Chapter 72: The Devil’s Sacrifice (22p2)
After the triumphant return ceremony, the female soldier was called back by the battalion commander and began to prepare for the evening’s celebration banquet. She followed the team to the centermost building of [God-Slaying City].
But the female soldier “accidentally” fell behind, and, carrying a medical kit, she wandered through this magnificent palace as if she were lost.
She looked very purposeful.
Like a nimble and curious little deer, the female soldier stopped and gently pushed open a half-closed door.
“Who?”
A rough, low, and hoarse voice sounded coldly.
The female soldier immediately fell to the ground in alarm and said, trembling, “I… I’m sorry, leader. I didn’t mean to… I’m a medic, preparing to welcome the warriors at the celebration banquet.”
“A medic?”
The leader’s tone rose slightly, and then he paused and, taking the opportunity, commanded, “Just in time. Come in and help me bandage my wounds.”
The female soldier lowered her head. “Yes, leader.”
Her alarmed words and expression were at odds with her eyes, which were completely calm. She “tremblingly” held the medical kit and entered the room.
The man was lying on a wide sofa, woven from the scales of a fish-like fallen creature. His bulging muscles were reflecting a layer of light, like a magnificent, towering statue of a god.
The large and small wounds on his body had already healed.
What was there to bandage? Wasn’t he just making things difficult for her?
Yu Jiao thought.
It seemed the female soldier thought so too.
A hint of speechlessness flashed in her lowered eyes. But on her face, she was respectfully kneeling on the carpet and, from the medical kit, she took out a sterilized cloth and gently wiped the clotted blood from his body.
During this time, the female soldier never looked up, and her gaze did not wander.
Her pale white, slender hands were slowly moving over his bronze body. Though she was not making any presumptuous moves, it had an unknown, alluring quality.
“What’s your name?” the leader asked nonchalantly.
Yu Jiao heard the female soldier answer, “Reporting, leader—”
“—My name is Yu Jiao.”
“…”
The leader let out an unreadable laugh.
He took a sip of wine, and his rough voice was like a scorching sand. He said in a heavy voice, “Lift your face.”
The female soldier complied, cautiously lowering her eyes, and lifted her head.
“…”
A strange silence fell in the room.
After a long moment, a cold scoff was like a bursting spark:
“It seems the Divine Moon Moth has created another batch of fakes.”
Yu Jiao felt the female soldier blink in puzzlement.
The next moment, the man drank all the wine, threw the glass down, and then, without any restraint, he seized the female soldier’s chin.
“…”
Her low vision was suddenly met by a pair of indifferent, strange eyes.
The black sclera was densely covered with tiny compound eyes, and the ice-like, snow-like white pupils were staring at her coldly.
At the same time, Yu Jiao was shocked to see that the two fingers that were holding the female soldier’s chin not only had sharp, strange claws, but the center of the palm was as if inlaid with a gem, and it was actually an eyeball.
A vibrant, dazzling red, like the brightest red crystal.
“…”
In the instant her heart was pierced by the long claws, Yu Jiao seemed to hear a distant, sharp system warning.
【…Pain… blocked… …ending…】
***
Yu Jiao suddenly opened her eyes.
She was panting heavily.
…The feeling of dying in the dream was too real.
Though there was no pain, the feeling of her life, slipping away, irretrievably, was too desperate.
Yu Jiao rubbed her temples, got up, and poured a glass of cold water. After she had drunk it, her still-pounding heart gradually calmed.
After her head had cleared a little, Yu Jiao began to think about the meaning of this dream.
The man in the dream was clearly Yuan Cang, as the leader of the Resistance.
The Resistance in the dream had a significantly higher level of technology and living standards. They had actually built a city in the sky, far from the threat of the fallen creatures and the pollution, and they could even go out to hunt high-level fallen creatures for food from time to time.
But for some reason, there was a woman who looked exactly like her…
Yu Jiao looked down at the black line on her ankle, kicked her foot, and said impatiently, “Hey, was that your doing?”
“…”
It was playing dead.
Yu Jiao didn’t bother with it anymore, just got dressed and, with a blank face, opened the door.
Yuan Cang, who had been guarding the door, immediately stood up and looked at her with a longing expression.
—It was clear that he had been standing guard here, silently, for as long as she had been asleep.
Yu Jiao was not moved at all. Instead, she said coldly, “Hold out your hand.”
Yuan Cang was taken aback. When her expression grew impatient, he finally, awkwardly, held out his left hand. Yu Jiao sneered, passed his left hand, and grabbed the right hand, which had grown fingers and sharp claws. She took off the glove and began to examine it—
A cold laugh.
Yu Jiao lifted her eyelids and raised an eyebrow sarcastically. “What a devoted lover. To have your beloved’s eye embedded in your palm. You must have a deep, affectionate gaze from time to time, to reminisce about the past, right?”
“…”
Yuan Cang opened his lips, his face pale, like a frost-bitten crop, withered and pitiful.
A look of wanting to pull his hand back but not daring to.
Regardless of his struggle, Yu Jiao coldly threw his stiff hand back and turned to leave.
“Yu Jiao…”
Yuan Cang wanted to grab her hand. “Let me explain… She and I…”
Just then, a distant cry of alarm was heard. “Something’s happened!”
The two of them, who had been struggling, paused.
“Leader! Something terrible has happened! Xiao Ling… she… she’s aberrated!”
***
By the time Yu Jiao reached the shore, panting, she saw the little girl, standing alone on a reef. Her thin, small figure was as if it would be swept away by the churning, black waves the next moment.
The survivors of the settlement were standing not far away, their hearts filled with anxiety.
“Xiao Ling, come back!”
“There’s still a lot of [sweet dew] in the base. You’ll be alright.”
“Stay away from the sea, Xiao Ling!”
Yuan Cang was about to go and pull her back.
“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll jump.”
Xiao Ling shouted without looking back. As her words fell, she slowly took off her hood.
Her short hair, reaching her ears, fell out strand by strand. Her bare skin was layered with scales. She turned her head, and her once-jade-like, lovely little face aberrated into that of a fish before everyone’s eyes.
Xiao Ling curled her lips and gave the crowd a faint, eerie smile.
The noisy sounds gradually faded.
For a moment, there was only the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, filled with desperation.
—Everyone who had lived on the surface for many years knew that at this stage, there was no hope.
A sharp dorsal fin suddenly pierced her clothes. Her long, slender limbs gradually degenerated, becoming short, and blue webs grew between her five fingers.
In just a few seconds, Xiao Ling had transformed from a human into a fallen creature.
The waves churned again. The little girl, now a fish-like fallen creature, fell backward into the endless, dark, turbid sea—and in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
A person’s disappearance.
Without a sound.
…
“Leader, this seems to be her suicide note…”
The guard at the city gate handed Yuan Cang a wrinkled piece of paper, with a bouquet of snow-white flowers for the afterlife.
On the paper was a neat, childish handwriting, with many typos and pinyin. It was so cute, yet it wrote the most desperate words:
[To my dear leader, the grandmas and grandpas, the aunts and uncles, and the sisters and brothers of the settlement]
[And of course, the beautiful fairy sister]
[I’m sorry. I might be the bad child in the book. I lied to everyone… I deliberately didn’t drink the sweet dew that was given to me.]
[Because brother left on the last Wood Dark Night. The bottom of the sea must be very cold and lonely. I want to go and keep him company.]
[Goodbye.]
“…”
The sea breeze, with its salty smell, was stinging.
A dark, eternal night.
“…”
The people seemed to be used to the departure of their companions. They followed the procedure and lit candles for Xiao Ling, sang a dirge, offered flowers for the afterlife, and observed a moment of silence.
But habit could not diminish the grief. It could only add a new wound to the numb, scarred stone tablet.
Yuan Cang was holding the wrinkled suicide note and sitting alone on the reef, his back looking lonely and solemn, like a monument, carved with the names of the dead.
Yu Jiao stopped a few steps away and said with her eyes lowered, “As long as there is [sweet dew], [tinder], and [shining gold], things like this will happen less often, right?”
Yuan Cang paused and turned his head, his gaze as heavy as the sea that embraced death behind him.
Before he could speak, Yu Jiao turned her face away and said coolly:
“I am willing to return to the Apocalypse Cult. On Metal Sun Day, let them exchange the ransom list you’ve prepared.”
With that, Yu Jiao turned and left without looking at his reaction.
Her back was as thin as a pale piece of paper, and her clothes were flying in the night wind. The slender, light person was firmly planted on the ground.
Yu Jiao paused and said without looking back, “Before that, I only have one request. I hope the leader of the Chow Chow can grant it.”
…
Yu Jiao’s last request was to take a flying ship and travel around the surface on her own before Metal Sun Day.
She wanted to see this world.
Under Yuan Cang’s bitter, astringent gaze, Yu Jiao set off alone.
She knew that Yuan Cang would definitely not be at ease—whether it was about her safety, or whether she would take the opportunity to escape—he had been carefully following her, his figure hidden by mimicry.
But Yu Jiao never looked back.
On this journey, she saw the [Dome Earth Vein], the [Meteor Lava], the [Boundless Wilderness], and the [Vast Spring], which she had only heard of in the stories of the Holy Bible.
Though these divine gifts were already in decline, they still had a shocking greatness.
Just like the [Tree of Life], which covered the sky and the sun, and was gradually withering.
It was an unforgettable sight, and it made one believe in the existence of the gods. Only He could have created such a magnificent landscape.
Yu Jiao also saw the so-called “sewage outlet” of the Divine Kingdom.
It was an enormous pipeline. From time to time, a train would arrive, expelling civilians who had undergone aberration, or who couldn’t pay their taxes, or who couldn’t afford [sweet dew].
Yu Jiao saw some civilians with steadfast faith, unwilling to be absorbed by the Resistance, wandering near the “sewage outlet,” refusing to leave.
Some had organized self-defense units within the desolate, dilapidated survivor bases of the Divine Kingdom.
Many others had fully aberrated into fallen creatures—or had become food for them.
Yu Jiao saw the white bones, gnawed clean by the fallen creatures.
Yu Jiao saw the people who were killing each other for the lack of supplies.
Yu Jiao saw the people who were trying to lure her down from the flying ship, to take it for themselves.
…
When the sky brightened, Yu Jiao returned to the settlement, covered in frost.
—Metal Sun Day had arrived. It was time for her to return to the Apocalypse Cult.
At this moment, smoke was rising from the chimneys in the settlement. Children were laughing and playing. The elderly were sitting together, weaving traps and chatting. The young female and male warriors were tightening their armor, preparing to go out and hunt. The middle-aged aunts and uncles were working in a small field.
In such a peaceful atmosphere, Yu Jiao couldn’t help but ask the system, “Is this really just a game?”
The system was silent for a moment.
【This is the god’s miniature garden.】
A glint flashed in Yu Jiao’s eyes, and a term came to her mind:
Sandplay therapy.
It means “to create a garden in a sandbox.”
It is a psychological therapy method that allows the patient to freely place and combine toys in a sandbox, to re-create their multi-dimensional real life, and to integrate their unconscious. It is a method that promotes personality change from a psychological level.*
“So even gods need psychotherapy.”
Yu Jiao curled her lip. “Then what am I? A mouse, thrown into a miniature garden?”
【…】
The system paused, and its once-sweet voice was now calm and certain.
【No, you are a butterfly.】
…
As Yu Jiao was washing up, the system asked:
【Host, are you really going back to the cult? Is it for these survivors?】
Yu Jiao paused, then snorted, her words stubborn. “I’m no saint. I’m just going back for the capture.”
—After being distracted for so long, it was time to get back to business.
“What’s the mission progress now?”
After leaving the Apocalypse Cult, Yu Jiao had turned off the system notifications.
【Main Quest: Uncover the secrets hidden by the cult and survive (Progress: 68%)】
…It was already at 68.
Yu Jiao was surprised, and a thought stirred in her mind:
“Speaking of which, you really can’t reveal the affection level?”
The system stammered:
【Because it’s not easy to calculate… For example, Nie Hongshen. You have… multiple identities in front of him. One is Yu Jiao, and the other is Miss Butterfly.】
【The affection levels are all different.】
【This… contradiction and strangeness will affect the system’s operating data, so it’s not easy to show.】
Yu Jiao cut it off. “Couldn’t you just summarize it in the last world? If you don’t give me an affection level hint, how can I determine the mission progress?”
The system vaguely gave a sentence: 【The situation in this world is more complicated.】
And she couldn’t get anything more out of it.
Yu Jiao had long known that the system was hiding something, and she had some guesses, but this guy was too tight-lipped.
She could only say, “Then you can at least tell me who has the lowest affection level, right? So I can target the key points and break through them one by one.”
This reason was irrefutable.
The system held it in for a long time and gave an unexpected answer:
【Helan Duo】
Yu Jiao: “?”
…It’s actually this kid?
Yu Jiao had thought it would be Nie Hongshen or Yu Fenghe.
After all, one of them was a deep schemer and had had the least contact with her, and the other hated her for some reason. They both looked like the key points.
As expected… squinty-eyed guys are all perverts.
He smiled the most gently, said the nicest things, but his score was the lowest.
Ptooey!
Yu Jiao shot to her feet and sneered, “It’s time to go back to the Apocalypse.”