Chapter 502 Moonlight
I felt as if concrete had been injected into all my muscles, making it difficult to move. My vision quickly became dark, and I had difficulty breathing.
Sandalwood, lying on the ground, was like a stiff corpse. Only through the details of his face covered in cold sweat, his blinking eyes, and his moving lips could one tell that he was still alive.
"This is...poison?" My vocal organs were clearly also severely affected.
The cartographer took out a small glass bottle from his pocket, which still contained a little bit of translucent liquid.
"I poisoned the food I had prepared earlier."
He spoke in a calm tone as if he were talking about something trivial, “Never let your guard down just because you are powerful—haven’t I told you that before?”
"I've clearly warned you that some treacherous survivors won't fight you fairly, but will sneak up behind you and take your life unexpectedly, yet you still don't know to be vigilant. Fire abilities are indeed powerful, but as long as you are still a mortal, even if you can destroy a city with a single blow, there are a thousand ways to make you lose."
"Originally, I planned to take you outside to deal with it, since the two children might be harmed if something went wrong. But since you are so careless, perhaps I didn't need to be so cautious from the beginning."
"You look like a dead person right now. You've been deprived of even the ability to think normally. You can't see your surroundings clearly, let alone tell which direction I'm in."
That's unlikely.
I genuinely didn't expect the food to be poisoned. Generally speaking, I shouldn't have let my guard down to such an extent that I would have no suspicion whatsoever about food served by a stranger in such a dangerous environment. However, my situation was unique.
Since becoming the Great Impermanence, I've become increasingly accustomed to seeing myself as a walking flame, rather than a human with flesh and blood. Previously, I would distinguish between my normal form and my fire elemental form, using the former for daily life and the latter for battle. But recently, I've gradually stopped making that distinction. The boundary between the two is becoming increasingly blurred in my mind.
Who would bother to suspect that someone might poison a flame?
The poisoning symptoms I'm experiencing right now are merely physiological reactions mimicking what my body is doing. Before, when I ate ice cream with Mazao, I'd get diarrhea; that was also a result of my body automatically mimicking the symptoms. It's only reasonable for this body to react this way under these circumstances—that's all.
Naturally, I will not be truly affected by this simulated physiological reaction; selectively blocking it is also possible.
The cartographer's wicked plan was doomed from the start.
More than retaliating, I want to know why he did this.
His explanation when he invited me and Sandalwood to become partners was entirely reasonable; it was an act of solidarity that would help us survive. But now, his attack on us, especially on me, a "Flame-Blessed Monk," is a completely disproportionate risk to reward.
Is there some apocalyptic common sense that I don't know?
Or... has he gone mad?
"What is your purpose?" I asked.
"You still have the strength to speak..." the cartographer looked at me.
"Why would you do something like this... Didn't you say you wanted us to be partners?" Sandalwood said haltingly, "You protected those two children, you didn't even abandon your crazed partner... but you poisoned us? Why..."
“I’m not doing this because I have a deep-seated hatred for you, so I don’t mind letting you die knowing why before I kill you. If you can die in peace after hearing this, that would be the best,” the cartographer said calmly. “First, let me clarify a misunderstanding: the madman upstairs is not my partner, and he’s not actually insane.”
"I captured that blessed cultivator from outside while he was seriously injured. Originally, I wanted the two children to eat him and complete their karmic transformation with me. Who knew he had a rather special immortality-type blessed power, I couldn't kill him no matter how I tried, and the flesh I cut off would turn into phantoms and disappear."
"If I can't effectively kill and devour him, I can't be considered a 'monster of karma,' nor can I accelerate my transformation into a demon. That being said, I can't let him go, so I had to drive a few nails into his brain tissue to prevent him from regaining his normal thinking ability, and then lock him up on the second floor."
"What..." Sandalwood exclaimed in disbelief.
Of the information the other party provided, he grasped the most crucial point: "You... want to become a karmic demon? How is that possible..."
In his view, the cartographer's claim might sound like a villain in a zombie movie suddenly revealing that his goal is actually "to become a zombie".
“Karmic demons don’t need to eat, nor do they have complex thoughts. They are pure beings that have escaped all afflictions.” The cartographer looked down at the sandalwood with cloudy eyes. “Is it strange to want to reach that state…?”
"Perhaps to you, a naive person who knows nothing of the apocalypse, this is an incomprehensible choice. But you haven't experienced as much unbearable despair as we have."
"Countless terrors and hunger, unreasonable calamities and deaths, repeated spiritual death under madness, not even being able to guarantee whether one will still be oneself when waking up tomorrow, wandering aimlessly like a living corpse... How can someone as ignorant as you understand our pain and troubles?"
"Rather than to suffer and struggle in hell as a living being, it is better to become a part of hell."
Sandalwood probably wanted to unleash a torrent of curses, but it lacked the strength. It could only mutter a curse under its breath: "If you want to become a monster so badly... then become one yourself! Don't drag others into this..."
As he spoke, he seemed to realize something and shut his mouth.
Based on the information I had gathered earlier, I had a general understanding of the cartographer's specific plan.
Admittedly, if one only wishes to become a demon, the ritual of "imitating a demon" is unnecessary. Simply find a secluded place, and under the influence of madness, one can gradually forget oneself and become a true monster.
But the cartographer clearly wanted more; he also planned to "save" the two children beside him.
He wanted his two children to become karmic demons along with him, beings who could escape all hunger, terror, and trouble.
Leaving the two children alone in the outside world could cause them to die at the hands of monsters before they can undergo karmic transformation. Therefore, it is necessary for the cartographer to capture survivors like Sandalwood from the outside world so that the two children can safely achieve karmic transformation under his supervision.
Perhaps killing those two children with his own hands was a way to free them from hell, but as survivors who have lived to this day, their will to live is unimaginable to us. It's also possible that they have accumulated a great deal of sunk costs in their struggle for survival, making death an increasingly difficult decision. Thus, the cartographer chose the path of becoming a demon.
Furthermore, I noticed that although Sandalwood's emotions were filled with fear and shock, it had not yet fallen into despair.
He seemed to have some kind of strategy in this desperate situation.
What kind of countermeasures could an ordinary person, dragged to the ground by poison, possibly come up with when facing a blessed monk like the cartographer? I couldn't help but feel intensely curious.
The two children stood silently in response to the cartographer's words, as if they had completely accepted the claims of the person who was protecting them.
"That's how it is, Sandalwood. I'm sorry, but please die," the cartographer said.
Sandalwood suddenly roared, "What... joke!"
As he spoke, he suddenly sprang up from the ground, as if the poison could not affect his movement.
This was truly unexpected. Although it was clear he hadn't given up hope, it was surprising that he could still move. And after getting up, he made a second unexpected move.
Instead of running away immediately, he grabbed a chair next to him and threw it at the cartographer.
Undoubtedly, this was a foolish decision. While he certainly couldn't escape directly, harming the cartographer was even more hopeless. His best course of action now was to kidnap the two children as hostages.
In fact, I could vaguely sense the intention to kidnap the two children from Tanxiang's emotions. But for some reason, the decisions he made in reality went against his will.
Faced with the thrown chair, the cartographer stood motionless, letting it hit him. The next instant, something incredible happened again. After contacting the cartographer, the chair, as if in reverse animation, struck Tanxiang's body with the same speed and trajectory.
Sandalwood was knocked to the ground, but he endured the pain and made another move. He clearly didn't bother analyzing the phenomenon that defied his common sense; after quickly getting up, he tried to escape towards the window. Then, for some reason, he changed direction and attacked the cartographer again.
His face was filled with astonishment as he punched the cartographer in the chest. The cartographer remained motionless like a wall, and then slowly extended his finger, pointing it towards Tanxiang's forehead.
At the same time, I also observed that the cartographer's soul underwent a strange change.
If a normal person's soul is white, and the cartographer's soul, as a survivor of the apocalypse, has been immersed in madness for years, is gray, then now his soul is like ink that has been splashed on it, quickly turning black.
He is determined to kill us, to eat our flesh, and he is putting it into practice. This deliberate inhumane act is likely also a ritualistic behavior that can have a negative impact on his soul.
The relationship between a blessed cultivator and a karmic demon is two sides of the same coin. Perhaps, if the person involved not only fails to restrain their thoughts and actions but also accelerates their transformation into a karmic demon, the process will advance dramatically, like jumping off a cliff, just as it is now.
The cartographer's face, covered in tiny scars, suddenly split open, gushing blood that soaked his face. And from all the tiny wounds, countless tiny eyes emerged, peering in different directions.
He is rapidly degenerating into a non-human form.
This is destined to be a one-way street; he can choose to accelerate his descent into a demonic being, but he cannot regress from a demonic being back to being human.
Upon seeing this, Tanxiang showed an expression of extreme panic, and then the cartographer's finger touched her forehead.
"--ah!!!"
Sandalwood let out a cry of extreme pain and collapsed to the ground as if it had been electrocuted.
I finally figured out what the cartographer had been doing.
The reason why Sandalwood made two foolish decisions in a row was not because he suddenly became stupid, but because the cartographer's "guiding power" was at work.
The cartographer changed the direction of Sandalwood's decision, turning it from "attacking the child" and "running away" into "attacking himself".
The reason the chair seemed to fly back upside down was because the illustrator reversed the direction of the chair's movement.
The ability to "guide" is far more versatile than he previously described.
As for what he's doing now...
“I slightly manipulated the direction of your blood and electrochemical signals,” the graphic artist said. “It’s not fatal yet, but it’s time for you to give up hope.”
He gestured to the boy and girl, "Children, kill him and eat his flesh."
The two children moved towards the sandalwood incense as if under control, and I understood why they could still obey despite their severe symptoms of madness—they must have been influenced by the force of directional guidance. Since this force can profoundly affect human psychological and physiological changes, it can probably also affect the pace of the toxin's onset. His snap of his fingers earlier, which triggered the poisoning symptoms in both me and the sandalwood incense, was probably for this reason.
Perhaps due to their resolute decision to kill, the two children's symptoms of madness seemed to have entered a new stage. Their eyes and the color of their souls became incredibly murky, as if they were on the verge of being corrupted by karmic demons.
As the two children walked toward the sandalwood incense, the cartographer's demonization progress seemed to have also entered a new stage.
He stretched out his arms toward the ceiling, his voice hoarse and barely human, uttering sounds that were hard to believe from his throat. Despite being indoors, a violent gale inexplicably arose. Tables and chairs were tossed about wildly by the rapidly increasing airflow, and windows shattered under the pressure.
Originally, his soul was at most at the level of "Dweller". As the process of his karmic transformation deepened, his soul was strengthened to the level of "Cheng" while it was constantly falling into corruption and turbidity.
Then, even the ceiling on the first floor and the building structure on the second floor of the safe house were torn apart by a mysterious force, turning into countless fragments that were swept into the roaring whirlwind.
The space above became very open, and the apocalyptic night sky was exposed to everyone's eyes without any obstruction.
The cartographer stared blankly at the endless darkness of the night sky, and the two children also looked up, as if they were gazing at something I could not see.
"Ah... the moonlight is so bright tonight..." the cartographer murmured, "I can't see anything..."
He slowly closed his human eyes, then lowered his head, and all the countless tiny eyes covering his face stared at me.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com