Adela knelt on the cold ground.
The bone-chilling cold seeped through her thin clothes into her marrow, yet she felt nothing.
The trembling of her body stemmed from a fear deep within her soul.
Frost Chains shimmered faintly, binding her tightly.
Yet, her gaze was unusually clear, even tinged with a strange excitement.
Under the [Truth] rule, deception was torture, and confession was liberation.
Lin Qingyue stood before her, her pink hair swaying gently in the breeze, casting a shadow that enveloped Adela's entire vision.
"The Mother of Rebirth, who is she?"
Her voice was calm, devoid of threat or pressure, merely stating a question that needed an answer.
"She... she is a god..."
Adela's teeth began to chatter, creating a soft, clicking sound.
Fear and the power of the rule tore at her from within.
"A... a great deity who walks among the myriad realms!"
She finally found an outlet for her emotions, her voice suddenly rising, sharp enough to pierce eardrums.
"She is the embodiment of desire, the source of beauty! She can grant her followers anything..."
"Get to the point."
Lin Qingyue's indifferent voice cut through her fervent chant.
"What does she want?"
The question was like a switch.
Adela's body stiffened abruptly, the morbid flush on her face growing even more unsettling.
Deep within her pupils, a faint crimson glow flickered, and her voice changed, becoming hoarse, viscous, and filled with an irresistible allure.
"She wants nothing, my lady... She only gives... gives us rebirth..."
"Something's wrong."
Lin Qingyue raised her hand, a soft, pure pink Holy Light coalescing at her fingertips.
"Some power within her is twisting her will and expression."
The ball of light, like a docile meteor, precisely sank into the center of Adela's brow.
"Ah—!"
Adela let out a wretched scream, as if it were her soul itself being purified, not some evil power.
The expressions on her face shifted wildly, from the fervent devotion of a zealot to the terror of a survivor.
Ultimately, the instinct for survival overwhelmed everything else.
As if trying to vomit out her own organs, she summoned all her strength and roared out the hidden word.
"Sustenance!"
"She wants sustenance! Chaos! Corruption! Madness!"
With each roared word, the crimson glow on her body dimmed, and she visibly withered.
"The more corrupt the order of a region, the more unrestrained the hearts of its people, the more negative emotions and fallen souls are produced!"
"These are Her favorite delicacies!"
"Lord Marcus... no, that idiot! He ordered us sisters, those of us with exceptional beauty, to travel among the major cities disguised as traveling merchants."
"Using the rules of the Echo of the Heart's Abyss, we spread extravagance and indulgence, sow chaos among the common people, and tempt Professionals and nobles into corruption, all to prepare a 'grand feast' for the Mother of Rebirth!"
"As long as the Mother of Rebirth is pleased, She will bestow rewards: power, beauty, longevity... anything is possible!"
"Wow."
Lin Xiyue crossed her arms and couldn't help but whistle.
"Sounds like an Evil God who cultivates by eating gutter oil."
"Xiyue," Su Wan calmly corrected, "to be precise, it's an inefficient energy conversion system that relies on recycling emotional waste to function."
Nearby, City Lord Punk and the guards behind him looked utterly grim.
The girls' absurd analogies momentarily made them forget their fear, leaving only a sense of profound absurdity and chilling cold.
For the past six months, Blackrock Stronghold's moral fabric had decayed, and internal conflicts had become frequent.
He had thought it was just the Fox Merchants exploiting the rules for profit, but he never imagined an unseen hand had long since turned the entire city into its personal pasture for sustenance!
Lin Qingyue seized on the key information and pressed further:
"Beauty... can that also be 'bestowed'?"
This question, like a needle, pierced Adela's last shred of sanity.
She instantly became agitated, her voice turning venomous and shrill:
"Of course! That old bastard Marcus was originally short and ugly!"
"It was us! We sisters sold our bodies, corrupted the order of city after city, and used our accumulated 'merits' to earn him the 'Rebirth Ritual'!"
"His current handsome appearance was built entirely on our blood, tears, and dignity!"
"Tsk," Lin Xiyue shook her head. "What a waste. Going through all that trouble for a new face, only to sacrifice himself and lose it. What was the point?"
"Rebirth Ritual..." Su Wan repeated softly, her azure eyes gleaming with scholarly interest. "It sounds like a high-level 'cosmetic surgery' based on soul and energy."
"More than just cosmetic surgery!"
Adela burst into crazed laughter, her voice filled with jealousy and resentment.
"And that slut Tina! You think she was born so flawless?"
"She was originally just an ordinary deer-man from a border town! A scrawny, undersized buck with unevenly grown antlers!"
"Just because she was favored by the god and became Marcus's superior, after one 'Rebirth Ritual,' he... no, she became that nation-ruining deer-woman!"
"All she had to do was manage us tools for the god!"
These words struck City Lord Punk like a bolt from the blue, right on the crown of his head.
His most beloved concubine.
The gentle, considerate, and understanding Tina who would whimper softly in his arms...
Was actually... originally a man?
City Lord Punk's brain blue-screened.
His worldview, life philosophy, values, and even sexual orientation were shattered in that instant.
He opened his mouth, a hoarse, wheezing sound escaping his throat. His eyes stared blankly, and his entire body swayed uncontrollably.
The thought of having spent night after night entwined with such a being, even praising her skin as smoother than milk...
His stomach churned violently.
Punk's face turned from ashen to deathly pale, then from pale to a purplish-red like pig's liver.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white and emitting a cracking sound as if about to break.
Holy shit! A man?!
Lin Qingyue's mind was racing with snarky comments, but her expression remained perfectly still.
Lord City Lord... got scammed across servers! I just wonder if he should see an ophthalmologist or a urologist after this.
"What's the price of the ritual?"
Her voice remained calm, a stark contrast to the surrounding shock.
"The price?"
Adela paused, then laughed neurotically.
"The price is... your mind breaks!"
"Those who undergo the 'Rebirth Ritual' form a deeper connection with the Mother of Rebirth. Their personalities become increasingly insane, paranoid, and reckless!"
"Marcus is the perfect example! He used to be so cautious and cherished his life. After the ritual, he became a madman who dared to set off explosions in the City Lord's Mansion!"
Hearing this, not only City Lord Punk but also Zhou Yi, who had been silent in the corner, felt a chill run down his spine.
He could understand paying a price for power.
But the price was your "mind"?
This went beyond the Professional system and was more like a deal with a demon.
Xia Lian finally couldn't hold back. She tugged on Su Wan's sleeve and whispered in a tone that suggested her entire worldview had been shattered:
"So... they... they went through all that trouble, sacrificed everything, just to change their faces, alter their personalities, and then break their own minds?"
Damn, sacrificing your brain for a new skin?
This whole operation screams "appearance is justice," even if the price of that justice is becoming a lunatic? I can only say, your circle really knows how to play.
Lin Qingyue silently raised the organization's danger level by another notch in her mind.
Trading intelligence for looks, then charging to your death with a handsome face... This logic is so bizarre, I almost want to give them a thumbs-up.
Great. The approaching enemy army is probably a whole squad of handsome and beautiful madmen, right? The mental image is too beautiful to bear.
Fighting the strong wasn't scary.
What was scary was fighting a group of lunatics who could snap at any moment and didn't play by the rules.
Her sharp gaze swept over Marcus's corpse, finally settling on Adela's face as she asked her last question:
"A madman who would even sacrifice himself wouldn't go down without a final act. What was the ring he crushed?"
At the mention of the ring, the madness on Adela's face instantly vanished, replaced by boundless terror.
Her pupils contracted sharply, her lips trembling, almost unable to form a complete sentence.
"Sig... signal..."
"It's... it's the... Final Signal... specified in the Regional Director's Death Emergency Protocol!"
Her voice was hoarse with extreme terror, each word seemingly forced from her throat.
"Marcus was the Director of the Blackrock Stronghold Region. His death, according to the cult's regulations, is defined as a high-level provocation..."
"Crushing that ring was equivalent to..."
"Equivalent to sending a... to all the surrounding cities we've infiltrated..."
"War horn!"
Adela abruptly raised her head, looking despairingly at the ashen-faced City Lord Punk.
"Three days at most!"
"Within three days! Sunset City, Iron Ore Town, Wind-Whisper Plains... all the cultists and the legions they've corrupted will gather!"
"They will launch a full-scale war against Blackrock Stronghold!"
"Their goal... is to use the blood and souls of the entire city to welcome the arrival of the 'Mother of Rebirth,' completing a... grand Rebirth Ritual!"
Total war.
The blood and souls of the entire city.
"No... no..."
A young guard collapsed to the ground, devastated, his weapon slipping from his hand unnoticed.
Blackrock Stronghold, having just survived a brutal internal conflict, had no time to catch its breath before facing a city-annihilating war a hundred times larger.
City Lord Punk's face instantly turned from ashen to deathly pale.
He staggered, and his adjutant behind him rushed to support him, but he forcefully shrugged him off.
The City Lord looked at the collapsed Adela, then at Marcus's corpse on the ground, and finally, his gaze fell on the pink-haired girl who had remained terrifyingly calm from the very beginning.
After a brief, deathly silence, the girl's three companions reacted differently.
"City massacre..." Xia Lian's voice trembled, her small face pale as she clutched Su Wan's sleeve.
"What... what about all the ordinary people in the city? They... they don't know anything!"
"What's there to be afraid of!"
Lin Xiyue stomped her foot hard, clenching her fists. The sharp crack of her knuckles echoed with provoked fury.
"A bunch of brain-damaged lunatics want to vent their anger by taking civilian lives?"
She licked her lips, battle intent surging in her eyes.
"Does this count as... a massive army coming to deliver loot and EXP?"
"Calm down, Xiyue." Su Wan adjusted her non-existent glasses, her azure eyes gleaming with rational light.
"Three days to assemble. The enemy is numerous, but their command system is likely collectively brain-dead. We can set up traps and defensive fortifications in advance. Our chances of victory are high."
They were also nervous, also worried for the innocent.
But not a single one of them was afraid.
Punk looked at these three girls brimming with fighting spirit, then at their Captain, who had remained as calm as if she were listening to a story from the very beginning.
He suddenly realized that the fate of Blackrock Stronghold might have long been out of his hands.
But, perhaps this...
was the best possible outcome.