Chapter 1355: Mama is a God! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]
"Be careful, Shenlu!"
Shen Tang was holding a bloody, mangled head in his hand.
The head was mostly deformed and sunken, with bulging eyeballs hanging out of their sockets, a truly terrifying sight. If the maid were here, and took a closer look, she might recognize a few traces of familiarity. Wasn't this head the very one belonging to that messenger?
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a loud, long whale song echoed through the sky.
In an instant, the phantom of a giant bow-backed whale silently appeared in the sky. In the blink of an eye, it solidified, its flippers gracefully swaying in the waves, deftly deflecting even more falling boulders. The maid, witnessing this, stared in disbelief for a long time, lying motionless amidst the ruins. Until she heard a scream from the crowded refugees: "My son—"
"Please, please save my son—"
"Stop pushing!"
The woman's shrill voice was quickly swallowed up by the noisy environment.
The maid, suppressing her discomfort, glanced in the direction of the sound.
Just one glance was enough to make my limbs go weak.
A woman was being pushed forward by the crowd, her hand desperately trying to grasp a child not far away. The child, though young, looked like a teenager. Amidst the chaos, he neither cried nor made a fuss, nor did he offer the woman any response.
The child couldn't respond either.
His entire face was crushed and bruised, blood flowing from his seven orifices. His outstretched hand was raised high in a twisted and grotesque posture. His corpse moved forward with the slowly crawling crowd, rising and falling, sinking and floating. Until another explosion occurred, and the crowd panicked and squeezed again, the boy finally "sank" down, trampled into a pulp by countless feet.
A perfectly healthy person was pushed and crushed to death.
Some refugees in the crowd shouted, "Stop pushing!" but to little avail. Screams echoed throughout the crowd as everyone frantically tried to escape. They pushed forward with all their might, hoping to move faster, fearing that a single step slower would cost them their lives.
The maid caught her breath and gritted her teeth as she got up.
"These thieves..."
She realized that the strange giant fish in the sky was blocking the boulders being hurled in by the catapults, but she didn't know how long it could hold out. If it couldn't, the stones would crash directly into the crowd, and no one here would survive! A surge of intense hatred welled up inside her.
This wasn't the first time she had fled from war, nor the first time she had faced chaos and turmoil, but it was the first time she had witnessed treacherous officials attacking a city and targeting fleeing civilians. This was far more hateful than a massacre!
When warlords massacred cities, their primary motivation was financial gain; killing was secondary.
The scene before them was clearly geared towards murder.
How could an unarmed ordinary person withstand such an attack?
Ignoring her hatred, the maid wiped away the blood mixed with mud and sand around her eyes with the back of her hand, enduring the excruciating pain as she tried to move. A powerful will to survive temporarily made her forget the agony; her blood was boiling, and only one thought occupied her mind—to live!
but--
Will she really survive?
The number of boulders in the sky had clearly increased, and their coverage area had expanded, making it impossible for the strange giant fish alone to completely block them. One of the boulders, by sheer coincidence, landed several feet away from her. The aura clinging to its surface exploded upon contact with the ground, the powerful shockwave sending her flying backward. When the maid regained consciousness, she discovered with despair that her right leg was completely immobile.
At that moment, she wished she had a knife in her hand.
A single slash, cutting off the leg to save life, might allow one to survive.
"I...I just wanted to live..." The maid saw another boulder about to fall through a crack in the ruins above, and endless despair overwhelmed her. Images of her past flashed before her eyes, finally settling into a murmur, "Mother—"
Thud—
The explosion was deafening.
However, consciousness did not fall into the expected darkness.
A blinding white light pierced through the crack, almost making her unable to open her eyes.
In a daze, she seemed to see cracks crawling across the surface of the boulder in the white light, shattering it into dust. The intense light caused her temporary blindness, leaving her in a white blur. When her vision returned to other colors, she saw a sword blade pierce through a crack in the ruins, flying upwards, opening the "prison" that had bound her. The owner of the sword had a strikingly beautiful face.
The other person asked her, "Can you get up?"
The maid instinctively shook her head: "I can't get up, my..."
A collapsed stone wall pinned her right leg down.
Even if the wall was pushed aside, her leg was crushed beyond repair, and she wouldn't survive with such an injury.
The maid noticed that the other person's dark pupils shifted slightly.
His gaze fell on his injured leg, as if he were pondering something.
The maid dared not guess what the other was thinking at that moment—to be merciful and give her a quick death, making her journey less painful; to be cruel and abandon her to await her demise. It seemed inhumane, but it was actually quite common on the battlefield. Let alone a commoner like her, even a soldier with such severe injuries would be abandoned by his comrades, because that was the optimal solution.
She understood, but she didn't want to die like that.
The maid extended her limp right hand, her palm touching the cold metal of the other's boots. The coolness brought her back to her senses, which were gradually fading due to blood loss. She didn't even know what she was saying: "Mother...save me, save me..."
In a daze, I seemed to really smell the fragrance on my mother.
Her mother gave her life when she was born, and gave her life again when she fled during the last massacre...
"Go to sleep, it will all be over when you wake up."
A familiar voice has a calming power.
The biting cold wind instantly transformed into a warm and gentle breeze, enveloping her entirely. She couldn't help but relax her tense nerves, and an endless drowsiness surged towards her. The warm seawater rocked her from east to west, from south to north, with soft whispers in her ears.
In a daze, it seemed as if I had returned to that sweltering childhood.
She was curled up, a thin blanket covering her stomach, her head resting on her mother's rather thin legs. She was a restless sleeper and would occasionally roll off her mother's legs, but a dry, warm hand would always catch her face and pull her back to her original position.
He gently fanned her with a palm leaf fan, trying to dispel the oppressive summer heat.
"Mama, the situation here is under control for now."
The crowd was difficult to control, so Gong Xichou simply used his own imposing presence to suppress them, preventing them from pushing forward. The arriving soldiers had already begun dispersing the crowd. The fleeing civilians didn't recognize the soldiers' uniforms and mistook them for city guards. To avoid causing further panic, they had no choice but to accept it.
We can't let the common people know that they are the ones attacking the city.
Wouldn't that scare you to death?
"Yes, yes, folks, don't panic..."
"That's right, all the bandits have been kept out of the city..."
"Our general is exceptionally brave; how could the enemy compare?"
Perhaps it was the shouts that had an effect, or perhaps the sounds of the earthquake and explosions had faded into the distance, or perhaps no more boulders were falling from the sky, but the crowd's emotions were finally calmed down, and they began to cooperate with the soldiers' commands. Standing on high ground above the ruins, Shen Tang glanced at the dark sea of people below, and the breath that had been weighing on her chest finally eased.
She asked Gong Xichou, "Is the garrison commander dead?"
Gong Xichou said, "He committed suicide when he was captured."
Shen Tang sneered: "He certainly died quickly!"
When they received the box of rotten heads, the army's morale was high, and Shen Tang immediately launched an attack on the city. Although the city's defenders had the advantage of high walls and deep fortifications, they couldn't withstand the overwhelming strength of Shen Tang's forces, and the city walls and barriers crumbled after a short time. Shen Tang and his men directly scaled the walls, cut down the main flag, and after some resistance, the enemy realized they couldn't win and even ordered the catapults inside the city to turn around.
"The deputy general has been caught; he's afraid of dying."
When he was captured, he kept shouting that he was innocent and that the catapult's direction of attack was ordered by the royal envoy.
Gongxi Chou then asked where the messenger was now.
The lieutenant said the envoy created chaos to distract the king and escaped in the confusion. However, the lieutenant also revealed that the envoy was a trusted eunuch of the Qi Kingdom's king, a castrated warrior.
Based on this characteristic, we should still be able to catch the person.
"Is he a eunuch? That's rare."
"Yes, it is indeed rare."
Martial arts masters possess formidable individual strength, with their talent evident even in childhood, making the likelihood of them becoming eunuchs extremely low. The royal court also doesn't want to raise a potential threat of retaliation, so the selection of eunuchs for the inner court is extremely cautious; only poor, talentless boys can be castrated. Any who manage to slip through the net are those with limited talent, whose martial arts cultivation only grants them greater strength.
However, there are always exceptions.
The envoy was clearly one of them.
According to the captured lieutenant, the envoy was a seventh-rank duke, one of the king's confidants. Over the years, he had risen through the ranks by helping the king extort money. He was fond of abusing his power, treating human life as worthless, and had harmed many loyal ministers and righteous men of Qi.
"Catch them back and strip them naked to be executed by slow slicing."
With just a few words, Shen Tang decided this person's fate.
"Alright, death by a thousand cuts! Mama, who is this person you're holding?" Gong Xichou saw from afar that Shen Tang was holding something in one hand. Upon closer inspection, he confirmed that it was a woman with a broken right leg.
The wound on his right leg was as clean as a mirror.
The source of the attack can be identified by the residual martial energy.
The woman's features were covered in sand and blood, making her unrecognizable. Gong Xichou still thought she was an acquaintance of Shen Tang, and even in her unconscious state, he didn't forget to snuggle closer to her, holding on tightly.
"I don't know him, he's a refugee."
"Refugees? What's so special about this place?" The entire inner city was in chaos, with countless refugees buried under the rubble awaiting rescue. Why would Mama come here specifically to rescue one refugee? Knowing her temperament, she'd more likely go and rescue whoever was closest, right?
Shen Tang: "...You're quite long-winded."
Gong Xichou's eyes widened slightly: "...Mama?"
Shen Tang sighed: "That's the voice."
She heard someone call "Mama" from the rubble, but after rescuing the person, she realized it wasn't "Mama" but "Mom".
"Speaking of which, Gongxi Chou, I don't recall ever asking you why the Gongxi clan calls young women 'Mama'?"
This question is actually a bit boring and out of place.
However, Gong Xi Chou always granted her every request—well, except for burying her back in her coffin, which was a no-brainer.
He pointed to his mouth, opened it slightly, and mouthed "mama": "It's very simple. When babies are first born, they are very vulnerable and cannot express their needs with language. They can only naturally utter 'mama.' As soon as they are called, the baby's heart is at peace, and they are free from hunger and discomfort. Our ancestors prayed to God in times of hardship, and God responded. Isn't that a kind of love?"
"So...you're actually calling Goddess Mother?"
Every time he says "Mama," it means "Mom."
Shen Tang learns for the first time that she has been a mother for many years.
Gong Xiqiu was greatly shocked, astonished that Mama's comprehension was even more amazing than his own: "How could that be? Mama is a god."
Mama, in the Gongxi language, means "god." It's used to refer to young women because they possess the ability to create life; young women in the Gongxi language are mortal gods bound by flesh. He thought Mama knew these things.
Shen Tang: "..."
The two people did indeed have very different understandings.
Gong Xichou leaned closer and said quietly, "Didn't Mama notice? I don't call everyone 'Mama'..."
This word is an honorific and refers to "god".
It's not something that just anyone can abuse.
Shen Tang: "..."
She thought about it carefully, and it really was true.
Gong Xiqiu addressed Bai Su and the others mostly by their professional titles; those without titles were called "Lady," "Lady," or "Miss," or even by their full name. At the time, I thought Gong Xiqiu was selectively conforming to local customs, but it turns out he actually distinguished them very clearly.
"...Why does the High Priest never shout it?"
Gong Xiqiu would change his address to "Your Highness" in public, such as when discussing serious matters, but otherwise he would do as he pleased. Ji Moqiu, on the other hand, always used "Your Highness." Was there some kind of reason for this?
Gong Xiqiu found this question baffling.
"My elder brother is the high priest, a legitimate servant of God, and can address you directly as Your Highness. Why does he use a substitute title?"
Shen Tang: "...I don't really understand the difference between the two."
Gong Xichou gave an inappropriate example.
"It's like in the secular world, where the wife can rightfully call her husband 'husband,' while the concubine cannot, because she lacks the proper status."
After a long pause, Shen Tang finally managed to utter a sarcastic remark.
"...Your analogy is so inappropriate!"
To put it another way, what kind of "Winter Burning" combination is this?
Gong Xichou clearly hadn't fully grasped Shen Tang's point: "This analogy doesn't work? But in the secular world, no woman with one husband and two husbands would make the two husbands distinguish between senior and junior... The example of He Shu and He Xin doesn't completely match."
all in all--
“I’m just missing the high priest status.” He pouted, expressing his dissatisfaction once again. “I still don’t understand why the gods prefer my older brother to me. We look alike, I’m younger than him, and I’m more eloquent.”
If he had been chosen as the high priest back then...
He was definitely the best dancer of all the high priests!
"Was he born first? I have reservations about that."
Gong Xichou has such a sharp tongue...
If it weren't for their strength, they would have been killed long ago.
Shen Tang handed the rescued woman over to the wounded soldiers' camp, but then she encountered a problem—the woman clung tightly to her sleeve and wouldn't let go. Between cutting off her sleeve and taking off her clothes, Shen Tang chose the latter.
With the outer garment removed, freedom was regained.
Before leaving, he reminded the military doctor on duty in the tent: "I cut off her leg. When she wakes up, remember to tell her that there is still a chance for this leg to grow back, and tell her to take good care of her wounds."
Only after recovering from an injury can one have the chance to return to full health.
(`)
I wonder if everyone has been following that outrageous serial rectification campaign lately. I initially thought it was a joke, but the recent developments are a bit worrying. Big data keeps pushing posts that create anxiety... Looking at the length of my post, I feel guilty.
PS: Every time this little game goes viral, it does so in a way that surprises everyone.
"I rebelled, but I'm doing DPS!" "What exactly do you want? Are you trying to avoid raids? Can't you play JX3 anymore?" "Yeah, I want to recruit more people to raid." I'm sure of it, my true love is JX3.
P.S.: Is this what it feels like to be an NPC? Online game and e-sports novels come to life.
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