Chapter 126-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

Ye Zheng pushed open the window, gazing toward the vast white expanse of the sky.

The stagnant white mist scattered, fierce winds sweeping down the long, broad street, whipping up the settled debris and revealing the street's original gray tones. Stray hairs tickled her cheeks, but Ye Zheng had no mind to fix them. She stared in astonishment at the sky.

The enormous black shadow roamed the dim heavens, reminding Ye Zheng of the whales said to traverse the oceans in legends, and of the first line on the title page of Divine Revelation—

In the beginning, darkness descended without warning, and a great dragon spread its wings to eclipse the light above.

The shadow in the sky was elongated. Compared to the demon dragon in Divine Revelation, depicted with its astonishingly massive and majestic frame, this one appeared even more slender, its outline blurred—like a black skeleton barely holding together decayed flesh, like an undead spirit unwilling to be buried, returning to the human realm.

It wasn't until the shadow drew nearer, its full form clarifying before Ye Zheng's eyes, that she squeezed a vague syllable from her throat, no longer knowing how to describe it.

Countless dragon-bodied humans bore aloft a pale, spectacular spinal column, their wings beating in dense, uniform rhythm. Thus, the long-dead demon dragon's skeleton "revived"!

Her hands gripping the windowsill whitened with the strain of her veins, Ye Zheng staring speechlessly at the "revived" demon dragon. She finally understood what Zhou Yun intended!

"Zhou Yun, you had them breach the base not just to destroy the Hope Project, but to bring out the Dragon Bones?"

Ye Zheng whipped her head around, but Zhou Yun had already approached silently beside her, gazing out the window at the bizarre, magnificent spectacle.

"I can't command them. I merely unlocked the chains of control. It's their instincts driving them toward the Dragon Bones, toward the source of power."

"...And where will they go?" Ye Zheng's dark eyes locked onto the woman as she asked.

Zhou Yun pondered briefly. "To find the other Dragon Bones—in the East District, South District, North District... until they piece together the true demon dragon."

The woman's tone was calm, as if unaware of the shocking weight of the information in her words.

Lucy, who had squeezed to the edge of the two, was still clinging to the windowsill peering out, not yet recovered from the eerie sight outside. She mechanically turned her head to Zhou Yun, as if unable to process her words.

The upper, middle, and lower districts each had elegant names, but the lower district was crudely divided into east, west, south, and north.

"Auntie Zhou, you mean those monsters... the women whose bodies changed strangely... will go to the other areas of the lower district to find Dragon Bones?"

"But everyone says the Dragon Bones are buried in the upper district, to deter other Demonic Domains and protect the people!"

Lucy's mind was a muddled mess. She glanced pleadingly at Ye Zheng, whose expression held no surprise, only grave contemplation.

"...This is insane. Has the empire been lying to us all along? What's their goal? And our competition, the aim of securing Dragon Bone protection for the lower district..."

In her daze, Lucy finally grasped what Zhou Yun meant by "lies," but she still couldn't fathom why things had turned out this way.

Ye Zheng felt no shock at the revelation that nearly all Dragon Bones were buried in the lower district. She'd already suspected as much from her encounters with Dragon Bones in the Shadow Demonic Domain and Blood Flower Demonic Domain.

When the suspicion was confirmed, her heart sank heavily, her blood flow seeming to slow to a crawl.

If the Dragon Bones being buried in the upper district was a lie, then the so-called protective deterrence of the Dragon Bones must be a lie too!

Yet the upper district's freedom from Demonic Domain incursions for centuries was real. So now, working backward from this colossal deception—

Dragon Bones only attract Demonic Domains!

Ye Zheng slowly turned her head, meeting Zhou Yun's gaze. The woman smiled, her gaunt, high-cheekboned face appearing even more kindly, encouraging—as if to say, "You're right."

Ye Zheng stepped closer, her eyes fixed intently on the woman. "Please tell me everything you know."

"I only know this much. There might be even bigger lies behind this one, but I've already..."

Zhou Yun's body swayed. Before Ye Zheng could reach out to steady her, Lucy propped her up and supported her weight.

Lucy's legs trembled as she held the woman. How could Zhou Yun's body be so heavy? She considered herself a strong girl, yet this felt taxing.

Ye Zheng and Lucy together helped Zhou Yun to the sofa. Ye Zheng frowned at Zhou Yun's lower body, which had already begun to fade into vapor—just as Kiran had said, she'd stuffed quite a few Dragon Bones into her body. Surviving this long was already a miracle.

"No need to keep me company anymore—especially you, Saintess. Shouldn't you go stop all this?"

"They're Fallen Breed now, stripped of human reason. They only instinctively approach Dragon Bones, eliminating any obstacles in their path. And the closer they get to Dragon Bones, the stronger they become... You know that too, right?"

Zhou Yun glanced meaningfully at Ye Zheng's right hand.

Ye Zheng understood Zhou Yun's implication. She wasn't just aiming to eradicate the Hope Project; she wanted to expose the truth of the Dragon Bones through this violent means. Those dragon-bodied humans would march eastward, unearthing the Dragon Bones buried in the lower district in the most brutal, direct way possible.

If the empire couldn't stop them in time, the shocking evil truth would tear open the scarred wound, laid bare before everyone amid massive casualties and destruction.

Ye Zheng thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't believe they've lost all human reason, that they're beyond saving."

Zhou Yun let out a scoffing laugh. "Gone soft, have you? I know them better than you do. They've become no different from Demonic Domain monsters. The base loses a dozen handlers to them every year."

"I won't regret my actions. I've never been a good person. This is my selfish revenge—against myself, against the empire."

"And you, Ye Zheng? You're the flawless Saintess paragon that Yuan Yuan admired most."

Ye Zheng met Zhou Yun's gaze for a while. The woman's eyes were like bottomless whirlpools, madly churning everyone's emotions.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Zhou."

"I won't let your plan succeed. They and the Dragon Bones aren't ready to appear before everyone yet."

Zhou Yun curved her elongated eyes without surprise, her body relaxing back against the sofa. "Then good luck, Saintess. Killing them to stop all this will come at a great cost."

"The people you brought might not even survive half."

Hearing the woman's tone laced with faint mockery, Ye Zheng felt no anger. She half-bent at the waist, looking earnestly at Zhou Yun.

"I'll make sure everyone lives."

Zhou Yun's slit eyes darkened, a pitying scorn in them. Her bloodless lips parted as if to say more, but after hearing the girl's repeated, resolute words, they closed completely.

"I'll make sure everyone lives—including them."

Ye Zheng swung her left arm up, pointing at the sky outside the window.

Dark circles shadowed her eyes, but her dark orbs showed no fatigue—instead, they blazed with startling brilliance.

"...I wish you success."

Zhou Yun closed her eyes silently, murmuring softly.

Seeing this, Ye Zheng straightened, a smile on her lips. "Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Zhou. Then I'll be off."

She was thanking Zhou Yun not just for the shocking truths she'd "served" her, but because Zhou Yun's body was already on the brink of collapse. If she'd wanted to grievously wound Ye Zheng and her group for the sake of her revenge plan, it wouldn't have been hard—the omnipresent white mist could easily strangle all life, just as in the municipal building.

But Zhou Yun hadn't struck while they were here, letting everything proceed.

Ye Zheng looked at Lucy, their eyes meeting. She saw the bewilderment and helplessness in Lucy's gaze.

For someone with as simple a life as Lucy, everything since Ye Zheng's arrival had been so hard to comprehend. Staring at the Saintess extending a hand to her, she blinked sluggishly.

Her legs numb, Lucy tried to stand, then sank back onto the sofa. She turned to stare at Zhou Yun's profile. Was it her imagination, or had the woman's face grown as hazy as mist, ready to scatter with a wave?

"Ye Zheng, you go ahead. I... I need to rest a bit. I'll catch up later."

A flicker of surprise crossed Ye Zheng's eyes. She glanced again at Zhou Yun's increasingly vaporous body and nodded in understanding.

"Alright, I'll go on ahead then."

It wasn't until Ye Zheng pushed the door open and it creaked shut behind her that the empty living room fell silent once more. Only then did Lucy withdraw her gaze and look back at the woman beside her.

Suddenly, her hand was grasped. Lucy instinctively struggled for a moment before reining herself in, letting Zhou Yun hold it.

Mist spread through the living room, the warm yellow lamplight turning hazy and chill. Lucy shivered, not even knowing why—in that instant of ghostly impulse, she'd chosen to stay by this strange woman's side.

"Yuan Yuan was very unstable after the Dragon Bone implant."

Zhou Yun spoke suddenly, her voice icy cool, sending chills down the spine for no reason.

The woman's head tilted toward Lucy. Lucy froze as she felt the weight on her head, stiffening but not moving away.

"I knew she was furious and scared after implanting the Dragon Bone on her own. We lived here together—this villa isn't far from the base, so if something went wrong, we could get the base people to stabilize her."

"The West District's Demonic Domains are few because the Dragon Bones are imprisoned in the Heterogeneous Stone crypt for research. But that day, a tricky Demonic Domain descended on York Town—"

"York Town? That's my hometown! So Miss Yuan Yuan went to York Town? She might have saved my family!"

Mentioning her familiar hometown made Lucy unafraid again. The two leaned together; she couldn't see the flicker of astonishment on the woman's cold face.

"I was at the East District competition then. When I heard my family was in trouble, I snuck back, and then I got caught by the base in a daze. It was Ye Zheng who..."

Listening to Lucy's rambling, Zhou Yun pieced it together: this girl had indeed wandered in by accident. Ye Zheng had saved her but hadn't had time to tell her everything—not even that she'd imprisoned fifty thousand people in York Town.

"...Right, your daughter went to York Town, and then? Did she eliminate the Demonic Domain?"

"Yes, that Demonic Domain was eliminated."

Zhou Yun swallowed the words she'd meant to say, closing her eyes and fully relaxing against the girl.

"Your daughter saved my hometown. She's amazing!"

"Mm."

The girl's jubilant voice faded into distant, muffled noise. She didn't hate it.

Perhaps she was too exhausted now, unable to muster the power—to make York Town, the place where Yuan Yuan had lost control and died, vanish completely.

"...Auntie, are you sleepy? I'll turn off the light—"

"No need. Just like this. I'm tired."

Lucy fell silent for a moment, her forced cheer fading from her face. Soon, she lifted the corners of her mouth again, her raised voice betraying no difference.

Her left hand looped around the woman's shoulders, covering the woman's eyes.

"Then just like this. Rest against me for a bit, and you'll be fine."

"Mm."

Lucy held the awkward pose, the usually lively, mischievous girl gazing quietly at the ceiling for the first time.

When Ye Zheng had asked her to deliver the letter to Zhou Yun, she'd told her roughly everything she knew.

Lucy pressed her lips together. In the quiet atmosphere, she adjusted her stiff posture, her palm growing sweaty and damp where it covered Zhou Yun's eyes.

She felt the itch in her palm, Zhou Yun's lashes occasionally fluttering like a butterfly perched beneath, its frail, damp wings quivering now and then.

Outside, the gale howled. The two stayed like this in silence until the itch in Lucy's palm stilled completely.

The instant Ye Zheng closed the door, she glanced back inside with concern.

Zhou Yun seemed to take a liking to Lucy; she should be fine.

What worried her was the fifty thousand people in the town. Ye Zheng couldn't be sure if Zhou Yun would attack the town, but before entering the villa, she'd had Wen De send half their group to the town, prioritizing the safety of the civilians.

She turned toward the horizon, the slender black shadow gliding slowly forward, casting a vast, creeping shadow.

Ye Zheng broke into a run toward the shadow's direction.

At this point in time, they and the Dragon Bones weren't suitable to appear before the public. Either the empire eradicated them completely before it all blew up, or they caused massive chaos and casualties before being eradicated by the empire—or, they eradicated the empire.

The dense fog on the streets had dissipated somewhat, the foreground sharpening. Ye Zheng suddenly slowed, her dark eyes somber as she looked ahead.

Blinding golden hair, luxurious red uniform, a face gradually sharpening into something fierce.

"Sykes."

Ye Zheng's voice rose softly.

"Ye Zheng."

"You're running this way to stop that horde of monsters?"

Sykes asked, his tone seemingly emotionless.

"Or to help those monsters. To help Zhou Yun."

His voice deepened. Ye Zheng arched a brow.

"If your idea of stopping them is killing that horde, then we're not on the same side. I just want to—"

Her words cut off abruptly. In the instant Sykes drew his sword and lunged, Ye Zheng unsheathed her golden sword as well!

"What a pity, Ye Zheng."

"The empire's Godsent is going to die today."

The two swords clashed, emitting a grating scrape. Both stared unblinking at each other—golden eyes blazing, dark eyes serene.

Neither she nor Sykes were skilled swordsmen, Ye Zheng thought.

Sykes striking first meant he hadn't fully committed to killing her yet. She could say more, talk him around—it would be easy to fool him.

But right now, Ye Zheng didn't want to talk. Her dark eyes focused intently, devoid of any light.

White mist swirled around them. For Sykes, it was a visual disadvantage, but Ye Zheng felt the abundant moisture in the air.

Let her indulge this once—what distance still lay between her and killing Sykes!

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