HBWnovel Chapter 45 The God Who Eats Children
Chapter 45 The God Who Eats Children
The stone hall did not quiet down after God's remains turned to ashes.
In the normal dungeon process, when the lord dies, the results panel should pop up, showing the completion rating, experience, loot, and quest rewards—nothing should be missing.
But now there's nothing.
Ashes covered the stone slab in a thin layer, scattered by the residual energy wind pressure. The countdown stone door was still lit in the distance, the number stuck at thirty-seven minutes, neither decreasing nor returning to zero.
Zhao Lei stared at his panel for a long time before cursing.
"Where's the reward? I got punched in the nose, my shield lost durability, my horse died once, and the system just pretended to be dead?"
Shen Xinglin withdrew his Thousand Transformations technique and looked down at the empty saddle summoning bar.
"My horse wants to ask too."
Su Yunqing raised her hand and buffed everyone, the white light of Yao Guang's Blessing fell, and the team's health was fully restored. She looked at Lu Yan.
"Is the mission not over yet?"
Lu Yan did not respond.
He stood beside the pile of ash, his scepter of eternal power leaning against the ground, his gaze fixed on the edge of the ash heap.
There was a section of forearm that had been bitten.
very short.
It belongs to the child.
The skin had mostly turned gray, exposing the bones, with traces of grayish-white energy remaining at the broken ends from when the remnants of God's body devoured the soul. Had Lu Yan not been nearby, this stuff would easily have been swept away as mere debris.
He crouched down and used the base of his scepter to brush away the ashes.
The body of a child was exposed.
Incomplete.
When God's remains were sitting cross-legged, casting a spell, his body blocked most of the view. Only after the battle ended and the ashes dispersed did his outline become visible.
Wen Yue took two steps closer, glanced at it, and pressed the crossbow in her hand down slightly.
"Are these villagers?"
Lin Chuxue saw it too. She was originally complaining about not getting the scholarship in the illusion, but she swallowed her words.
Why is he here?
Lu Yan did not answer.
He was the first to wake up after the nightmare shattered. When the remnant of God was chanting incantations, there was a subtle movement: its left hand was always pressed against its side, occasionally grabbing something and bringing it to its mouth.
The movement was small, and half of it was blocked by the scrolling light effect.
On the battlefield, no one will pay attention to whether an old man is eating.
But Lu Yan kept an eye on it.
He is used to observing mechanisms, subtle actions, and hidden hints in the system.
"He's eating the child," Lu Yan said.
Zhao Leiguang was stunned for a moment, then cursed even more fiercely.
"That old bastard is no human being."
Xiao Qianyu walked to the corpse and half-squatted down to examine it. She didn't touch it, only looked at the broken ends and residual energy.
"A devouring-type enhancement," she concluded. "It's the same mechanism as absorbing the villagers' souls earlier. It replenishes its status by consuming living beings."
"So he wasn't just casting a spell to weaken?" Wen Yue looked at the pile of ashes. "He was stalling for time to recover?"
"Yes." Lu Yan nodded. "If we had woken up half a minute later, he would have finished eating the child. The loading bar is finished, and the third stage will most likely begin."
Zhao Leiguang felt a tightness in his back.
"There's a third stage? Level 60 elites, stage two is a nightmare, and stage three involves eating children to heal? Was the designer of this dungeon selling substandard cotton in their past life?"
No one laughed.
Footsteps could be heard coming from the entrance of the stone hall.
It wasn't the chaotic trampling that happens when monsters charge.
It was a group of people walking.
Everyone turned around.
The villagers who were saved in the first stage and then sacrificed to ashes in the second stage are now standing at the entrance of the stone hall again.
Men, women, young and old, were all there.
The gray-white energy shells on their bodies were gone, their clothes were tattered, and their faces were full of exhaustion. But the names above their heads were neither hostile red names nor friendly green names.
white.
Neutral entity.
Hundreds of villagers with no formal names watched the first team in silence.
Zhao Lei's hand, which was holding up the shield, stopped in mid-air.
"White name? How do I fight that?"
In the rules of the secret realm, neutral units with white names can attack, but the consequences are unclear.
Especially since these people are labeled as native inhabitants of Eden. Killing them would not be surprising if the questline collapsed, hidden rewards were nullified, or even penalties were triggered.
The first squad had just slaughtered Adam and Eve, and then wiped out the false god God. If it were a red-named monster, they wouldn't ask a single question.
But when the villagers with white names surrounded them, the situation immediately became tricky.
The leader was a woman.
She was in her thirties, with disheveled hair, and barefoot on the stone slabs. She walked past the ash heap and stopped less than five meters away from Xiao Qianyu.
She glanced at the dust on the ground, then looked at Lu Yan and the others.
"You killed God?"
Her voice was hoarse, and every word seemed to be ground out from her parched throat.
Zhao Leiguang was about to speak when Xiao Qianyu raised her hand to stop him.
"That wasn't a god," Xiao Qianyu said. "He swallowed you all."
The woman didn't listen.
"We were trapped in darkness, but God gave us our way home."
An old man came up behind him, leaning on a broken wooden stick, his arm shaking uncontrollably.
"You outsiders broke into the Garden of Eden, killed Adam and Eve, and now you've killed God. And you still claim to be saving people?"
"We were indeed saving you just now," Su Yunqing couldn't help but say. "You were sacrificed by him, turned into suicide soldiers. It was us who—"
"Shut up!"
Someone in the crowd shouted.
Then, more voices emerged.
"murderer!"
"Give God back to us!"
"Outsiders are all devils!"
"They're armed; they're the monsters!"
The sound waves piled up one after another.
The villagers pushed forward, their ranks forming a dense, imposing crowd. Some picked up stones, others gripped broken sticks, and children peeked out from behind adults.
The atmosphere became difficult to manage.
Zhao Leiguang asked in a low voice, "Captain, should we retreat?"
Xiao Qianyu did not move.
There is no way back.
Shen Xinglin gripped his spear tightly, but didn't dare to make a move.
If the villager with the white name had taken another step forward, the tip of his gun would have been touching the other man's chest.
Fighting doesn't guarantee you'll complete the mission.
If we don't fight, it will be troublesome if we get surrounded.
Wen Yue held the crossbow in her hand, the safety off. She was usually a woman of few words, and this time she only uttered four words.
"They're insane."
Lu Yan stood beside the ash heap, not joining the argument.
He looked down at the child's body.
The corpse also had a name on its head.
The original inhabitants of Eden: Mien.
White name.
There is also a very small status description next to it.
Cause of death: devoured by a false god.
The text is too small; it only pops up when you're standing next to the corpse and looking directly at it. The dungeon design is very insidious.
If a player is provoked by a villager and immediately attacks a player with no reputation, they will most likely fall into the final trap.
From the symbiosis of Adam and Eve to God's sacrifice of villagers, and then to nightmare control, the most disgusting thing about this secret realm has never been the numbers.
It forces explorers to make mistakes.
Killing red-named players is a form of combat.
Killing a white-named player is a judgment.
Lu Yan took a screenshot of the panel and sent it to the team channel.
Xiao Qianyu saw the status description, didn't ask any questions, and stuck her spear into the ground, blocking the villagers from the group.
Lu Yan raised his head and looked at the woman who had questioned them first.
"What's your name?"
The woman was taken aback by his question.
She didn't answer, but just crossed her arms and stared at the pile of ash.
Lu Yan asked again, "Where is your child?"
As soon as he said that, the shouting and cursing in the crowd stopped for a moment.
The woman's body swayed slightly.
She subconsciously looked behind her, as if looking for someone.
No.
The child she was looking for was not among the villagers.
Lu Yan turned aside, making way for the corpse.
"Come and take a look."
The woman didn't move.
The old man beside her shouted angrily, "You still want to lie to us? God wouldn't harm his own people!"
Lu Yan glanced at him.
"Then let her see for herself."
He offered no further explanation.
Explanation is useless.
Trying to reason with someone who has been brainwashed by the secret realm for years is ridiculously inefficient. Presenting evidence on the ground and having the person involved walk over is far more effective than a hundred words.
The woman finally took a step.
Then comes the second step.
The crowd parted to make way for her, creating a very narrow path.
She walked to the edge of the ash heap and lowered her head.
The child's body lay curled up in the ashes, half of his face still retaining its original features. Behind his left ear was a small, crescent-shaped birthmark.
When the woman saw the birthmark, she let out a short, sharp sound.
She knelt down.
His hand reached out halfway, then stopped in mid-air, as if afraid that if he touched it, the corpse would fall apart.
"Mien..."
She called out that name.
The stone hall fell silent.
The woman finally picked up the child.
The body was too light.
Ashes fell through her fingers as she hugged the child tighter and tighter until she curled up on the ground, her forehead pressed against the child's mutilated face.