Chapter 90

"Where did he finally go? To the man who carved the stone tablet."

"I don't know. He didn't have much time left. He said he wanted to go to the lakes around the Tree of Life because the weather there was nice."

Morley described the scenery there.

Zhou Zhi fell silent. That was where he had obtained protective clothing, nutrient solutions, and other equipment.

The sound of rain outside gradually increased.

"He has awakened, we have no time left."

Zhou Zhi's Adam's apple bobbed as he followed Mori's gaze outside. The black rain had started falling again, and the air was filled with a salty, rotten smell.

The wooden house can only barely block some of the rain, and some rainwater will drip down through the gaps.

What can we do?

“Eat Him, or He will eat us.”

Morley felt this was an impossible task; Koyatl was too weak to possibly devour that behemoth.

They are destined for destruction.

Even after leaving the temple, they remained troubled, for there was no solution on the stone tablet, despite having obtained the truth about this world.

Moreover, a decision must be made as soon as possible, because the more creatures covered by the rain, the stronger the power of the Eye of No Eye becomes.

Zhou Zhi couldn't find any way out; the difference in strength was too great, and it couldn't be made up for by skill.

Koyatl, as one of the main characters, was completely unaware; he merely keenly sensed the indignation in the hearts of humanity.

"What... happened?"

He is not used to communicating in this way and prefers physical contact.

"We need to find a way to eat that thing in the sky."

As Zhou Zhi lay in bed, he experienced despair for the first time. The still-naive young man once again felt the powerlessness and despair of humanity.

He thought of Tang Rong'an. In his memory, his mother always had a worried look on her face. She slept very poorly, and relied on sleeping pills to maintain her four or five hours of sleep each day.

Finally, one day, he hid the medicine bottle, and Tang Rong'an shed tears in her bedroom.

"I'm sorry, Mom, I... I was just worried about you."

“It’s not because of that, child. I’m crying because we are waging a war that we are destined to lose.”

"War?" He glanced at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window. "How could there be a war?"

Tang Rong'an chuckled softly: "Child, when you find that no matter how hard you try, there are no results, don't give up. Remember, courage and hope will lead us to tomorrow."

She looked out the window and suddenly realized that perhaps human efforts were meaningful; at least, many people could still appreciate the blue sky.

At this moment, listening to the sound of the wind and rain outside, Zhou Zhi understood why his mother was crying and why she was smiling again.

He brought back Yin Wenshan's notebook from the palace. The notebook was made of plant leaves and had crooked handwriting on it. In that instant, he suddenly realized something.

Yin Wenshan learned his fate from the prophet when he accepted the mission, but for him, it did not represent his own death, but rather the rebirth of humanity.

The prophet foretold that humanity would exist.

So he calmly faced the predetermined ending, and the moment he saw the stone slab, Zhou Zhi seemed to have taken the baton from Yin Wenshan.

Is he also part of the prophecy? If so, how should we proceed?

Like a student who has copied the answer but is struggling to figure out the steps, he pondered for a long time until three days later, when he found the first solution.

Accompanied by a cry that resounded through the sky, a figure flew in the air—Tucker, a divine bird whose entire body was engulfed in flames.

The sky flickered between light and darkness, and the whole world seemed to be shaking.

Zhou Zhi rode Koyatel and flew into the sky. He got closer and closer to the Eye Without Eyes and gradually saw its true form. Its outer layer was a black membrane, on which were wrapped red thread-like objects that looked like nerves. The rain flowed from under the eyeballs and fell into the air, then dispersed, like the tears of a god.

Tucker’s flames blazed up, only to be extinguished by the rain, which seemed to cling to him and began to corrode his fur and body.

The two uninvited guests quickly attracted the attention of the Eyeless Words. The red in its body was deeper, and just the thought of someone getting close caused a stinging pain in the brain and numbness in the body.

Zhou Zhi felt his eyeballs were hurting terribly, but as soon as he closed his eyes, his body would be enveloped in black water.

Koyatel beneath him also felt His power. Under His gaze, his wings gradually slowed down. The words of the Eyeless could catalyze the fear in the hearts of the pollutants. This unfamiliar emotion was like poison to the monsters, and they had almost no resistance to it.

Tucker let out a sharp cry, fear descending upon him for the first time since his birth. His wings unleashed a vast expanse of flame, which, together with the rain, formed a thick fog.

Countless tentacles extended from the surface of the enormous eyeball, trapping Tucker firmly, while sharp spikes pierced his body.

But the flame touched the surface of the Eyeless One, causing its skin to sizzle like meat on a grill.

The Eye Without Pupil is extremely fragile, and it has almost no effective means of attack or defense in reality.

Zhou Zhi felt himself falling.

"Will...die..."

Fear spread through Koyatl's heart, not only from the sight of the eyes, but also from the pain of death during the last period of turmoil.

Like flowers blooming and withering, the gods who make up this inner world fight each other in endless cycles, only to be reborn again under the world's nurturing.

"You won't die."

Zhou Zhi gritted his teeth. This was the best opportunity. The amount of pollutants controlled in the air was originally less than that on the ground. He was already injured, and retreating now would be a dead end.

He suddenly noticed that many black threads had appeared on Koyater's body. Was this also an enemy's ability?

But the instant he touched the silk thread, he grasped only air, and a peculiar emotion surged from his fingertips—Koyater's fear.

Humans are a fragile yet powerful species. Pollution brings not only death, but also forces that extend beyond the physical body.

Zhou Zhi's talent was born without him even realizing it; he sensed Koyater's emotions from those threads.

"I will protect you." It was a wonderful feeling; their hearts were connected, and for the first time, the feathered serpent possessed human emotions.

Rainwater slid off His body, and the sound of wind came again from beneath His wings.

Zhou Zhi turned his gaze to Wu Tong's words; he was about to make a crazy attempt.

He inserted those threads into His body.

His head ached terribly, as if a sharp blade was churning his brain. The pupilless eye struggled, and its power traveled along those lines into Zhou Zhi's brain.

Feeling that the best outcome after the beating was becoming an idiot, Zhou Zhi couldn't help but make a joke while enduring the excruciating pain in his brain.

Koyatl seized the opportunity to attack, countless sharp blades piercing his eyeballs, like a slow, agonizing death.

He even used a spare bit of his strength to protect the human on his back, thinking that if they defeated the monster, they would return to their former lives, watch the stars together, tell stories by the campfire, and everything would be restored to normal.

The final blow.

The moment the Eye Without Eyes shattered, the threads broke one by one, and Zhou Zhi's eyes were instantly covered with a layer of blood. His face was covered with tears and rain, and his body plummeted from the dome.

Koyatel spread its wings to catch the human body, and a huge protective shield unfolded to withstand the enormous impact. The flesh and blood of the Eyeless Words splattered onto the ground, becoming food for the pollutants controlled by Him.

They returned to the little cabin.

Koyater wanted to shrink his body, but in the instant he withdrew his power, he transformed back into a snake-man.

He saw his current appearance in the puddle: a fair face, a human body, and a long snake tail, with emerald green pupils that shimmered with a cold, hard light.

He became the most powerful being in this world.

But upon seeing the dying human, a warm liquid flowed from his eyes.

He pressed his hand to his heart, where there was no injury, but it hurt terribly, as if a sharp blade had pierced his chest.

Will you die?

His voice rang out, and in those stories, death meant disappearance.

"Maybe." The final attack nearly shattered Zhou Zhi's mental space, and he has now lost his five senses. Fortunately, the snake-man's behavior is unique, so he can still hear Koyater's words.

He was in pain all over his body, like a pieced-together porcelain doll, riddled with holes inside and out.

In the last second of his breath, Zhou Zhi recalled sitting at his desk, as if from another world.

His presence has vanished.

The sky suddenly darkened, and the pollutants that had escaped the rain began to scatter everywhere, but they could not escape the fate of being soaked to the bone. Fortunately, this rain was transparent.

Those were the tears of the feathered serpent.

“Sir, perhaps you can send him home.” Mori stepped forward. He thought of the man named Yin Wenshan, whose last wish was to go home, but unfortunately none of the snake people could do it.

"go home?"

"Yes, he doesn't belong here."

Now, Koyater can tear through space and fulfill the wishes of his deceased loved ones.

Koyater arrived at a nearby mountain where the scenery was beautiful.

Zhou Zhi's body was still soft and warm, as if he had just taken a nap.

Koyatl pressed his face against the chest, but there was no longer the familiar heartbeat.

wrong.

Something must be wrong.

Koyater wanted to revert to his original form and curl up in a human's arms, hoping that way he could hear them.

But no matter what I do, I can't go home.

Before the corpses of humans, He finally understood the meaning of love and death.

A massive vortex opened, and He heard bustling sounds from the other side—a world He had never encountered before.

He inserted his hand into his chest. There was a slight pain, just a little, as it penetrated the surface. Inside, there were no internal organs, only a black primordial core.

Part of the feathered serpent's power is related to life, so it took out the source core and placed it into a human's heart. The blood vessels that had begun to shrink quickly wrapped around it, the stagnant blood began to beat again, and life was rekindled.

He hesitated for a moment when he picked up Zhou Zhi.

But……

Even if there is an active nucleus, there is no soil suitable for human habitation here.

He placed the human into that passage and watched that familiar figure disappear into the darkness, along with a part of himself.

No living being knew about this secret funeral, only that the rain lasted exceptionally long.