drowning out all the black filaments which snapped away, falling to the ground in painful, futile struggles. The chaotic, overlapping laughter and eerie silhouettes were instantly cleansed, replaced by piercing shrieks before being washed away by his Mental Power.

Even Teacher Xiao Lu suddenly ceased struggling. A glance at her revealed that what had just occurred seemed nothing more than an illusion. She lay quietly on the Sofa, with only the bandages on her wrists drawing attention.

The Office trembled, as if caught in a seismic event.

In the Security Booth by the Main Gate, the Old Security Guard abruptly lifted his head and clutched the prepped double-barreled shotgun.

But as he looked toward the single office in the Teaching Building with its dim light, he hesitated, unsure whether he should step in.

……

……

“Number Nine…”

After Lu Xin’s roar and once the office stilled, a soft voice emerged.

Lu Xin turned coldly, his gaze fixed on the door of the dilapidated Bathroom.

The Bathroom door, tattered and ajar, offered a view of the mirror beyond.

Inside the mirror, Lu Xin saw a figure slowly emerging.

Dressed in a black suit and carrying a silver suitcase,

the man appeared as if he’d crawled through a window, emerging rather disheveled from the mirror before stepping out of the Bathroom.

His white shirt bore smudges of blood, and his hair was no longer neatly combed.

Arriving in the Living Room, he met Lu Xin’s pained gaze, as well as that of Xu Jing, or rather Number Eight.

The moment Lu Xin saw him, his steps involuntarily faltered.

He almost wanted to pull him right in front of him for a thorough questioning.

“It wasn’t me just now…”

Before Lu Xin’s hand could grasp his neck, Number Eight let out a deep sigh and murmured:

“It wasn’t my doing that led her to this.”

“I only rushed here from outside the City because I sensed her thoughts of ending it all…”

……

Lu Xin’s hand stalled mid-air.

He could sense that before Teacher Xiao Lu slit her wrists, there had been no clear fluctuation of Mental Power.

Even the earlier frenzy and strangeness in the Bathroom only erupted after her attempted suicide, triggered by a violent shift in her Mental Power.

“So, what exactly happened?”

Lu Xin slowly lowered his hand, a momentary silence falling as he kicked a chair at Number Eight’s feet.

An invitation for him to sit—it was, after all, a matter of proper hospitality.

“She was overwhelmed by pressure…”

Number Eight remained standing, quietly adding, “All this time, I tried dragging out the situation, searching desperately for a way to save her, but I never expected that while prolonging this ordeal, the very contract was taking an ever greater toll on her.”

“I don’t know if she was bearing other pressures, yet still…”

“…she chose to attempt suicide before the execution…”

“……”

Lu Xin fell silent.

But the answer was already clear in his mind.

Was it because his presence guarding Teacher Xiao Lu only added to her inner burden?

Perhaps that was part of it. More crucially, she was nearing collapse. He watched her silently, stubbornly, as her Mental Power began to waver. Even face-to-face, it was hard to tell just how deeply she was tormented inside.

She couldn’t even bear it, ready to end her life ahead of time.

It was this brinkmanship that shattered her Mental Power during her suicide attempt, radiating and dispersing it.

That is how he perceived her twisted, bizarre inner world.

Those endless auditory and visual hallucinations, even if only for a moment, filled him with oppressive pain and suffering…

And she, day after day, was tormented by that very anguish?

……

……

After a brief silence, Lu Xin suddenly lifted his head and, in a low voice, asked Number Eight: “So, what exactly happened?”

It was the same question as before, but the meaning had shifted.

Moreover, Lu Xin’s tone had grown significantly heavier, with faint black particles flickering in his eyes.

Number Eight felt Lu Xin’s anger. Standing before him, he could clearly feel the weight of that pressure.

Yet he remained silent.

“Answer me…”

Lu Xin suddenly spoke again, and the whole room shuddered in response.

The books on the desks, the glow of the desk lamps, and the walls blurred, as if being stretched by unseen forces. Only his figure grew ever clearer amid the haze, his oppressive presence nearly driving one to madness.

His will was amplified by this distortion.

Just three simple words, yet they conveyed far deeper convictions.

Answer me: Why sign such a contract with Teacher Xiao Lu?

Answer me: What crime does she bear?

Answer me: Who exactly has accused her?

Answer me: If you can’t resolve this, how do you plan to die?

……

……

“Because…”

Under Lu Xin’s mounting pressure, Number Eight couldn’t help but step back twice.

The invisible force pressed down on him inch by inch, as if he were struggling under the weight of a mountain.

His spirit teetered on the edge of collapse—a raw, primal fear and reverence tormenting every fiber of his being.

He barely managed to withstand the torment, on the verge of crumbling to the ground.

And in that crushing pressure, he suddenly bellowed, “Because of you!”

“Swish!”

In the midst of the twisting distortion, Lu Xin’s gaze instantly turned icy as it fixed on Number Eight’s face.

Number Eight, his eyes suddenly flushed with blood, began to lose his composure. “No one seeks to judge Teacher Xiao Lu,” he spat, “and I won’t either.”

“I want to judge you. It’s always been you.”

“I want you to pay the price for those who died at the Orphanage…”

“……”

Compared to the unconscious, overwhelming aura emanating from Lu Xin, Number Eight’s anger—though slightly lesser in power and presence—burned just as fiercely.

Yet his fury did not diminish in the slightest.

When he mentioned the departed children from the Orphanage, Lu Xin’s chaotic Mental Power suddenly restrained itself.

His gaze lost its steely intensity, replaced momentarily by a flash of guilt.

After a long, silent pause, he quietly said, “If it’s me, then…”

“I…”

Number Eight drew a deep, shuddering breath as he looked at Teacher Xiao Lu lying on the Sofa.

Even in her unconscious state, her expression was one of agonizing pain and inescapable remorse.

The white bandages wrapped around her wrists stood out starkly in the dim light of the Office.

“I never expected she would do this…”

After a short while, Number Eight whispered, “I just wanted to bring justice for those orphaned souls.”

“But if I’m to restore justice, I need the power of the Midnight Tribunal.”

“I serve as an enforcer and cannot indict you, so I must find someone to accuse you…”

“……”

He spoke slowly, his voice trembling unnaturally as he added, “I found Teacher Xiao Lu and mentioned it to her.”

“I told her about the fate of the children at the Orphanage, about who still lived…”

“More importantly, I explained who would never see life again.”

“And who, because of you, has been condemned to eternal terror…”

“……”

“They didn’t do anything wrong,”

He suddenly gritted his teeth, his voice turning cold. “Why should they suffer this fate?

We live ever better, yet why must they be forgotten?

So, I must fight for them. I need someone to indict you, and then…”

He abruptly lifted his head, his gaze locking unblinkingly onto Lu Xin’s face, his eyes bloodshot as he enunciated each word:

“To judge you.”

“……”

Lu Xin fell silent. Facing Number Eight at that moment, even he dared not look directly into his eyes.

He saw not merely Number Eight but a montage of terrifying faces from his memories.

……

……

“I believe I’ve made myself clear enough.”

At this point, Number Eight’s voice trembled once more as he added, “I also think she can understand.”

Gazing at Teacher Xiao Lu, an inescapable sorrow and helplessness etched across his face, he continued, “But even after I explained everything, even assuring her that I could indeed indict a monster like you, she still made a choice I never expected. She did not reject my request to accuse you—instead, she chose to indict herself.”

“She claimed that if justice was to be served for the children who died, she should be the one to be judged.”

Number Eight, his voice thick with fatigue, added, “That’s why after you returned, I left as quickly as possible. I intended to talk with you, but I had to resolve this matter…”

“I went to explain to the Midnight Tribunal that it was all a misunderstanding…”

“But I never expected things to get so complicated. Not only did she indict herself, she outright confessed her guilt.”

“The contract with the Midnight Tribunal has been sealed.”

“And once such a contract is formed, it cannot be undone.”

“Moreover, after their investigation, the Midnight Tribunal established one undeniable fact…”

Exhausting what little strength he had left, he finally managed to utter, “She is indeed guilty.”

……

……

“What?”

Number Eight’s explanation was clear to Lu Xin.

A tangled mix of emotions overwhelmed him as he grappled with the truth, sinking into deep bewilderment.

Yet when Number Eight finished speaking, Lu Xin was suddenly struck by an unexpected revelation, his eyes wide with astonishment.

In that moment, he found the Midnight Tribunal’s rationale utterly absurd…

If the initial misunderstanding was barely comprehensible, what followed was sheer nonsense…

How could Teacher Xiao Lu be guilty?

Teacher Xiao Lu… she…

……

……

“I am indeed guilty.”

A weak voice suddenly resonated.

Both Lu Xin and Number Eight turned to see that Teacher Xiao Lu had, unbeknownst to them, opened her eyes.

Her face, stained with fresh blood, was shockingly pale; her spirit teetered on the brink as she struggled to sit up on the Sofa, slowly tucking her legs underneath her with a trance-like motion.

“Really.”

She weakly raised her eyes, glancing first at Number Eight then at Lu Xin, and murmured, “A knife doesn’t kill; it’s the person wielding it who is guilty.”

“When a monster devours a person, it isn’t the monster’s fault—it’s the one who unleashed it!”

“So, the guilt is mine…”

“From the very beginning, I was the cause of all this.”

……

Her expression turned blank as she stared at Lu Xin, the corners of her mouth twitching into a bizarre smile.

“Number Nine, I knew from the start that you were a monster…”