The ground was littered with black light-swords. Ning Zhewan's body was impaled by several of them, propping him up so that his head was level with Wen Wen's.
Now, Ning Zhewan's form had expanded to more than double its original size, though his face remained the same. Around it, twisted visages of varying sizes crowded together—men and women alike, their features contorted with unresolvable resentment.
His power had grown significantly since their last encounter, but the resentment wasn't omnipotent. Ning Zhewan's own capacity for endurance had limits. In the end, he still couldn't resist Wen Wen.
Wen Wen plucked a willow branch, then took out a small vial of holy water. Dipping the branch lightly, he flicked droplets onto Ning Zhewan's body. White smoke hissed where the water landed.
*"Holy water has some effect on purifying resentment, but it's limited. Pity my little angel isn't around anymore."*
He tossed the vial aside and gripped Ning Zhewan's throat.
The skin there was studded with tiny faces—slick, squirming things that occasionally darted out tongues. Disgusting, but Wen Wen didn't care.
Black chains slithered from his palm, burrowing greedily into Ning Zhewan's flesh. Agony wracked the man's body, yet his smile never faltered, only twisting further.
*"You don’t seem like someone who’s suffered cyberbullying. So why did this resentment choose you as its vessel? Why turn you into an avenging monster?"*
Ning Zhewan sneered. *"Choose me? No. I took this upon myself. Because no one else would stand up for them."* His voice hardened. *"And I’m no ‘avenging monster.’ I’m the Arbiter."*
Wen Wen held up a mirror.
*"Look at yourself. Can you still say that?"*
For a moment, Ning Zhewan stared at his reflection—his first real glimpse of what he’d become. Then he laughed. Not a twisted cackle, but something almost warm.
*"We’re not monsters. We’re just… together."*
*"Huddling for warmth."*
As those words left his lips, every face on his body shrieked in unison. The blue-green energy resonated violently, exploding outward in a shockwave.
Wen Wen leapt back. Where Ning Zhewan had stood, a crater five to six meters wide now gaped, its edges seared with corrosive residue. A dome of the same energy encased it.
The faces glared at Wen Wen with collective fury.
*"Why do this to us…"*
*"You’re one of them!"*
*"Die! Die!"*
The accusations flooded Wen Wen’s mind, but he simply tapped the **Warehouse Keeper’s Badge** on his chest, silencing them.
Meanwhile, the resentment swirling around Ning Zhewan condensed into a blue-green hourglass. Its sands drained rapidly.
*"What happens when it runs out?"*
Wen Wen reached forward—only to recoil as the energy repelled him.
*"You’re so clever. Figure it out."*
Ning Zhewan’s form blurred. Despite multiple attempts, Wen Wen couldn’t breach the barrier. Soon, the man vanished entirely.
*"I underestimated you this time. But you’ll never catch me again."*
With that, all traces of the anomaly disappeared—save for the crater.
*"Never again? Heh. I’ve got more chances than you can count."*
Smirking, Wen Wen retracted the chains.
Ning Zhewan himself wasn’t the problem. Eliminating him would’ve been easy.
What troubled Wen Wen was the **resentment**—an almost unsolvable force.
Without resolving it, the voters would keep dying one by one. And Wen Wen couldn’t possibly protect over 7,000 people scattered worldwide alone.
So when he sensed Ning Zhewan could escape, he’d **let him go**—pretending the energy barrier was impassable.
In truth, the chains had already anchored themselves inside Ning Zhewan. Through the containment facility, Wen Wen could now monitor his status… or appear beside him at will.
Surveying the ruined kindergarten playground, Wen Wen scratched his head, then left a pile of figurines in a classroom.
They were mass-produced by Foundation-affiliated companies—nowhere near Xu Hai’s craftsmanship, but enough to compensate somewhat.
Then he made a call.
His body dissolved into data streams, reforming in another part of the city—**Voter No. 2’s home.**
Earlier, while surveilling Cai Wenshang, Wen Wen had covertly checked this location. At the time, No. 2 had been safe.
Now, wails greeted him. The voter’s wife and mother sobbed by a white hearse outside, a handful of onlookers lingering nearby.
*"Tch."*
Wen Wen activated an ability from a **Transparent Monster**, rendering himself invisible to ordinary eyes, then began investigating.
No. 2’s cause of death? **Electrocution**—a faulty water heater during his shower.
Every room showed no traces of supernatural energy. On the surface, it looked like an accident.
But Wen Wen tested the heater himself. While flawed, its current output couldn’t kill an adult.
The pattern matched Cai Wenshang’s case exactly. No. 2 had undoubtedly been murdered by the resentment.
After confirming this, Wen Wen moved on, visiting the **top twenty voters** from his list.
The results were grim.
Aside from Cai Wenshang—now safeguarded in containment—**every one of them had died.**
- One drank himself to **gastric perforation.**
- Another **fell into a dumpster** taking out trash.
- A third **hanged himself** on a clothesline.
Most absurdly, **Voter No. 21** was dead too—**set ablaze by his own fart** igniting a gas stove.
With Cai Wenshang protected, the resentment had simply moved down the list. **Twenty deaths per day, without fail.** Saving a few just meant others would take their place.
Worse, these killings weren’t spaced evenly across 24 hours. All twenty could die in rapid succession, making prevention nearly impossible.
Once midnight passed, a **new batch of twenty** would be marked.
For now, Wen Wen truly had no solution to this **inescapable game.**