Every thought in the minds of the Alexander family was now laid bare before Louis's eyes.
He sneered and spoke bluntly. "I can get out. But before that, you need to give me everything that I deserve. Whatever John ate, whatever he spent, how much money was poured into him from childhood to now—I want all of it!"
John was the pampered young master of the Alexander family. The amount of money the family had poured into him since childhood was no joke, enough to support an ordinary family for a lifetime. And now, that sum would certainly be of great help to Louis in stockpiling supplies in preparation for the apocalypse.
Mr. Alexander was so angry that he laughed instead. Pointing at Louis, he said, "Good, very good. You've finally shown your true colors, haven't you? In the end, all you care about is money."
As soon as he finished speaking, he ordered people to prepare everything.
The money they had used to raise John was indeed enormous, but to the Alexander family, it was not a serious problem.
At this moment, Mrs. Alexander suddenly experienced a surge of maternal instinct. After all, Louis was still the child she had carried for ten months and given birth to, the one who truly shared the Alexander bloodline.
But just as she was about to speak, John, who was standing to the side, suddenly swayed.
Mrs. Alexander panicked and hurriedly supported him, full of concern. "John, are you all right? Lucen, didn't I tell you to take John back to his room?"
John's face was pale as paper. He looked at Mrs. Alexander and gave a weak smile. "I'm fine, Mom. I know Louis is your biological son. You don't need to worry about me."
Seeing the child she had cherished for nearly seventeen years showing such an expression, how could Mrs. Alexander possibly endure it? She had long since flung Louis hundreds of miles away in her heart, leaving only John's frail figure in her eyes.
She hugged John tightly and murmured, "No. You are my son, John."
Watching the scene before him, Louis felt only nausea.
In his previous life, Mrs. Alexander had always been like this as well. At moments of despair, she would show him a trace of affection. Just when he thought he had finally been chosen, she would let him see that her choice was forever and always John. He was merely a tool for her to satisfy her desire to play the savior to someone.
The butler worked quickly. Before long, an astronomical sum had been transferred into Louis's account, real cash in hand.
In exchange, he had to sign an agreement severing all blood relations with the Alexander family. No matter what happened in the future, the Alexander family would no longer bear any legal responsibility for Louis.
John put on a weak front, yet his eyes never left Louis's hand as he pressed down his fingerprint and signed his name. His heart pounded with uncontrollable excitement.
So it was finally over. Finally, there would be no one left who could threaten his position. From the very beginning, things should have been like this. Louis was nothing more than a sewer rat. In that case, he should remain forever beneath the sewers, never dreaming of sharing the same sky as him!
He was the young master of the Alexander family, and he always would be. As for Louis, he should just go back to wherever he came from.
So what if he wasn't their biological child? Their parents and older brother loved only him anyway. Blood ties meant nothing more than this.
Louis swiftly finished taking care of everything, and the butler brought over his luggage as well.
He took a look. Clearly, he had been back here for nearly a month, yet his belongings amounted to nothing more than a few old sets of clothes. The Alexander family truly had not cared in the slightest about how their biological son was living.
The corner of Louis's lips curled faintly, and he suddenly found his past self laughably pathetic.
Without the slightest hesitation, he dragged his suitcase and left. He did not want to waste another word on these people. Even standing in the same place and breathing the same air as them was enough to make him feel disgusted.
Mrs. Alexander had not expected Louis to leave so decisively. A trace of guilt inevitably flashed through her eyes.
At that moment, John suddenly cried out, "Louis, don't go. I can leave instead. This is your home!"
As he spoke, he seemed about to run after him, but Mrs. Alexander, still overwhelmed with pity, immediately pulled him back.
Louis had not even disappeared from sight yet, but words of disdain and condemnation had already risen behind him, clearly reaching his ears.
He would never compare to John, would forever only be fit to live beneath the sewers, forever be a country bumpkin unfit to appear on any proper stage…
Those voices gradually faded away. The sun still shone overhead, and everything suddenly felt real.
In his previous life, he had never been able to escape this house. No matter how much he suffered, no matter how he struggled. Now, everything came with unbelievable ease. That so-called Will of the World could no longer do anything to him.
According to what was written in that book, one month later John would awaken his abilities, obtaining a vast storage space and the power of "prophecy." One month after that would be the day the apocalypse descended.
That meant he still had two months to prepare for everything.
Louis returned to his old house, the place where he had once suffered endless abuse at the hands of his own parents.
From childhood, he had always been starved, leaving his body frail and sickly, so thin it was pitiful. Back when the elderly neighbor was still alive, he could at least get a piece of bread. But after she passed away, he could only rummage through trash bins, surviving on leftovers from the couple's drinking sprees.
Because of this, he was always mocked and bullied. With this body, he couldn't fight back at all. Until he finished elementary school, his parents said they had no more money, so he had to drop out and start learning how to earn a living to support himself. Yet no matter how much he saved, in the end it would all be extorted by his own parents to fund their gambling.
A year ago, that couple finally disappeared. No one knew whether it was because their debts had grown too large and they fled together, or whether they were caught by loan sharks and taken away to have their organs sold.
From then on, Louis's life became a little easier, even though he was still harassed by the couple's creditors… and then he was found and brought back by the Alexander family.
He had thought better days had finally arrived, only to realize it was merely the beginning of a new nightmare.
He hated it. Of course he hated it. If he hadn't been switched at birth, the one who should have received all that love ought to have been him. Why did he have to live such a miserable life? People with no blood ties to him didn't love him, and even his biological parents denied him.
It was truly a tragedy.
Louis suddenly let out a small laugh. Looking back on those past events, it felt as though several lifetimes had already passed.
He looked at the mirror before him. Reflected there was a young man with a haggard appearance, rough skin, sparse and withered hair, slightly clouded eyes. The features that should have been sharp were instead veiled in an air of insecurity and hardship that could not be erased.
He then looked down at his hands. A pair of hands worn by labor, calluses and scars covering his palms, as if constantly reminding him where he belonged.
It was worlds apart from his self in his previous life. Louis had been the Dark God for so long that suddenly returning to this state left him feeling somewhat unaccustomed.
He sat down on the bed, closed his eyes, and sensed the energy of this world. He discovered that it was so weak and scarce it was pitiful, yet it also seemed chaotic, as if something were on the verge of exploding.
He couldn't help but recall the contents of that book.
When the apocalypse arrived, many people turned into zombies, yet many others awakened, becoming espers with various abilities. Perhaps that energy was precisely what drove this world toward the apocalypse, and the so-called end of the world might merely be the beginning of a new one.
Perhaps when that time came, he could try cultivating again. For now, however, it seemed somewhat hopeless.
Louis reached into his pocket again and took out a large, pitch-black thumb ring. Under his gaze, the strange golden patterns upon it flickered faintly before dimming again, as if they were nothing more than ordinary decorations.
Ever since returning to this world, Louis had sensed that this thumb ring had followed him.
This was an item he had obtained at the very bottom of hell after slaughtering one hundred and twenty thousand demon troops and ascending the throne as the Dark God.
In that world, it had merely been a symbol of power and had never displayed any particularly remarkable function.
But that earlier fluctuation of energy…
Louis's eyes flickered. With a slight turn of his thoughts, in the very next instant, he vanished from where he stood.