Chapter 28 Part 2

Dwarf Jim looked at the projected divine body. With just one glance, his head throbbed with splitting pain, and his HP and Mana bars plummeted.

Xia Xifeng hurriedly healed him. “It seems you can’t help directly. Then come with me and throw the corpses down.”

Dwarf Jim rubbed his head. “What’s the point of throwing the corpses down?”

Xia Xifeng said, “Just in case. What if It raises the corpses to fight us? If we throw the corpses down the cliff, even if It raises them, they’ll have to climb that cliff for a good while before reaching us.”

Dwarf Jim: “…” Somehow, Xia Xifeng’s words felt strange.

But on second thought, wasn’t it right?

Dwarf Jim nodded. “Alright, let’s go together. To prevent the corpses from rising right now, I’ll protect you.”

Xia Xifeng rolled up his sleeves. “Alright!”

Time to keep hauling corpses!

And… toss!

Since Nightingale was the mini-boss, Xia Xifeng was most worried about her. So only after he and Dwarf Jim had thrown all the withered corpses over the cliff did he go to loot her body and those she had controlled.

Xia Xifeng’s worry and caution were well-founded.

When Xia Xifeng touched the remains of the old woman, whom Dwarf Jim had shattered with his ultimate skill, a buzzing sound filled his head, and a vision appeared before his eyes.

(“Aha, I’ve earned some money again. I’ll buy ten potatoes!” The old woman, wearing a shawl made from a towel, smiled as she handed coins to the vendor.

The vendor smiled, packaged the potatoes for the old woman, and added a few onions for free. “When will you do a divination for me too? I heard your divinations are very accurate.”

The old woman shook her head. “My divinations are indeed very accurate, but they’re useless. When I tell people about my divinations, no matter how they struggle, they still end up moving towards the future I saw. Ah, it looks like I’ll have to move again.”

The vendor asked, “Why?”

The old woman smiled bitterly. “Because they can’t change the future, they blame me.”

The vendor asked again, “If you know this is how it ends, why do you still do divinations for others? Is it because you’re short on money?”

The old woman shook her head again. “No. I simply hope that one day, the future I divine can be changed. No matter how many times, I will always predict the futures I don’t wish to see. I hope for change.”)

Xia Xifeng stared at the old woman’s remains before him.

He had only been dazed for an instant; his movements didn’t pause in the slightest, as if nothing had happened.

The old woman’s remains still lay quietly on the ground, motionless, without any abnormality.

(The old woman said excitedly, “You truly know how to change the future? My prophecies can truly be changed?”

A beautifully dressed noblewoman hid her smiling red lips behind a feather fan. “Yes. This is a divine message. Come, come with me. When you meet my God, you’ll understand.”

The old woman hesitated. “Can I truly trust you? Which God do you believe in? Where is your church?”

The beautiful noblewoman smiled. “In dreams. Don’t be afraid…”

She extended a well-maintained hand. “Hold my hand, and sleep. When you awaken, you’ll know I haven’t deceived you. We’re in the city; just one nap, no danger.”

The old woman reached out her dry, bark-like hand. “I want to believe you. I want to save this city. There are many good people in this city; they live diligently, extending a helping hand to orphans and the elderly. They shouldn’t inexplicably die from a sudden, unforeseen plague.”

The beautiful noblewoman nodded. “You’re right. Let’s change it together.”

The old woman’s hand touched the beautiful noblewoman’s. A shadow shifted from the noblewoman’s hand into the old woman’s.

The old woman’s body instantly split into four pieces, just like the slaughtered Dwarves in the caravan.

Quickly, the shadow glued the remains back together. The old woman opened her eyes.

She asked, bewildered, “What happened to me?”)

Xia Xifeng picked up the old woman’s remains and threw them off the cliff.

He had tried burning the corpses before, but the withered bodies wouldn’t catch fire.

He couldn’t even let these bodies rest in peace within a dream.

What could he do?

Xia Xifeng then picked up the middle-aged man’s remains.

(“Witch! Stop!” The middle-aged man, clad in sturdy armor, charged at the beautiful noblewoman with his sword raised.

In an instant, he was dismembered.

Then, he rose again, respectfully bowing to the noblewoman, as if he were her guardian knight.

Before the noblewoman, a female knight, her body covered in multiple wounds, shouted with grief and fury.

Flames erupted from her body, burning herself to ashes.

The beautiful noblewoman’s expression instantly turned furious, and she kicked the ashes viciously.

The middle-aged man watched the scene before him woodenly, tears of blood seeping from the corners of his eyes, yet he did not weep.)

Xia Xifeng threw the middle-aged man’s remains off the cliff.

He remembered the middle-aged man once saying that his wife’s berry pie was exceptionally good.

The middle-aged man’s wife was also a city guard knight—a knight who made delicious berry pies.

Xia Xifeng then walked towards the two children.

The children’s bodies were relatively intact; he could carry them in his arms.

【”Mom! Dad!”

“Run! Take your sister and run!”

“Please, spare the children! They’re still young; they don’t understand anything.”

The beautiful noblewoman’s expression was fanatical. “It is they whom I need. They will surely be able to bear the God’s power and become vessels for the Divine Heir!”

The noblewoman commanded the middle-aged man and the old woman to seize the two children.

The two children didn’t die immediately. Instead, the noblewoman took them to a very luxurious place.

They became child prostitutes.】

Dwarf Jim couldn’t bear it. “Do we really have to throw them down too?”

Xia Xifeng said, “This isn’t reality; it’s just a dream, as you well know. They died long ago.”

Xia Xifeng released his hands.

Dwarf Jim closed his eyes in sorrow.

He hadn’t seen the visions Xia Xifeng saw, grieving purely because those two corpses were children.

Dwarf Jim was a very kind man. Not only did he love his own child dearly, but he was also very fond of children unrelated to him.

Children were so lovely. They came into the world knowing nothing, curiously exploring it, gradually dyed with the colors of this world.

The duty of adults was to protect the sights a child’s eyes beheld, ensuring they were all colors that brought them happiness and joy.

As for sorrow and despair, children would gradually come to understand them on their own as they grew up. There was no need to force them to grow up too early.

When Dwarf Jim returned home from a long journey to rest, he would serve as a teacher at the Dwarven school, telling Dwarven children about the places he had traveled and the sights he had seen.

He was renowned in his hometown as the most even-tempered Dwarf. Even if children pulled his beard, he wouldn’t get angry.

That was why Dwarf Jim, even knowing the children had long been dead, still grieved for them.

Xia Xifeng took several deep breaths, then walked before Nightingale, looking down from a height. “Stop pretending. I know you’re not dead.”

Xia Xifeng was merely bluffing Nightingale, yet Nightingale actually opened her eyes.

Dwarf Jim tensely shielded Xia Xifeng behind him.

Nightingale, lying on her back, propped herself up on all fours in reverse, like a spider.

Many shadows appeared behind her, supporting her stiff body as she “stood” up.

Xia Xifeng: 【Don’t get distracted. She hasn’t shown a red health bar; it’s probably just story progression. Even if she does show a red health bar, Jim can handle her.】

Qin Lang: 【Mn.】

He was filled with regret.

Reality differed from the game; he still wasn’t cautious enough.

Next time, he would ask Amuruo how to utterly annihilate someone, even within a dream.

Xia Xifeng watched the bizarre Nightingale. “You said they were all guilty and deserved these punishments. What crimes did they commit?”

A strange smile appeared on Nightingale’s face.

The same strange smile also appeared on the face of the Blood Moon’s projected divine body, which was fighting Qin Lang.

Curiosity was a prerequisite for temptation.

The moment the Blood Moon’s projected divine body smiled, Qin Lang’s blade grazed Its face.

And Xia Xifeng’s large hammer smashed into Nightingale’s face, slamming her into the ground before Qin Lang even moved.

“Although that face isn’t yours, don’t smile. Smiling makes me want to vomit.” Xia Xifeng stomped on the hammer, preventing Nightingale from getting up again.

In the visions he had seen, although there was always an extremely beautiful noblewoman, their appearances were different.

But Xia Xifeng was convinced that “they” were all the same person.

All were this “Nightingale.”

By the same logic, this “Nightingale” probably wasn’t the “complete her” either.

A favored servant of the Blood Moon wouldn’t die so easily.

As Xia Xifeng stepped on the hammer, visions appeared before his eyes again.

It was still the same town where the old woman, the middle-aged man, and the two children had lived.

This time, Xia Xifeng saw thugs and ruffians swindling and cheating, rough adventurers bullying the weak with their strength, and the filthy, disgusting deeds of high-and-mighty, outwardly glorious nobles and clergy behind the scenes.

“Nightingale” and the Blood Moon showed Xia Xifeng the evils of humanity.

Xia Xifeng blinked, and the visions dissipated. “And then?”

“Nightingale” didn’t open her mouth, but a voice entered Xia Xifeng’s ears.

That voice was cloyingly sweet, like a honey-dipped tongue gently licking the shell of his ear.

[They were so hideous, therefore they received divine punishment. Do you not believe they deserved to be punished?]

Xia Xifeng picked his ear. “And then?”

[They received divine punishment…]

Xia Xifeng said impatiently, “And then? I’m asking you, and then? Was your divine punishment about punishing evil and promoting good? After punishing evil and promoting good, did you re-establish a better order? Okay, no need to explain. I know you didn’t. Dogshit Gods are all like this: they grab one bad guy and scream with excitement, ‘Heavens, I’ve found a bad person here! Everyone in your city is guilty! Equally guilty! I shall punish you all!'”

Xia Xifeng lifted his foot off the hammer.

“This matter is also recorded in the Fengxian Prefecture chapter of Journey to the West. Seems like it’s the same everywhere, ancient or modern, Eastern or Western.”

The hammer in Xia Xifeng’s hand was replaced with the Spiked Club staff.

“But even though the Jade Emperor in the novel was muddle-headed and viewed mortals as ants, he never personally sent his underlings to specifically prey on kind-hearted ants. Pathetic piece of trash. Get lost.”

The staff sent “Nightingale” flying.

“I will find you.” Xia Xifeng watched the falling “Nightingale.” “Next time, I will truly kill you.”

He remembered every servant of the Blood Moon from the Doomsday Era.

He would find this “Nightingale.”

In a magnificent castle somewhere, a noblewoman awoke from a nightmare with a start.

She touched the cold sweat on her forehead but couldn’t recall what nightmare she’d had.

“Lost another dream-body given by the God? Ran into some powerful figure again?” The noblewoman pouted coquettishly. “Hmph, when my God descends, I’ll make sure to get payback for all the hardship I’ve endured.”

She stepped off the bed barefoot and walked into the bath in the adjacent room, soaking to dispel the mental fatigue.

The bath was shrouded in steam, the pool full of blood, beautiful as rubies.

She sighed contentedly and casually picked up a face, applying it to her own.

The dark circles under her eyes faded, and her skin became as soft and pink as a baby’s once more.

Within the dream, Xia Xifeng had thrown all the corpses off the cliff.

Qin Lang hadn’t been distracted, but the Blood Moon’s projected divine body had been distracted.

It confirmed that Xia Xifeng had been exposed to the illusions multiple times. Why had his spirit not wavered in the slightest? It could see no gap to invade.

Seeing a God’s power, even if not tempted, one should at least feel fear, right?

Fear was also a form of wavering. As long as a mortal’s spirit wavered, the God’s tendrils could seize the mortal’s soul.

But the look in Xia Xifeng’s eyes as he watched It wasn’t the reverent gaze one should have towards a God with the power of life and death over mortals.

His gaze was that of someone looking at a monster.