After the cube disappeared, Alex, Clear, Terry, and the others slumped on the ground, their bodies still trembling incessantly from lingering fear.
Suddenly, Yang Yi cast his gaze toward a patch of empty, scorched earth not far away.
There seemed to be nothing there, only the ground that had been repeatedly ravaged by fire and explosions.
Yet, a strange smile suddenly surfaced on Yang Yi's face.
He spoke to the empty space, as if addressing an invisible audience.
"You've been enjoying the show for quite a while now. Was it fun?"
"Now that the play is over, isn't it time for you to take the stage?"
The survivors followed his gaze, their faces full of bewilderment and confusion.
There was clearly nothing there.
However, no one present except Yang Yi could see that above the scorched earth, a blurry, distorted shadow composed of peculiar information was trembling at an extremely high frequency.
An indescribable sense of terror was seeping out from the dark mass.
It was none other than the conceptual entity of "Death"—the very being that had triggered all the chain disasters and was willing to flip the board just to obliterate everyone.
The shadow wanted to flee.
It tried to reintegrate into the rules of the world and become formless once more.
However, an invisible force had already locked it firmly in place.
The smile on Yang Yi's face grew wider.
"Trying to run?"
The next second, he reached out his right hand.
His arm instantly became ethereal, as if piercing through an invisible dimensional membrane, grabbing directly into the seemingly empty void.
"Ah—!!!"
A miserable shriek full of agony rang out from the void.
The sound acted directly on the soul, causing Clear and the others to instantly suffer splitting headaches as they all clutched their heads.
Yang Yi yanked his hand back from the void.
A physical entity was forcefully dragged out from the conceptual layer of nothingness, tumbling wretchedly into the mud before everyone.
Upon seeing clearly what had been pulled out, everyone froze.
It was not the scythe-wielding skeleton they had imagined, nor was it some terrifying monster.
It was merely a ragged old Black man, trembling all over like a leaf in the wind.
He curled up on the ground, shivering as he looked at the figure slowly walking toward him.
Under Yang Yi's cold, indifferent gaze, the psychological defenses of this "Death"—who had once stood high above, toying with the fates of all living things—instantly collapsed.
Babbling incoherently, he confessed everything.
"Don't... don't kill me! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"
"I... I was originally a slave during the Civil War..."
"After I died, my soul accidentally merged with an... an object called the 'Death List'..."
The old man trembled, his voice thick with sobs.
"I didn't want to disappear... I didn't want my consciousness to be erased by that thing..."
"So I had to constantly... constantly follow the order on the list, writing down all kinds of 'accidents' to harvest the souls that were supposed to die..."
"Only by doing this could I maintain my existence... Only then could I survive..."
He pointed at Clear and the others, his face filled with remorse and fear.
"This time... it was supposed to be just a routine operation..."
"But... but your appearance completely disrupted its rules! That's why it went berserk!"
"It lost control on its own! It really has nothing to do with me!"
The truth was finally revealed.
Within just a few seconds, the expressions on Clear, Alex, and Terry's faces shifted from despair to bewilderment, and finally turned into pure rage.
The terror they had experienced.
Their friends who had died tragically.
All the hellish torment they had endured.
It was all caused by this old Black man in front of them!
A seething fury flared up in their chests, and they charged straight at the old man.
Yang Yi simply watched quietly, making no move to stop them.
"You bastard!!!"
Alex's eyes were bloodshot as he lunged at the old man who had once filled him with boundless dread, but now only inspired absolute wrath.
Clear and Terry followed closely behind.
Tears streaming down their faces, they channeled all their pent-up fear and anger into punches and kicks, viciously venting it all on this "Death."
For a time, the sounds of the beating, mixed with the old man's agonized wails, echoed across the dead silent ruins.
A long while later, it wasn't until the old Black man was gasping for his last breaths that the three of them, having vented all their emotions, finally stopped, panting heavily.
Yang Yi slowly stepped forward.
He raised his hand and gently tapped each of their foreheads.
All their terrifying memories of supernatural phenomena rapidly faded into the background.
In the end, only a vague impression remained in their minds.
Yang Yi then snapped his fingers, and a taxi appeared out of thin air on the nearby road.
"Get in. Go home and get a good night's sleep."
"When you wake up tomorrow, everything will be back to normal."
The three exchanged dazed glances before mechanically walking toward the taxi, which eventually disappeared into the night.
The scene returned to silence once more.
Yang Yi turned around and looked at the old "Death" man, who had been beaten to the brink of death and was curled up on the ground, groaning continuously.
He reached out and made a grasping motion in the air toward the old man.
The old man's body instantly turned into specks of black light, dissipating into the air.
A constantly twisting black soul orb, containing the rule of "Death," appeared in Yang Yi's hand.
He casually made a copy of it, then tossed the orb to Tomie beside him.
"A little snack for you."
Tomie caught it, a blissful smile blooming on her face.
She opened her small mouth and swallowed the orb whole, letting out a sound of pure delight from her throat.
With that, the incident sparked by "Death" was brought to a complete close.
Yang Yi and his group returned to the Batmobile.
"That's it?"
Bart seemed a bit unsatisfied, wanting more.
"Why was Death an old Black guy? Is this for political correctness?!"
"Besides, we haven't played enough yet."
Megan nodded vigorously beside him in agreement.
Yang Yi glanced at the two little ones through the rearview mirror and chuckled.
"Don't worry."
"I promise the next place will be even more fun than here."
Afterward, the group went on to visit places like Crystal Lake and Silent Hill.
...
Sometime later.
On a remote and quiet mountain road, a dilapidated RV was driving along at a leisurely pace.
Inside the vehicle, five energetic college students were excitedly discussing their upcoming vacation at a cabin in the woods.
One of them—a burly, muscular blond guy who looked remarkably like Thor—was patting his chest, guaranteeing that everyone would have the time of their lives on this trip.
No one noticed.
On the roof of this battered RV, two figures were sitting side by side in complete silence.
Yang Yi leaned back leisurely, letting the mountain breeze blow through his hair.
Tomie, like a lazy cat, rested her head gently on his shoulder, a faint, contented smile on her face.
As for Miko, she had already headed home a few days prior to celebrate her mother's birthday.