Chapter 88-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 88
The four brief words twisted into unnameable syllables inside Theodore's buzzing mind — as if his language faculties had regressed to those of a newborn infant.
He could no longer distinguish the boundary between terror and elation. Bodily instinct urged him to react.
On one side of his neck, a coin-sized black hole appeared on the pale, purpling skin. The black hole instantly excised the wound — blood immediately gushed from his neck!
Theodore clutched the bleeding wound. Blood seeped between his five fingers, rapidly staining his shoulder red.
The blood loss was staggering. But he knew — if he hadn't done this, or hesitated a moment longer, the deadly venom would have killed him instantly.
The lethal toxin and severe hemorrhaging didn't immediately claim Theodore's life. He dropped to one knee as a black hole with a full two-meter radius deployed instantly beneath him.
A terrifyingly deathly aura swallowed the surrounding space.
Even the air was being continuously pulled downward by the pitch-black matter, forming visible currents.
Theodore attempted to use this to force Tyrant to reveal themselves. But the black hole didn't catch Tyrant. The air currents didn't outline a hidden silhouette.
Nothing but emptiness before his eyes. The toxin still spreading through his body felt like a hallucination.
The blue Game Panel hovered before him. Theodore still had the strength to send a message — but he didn't. His fingers stopped. He knew Tyrant must still be here!
"I'm not your enemy, Tyrant. I'm your admirer..."
Theodore addressed the empty hall in his weak, trembling voice. "I came with a mission — first, to obstruct the foolish operation to save Hai City; second, to search for traces of you."
"I just want to see you with my own eyes. I mean no harm."
"Even though she considers you our enemy! But I've never thought so. She fears you simply because she cannot 'see' you... That only proves — you are the true dominator, the true ruler of this era!"
Whether from spreading venom or excessive excitement, Theodore's body shook violently. His reddened eyes gazed upward at the factory's tall gray ceiling as if looking up at a deity — his expression nothing short of devout.
"If you're willing to reveal yourself, I'll offer everything I know — everything I have — to you!"
Theodore screamed hoarsely, his voice echoing lonely through the hall.
Born into the highest echelons of privilege, Theodore had grown sated with the world early on. Wealth, power, education, beauty — things most people spent entire lives failing to obtain — were his birthright from the moment of birth.
Enter politics, enter business, become a scholar, or be a trust-fund baby basking in ancestral shade. The world was a game he'd already achieved 100% completion on. He stared at the game screen with only emptiness inside.
His uncle, now president, favored him greatly. He merely felt it was only natural.
He even considered the life of a world superpower's leader to be perfectly ordinary — nothing exceeding his expectations. The only thing that changed about his uncle was that increasingly saggy face.
Just as Theodore had lost passion for even the most death-defying extreme sports, just as he'd begun feeling restless toward humanity's darker impulses — the game descended.
The game shattered everyone's understanding. For the first time, Theodore felt small and insignificant — genuinely felt what it meant to be alive.
He believed he had been born into this world precisely for this game called Tomorrow's Dominator.
In the world, there were always those born different — destined to become great symbols of their era. He must have been born for this!
He was. And so was Tyrant.
Tyrant was mysterious, powerful, unfathomable — like a magnificent snow-capped mountain. Every appearance made the world tremble. He sincerely believed that, compared to that other person, someone like Tyrant was the true ruler of this era.
"She wants the privileges of first place. She wants to be the game's victor. But she's not worthy!"
"Esteemed Tyrant, we are fellow travelers of the new age! Give me a chance — I'll help you stand atop humanity forever!"
"I'll dedicate my entire life to you!"
Theodore repeated feverishly, bordering on madness. Yet his fingers remained pressed against the Game Panel — unaffected even by his violent trembling.
He was threatening her. Show yourself and accept his submission — or he'd expose her information to someone before dying.
Bai Shan held her breath. She stood not far away, concealed within [Assassination Room] — the gift Fatima had offered.
Fatima was someone who repaid kindness. Though her Talent was only B-tier, the second skill [Assassination Room] was undetectable even to a 31st-ranked player. Paired with the low-energy-signature [Venom Fang], Bai Shan found it perfectly suited for assassination.
There was no oxygen inside [Assassination Room]. Bai Shan held her breath — her brain should have been muddled from oxygen deprivation, yet her eyes remained perfectly lucid.
This man professed worship, claimed he'd offer everything, his expression utterly sincere. If this was acting, Theodore could go down in history as the greatest actor ever.
And yet — she hadn't received any notification of Theodore bowing to her.
Bai Shan watched him, feeling time and opportunity slipping away rapidly.
If she chose to reveal herself, Theodore might possibly dispel the black hole beneath him and let her approach. She could use [Parasitic Tongue] to extract every piece of information he knew.
Bai Shan's heart was heavy with questions. From Charlie Anderson to Camila to Theodore nearby — these people were clearly among humanity's elite players, yet they seemed subtly controlled by some force.
Who exactly had the power to move so many people? Was that person on the Leaderboard? What was their Talent ability?
From Theodore's agitated, repetitive words, Bai Shan could piece together that he and the forces behind him aimed to become the game's victor — the ruler of the new order.
Bai Shan suddenly found it slightly absurd. Could Theodore possibly imagine? He was discussing world domination with a high schooler still nine months away from turning eighteen!
Bai Shan held it in. She didn't laugh out loud.
She vaguely understood now. Theodore had assumed such a humble, devout posture — he had indeed bowed. But not to her.
For someone like Theodore, from the moment of birth, he had already bowed beneath the shade of power. He had never once raised his head.
He remained perpetually kneeling — not actually caring who Tyrant was. He simply assumed Tyrant would be the next existence to cast an enormous shadow over the world, and he merely needed to kneel early to continue enjoying the shelter of overwhelming power.
But Theodore had guessed wrong. Tyrant's goal was not to become humanity's ruler.
What Bai Shan wanted to dominate was only her own life. For that purpose, she could become everyone's tyrant.
She possessed certain deeply beguiling things. But she would never forget what she truly wanted.
A flicker of amusement crossed Bai Shan's dark eyes. She looked away, turned, and left.
Time ticked by, second by second. Theodore's fervor gradually cooled. His fingers curled slightly.
Finally, as if unable to endure the deathly silence any longer, his finger pressed down on the game screen—
Theodore sent the message. Then an incredulous expression crossed his face — he'd actually sent it!
Was Tyrant powerless against the all-consuming black hole? Or had Tyrant tacitly permitted his action?
Could the information he'd obtained be Tyrant's disguise — deliberately released false signals?
Theodore tentatively extended a hand forward, dismissing the black hole he'd been barely sustaining. The air currents around him calmed.
His continuously bleeding body grew cold. He'd almost forgotten he had healing items. His trembling pupils held both excitement and dread.
Theodore anticipated Tyrant's guillotine suddenly beheading him — or perhaps Tyrant granting him the mercy of becoming a follower. The push and pull between life and death set his hollow heart beating.
Yet he waited a long time. A very long time. Until his body collapsed onto the factory's cold gray floor, unable to rise again.
Theodore suddenly realized — Tyrant might have left long ago!
Perhaps from the very moment he'd chosen to send that message, Tyrant was no longer in this factory.
How could that be? He was the 31st-ranked Theodore. The first person to obtain information about Tyrant. A figure important enough to betray his own side to follow Tyrant...
How could Tyrant leave without a care?
As if — as if he were nothing more than an insignificant plastic bag. A cardboard box anyone could kick aside on a factory floor.
Theodore's blue eyes flew wide in horror. He suddenly realized — this time, he was truly going to die.
Curled fingers scraped the floor — too fragile to leave even a scratch.
At the very end, Theodore finally recalled what Tyrant had whispered in his ear—
"Too clever for your own good."
Outside the factory, the fiery sun had fully sunk below the horizon. On the mountain path bathed in faint moonlight, Bai Shan walked on alone.
[Theodore Worthington has bowed before you!]
[Your "Admonition" can now freely invoke the Talent "Pitch-Black Matter"!]
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