C52 —- Inquisitiveness

After all, this was just a bedtime book; with pictures and words, there were only a dozen pages, and the whole story was only a few hundred words.

 

The first page to the second page took a long time, but in Mu Sichen’s feeling it was only a moment.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Xiangping Town was established. Qin Zu stood in the middle of the thick fog, quietly listening to his subordinates reports.

 

“Thanks to Admiral Qin’s blessing, we have cleared the monsters within the original town; the totems of the three pillars have also been drawn successfully; Xiangping Town will soon become a stable and peaceful town.” The subordinate lowered his head deeply.

 

Ever since Qin Zu obliterated all his feelings and desires to become a god-level monster, Mu Sichen had no way to use Qin Zu’s body; he could only follow Qin Zu around like Ah Piao, watching Qin Zu as a bystander.

 

But for this very reason, this time he could clearly see Qin Zu’s expression instead of looking at an indistinct figure through the mist.

 

He saw Qin Zu’s eyes close in the mist; he was clearly expressionless, but he always felt a hint of compassion.

“I ask to become the cornerstone of the ‘Pillar.’  I ask Admiral Qin to fulfill my request.” The subordinate said.

A drop of water vapor condensed on Qin Zu’s long eyelashes.

 

Mu Sichen thought he had an illusion.

 

Because the next second, the water vapor disappeared, Qin Zu slowly spoke, “May.”

 

At this time, like a voice-over, Mu Sichen heard a seemingly gentle but somewhat frightening voice softly say, “Just like that, Qin Zu personally sacrificed his passionate, loyal, and steadfast subordinates, letting them become the cornerstone of the pillars, guarding the safety of Xiangping Town.”

 

After all, it was a bedtime story, and the voice-over wasn’t as thorough as it should have been, but Mu Sichen understood what had happened at the very beginning of the establishment of Xiangping Town.

 

It turned out that the establishment of the “Pillar” required the lives and souls of the people who were attached to it as the cornerstone.

 

No wonder the Pillar’s stance on god-ranked monsters was sometimes contrary to theirs. This was because no matter how much they believed in god-ranked monsters, no matter how contaminated they were, they still had their own souls and their own preferences.

 

The personality and preferences of the dependents before becoming the cornerstone determined the rules and operation mode of the “pillar,”  which made some “pillars” relatively dangerous, turning into a space that ate people, while other “pillars” were very peaceful.

This was exactly the case with the pillars of Qin Zu’s Town.

 

The first three pillars of the town’s establishment were passion, loyalty, and determination, which were extremely positive emotions. The people who became the cornerstones of the town wanted to protect the town very much, so the “pillars” of Xiangping Town would not harm the townspeople; as long as they prayed inside the “pillars,”  they would be able to provide enough emotional energy.

 

The townspeople of Xiangping had always thought that their town was so safe that they didn’t need to lose their minds or sacrifice their souls in order to keep the peace in their town.

 

But was that really the case? Mu Sichen looked at Qin Zu suspiciously; he felt that since the three “pillars” were built, Qin Zu’s face became paler and paler.

 

Originally, he was like a god of war, with a resolute face and athletic body, but now he was getting thinner and thinner.

 

He was wearing a robe that the townspeople had prepared for him, and the robe was embroidered with totems belonging to Qin Zu, but Mu Sichen felt that the body underneath the robe seemed to be empty.

 

Qin Zu on the seat always had his eyes closed, and because the fog was so thick, some water droplets would condense on his eyelashes from time to time.

 

Every now and then, Qin Zu’s eyelashes would gently flutter twice, and the droplets would slowly drip down, falling to the ground and disappearing.

Thinking of the octopus doll’s large eyes that were always flooded with water vapor, Mu Sichen felt that the water droplets hanging on Qin Zu’s eyelashes were not water droplets but tears.

 

He couldn’t help but raise his hand to touch the water droplets on his eyelashes.

 

But before Mu Sichen could touch Qin Zu, the storybook turned the page again.

 

This time, Mu Sichen stayed with Qin Zu in an increasingly luxurious and cold palace. Qin Zu’s black and gold robe was also getting longer and longer, but this time, Mu Sichen vaguely saw eight invisible tentacles appearing under Qin Zu’s robe.

 

The tentacles were very, very long, centered on Qin Zu and flared out into the sky.

Not being able to see the end of the tentacles inside the palace, Mu Sichen simply used his athletic body and climbed above the palace, standing on the roof and seeing these eight tentacles centered on the palace, connecting eight buildings that were extraordinary at first glance.

 

The voice outside the picture rang out at the right time: “The ‘pillars’ of Xiangping Town are different from other towns in that they don’t absorb the souls of the townspeople, and they haven’t harmed anyone’s life except for the cornerstone that was initially sacrificed.”

 

“The townspeople thought this was because their pillars absorbed good emotional energy, since their Admiral Qin was a guardian deity, not an evil one.”

 

“But they didn’t realize that as long as they were ‘pillars,’ they must absorb souls. If it didn’t absorb their souls, then someone else had replaced them.”

 

“While the god-rank monsters in other towns were relying on the townspeople’s power to keep getting stronger, Qin Zu was using his own power to provide the ‘Pillar’ with a constant supply of energy.”

“But even a god doesn’t have such a huge amount of soul energy.”

 

“For this reason, Qin Zu had to constantly send his subordinates to other towns to devour the god-ranked monsters of other towns and use His soul energy to maintain the ‘Pillar’.”

 

So that was how it was.

 

After hearing the voice outside the picture, Mu Sichen finally understood why Qin Zu wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice Yao Wangping’s life, because this was already the smallest sacrifice.

 

Qin Zu must obtain the power of the Big Eye and use his energy to maintain the “pillar” of Xiangping Town.

 

No wonder Qin Zu was a human being, but his power manifestation was a small octopus.

 

This bedtime story made Mu Sichen understand a lot of things he didn’t understand before.

 

But at this moment, he had already vaguely guessed the ultimate direction of this book.

 

The bedtime stories in the library all had tragic endings.

 

The “pupil of the sky,”  who originally wanted to protect the town, was eventually transformed into a monster with only one eye; the small black fish, which looked different from normal people, was put on the dining table because it left the ornamental lake; and the man who worshipped the moon became a happy lunatic in the end.

 

So what would become of Qin Zu’s ultimate end?

 

In order to restrain the desire to devour soul energy, he gave up his emotions and became “absolutely rational.”  In order to prevent the “pillar” from absorbing human souls, he continuously drained his own power to provide souls for the “pillar” and became “human souls.” In order to prevent the “Pillar” from absorbing human souls, he continuously drained his own strength to provide souls for the “Pillar” and became the “Guardian god of humanity.”  In order to devour the god-rank monsters in other towns, he continuously strengthened himself and became the “Hand Covering the Sky.”.

 

During the ten minutes of the novice protection period, Mu Sichen had seen a map.

 

Among the countless dark towns, there was the largest town with an icon that was lit up, shining with a warm light that made people feel at ease at first glance.

 

Mu Sichen thought that that was probably Xiangping Town.

 

But the icon that was lit up by overdrafting everything in Qin Zu—how long could it be lit up?

 

Mu Sichen remembered that the octopus doll that didn’t speak but was extremely outwardly emotional and felt that it was Qin Zu’s nature that had been repressed for a long time.

 

Mu Sichen returned to the palace, and even though he knew it was just a story and Qin Zu couldn’t hear him, he still asked, “Qin Zu, are you tired?”

 

[After growing tentacles, I can finally embrace all mankind.] How long can you embrace Xiangping Town with your eight tentacles?

 

Mu Sichen couldn’t help but reach out his hand and gently poked Qin Zu’s forehead like he was poking the octopus doll.

 

His forehead was hard and not very nice to the touch.

 

On the contrary, the eyelashes were long and dense, still hanging droplets of water from time to time, it was a little bit good-looking.

 

Mu Sichen raised his hand, wanting to gently touch the long eyelashes and wipe off the water droplets on them with his fingertips.

 

Who knew? Just as his hand touched the water droplets, Qin Zu opened his eyes.

 

In that instant, it was as if Mu Sichen had actually locked eyes with Qin Zu.

 

Those eyes, which were so deep that they seemed to contain the entire vast universe, locked eyes with Mu Sichen across endless space and time.

 

He was clearly an outsider to this world, but Qin Zu’s eyes were focused on him as if he could actually see him.

 

“You shouldn’t be able to…” Before Mu Sichen’s words could be spoken, space and time shifted again, turning the page again.

 

This time, there was no town, no palace, no Qin Zu, only a ruin and a huge, not visible in its entirety at a glance, monster wielding eight tentacles.

 

The voice outside the picture sounded once again, “Unfortunately, the Xiangping Town that Qin Zu wanted to establish is nothing more than a pavilion in the air, and after absolute sanity reaches a critical point, He will likewise fall into insanity, and He will ultimately…”

 

“No need to say anymore!” Mu Sichen shouted to the off-picture voice that was nowhere to be found, “Don’t just prophesy about things that haven’t happened yet; Qin Zu is still fine.”

Mu Sichen touched his back; one of the little octopus’s tentacles was still here.

 

Since this was just a book, since he was the one who could look directly at god-level monsters here, and since He Fei could even make the little black fish turn into the prettiest pup in the ornamental lake, then he could also change the ending of this book.

Mu Sichen’s hand made a move in the void, and the crossaxe appeared in his palm.

 

He carried the crossaxe and rushed towards the tentacle-wielding monster. Due to the exceptionally large size of the monster, Mu Sichen only ran a few steps before arriving at His feet and saw a piece of robe pressed under the monster’s bloated body; it was none other than Qin Zu’s black and gold robe, with Qin Zu’s tentacle totem drawn on it.

 

Mu Sichen knew deep down that it was impossible to awaken this monster in front of him with his power.

 

But first, this was a book with Qin Zu as the protagonist, and it was Qin Zu himself who wanted to change the fate of the bedtime story.

Secondly, he had the skill of “digging the wall.”

Thirdly, there was a totem of Qin Zu under the monster, and Mu Sichen had a small tentacle of Qin Zu’s clone on his lower back.

 

He wanted to borrow Qin Zu’s power.

 

Since Qin Zu was able to open his eyes and meet his eyes in the book, he must be able to hear him.

 

Mu Sichen swung his crossaxe and shouted, “Qin Zu, Qin Zu, Qin Zu, Qin Zu, Qin Zu…”

 

Wasn’t Qin Zu able to hear the calls of others? He’d just shout until he died of annoyance!

 

After all, there were still remnants of the Big Eye’s power within the Upper String Library, and Mu Sichen was still sensitive to sight; he felt a line of sight that seemed to burn him through fall on his body.

 

At the same time, the robes underneath the monster bloomed with a dazzling light.

 

The symbol of “∞” appeared above Mu Sichen’s head again, representing that he had borrowed Qin Zu’s power again.

 

This time it was to save Qin Zu himself; not counting the debt, Mu Sichen had no psychological burden of having borrowed a bad online loan and swung the crossaxe with nonchalance.

 

Mu Sichen swung the crossaxe eight times in a row, and each time, tens of thousands of energy values were deducted, and the numbers were so high that Mu Sichen was too lazy to look at them.

 

【Congratulations to the player for obtaining 8 pillar-level self stickers. It’s almost enough. Just give up when you see it’s good. If you continue, player’s level 15 body can no longer withstand such a huge force】

It was the first time that the system was so humanized to dissuade Mu Sichen, speaking very fast, fearing that if he spoke slowly, Mu Sichen would smash it again.

 

Mu Sichen hurriedly put away his crossaxe, and put a self-sticker that he had just gotten into his hands onto the monster in front of him.

 

He always felt that in order for this crazy monster to recover itself, just relying on these eight heavy blows wasn’t quite enough.

 

There was also a need for a trigger.

After the self sticker was pasted on, the monster that was waving its tentacles struggled to turn around, revealing a pair of eyes that were so huge that they were terrifying.

 

These yellow-orange vertical pupils were hundreds of meters in diameter, and when he saw these eyes, Mu Sichen felt that he was going to develop a phobia.

 

However, he always felt that these eyes seemed to be filled with water vapor and were looking at him in a teary manner.

 

It was also unknown if it was his illusion.

 

Mu Sichen boldly tried to reach out and greet the monster, but he felt a huge repulsive force that pushed him out of the space.

 

He kept backing up, watching the picture in front of him get smaller and smaller, while he landed firmly on the ground as if he were pushed out of a page.

 

The space around him didn’t seem to be within the library, but Mu Sichen couldn’t be bothered to observe his surroundings as he hurriedly flipped through the book in his hands.

 

Only to see that the title of the book had changed to “After Growing Tentacles, I Can Finally Embrace Him.”.

 

Mu Sichen: “……”

 

The “him” in the title couldn’t be referring to himself, could it?

 

The first half of the story remained unchanged, and the ending page, “Qin Zu finally couldn’t withstand the backlash of absolute sanity and personally destroyed the Xiangping Town that he was determined to protect, becoming a monster that devoured everything,” was drawn with a huge red cross.

 

Mu Sichen flipped to the next page, and the ending became, “Because of a mysterious person, Qin Zu awakened human nature; he opened his tentacles and embraced that ‘him’ in a peaceful Xiangping Town.”.

The accompanying picture was a blue Q version of a large octopus with large, watery eyes, wrapping a person whose clothes and body were exactly the same as Mu Sichen’s, who couldn’t see his face tightly in his tentacles.

Mu Sichen: “……”

This was kind of a good ending.

 

He closed the book, and it disappeared from his hands; a bookmark fell down.

 

Mu Sichen picked up the bookmark; the style of the bookmark was exactly the same as what he had seen on the second floor, except that it was no longer blank but had a smiley face drawn on it.

 

And the surrounding area had changed from an empty library to a plaza full of sci-fi, with some people walking around from time to time.

 

Mu Sichen opened his cell phone and saw that in the game group chat, he had also sent a message.

 

Mu Sichen: [Why are there always water droplets hanging from His long and dense eyelashes?]

 

It turned out that completing a book would automatically update a message.

 

At this point, Mu Sichen already understood what emotional energy this “pillar” needed.

 

It was the “desire for knowledge.”.

 

When he read the first few books, he didn’t have any strong questions or curiosity; he simply flipped through the books; that was why he couldn’t enter the books like He Fei did.

When he became curious about Qin Zu, it triggered a strong desire for knowledge, and he was naturally pulled into the book and was also given an entrance ticket to the space in front of him.

 

It was an emotional energy that fit the library extremely well.

 

He just didn’t know how to find out where the “pillar” really was from this huge amount of books.

 

Mu Sichen held the smiley face bookmark and thought.

 

At this moment, a familiar voice came from behind him: “Huh? Chen Chen, did you also receive the game’s internal test notification?”

 

Mu Sichen turned around and saw that He Fei, who he had been worried about, was riding a motorcycle blimp and looking at him with great vigor.

 

Mu Sichen: “……”

 

Suddenly, he felt that it was the He Fei who was contaminated by Qin Zu, who looked a bit more pleasant.

 

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TN:

I really like QZ, yet we haven’t officially met him 🤭