Chapter 76: The Devil’s Sacrifice (26p1)
Yu Jiao had just opened her eyes when she shot up and jumped out of the coffin—lest her petty, dead husband’s corpse reanimate and take revenge.
Before she left, Yu Jiao looked back at the dead man’s face and couldn’t help but think: Even though I didn’t see Yu Fenghe’s reaction, I can guess it must have been spectacular.
But when she was completely in the light, she realized something was wrong.
Just like in that dark, silent space, all her gold ornaments were gone. Her light memorial service dress was split down the middle, and a long, thin wound stretched from the center of her chest to her abdomen.
None of that was a problem. The main point was her neck.
There was a golden choker.
It was a perfect fit, wrapped around her long neck, shining with a golden light. It seemed to be carved with strange patterns, and it felt very ominous to the touch.
Yu Jiao frowned, her fingertips caressing the carvings on the choker.
This thing, in her eyes, was completely a pet’s name tag, a sign of Yu Fenghe’s malice, and an unknown danger. But in the eyes of the uninformed, it had a holy, mysterious, and magical power.
Just as she’d expected, the long-waiting followers began to cheer.
“The Madam is out—”
“She has returned with the will of God!”
Even the disheveled Yu Jiao, in the eyes of the many fanatics, had become a mysterious, brilliant divine messenger.
She frowned slightly, her eyes half-closed. She held one hand to her chest, barely holding the split memorial service dress together. Her posture was not at all awkward or pathetic, but very graceful and proper.
The shining golden choker cast a bright, soft reflection on her contemplative face, and the crimson blood on her pale white body added a touch of tragic beauty.
No matter from which angle one looked, it was like a portrait of a saintess, holding her heart. Holy, compassionate, and emotionless.
The devout followers were prostrated before this divine glory, kneeling in a vast expanse, crying out to the heavens.
“My God has once again sent down his will! The form of the [Heart of the Dome] has changed.”
“The scepter… has become the choker on the Madam’s body!”
“But what… what does my Lord mean by this?”
In this fanatical atmosphere, an agile figure leaped onto the high platform. Yuan Cang took off his outer robe and draped it over her tattered clothes.
“You’re injured?”
A scorching heat enveloped her. Yu Jiao pushed him away without a shred of mercy, her eyes straight ahead, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, “Isn’t this something that was bound to happen? Did the all-powerful leader of the Chow Chow not expect this?”
“…”
Yuan Cang’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
His bitter, astringent gaze left her terrifying wound and landed on her cold profile. Though she was barely clothed, her skin torn and bleeding, her sharp expression had a proud, unyielding quality.
—Even in such a desperate situation, she was unwilling to accept even a sliver of his goodwill.
Yu Jiao ignored him and walked straight down the steps.
Fu Sheng, with a keen sense of timing, came up to her and draped a wide, long scarf over her.
“…”
Yu Jiao’s figure gradually grew distant. The bitterness in Yuan Cang’s eyes faded and was replaced by a painful struggle.
His suppressed gasps were mixed with the harsh sound of his sharp teeth grinding. His chest heaved, and the blue veins on his forehead bulged. The black sclera of his eyes were covered in fine bumps and hollows… After a long moment, he calmed down, and a pair of insect-like compound eyes, with an inhuman coldness, locked onto her beautiful, slender back.
***
Yu Jiao walked through the numerous fanatical gazes and watched with cold eyes as they made all sorts of ridiculous guesses about the choker that the [Heart of the Dome] had turned into.
Though the name [Heart of the Dome] had the word “heart” in it, it was not actually obtained from the “Heart Temple” that Yu Bingci had mentioned, but was the essence of the [Dome Earth Vein], the most precious kind of [shining gold].
Just like the [Seed of Life], which was borne by the [Tree of Life] during the Wood Sun Day memorial service.
It was said that the essence of these divine landforms was a medium for the gods to convey their will, a bridge between the gods and their followers.
After the death of the gods’ spokesman—the cult leader—it would play an important role.
How to analyze the will of the gods from the simple change in the object’s form was the main job of the eleven deacons.
The red-robed deacons were whispering, guessing at the will of the gods. The white-robed followers were eagerly waiting. Even the foreign guests were excitedly whispering to each other.
“Perhaps it means ‘return’? Meaning our God is about to awaken and return?”
“Then why only on the neck? The word ‘neck’ corresponds to ‘pure’ and ‘quiet’, and also to the ‘scripture’ of the Holy Bible. According to chapter thirty-seven of the New Testament, ‘The Silence of All Things and the Purification of Filth’—”
“No, no, no. I think it’s ‘restraint’. Our God must be condemning our unrestrained indulgence and pleasure. He wants us to restrain our desires.”
“The Grand Deacon is right!”
Yu Jiao thought sarcastically: At present, the only effect of this choker is probably to prevent the wound on my neck from healing.
With that thought, the wound, which had not yet healed, was indeed chafed and festered again. A crimson bead of blood was hanging on the edge of the choker, about to fall.
“What do you think, Lord Helan?” a deacon asked softly.
Helan Duo’s gaze, like a fleeting dragonfly, lightly landed on her, then quickly moved away.
Even with just a moment of eye contact, his clear, cool gaze seemed tainted by the piercing blood. A decadent, dark gloom spread.
He had his back to Yu Jiao, and he stood, tall and jade-like, facing the expectant followers. He said in a loud voice:
“Your analyses are all correct. Just like these statues of the gods, although the scenery we see from different angles is different, what we see is what we get. That is our only, great, true God…”
After listening to a few sentences, Yu Jiao turned away, bored, leaving the hypocritical, exaggerated words behind.
The energetic followers, on the other hand, took Helan Duo’s explanation as a golden rule and, in unison, repeated it, accompanied by chanting and dancing, and they were immersed in a new round of pathological ritual. So not many people cared if she stayed or left.
Yu Jiao rubbed her brow.
…It seemed that every time she came out of the coffin, her body and mind would be very tired.
She barely exchanged a look with Yu Bingci and Jiao Baishuang, and then, with Fu Sheng’s help, she returned to her room.
“…”
In the vast space, the sound of chanting was like a dense net.
Helan Duo stood quietly in this roaring net, like a decadent, un-worshipped statue, his glaze peeling, his faith draining away.
He lowered his eyes and stared at the drop of blood on the ground for a long time.
That was the only vibrant color in the pale white world.
…
The steam was rising, and the smoke was swirling.
Yu Jiao took off all her clothes, leaving only the unremovable choker, and stepped naked into the bathroom.
She had been worried that the wound would worsen if it came into contact with water, but the moment she entered the bathroom, she suddenly smelled a faint, fragrant, medicinal scent, and the water in the bathtub was actually a light green.
A thought stirred in her mind. “eleven, did you prepare a medicinal bath?”
The dense white mist blurred the blue light, making it look gentle.
eleven’s characteristic voice sounded, “Yes, Madam. After analyzing your recent physical condition, I have selected the most suitable medicinal materials for this medicinal bath. I have added painkillers and hemostatic drugs. Please rest assured.”
This AI butler was really considerate.
Yu Jiao slowly sank into the pool and couldn’t help but let out a comfortable sigh, as if all the pores on her body had opened, and her fatigue had been swept away.
She leaned against the bathtub and closed her eyes in thought—
She had just offended her dead husband badly. With his vengeful personality, Yu Fenghe might do something annoying while she was asleep.
At that thought, Yu Jiao scooped up a handful of water and said, as if by chance:
“eleven, I haven’t been sleeping well recently. It’s probably because I’ve been exposed to the surface for too long. Do you have any way to calm my nerves? For example…”
“Reciting the Holy Bible?” she tested.
—In the last dream, eleven seemed to have the ability to restrain Yu Fenghe.
“Alright, Madam.”
eleven said gently, “I can play a classic exorcism passage from the Old Testament for you. To avoid the sound of the reading disturbing your sleep, I will use a holographic projection to surround you.”
This sounded very similar to the “Holy Bible cage” that had trapped Yu Fenghe in the dream—one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Now it had become her protective shield.
Yu Jiao picked up a round bubble in a good mood.
The swaying, colorful bubble reflected her figure. As eleven spoke, the scattered blue light was like a light gauze, gracefully enveloping her.
“Please rest assured, Madam.”
eleven paused, and the program-generated, warm baritone was very certain:
“You will definitely have a peaceful sleep.”
…
As it had said, Yu Jiao slept very soundly that night.
When she woke up, Metal Sun Day had already passed, as short as a cooled, molten gold.
It was now 2:00 on Metal Sun Night.
The Apocalypse Cult was still a bright white. Only during the assembly ceremony, which was held every eleven hours, would the lights be turned off. In the darkness, they would either recite, exorcise, or make a sacrifice.
As the bishop’s wife, Yu Jiao did not need to participate, but this time, she asked Fu Sheng for a set of the lowest-level cult robes, the wide, white robes of a first-rank gatekeeper.
When the assembly ceremony began, under Fu Sheng’s hesitant gaze, she changed into the cult robes and, in the darkness, brazenly mixed into the ranks of the followers.
Of course, Fu Sheng was not so easy to talk to. Yu Jiao had now broken with Nie Hongshen and the Divine Moon Moth, and Fu Sheng had no reason to listen to her anymore. But with just one sentence, Yu Jiao had made her obediently help.
“I will get the experimental data for [Z0]. Consider it a return for your previous favor… and also a clean break with Nie, with the sir—”
When she said this, Yu Jiao closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and uttered two sorrowful words, “A clean break.”
A look of a difficult, bitter, white flower.
As expected, Fu Sheng was moved.
***