Chapter 19 The Truth

Wu darted left and right within the giant net pieced together from countless newspapers, as chilling blades of light hacked at it. Clearly, this contraption wouldn't hold him for long.

What truly worried him were the two outside, Jiang Cheng and Fatty. Facing the Newspaper Man, they were lambs to the slaughter.

However, the Newspaper Man merely stood up straight, holding the boy comfortably in one arm, allowing him to continue sleeping. At the same time, he raised his terrifying face, looking at Wu, who was about to break free in mid-air. "Not bad. You're stronger than I thought. Resorting to such measures is hardly honorable, but I don't have much time left. I have no ill intentions. If you look at the words on the newspaper, you should understand."

Perhaps the Newspaper Man's words had an effect. Wu, trapped within, indeed stopped struggling. Golden words appeared on the pieced-together newspapers, but from Jiang Cheng and Fatty's perspectives, these words were like ghostly scribbles, impossible to decipher. Jiang Cheng felt a strange sensation in his heart. He was sure these words had something to do with him.

This feeling of being so close to the truth, yet unable to touch it, was incredibly tormenting.

As the golden light flickered, it seemed to form a world of its own, where the sun and moon revolved, and the seas turned to fields. Jiang Cheng didn't know how to describe the feeling. A moment on the outside felt like a millennium had passed on the inside.

Fortunately, the next second, a blade pierced through the giant net of newspapers, then slashed downwards, tearing a huge hole. As if a seal had been broken, countless newspapers scattered and danced in the air, and Wu landed on the ground amid Jiang Cheng and Fatty's excited gazes.

The newspapers returned to the Newspaper Man's hand, one on top of the other, until they were back to their original state. The Newspaper Man shook the newspaper in his hand, as if nothing had happened.

"Seize him!"

Seeing this, Jiang Cheng and Fatty instantly felt confident. Even a sneak attack hadn't seriously injured Brother Wu, so it was clear that the Newspaper Man was no match in a head-on fight.

However, to Jiang Cheng's surprise, Wu stared at the Newspaper Man for a few seconds, then sheathed his blade and turned to walk towards Jiang Cheng. "Let's go."

Jiang Cheng was stunned. The Wu before him felt unfamiliar. "Go?"

"Yes, let's go."

In Wu's eyes, Jiang Cheng detected a hint of complexity, and there was no room for discussion in his tone. Jiang Cheng could roughly guess that Wu must have seen something in the newspaper world that had changed his mind.

"What did you see? Tell me, what did you see?"

Faced with Jiang Cheng's question, Wu was uncharacteristically silent. He turned to look at Fatty, his brow furrowing even more. He seemed to want to explain to his two brothers, but he couldn't. In the world the Newspaper Man had shown him, he had seen the truth behind everything, but as the other party said, he had no malicious intent. After all, the truth was too cruel, and there was no need for Jiang Cheng to know.

His complex gaze swept back and forth between Jiang Cheng and Fatty, as if making a choice, a choice of who would ultimately survive. Some things couldn't be changed. If you wanted to change them, you had to exchange them for something more precious.

Finally, Wu pursed his lips. He had made a decision. "Let's go." Without another word, Wu pressed down on Jiang Cheng's shoulder, pushing him outwards.

Jiang Cheng had never seen Wu like this before. He was an extremely arrogant guy, but now, Jiang Cheng sensed a deep sense of powerlessness in Wu.

The Newspaper Man definitely didn't have such abilities, so he must have shown Wu something, something related to him and Fatty. Right, and Fatty. Jiang Cheng woke up as if from a dream. He tried his best to rush towards Fatty, but Wu held his shoulder, unable to move.

"I said, let's go, let's go now!"

"Fatty is still here. Let's go together. I'll go, okay? I won't ask, I won't ask anything. Let's… let's all three of us leave here!"

Jiang Cheng understood that something terrible must have happened here, otherwise Wu would never be like this. The fear spreading from the bottom of his heart was about to devour him whole. He had a strange feeling that as long as he left here today, then… then he would forever lose Fatty as a brother, and there would never be a day when they met again.

Just like those friends from the past.

Fatty didn't know what was going on. At this moment, all the sounds seemed to be blocked out. He was relatively far away from Jiang Cheng and Wu, and could only see the Doctor struggling, and Wu trying his best to control him.

But even from so far away, he could clearly feel the Doctor's horror and helplessness at this moment. For Fatty, what exactly the door on his body was, and what abilities he had, didn't matter. What mattered was that he hoped to help his friends around him, so that everyone could live, and live well.

Under Wu's control, Jiang Cheng's struggles were completely useless. He was soon dragged away step by step. Fatty found it strange and started running after him, but no matter how fast he ran, the Doctor and Wu were still moving away from him. There seemed to be an invisible barrier between them. Fatty had a similar feeling to Jiang Cheng. He felt uncomfortable in a daze, as if as soon as the Doctor and Wu disappeared from his sight, these two brothers would also completely disappear from his world.

Unlike Huai Yi and Wang Qi, this time, there would be no chance to meet again.

It was a strange feeling, yet it was so real that it was appalling.

Jiang Cheng was dragged out the door by Wu, his eyes still fixed on the direction where Fatty was. He could only see a strong figure running desperately towards him, but the distance was getting farther and farther.

Finally, Wu let go of his hand. Jiang Cheng got up and rushed towards the door of the main hall, but after crossing the threshold, he was stunned. Looking around, there were many thresholds in front of him, dozens, hundreds. He didn't know, and couldn't count them. He jumped over them with all his might, thinking that perhaps the next one would be the original threshold of the main hall, and he could see Fatty again, but the fact proved that all this was in vain. As he collapsed on the ground, holding onto a threshold with one hand, still trying to stand up, a hand behind him held him and pulled him up. Jiang Cheng subconsciously turned his head, but there was no threshold behind him at all, only Wu standing behind him.

It turned out that what he saw was always just the first threshold.

And behind Wu was a layer of blurred light and shadow. This place seemed to be a special world, not inside the main hall, nor outside the main hall.

Wu didn't try to dissuade him, because he knew it was useless, and could only wait for Jiang Cheng to calm down. The fact was the fact, and he had to learn to accept it.

Jiang Cheng sat on the threshold, facing the direction where Fatty was in his memory. Wu stood behind him, like a dutiful guard, the scene solemn and terrifying.