C78 — [3.17 – Judgement Day]

Inside the restaurant, Jiu Shu quietly watched the chaotic situation on the street outside, and only after a long time did he withdraw his gaze to continue eating.

As if he didn’t notice that the source of all this chaos was him.

“Let’s go back to the hotel later; I’m a bit sleepy.”

Jiu Shu wanted to go back and take a nap.

“Okay.”

Lu Yuan had long since finished eating, and he sat watching his young boss eat with a focused gaze.

There was what could be called a gentle glow settling in his eyes, which was highly disproportionate to his tall and ghastly physique.

It was also in stark contrast to the other guests in the restaurant.

At this moment, there were dozens of guests sparsely seated in the restaurant.

All of them had their heads lowered, avoiding the prying eyes of others, but from the sides of their faces that were occasionally revealed, one could still see their empty and lifeless expressions.

Bewildered and depressed, there was even a bit of helplessness.

It was as if they didn’t know how to face the chaotic and low emotions at this moment.

Looking around, half of the restaurant’s guests had their heads bowed, and that look of silence inevitably had an eerie feeling that chilled the bottom of one’s heart.

And as the only two guests in the restaurant who were still moving, both Jiu Shu and Lu Yuan didn’t seem to care about the guests who were behaving strangely and had already gotten up and were ready to leave.

“Let’s go.”

Jiu Shu stretched lazily, looking quite satisfied with today’s lunch.

The restaurant chef was good, and the noodles were delicious.

“Okay.”

Lu Yuan followed and got up; he held Jiu Shu’s palm and interlocked their fingers, then slowly walked out of the restaurant like this.

Just when he was about to walk out of the restaurant, his dark and horrible pupils swept through the restaurant, and pairs of blo*od-colored eyes re-lifted. A moment later, he retracted his gaze.

 

He didn’t pay attention to the gloomy and numb expressions of the animal heads.

 

And it wasn’t until a long time after Lu Yuan and Jiu Shu had left, when even Jiu Shu’s back couldn’t be seen, that the people in the restaurant lowered their heads again, hiding their expressionless faces.

 

They also seemed to realize that they couldn’t go on like this, so their eyes were hollow as they mobilized their facial muscles, trying to show their smiles again.

 

But after a long time of unsuccessful attempts, they ended up with their heads hanging low, making it impossible to see their expressions.

 

Behind the bar, the bartender also withdrew his eyes from the door.

 

The smile on his face had long since disappeared, and he tried several times but couldn’t hook up the corners of his mouth.

In the end, he could only lower his head and look at his blo*od-soaked palm, each finger trembling slightly from the pain.

 

Human flesh and bl*ood were too fragile; just a few cups was all it took to injure his palm and cover it in bl*ood.

 

The pain traveled along the peripheral nerves all the way to his brain, and it was the pain he hated the most.

 

It was all part of a tainted human’s emotions.

 

But at this moment, he found a feeling even more unbearable to him than this pain.

 

An unknown feeling so bitter that it numbed the tip of his tongue and made his heart sink as well; he didn’t know how to describe it.

 

Even his own body, which was far away from the world, shriveled up as a result.

 

Obviously, he had no heart, but it was as if his heart had stopped beating in an instant, and the large body made up of slimy flesh and bl*ood slumped listlessly, almost losing the will to live.

 

Even the original desire to destroy everything was no longer important.

 

Not only did He lose the desire to k*ill all of humanity and send everything into a frenzy, he now even had the thought that it would be good to just destroy himself.

 

What was wrong with him?

 

The god of doom was in a daze and didn’t know.

 

He only knew that he didn’t want to be hated by Jiu Shu, but he didn’t know why he didn’t want to be hated.

 

And what to do to not be hated.

 

On the other hand, Li Qi, who had been dragged away by the security guards, was eventually dumped in an alleyway away from the restaurant.

 

Looking at the two security guards who surrounded her, she was trembling with fear, thinking that she was about to be kid-napped.

 

In the next moment, she realized that the security guards, who were still wearing weird smiles, all became expressionless. No longer paying attention to Li Qi, they lowered their heads pensively.

 

Their lips also moved; they seemed to be murmuring something.

 

Li Qi gathered the courage to come closer; only then did she hear the words coming out of the guard’s mouth.

 

“Being hated…”

“Why…”

“What to do…”

The security guards’ voices were hard and cold, but somehow she managed to sense their panic.

 

Li Qi listened to these puzzling words, revealing an equally bewildered expression.

 

She didn’t know what was wrong with the god of doom or how he had suddenly become so strange, but she knew that now was a good opportunity for her to escape.

 

Thus, Li Qi took advantage of the guard’s inattention and escaped from the alley.

 

It wasn’t until she escaped that she was finally relieved, and her face, which had been scared white, regained its color.

But then she began to worry about the butcher and his lover in the restaurant just now.

They must be in a very bad situation by now, and she only hoped that they would be able to see their chance to escape like she did.

 

Especially for the butcher’s beautiful and gentle lover, the thought that he would die in the restaurant just like that made Li Qi sigh a little.

 

With this thought, Li Qi raised her head and observed the nearby roads, ready to go back to the restaurant to see if there might be any salvation.

 

But as soon as she looked up, Li Qi froze a little.

 

She opened her eyes wide and saw that the originally prosperous streets of H City were currently filled with smoke, and countless vehicles were crashing together in a series of rear-end accidents.

 

Amidst the smoke and flames of the vehicles, it actually gave people a feeling of doom.

 

But unlike the end of the world, there were not many people on the streets asking for help.

 

Instead, there were many humans standing with their heads bowed.

 

They stood still, as if they hadn’t seen the car accident nearby, but like the security guard just now, they were murmuring something.

 

The drivers of the automobile accident didn’t try to escape from their cars, but rather, they didn’t say a word even though their vehicles were crashed into a thousand pieces.

 

There were only occasional pedestrians who passed by in a hurry with shocked expressions, but they minded their own business and hurried away.

 

Li Qi fearfully looked at the people standing on the street, and only after a long time did she turn her gaze to the vehicles that had gotten into an accident.

 

Through the windows, the drivers in the driver’s seat could be seen hanging their heads as if they had lost consciousness.

But upon closer inspection, Li Qi knew that they had not lost consciousness but were just sitting in the car, mumbling something.

 

The smiles that once mimicked those of humans were gone from their faces, and even their eyes had become hollow.

 

The expressionless faces looked gloomy and cold.

 

Their demeanor also showed a strange stereotypical stiffness, giving off a strange feeling of inhumanity.

It was too strange.

Li Qi gulped. Even though she had mentally prepared herself ahead of time, her hands and feet were still cold from the weird demeanor of these drivers and people on the side of the road.

After all, even though she knew something was wrong with them, the faces that looked exactly like humans still caused a sense of confusion as to whether they were humans or monsters possessed by the god of doom.

 

She could tell that these people were just as possessed by the god of doom as those in the restaurant.

 

But still, looking at this busy intersection and at the humans acting strangely, Li Qi felt her scalp tingle.

 

Most of the people in the street were possessed by the god of doom.

This filled her with despair.

She had thought that it was just those people in the restaurant, but now that the entire city was at stake, the god of doom had clearly set its sights on the city.

Under the terrifying power of the god of doom, there was so little that a tiny human like her could do that it was useless.

No, one couldn’t think like that; as long as there was a glimmer of hope, one must strive.

Li Qi struggled to maintain her sanity; she judged, according to her memories of her previous life, that the butcher should not be dead at this time.

 

After all, if the Butcher was dead, the satisfied god of doom should have left long ago and returned to the madness of his own body.

 

And now these people possessed by the god of doom had not left, even though their demeanor had become strange.

 

From this, it could be seen that he had not yet accomplished his goal.

In that case, the world was still saved!

Thinking of this, Li Qi looked at the chaotic situation nearby again and prepared to go back to the restaurant to take a look first.

No matter what, the butcher and his lover had to be convinced to leave the city.

That way, maybe he wouldn’t be able to k*ill the butcher, and the world would be saved.

Thinking like this, Li Qi started looking for someone to ask for directions.

She had been locked up in the mental hospital for a long time, and now she had no idea how to find her way back to the restaurant, so she could only look for someone to ask.

She was still cautious, though.

In case she found someone who was possessed by the god of doom, she carefully looked around, avoiding the humans who stood still, mumbled, and didn’t move a muscle.

 

It took a while to find a man sitting on a bench by the side of the road, his fingers fiddling with a box of toothpicks.

 

His head was also down, but it was different from those who didn’t move a muscle.

 

“This gentleman, do you know how to get to the restaurant, please?”

 

Li Qi spoke somewhat nervously, observing the surroundings with trepidation as she spoke, fearing that the god of doom might suddenly spring forth.

 

She was already ready to run at any moment.

 

“Hated, not hated.”

 

The man lowered his head and was pulling toothpicks out of the toothpick box one by one, throwing one away with every word.

 

At the sound of her voice, he lifted his head slightly, revealing dark, numb eyes.

There was also a grotesque face that struggled to try and conjure up a smile but always failed, eventually causing all the muscles in his face to stiffen and crease up.

 

“!”

Li Qi’s legs went weak with fear, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

Her brain went blank, only feeling that she was finished.

 

But in the next second, instead of ki*lling her as she expected, the man said in a hollow, raw voice, “He hates me.”

 

“What do you do when you’re hated?”

 

It was like a question to her and like a mumble.

 

Shivering, Li Qi subconsciously replied, “Maybe, maybe let him get to know you better, and then he won’t hate you.”

As a mental patient who had received psychological education courses from time to time in a mental hospital, Li Qi had this point about the need for mutual understanding in communication between humans engraved into her bones and subconsciously blurted it out.

 

But then she felt that she was really crazy to actually communicate with the god of doom.

 

As a fanatic believer who had always fervently believed in the god of doom in the past, no one understood the madness of the god of doom better than her.

The god of doom was already mad to a certain extent, completely immersed in his own crazy world, and there was no such thing as sanity.

She was purely talking to a cow now, and there was no way she would get a response, but she might attract the attention of the god of doom and thus be k*illed.

 

However, just as Li Qi was thinking this, the man in front of her paused in his movements as if he had actually understood her words.

No longer drawing out the toothpick or mumbling, he became silent.

Dead silence filled the surroundings.

A few moments later, Li Qi was shocked to see that those humans not far away who were still standing also stopped mumbling, revealing a pondering expression.

 

It was a long time before some sound came out: “Not enough to know.”

“He doesn’t know me.”

Yes, it must be that he didn’t know the god of doom well enough to say that he hated him.

Of course, there was also the fact that his other self was guiding him and constantly badmouthing him.

It caused him to not know Him well enough to think that He was bad and really believe that He would k*ill him.

If Jiu Shu knew the god of doom better, he wouldn’t have hated him.

He would have been willing to become a believer raised by Him.

He wouldn’t have shown that expression that made him sad.

The kind of expression that showed he was really disgusted by him.

“…… Wooooo!”

Li Qi, who had witnessed everything, covered her mouth and didn’t dare to make a sound.

Eyes wide open, she watched as the people on the streets slowly regained the strange smiles on their faces for some reason.

They became like normal people walking on the streets, integrated into human life.

Even the man not far from her, who was still playing with a toothpick, got up and left the place, and the strange smile on his face also became normal.

Normal, as if they were actually normal people.

And they all seemed to be going off to do something, and they were in an unusual hurry.

They were so eager that they didn’t even pay attention to Li Qi anymore, completely ignoring the human to whom he had almost revealed his identity.

And Li Qi tried to curl up and not draw attention.

The despair in her eyes grew deeper and deeper.

The god of doom was getting scarier and scarier; their disguises were becoming more and more alike; what on earth could be done to save the world?

 

Li Qi was at a loss for words.

There was no way to find the restaurant now, and even if she did,the butcher might have gone somewhere, and she couldn’t find a way to get close to him at all.

 

What was more; with the god of doom’s current disguise ability, no one would believe her.

 

Not to mention going to persuade Butcher to leave the city; she might not even succeed in persuading other normal humans to leave.

 

“Thank you for tuning into this program on time. Please see the news report for this program.”

Just as Li Qi was in despair, the sound of news playing on the screen of a distant building suddenly came to her ears.

She froze, and then hope flared up.

Right! She could go on TV and expose the true colors of the god of doom!

That way, wherever the Butcher was, he would be able to see the program and know the true nature of the god of doom.

And at the same time, it would also save other humans!

Thinking of this, Li Qi staggered up and headed in the direction of the TV station.

And at that moment, Jiu Shu had just gotten into a cab back to the hotel.

Sitting in the backseat, he looked out the window at the street, where pedestrians were in a hurry, avoiding the frequent car accidents on the street.

 

Sweeping his eyes over the drivers who were trapped in their cars and still not panicking, Jiu Shu looked again at some of the people standing still on the side of the road.

“Lu Yuan, the people out there seem strange, don’t you think?”

Jiu Shu pointed to those standing still with their heads bowed as if he were interested.

Lu Yuan looked over and, after a moment of silence, replied, “Yes, it’s strange.”

Because they were monsters.

As soon as the words left his mouth, those people began to move.

But the movements were conspicuously stiff, as if they were forcibly ordering their bodies forward.

 

 

Showing with their actions that they were not strange.

“……”

 

Lu Yuan didn’t say anything; he just looked at the driver sitting in the front row with dark eyes.

“There are a bit too many car accidents today; I hope there aren’t too many casualties.”

As the words fell, the drivers who were still lying in those semi-derelict cars finally began to move, slowly climbing out of the cars.

 

Seeing this, Jiu Shu smiled and withdrew his gaze.

“I’ll rest for a while; call me when we arrive.”

Jiu Shu leaned against Lu Yuan’s arm and closed his eyes.

Lu Yuan’s gaze softened a lot, and he softly hmmm’d.

Then he held Jiu Shu in his arms, letting him sleep as peacefully as possible.

 

The feeling of holding the love of his life in his arms was mesmerizing, but the covetous gazes of others made Lu Yuan’s eyes under his bandages grow cloudy.

He raised his eyes to the driver’s face revealed in the rearview mirror.

A face that smiled stiffly.

He hadn’t dared to raise it when he was still awake, but now he peered at him without a care in the world.

Lu Yuan covered his lover’s face and locked eyes with the driver.

The two pairs of equally somber eyes looked at each other with a mirror-like resemblance.

 

He didn’t know how long it took, but they finally arrived at the hotel.

The car stopped smoothly. Lu Yuan originally didn’t want to wake up Jiu Shu, but he woke up on his own.

He opened his eyes just in time to see the driver’s face hanging down in panic.

But Jiu Shu didn’t have any special reaction; his face was as normal as when he sat up straight and got out of the car.

Then, raising his head, he looked at this hotel, which was extremely different from the one before his departure and somewhat silent.

Only to see that the lobby of this originally still opulent hotel looked like it had been ransacked at this moment, with the portrait of the god of doom and some of the god of doom’s propaganda slogans plastered all over the place.

Even in the waiting room of the hall, there were a few followers of the god of doom sitting in the waiting room, constantly publicizing the power and beauty of the god of doom to the people passing by.

“This gentleman, would you like to learn about the god of doom?”

“The god of doom is an incomparably great god, very worthy of our faith!”

A well-dressed young man walked up to Jiu Shu with a smile on his face, ignoring the grievous and gloomy gaze of the man next to him and just looking at Jiu Shu.

As he spoke, he even handed out a flyer.

“…” Jiu Shu took the leaflet and saw that it described the teachings of the god of doom, the power and nobility of the god of doom in a big way, in short, how much it had to be glorified.

“Please don’t listen to some people’s comments that vilify the god of doom; in reality, the god of doom is a very good god who favors His followers beyond measure!” The young man’s tone was impassioned.

His expression became vaguely joyful and smug when he saw Jiu Shu reading the flyer carefully.

 

He glanced at Lu Yuan, and the blo*od color that flashed in his eyes carried a provocative undertone.

 

Lu Yuan looked at the young man expressionlessly, the fingers at his side slowly tightening, as if at any moment he was going to smash his first against his face, which was extremely close to Jiu Shu.

 

“Is that so? But isn’t the god of doom averse to human emotions? How come he favors the believers?”

Jiu Shu suddenly asked a question, interrupting the delicate atmosphere between the two.

It also caused the young man to look puzzled.

 

“Uh,, that is different; what He detests is the tainted love-hate of human beings, but it’s different from favoring the believers.”

So as long as Jiu Shu believed in him, he would always favor him.

Just as He guaranteed in His previous promise.

“……”

Jiu Shu raised his eyes and looked at the young man for a moment.

Only after looking at him until cold sweat broke out on his forehead did he smile and continue to ask, “In that case, so the god of doom will never favor humans other than believers, right?”

“Of course. The god of doom is a god with a high moral character and self-conduct, and He will only cast a net in favor of His own believers.”

The young man’s tone was firm, clearly knowing the teachings of the god of doom backward and forward and not fearing any tests.

“Well, that’s really unfortunate; I’m an atheist, so it seems that the god of doom really hates me.”

Jiu Shu smirked as he placed the flyer back into the young man’s hands.

It was as if he didn’t see his expression stiffen momentarily.

“Let’s go; I’m tired, and I’m going to get some rest.”

 

Jiu Shu turned his head, curled his beautiful peach blossom-like eyes, and looked at Lu Yuan beside him.

Lu Yuan seemed to be a bit unresponsive; he was stunned before unclenching his fingers that had already been clenched into fists, reverting back to his silent demeanor.

 

He nodded his head with soft eyes, holding Jiu Shu’s hand and walking towards the elevator not far away, not paying any more attention to the young man with a bull’s head behind him.

“Wait, wait! The god of doom, the god of doom, really favors believers; as long as you believe in the god of doom, you can get everything.”

The young man was a bit flustered, barely maintaining the smile on his face as he spoke loudly behind Jiu Shu.
“It’s okay to be an atheist.”

Jiu Shu gave him a sideways glance.
It seemed to inspire the younger man, who added haughtily, “The god of doom will forgive atheists!”

 

“……” Jiu Shu fell silent and stopped looking at him.

The young man watched Jiu Shu’s figure disappear into the elevator and stood frozen for a long time.

Only then did he lower his head despondently, wondering why he hadn’t succeeded.

 

Obviously, he had read the flyer.

 

It must have been because Lu Yuan was beside him that he failed!

 

---

TN:

Try harder next time, crazy one (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧