Chapter 40

Wu Shu's panel flashed by briefly in the manga. Ye Zheng scrolled further down. In a cracked desert, the black-haired, black-eyed girl bowed her head obediently. A middle-aged man in white robes with a gentle temperament smiled at her, but his eyes held no warmth—only complete cold scrutiny.

Ye Zheng's dark pupils sharpened. Her eyes widened slightly. Why would the Pope appear in this aberrant realm?

She jerked her head up, scanning the shelter warily. That man always sat high in the church in the upper district. For him to come here personally, there was only one possibility: a massive calamity he could not ignore, or overwhelming benefits...

Ye Zheng exhaled, calming herself as she thought it through. Following the original plot, this shelter would erupt in an insect disaster. Countless people would be parasitized. Once those hosts returned to reality from the realm, the parasitic insects would cause enormous catastrophe across the empire.

Thinking along this line, the Pope appearing here was not that inconceivable.

Her fingers gently stroked the black-haired girl on the screen. The girl kept her head down, expression unreadable. But Ye Zheng knew herself. The eyes hidden in shadow were certainly colder than the Pope's.

She hoped he was here only for rescue. Though as the church saintess, she did not quite believe it inwardly. In her three years at the church, she did not know the Pope deeply, but enough to feel disgust.

The screen showed a blank space. There were no more spoilers about Ye Zheng in the next chapter.

She stood up, deciding to find a way to completely destroy the extracted insect eggs and nip all hidden dangers in the bud. No need to trouble the Pope with salvation.

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"Damn it, these bugs are too disgusting!"

The blond boy was swept by the furry forelegs of a gigantic multi-legged insect. He tumbled awkwardly on the ground several times, his clean white shirt covered in dust.

"Roy, use flames to coordinate with me!"

The black-haired boy's blue eyes calmly fixed on the hill-sized robust insect. It resembled a spider but had several more furry legs. Its body was armored in hard shell, with only protruding eyes exposed.

Roy cursed as he scrambled up from the ground. Pei Xi, arriving beside him, snapped off a dead branch. Miraculously, it turned into a metal spear in his hand, the tip extremely sharp.

While the Divine Academy members tangled with the monster, Pei Xi seized the opportunity. He hurled it toward one bulging eyeball. Intense flames propelled the sharp spear. With a whoosh, it pierced straight into the monster's eye. The gigantic insect lost control, thrashing its dozens of legs in agony.

"Not bad aim, you guy."

Roy watched the monster's ugly convulsions and grinned in satisfaction.

"It's not that he aimed well. It's my 'fate' that made him hit."

The silver-haired teenager appeared behind them at some point, eyes curved into crescents as he smiled. Pei Xi glanced at the cards Yinkong was playing with. "Thanks."

From observing Yinkong's ability, Pei Xi knew he could not only predict others' fates through cards but also manipulate event probabilities.

When Pei Xi threw, he estimated a fifty percent hit chance. Yinkong could raise it to one hundred percent via cards.

Though Pei Xi inwardly doubted this ability. Fate was profound and mysterious. How did he know the hit came from his own fifty percent success rate, or if Yinkong's power erased failure entirely?

He glanced subtly at Yinkong. Like his ability, the man was hard to read.

"Hey, Yinkong! Forget Bai Muqing, but as our captain, why are you helping the other team?"

Not far away, a Divine Academy student in white uniform glared discontentedly at their captain. If this monster was the realm core, Yinkong was basically assisting rivals and gifting points.

Yinkong shrugged. "Future clergy, don't be so stingy. We're all fighting for justice and hope."

The teammate choked on his words and furiously hacked off a massive insect leg in front of him.

Pei Xi watched this bizarre opponent speechlessly. He could never figure out his goals. Among church people, only Ye Zheng fit the expected image of clergy.

The hill-sized giant insect erupted in frenzied attacks from pain. The chaotic assault gave Pei Xi an opening. He signaled Kyle with a look. The other nodded tacitly.

Earthen pillars rose from low to high. Pei Xi stepped on them, leaped into the air, arms transforming into massive blades. From above, he stabbed viciously into the insect's head. Green fluid sprayed out. The insect struggled briefly before going still.

Pei Xi deactivated his arm metalization. His green-blood-stained arms hung at his sides. Standing atop the corpse, he suddenly zoned out.

This blood-covered appearance must look pathetic, Pei Xi thought inexplicably of the girl who had been similarly disheveled not long ago. For some reason, those bloody, brutal colors on her seemed unreasonably beautiful instead.

He wondered how she was doing in that shelter. With Bai Muqing and Lu Qi there, she should be safe.

Pei Xi jumped down from the insect. The moment he landed, the ground shook as if something was about to burst out.

"Again!"

The blond boy's voice held some breakdown.

They had thought the human-parasitizing insects were this realm's greatest threat. Unexpectedly, gigantic insects awoke en masse, rampaging across the wasteland. This had become their paradise.

The ground cracked open a dozens-of-meters-long fissure, like a ferocious maw swallowing everything. Then, a slender, coldly gleaming insect leg probed out from the gap and pinned into the earth.

Pei Xi's expression worsened. He estimated this new one's size was at least twice the previous.

Metalization spread from his fingers up his arms. Pei Xi prepared to attack. A red eyeball larger than a person emerged from the fissure, followed by black mouthparts and the gigantic body.

"Truly disgusting things."

The golden-haired, golden-eyed teenager leaped onto the insect's head at some point. Ruthless golden eyes overlooked the ferocious massive body.

He crouched, pressed one arm on its head, borrowed force to leap off gracefully, and landed on the ground. Leisurely, he redonned his black glove on the right hand while staring directly at the wary teenagers nearby.

Behind Sykes, the giant insect did not even manage a howl. Its enormous body disintegrated like ash. Seeing the monster eliminated, Pei Xi felt no relief. He grew more vigilant instead.

When Sykes got willful, he was far more terrifying than any aberrant realm.

"How many have we killed?"

Sykes asked expressionlessly as Yu Tianming caught up. Yu Tianming answered precisely, "Your Highness, twelve."

Hearing this, the Cloud Soarers and Divine Academy teams quietly inhaled. Together, they had only managed three.

As expected. Sykes's 【Destruction】 was the legendary divine 3S talent. A light touch reduced everything to ashes—powerful to the point of no counter.

Yinkong watched the crown prince's arrogant figure and thought with interest that while 【Destruction】 was strong, it hardly seemed like a divine ability. The church and imperial family should rename him to better fit their agenda.

Sykes heard Yu Tianming's reply and glanced sideways at Ryan. "Any strongly fluctuating monsters nearby?"

Ryan concentrated on sensing, then shook his head confidently. "Your Highness, no more detections."

Overhearing the Royal team's conversation, Pei Xi slowly furrowed his brows. Why, after killing so many monsters, had the core still not appeared? Was it waiting for the right timing, or had they missed the correct location?

He looked around, suddenly pausing. On a distant hill seemed to stand a black silhouette. But in a blink, the hill was empty.

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Inside the underground shelter.

In a corner, colorful butterflies fluttered down, sprinkling toxic scale powder onto a large bucket of water. According to Lu Qi's introduction, her 【Butterfly Dance】 toxin was extremely potent—enough to completely kill the activity of these insect eggs.

Ye Zheng glanced at Bai Muqing spacing out in another corner. After thinking, she decided to ask her to double-check for any remaining parasitized people. Once out of this realm, she would properly thank and compensate her with gifts.

"Muqing, is it convenient for you to check once more now?"

"My checks do not make mistakes."

"Fifty-one detected means fifty-one."

Bai Muqing said coldly and indifferently. Ye Zheng was about to say more—she knew Bai Muqing was actually easy to talk to—when she suddenly swallowed her words. Her tone grew strained.

"You said... fifty-one?"

Bai Muqing nodded. Belatedly, she slowly turned her head, white pupils "looking" toward Ye Zheng.

"But we counted the unconscious people. There were fifty."

The two stared at each other until a scream shattered the eerily calm atmosphere.

"Y-You, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't come closer!"

"Help! Help!"

Immediately after, screams and cries swept through the entire shelter like waves. Ye Zheng turned and saw an unforgettable horrific scene.

A slender insect body dozens of meters tall nearly touched the ceiling. Countless short legs along its sides twitched densely. At the very top of the centipede-like massive body was a tiny human head.

At this moment, Ye Zheng somewhat regretted her excellent eyesight. She recognized it. That human head belonged to the woman she had saved outside earlier—the one she quietly rescued with her ability amid the chaos.

The girl's body was pale and rigid, lacking her usual composure. In a flash, she pieced together all possibilities. With Bai Muqing's ability, even halved, no ordinary person could resist the fainting effect and slip through.

Such powerful strength... was extremely likely the realm core!

Ye Zheng asked herself: since entering this realm, she had not altered any plot. But in the original plot, she seemed not to have saved anyone.

In the original plot, this woman should have died. After death, the insect inside her body might have parasitized someone else, wandered outside, encountered the protagonist team, and triggered a major battle.

Now, because of her act of saving the woman, this powerful egg had hatched successfully inside her body—in the shelter!

Looking at Ye Zheng's bloodless face, the system's voice tried to comfort her in slight panic.

『No one could have predicted this! In the original plot, this boss also suddenly appeared outside. No one knew its origin at all!』

"The plot really loves joking with me."

Ye Zheng spoke coldly. Intense power fluctuated around her. Even if it exposed her true strength here, even if it brought enormous trouble afterward, she would absolutely fulfill her promise to save everyone.

Bai Muqing's expression turned solemn. Her white pupils stared unblinkingly. Holy light specks descended throughout the shelter, calming even the panicked people somewhat.

Lu Qi, releasing her ability, felt her power suddenly strengthen. Without time to think, she sent countless colorful butterflies swarming toward the bizarre human head high above.

Amid the chaos, Ye Zheng stepped toward the monstrous giant insect. Water streams began spreading around her. Thin branches gently lifted a child about to fall and placed him in a safe corner.

"Ha, as expected. The real core is here."

Hearing the woman's flippant voice, Ye Zheng looked up coldly. A black-clothed, short-haired woman leaned on the stair railing, sharp eyes fixed on the giant insect.

"Even the crown prince's well-trained dog couldn't sniff it out. It could only be in the ability-isolating shelter."

Wu Shu leaped lightly down the stairs, turning with a teasing expression toward the saintess nearby. "I help you guys. Points go to me. How about it?"

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Authors Note

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I am a little girl who loves watching women fight as a team.