Chapter 78

In the dragon world and ocean world that the small system has visited, Li Jue logs in in the copy adaptive form and changes back after successfully meeting with the big boss.

But in the hell world, the situation was reversed. It remained a human-shaped cub until the end of the previous plot, and then it transformed into a half-blood little angel.

The beautiful dream collapsed, and all the vivid NPCs returned to the appearance of skeletons and souls in hell. Even Ling Xi, an external staff member who was accidentally involved in the plot, accidentally triggered her original form, and finally took advantage of the chaos to transform into human form again.

Mephistopheles snapped his fingers, returning the entire sub-world to its original state, and the fluttering crows dispersed.

After landing back on the ground, Ling Xi held the little angel and put him away like a balloon, holding Li Jue's hand, being careful not to touch his wings.

The children all raised their heads and looked at the surroundings that were turned upside down.

The blood-red moon hung overhead, and the world fell into endless darkness.

The skeleton army obeyed the command, tremblingly raised their arm bones, moved their leg bones, and marched in uniform steps. The more than 200 bones in their bodies creaked like a symphony orchestra as they walked towards the only player in this plot.

The skeletons still maintained their original height, without any differences in appearance or clothing. They stood tall and terrifying, like silently moving tombstones.

The cubs held each other's hands tightly, relying only on each other in the blood and darkness.

They looked at the skeletons, at the flying and running skeletons of other animals, at the decorations that had been burned to ashes, at the stages and stalls that had become boiling crucibles.

Rather than fear, I feel more confused.

When everyone is in the afterlife, they seem out of place as living beings.

In such an inverted world, who is the alien who cannot be tolerated by the world?

The skeletons passed by, ignoring the two cubs who still had flesh and blood. It was unknown whether it was because they had lost their facial features and sight, or for some other reason.

The boys were so small that they were bumped around by the tall skeletons, like helpless duckweed.

There was a skeleton... a skeleton that didn't see them. It was tripped by a child and accidentally dropped a few bones. It lay on the ground searching for them.

Li Jue and Ling Xi both saw it.

Zizi wanted to help it pick it up, and the boy hesitated, but decided to go with him.

The bone was long and thin, shaped like a cylinder at one end and a triangle at the other, with a smooth surface.

It's the fibula.

The little cub picked it up like a twig and handed it to the skeleton, who was still groping around. He asked in a baby voice, "Excuse me, are you looking for this?"

The skeleton seemed to have only just noticed his presence, and was startled, dropping several more pieces of its skull of varying sizes.

Li Jue and Ling Xi hurriedly helped it pick up all the bones and return them.

"Thank you, thank you, kind skeleton..." After it finished putting itself together, it was surprised again. Fortunately, no bones fell off this time. "Hey, you are not skeletons, you are people! Oh, no, you are not people either..."

Li Jue and Ling Xi looked at each other, and the former's wings and tail moved unconsciously.

Can they still be considered human beings?

"Oh, little prince, it's you!" The skeleton held up his head. The voice that came from nowhere sounded young and respectful. "I am honored to meet your Highness in person!"

"I'm not 'Little Prince'." Li Jue corrected seriously, "I'm a baby!"

"Ah? Really?" Skeleton Caracalla circled around him twice, his tone firm, "My eyes can't be mistaken, you are the young prince!"

Ling Xi: "Do you have eyes?"

Skeleton: "That's not the point!"

Ayaki: "?"

Li Jue asked softly, "Who is the little prince?"

The skeleton replied: "It is you, His Highness the Son of God!"

Li Jue was confused: "What is the Son of God?"

"That's right..." The skeleton was about to explain when he was bumped from behind and woke up as if from a dream. "Sorry, my dear, I can't say any more to you. I have to get to work!"

Ayaka: "What job?"

Skeleton: "Reclaim that human's soul! Oh, forget it for now. If you go too late, Lord Hell will punish you..."

It covered its slightly loose, not fully reattached bones and walked away with a cackling sound.

Ling Xi watched it blend into the army of skeletons and soon couldn't tell who was who.

He suddenly felt an itch on his calf, and when he looked down, he saw a tail wrapped around it.

He looked at Li Jue. The little cub was also staring into the distance intently, seemingly unaware of his completely instinctive dependence.

Ling Xi laughed. It turned out that the tail and its owner were two different creatures.

"Xixi." Li Jue shook his hand, "What did that Uncle Bone mean?"

"Ah?" Ling Xi was still looking at his little devil tail and didn't come back to her senses for a moment.

Li Jue poked his cheek and thought, "What is 'Son of God'...? Does it look like the younger brother of the Holy Son?"

Ling Xi didn't know how to answer.

He discovered a very strange phenomenon: even the big boss who holds the highest authority in the sub-world is not aware of the top-secret information that Li Jue is the son of the Lord God, not to mention the small bosses and high-level NPCs; but some very low-level NPCs with almost no will of their own can recognize it.

Perhaps these most basic NPCs are the very texture and veins that make up infinite space. They recognize the blood of the gods as naturally as they recognize their own heartbeat and breathing.

Just as Ling Xi was racking her brains to figure out how to get away with it without lying or revealing the secret, a black figure suddenly jumped up from behind them, nimble and agile, like a flash of lightning or a shot arrow.

"Cat!" the little cub pointed excitedly.

The boy quickly covered his mouth: "Shh, shh..."

That giant skeleton as huge as a mountain, and that skin made of black smoke that is vaguely supported by a piece of paper, it doesn't look like a cat at all!

Ling Xi reacted quickly to stop Li Jue, but Hei Shou still heard the little guy's pointing and talking.

It paused and moved its ears.

Although his whole body is in the shape of a skeleton, the ears on his head are still furry.

Ling Xi's alarm bells rang, and just as she was about to grab Li Jue and run away, the black beast was much faster than her. It jumped back in front of them, and its bones made a rattling sound much louder than that of a human skeleton.

Li Jue's eyes curved as he welcomed its arrival: "Big cat!"

The black beast was not angry at this "derogatory name", but leaned over and licked the cub affectionately.

The skeleton actually has a tongue.

Is this really reasonable?

"I was wondering why you've disappeared since I summoned you. So you're just slacking off here." Another familiar voice rang out, "Meow Ling, that's not good."

Li Jue turned to look at the source of the voice, revealing her dimples: "Sister!"

He happily rushed over to his parents like he did every time he saw them. However, the little devil didn't open his arms to hug him like other parents did. Instead, he curled up Li Jue with his devil tail and pretended to be surprised: "Little Sweet Bean, how did you become like this?"

The cub's big eyes flickered, and its pair of wings with extremely contrasting features fluttered.

He couldn't make out the twists and turns in the boy's tone, and happily showed off his new form: "Sister, my son can be very hot!"

As he said this, he tried to break free from the restraint of the tail and perform a routine for Mephistopheles on the spot.

"No, no, your wings are falling off." Mephistopheles held him tighter and shook him up and down. "And, oh, I'm your brother now."

Li Jue tilted his head in confusion.

When I called my brother, he called me sister.

I now call her sister, and her brother calls him brother.

oops.

Mephisto couldn't explain to the kid why he had to pretend to be a maid - there wasn't really any particular need, it was just more fun this way, especially when teasing Wannian with his hot girl's body - so he simply ignored the topic.

He pointed at the black skeleton beast and asked Li Jue, "Are you afraid?"

Zizi shook his head.

Bone Beast is cute too!

Mephistopheles looked at the other boy again: "What about you?"

Ling Xi bit her lip and shook her head.

As long as Juejue likes it... well.

Mephistopheles stroked his chin, examining the bones of the black beast Caracalla. He then touched each section with his hands and said, "Forget it, baby, you'd better change back. It doesn't feel good like this. Oh, and make it smaller."

The black beast shook the bone on its tail and circled in place.

After the black smoke dissipated, its body size also shrank a lot, somewhere between a cat and a leopard; now it really became the "big cat" that Li Jue mentioned.

It is a soul-devouring beast raised by the devil of hell and the real owner of the name "Meow Ling". The maid that Mephisto incarnated before borrowed its name.

Its job is to help the little devil collect the souls of humans after they sign a contract, and it can switch freely between different sizes.

In the previous plot, Meowling was invisible most of the time and only appeared when Mephisto needed her.

It could see Xu Jiahang taking advantage of his owner, and it could also hear that stupid human being calling "Meow Ling" - its own name - in a disgusting voice, and it had long been annoyed with this guy.

When they first met that night at the lake behind the castle, Miaoling wanted to eat this person's soul directly, but unfortunately the master said that it was not time yet.

It wanted to scratch the dog a few times to teach it a lesson, but was stopped by its owner.

Hi, so angry.

The Soul Devouring Beast's ability to distinguish different souls is even better than that of the Hell Demon. It smelled this unique scent as early as when the small system first entered the sub-world.

Li Jue's soul is pure and sweet, like the first flower blooming in spring and the first snow falling on a winter night, unique in the infinite space of chaos and disorder.

Delicious souls are like catnip to Miaoling, which can drive her crazy. She has even done the rash act of disobeying her master's orders and eating the player first.

But besides the sweetness of the little cub's soul, it also has a gentle soothing effect. Meowling is not restless or impulsive at all. Instead, it becomes docile when approached, and is as calm as a big cat taking a nap in the sun or in a cardboard box.

The healing power of the small system is not only effective against big bosses.

The proud soul-devouring beast lowered its proud head and rubbed Li Jue.

Its fur was tough and stubbled, and Li Jue was tickled so much that he giggled and also scratched its curved goat horns.

Ayashi asked Mephisto: "How is that player?"

He will retain the memory of the plot in the copy, and has not forgotten the man he called his father during this period.

Mephisto curled his lips. "That's so boring! Actually, that old man realized something was wrong several times along the way, especially when he saw you and the baby. His mental state was extremely unstable. This is actually quite rare among players, but he didn't think about it any further. He didn't wake up until the deadline, so we can only consider it a failure."

Failed to clear the level?

Yes. No matter how realistic the environment or how complex the setting, it's still just a game.

Since it is a game, there will always be winners and losers.

The implications of a failure that involves risking one's life are self-evident.

Ling Xi was silent.

He was not really sad about Xu Jiahang's elimination, but he remembered those moments when they spent time together as father and son, remembered Xu Jiahang touching his head and saying "I'm very proud of you" with a smile in the study at night, and remembered the smile lines in the corners of the other's eyes every time he called him father.

He is not a human being born from the union of two parents, but a spirit hatched by heaven and earth. He has never had parents in the true sense, so he cherishes every opportunity to play the role of a son.

Whether it is the fishing boat captain and his wife in the ocean world, or the count here.

He really wouldn't feel sad for Xu Jiahang.

But he would mourn for him, he thought.

Demons have excellent insight into emotions. They identify their targets by detecting drastic fluctuations in emotions. Many low-level demons also feed on human emotions.

Mephistopheles noticed the child's sadness, but he offered no words of comfort. He was a cool and impressive villain.

The young man bent his index finger and tapped the boy's head, showing no mercy. As the boy covered his head with his hands in surprise, he called out to the cub and the beast who were still playing over there: "Okay, okay, it's getting late, can we go home now?"

go home?

Li Jue was in high spirits.

I haven’t been to Brother Meimei’s house yet!

But he thought of another person: "Where is Uncle Wanwan?"

Uncle and brother (sister?) have always been inseparable.

Mephistopheles pinched Xiao Lijue's cheek with a completely different strength from that used on Ling Xi: "You'll know when you get there."

*

How they came to Esteril City to attend the Autumn Festival and returned the same way.

Mephistopheles' "home," or rather, the base of the Hell Demon, is none other than Caster Castle.

However, the originally magnificent buildings became eerie and terrifying, as if emitting an endless curse under the reflection of the blood moon and the darkness.

Of the hundreds of people in the Custer family, only skeletons were left, and their movements made a crackling sound wherever they went.

Some of them still had a sense of service as servants, and they wandered around with kettles, but what they poured into the glasses was donated blood.

The flowers used to decorate the tables and walls have become twisted vines, which will show their fangs and claws when they see shadows. There is no doubt that they have the ability to eat people alive.

The osmanthus tree that could be seen from the window of the room where the Holy Son had previously stayed, its rugged branches had become human hands with peeling skin, pointing to the sky in pain, as if struggling to escape from this endless torture ground.

The corridors were inlaid with oil paintings that recorded the glorious history of the Custer family. The dignified people in the paintings were reduced to skeletons, and the beautiful oil paints were blurred into bloodstains.

Li Jue was held hand by Ling Xi and walked through every familiar yet unfamiliar corner.

At first, Ling Xi was worried that the little cub could not bear such a bloody and horrifying scene, but the system cub has an unusually strong mental strength. It is also possible that the Lord God weakened the display effects of all the scenery in Li Jue's eyes in order to protect his mind.

In short, Zizi did not show any abnormality. He greeted every skeleton servant as usual and even recognized Grandma Gwen who often took care of him. The latter had osteoporosis when she was "alive", so her caracalla sound was much louder than that of other skeletons.

At the chair at the end of the long dining table where Count Jiahang Xu Custer often sat, Wannian, who had taken off his butler uniform but still wore single-sided gold-rimmed glasses, was sitting there with his legs crossed, with headless ghost servants standing on either side.

Miaoling was already familiar with him and ran over with Lijue.

Wannian has a tiny cub in his left hand and a huge cub in his right hand, and he has to stroke both of them with their fur.

Mephistopheles walked over slowly. At first glance, he seemed as relaxed as before, but if you looked closely, you could see something strange.

The boy licked his lips and said, "Uncle, is your internship not going well?"

There is an agreement between Wannian and Mephistopheles, in which the latter helps the former become familiar with the work content of the big boss, helps him get promoted and become the king of the new world.

As for what Mephistopheles wants to do with himself - apart from the daily, meaningless flirting, the deeper purpose - nothing has been known for thousands of years.

In order to give Wannian more opportunities to practice, Mephistopheles asked him to handle the elimination process of player Xu Jiahang today.

When I recall the details, I still feel a little nauseous.

He himself is also a small boss under the command of the Sea Monster King. He leads the pirate group to do all kinds of evil on fishing boats, but those methods are nothing compared to those of the Hell Demon.

The little devil noticed that his face was turning pale, but he didn't sympathize with him: "Who told you not to let Miaoling help you?"

When the Soul Devourer swallows the player in one gulp, the soul will decompose on its own in its stomach and automatically enter Hell's recycling system; this is the simplest and most convenient way for the devil to fulfill the contract.

Wannian wanted to say something, but in the end he stopped himself and waved his hand.

Li Jue tugged at Wannian and said, "Uncle, look after the cub!"

As he spoke, he flapped his extra wings.

The weight and shape of angel wings and devil wings are different. He waved his wings vigorously, and the wings carried the cub into the air for a short distance, but then fell down because he lost control of his center of gravity.

Miaoling slid to catch the little angel and gently put him back to the ground.

Li Jue felt dizzy and several feathers fell off her angel wings, but she was not discouraged and did not forget to ask for praise: "Uncle, did you see it?"

Wannian smiled: "I saw it, it's really beautiful."

The praised little angel swung his tail, and even the halo above his head became brighter.

Ling Xi and Miao Ling protected Li Jue on the left and right while they practiced flying, and two adults watched from the side.

Mephistopheles leaned on the armrest of the chair, biting his lip and pondering for a moment: "Hey, uncle, do you think sweetheart's wings look familiar?"

Wannian's eyes followed Li Jue up and down, and he answered without even thinking: "Looks familiar."

The boy's rosy pupils shrank, and he subconsciously held his breath. This kind of nervous expression was rare for him, who was always laughing and scolding.

Wannian didn't notice his abnormality: "Aren't you and Miaoling like this?"

Mephisto was stunned for a moment before realizing that Wannian was talking about the black devil wings. He and Miaoling did have similar ones.

I don’t know about them, but black bat wings are a common symbol of all demons and creatures raised in hell.

The little devil's heart sank for a moment, but he still asked, "What about the other half?"

Wan Nian finally turned around and looked at him: "You mean white?"

Mephistopheles: "Yeah."

Wannian frowned, realizing that things were not simple: "Tsk, now that you mention it, it does seem quite familiar."

The boy's heart was in a knot again: "Where have I seen this before?"

"Here..." Wannian remembered, "Isn't this seagull feathers? I saw them every day when I was a pirate. They would come to the ship to steal bread, and I couldn't drive them away."

Mephistopheles: "..."

Mephistopheles: "Forget it."

Wannian seemed to have just noticed that something was wrong with him: "What's wrong?"

Disappointment weighed heavily on his stomach, and the boy said with a stern face, "Nothing."

This time Wannian was really surprised.

You know, in his impression, ever since Mephistopheles picked him up after the battle of the four concentric spirits, the evil little devil always liked to pester him, using all kinds of coquettish and silly tricks with his beautiful face, and he didn't use any means possible.

Whether she was being cute or flirting, she always had that sly and charming smile on her face towards him.

Even though he had always considered himself a female, and even though he didn't think he had any interest in such a young child, he had to admit that the little devil was really charming.

The boy always smiled at him, so he was not used to seeing him suddenly become so serious.

Wannian couldn't help but recall whether he had said or done anything wrong, and the conclusion was obvious: no.

The man wanted to sigh. Could it be that this child has reached the rebellious period that every boy must go through in his growth?

But is the little devil really as young as he looks, in his teens or twenties? He seemed to have mentioned that he was thousands or tens of thousands of years old, right?

In any case, Wannian looked around and realized that he was the only mature adult left here. Even if he had to respect his superiors, he had to put down his airs and coax them first.

He raised his elbow and nudged the sulking boy: "Are you angry?"

Mephistopheles brushed him away, his face tense: "No."

Wannian still wanted to hold him back: "But..."

The little devil raised his voice: "Did I say that?"

After saying that, he jumped off the chair angrily and left without looking back.

Wannian, who was left there, stared at him in a daze, unable to understand how he had offended the other party.

The two cubs and the beast playing over there also looked over because of Mephistopheles' anger.

Li Jue's tail nervously wrapped around Ling Xi's wrist, and he whispered, "What's wrong with Meimei brother?"

Wannian smiled bitterly, if only he knew what was going on.

He stood up, patted the cub's head and said comfortingly, "He's fine. You guys continue playing. I'll go over and take a look."

On the other side, Mephistopheles returned to the room and threw himself on the bed.

"Bed" is not an accurate word. It is a large animal skeleton similar to a triceratops, which is polished very finely. When it comes into contact with the devilish breath of the Lord of Hell, it will automatically open the neural spines on the spine, and then close again after he lies down.

The little devil lay on his side, curled up in his skeleton, thinking about Li Jue's white angel wings and thinking about his ignorance for thousands of years.

The more I think about it, the more upset I become, the more wronged I feel, and the angrier I become.

I'm angry at Wannian, and even more angry at myself.

Should have known that, didn't you?

That place is the "mist" - for millions of years, no one has ever left the "mist".

No matter how similar they are, they are just similar.

Wannian is not that person after all.

...That person will never come back.