I Will End This.

“You? Staying here?” Caroline looked at him helplessly.

“I know you’re important to Her Highness, Luo Wei. Perhaps she’ll listen to you, but... can you handle so many ghouls?”

Luo Wei glanced at the increasing number of ghouls pouring into the manor.

A confident smile appeared on his face.

“Don’t worry about that. I have my ways.”

Seeing her and the Shadow Guard still hesitating, Luo Wei’s expression turned cold.

“What are you standing around for? Get moving!”

“The best help you can give me right now is not to cause any trouble!”

“Alright, alright...” Caroline exchanged a glance with the Shadow Guard and finally stopped hesitating.

Under the Shadow Guard’s protection, the manor’s servants began to evacuate in an orderly fashion through a small door.

Before leaving, the head maid turned back with a worried look, still uneasy.

“Mr. Luo Wei...”

“Don’t worry,” Luo Wei said calmly, gazing at her.

“I’ll end all of this.”

It started in this manor, and it will end here. I’ll return a normal princess to you all.

...

After all the servants had evacuated the manor, the vast hall was left with only Luo Wei.

And an ever-growing number of ghouls...

Luo Wei kept his eyes on the ghouls’ movements, his feet immediately springing into action.

With nearly 50 points in [Agility], he moved as if his feet were greased.

Though he didn’t have the Shadow Guard’s otherworldly speed, it was more than enough for Luo Wei at this moment.

A crimson shadow darted swiftly through the manor. Luo Wei used Vampire Magic to cut down any ghouls that tried to block his path, carving his way through the horde like a blade through thorns.

The ghouls chased relentlessly, and soon a dark mass followed closely behind him.

Luo Wei led them, gradually steering them toward the kitchen on the first floor of the manor.

His long-laid plans were finally coming into play. He searched the kitchen for the massive steam boiler.

Every time he offered to cook for Ophelia, he had secretly sabotaged the equipment—the magical devices in the kitchen, the massive steam boiler responsible for the manor’s heating... almost every device that used Magic Crystal Stones had been tampered with.

He had constantly adjusted the power output, overloading or underloading the devices, pushing them to their limits... It was a miracle they had lasted this long.

Originally, his plan was to tie this to the shocking “airship explosion case” that had shaken the Royal Capital, drawing attention to the situation.

At that level, even Ophelia, as the fifth princess, wouldn’t be able to cover it up.

He hadn’t expected it to serve another purpose now—killing two birds with one stone.

Luo Wei quickly adjusted the steam boiler, cranking the Magic Crystal Stone-powered device to its maximum capacity. Still unsatisfied, he piled up the Magic Crystal Stones he had stripped from other devices nearby...

As the steam boiler roared and trembled, and the faint blue glow of the Magic Crystal Stones lit up the floor, Luo Wei’s heart raced.

The terrifying scene he had witnessed with Helena that day flashed before his eyes.

Did I overdo it? Am I going to blow myself up too...

But there was no time to think. The kitchen was now packed with ghouls, blocking every exit. If he didn’t run now, it would be too late.

Luo Wei flipped open a window, leaped out of the manor, and sprinted toward the garden without looking back.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Ten seconds...

Just as Luo Wei, exhausted, gritted his teeth and continued to dash forward, a burst of blue light erupted behind him.

The shockwave followed immediately. The massive magical energy released from the out-of-control Magic Crystal Stones shattered every window in the manor.

Even though he was a hundred meters away, Luo Wei could still feel the wind rushing toward the back of his head.

He dove onto the garden lawn. Even with his ears covered, the deafening explosion behind him left him temporarily deafened.

Trembling, he looked back.

The elegant manor in the southern suburbs had been reduced to rubble in the explosion.

Countless bricks and debris were scattered into the sky.

A nauseating smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air.

Luo Wei stared at the ruins. A raging fire had erupted amidst the wreckage, and not a single ghoul was in sight.

He let out a sigh of relief.

The shockwave from the explosion left his chest tight and his body covered in bleeding wounds, leaving him battered and bruised.

He sat on the ground, looking at the ruins with a bitter smile.

The sky didn’t seem as dark anymore, and he could vaguely see the distant scenery. It seemed the invasion of the Dreamlands hadn’t spread too far yet...

“Ophelia, you’re watching, aren’t you...”

Luo Wei looked up at the sky with a wry smile. He didn’t know where Ophelia was, but the faint sense of being watched had never disappeared.

“What’s the point of all this? Do you really think you can use your power to make the Dreamlands interfere with reality?”

“You’re powerful, but you’re underestimating this world. Even in this city, there are countless experts...”

“You’ve failed...”

“No!!!” A hoarse voice suddenly echoed through the air.

“I haven’t failed!! I haven’t failed!”

She screamed in defiance, her voice so close it felt like she was right beside him.

Luo Wei turned his gaze to the withered flowerbed.

In the Dreamlands, this place was always a sea of blooming flowers, stretching endlessly.

But in reality, it wasn’t yet the season for flowers. That beautiful scene was nothing but an illusion.

Ophelia’s figure appeared in the flowerbed, sitting cross-legged and motionless. She had been hiding here all along.

Her appearance was now half-human, half-monster.

A corrosive black mist surrounded her, and the garden plants that had yet to bloom withered instantly, turning into putrid black liquid.

“I haven’t lost! I haven’t lost!!”

She repeated these words like a mantra, her voice filled with madness.

“Once I merge the two worlds, reality will become illusion, and illusion will become reality!”

“In my domain, anything is possible!!!”

“Until the Dreamlands invade every corner of the world...”

She laughed maniacally, her voice twisted and deranged:

“Then, I can do whatever I want! I will be the ruler of everything, and the world will become my cage! And you!”

Her crimson eyes locked onto Luo Wei’s face.

“Will never escape my grasp!”

“This is the world I want!! Otherwise, there’s no meaning to existence at all!!”

As she spoke, darkness once again enveloped the entire world.

Luo Wei stared into those insane crimson eyes.

【Ophelia】

【Race: Human/Nightmare/Ancient God’s Apostle】

【Affection: 100】

【Corruption: 100】

He stood up from the ground.

As he rose, an unprecedented mental assault struck his mind.

Luo Wei’s body swayed unsteadily. Clenching his teeth, he fought against the overwhelming force with all his might.

Then, with stiff steps, he began to walk toward Ophelia.

“Don’t come closer!”

She screamed, “Stay away!!”

“What are you afraid of...”

Luo Wei smiled bitterly.

“What threat could I possibly pose to you now...”

Gritting his teeth, Luo Wei continued to struggle toward Ophelia.

He gradually entered the thick black mist.

The mist immediately began to corrode his skin, and he felt a burning, searing pain all over his body.

The exposed skin on his arms began to turn black.

His hair seemed to burn, curling, drying, and melting away...

All the wounds on his body that hadn’t yet healed began to fester, oozing thick, black blood.

By the time his entire body was submerged in the black mist, the wounds were so deep that bone was visible.

The pain was unbearable...

It was an unbearable agony—burning, tearing, corroding... as if trapped in the eternal flames of hell.

Luo Wei's eyes were bloodshot, and he began to lose sight of the world around him...

"Don’t come any closer!!" Ophelia's panicked voice trembled, even carrying a hint of tears.

"You’ll die! You’ll absolutely die! Don’t come near me!!"

Damn it, maintaining this domain was already at its limit...

Overexertion of her power had left her completely immobilized.

Unless... she ended all of this herself...

But she would never do that!!

Hearing Ophelia’s desperate cries, Luo Wei seemed to turn a deaf ear, continuing to trudge forward.

Though it was only a dozen meters away, it felt as if he were crossing an entire world.

Gradually, his body hunched over, like an old man stumbling with every step.

Yet he kept moving forward...

Resolutely.

Step by step.

"You’re insane! Absolutely insane!!"

Ophelia screamed.

"Don’t you feel pain?? Aren’t you afraid of death??"

Her last shred of clarity seemed to be provoked by Luo Wei’s actions.

Finally.

The pitch-black sky stopped spreading, and the world began to return to normal.

Ophelia, trembling with fear, watched as Luo Wei, step by step, approached her as if emerging from the depths of hell.

She finally ceased the invasion of the dream realm into reality.

The black mist in the garden thinned out instantly.

Luo Wei let out a bitter laugh, sighing in relief.

Looking at Ophelia, now within arm’s reach, at her tear-streaked, terrified, and trembling face.

Luo Wei gently embraced her.