He attacked the wrong mountain (6-7)

Through the dirty, blurry glass, the malfunctioning signs outside flickered with highly saturated colors, while inside the hotel, loose faucets dripped water sparsely into the pool.

The peeling wallpaper revealed unidentified yellow-black stains, and the wet, sticky feeling underfoot caused people to unconsciously show expressions of disgust as they walked in.

A dim light gradually filled the room. The boy stood under the light, his skin so pale it looked unnatural. The strange liquid at his feet gave him goosebumps.

The table inside the room was covered in old water stains, and under the slanted light, you could see the marks of cigarette burns on the edges, as well as some strange scratches.

The boy took a step forward, and suddenly a huge serval rushed out from the half of the table hidden in the darkness, arching its body and letting out a sharp hiss at him, as if threatening him.

This reddish-brown serval is slender and agile. In the blink of an eye, it has already assumed an attack posture, making a gurgling sound in its throat.

The boy stared at the cat, slowly backing away, accidentally bumping into the exposed light tube and wires dangling in mid-air behind him, and looked up in fright.

Under the suspended light tube, her almost translucent pink short hair stood out even more.

"Is that all?" Su Ni took a deep breath: "Sister Liang has already contacted Erice."

“Of course,” a lazy male voice came from the deepest part of the room. “She will be useful.”

Su Ni suppressed her chilling wariness, glancing at the enormous serval out of the corner of her eye, and slowly backed away: "So, do you have a way? — To cure my illness. I've done everything you said... You promised to blow up the Shu family's spring last time, but you didn't. Never mind, it doesn't matter, just cure me first."

A faint, almost imperceptible laugh came from the shadows, and a strange, alluring fragrance filled the room, like cheap incense that was nauseating.

"Don't rush."

The man emerged from the shadows, his long, dark red hair cascading down his back. He had a smile in his eyes and was completely naked, his bare body covered in black tattoos from the neck down, a dense and disturbing sight.

The serval on the table purred, jumped to his feet, and rubbed its back against his calf.

Achini seemed devoid of any human shame, completely unconcerned about his naked body, and reached out to support his chin: "Bring me my pearl...".

Su Ni paused for a moment, clearly understanding who he was referring to by the pearl: "Didn't Lian say that she is not omniscient?"

"Are you afraid?" Achini didn't listen to his reasoning: "Afraid she'll kill you?"

Ever since he was taught a lesson by Shu Ningmiao last time, he has been hesitant to approach her. Su Ni was hit where it hurt by Achini. The night he gave Shu Ningmiao the Life Talisman, she was attacked. He wondered if she would blame him for it.

Whether it's questioning or threatening.

But Shu Ningmiao acted as if nothing had happened and never mentioned the Life Symbol again, which frightened him even more.

Achini crouched down and caught the serval that jumped into his arms. The serval's tail hung down smoothly, and in the dim light, the eyes of both the man and the cat glowed with a faint light as they looked at him.

“She is important,” Achini said slowly. “More important than anyone else. She is the key to changing the world, whether she is omniscient or not is irrelevant.”

"Then what do you expect me to do?" Su Ni lowered her voice: "Can I persuade her? Or can I beat her?"

Su Ni took another step back, frowning suspiciously: "You haven't fulfilled your promises yet, how can I trust you?"

"What did I promise you, about your illness?" Achini leaned forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, his fingertips twitching slightly.

Immediately, Su Ni turned her head in disbelief to look at his hand. A strange sensation surged down from the point of contact, seeping into every crevice of his joints, and a warmth arose out of nowhere.

He hadn't felt this kind of "warmth" for a long time. The monthly dialysis was draining his life, and it felt like only cold medicine was flowing in his blood.

It felt as if his body was being injected with something like "life force." At the same time, a strange smell entered his nostrils. In addition to the cheap sweetness, there was a lingering fishy smell and a familiar pungent odor.

Under the continuous surge of power, he subconsciously ignored the smell.

Achini withdrew his hand and gently blew on his fingertips: "How does it feel to be healthy? But it's only temporary."

Su Ni raised her hand in a daze, her slender white fingers regaining a rare healthy hue, making her look somewhat like a normal person.

He had assumed that Achini's promise to cure his genetic disease was due to some unknown technology stolen from the National Research Center, but he never expected it to be done with supernatural abilities.

However, none of Pigne's healing abilities can cure his illness, because he has no external injuries. How did Achini manage to do that?

Achini's actions, rather than healing, seem more like infusing his body with a kind of vitality.

He bit his lower lip, and after a long while, he finally said, "What exactly do you want to do?"

“I just want to save the world and stop Pigne from continuing to develop Pandora.” Achini’s fingertips sank into the soft fur of the serval in his arms. “Everyone who joins Prometheus thinks the same way.”

“I can’t beat her.” Su Ni turned her head away. “She’s not the kind of person who can be swayed by others. Without sufficient benefits, she would never join Prometheus.”

If Shu Ningmiao were to discover his deal with Prometheus and learn that he wanted to destroy the Shu family's Pandora's Well during this process, given her personality, she would definitely not let him off the hook.

“I know you’re a piece of trash.” Archini tilted his head and uttered sarcastic words. His eyes, which gleamed in the dim light, had an almost inhuman quality. “Someone will help you. You just need to wait.”

Su Ni lowered his head, the shadow cast by his wispy bangs obscuring his eyes, and he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

“You should know that your greatest value is your identity. As her ‘brother,’ that’s your only use.” Achini spoke bluntly and cruelly, without any regard for his feelings.

He lowered his head and touched Su Ni's chest with his fingertip. A physical flame ignited on Su Ni's chest from his fingertip, gradually transforming into a round-handled cross that hung on his chest.

Su Ni frowned, her long eyebrows furrowing. "I don't need this superpower item."

The "Life Symbol" was useless to him, and carrying it around would only expose him.

“It’s not for you to use.” Achini’s laughter carried a hint of malice. “It’s just a reminder not to forget death.”

“Don’t lose it again.” He tilted his head, his eyes almost identical to the serval in his arms, eager to hunt—wild and untamed, filled with a terrifying, malevolent aura: “If it leaves your body, then—bom…”

He snapped his fingers, making an explosion shape.

As he finished speaking, the flame burning in his chest gradually expanded, spreading from Achini's fingertips to his arms, and finally covering his entire body.

The humanoid flames fell to the ground from above, extinguishing completely, leaving only tiny sparks flying everywhere, and ashes drifting down onto the floor covered with thick grime.

Archenyi, holding the cat, disappeared from the room.

The man was warning him that he could never escape his identity as Prometheus.

Su Ni stood there for a while, composed herself, and stuffed the pendant back into her clothes.

Opening the door, the smell in the hallway outside was even more unbearable than inside.

From inside the thin wall came the screams and laughter of men and women, snoring, and the noise of knocking on the door. The smell of stir-fried food mixed with the smell of sweat, which was the smell he hated the most.

He finally managed to escape this awful place, and now he feels disgusted just looking at it.

At the end of the narrow aisle, the landlady, who was sitting there, looked over, tapped the ground with her cane to block Su Ni's path, and said with a look of disdain: "You haven't paid the room fee."

Su Ni frowned slightly: "I didn't book a room."

The proprietress scoffed, "How did you get in if you didn't open the door?"

Because it was Achini who let him in. Su Ni cursed Achini inwardly for choosing such a shabby hotel as the meeting place. He must have already been charged for the room, and now he was blocking her from leaving. It was clearly robbery.

This is Xindi, a place known for its simple and honest people.

Normally, Su Ni would not want to get entangled with these people, since all they wanted was money.

But today was different. He had never experienced such a relaxed body before and felt very energetic.

So this is what "health" feels like.

He had to search for so long to experience something that others were born with, even if only briefly.

The proprietress banged the stick with a strong voice, her face flushed with a healthy red; the burly, thick-waisted, and stout proprietress strode in with a menacing look, his belly piled high with fat.

"Trying to renege on your debt?"

The boss stood in front of him, his greasy, perfumed smell hitting his nose. The girl who had just been groped behind him looked terrified and ran away without looking back.

Such a person is living a healthy life, so why does he have to suffer?

Su Ni looked up at the fat, big-eared boss, reached out and grabbed his wrist, and smiled gently, her beauty and purity like that of an angel.

Enraged by his laughter, the boss angrily shook off his hand, grabbed an iron bar next to him, and smashed it hard on the boy's head.

The proprietress covered her mouth, a hint of fear appearing in her eyes.

Su Ni did not flinch, her blood-red, rabbit-like eyes coldly watching the man swing his stick down.

The next second, a loud "bang" echoed in the corridor. The man who swung the bat's head slammed into the ground like a deflated balloon, half of it caved in. Bright red blood and yellowish-white brain matter splattered from the shattered skull, emitting a foul, hot odor.

The man remained frozen in that position, trembling, gripping the stick tightly in his hand, his fingers almost digging into it.

Su Ni brushed the blood-splattered stray hairs aside. Although the injury had been transferred, it was impossible for such a deep wound to be transferred in time, and he was still somewhat injured on his head.

But he felt no pain, and naturally he wasn't afraid. Blood blurred his vision, but the pressure on his body vanished, and he felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration. He didn't care about his bleeding forehead at all; all he could see was pleasure and excitement.

"You...you are a superhuman."

The proprietress shivered, her face turning deathly pale as she backed away. Su Ni immediately turned her gaze to her.

The beautiful face was half covered in blood, expressionless, and stared at her for a long time before revealing a terrifying smile.

The proprietress trembled uncontrollably with fear. She pulled the deformed metal box out of the table and threw it on the ground: "Do you want money? There's money in here. Take it, take it... We'll never do this again. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just wanted to send my daughter to study elsewhere. We really didn't hurt anyone."

She blurted out "we," only to suddenly realize that her husband was dead. She couldn't muster any grief, and just kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Su Ni gazed at her intently, a hint of tenderness appearing in her innocent yet cruel red eyes.

He squatted down, took the woman's hand, pressed it against his face, and said with an incongruous expression, "You love her very much? That's wonderful."

Su Jia was different. She gave birth to him but never cared about him. Aside from the pretense she put on for others, Su Ni knew better than anyone that he was just a stepping stone for her mother to marry into the Shu family.

In his mother's eyes, his illness actually had value.

The more pain he was in, the more his father felt sorry for him—but he didn't want the Shu family, nor did he want that cheap love; all he wanted was... a healthy body.

The more one suppresses their emotions, the more pronounced the urge to destroy everything becomes.

If only his beloved mother could love him like that, if only his beloved sister could see him, but unfortunately, fate never grants our wishes.

Looking at Su Ni's beautiful face so closely, the woman felt a chill run down her spine.

"I'm so jealous..."

Su Ni chuckled softly as he stood up. Without using his powers, he grabbed the woman by the neck and slowly lifted her up. The woman made a gurgling sound in her throat, her head tilted to one side, her body sank down, and she stopped moving.

——

The passage provided by the church allows entry into the new land without going through multiple security checks; only identity verification is required.

All the way to the destination, there are specially hired staff from the church to handle communication and negotiations, and you don't even need to get out of the car along the way.

Shu Ningmiao felt that the transportation used by the Yangsong Church was a bit too cramped. Although it was generally no different from a regular car, the car was decorated with a religious atmosphere. White cloths were draped around the sides, and strong herbal incense was burning inside. There was a fixed bottle on the small table between the seats. There were no flowers in it, but water was sloshing around.

Shi Yu explained, "This is holy water."

"What can it do?" Shu Ningmiao glanced at the bottle. "Exorcise vampires?"

“If you believe in vampires,” Shi Yu said, looking down at the open children’s book on her lap, “then you’ll probably believe this works.”

Shu Ningmiao couldn't stand the closed, simple, and square environment that resembled a coffin, but the "clean" decorations of the Church of Reverence were clearly very much to Shi Yu's liking.

She agreed to accompany Shi Yu to Xindi, not to discuss with him in the car whether vampires really exist.

Pushing aside the layers of white cloth around her, Shu Ningmiao wanted to see what the new land looked like outside the window, but was surprised to find that the outside window was actually nailed shut with another layer of black cloth.

"Is nailing the windows shut a custom?" Shu Ningmiao put down the white cloth.

Shi Yu looked over: "Only the carriages traveling between Penelope and the new land are like this."

"Why?"

“Because the outside world isn’t beautiful,” Shi Yu said calmly. “For my mother and the others, it was even terrifying. The church felt that the filth on the roadside shouldn’t taint the eyes of noble people, so they nailed the area around the car shut.”

Therefore, she said that charity is also a business for the church.

Since they were there to do good deeds and didn't want to see suffering, Shu Ningmiao didn't think much of it, but she didn't say anything, since she usually didn't even do charity work.

Shu Ningmiao leaned back in her seat and gestured to the church staff to take down the black cloth covering the outside.

"Take it...take it off?"

The church members looked troubled, but Shu Ningmiao was really difficult to deal with.

She was bossy and imperious, as if she would leave immediately if he didn't comply. Shi Yu, who was standing next to her, didn't react, so he had no choice but to slink away and stop the car to remove the black cloth covering the outside.

He couldn't help but think to himself that the daughter-in-law chosen by the Shi family was really too arrogant, domineering, and difficult to deal with.

The young master of the Shi family is such a quiet person. After marriage, he will be completely controlled by her, and she will make all the decisions, big and small.

Even in the brief moment the car door was left open, the smell outside instantly overwhelmed the incense; a stench mixed with a pungent odor, like burning garbage that had been sitting for months.

Shi Yu frowned and tilted his head slightly.

The church members came up and apologized repeatedly, then continued driving. The coverings outside the car had been removed. Shu Ningmiao lifted the white cloth and looked again, discovering that it was a narrow street.

The streets were piled with dark garbage, and occasionally one or two figures could be seen lying on the ground, whether asleep or dead. The buildings nearby were old, and in many places the steel bars of the buildings were exposed, making them look precarious.

Because the road is sometimes blocked by litter and people lying on the ground, church members have to stop and get out of their cars from time to time to clear the way.

When he got back on the bus, he was sweating profusely with anxiety, wondering why there were so many people on this road today.

"Who are those people?" Shu Ningmiao suddenly nodded and asked him.

He followed Shu Ningmiao's gaze and looked out of the car. A group of young men in uniforms were carrying out several corpses covered with white sheets.

Shu Ningmiao knew that it was not unusual for the body to be in Xindi, but logically speaking, Xindi should not have any law enforcement agencies. These young men were wearing uniform dark blue-black uniforms and had old-fashioned guns and riot shields on their bodies, making them look like regular guards.

The church member slapped his thigh: "They're from the Self-Defense Force, a group of young people from New Territories who spontaneously organized themselves. They usually take on some murder cases—no wonder there are so many people today."

The Self-Defense Forces blocked the road, forcing him to get out of the car again. When he came back in a while later, he was particularly silent.

What's happening outside?

Shu Ningmiao had been observing the bodies that the Self-Defense Forces were moving out. During this time, they had moved out about 100 bodies and were still moving more. What caused such a large number of deaths?

The church member hesitated for a moment before meeting her eyes and saying, "Last night, everyone in this hotel died inexplicably."

Shu Ningmiao paused for a moment: "No reason? —No cause of death either?"

"We don't know the reason, but it's quite strange." The church members, who had just seen the horrific scene inside the hotel, were still shaken: "It looks like the owner smashed his own head with an iron bar, and there were no other people's fingerprints on the iron bar. What kind of strange thing is this?"

Shu Ningmiao raised an eyebrow slightly, but did not ask any further questions.

The car drove all the way to the backyard of the orphanage before stopping. Normally, the people in the car would not be allowed to see the true appearance of the new land during the entire journey. This is the kindness that the Church of Blessing has specially tailored for the wealthy.

Shi Yu slowly walked down the street, holding his fairy tale book. The real orphanage was not as beautiful as the fairy tale. As soon as Shu Ningmiao got out of the car, she saw two dirty children from head to toe in the backyard.

Once inside, the children sitting in the orphanage's lobby weren't much better off. They all had snot running down their faces and wore clothes that were neither new nor new. It was clear that they had tried their best to clean up, but the best and worst they were were just different in terms of whether they were wearing clothes or not.

Shi Yu sat in one of the seats, and it was clear that his expression was very forced. If it weren't for Madame Grana's request, Shi Yu would probably never have come to a place like this, even if it meant death.

Shu Ningmiao stood at a distance in a corner of the lobby, observing the structure of the orphanage, without going over.

Although the orphanage was built with investment from the Church of Singing, there is nothing related to the Church inside, not even a single statue.

She also thought that at least one scripture passage had to be recited every morning before meals could be served, so that every child who had spent the money donated by believers would have the potential to become the next believer.

It seems much better than she imagined.

It's no wonder that the protagonist, Miss Erici, grew up in an orphanage under the Church of Praise, yet seemed to know nothing about the church.

"Miaomiao." Shi Yu rarely called her that, and looked at her gently: "Don't stand there, come and sit with me."

He was truly determined to drag her down with him. Shu Ningmiao sat beside him, watching him read the words from the fairy tale book word by word, without ever looking up.

The children around them all had blank expressions, like a group of hypnotized winter melons, and the only sound they could hear was the occasional sniffling.

Such a simple fairy tale book seems difficult for these children to understand.

Writing and language are not difficult.

But they may not understand that the little rabbit in the story can eat fresh apples, they may not understand what the high-end restaurant the little rabbit goes to is, and they may not understand what the terminal in the story looks like.

The church staff were still flattering Shi Yu, saying he spoke very well and would definitely be a responsible and good father in the future.

He glanced meaningfully at Shu Ningmiao.

"You really want to have his child?" Noticing the gaze, Shu Ningmiao raised her eyelids and glanced at the man, then turned the conversation directly to Shi Yu: "Are you willing?"

“No.” Shi Yu pulled herself out of the story, her smile unchanged: “Thank you for asking for my opinion.”

The man was ridiculed in turn, and he was extremely embarrassed. He shrank back, his face turning red and then black, and retreated to the back without saying another word.

The children scattered in a flurry, skipping and hopping in one direction, their faces instantly becoming lively. The front door was open, and someone slowly entered the hall, bringing a gentle breeze with them.

The children gathered around the newcomer, very excited, as if they had seen family, and reached out to hug him affectionately.

Shu Ningmiao's gaze fell on the man. He was some distance away from her, his slender body slightly bent down, gently stroking the children's heads.

He stood sideways, back to the light shining from the door, half of his figure hidden in the shadows. His face was flawless, and her figure was quietly reflected in his soft, dark pupils. His long hair cascaded naturally down the back of his spotless white robe, and the mole between his eyebrows made him appear almost unbelievably sacred.

The man rubbed the tops of each child's head before passing through the main hall and walking towards them.

The church member bowed somewhat awkwardly, never daring to look up at his face: "Your Holiness the Holy Son."

"Go out." Wei Shengqianheng glanced at him indifferently, then turned his gaze back to Shu Ningmiao, remaining silent for a moment.

The children gathered around again, much more lively than before. They were completely different from when Shi Yu was reading stories. They could even greet people now, and one little girl even gently tugged at Shu Ningmiao's skirt, stammering as she praised her for being so pretty.

It's like having parents suddenly giving you a sense of security.

Wei Shengqianheng patted the girl's head.

Shi Yu closed the book and took the initiative to say, "It's been a long time, Your Majesty."