Chapter 190-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

Ye Zheng walked to the back garden of the Papal Palace. The Empire had entered winter, flowers and trees had withered, bare branches stretched horizontally, and almost no one visited.

There used to be a huge temperature-controlled greenhouse here that bloomed with various flowers all year round. It was the favorite place of the former Pope Wen Jian. After Ye Zheng took charge of the Papal Palace, she removed the greenhouse that required considerable manpower and resources, and the back garden became an ordinary place.

Ye Zheng looked up at a branch with yellow-green leaves and reached out to pull it down.

She planned to test the ability of [Mother of All Things] with plants first.

Closing her eyes, Ye Zheng's thoughts concentrated infinitely on a single point. In her view, abilities were not lifeless tools but companions she could communicate with. [Stream] was her friend, and she hoped [Mother of All Things] would be too.

The right hand gripping the branch showed bulging veins, and the skin along with the connected flesh was burning hot. But Ye Zheng didn't find this burning sensation painful—it was like reaching toward a warm stove in winter.

This wasn't enough. Ye Zheng soon felt a bottleneck. The churning blood showed signs of calming. Ye Zheng's tightly closed eyes spasmed. She steeled herself and thrust her hand completely into the stove, trying to grasp the flames about to depart!

Intense pain came from her right palm, as if a volcano erupted from deep within her flesh, melting her nerves, muscles, and skin layer by layer. She could almost no longer sense the existence of her right hand...

Crack—

Ye Zheng suddenly opened her eyes and immediately looked at her right hand. It turned out the branch had accidentally broken from her force.

"Hm?"

The half-withered branch in her hand was now covered with emerald green leaves. Short tender buds protruded from both sides of the branch. Ye Zheng touched the buds, her eyes widening slightly. Her fingertips trembled—the buds were growing at a speed perceptible to human touch.

She looked up and only then realized that the space in front of her was empty. The tree was gone.

Looking down, only a handful of unidentifiable black residue remained on the ground.

"The tree's life force has completely transferred to this branch?"

Marcy let out a small exclamation.

Ye Zheng lowered her eyes. Her right hand tightened, and the emerald branch withered at a visible speed. Soon it turned to ash in her palm and scattered with the wind.

"Now, the life force has transferred to me."

Marcy's consciousness fell silent. For a moment, only the bitter cold wind whistled and scraped.

Ye Zheng wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but the fatigue from a full day of office work seemed to have eased a little.

—Life force transfer? Ye Zheng hadn't expected [Mother of All Things] to manifest this way in her hands.

Although Marcy had said that [Mother of All Things]'s specific manifestation varied from person to person, Ye Zheng had studied previous Popes. From their deeds, she could infer that [Mother of All Things]'s abilities tended toward healing and life modification, which was why they could use this ability generation after generation to advance the Hope Project.

Ye Zheng stared at her right hand, lost in thought for a while.

After some time, Marcy's voice rang in her ear again, interrupting Ye Zheng's contemplation.

"The moment I awakened [Mother of All Things], my heart held only one wish—to save the children's lives. I think because of this, my healing ability was exceptionally powerful."

Ye Zheng listened quietly. She had seen from Marcy's memories that she once saved a person who had been severed at the waist. That person wailed as they regrew their lower half—it was truly a miracle.

"After me, those greedy, foolish thieves thought [Mother of All Things] was only that kind of ability. They even twisted it with their greed."

"From the remnants of consciousness left by those people, I saw how they used [Mother of All Things]. They created pitiful monsters and were still smugly pleased with its power."

"Ye Zheng, at the moment you received the inheritance, what were you thinking?"

Marcy asked.

Ye Zheng lowered her head and grasped the Holy Key hanging on her chest, the symbol of papal authority. She softly recalled:

"When I put on the Triregnum and truly became Pope, I listened to the overwhelming cheers from the plaza. Some called my name, Ye Zheng, while others called 'Your Holiness' or 'Lady Saintess.'"

"Until I turned to leave and the cheers faded, I heard the voice of an old nun beside me. She was calling out 'Holy Mother.'"

Ye Zheng suddenly laughed, ripples appearing in her dark eyes. "I'm not yet an adult, and someone used the word 'mother' to address me. It was quite a novel feeling."

"I had just inherited your memories and your abilities. My head was still very confused. You ask what I was thinking at the moment of inheritance? I can't remember at all."

"But I remember very clearly—when I heard that call of 'Holy Mother,' my consciousness returned to its place, and my chest began to burn. It was as if only after that call of 'Holy Mother' did I truly inherit [Mother of All Things]."

"Every woman is born a mother. We come into this world carrying the great power to create all things. All things are born because of us, so naturally mothers should lead!"

"—I think [Mother of All Things] is precisely this kind of ability, which is why it descended upon me at this moment when the world is teetering on the brink."

Ye Zheng chuckled softly and gripped the Holy Key tightly. The excessive heat from her right hand permeated the cold key of power.

"I will be a good 'mother'—a mother who leads this world toward rebirth."

She promised thus.

The instant her words fell, the burning heat immediately spread from her right palm to all four limbs and bones. Her hand no longer felt the unbearable pain of being thrust into volcanic lava. Ye Zheng felt herself merging with this scorching heat, even her bones being tempered by the flames.

But Ye Zheng felt no pain. Her eyes shone remarkably bright, the black flames in her pupils seeming ready to ignite the withered frozen earth. Even the howling cold wind had to retreat before her edge.

Observing from the side, Marcy was shocked into silence. She had never felt that [Mother of All Things] was her ability—she was just a lucky ordinary person. How could she bear such a great title?

In her neither long nor short life, she had heard many women say things like "I will be a good mother"—either joyfully holding a newborn child, or guiltily holding a mischievous child's hand, or screaming hoarsely trying to get her former husband to return her child.

These mothers were joyful, selfless, great, with deep maternal love. But Marcy had never seen a "mother" like Ye Zheng—so righteous yet brimming with killing intent.

She seemed to love this world more than anyone, yet also hate it immensely.

At this moment, Marcy felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. This extreme love and hate might be more terrifying than the apocalypse in the prophecy. Should she really let Ye Zheng continue? She still had a chance to regret, a chance to strangle everything in the cradle...

Her consciousness began to heat up. Ye Zheng, in her special state, didn't notice, or perhaps because this anomaly vanished in an instant, like a spark suddenly extinguished.

But [Mother of All Things] had acknowledged Ye Zheng, Marcy thought.

Her path to salvation had failed. Because of her oversights, [Mother of All Things] was usurped, creating countless tragedies over five hundred years.

Did she really have the right to stop Ye Zheng?

Marcy pondered, only to hear Ye Zheng softly exclaim in wonder. She followed Ye Zheng's gaze—

Ye Zheng released her hand holding the key. In her right palm lay a green leaf with a beautiful shape. Its veins glowed faintly golden in the twilight. Even in the most vibrant spring, it would be hard to find such a verdant leaf.

A few minutes ago, the branch had turned to residue in Ye Zheng's hand and scattered with the wind.

Now, the tiny specks of ash remaining in Ye Zheng's palm had become the most beautiful green leaf in the Empire's winter.

"Marcy, look. I only need a tiny bit of insignificant life force to create a fresh, living leaf."

Of course, a leaf wasn't much, but the ability to restore dead matter back to living matter was truly astonishing.

This experiment told her that using "life force transfer" to summarize [Mother of All Things] in her hands was inappropriate. Controlling life force was the essence of [Mother of All Things].

—It could both mercifully bestow life and harshly deprive it!

"I'm very satisfied with the results of my fusion with [Mother of All Things]. What about you, Marcy?"

"Don't get lost in surprisingly delightful abilities. You're just a beginner now, probably only able to control some simple life forms."

Marcy paused, as if feeling she was being too serious, and softened her voice.

"But I believe you will be a genius student, a genius 'mother.'"

The mothers of this nation had been lost for too long. At this moment, Marcy believed without a doubt that Ye Zheng would bring true mothers back to this riddled world.

Ye Zheng didn't know what Marcy was thinking. She suddenly felt a corner of her consciousness heating up. She smiled and tilted her head slightly.

As if gently bumping heads with an invisible soul.

TN: The author of this book started her new novel recently, it's a game invading real life setting non-cp novel, would you like us to start translate it now? Drop your comments.

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