PD -Chapter 158 A Great Cause

I pondered what kind of thing could make a person give up their own life.

But then I realized my thinking wasn’t entirely correct. What Yang Yingzhe had given up wasn’t truly his life—it was merely the physical body that bound him.

Perhaps without the constraints of flesh, he could accomplish more of the things he wanted to do…

As I thought about this, I tapped the walls around me with the stick in my hand, trying to locate the secret chamber that Security Guard Xiao Li had mentioned existed somewhere within the boiler room. Perhaps all the answers were hidden inside that room.

Knock… knock… knock…

The sound of my tapping echoed through the dark boiler room. I listened carefully to every reverberation, trying to determine whether there was a hollow space behind the walls.

“Brother, you’d better stop moving.”

Li Zi’s voice suddenly sounded beside my ear.

This time, however, his tone was nothing like his usual carefree, joking self. There was a coldness in it unlike anything I had ever heard from him before.

At the same moment he spoke, I felt something icy touch my neck. In an instant, it seemed to slice through my skin. Feeling a slight sting of pain, I glanced downward and saw a dagger gleaming with a cold light pressed against my throat.

“Li Zi, what are you doing?”

I looked at the hand holding the knife against my neck and tried to turn around, but his other hand clamped down on my throat and prevented me from moving.

“I said don’t move!”

Li Zi’s voice was sinister and icy.

“Fine, I won’t move. Calm down.”

To keep him steady, I dropped the stick in my hand and spoke softly.

During the process, I secretly slapped a talisman onto his leg, but he showed absolutely no reaction.

Not possession?

I frowned.

The moment I realized it was Li Zi holding the dagger to my throat, my first thought had been that the Yin creature formed by Yang Yingzhe had possessed him.

But the talisman produced no response when attached to his body, which meant my judgment had been wrong.

Then…

Why would Li Zi want to kill me?

It made no sense whatsoever.

“Li Zi, what are you doing?”

As he dragged me backward, I continued talking in an attempt to distract him.

“Come outside with me. This isn’t a place you’re supposed to be.”

His voice remained cold.

“Wasn’t it you who asked me to help plan the project here? Have you forgotten?”

While speaking, I pretended to stumble over some debris on the ground and suddenly aimed my flashlight directly at his eyes.

It was a high-powered flashlight—strong enough that in an emergency it could be used to blind an opponent temporarily.

The beam struck Li Zi’s eyes, and he immediately squinted and turned his head away.

Seizing the opportunity, I wrenched open the arm holding the knife, spun around, and kicked him away.

When I turned to face him, I noticed that the hair around his temples had been scorched black, and there were two obvious burn marks on his head that looked like the results of electrical shocks.

At that moment, I finally understood why Li Zi had been acting strangely.

That bastard Yang Yingzhe had subjected him to electroshock treatment.

He must have used it to throw Li Zi’s consciousness into confusion before brainwashing and controlling him.

“That damn bastard!”

I cursed Yang Yingzhe.

Before Li Zi could climb back to his feet, I rushed forward, pinned him to the ground, punched him squarely in the face, then delivered another strike to the back of his neck.

His eyes rolled shut, and he lost consciousness.

The dagger slipped from his hand, and I kicked it away toward the wall.

I turned toward the section of wall I had been knocking on earlier, recalling the exact spot where Li Zi had interrupted me.

Walking over, I pressed my flashlight against the wall and examined it carefully.

Beneath the faded, peeling wallpaper, there was indeed a tiny crack.

Without careful inspection, it would have been nearly impossible to notice.

So that was what Li Zi had been trying to stop me from discovering.

What Yang Yingzhe hadn’t realized was that his actions had only made the secret more obvious.

The crack was clearly part of a hidden door.

I grabbed the old wallpaper hanging above it and tried to pull the concealed door open.

Unfortunately, the wallpaper was far too fragile.

It tore off instantly, and I nearly fell backward.

At that moment, Yang Yingzhe’s figure appeared once more.

Positioning himself in front of the hidden door, he attempted to stop me again.

“Still refusing to give up?”

I cursed and instantly got to my feet, picking up the dagger Li Zi had been holding earlier.

“If you keep blocking me, I’ll scatter your soul into nothingness!”

As I spoke, I sliced open one of my fingers with the dagger.

Using spiritual power, I forced fresh blood from the wound and let it drip onto the blade.

The blood, infused with spiritual energy, glowed with a faint golden radiance, staining the dagger’s edge gold.

I looked coldly at the Yin spirit before me, raised the dagger, and charged.

As expected, he had no intention of confronting me head-on.

His goal was simply to stall for time and keep me from entering the secret room.

His figure flickered and vanished from sight once more.

Knowing what he was trying to do, I didn’t bother chasing him.

Instead, I walked to the wall, shoved the dagger into the crack, and used it as a lever to pry the hidden door open.

Creak…

With repeated efforts, the hidden door finally began to move.

Seeing this, Yang Yingzhe threw caution aside and rushed toward me.

Blue serpents of electricity burst from both his hands.

I could feel the very air in front of me becoming charged with electricity.

Immediately, I activated the Golden Light Incantation.

The golden light blocked every electric serpent and even blasted Yang Yingzhe backward.

“You’re not my opponent.”

I stared coldly at his soul.

Yang Yingzhe looked at the hidden door I had pried open, and a trace of despair appeared in his eyes.

His expression toward me was venomous and hateful.

Yet he seemed to have accepted the reality that he couldn’t defeat me and made no further attempt to attack.

“You mortals will never understand.”

A gloomy voice emerged from his throat.

I paused, looking at him in surprise, then glanced toward the secret room, debating whether I should simply ignore him and go inside.

“Everything I’ve done is so great that none of you ordinary fools could ever comprehend it!”

As he spoke, his confidence seemed to return.

I sneered.

“Great? You mean your electroshock therapy? Or… your soul-control techniques?”

“Shallow… far too shallow!”

Yang Yingzhe burst into laughter.

“Since I can’t stop you, then go inside. After you’ve seen what’s there, you’ll understand what I’ve spent my life building… why I abandoned my own body, and what I’ve truly been trying to accomplish.”

“And besides…”

He looked at me intently.

“I greatly admire your abilities. Perhaps we can work together and change this world.”

I stared at him and felt that the man was completely insane.

Then I remembered that he had, in fact, been the director of this psychiatric hospital.

Perhaps after spending so many years surrounded by patients, he had eventually lost his own sanity as well.

That wouldn’t be surprising at all.