prynovel Chapter 1722 Final Chapter: Crossing the Shore [67] [This is your sixth regret: the unheard sorrow.]
Chapter 1722 Final Chapter: Crossing the Shore [67] [This is your sixth regret: the unheard sorrow.]
Chapter 1722 Final Chapter - Crossing the Shore [67] - [This is your sixth regret: the unheard sorrow.]
A chilling noise came from outside—gunshots and screams.
Lu knew what was happening outside—gangster retaliation because his mother had recently "crossed the line," touching on interests she shouldn't have. His mother was being besieged and hunted down, and he, as her son, was being hunted down as well.
The cabinet door opened, and there was Mother!
The blue-haired woman was dressed in casual clothes that allowed her to move around easily, and her eyes remained sharp as ever.
"Lu?" The mother quickly crouched down and covered Lu's mouth with one hand. "Shh—don't make a sound. It's dangerous outside. We have to leave immediately."
She quickly pulled a miniature walkie-talkie from her waist, her voice hushed: "Raven, what's the situation?"
A crackling sound came from the walkie-talkie: "Boss, the small boat is in position as usual. The canal patrol has a three-minute gap. The original plan only reserved space for two people, so we have to leave immediately. They'll be searching the riverbank soon."
...The space for two people was enough for them to escape together with their mother.
"Lu, stay here. No matter what you hear, don't come out or make a sound," the mother commanded quickly. "I'll come back for you."
Then, the woman climbed out the window and left, leaving only the boy holding the teddy bear.
The boy waited for a while, but his mother didn't return. The sounds of the search grew closer and closer. Suddenly, he heard familiar footsteps—his mother had come back to pick him up!
He opened the wardrobe and saw his mother pull out a silenced pistol.
She raised the muzzle of her gun.
The dark muzzle of the gun was steadily pointed at the forehead of her own son, who was curled up in the closet.
The boy's world froze completely in that instant. All sound, light, and smell vanished, leaving only the black muzzle of the gun.
……Why?
There were two boat seats, so why kill him?
His mother looked at him, her lips seemed to move slightly, but she ultimately did not say anything.
The boy had overheard his mother whispering to a subordinate, saying that he was "too smart for a child," "too calm for a normal person," and that he "completely understood the machinations and schemes of adults." His mother smiled then, half proud, half worried. Lu remembered once overhearing his mother say to a confidant, "Sometimes when I look into his eyes, I feel afraid. This child is so much like his father when he was young..."
To kill him just for that... is simply unbelievable to an ordinary family. Her vigilance had become completely pathological.
She pulled the trigger.
"boom."
The boy fell to the ground, blood gushing out. The woman glanced at him, sighed, and decisively left.
The room was dark and silent.
Thirty seconds later, the boy suddenly opened his eyes, struggled to sit up, and took out the plush bear from his arms.
The mother showed no mercy; this shot was meant to kill. It didn't miss, but the plush bear on the boy's chest miraculously blocked the shot.
How could a cotton toy possibly stop a bullet?
The boy disassembled the teddy bear, revealing a black metal device inside, roughly the size of a matchbox. Even though Lu was only seven or eight years old, he recognized it at a glance—he had seen similar things among some of his mother's work supplies.
Eavesdropping device.
A listening device carefully sewn into the body of a teddy bear.
The bullet hit the metal, which is why Lu didn't die, but was thrown into a rage by the impact and coughed up blood.
This little bear was a rare gift from his mother to him on his birthday last year. She said, "Keep it with you, just like Mom is with you." He was so happy then, and he slept with the little bear for a long time, feeling that it was proof of his mother's love for him, one of the few warm colors in his cold world.
It turned out to be the case.
So this is what "love" is.
There is no trust in the family, even among blood relatives. His mother never truly trusted him. She monitored whether he showed any "abnormalities," whether he heard anything he shouldn't have, and whether he would end up like his father, becoming a "bedmate" who needed to be guarded against.
—A son who is “too smart” and “frightening”.
How ironic that her wariness of him actually saved him from a fatal bullet and allowed him to survive.
The boy said nothing. He remained extremely calm, bracing himself against the excruciating pain in his chest, and climbed out the window, disappearing into the night. He had to survive.
"Search! Don't miss any corner!"
The pursuers arrived. The boy climbed out the window and ran through the dark night. Gunshots rang out behind him. Hundreds of people blocked the streets. He used his excellent memory and judgment to climb over ventilation shafts and sewers. Finally, he was wounded by several gunshots and forced to rush towards the river.
"Shoot! Don't let him get away!"
The canal was dark and gloomy. The water shimmered with a deathly light in the winter night, and a chill swept over the surface; the sub-zero temperature had caused a thin layer of ice to form on the edges. Behind me, I heard the hurried footsteps of pursuers.
The blue-haired boy glanced back at the throngs of dark figures chasing after him. His face showed no fear or despair typical of children, only a bone-chilling coldness and a ferocious will to survive and ambition.
Survive. At all costs.
Seven- or eight-year-old children leap into the turbulent canal.
The river, like a thousand steel needles, instantly swallowed him. The immense impact and biting cold nearly suffocated him, and a tearing pain shot through his injured calf. The river, heavy as lead, dragged him downwards.
Winter clothes become incredibly heavy after absorbing water, like giant rocks strapped to the body. Blood from the wounds spreads in the water.
Darkness. Cold. Suffocation. Pain.
He wanted to live, to claim the name "Licarbos," and to survive at all costs...
……
Luigi Ricardoss lit a cigarette, smiling as he watched the figure gradually appear.
—It is her mother, her confidante, her subordinates, and all the pursuers and helpers.
The woman at the head of the group was dressed in a sharp black suit, her blue hair neatly pulled back, her face cold and beautiful, her eyes sharp as knives—she was his mother, the former mistress of the Ricardoss family, the woman who pulled the trigger on him that winter night. Her posture remained upright.
Behind her were familiar faces—the gangsters who had hunted him down years ago, his mother's trusted subordinates, and members of his family… At this moment, they all stood quietly here, bearing the marks of fatal wounds on their bodies, silently watching him with complex and unfathomable expressions.
A faint smile curved Lu's lips. He understood why this round of the "Turning Back" game made him relive that night.
—Because everyone who appeared in that bloody escape memory was already dead.
He was killed by his own hands when he grew up.
“While my friends have this hobby, frankly, I don’t like drowning people,” Lu Carvalho began, a cigarette glowing between his fingers. “It’s too slow. The icy river water fills your mouth and nose, squeezing out the last bit of air, your lungs burn as if they want to explode, but you can only inhale more icy water. Your body will spasm uncontrollably, and your consciousness will gradually fade and peel away in the extreme cold and suffocation… It’s a long and painful process. It’s too indecent.”
"By comparison, I prefer to shoot. 'Bang'—a clean, quick, and decisive end to everything. Simple, fast, and brief."
“Mother,” he called out, his voice filled with sarcasm, “I know why you killed me back then. You don’t tolerate anyone climbing over you, not even your own son. Your greed for power surpassed everything, including blood ties. In your eyes, I was first and foremost a threat to your future, and only secondly your son.”
The mother's face remained cold, without any change in expression.
Lu spread his hands: "But I survived, while you died. I inherited everything from the Licarpos family—the open businesses, the clandestine transactions, all the connections and resources. I've reached a position you never dared to dream of before. The whole world has seen 'Lu,' and has seen the head of the Licarpos family."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice lowered, carrying an almost intimate cruelty:
"So, Mom, are you going to kill me now? To use that button in front of you to kill your proudest son? To kill the only person in charge of the Licarpos family right now?"
The hall was deathly silent. The only sound was the faint hissing of a burning cigarette.
The mother finally moved her lips, her voice cold: "Lu, you have never been my pride. You are the biggest mistake of my life."
“You weren’t like a human being when you were little. Other children would cry, fuss, cling, and be afraid. You were too quiet, too smart, and too good at judging situations. You never acted spoiled, and you never cried. Your eyes could frighten even adults.”
“I’m killing you not because I’m afraid you’ll betray me in the future, but because I’m afraid that if someone like you lives on, you’ll become an even more terrifying monster. You’ll exploit everything and devour everything, including those who show you kindness. Just like now, aren’t you groveling before that savior named Su Ming’an, trying to extract even greater benefits from him? Once he loses his value or becomes an obstacle to you, someone like you will not hesitate to stab him in the back, just like you did to me back then.”
She paused, a look of disgust flashing in her eyes:
"No one else has seen you clearly; you're too good at pretending. What flows through your veins isn't blood, but ambition. You'll never truly give to anyone, never sacrifice for the world. You'll only take, only plunder, only climb to the highest point you can reach by stepping on everyone's corpses, and then stay there alone until you're torn apart by younger, fiercer beasts."
Lu's smile grew even wider, the smoke obscuring his expression.
"Maybe, Mother. Maybe I really am a beast, as you say. But even beasts crave warmth, even if that warmth is fake."
"Perhaps I just lack someone who truly loves me? Or someone who can make my cold blood boil a little. I've lacked love since I was a child, so whenever I see people who are full of love, bright and warm... I can't help but move closer. Maybe one day, I'll make an irrational decision that I'll never understand in my entire life?"
His mother looked at him as if he were an incomprehensible madman, and said coldly, "Impossible. You are a complete madman."
She shifted her gaze from the road to the light screen that appeared in front of her, which displayed only two buttons: [Support] and [Do Not Support].
Her voice was resolute and devoid of any emotion: "But the honor and continuation of the Ricardos family cannot be lost. I have already died at your hands. But you cannot die here. You are the last of the Ricardos family's bloodline, and currently the only one in power. You must live on, and carry the family forward, no matter how, by whom, or what monster you become."
She pressed the "Support" button.
“Lu Licarpos—as the former head of the family, I command you to live on and not betray this name.”
As she made her choice, all her subordinates and confidants appeared on the same screen behind her, silently and unanimously pressing the "Support" button.
The light from the screen lit up one after another.
Lu threw his head back and laughed, his eyes glistening with tears. He held a cigarette in his hand, the swirling smoke obscuring his vision. Only his almost maniacal laughter could be heard.
Tears broke free from their confinement, rolling down his violently heaving cheeks, scalding his cold skin. He laughed uncontrollably, as if he wanted to let out all the tears he had never shed in his life in this moment.
He laughed so hard he bent over, his shoulders shaking, his posture like a clown going mad in an absurd theater.
The cigarette between his fingers had burned to the end, and the long ash was about to fall.
...That's so funny, Mom, it's so funny...
A moment later, the frenzied look on his face receded like the tide, replaced by a perfectly measured gentleness. He gently blew away the ash, extinguishing the last spark at his fingertips. Before him, the figure had vanished completely.
“Licarbos…” he repeated.
Can fire truly warm the heart of a wild beast, or can it completely burn it away?
He stubbed out his cigarette, walked towards the exit at the other end of the hall, straightened his collar, and once again revealed his gentle and polite perfect smile.
……
Nagasha opened her eyes.
He calmly looked upon the endless crowd—villagers, people of lower races, soldiers…numbering in the thousands, and He did not recognize a single one. They glared at Him with hatred, ready to deliver their verdict immediately—He must not be allowed to live.
“I never expected that what would stand in my way in the end would be such a terrible level.” Nagasha chuckled softly. “What a… lousy game.”
After falling to the status of an evil god, He had lost count of how many people He had killed. The number before Him even seemed insufficient. Ignoring the hateful stares, He quickly searched the crowd, trying to find Peach's figure… Finally, He spotted the slender girl.
“Will you support me?” Nagasha walked up to the girl, gazing at her still-developing face. She died so young… she hadn’t even left the foolish mountain before being killed by the stupid townspeople.
The girl looked back at Him.
“Peach, I will stop all the rain for you, take you to a place where the sun shines all day long, and give you a long dress that won’t be pierced by any swords or spears…” Nagasha held her hand, “Wait for me, I will find that long dress for you, okay?”
The girl gazed at Him.
"Who are you?" the girl asked.
Nagasha's eyes glazed over for a moment, then she said urgently, "I am a goddess from the sacred mountain. You often bring me snacks, I gave you a sachet to shelter you from the rain, and I wove a beautiful long dress for you..."
The girl looked puzzled, and after a moment, she slowly shook her head:
“Sister Benevolent Goddess, you are not like this.”
"He is a benevolent god, ethereal and beautiful. Why are you so alluring and ferocious? You reek of blood..."
"I don't recognize you, get away from me."
……
Violet opened her eyes.
She stared in shock at the hundreds of people before her, never imagining that so many had died because of her. It seemed that her journey as a top-ranked player had forced her to take the lives of many, most of whom appeared to be soldiers.
She thought for a moment, intending to use her persuasive skills to convince them, when they spoke:
"Don't worry, Captain, we'll press [Support]!"
"Thanks to you, our civilization has been saved. Of course, we can't let you get stuck here!"
Violet breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, she was also terrified... Her situation was going so smoothly because these people's deaths were not directly related to her.
But if it's Su Ming'an...
……
Su Ming'an opened his eyes.
—At that moment, he couldn't even see the boundary of the crowd.
Looking into the distance, there was no end in sight.
It was packed with people, a dense crowd.
The rebels and inner city dwellers who died in the second instance, the revolutionaries and nobles of Brightlight, the soul hunters and sirens of Praia, the several large-scale wars in the ruined world and the Old World involving tens of millions of people, the entire civilization of the gods, the people who have died in Rovasa to date... even using "hundreds of millions" as a unit seems insignificant.