The term “maternal grandmother” hadn’t been mentioned in front of Zhao Xiaokui for a long time.
She lifted her head, looked at Arthur and the others, and said, “I want to talk to him alone. Is that okay?”
The words “alone” carried a weight as if spoken through gritted teeth.
Before Arthur could say anything about the sudden change, his sleeve was harshly tugged by Phyllis.
She lowered her head, appearing somewhat humble in front of Zhao Xiaokui. Her body trembled slightly, and sweat gathered on her chin. Using a respectful tone that Arthur had never heard before, she said to Zhao Xiaokui, “As you wish, ma’am.”
Arthur’s heart tightened. He glanced at Zhao Xiaokui and quickly averted his gaze.
He was a cautious person, understanding how to weigh the pros and cons.
Others were also adept at reading people’s expressions, without the foolishness often seen in movies. After Zhao Xiaokui’s words, they followed their captain silently, retreating out of the room.
Once outside, someone complained, “Why should we listen to that Huaxia woman?”
Phyllis gave her a cold look, “If you want to die, you can choose not to listen.”
Arthur didn’t feel that pressure. Although he believed in Phyllis’s judgment, he still had some doubts. So he asked, “What exactly did you sense?”
“…What did I sense?” Phyllis glanced at the slowly closing wooden door. Inside the room, Zhao Xiaokui was bending down, pinching “Johnny’s” chin, forcing him to meet her gaze. Even from this distance, she could feel the tension in the air, “I sensed the breath of death.”
Her voice carried a hint of lingering fear.
She looked at Arthur and said seriously, “Xiaokui is far scarier than I imagined. Just a moment ago, I almost knelt down on the ground.”
“We need to try our best to befriend her. We must not turn her into our enemy. She possesses abilities beyond our imagination.”
Arthur’s expression turned serious because of her words.
Their strength, both Arthur and Phyllis, placed them not necessarily in the top ten of the Alliance of Gods, but at least within the top twenty.
According to the information they had gathered, Zhao Xiaokui had only become an extraordinary individual a year ago. Her time as an extraordinary being was much shorter than theirs, and yet her power far exceeded these two individuals who had been extraordinary for decades.
Arthur said solemnly, “I understand.”
At the same time, he warned his team, “When facing Xiaokui, remember to respect her as you would respect me. The cost of offending a superpower is something you can’t afford.”
Some team members dismissed it with a slight sneer, thinking the two were exaggerating. However, they nodded to indicate they would follow the captain’s orders.
Inside the room, Zhao Xiaokui’s sharp gaze directly pierced into “Johnny’s” eyes.
“Don’t lie to me. Tell me everything you know.”
Facing her pressure, “Johnny” didn’t feel a bit nervous. Instead, he chuckled lightly, “Don’t be so serious. Your grandmother and I were once the best of friends. In fact, if I hadn’t fallen behind, you might be calling me grandfather right now.”
Zhao Xiaokui unleashed her extraordinary form.
The golden fish scales shimmered under the fluorescent light, almost dazzling to the point of hurting one’s eyes.
This wasn’t a metaphor or exaggeration; it was the radiance unleashed by the power of faith.
For the first time, “Johnny,” who had maintained an unchanged expression, showed signs of evasion.
A subtle pain appeared in his expression, followed by a mocking smile. “I really didn’t expect… I really didn’t expect it.”
He said, “We, this group of people, have been abandoned by faith, and yet you have gained the favor of this new world. You’re truly a lucky one.”
When he uttered the words “lucky one,” his tone was filled with envy and mockery.
“Your grandmother can actually do this for you. It’s a shocking display of family affection.”
Zhao Xiaokui asked, “What has she done for me?”
“Johnny” maliciously grinned, “Can you guess?”
…
Of course, Zhao Xiaokui had no intention of guessing.
The evil god possessing Johnny had no real interest in playing a guessing game with her.
After hearing the so-called truth from “Johnny,” Zhao Xiaokui, for a moment, seemed to be unable to control her distraction.
“… That’s it. She found that thread of vitality for you in all the streams of fate.”
“No, you’re lying.”
How, how could this be?
How could she be the survivor of the previous civilization?
She clearly remembered being born in an old hospital, recalling the dilapidated walls and dim lights…
The voice of the evil god echoed in her ears, “Have you noticed that even though you can recall every minute and second of your life from birth to now, you can never remember the appearance of your parents, as if they never existed in your life.”
“You certainly haven’t seen them because, in your mermaid lineage, there’s only you left, all alone, left in the world, waiting for the arrival of the new century.”
“I don’t believe what you’re saying,” Zhao Xiaokui’s face slightly paled, but her gaze remained firm. She quickly thought of the contradiction in the evil god’s words, “You say my grandmother and you are from the same era, but she raised me, and if she’s from the same era as you, how could she appear in modern society?”
“Johnny” laughed silently as if he had heard an extremely amusing joke.
“Darling,” his tone was affectionate and greasy, exuding a seductive flavor. “Think carefully. Does your grandmother really exist?”
Zhao Xiaokui’s memories involuntarily rewound.
Back to the day her grandmother passed away.
She thought the last class she attended that day was mathematics, but it wasn’t.
That class was their class meeting, and the class leader used the multimedia in the classroom to play “The Truman Show.”
At that moment, a ridiculously surreal feeling arose in her heart.
Truman lived in a world crafted by others, so could she also be living in a world crafted for her by someone else?
On the day she pondered this question, her grandmother passed away.
A violent pain struck Zhao Xiaokui’s heart, and this realization caused her immense suffering, to the point where she couldn’t control the expression on her face. Her pale lips and tightly furrowed brows seemed to please “Johnny,” and he once again smiled with delight, saying, “Look, how pitiful, a little fool who has been living in lies.”
In the midst of the pain, as if her heart was thrown into a blender, certain images in her memory, soft and diffused, gradually became clear.
She saw her young self, how she crawled out of a cocoon from birth.
From the moment she was born, she resembled a three-year-old child, walking, jumping, and speaking eloquently.
She enchanted a kind-hearted middle-aged woman, convincing her to bring her from the countryside to the city.
In the city, she found an elderly person on the verge of death and moved in as their granddaughter.
After the old person passed away, she lived alone in that house.
Under the influence of her irresistible enchantment, no one doubted how a three-year-old child could live alone at home.
The fabricated grandmother became her channel for social interactions with the outside world.
Zhao Xiaokui’s expression gradually turned cold.
“Johnny” chuckled lightly, “See, you and I are the same kind of people.”
Zhao Xiaokui grabbed his neck, “No, I’m not.”
“Johnny” was choked by her but still laughed maniacally, speaking with unwavering certainty, “No, you are. You are like us. Everyone who survived from the previous civilization is insane. Only the insane can survive from the previous civilization.”
“Do you really want to kill me? I heard you killed many gods like me. Do you really think you can kill all the gods? Can you finish them off? Have you ever thought that maybe one day, the person you confront will have a golden fish tail…”
“I know, I certainly know.”
From the day “Johnny” claimed her grandmother didn’t exist, she knew that if her grandmother were still alive, she could only exist in a certain form—just like those people similar to “Johnny,” hiding in the cracks of time and space, evading the cleansing during the transition of civilizations, becoming a god who could only achieve brief clarity by seizing the destinies of others.
If she continued to absorb faith and took on the responsibility of being the “savior,” sooner or later, she would confront her own grandmother.
“…But what does that matter?”
Her amber eyes were so cold and yet so filled with sadness.
“If that day comes,” she said, “I will kill her with my own hands, just like killing you.”
The power of faith surged within her soul.
Then, along her arms, like soldiers in formation, they surged towards “Johnny,” one after another.
“Johnny,” who had always thought he had the upper hand, now changed his expression.
“You will regret this, you will regret it—”
The power of faith came to a halt just before intimate contact with “Johnny.”
Thinking he had successfully persuaded her, he revealed a smug smile, but Zhao Xiaokui’s words froze the smile on his face.
“Do you think I’ll let you off?” The power of faith gushed out suddenly, a white radiance engulfing him from head to toe. Zhao Xiaokui withdrew her hand, casually clapped her palms together, and said to the silent and howling “Johnny,” “Idiot.”
If it were before she encountered Shen Zhifei, perhaps “Johnny’s” words could have moved her.
For Zhao Xiaokui herself, she didn’t have much concern for good or evil, nor did she care about the so-called distinction between the divine and the demonic.
It was Shen Zhifei who connected her to this world, Shen Zhifei who chose Nightwalker for her, and Shen Zhifei who pushed her from the neutral path to the side that represented justice in the eyes of the world.
For the evil gods, the power of faith was even more effective than the lethal power of holy water.
Zhao Xiaokui, using the mineral water on the table to wash her hands, calmly admired her slender fingers. When she felt they were clean, she turned her head to look at the no longer struggling “Johnny” and said, “People like me only care about today and the present. I haven’t figured out what I truly care about. What gave you the illusion that we are the same kind of people?”
If she had to live like “Johnny,” barely clinging to life, Zhao Xiaokui would prefer a clean and swift death. She believed her grandmother shared the same sentiment.
So she would rather never see her grandmother again than encounter her in the future in opposing roles.
If that day came, she would surely feel disappointed with her grandmother.
Disappointed that she failed to live up to the expectations Zhao Xiaokui had for her.
Zhao Xiaokui opened the door, and Arthur and Phyllis walked straight into the room. Seeing the lifeless Johnny with his head hanging down, Arthur clenched his fist, Phyllis gritted her teeth, and the others, without saying a word, displayed expressions of indignation.
“Why do you all look like someone is already dead?” Zhao Xiaokui turned around and saw this scene. She wondered and said, “Why aren’t you searching for his soul? What are you doing here?”
Arthur, like a person who just regained their hearing, stammered, “Wha-what did you just say?”
“I said, why aren’t you searching for his soul? If he, as a superordinary, is wandering alone with his soul outside, especially in this world, there’s a good chance he won’t last more than three hours. If you don’t find him before dawn, you might as well consider holding a funeral.”
Phyllis suddenly realized what she was talking about.
Understanding, she didn’t say a word and rushed out of the room towards the street.
The others were momentarily stunned but quickly followed suit, rushing out.
Zhao Xiaokui didn’t stop them. After killing the evil god with the power of faith once, even if his avatar remained in this space, its strength must have greatly diminished. In the short term, it wouldn’t pose a threat to them.
That’s what Zhao Xiaokui thought, but she didn’t anticipate the sudden and unexpected turn of events.
Just as she estimated that enough time had passed and was preparing to go back to the room to wake up her teammates, the door opened, and she walked straight into another world.
This is a world filled with yellow sand.
It’s a city constructed from black giant stones.
A commander, clad in armor, stands on a tall stone, delivering an impassioned speech.
The soldiers on the square, inspired, raise their sharp swords high, shouting deafening cheers one after another.
Zhao Xiaokui’s reaction was delayed for a moment. She saw the commander on the high platform suddenly turn around, coldly staring at her, and asked, “Soldier, what are you thinking?”
Zhao Xiaokui replied, “I’m not thinking about anything.”
Her gaze swept through the crowd, but she didn’t find any familiar faces.
Of course, it’s also possible that the familiar faces were all hidden behind the masks of the guards with steel helmets around.
“Stay focused, soldier! Daydreaming on the battlefield might cost you your life!”
Zhao Xiaokui acknowledged with a nod.
Then, she lowered her visibility, quietly blending into the other soldiers.
As if a drop of water merged into the sea.
The general wanted to scrutinize the soldier who dared to daydream while he was delivering a speech, but when he looked over, he found that he couldn’t recall what the soldier looked like. He only remembered that her face had a lot of dust—indeed, every person in the entire stone city had a lot of dust on their faces.
Zhao Xiaokui remained discreet.
She observed every person around her, each looking vivid, like living beings.
Or perhaps, they were indeed living beings, just unaware that they were already dead.
She had already guessed the identity of these people—
Soldiers.
Soldiers who died on the Fula battlefield.
She had seen a similar situation in a book before.
Two opposing countries engaged in continuous battles day and night, soldiers and generals with bloodshot eyes.
The first thing they did every morning upon waking up was to think about how to defeat the other side, and how to kill the enemy.
However, one day, an unexpected disaster struck, killing everyone in an instant.
But death did not erode the hostile hearts of the soldiers from the two countries.
So, in the space they inhabited, a bizarre domain formed. They endlessly repeated the daily battles, as if never knowing fatigue, constantly fighting until an outsider intruded.
Once an outsider was killed in this space, they would become one of the soldiers.
And killing the soldier who killed them would give them a chance to borrow his body and be resurrected.
The book that Zhao Xiaokui read was about one such resurrected soldier. After becoming a high-ranking wizard, he reminisced about the past and recorded it in a memoir.
After the formation disbanded, it wasn’t an immediate rush to the battlefield.
This gave Zhao Xiaokui ample free time to search for herself or other members of the squad.
Fortunately, she quickly gathered all the Night Walkers from Huaxia in this army.
Unfortunately, none of the Night Walkers, except her, knew their true identity.
They all believed themselves to be “soldiers.”
Like all ordinary soldiers, they were filled with enthusiasm, eagerly anticipating their spears piercing through the hearts of enemies.
