Chapter 185
After a night of relentless rain, the downpour showed no signs of letting up; if anything, it only grew heavier.
The raindrops, as big as beans, pelted against the makeshift oilcloth roof, creating a sharp, crackling sound.
Much of the rainwater dripped through the seams, splattering onto the wooden planks that served as a floor, turning the factory into a muddy mess.
Dark clouds loomed overhead, and the few dim kerosene lamps inside the factory became the only source of light.
Under the flickering glow of these lamps, a shadow stretched infinitely, its silhouette dancing and twisting on the factory walls, swaying with the flames.
A petite figure knelt beneath that shadow, trembling slightly. She seemed to be murmuring something under her breath, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the rain.
If one were to lean in a little closer, they might catch the words she was repeating… it sounded like a prayer, recited over and over again.
Tap, tap, tap, tap…
A footstep approached along the shadow towards the girl kneeling on the ground. The girl, with dark green hair and looking no older than twelve or thirteen, mustered her courage to lift her head and saw a figure cloaked in a black trench coat.
It was a stunning red-haired girl, her violet-red eyes, faintly veined like a spider's web, were filled with exhaustion. Thick dark circles lay beneath her eyes, and her lips appeared almost poisoned, pale and slightly purplish.
The girl weakly raised her hand to adjust her small round hat and spoke in a defeated tone, “Let’s go… I’m tired…”
“Xia… Xia… Xia’er, what about… me?”
Tala stuttered, her voice trembling with fear.
“Go wherever you like…”
Xia’er sighed slowly.
Since the potion had fully digested, a sense of nihilism and pessimism had completely enveloped her.
Xia’er realized a point that few had mentioned before.
If the potion was not digested well, the mind would hear more whispers, and the body would undergo changes. The whispers destabilized her spirit, and the more unstable her mind became, the more her body would crumble, creating a vicious cycle.
But if the potion was digested too well, there were problems as well.
Just as the “Reproduction” ritual suggested, digesting the potion too well felt as if she had truly immersed herself in the emotions contained within it, thinking what it thought, feeling what it felt, perfectly reproducing everything from emotions to thoughts… this made it easy for her to lose herself.
The “Instigator” was like this, and so was the “Coroner.”
As Xia’er fought against the urge to end her simulated torment with a knife, she staggered toward the factory's exit, stepping over the kneeling Tala.
It was only when Xia’er’s figure shifted aside that Tala, who had been staring ahead, caught sight of the figure sitting at the table.
It was the shadow that had loomed over Tala, cast by the few lamps behind it—along with the bloody remnants of dismembered limbs that littered the floor.
“Not enough… Tala… bring your trusted ones…”
“Still not enough… Tala…”
“Almost there… Tala…”
“Tala…”
The heaps of bones and flesh stimulated Tala, and Xia’er’s deep voice seemed to linger in her ears, the whispers in her mind echoing louder.
Thud—
An eyeball rolled off the wooden table, tumbling across the muddy, rain-soaked planks, its pale blue gaze lifelessly fixed on Tala.
That was Geima, Tala’s confidant, and strictly speaking, she was Tala’s student, someone Tala had watched grow up.
And now, a part of her had already merged into the Mother Goddess’s creation.
Following the rolling eyeball, Tala slowly lifted her head to look at the “person” sitting at the wooden table.
If it could even be called a “person.”
It was tall, nearly six feet three inches, its body as pale as a corpse, with long, withered white hair cascading down from its head, tied in knots at intervals, falling to the ground like the hair of countless individuals intertwined.
Its black eyeballs rolled in their sockets, with a single crimson pupil at the center, eerie and unsettling.
Its belly bulged grotesquely, resembling that of a pregnant woman, but it writhed as if about to burst.
Aside from its humanoid appearance, there was nothing left to call it human.
Thud—
It fell to the ground, its massive belly splitting open, revealing six long arms, stitched together from human limbs, propping itself up. Its legs bent and merged behind it, hanging down like the large abdomen of a spider.
The “Human Spider” raised its head, looking in Tala’s direction, seemingly puzzled.
Using all its limbs, it crawled slowly toward Tala.
As Tala saw this terrifying creature approach her, her fear magnified within her heart. She recoiled, falling to the ground, trembling, forgetting even to use her abilities.
The “Human Spider,” dragging its pale, knotted hair, crawled up to Tala, stiffly revealing a horrific smile, and slowly spoke in layered echoes, “M-Master?”
“G-Great Bishop?”
Tala’s eyes widened, and she didn’t even realize that tears had begun to stream down her cheeks.
In that moment, a thread of her sanity snapped deep within her mind, the chaotic whispers nearly overwhelming her. Everything before her began to twist and distort.
“Ahhh!!!”
Tala screamed like a madwoman, her deepest faith in the Mother Goddess becoming her only support. She crawled toward the factory’s entrance, bursting out into the torrential rain.
Before long, Tala caught up with Xia’er, who had just left. She fell to her knees before Xia’er, banging her head against the ground in a frenzy, crying out, “Mother Goddess… don’t abandon me! Mother Goddess! Please don’t leave me!”
At that moment, Tala had nearly lost her mind. As the most devout believer of the entire Shenglin sect, it was as if she had triggered some protective mechanism in her brain, selectively forgetting everything else, leaving only “Mother Goddess Xia’er” in her mind.
“Get up…”
Xia’er sighed softly.
She could sense some of Tala’s emotions at that moment, but under the influence of the potion and the reproduction ritual, Xia’er found it impossible to control her own feelings.
By the time she regained her composure, everything had unfolded as if it were meant to be. Every member of the Shenglin sect stationed outside had been killed without resistance.
No, rather than saying they were killed, it was more accurate to say they had willingly sacrificed themselves.
From the downpour behind her, a palm-sized, flesh-colored spider crawled out of the factory, climbing up Xia’er’s trench coat until it finally disappeared into her hat, while the terrifying Human Spider had long vanished.
“Sigh…”
Looking at Tala, who was kneeling on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, Xia’er sighed.
What a hassle…
Xia’er recalled her initial words to Yulis about dreams.
She didn’t say much more, simply bent down to grasp Tala’s arm, pulling her up and forcing her to look at her.
“Tala, look at me…”
Xia’er took a deep breath, speaking patiently, “This is all just a prophetic dream… In the real world, none of this has happened. Your confidants are all alive and well.”
Tala stared blankly at Xia’er, unsure if she had even absorbed Xia’er’s words.
Xia’er sighed again, then reached up to adjust her hat, looking up at the sky.
An hour left… Has misfortune taken a day off? Why hasn’t it arrived yet…
Xia’er’s left hand released Tala’s arm, reaching into the already soaked pocket of her trench coat, pulling out two sealed items.
They were the “Evil Eye” and the “Fortune Coin.”
Though the process had been vastly different from what she had imagined, in terms of results, she had successfully obtained these two sealed items that could potentially unravel the mystery.
“Sigh…”
Xia’er felt that in this one hour, she had sighed more than in the past three years combined.
Negative emotions constantly loomed over her mind, making it feel as if she barely had the strength to breathe.
“Let me die and see what you really are…”
Xia’er’s right hand also reached into her pocket, retrieving an ancient silver stopwatch.
Xia’er’s exclusive sealed item, the 【Echo of the Silver-White Timebinder】.
She brought her hands together, the three sealed items touching in her grasp, drenched by the rain—but nothing happened.
Why…
Hadn’t everyone else already died?
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