Chapter 134: Chapter 134 The Real Secret (Seeking Full Subscription)
Lu Luo, while feeling contemplative, walked toward the center of the Doomsday Disc; he was about to leave.
However, at that moment, he suddenly discovered that after completely devouring the Nightmare Demon Servant, Wu En didn’t disappear but was lying on the disc.
Lu Luo’s devouring had completely stripped that part of the Nightmare Demon Servant from Wu En’s body, and he had reverted to a human form.
Upon seeing Lu Luo’s arrival, Wu En turned his head to look at him, his eyes exceptionally lucid.
"Hello, Mr. Lu Luo, may I have a chat with you before I die?"
The subject’s life signs are very weak and no longer exhibit normal characteristics of life; it seems to be a state where the will is sustaining the body.
Looking at Wu En, whose eyes had returned to clarity, Lu Luo could not find a reason to refuse. He walked over to Wu En and sat down cross-legged in front of him.
"Priest Wu En, say what you want to say."
Wu En first looked at Lu Luo for a while, his gaze deep and distant, as if reminiscing about his youth and contemplating the regrets of his life.
"I was born in the year 301. I never expected that someone born on such a date could witness the transformations of two centuries.
"Witnessing the development of the Wasteland Alliance over this century has indeed been quite difficult."
"Indeed, it’s not easy, especially since the people of the Fourth Ring are still living in dire straits. The Alliance has a long way to go!"
Lu Luo’s words carried a hint of sarcasm, as well as genuine sentiment.
Wu En didn’t argue, just nodded.
"You’re right. Whether it’s the Church or the Council, as rulers, they’ve made more than enough mistakes.
"The Fourth Ring is humanity’s first line of defense, and it should not be treated this way.
"A century of prosperity in the Inner Ring has completely blinded some people to what they should be doing as leaders of humanity. It’s truly laughable.
"They think that because they’ve repelled a few dark tides, the threat of the Exotic Species is no longer concerning.
"But they never considered that in the past century of dark tides, not once has an Exotic Species of the Eighth Order appeared. Even if one did, they never again launched an assault on the high walls.
"They believe that humanity has risen in the post-apocalypse, basking in this false prosperity, without ever considering potential crises that could arise in the future."
Lu Luo blinked. Wu En had transformed into an Exotic Species.
His appearance coincided with the sudden emergence of three Lord-level Exotic Species outside the wall. Consequently, Lu Luo thought that Wu En might know something, perhaps about the goings-on in the world of the Exotic Species.
Is there any power structure or connection among the Exotic Species? He was very interested in this.
"Lord Wu En, what do you want to tell me? I’m not very good at guessing riddles."
"No, you are quite adept. I can feel your difference from your conversations with those girls.
"If I had met you earlier, it would have been better, Mr. Lu Luo. If I had met you earlier, I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes."
"People die, and admitting mistakes is useless then."
"You’re right, Mr. Lu Luo. Those girls were innocent; it was my obsessions and desires that killed them.
"It’s regrettable that I, as I am today, can no longer atone for what I’ve done to them."
Wu En showed a remorseful expression, but Lu Luo couldn’t say anything. He wasn’t one of those dead girls, nor was he a relative of theirs.
Without experiencing the suffering of others, don’t urge them to be kind.
He couldn’t, nor did he have the right, to forgive someone on behalf of those who had been hurt.
"Priest Wu En, repentance is useless, and besides, you’re about to die. Talk about something meaningful instead.
"Like the process of your aberration, or the Fruit of Life, or the sudden appearance of the Lord-level Exotic Species outside the wall."
Lu Luo was very direct. Now that he had the opportunity to obtain intelligence from Wu En’s lips, he naturally wouldn’t pass it up.
He was a pragmatic man with little interest in small talk or discussing ideals.
"Mr. Lu Luo is a practical man, which is good, as it fits the definition of the Disc. Since you really want to know about these matters, I will tell you. There’s nothing to hold back anyway.
"My mutation stems from the desires in my heart. In November last year, I felt that my body was about to fail me.
"Ninety-nine, such a regrettable age. I wanted to make one last pilgrimage to the Inner Ring to worship the Dawn Disc.
"But I knew that with the intensity of the Dark Energy in the Inner Ring, if they knew I was about to die, they wouldn’t allow me to enter.
"So I concealed my physical condition, acting very healthy, and preached weekly at East Ring University to prove my health.
"After submitting my application to the Church, fortunately, I was granted the opportunity to enter the Inner Ring for pilgrimage.
"Once inside the Inner Ring, I didn’t go to worship immediately but went to the church there, wanting to say goodbye to some old friends; after all, I was going to die.
"But it was this farewell that changed everything."
"What happened during this farewell?"
In Wu En’s aged eyes, resentment and discontent appeared for the first time, the most primal emotions of a human being.
"I met someone who was supposed to be dead."
"Someone who was supposed to be dead?"
Lu Luo immediately thought of Qian Ming’s commission.
Qian Ming had also explicitly told him that his mother was supposed to be dead but was alive and well. Were the two situations similar?
Wu En nodded and continued:
"Yes, I met someone several years older than me, long plagued by disease, suffering from chronic illness, who should have already died.
"He was embracing a girl under twenty, holding a wine glass, smoking a cigar, sitting there right in front of me as brazen as could be."
"Fruit of Life?"
"Correct. The moment I saw him, I knew. His vitality came from the forbidden gift of the Life Knights Group, the Fruit of Life."
"Because of this, you felt discontent, and that’s what caused the mutation?"
Wu En didn’t respond immediately but continued:
"I knew him; we were war comrades in the Black Tide War. But I knew he wasn’t devout enough to become a Believer of Light.
"He had many vices: was steeped in alcohol, greedy, lustful. But his family was very wealthy, with substantial influence.
"He had committed the crime of rape and was suspected of murder, but it was all swept under the rug. Later, he even became an honorary priest of a parish.
"Meanwhile, I preached daily, prayed devoutly, earnestly healed people, with exceptional military deeds, and became a Fourth Ring priest.
"I don’t understand, why can such a man live on, live on with the help of the Fruit of Life?
"Why do I, who have given my life to the Wasteland Alliance, to the Church, to the people, have to die like this?"
Wu En’s question was something Lu Luo couldn’t answer, as in his previous life, there were many similar cases, equally unanswerable.
"And then?"
"Then? The subsequent events, you’ve probably guessed them already!
"I went to the First Ring, saw the Dawn Disc. It, as always, was beautiful, filled with light and hope.
"The Dawn Disc felt the desire and unwillingness in my heart. It comforted me and gave me strength, allowing me to have the will to live on."
Lu Luo paused, sensing that something was amiss.
The situation Wu En described seemed to be entirely different from the Holy Judgement mutation mentioned by Han Shiyu and Qi Xinzhu.
"Priest Wu En, you said that the Dawn Disc gave you power? And turned you into a Nightmare Demon Servant?" Lu Luo asked.
"Yes, there’s no such thing as the Holy Judgement mutation," Wu En answered. "The Holy Radiance originates from the power of Holy Light from the Dawn Disc. Without permission from Li Ming, how could Exotic Species possibly use Holy Radiance?"
This was sensational news, a major bombshell belonging to the Church!
The Church blamed the Holy Judgement on the excessive concentration of Dark Energy in the First Ring, but that wasn’t the case at all!
According to Wu En, the Holy Judgement was clearly an abnormality actively released by the Dawn Disc.
Instantly, Lu Luo connected this with the Doomsday Factor he had obtained from the Nightmare Demon Servants, a substance he could use to create Lord-level Exotic Species.
He just needed to provide enough energy and a sufficient concentration of Dark Energy.
Then, could the Dawn Disc actively produce the Doomsday Factor, and were the Nightmare Demon Servants simply the embodiment of it?
Could all the Church personnel who underwent Holy Judgement be manifestations of the Doomsday Factor released by the Dawn Disc?
The Dawn Disc produces Doomsday Factor, and he recycles it? The relationship between the two discs is something to ponder!
After digesting this information, Lu Luo nodded at Wu En.
"Priest Wu En, this is a very important piece of intelligence. Please continue," he urged.
"The rest of the story you already know quite well. Driven by my paranoia, I began to delve into ancient texts about the Fruit of Life.
"My status isn’t considered noble, but in the Church, I’m of quite a senior generation.
"Of course, I could peruse those ancient books buried within the Church, but I searched for a long time without finding any method to create the Fruit of Life."
"You didn’t find the method to create the Fruit of Life? Then how were you able to make it?" Lu Luo inquired.
"I had always assumed that the method for creating the Fruit of Life was hidden in some alchemical ancient book by the Church, but later I realized I was wrong.
"The method to create the Fruit of Life has always been passed down in the biographies of the Life Holy Knights.
"The principle is complex yet simple at the same time," Wu En explained.
"Priest Wu En, could you tell me the method to create the Fruit of Life?" Lu Luo asked curiously.
Wu En looked at Lu Luo with increasingly hazy eyes, then slowly closed his eyes as if he had died, remaining like that for a full five minutes before opening them again.
"The method to create the Fruit of Life... you’ve already mentioned most of it before.
"A complete Fruit of Life is indeed very complex. It requires sacrificing a bride who is full of love yet dies in despair.
"A bride full of love but dying in despair brings endless agony and regret, which act as catalysts for the Fruit of Life.
"Then, one must use the powerful life force that comes with the birth of an unborn child. This is combined with the power of Holy Light and nurtured with the mother’s blood. Only then can the Fruit of Life finally be cultivated.
"These are only simple explanations. The actual process is much, much more complicated than what I’ve mentioned," he said somberly.
Sacrificing a bride full of love but dying in despair! Isn’t that what happened to Ludie’s fiancée?
So, Ludie’s fiancée really was sacrificed? And then, like Lu Mengna before, transformed into a Specter Species?
A Fourth-Tier Transcendent, also the beloved of a Hunter team leader? Can the Church simply maneuver such power? Was there more to the story from back then?
Well, it’s getting more confusing.
"If the process is so complicated, how did Priest Wu En obtain the Fruit of Life?" Lu Luo pressed on.
"I had become an Exotic Species, and as time passed, I could feel my humanity fading away, and I grew desperate.
"But I also slowly accepted the fact that I was an Exotic Species. Since I am an Exotic Species, of course, I have the methods of one.
"I do not need a bride filled with love, but pain and regret can be created through dreams.
"During a healing session, I controlled a woman with the seed of a Nightmare Demon, making her pregnant through the seed of a Nightmare Demon.
"The offspring born from the seed of a Nightmare Demon are Nightmare Demons themselves. I did not know whether this method of impregnation would be effective. However, given the limits of my lifespan, I still tried it.
"After her pregnancy came to term, I sacrificed her and ultimately obtained a Fruit of Life that was not particularly complete.
"Although it did not possess the powerful effects of a true Fruit of Life, I was certain that it was effective. It could probably extend my human form’s lifespan by about one month.
"After that, as you may already know, I parasitically invaded many young women’s dreams with the Nightmare Demon, but to no avail.
"You stopped me, which is good, and I am very grateful to you, Mr. Lu Luo. Please also apologize to those girls for me."
Lu Luo’s expression was also somewhat complex. Wu En, the old Priest, could be said to have diligently dedicated his life to the Wasteland and for the sake of the Church.
As a Priest and a Believer of Light, he saved countless lives and participated in the Black Tide War, repelling the Exotic Species. These were his personal feats.
But at the moment of his death, he turned dark and committed an unforgivable sin.
Such a life is indeed quite ironic.
Seeing that Wu En was on the verge of death, Lu Luo no longer harbored the thought of holding Wu En accountable.
But he had not forgotten his previous purpose and continued to question Wu En:
"Priest Wu En, what about the three Lord-level Exotic Species outside the wall?
"You may have reached the Lord level yourself, but you are not capable of controlling the three Exotic Species outside, are you?
"They appeared at the same time as you, and Lord Qiao Xing did not come to the University because of this. That is too much of a coincidence."
Wu En tried to speak again, but it seemed he could not utter the words. Looking at Lu Luo, he raised his hand as if wanting to touch Lu Luo’s face, but Lu Luo refused him.
He was not the kind of person to be taken so lightly, and he could not accept a man touching his face like that—well, perhaps Brother Xiao Gu could be an exception.
"Those three Exotic Species were driven by the Nightmare Demon. It wanted to obtain human intelligence through me, but luckily, you stopped me.
"Mr. Lu Luo, what a regret it is. If only I had met you sooner."
Lu Luo still did not speak. This was the second time Wu En said that if only he could have met him sooner.
"There’s no point in talking about it now, Priest Wu En. What is the Nightmare Demon?"
"Indeed, there’s no point in talking about it now. The Nightmare Demon is a new Monarch, a new calamity.
"Heh, it’s such a pity. Mr. Lu Luo, you are filled with the aura of Li Ming. You are the one we were looking for! Han Shiyu was right; you are the true Li Ming! If only I had met you sooner!"
"Ah?" Lu Luo was somewhat surprised, but Wu En’s remaining will dissipated completely after he spoke these words.
His body began to decay and extinguish along with the dispersal of his will, turning into residual ashes that drifted into the void.
Wu En repeated, "If only I had met you sooner," three times. It must have truly been a great regret.
Life must go on. The Exotic Species outside the wall had yet to be dealt with, and the remaining dozen or so seeds of the Nightmare Demon also had to be handled.
And Qiao Xing’s speech—life is always busy!
Han Shiyu, that woman, was so badly injured. I wonder how she is now. A new Monarch, a new calamity? The Nightmare Demon should only be Seventh Tier, but only an Exotic Species of the Eighth Order can be referred to as a calamity!ŸŸŸ