Chapter 125: Garden of Gods and He Jianzhu
Chapter 125. Garden of Gods and He Jianzhu
The clock ticked.
Uncle Yun went back to the kitchen to busy himself. Xia Feng glanced at the withered jasmine flowers outside the window before turning and blinking.
“If we don’t worship the gods, we’ll be punished by them. What do you think, should we worship?”
Mu Qingtong shook her head. “This kind of Calamity Realm, where information is highly suspect, we just need to act according to the principle that ‘surface safety definitely conceals greater danger.’ There’s nothing to discuss.”
“Ah, this…” Xia Feng held his forehead. He had expected Mu Qingtong to give a detailed deduction, but it turned out to be so simple and direct.
But then again, even if it’s unknown whether the Sky God is a calamity beast or a neutral rule of this place, worshiping him grants his protection and escapes the Wrath of the Gods. If that’s true, what’s the point of going through any trials?
So there’s nothing to overthink. Just charge ahead.
“By the way, you are here to find your mother’s whereabouts. Where do you plan to start?”
Xia Feng transmitted the question and the next moment heard a calm reply, “Go with the flow.”
“?” Xia Feng was somewhat speechless. With such a casual attitude, was this woman really here to investigate He Jianzhu’s whereabouts?
Just as he was about to ask more, Mu Qingtong’s voice echoed in his mind again.
“That old man and Xiao Wen, who has been upstairs and hasn’t come down, are both ‘orphans’. But this middle-aged man is not an orphan.”
Before she could finish, Xia Feng understood her meaning. This witch wanted to kill Uncle Yun directly and then use a Spirit artifact to hypnotize his soul for interrogation.
It wasn’t a bad method, convenient and efficient. After all, the rules only stated that one couldn’t attack orphans.
Just then, Uncle Yun came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of steaming chicken soup.
His demeanor restored to its enthusiastic state, he said with a smile, “Two esteemed guests, please try my mother’s chicken soup. It tastes amazing.”
He scooped two bowls, smiling broadly as he handed them spoons and chopsticks. “Make yourselves at home, don’t be shy, don’t be shy.”
“…”
Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong simultaneously looked at the rich, golden, and appetizing chicken soup in front of them.
“Oh, right.” Uncle Yun’s wrinkled eyes were filled with smiles. “Two guests, you’ve been sitting for so long, aren’t you going to worship yet?”
Xia Feng smiled, not answering directly. Instead, he pointed to the dark red shrine next to the toilet. “Uncle Yun, why is there an apple tree on the altar?”
There was no statue in the center of the shrine, but there was a miniature tree about half a meter tall. Two bright red fruits hung from it, looking like apples.
“This is not an apple tree,” Uncle Yun’s expression turned serious. “This is the Tree of Favor. After you two worship, the Sky God will infuse His favor into the fruits, and then each of you can pick one Favor Fruit. Those who eat the Favor Fruit will be protected by the Sky God and will no longer incur the wrath of the gods.”
“Oh, I see…” Xia Feng smiled. “That sounds quite impressive~”
“So, esteemed guests, it’s almost twelve o’clock. I suggest you hurry. After all, even the Sky God dislikes lazy believers who worship at the last minute.”
Your reason for urging them is quite unique, Xia Feng grinned, his gaze fixed on the middle-aged man. “But, what if we don’t want to worship?”
The middle-aged man wore a naive and solicitous smile.
But as Xia Feng stared, the corners of his lips slowly tightened. “Don’t want… to worship?”
The lighting above the dining table was dim.
The atmosphere fell silent for two seconds. The middle-aged man slowly lowered his head. In the shadow, the corners of his retracted lips curled into a chilling, bizarre smile. “Heh~ But my esteemed guests, you will have to worship now, whether you want to or not!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong’s bodies went limp as if paralyzed, slumping onto their chairs.
[You have been attacked by the D-class Spirit artifact – Dead Chicken Hand]
[Detected replicable Spirit artifact: Dead Chicken Hand]
“You really don’t know what’s good for you.” Uncle Yun said indifferently, standing up. He twisted his neck, his gaze indifferent. “The previous two outsiders were easier to fool. You two guys are really troublesome.”
Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong slumped in their chairs, their expressions calm, not the slightest hint of panic. [Copy successful—]
[D-class Dead Chicken Hand: The smell of cooked chicken will become your weapon. You can imbue it with paralysis, or even sleep-inducing effects. The more fragrant the chicken, the better the effect. When the target has smelled the chicken for over six hours, you can directly paralyze and destroy the target’s brain nerves, causing death.]
“…”
What kind of Spirit artifact is this? Xia Feng almost choked. The abilities of Spirit artifacts are truly bizarre.
“Old woman, hurry up and come out to help,” Uncle Yun coldly shouted into the kitchen. An expressionless old woman slowly walked out.
“Drag these two idiots to the altar. If they don’t worship, then force them to worship.” The middle-aged man sneered and was about to walk towards Xia Feng when his pupils widened in shock, and he stopped abruptly. “Wh—”
He parted his lips, and then with a plop, he collapsed to the ground, his face filled with horror. This… was his own Spirit artifact’s ability?
“Tsk tsk, not bad. Although your Spirit artifact’s name is a bit strange, the effect is quite good,” Xia Feng leaned back in his chair and chuckled.
Seeing her son suddenly fall, the old woman at the kitchen entrance also changed her expression. Terror flickered in her cloudy eyes as she subconsciously took a step back.
“Damn it~ Old woman! It seems I can’t let you off either.” The middle-aged man’s indifferent voice came from the ground. The old woman slowly closed her eyes, as if preparing for death.
But after waiting two seconds, the expected agonizing pain of nerve paralysis didn’t come. She opened her eyes in confusion and saw golden crosses revolving in the middle-aged man’s eye sockets. His ferocious expression was stiff, and he lay motionless on the ground.
!
Her legs gave way, and she stumbled to sit down, holding onto the wall, her expression vacant as she murmured hoarsely, “Sin… It’s a sin.”
Xia Feng watched the scene expressionlessly. Obviously, the old woman had smelled the chicken meat for a long time. Therefore, with just a single thought, the middle-aged man could kill her. If the old woman died, the middle-aged man would become an orphan, no longer subject to attacks from outsiders.
The middle-aged man intended to use this to force Xia Feng to violate the rule of “no attacking orphans.”
But unfortunately, in the face of absolute strength, any plan is futile.
Despite his body being paralyzed, Mu Qingtong used her Spirit artifact’s ability to control her body and stood up. She slowly walked in front of the middle-aged man and with a casual swipe, his head separated from his neck.
The middle-aged man’s Spirit Body floated in the air, his gaze vacant.
Mu Qingtong did not question his Spirit Body. Instead, she looked at the old woman slumped on the ground, her gaze calm. “Tell us everything you know.”
“…”
The old woman stared at her son’s corpse in silence for a long time, without showing much emotion. Her gaze merely dimmed, and she sighed. “You must have guessed. The protection granted by worshipping the gods is indeed a lie.”
“After worshipping, not only will you not receive protection, but you will directly perish, your souls absorbed by the Tree of Favor.”
She looked at the small apple tree on the altar, her cloudy eyes filled with complex emotions. “Little girl, do you see those two red fruits? They are the transformed forms of the two people my son tricked last year.”
“The Sky God said that as long as the tree bears five Favor Fruits, the one who contributed the most can leave this place and enter the Garden of Gods, where we will have all the happiness we desire.”
Xia Feng looked at the Favor Fruits, startled. So these were actually transformed humans? And they’re called Favor Fruits? They’re more like human meat fruits!
“Garden of Gods?” Mu Qingtong narrowed her beautiful eyes. “So, has anyone entered before?”
“Naturally, there have been,” the old woman said deeply. “Although I entered ten years ago, I know this place has been a Calamity Realm for over a decade. Every month, a few people complete the quota, so I estimate the number of people who have ascended to the God Garden is in the hundreds, perhaps even thousands.”
“But honestly, whether the God Garden truly exists, no one knows. After all, those who complete the quota disappear out of thin air. No one knows where they went.”
They probably died. If not, the outcome wouldn’t be much better either. Xia Feng thought to himself.
“You entered ten years ago?” Mu Qingtong suddenly asked. “Do you know He Jianzhu?”
“He Jianzhu?” The old woman was startled, her gaze showing a hint of surprise. “I don’t know He Jianzhu, but… I do know a female doctor surnamed He.”
