Chapter 96 Fungal Swarm 57 "God has not protected me."...
"So you must stay."
Nanmen Jue concluded with this statement, responding to Yao's words with absolute certainty.
Ying Yao remained silent. Nanmen Jue stared at him for a moment. The other party had a special identity. He was neither her subordinate nor one of the people she had saved. In fact, Ying Yao had been helping her since he appeared, so she couldn't give him a direct order.
But this matter was so important that she took a firm stance and confirmed with him, "If you don't want to get involved, you can leave. You've already helped me enough, but I don't need you to come with me to lure Cheng Xiuye, understand?"
Ying Yao remained silent, only nodding.
He didn't raise any further objections, so Nanmen Jue took it as an acceptance of the arrangement and breathed a sigh of relief.
She was indeed very worried about Yu Wanyan's existence. If Ying Yao did not accept this arrangement, she was afraid she would not be able to leave Ningde Town with peace of mind and concentrate on dealing with Cheng Xiuye.
After exchanging a few words, Nanmen Jue roughly determined Cheng Xiuye's location.
“So he was hiding here, but he wasn’t too close to the mother tree.” Nanmen Jue said thoughtfully. “It’s possible that he was also afraid of the mother tree, but more likely, he wanted to use the mother tree to lure Zhang Zhi out.”
“I think so too, that’s why I don’t let Zhang Zhi go out,” Ying Yao said.
“That’s right.” Nanmen Jue nodded calmly, a cold glint in his eyes. Cheng Xiuye had gone to such lengths and paid such a high price to get Zhang Zhi. Even if he couldn’t be sure what exactly Cheng Xiuye wanted to do, he couldn’t let him succeed no matter what.
After finalizing some details, Nanmen Jue looked at the others and said, "Don't push yourselves. I know what you mean, but we... are not saviors. You've done your best. Focus on yourselves."
Everyone looked at her. Nanmen Jue recalled the scenes when she first met them, from the fear and hostility at that time to the complete trust now. Seeing her eyes redden, she gave a comforting smile.
"Go back alive," she whispered.
As she spoke, she stood up, turned around, and was about to leave, which startled everyone.
"Are you leaving so soon?" Deng Erhuai blurted out.
Just as she was feeling embarrassed, Lu Yunxiao naturally chimed in, "Yes, at least eat something. You've been dealing with those things outside, you probably haven't had a proper meal in a long time, right? The food here is delicious."
Ji Chengying and Guan Junren looked nervous and just nodded vigorously.
"No, Cheng Xiuye should already know I'm here. I can't just do nothing and wait for him to make the first move."
Nanmen Jue stretched her neck and wrists, turned her head and revealed a carefree smile, just like she would before any battle, "There are only half a month left, see you in the hall."
Guan Junren suddenly stood up. "Aren't you coming back?"
As soon as he asked the question, he realized he hadn't used his brain. Nanmen Jue was about to face a difficult battle against a stronger enemy, and transportation was inconvenient in the apocalypse. With only half a month left, even if she won, how would she have time to come back? He felt that Nanmen Jue would not answer such a stupid question, and he lowered his head in annoyance.
However, Nanmen Jue showed no impatience; his tone was even quite gentle.
"Yes, I won't be coming back," Nanmen Jue said. "There's not enough time."
Guan Junren looked up in surprise and saw Nanmen Jue wink at him; his eyes even turned a little red.
"Alright, everyone take care." Nanmen Jue waved her hand, and just as she was about to walk to the door, Ying Yao suddenly spoke up.
"I still have one more question: can your trap really deal with Jin Ming?"
Nanmen Jue paused, then replied in a relaxed tone, "To be honest, I'm somewhat confident, but even if I can't kill him, it's not a problem. You guard this place, and I'll hold him off until time runs out."
Ying Yao didn't say anything more. Nanmen Jue waited a few seconds, and when he felt that Ying Yao was alright, he strode out the door.
In the short time it took to talk like that, the hospital corridor was once again filled with people, missing limbs, burned, missing half of their bodies... Nanmen Jue walked through the corridor with a calm expression, as if walking through a hellish landscape.
Having spent so long in hell, these scenes no longer move her, but she will remember why these people died.
As soon as she stepped out of the hospital, Xiao Nuo emerged from the night and landed on her shoulder.
After exchanging a few words with the bird and confirming Cheng Xiuye's location once again, Nanmen Jue stroked the crow's head.
“Don’t come with me. Go find Ying Yao and the others,” she said. “If I die, you can find another collaborator.”
The crow was silent for a moment, then looked at her with its dark eyes. "You're not entirely confident this time, are you?"
"What confidence do I have? You saw it before, before the exchange, I played with him like I was playing with clay," Nanmen Jue said with a smile, but there was a hint of sarcasm in his smile.
The raven said, "But you still choose to face him alone, just like in the Gray Tower, you insisted on staying behind alone to study retrograde."
"Since they've made that choice before, it's not surprising that they'd make it a second time."
"Why?" said the crow. "Aren't you afraid of dying? You just learned about your sister's situation. Aren't you afraid of really dying here?"
"Then tell me, what else can I do? Just let Cheng Xiuye lie in ambush all around us and wait for him to wipe us all out sooner or later?" Nanmen Jue said impatiently. "He's guarding this place like a wolf guarding a flock of sheep, not to stall for time until we get back to the main hall. If I don't take the initiative, we're the ones who will die."
Her tone was already somewhat agitated, but the crow was not afraid; it simply quietly revealed Nanmen Jue's unspoken thoughts.
“But you can leave on your own. If you wanted to leave, hiding until the time was up would have been an easy thing to do, but you never intended to hide in the first place.”
Nanmen Jue fell silent. After a long while, she gave a half-smile and a slight upturn of her lips.
She was just asking those people inside those questions, and now it's the crow's turn to ask her.
“Go inside,” she said. “If I’m not dead, we’ll meet in the hall.”
With that, she flicked her wrist, swatting the crow away from her shoulder. Seeing it flap its wings and fly towards the hospital, she glanced back one last time before striding away.
...
Ningde Town has a small population, but there is still a church in the town. People in this world generally believe in the Virgin Mary. Legend has it that she was born in a chaotic era when gods and humans coexisted. At that time, all natural phenomena, including wind and rain, and the changing seasons, were controlled by the gods. Therefore, whenever a god was unhappy, he would bring down divine punishment on the human world. At that time, the human world was filled with sorrow and countless deaths.
The Virgin Mary is a special deity who was born into a human body. Although she has the lifespan and power of a deity, she always recognizes herself as human. Therefore, when she saw the tragic state of humanity after the deities were enraged, she chose to stand up for humanity against the gods.
This divine war eclipsed the sun and moon. With her immense will and power, the Holy Mother defeated all the rebellious gods. In the end, her divine power was exhausted. She held an infant she had saved at the last moment in her arms. The baby cried loudly in her arms. She knelt on the ground, her snow-white, blood-stained robes hanging among the grass and flowers. She gently lowered her eyes, and blood dripped from her face onto the baby's delicate face, like tears of compassion.
The Virgin Mary fell, but humanity survived. People sculpted statues of her and built churches, using the image of her holding her baby and weeping with compassion in her final moments, symbolizing sacrifice and protection.
Humanity must have the determination to sacrifice and protect in order to ensure the continuation and prosperity of its race.
Before the emergence of the Spore Mother, the belief in the Virgin Mary was the mainstream religion in the world, and churches dedicated to her were built in various places, even in the remote border town of Ningde.
At this moment, there was not a single living person in the Church of Our Lady, not even a single parasite. The tables and chairs were overturned and in disarray. The blood splattered on the statue of Our Lady had turned black from years of decay, making her tearful face appear somewhat ferocious. And in the empty hall, a monster was curled up.
Although he still had a human appearance, calling him a monster would not be an insult at all. He was not wearing clothes, but only a cloak, the fabric of which looked like curtains or bed sheets.
It wasn't that he didn't want to wear clothes, but rather that his physique was now completely different from that of a normal person. Four arms were protruding from under his cloak, and a hideous growth extended from his lower back, as if it were ready to develop into a third leg at any moment. Under that cloak, his body was visibly three or four times larger than that of an ordinary person, with bulging, uneven skin, clearly indicating how many terrifying growths were hidden on his body.
He no longer resembled a human being, yet he knelt before the statue of the Virgin Mary, all four arms prostrate on the ground, a posture that seemed more devout than any other believer.
He lay there quietly, as if he had existed since time immemorial, until the firelight that shone in flickered slightly, and a shadow silently appeared behind him.
The monster paused, but didn't look up.
The person behind him didn't speak immediately either. The two of them stood and knelt, facing each other in silence. The person standing looked at the Virgin Mary in front of him with an inscrutable expression.
After a moment, the kneeling monster spoke up: "You came all this way just to worship the gods with me? Then you should kneel down too, otherwise your heart is not sincere and the gods will not protect you."
Seemingly having heard an extremely ridiculous joke, the person standing couldn't help but laugh out loud. She lifted her leg and walked closer, unconcerned about approaching this ferocious yet powerful monster, stopping right beside him.
The firelight outlined Nanmen Jue's cold and beautiful features. She did not lower her head, nor did Cheng Xiuye raise it.
“To kill so many people in front of a deity who symbolizes sacrifice and protection, and then to pray for her protection, isn’t that ridiculous?” Nanmen Jue said softly.
"Whether the gods are willing to protect her is her business; it's up to her to ask or not." Cheng Xiuye replied calmly, seemingly oblivious to Nanmen Jue's blatant sarcasm.
Nanmen Jue looked down at him and said, "I didn't expect you to be someone who would pray to the gods? You even pray to the gods in the 'false world'."
"Actually, I am a devout believer in reality. Before entering the reincarnation space, I went to church every Sunday. Every time I entered a new world, I would look for whether there was any religion or church there."
Cheng Xiuye slowly raised his head. His face hadn't changed much; it was still very handsome, but it was as pale as paper. A fleshy growth had appeared on his neck, seemingly growing into another head.
“It’s a pity,” he said, “God has never protected me.”
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