Chapter 294-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
Dawn. Sunlight crept above the horizon, scattering the haze of darkness.
Yet the brilliant morning light could not dispel the terror that had swept across this land overnight. People had lain awake nearly till dawn.
Seven Demonic Domains appearing in the East District one after another, a terrifying Giant Dragon, a great flood... all of it proclaimed that the prophecy of the world's end had come true!
East District residents who had flooded into other districts described the catastrophe they'd witnessed with lingering dread. Speculation ran rampant; ordinary people knew only that the aristocrat army had attacked the Pope's knights, but no one knew where the flood had come from or what to make of the Giant Dragon that had appeared and vanished without warning.
A scattered few were talking about Bai Muqing, vividly recounting how she had brought down [Divine Domain] to protect civilians—more powerful than her father, once the Empire's strongest.
But the vast majority were consumed by apocalyptic terror, speaking in hushed, trembling tones.
"Was that really the Demon Dragon yesterday? Maybe it was just another one of that villain Sierra's tamed monsters."
"If it wasn't, what else could earn that name? My heart's been pounding ever since."
"I heard it vanished. Has Her Holiness the Pope already subdued the Demon Dragon?"
"—You lot are still so naive."
Inside a temporary shelter in the South District, an old man gnawed on bread distributed by the Sei Curia and mumbled, "Look at how efficiently this relief station was set up—don't you get it? 'Surprise attack,' my foot. She knew exactly what was going to happen. And yesterday's flood—who else in the Empire wields that kind of power..."
At the mention of "she," the surrounding chatter fell silent. What was he implying? That she had allowed the disaster to happen—or had even orchestrated it herself?
Some fell into thought, but more quickly rallied, denouncing the old man as heartless. Thanks to Her Holiness the Pope, so many had made it out safely—and here was someone maligning her! He had to be an agent sent by the aristocrats to sow discord!
A stout, heavyset middle-aged woman was so furious she shoved him outright. To her shock, the push sent him flying several meters; he hit the ground and lost consciousness. She stood rooted to the spot, stunned.
The commotion quickly drew the clergy's attention. The old man received prompt treatment from a priest and was fine. The bystanders unanimously blamed him for disrespecting the Pope, so the woman was let off with a verbal warning and the old man was detained. But even after the dust settled, she still wore a dazed expression.
She stared at her rough hands. It seemed as though, ever since yesterday, her body had become extraordinarily strong. The sensation wasn't unfamiliar—it carried a warmth so intimate it brought tears, leaving a bittersweet ache in her chest...
Inside a certain castle in the upper district, a middle-aged woman in a black dress, elegant in bearing, sat in a chair wearing a similarly distant expression—melancholy eyes tinged with relief.
"Madam Bai, do you have any thoughts on the arrangement I just outlined?"
The noblewoman snapped back to the present, blinked, and replied swiftly: "I have no thoughts, Your Majesty."
The Emperor sat directly across from her, his imposing frame leaning slightly forward, golden eyes sharp, his presence overwhelming.
"But I am no longer Madam Bai. I dissolved my ties with Bai Yi. He is now... no longer with us."
"You may call me Zhou You'an."
The woman's tone was deferential enough, yet the Emperor let out a displeased snort. "It seems you didn't understand a word I just said."
"You may not care about Bai Yi, who just died horribly yesterday, but what about your children? Would you have them live out their lives branded as the offspring of a criminal?"
"As long as you come forward and denounce Ye Zheng's crimes, your husband, your son, and your daughter will all receive fair treatment. Their honor will be restored. And you yourself will earn unprecedented acclaim—"
"Or are you worried that Ye Zheng might retaliate? I will personally guarantee your safety. I swear it on the name of the Emperor."
Zhou You'an closed her eyes. So much had happened in the past two days. Had the Emperor approached her the day before yesterday, she would have agreed without a moment's hesitation.
Ye Zheng had destroyed her happy family, reducing her from the envied wife of a duke to a disgraced woman shunned and ostracized in the upper district. She knew full well this was the consequence of her husband's defeat in the power struggle, yet she couldn't suppress her resentment toward Ye Zheng—couldn't understand why Bai Muqing had chosen to leave the upper district, to leave her.
When the news of Bai Yi's death arrived yesterday, she should have been consumed by grief and fury. Instead, she found herself engulfed by an entirely different emotion she couldn't shake.
"I'm afraid I cannot shoulder such a responsibility. For the sake of justice, please consider a more suitable candidate."
The woman rose and bowed deeply. The Emperor's face darkened completely; he sat motionless in his seat.
Just yesterday, the strength she had lost to childbirth had suddenly returned. Zhou You'an felt as though she had been reunited with the dearest, most unforgettable friend of her youth—caught in a state of tears and laughter, sorrow and joy intertwined.
When she was young, she too had railed against the heavens for their unfairness: she had to pay an enormous price to bear a child, while her future husband could have heirs with no cost at all.
She had even harbored hostility toward this husband who didn't yet exist—he hadn't even entered her life, and the world had already prepared to offer her up to him.
But Bai Yi had been a decent husband. Under his care, her mere A-rank ability hadn't seemed to matter much. She was past the age of competing with peers through brute force, and she gradually came to feel she should move on to the next stage of life—become a more mature woman...
The door slammed shut. The Emperor had left.
Zhou You'an buried her face in her hands. Tears seeped through her fingers; the sobs she could no longer hold back filled the room.
People always realized the importance of something only after losing it. But when she had lost everything, she slowly discovered what she regretted most deeply.
She was crying, and she couldn't tell which tears were for Bai Yi and which were from the joy of recovering what she'd lost—or the belated recognition of pain.
*
The Imperial Palace. Another tea set shattered on the floor.
Ye Zheng had resurrected the Demon Dragon. Percy and the Divine Sword were nowhere to be found. The man could sense a spine-tingling danger closing in. For the first time in five hundred years, he realized in a panic that this world was not a playground beneath his feet—he was walking on a knife's edge.
Roy was dead. Even Bai Yi had died at Ye Zheng's hands—and not even by Ye Zheng herself, but by a few nobodies. How utterly humiliating!
And then there was that wretch Heath. She was absolutely complicit in Roy's death—a traitor through and through who deserved to die!
The man cursed viciously, his face twisted. He had almost no one capable left around him. Even that disgraced woman just now had dared to refuse him. Without realizing it, Ye Zheng had backed him this far into a corner.
All he could rely on now was his own wits and his own strength.
"Madam Bai" was never an important piece in his plan. The reason he'd sought her out had nothing to do with Bai Yi—it was because of Bai Muqing.
The Emperor had already learned of Bai Muqing's performance in the East District, and he suddenly recognized her potential. Her [Divine Domain] surpassed even her father's ability. Word of how she'd turned the tide in the East District was already spreading. Bai Muqing was fully capable of replacing Ye Zheng as the new "Saintess."
Though Ye Zheng had silenced his people, Bai Muqing and Percy were still alive. Both had likely witnessed Ye Zheng unleashing the flood and resurrecting the Demon Dragon—eyewitnesses to her crimes.
Once the charges were confirmed, Ye Zheng would be torn from her pedestal for good!
The righteous crusader who set things right should have been Percy. But at this point, the Emperor had to admit that, in the short term, Bai Muqing might be the best candidate.
He didn't like Bai Muqing. She occasionally gave him a feeling reminiscent of Ye Zheng—that attitude of seeing through everything and not deigning to care, which infuriated him.
But compared to Ye Zheng, Bai Muqing seemed refreshingly tractable. At least he could read her too, and exploit her weaknesses to predict her moves.
Before long, the Emperor penned a letter at his desk, stamped it with his seal, and let an inscrutable smile cross his face.
This was his last card, and he had no intention of hiding it.
Sometimes, rather than catching your opponent off guard with a good hand, it was more effective to let them know you held one.
*
Bai Muqing was at the East District Station—one of the few places in the East District that remained intact. Most buildings had been damaged in yesterday's flood. Despite the timely evacuation, there were still casualties, and those who hadn't managed to leave in time were gathered here.
Eyes closed, Bai Muqing sat quietly in a corner. No one dared approach. Passersby occasionally stole curious glances.
Suddenly, her hand shot out and snatched a letter drifting in through the window.
Her fingers traced the paper. Without opening the envelope, she could "see" its contents through her unique perception.
Bai Muqing's eyes snapped open. Their rims were tinged red; her blank, white pupils seemed fixed on some point in the void.
This letter was not addressed to her.
But the person who wrote it had sent it to her.
[Ye Zheng, things have reached this point, so let us dispense with pleasantries. I know you have resurrected the Demon Dragon and now possess the power to destroy heaven and earth—but if you think you can eliminate me, you are dreaming.
You must have guessed by now: I hold the power to counterbalance the Demonic Domains. The moment you attempt to overthrow me, I will unleash a massive Demonic Domain invasion to annihilate this land—one that will dwarf the catastrophe of five hundred years ago. If this world cannot belong to me, I will not allow it to exist.
We each hold the power of mutually assured destruction. The wisest course is coexistence. Everything regarding power and resources is negotiable. I have no reason that demands your death.
The instant I detect any sign of you deploying the Demon Dragon, I will not hesitate to unleash the Demonic Domains upon this world. The lives of millions rest in your hands. I trust you will not let them down.
—Vincent Aston]
Bai Muqing inhaled silently. So the seven simultaneous Demonic Domains yesterday had been no accident—the Emperor commanded such power!
He wanted to negotiate with Ye Zheng, using that power as leverage to force her hand. He was wagering the lives of the entire Empire's populace to trap Ye Zheng in a moral dilemma!
The moment Ye Zheng chose to act, she would be branded a cold-blooded ruler who disregarded human life—a sinner who had ushered in hell...
Bai Muqing leapt to her feet and ran outside. She stepped onto the damp street, where debris left behind by the receding flood was piled up like a dry, cluttered riverbed. Her pace slowed gradually; her solitary figure betrayed a trace of bewilderment.
Why had the Emperor sent this letter to her first?
...He wanted her to be the one to stop Ye Zheng.
She was too far from the upper district to influence the Emperor's actions. If she wanted to prevent him from unleashing apocalyptic Demonic Domains, her best option was to restrain Ye Zheng. Without the Demon Dragon's threat, the Emperor wouldn't cut off his own nose and destroy his own nation.
What the Demon Dragon would bring remained unknown, but Bai Muqing could well imagine the hell that large-scale Demonic Domains would unleash.
Bai Muqing gripped the letter tightly, her expression frozen for a long time, like an ice sculpture dusted with snow.
She had plenty of reasons to go to Ye Zheng—to urge patience, to placate the Emperor for now, to wait for the right moment before considering his elimination. But no matter how circuitous the approach, destroying the Emperor meant accepting the risk of a Demonic Domain invasion.
Ye Zheng was determined to kill the Emperor. Everyone who stood in the path of progress—including her father, Bai Yi—no one could halt Ye Zheng's advance.
Was the destination at the end of that road worth such a terrible price? Bai Muqing couldn't calculate it. She could not bring herself to treat sacrifice as an acceptable cost. Human lives should never be placed on a scale as bargaining chips.
Scraps of paper drifted to the ground. Bai Muqing tore the letter to pieces, her movements slow, laden with heavy resolve.
She brushed the remnants from her clothes and turned back.
Bai Muqing despised this kind of world—a world that treated lives as pawns in a game of strategy as a matter of course. And so, an existence like the Emperor had to be erased.
Ye Zheng need not bear any burden. This letter would never reach her hands.
This time, let Bai Muqing be the one to bear the sin.
Having made her decision, Bai Muqing would shoulder every ounce of pressure to the best of her ability—even if that pressure was enough to shatter her to dust.
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