Chapter 22: The River God

Yang Liuqing threw a punch. Liang Dan immediately reached out to stop her, but she was a beat too slow; Yang Liuqing’s second strike landed squarely on the man’s eye.

Yang Liuqing said coolly, "I don't like the way you look at people. You don't need your eyes anymore."

Liang Dan waited, but the system remained silent.

Liang Dan racked her brain: when she was beating those villagers earlier, because the villagers always struck first, she was judged to be acting in self-defense. When the villagers were being tied up, she neither saw nor heard it, so no interference was required. Once Shen Si and Yang Liuqing had already bound them, the system did not demand she release them. When Yang Liuqing threw the first punch, the system did not require her to intervene. But when the second punch landed, the system punished her for turning a blind eye.

The first two scenarios were logical, but why the latter two? What did the act of releasing the villagers signify to the system?

With this thought, Liang Dan stepped forward to the middle-aged man and reached out to untie his bindings.

The middle-aged man’s eyes widened: "Mmph! Mmph!"

As soon as Liang Dan loosened his restraints, a screen lit up before her eyes, glowing with a jarring, vivid red:

"Liang Dan, Peerless Saint, you have released a bound evildoer. You are dead!"

*

Liang Dan stood where she was, staring at the tightly bound middle-aged man.

She exhaled sharply: This was how it should be. Blind, boundless kindness that aids the wicked is, in itself, an evil.

Yang Liuqing asked, "Continue. What did you do after the bridge collapsed?"

The young man’s eyes were bleeding, a gruesome sight. His voice trembled: "We rebuilt the bridge. After several failed attempts, we sent some people to guard the bridge at night, and others to pray in the temple."

"But that very night, something truly demonic happened."

Yang Liuqing pointed at the man next to the young one: "You finish the story."

The man said, "That night, everyone sent to pray at the temple died. Those of us watching the bridge saw a towering figure standing in the river."

"It claimed to be the River God, telling us to offer sacrifices for forty-nine days, at least one living person every single day!"

"It even named names, insisting that Xiao Zhang serve as the priest. It said Xiao Zhang would be the priest for forty-eight days, and on the last day, he would be the sacrifice."

Yang Liuqing asked, "And you just agreed when it said that?"

The man looked terrified: "We didn't agree at first. But when we returned the next day, we heard that everyone in the temple had been killed."

"After that, whenever we went outside the village at night, people would die for no reason."

"After losing so many villagers, we finally couldn't take it anymore and started offering sacrifices to the River God."

Shen Si sneered, "So you’re saying your village was forced by the River God and you’re all completely innocent?"

The man hurriedly said, "We know our sins are heavy, but we really had no choice! If we didn't do it, everyone in our village would have perished!"

Shen Si rolled her eyes. "Oh, then you should have just perished."

The man trembled, as if Shen Si had uttered something truly terrifying.

Liang Dan asked, "How did you turn people into animals?"

The man replied, "We grind human bones into powder, pack them into firecrackers, and bury the animal bones along with the firecrackers inside the walls. That suppresses the corresponding person and turns them into a specific animal."

Liang Dan felt a wave of nausea. She had always assumed those were ordinary firecrackers, never imagining they were filled with human bone meal.

The man continued, "Those from other villages—people who hadn't eaten our food or had eaten very little—would turn into animals after staying in our houses for a while."

"If they ate a lot of our food, they would develop a strange attachment to our houses and be willing to stay longer from the bottom of their hearts."

"But for them, it took even longer than the others to turn into animals."

Liang Dan summarized, "So, regardless of whether or not outsiders eat your food, or how much, as long as they stay in your houses long enough, they will eventually turn into animals."

"Impressive," Yang Liuqing said, tapping her axe against the man's face. "How did you find such a wicked method?"

The man’s voice quivered: "These were left behind by our ancestors. We didn't even think they would actually work. We were just trying it out, who would have thought—ah!"

Yang Liuqing swung her axe, followed by a short, sharp scream. The man’s throat spurted blood, and he collapsed, his head hanging precariously.

Shen Si covered her eyes, and Liang Dan gave a deep bow. "Rest in peace."

Yang Liuqing carried the axe over to the second man. The moment the blade struck his skull, the screen lit up before Liang Dan’s eyes:

"Liang Dan, Peerless Saint, you stood by and watched a life end. You are dead!"

*

Liang Dan watched Yang Liuqing slowly lift her axe again and finally understood why she had an obligation to intervene during the second punch earlier.

The first attack was sudden; she hadn't reacted in time and naturally lacked the ability to stop it. But for the second attack, she knew it was coming, was standing right there, and had the capacity to intervene.

Therefore, only atrocities she could react to and had the power to prevent fell within her jurisdiction.

Liang Dan said, "Don't kill him yet. We have one more question."

Yang Liuqing lowered her axe.

Liang Dan asked, "Why did those young people carrying the sacrifices make no sound when they walked?"

The elderly man, who had narrowly escaped death, had his pupils dilate slightly: "They aren't human. We pieced them together using the flesh and blood of the sacrifices. They exist solely to help us carry the offerings, and they are the ones who kill most of the sacrifices as well."

Liang Dan muttered to herself, "No wonder they looked so strange, to the point where you couldn't even determine their gender."

Shen Si lowered her voice: "Do these magical phenomena exist in every instance? Like people turning into animals, or stitching people together from flesh and blood..."

Yang Liuqing replied, "You can think of these instances as individual game worlds. Since it’s a game, it’s normal for unscientific phenomena to occur."

"If that’s the case, could the River God actually exist?!"

Shen Si’s eyes widened. "We’ve been assuming since we entered this instance that the River God didn't exist, but if these other things are possible, it wouldn't be so strange if the River God were real!"

Yang Liuqing nodded. "Of course, that’s possible. And I never said the River God definitely didn't exist."

Liang Dan looked up. "But that still doesn't add up. If it were a true River God, why would it specifically name that little boy to be the priest?"

"What could a little boy possibly mean to an evil god?"