the last gentleman

Chapter 1111 "William"

【Orphanage in Black Mountain】

Dormitory Area

After lunch, there is a rare break.

Students of different age groups rest in their respective dormitory floors, and everyone basically uses this time to relax a little in the corridor.

The current floor where "Four to Five Years Old" is located,

Orphans of this age have not yet been fully introduced to the 'cruel' courses, or in other words, the real screening has not yet been carried out. Physical punishment is the main method, and elimination is relatively small.

Therefore, there are relatively more orphans on the floors, mainly in [Fourteen-person Dormitory].

Yi Chen, who was only four years old, was walking alone on his way back to the dormitory. The corridor, which was originally filled with laughter, immediately became quiet.

"The genius is back, everyone please get out of the way~ (whisper)"

"Don't talk nonsense, or you'll get beaten. I don't want to get beaten."

Yi Chen had long been accustomed to everyone's rejection.

Although murderous intent would inexplicably emerge at times, Yi Chen's ego was unwilling to do so. He did not want to become a monster in the orphanage.

The reason why everyone is unwilling to keep company with someone like Yi Chen is mainly because he is too outstanding and is never punished. Even if he is called to Director Cao's office for violating regulations, he can always come back safely.

Talented and privileged.

This caused the children who had long been oppressed in the orphanage to transfer some of their resentment to Yi Chen, the privileged person.

of course.

Yi Chen also has his own bottom line. If someone dares to attack him privately or do something that affects his life, he will definitely retaliate double. His own personality also makes it difficult for him to make friends.

back to the bedroom,

His roommates all sat as far away from him as possible to chat.

Although it seemed that the group of people were talking in low voices, he could tell that the topics were all related to him.

Yi Chen took off his shoes and sat on his bed.

He took out a book from under his pillow - "In the Mirror", which he had won as a prize for winning a competition at the orphanage not long ago.

This was also the first time that Yi Chen read a foreign novel. Thanks to Director Cao's private tutoring and his own talent, he was basically able to read completely at the age of four and had no reading difficulties.

He likes a character named "William" in this book very much.

William in the book does not exist in real life, but is another self that the protagonist with mental illness sees in the mirror. However, William is completely different from the lonely protagonist in character. He always appears at critical moments to help the protagonist and gradually becomes the protagonist's closest friend.

When he was still a child, Yi Chen also wanted to have such a friend, but there were few things like mirrors in the orphanage. So he drew a character named William with brown hair, who was consistent with the description in the book, on the wall beside the bed, and tried to use him as his imaginary friend.

Since Yi Chen had almost no chance to talk to people of his own age, his desire to communicate prompted him to gradually start a conversation with 'William' on the wall.

Of course, it was all one-sided chat.
Talk about your name and interests.

They talked about their hatred for the orphanage and their fantasies about the outside world. They even tried to share the funny things or complaints they had experienced that day with William after returning to the dormitory every day.

Although it was only a one-sided confession, it allowed Yi Chen to feel psychologically balanced.

It lasted for about two months.

One day, a roommate in the adjacent bed was emotionally unstable due to unfair punishment. He lay in bed trying to sleep but could always hear whispers coming from Yi Chen, which made him even more upset.

Unable to hold back for a moment, he went straight to Yi Chen's bed and yelled:
"Why do you chat with imaginary things every day? Can you be a little quiet? It's really uncomfortable to live with a freak like you."

The words made him even more excited. He walked to the wall with "William" engraved on it and wanted to destroy it completely with his fingernails.

Just as he was about to take action,

Snapped!
The man's neck had been strangled and slightly lifted off the ground, and in front of him were Yi Chen's cold eyes.

He is only four years old, but he possesses such strange power. His face has already started to turn purple.

The other roommates just watched the show and no one came to help. They didn't want to mess with a freak like Yi Chen.

crucial moment,

A hand suddenly pressed on Yi Chen's wrist, stopping this dangerous act of killing.

When Yi Chen looked along his arm, he was stunned.

The brown hair, the same height as himself, and the very similar face made Yi Chen couldn't help but call out a name.

"William."

The tightly gripping hand slowly loosened, and the roommate who survived the disaster was so frightened that he pissed himself and quickly crawled away.

When Yi Chen came to his senses and looked over again, William had disappeared.

But Yi Chen could feel the residual warmth on his wrist, and he was sure that 'William' really existed.

From then on, Yi Chen could occasionally see the seemingly existing 'William' at the corner of the passage, among the crowd, or in some dark corner.

As the conversation continued, William's appearance frequency increased day by day.

Whenever Yi Chen is about to make an extreme decision,

Whenever he has strong emotional ups and downs,

Or when he encountered some extreme danger, William would appear close to him or even have physical contact with him.
Even when Director Cao called him to his office for verbal brainwashing, William would always stand by and cover his ears or tell some funny stories to distract him.

A very difficult final test.
Yi Chen put himself in a very dangerous situation due to his opening mistake, and even Director Cao was worried about him.

Director Cao also keenly discovered that whenever danger came, Yi Chen's attention was not on the source of the danger, but on a meaningless empty space.

After passing the final test without any major problems, Director Cao pulled Yi Chen into his office alone, seriously analyzing the major problems that arose in the exam, but also asking about the point that made her curious.

"You were close to death several times, but your attention was distracted... What were you looking at?"

Perhaps because he had survived a disaster, or perhaps because he was thankful that he had survived, Yi Chen subconsciously responded, "William... William is helping me."

But he immediately realized the problem.
He himself actually knew that William might not really exist, and he knew that other people could not see it.

If Director Cao knew about this, he might send him to a psychiatrist or even force him to take antipsychotic drugs.

however,
Director Cao showed a very gentle smile and hugged Yi Chen.

"William? My dear... I am very pleased that my student has finally made a good friend. Don't worry, I will keep this secret with you."

that's it,
Yi Chen lived with William in an orphanage until the time was right, when Yi Chen started his plan to escape from prison.

Strangely enough,
William, who is always there at critical moments, disappeared during the prison break.

Now that he is in his teens and mentally mature, Yi Chen can't care about so many things. He knows that he only has this one chance and any hesitation will lead to failure.

Kill the security guard.
Go around the maze-structured orphanage,

After climbing over the dozens of meters high city wall,

But what he saw before him was not the big city he longed for, but an uninhabited area.

Yi Chen dragged his broken body along the almost endless road, but his speed was no match for Director Cao who was chasing him from behind.

After making sure that he couldn't escape, Yi Chen grabbed the stolen pistol in his hand.

When Yichen was caught, he stuffed the gun into his mouth in front of Director Cao and resolutely chose to commit suicide.

On the eve of death.

In addition to seeing Director Cao's ferocious face as he tried to stop him from committing suicide, Yi Chen also saw another person standing in the middle of the road.

One who never showed up during the jailbreak, and one who was his friend throughout his life in the orphanage.
William stood in the middle of the road, tilting his head to the side and looking at Yi Chen.

Watching very carefully,

Looking familiarly,

Look at it in a friendly way,

Watching calmly,

It seemed to affirm and support Yi Chen's current behavior. Perhaps this was the only way to escape from the orphanage.

Bang! Gunshot.

The bullet shot out from the back of the head, and the crushed brain wiped out the consciousness, and everything in front of him ceased to exist.

……

"William..."

Under the abyss.

The Dead Sea collapsed, and Yi Chen, whose internal organs were destroyed, was gradually dying. He remembered the past and his familiar playmate.

But something is different this time.

Yi Chen didn't want to die yet, he wanted to use all his last bit of strength to fight.

However, William did not just stand there. Instead, he conveyed a message with his eyes, a message that asked him to wait a moment.

"call……"

William, whose left arm could no longer be reshaped and whose total number of effective cells was less than 20%, took a deep breath and looked at his gradually collapsing body and concepts, but he showed a cheerful smile.

After making sure that Yi Chen could still move, William turned his attention to the inside of the skull.

"Little Grape, please follow the plan...I'm counting on you."

"At the last moment, it all depends on me! If I die accidentally, try to collect more fragments of the evil sun and help me bury them back to the old location in the Seven Days Cemetery. You should still remember, right?"

"Of course."

William used all his strength to snap his fingers loudly.

Snapped!
Above the stage, the 'stage light ball' hidden at the top of the abyss began to slowly descend. Its size was exactly the same as the evil sun of the past.

But the lamp globe is just a shell and lacks the inner core.

at the same time,

The small grape embedded in the center of the forehead turned into a beam of ash and rushed straight forward, shooting into Reuben before he could react.

In an instant, a dim but warm light shone down, and all the plague owners present felt the most fundamental nourishment of the plague, even the first dead.

Only Reuben frowned.

【Reappearance of the Evil Sun】

As a celestial body with the same lesion as the "new moon",

Coupled with the multiple burnings from the evil sun in previous battles, Reuben could no longer ignore it, and even regarded the evil sun as William's last trump card.

He bent his knees and jumped up, rushing straight towards Xie Yang.

He withstood the impact of the Evil Sun at its maximum energy level and penetrated the entire Evil Sun with his flesh alone, leaving dark and hot firewood fragments falling from the sky.

However, it will take some time to destroy the overall structure.

With the help of little grapes,
William pulled the videotape out of his body, returned to his most normal state, and quickly moved to the dying Yi Chen.

William still kept smiling.

Keeping that familiar and kind smile,

Exactly the same painting as on the wall above the bed in the orphanage.

Rumble~ The gradually collapsing Evil Sun and the falling firewood fragments serve as the background.

William spread his arms, crossed his steps, and bowed his head to greet Yi Chen:
"This is the final stage I have laid out for you, Mr. Yi, and it is also my last stage.

What follows is the final play, the closing play that I have been planning since my birth, a play that will surpass all the performances so far."

After all,

William's skull opened automatically, exposing his brain hole for the first time on stage. That brain hole had a pure white light circle and a dark interior.

It's just... like a coil of rope.

William continued, "In this way, Mr. Yi will be considered dead once, and he will have completely redeemed himself. He doesn't have to commit suicide after doing all this.

I can feel that there is a bigger and higher world beyond all the planes, and it is definitely not the "above" that Reuben imagined.

But there is another wonderful, beautiful and multi-species world.

Yi Chen, you must go and take a look, just like when you climbed over the high wall of the orphanage, the brightness outside will definitely make you very happy, and maybe you can make better friends too.

regarding me,
I was tired a long time ago, especially since I entered the vicious circle, I have never slept well. I constantly absorb knowledge, constantly think about every detail of the plan, and constantly overturn and reconstruct it to ensure that everything is foolproof.

I am so tired every day, so tired that I often want to stop, but I can't.

at last,

Although there were some minor incidents along the way, it’s finally here now, and it seems like I can really have a good rest…”

Yi Chen wanted to say something, but his vocal cords were already dry and his tongue was dry.

The shrinking visual window could only see William’s brain, and for some reason… his eyes, which should have been dry, were slightly moist.

The body that was already unable to move supported Yi Chen and he leaned his head forward.

slowly,
Instinctly,
Naturally,
Put the whole head between the brain holes, strangle it tightly, and go to death resolutely, just like when you escaped from the orphanage.

The window of my eyes was finally completely swallowed by the darkness.

All perception, all consciousness, all existence disappears at this moment.

……

boom!
The evil sun, riddled with holes, was completely shattered, and the warmth that briefly illuminated the abyss was dispelled by dreams.

Reuben was in the "self-dream" state without any damage, and the lines on the surface of his body showed that he was no longer a being in this dimension.

When Reuben, who was suspended in the air, looked down at the 'main target' again, he immediately locked onto William, who was in a strange state.

"Dead? What happened to his head?"

Reuben descended quickly, confusion written all over his face.

All of William's cells have withered away, leaving only a gray spine and a circle of brain connected to the top that has almost stopped rotating and may disappear at any time.

Looking at this brain structure, Reuben suddenly realized something.

He thrust his arm into it, penetrated deeper and deeper into the colors, grabbed something, and pulled it violently.

[Xin Yue] was actually pulled out.

“No wonder I couldn’t find the new moon in my dreamland that covered the entire lesion. It turns out it’s hidden here… I have a new respect for you, William.

When this is all over, I will create a new you in the new world."

Because of Ruben's action of forcibly pulling out the new moon, the already stopped brain hole was damaged, and it quickly shrank and disappeared completely.

Looking at the crescent moon in front of him that was already stained by chaos, Reuben seemed to see a picture of the future.

"I've finally waited until this moment. Let's start transcending! Wait... am I overlooking something? Did William fight me alone for so long?"

Reuben looked at the tragic scene of the abyss and recalled his previous confrontation with William. He always felt that something was wrong, as if something was missing.

At this time,

Sweeney Todd arrived at the scene at this time.
He originally wanted to report the murder of the Second Disaster and William's conspiracy, but after seeing all this, he said no more. He just stood aside quietly and admired the boss's final transcendence.

Reuben placed one hand on the surface of the crescent moon and asked in confusion, "Todd, who is the current representative killer of the Tenth Disaster?"

"The Tenth Disaster? Boss, why are you asking this question? Didn't the crew disband after Miles' death? There is no Tenth Disaster in the evil circle now."

"No? Then how did the previous Tenth Disaster Michael Miles die?"

Todd looked confused. He also felt something was wrong, as if he had lost a part of his memory. "Hiss~ It seems like someone killed me. Boss, you suddenly asked me this and I really can't remember it for a moment..."

He couldn't continue talking halfway, and his eyes went dark...

　Merge the big chapter, that's all for today, I wrote all day, I'll go get some cervical massage in the evening
　　
　
(End of this chapter)