Pretending To Be A Boss-Chapter 759 - Volume Ending Tang Xian and Tang Jing_3

759: Volume Ending Chapter: Tang Xian and Tang Jing_3

759: Volume Ending Chapter: Tang Xian and Tang Jing_3

“You’ve finally come.

How did it go?”

“It’s something in your favor.

With that video, you could indeed be forgiven.

If you could also help Baichuan City, help me rescue those Trial Knights…”

“Well, that’s good news!”

“Yes.”

Li Wanye was puzzled by Tang Xian’s somber and solemn expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing much, do you have a cigarette?”

Li Wanye was taken aback.

Tang Xian wanted to smoke?

Although he didn’t fully understand, he still handed a cigarette to Tang Xian.

Tang Xian didn’t waste words; he took the cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag.

He smoked the cigarette very quickly; it was finished in no time at all.

Li Wanye could tell something was on his mind, so he offered Tang Xian another one.

The elder and the younger sat in tacit understanding, both silent, just letting the smoke curl around them.

As time ticked by, beneath the feet of Li Wanye and Tang Xian lay a pile of cigarette butts.

It seemed like they would continue in silence, then Tang Xian would leave, and he would wait for the news.

But the silence was shattered by Tang Xian’s coughing.

It was as if he was choked by the smoke.

Tang Xian’s coughing was fierce, each cough seemed to carry a profound sadness.

Li Wanye was stunned; he had never seen anything like this.

The people who started coughing while smoking—how could it be that after smoking so much, he started coughing only afterward?

The coughs Tang Xian emitted were long and arduous, as if he had some foreign object inside his body that he wanted to carve out.

Li Wanye realized suddenly that this wasn’t because Tang Xian was choked…

He just wanted to cough out loud, wanted to make himself suffer more.

…

…

The coughing became more urgent.

Tang Xian’s eyes reddened, his expression pained.

Those thoughts he initially believed could be suppressed by smoking, finally surged out uncontrollably like a breach in a dam.

Constantine’s words before his death seemed completely illogical, but when the past conversations surfaced in Tang Xian’s mind, he suddenly understood.

“I warned you before.

If you make too big a fuss, we will be noticed.

We’re just sheepdogs.

The moment we begin to question the real shepherd is the moment we face destruction.”

“You took the dragon attack too far; it’s bound to draw attention.”

Conversations with Constantine surfaced scene after scene in Tang Xian’s mind.

Those seemingly random words, through the myriad of details in memory, finally revealed a painful truth.

It wasn’t Constantine who was hindering him; on the contrary, it was his own recklessness that had hindered Constantine.

The biggest divergence actually stemmed from the dragon attack.

If the world of the Pyramid hadn’t faced a catastrophic creature, Constantine’s plans wouldn’t have been disrupted.

He had warned Tang Xian, but he hadn’t paid attention.

All along, Tang Xian had been playing the part of the rebel, while Constantine had been playing the spy beside the great demon.

A rebel can play the part truthfully or falsely.

A rebel can charge recklessly and act without restraint.

But not a spy.

A spy can only live cautiously.

During the dragon attack, Constantine began to advise Tang Xian to act carefully and cautiously.

But Tang Xian then planned an even larger event than the dragon attack—arranging for Song Que to contend for the Ark Fortress lordship.

The plans that followed, Constantine naturally guessed entirely.

Once Song Que became the lord of Ark Fortress, he would reveal all the truths, shaking the very foundation of the Pyramid.

It was from that point that Constantine had no choice but to “betray,” as he saw it.

It wasn’t the time to lead people out yet, because even the children of order did not know anything about the Orderer.

After the Orderer finally decided to transform Constantine into an Angel Envoy, his words “I never really liked you” finally had a reasonable explanation.

This man didn’t actually dislike Tang Xian.

Instead, he was merely trying to protect himself out of necessity.

All his words, all his emotions, were but a performance for that god before his transformation into an Angel Envoy.

The overseers watch over the world.

But the price paid is exceedingly heavy, with the heart, soul, and thoughts all monitored by the Orderer.

Constantine…

was just struggling to survive.

“Brother…

the divine kingdom is truly beautiful…

There, I’m not Constantine…

nor am I Prometheus, my name is Tang Jing…”

“Save me…

save me…

I’ve never betrayed you…

It’s time for you to leave…

Brother, leave quickly.

I won’t be able to help you soon…”

Everything in the divine kingdom represents one’s most earnest desires.

There, Li Xiaoyu and his family are living a wonderful life, there, Yan Xiaoling and her parents are flying kites together.

All these were desires of his own.

Then what about Constantine?

In Constantine’s dreams, he must have been his elder brother, right?

In that dream, he was neither the inconspicuous Prometheus, nor the Constantine who replaced him.

For the first time, he lived for himself, his name was Tang Jing, and he was his younger brother.

Guilt grew like wild moss, densely entwining itself around Tang Xian’s organs.

He wanted to cough out these feelings of sin and apology, but no matter how he tried, he couldn’t.

Remembering the scene where Tang Jing asked for his help at the end, Tang Xian’s coughing became even more violent and rapid.

Save me…

save me…

I have never betrayed you…

How desperate must Tang Jing have felt at that time?

Tang Xian recalled his first conversation with Tang Jing after his memories had been restored, with Akasi standing by their side.

“Twenty years have passed.

You know whether your original intentions have changed, but whether I am still the same person as before, you do not know, do you?”

“The you and I of now may not be the you and I of before.

Are you sure that after losing your memory for twenty years, we can still work together?”

Tang Xian’s answer was just like when the two of them had first come to an agreement, twenty years ago.

“There can be no trust between us, as long as our interests align, that’s enough.”

At that time, Tang Xian thought Tang Jing felt the same way—that they did not need any emotional ties, just aligned interests.

But perhaps at that time, Tang Jing felt both sadness and joy?

Sad because Tang Xian did not trust him, but happy because he had deceived Tang Xian.

“Having fooled you is my honor.

In these twenty years, there has not been a day as joyful as today.”

“Why did you betray me?”

“Because you always made me feel like I was just a substitute.

But luckily, that’s how the world works—keep faking it, and it becomes real.”

This conversation at the Fortieth Fortress Campus now had a different meaning in hindsight.

Tang Xian’s throat was already somewhat hoarse.

Keep faking it, and it becomes real.

Muttering this phrase, his coughs carried even more intense sorrow.

He had walked a path that was perhaps dangerous but not lonely.

What about Tang Jing?

He walked a path where no one could be trusted, and where he couldn’t trust anyone.

By the time of his death, Tang Xian was still on guard against him.

There was no sign that the coughing would stop.

Li Wanye watched Tang Xian, feeling choked up and speechless.

He was a cold-natured person.

He had always thought Tang Xian was the same.

Therefore, when he conversed with Tang Xian on the ninth level of the Holy Fortress, he felt a sense of camaraderie.

But who could have imagined that Tang Xian would experience such violent emotional fluctuations?

That was no cough, that was extreme grief.

No one could understand Tang Xian like this—the feeling of having misjudged a person for twenty years.

He had treated Tang Jing as a collaborator with aligned interests.

But Tang Jing had regarded him as his only friend.

This violent contrast filled the anthropomorphized Tang Xian with immense guilt.

…

…

Li Wanye didn’t know how long Tang Xian had coughed, but after a long while, even he grew tired of listening, and Tang Xian finally stopped.

After some time, when Li Wanye saw that Tang Xian remained silent but his expression gradually became less heavy, he slowly spoke:

“What do we do next?”

“There are still many things to handle in Baichuan City.

After I help you clear your name, you will work for Yu.

Whatever she says, you do,” Tang Xian said, his voice completely changed, sounding dry and raspy.

“What about you?” Li Wanye had no objections to Tang Xian’s arrangements.

Tang Xian stood up, gazed at the vast expanse outside the cave, and said faintly:

“I am going to bring back the person from the Kingdom of God.

I want to end all these damn things.”

(End of Volume Three)