Before the jailbreak, Asho had seen Ronald alone in the cafeteria once.

Although Ronald was just a tool to him, it would be false to say that Asho had no sympathy for him. Therefore, Asho had tested Ronald’s plan after the jailbreak, whether to split up with Lana or assassinate Lana directly.

If it was the latter, Asho could reach a certain consensus with him – no matter what, after completing Harvey’s contract, the escapees would definitely have to fight first.

It had nothing to do with interests or grievances, it was simply a matter of trust.

You couldn’t be sure if others would harm you, so you had to strike first.

Facing a group of death row inmates who crawled out of the gutter, it was right to think of them in the worst and most despicable way, because they also had the hearts of scum and the stomachs of good people.

If Ronald needed it, Asho could privately contact Igura and Harvey, and the four of them could focus their attacks on Lana when they broke away. After all, the bald werewolf was indeed the strongest among them, and he was also the ruler of the Moon Shadow race. They all had too many reasons to deal with Lana.

However, Ronald explicitly refused Asho’s goodwill. He was very grateful for Asho’s help and suggestions, but he firmly refused to allow Asho and others to interfere in his affairs.

It wasn’t that Asho looked down on Ronald, but it was ridiculous for a gang killer to have principles when it came to killing. Ronald didn’t explain much either, just shook his head, indicating that Asho and others would only ruin his revenge.

“I must make Lana feel true pain.”

…

In front was Jielade, swinging the blade of destruction, and behind was Ronald, who had been plotting revenge. Lana’s expression showed no sadness or joy, just a slight tilt of his head when he heard the whistling sound of steel beads.

Then, a shadow descended.

Puchi!

Jielade’s chained sword stopped after slashing into someone. He felt that the sword blade infused with miracles was like cutting into the hardest metal, the heaviest quagmire, and all the power was absorbed by the thin body in front of him.

And, this strange slashing sensation…

The splattering blood whipped against Lana’s face like a scorching whip. He looked at the figure blocking him and slightly lowered his eyelids.

The reason why Ronald, with the strength of a One-Winged Sorcerer, became known as the “Golden Mouth” was because he obtained a secret faction in the Virtual Realm that could create one-time steel beads equivalent to spirit artifacts. Through careful preparation, the destructive power of these steel beads was enough to rival a Two-Winged Sorcerer. Under intentional or unintentional circumstances, he could naturally assassinate a Two-Winged Sorcerer.

Among them, there was a steel bead named “Twinkling Steel Bead” that allowed Ronald to move to the position of the steel bead. In the days after the jailbreak, Lana spent a lot of effort helping Ronald gather the materials for the twinkling steel beads and helped him refine one – the safe house where Ronald used to store his props had long been destroyed and confiscated by the Hunting Hall.

This twinkling steel bead had many places where it could be used. For example, there were three moments of crisis just now that should have been resolved by using the twinkling steel bead to escape, but Ronald didn’t use it.

He chose to use it here.

When Jielade withdrew his chained sword, Ronald fell backward like a lump of mud. Lana caught him, and the wound where blood was escaping revealed the grim and cold steel bones inside.

This was Ronald’s secret in using the steel beads. He didn’t rely on artificing to drive the steel beads, but used his own steel bones as a base to generate magnetic force to guide the steel beads.

In addition to being a medium for casting spells, the steel bones also gave Ronald powerful defensive capabilities. These steel bones were already a miracle. The seemingly weak Ronald could disperse and cushion any impact through his entire body of steel bones. Even Lana had never bitten off a single bone of Ronald.

So, when Jielade hit Ronald, the Golden Mouth was already dead. He successfully blocked Jielade’s full-force attack, but the price was that his entire body of bones, organs, and even muscles were crushed by the powerful impact.

Lana felt that what he caught was not a person, but melting ice cream. Ronald seemed to deliberately maintain the integrity of his face, so Lana could see his final expression clearly: a raised corner of his mouth, slightly narrowed eyes, as if smiling.

Lana could see resentment, liberation, and even a trace… of pity from above.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lana carried Ronald’s body on his shoulder, and then Lana slapped the ground of the high platform with one hand.

“Pray to the dark side of the moon.”

Countless strange runes suddenly appeared on the high platform, and the blood moon descended with a dark red light. In an instant, the high platform became an absolute forbidden zone, and everyone on it, including Lana and Jielade, was expelled!

Jielade spread his three wings and flew in mid-air. He stared at the virtual realm passage that was being covered by the dark light, his face extremely ugly. “How did you—”

“You should have read my resume and know that I used to be an elite Moon Shadow priest, right?” Lana put down Ronald’s body and glanced at the priests not far away who were watching the high platform. “In the hunting festival, the biggest use of priests is not blessings, but to seal and destroy passages.”

“So many years have passed, and the ritual of the ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ hasn’t changed much. I can still easily trigger the prepared spell in the high platform, complete the final step, activate the power of the Moon Shadow, and completely cut off the passage to the virtual realm.”

At this point, Jielade was no longer anxious. He watched Asho step into the virtual realm passage and returned to his usual role as the captain of the Bloodthirsty Hunter. “But this also means that you can’t escape.”

“For me, Broken Lake Prison, Camon City, or any other country, it doesn’t make a difference.” Lana took off his cloak, revealing his fierce face without beard or hair. “It’s just that Ronnie desires to escape, and I will do my best to fulfill his wish.”

“Just now, Asho helped Ronnie, and I hope this return gift will satisfy Asho.”

“Asho Heath, he is truly a devil who can bewitch people’s hearts more than Veela.” Jielade sighed, “He even made a Moon Shadow traitor willing to sacrifice himself to help him escape.”

“Who said I’m going to sacrifice myself?”Ronald took off his shirt, revealing a robust physique as if carved from marble.

“So, you mean to say, you want to run away in front of me?” Jielade lightly flicked his chain sword, shaking off the fresh blood on the blade into a mist of blood. “I’m not one to judge solely on Artificing, but you just barely managed to block my chain sword with all your strength. I don’t think you have the ability.”

“Moreover, I’m a bit upset tonight and want to go home early to rest. After all, I’m working overtime now.” The white-haired hunter’s red eyes flashed with a fierce arc. “I won’t adhere to the safety provisions in the Falconer’s Law Enforcement Regulations anymore. I won’t show mercy to anyone who tries to stop me from getting off work.”

Ronald seemed oblivious to Jielade’s killing intent and calmly asked, “As the favored children of the Blood Moon Lord, do you know the difference between the Moon Shadow Clan and the Blood Saint Clan?”

Jielade answered without hesitation, “The Moon Shadow gives life, the Blood Saint guards death.”

“Yes, the Moon Shadow gives life, the Blood Saint guards death. This not only represents the social division of the two clans but also summarizes their character traits. The Blood Saint Clan possesses a death-like calm, while the Moon Shadow Clan always maintains a newborn-like passion.” Ronald glanced at the curious Moon Shadow priest standing nearby. “But in my view, this phrase can also be interpreted as the Blood Saint Clan are dirty adults, and the Moon Shadow Clan are naughty children.”

Recalling his subordinate Amy, who was like a big-tailed wolf, Jielade had to admit that Ronald was right. At this moment, the white-haired hunter realized something and stared at Ronald, “Ronald Chios, you seem to…”

“‘Only those with pure hearts, who do not forget to pray at night, can transform into Moon Shadows on the full moon night when the crow’s head grass blooms.’” Ronald said, “I realized from a young age that I was different from other Moon Shadow elects. They are full of passion, impulsive, pure, and simply greedy, while I am the exact opposite—I was born without emotions, without desires.”

“Interestingly, I eventually became a Moon Shadow, turning into a werewolf that can only transform in the shadows. The priest asked me to hide myself, but most of the Sorcery Spirits in the Moon Shadow faction need emotions as fuel, so I had to rely on the help of the ‘Love’ Sorcery Spirit.”

“Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps it was misfortune, I obtained a set of forbidden mental faction rituals in the Virtual Realm. The effect of the rituals is to allow the Artificer to harvest emotions from others, seemingly to complement those miracles that need to burn a lot of emotions.”

“But for me, emotions are exactly what I need. I need to harvest feelings; I need something to fill the void in my heart.”

“I improved the rituals, but the process became more bloody. I was quickly caught, and my secret was exposed, but the church did not execute me—the church never executes a fellow member, so I was sent to the Broken Lake Prison, where I could continue my research.”

“I would plant ‘Love’ in the target’s heart and let love fill their body. I tried my best to play the role of ‘Love’, but I never succeeded. Without emotions, no matter how many emotions I harvested, I could never understand or experience them.”

“But just now, watching Ronnie die in front of me, the barren land in my heart sprouted for the first time.” Ronald clenched his blood-stained fist, “It took nine years, but I finally gained emotions.”

Jielade asked with interest, “Is it love?”

“No, it’s hatred.” Ronald’s tone finally fluctuated a bit, “Ronnie chose to die in front of me because he hated me!”

“He knew that my emotions were all pretense, knew that any revenge would be meaningless to me. The only way to make me feel pain was to let me gain emotions.”

“So he wanted to escape from prison, he wanted to leave the Blood Moon, he wanted to accumulate hope, accumulate happiness, and then choose an appropriate time to die in front of me in the most miserable way, like a bubble.”

“In this way, the twisted tree in his heart, watered with hope, fertilized with happiness, sunned with freedom, but grown in the soil of pain, would bear the most beautiful fruit and plant it deep in my heart.”

“He succeeded, and so did I.”

Ronald raised two thumbs, drawing two bloodstains under his eyes with Ronnie’s blood.

“So, this is what hatred feels like.”

Seeing this, Jielade’s eyebrows twitched violently, and some unpleasant memories surged up in his heart again.