HP - Chapter 30

Kingdom of Gods 08

"Thanks for the invitation, but I politely decline."

Zhong Xu listened expressionlessly, delivered this line without any hint of emotion, then pulled out a napkin and wiped her mouth.

"Hey... I haven’t finished speaking yet!" Liang Qing protested, his tone tinged with irritation, but he quickly masked it with a smile. "Please reconsider! Right now in the city, the Pantheon and the Judgement Eye claim to be working for everyone’s good, but in truth, they’re trying to establish a class hierarchy. Once you choose to follow them, you’ll spend your whole life as their slave."

"But Tarot Path is different; everyone there is free."

He tried to make his words sound enticing, but...

Zhong Xu looked at him with a faint, ambiguous smile and asked, "Have you all forgotten that we’re inside a game right now?"

Liang Qing’s eyes flickered, his emotions growing increasingly fervent. "This stage doesn’t have any mandatory missions. We still have divine power — we can truly do whatever we want! Rather than continuing through endless, dangerous game stages, wouldn’t it be better to live out an entire lifetime right here?"

Zhong Xu’s brow twitched slightly, her gaze deepening.

Seeing that her expression seemed somewhat moved, Liang Qing pressed on eagerly. "Who cares whether it’s a game or not? We’re all ‘gods.’ This is the happiest world there could be!"

She tilted her head slightly, as though thinking. "The members of your Tarot Path have all accepted this world?"

"Of course! This world is way better than the real one, don’t you think? No one controls us! No need to work! When I go home, a beautiful android has already made dinner and tidied up the place, waiting for me. I honestly don’t ever want to return to the real world!" Liang Qing’s voice rose higher and higher. "If we can seize more Tarot cards, the possibilities are endless — we could dominate everything here!"

His face was flushed red with fanaticism, fine beads of sweat gathering on his forehead.

Tarot Path really was skilled at brainwashing.

As Zhong Xu thought this, she noticed that Liang Qing had calmed a little. He went on, "And our goal in collecting more Tarot cards is also to destroy the plans of the Pantheon and the Judgement Eye. As long as we can suppress them, they won’t be able to stand above all other gods. Every player will be able to live freely and happily in this world... Many members of our Tarot Path are already married with children, living joyful lives."

"Quite an admirable ambition," Zhong Xu nodded.

"Then..." Liang Qing’s eyes lit up hopefully.

"But I’m too weak — I’m not worthy. I’ll just wait for you all to finish building this world, and then I’ll live as a free and happy commoner."

After saying this, Zhong Xu tossed her empty wonton container into the trash and stood up to see him out.

But Liang Qing remained seated, chuckling. "You’re too modest, Boss Song. I’ve got plenty of time — I can wait here until you agree... By the way, are you the owner of this tavern?"

"I’m a server, a commoner among commoners. If you try to recruit me, you’ll only lower your group’s standards."

But Liang Qing clearly didn’t believe her — after all, he already knew this person’s habit of talking nonsense and how easily she could deceive others.

He sat firmly in place. "You do your work, I’ll do my waiting."

Zhong Xu had already expected that he’d cling to her like this.

She curved her lips slightly. "Then wait here. I’m off work now — see you tomorrow."

Liang Qing looked like he wanted to stop her, but he was wary of her skills.

Still, it was indeed getting late. Spending the night here and trying again to persuade her tomorrow didn’t seem like a bad plan.

Thinking this, he quickly turned off the tavern lights, lay down on the sofa, and waved lazily at Zhong Xu.

A trace of mockery flashed in Zhong Xu’s eyes as she reminded him, in a tone that held no real sincerity, "There’ll be strange things here later, you know."

Naturally, Liang Qing assumed she was just trying to scare him off and closed his eyes, ready to sleep.

After returning to her dorm, Zhong Xu opened the surveillance feed from inside the tavern.

A few days ago, she had also checked the surveillance footage, trying to see what kind of strange thing would appear in the tavern after 3 a.m.

But, perhaps because there had been no one there, the strange thing did not appear.

Liang Qing’s arrival this time was perfect — it would satisfy her curiosity.

Just then, in the footage, Liang Qing suddenly straightened up and sat bolt upright.

He looked panicked, shouting and yelling as he groped around, trying to switch on the tavern lights.

But it seemed like something was entangling him; his steps were unsteady, and for quite a while he couldn’t even find the tavern’s light control panel.

Zhong Xu broke out in a nervous sweat for him, hoping he would turn on the lights soon.

After all, the lighting was dim; besides his faintly visible outline, nothing else could be seen clearly.

It was killing her with anxiety — what exactly was the strange thing!

Liang Qing was cursing loudly.

Zhong Xu turned up the volume; sure enough, he was cursing her.

She hummed a tune, casually grabbed a bag of snacks, and munched while watching.

Liang Qing’s cursing vocabulary was far too cliché — the same few words, repeated again and again.

At that moment, the tavern lights flicked on with a sharp “snap.”

Zhong Xu crunched the potato chip in her mouth and said, “Oh ho.”

In the tavern, Liang Qing also finally saw the strange thing more clearly. Even through the surveillance screen, one could sense that his face must be deathly pale at this moment.

On the table directly in front of him stood a monster with twisted limbs.

It vaguely resembled a human, but it was completely naked, abnormally short and emaciated, with no neck — its head hung directly from its chest.

It let out a sharp screech, and behind it, a dense swarm of black things came crawling out from the tavern’s drain outlet in groups, making rustling noises.

Hearing that all-too-familiar sound, Zhong Xu silently set down her snacks, feeling a wave of nausea.

And then, an even more grotesque scene appeared. The dense mass of insects buzzed, wings fluttering as they flew up and landed, clinging tightly to the monster’s body.

The monster itself was terrifying, but a monster covered densely with crawling insects — that wasn’t just terrifying; it was revolting.

Enough to make anyone with trypophobia go numb.

She didn’t know whether the monster that had shared a room with her not long ago had been part of this batch or another one.

But either way, it couldn’t have been much better — her goosebumps were about to fall all over the floor.

What surprised Zhong Xu was that Liang Qing seemed to have frozen stiff, not moving at all.

He wasn’t going to run, or fight?

His lips trembled, his eyes full of shock, mumbling something under his breath — but his voice was too soft for Zhong Xu to hear.

Soon after, the monster lunged straight at Liang Qing.

You have to understand — the last time Zhong Xu only heard the rustling sounds; she was never attacked.

Was it because she had encountered a different kind of monster, or…?

The scene that followed was simply unbearable to watch.

Even though the tavern door was right behind him, he showed no intention of escaping. He stood there, letting the humanoid monster and the swarm of insects completely engulf him.

“Buzz buzz buzz”—the noise inside the tavern grew louder and louder.

More and more insects crawled out from the drain outlet, as if attracted by some kind of delicious feast.

Soon, the insects climbed over the surveillance camera, and the final image became completely obscured.

At five in the morning, light filtered through the clouds and fell across the street.

Zhong Xu kicked open the tavern door and was instantly met with a foul stench.

Perfect. She felt like throwing the entire tavern out or smashing it to pieces.

The swarm of insects had retreated, and the humanoid monster was nowhere to be seen.

Only Liang Qing was still standing there, as if he hadn’t moved an inch.

He was now covered in mucus from head to toe — the very source of the stench.

"Are you still alive?" Zhong Xu stood at the doorway, frowned, and asked, without much hope.

But to her surprise, Liang Qing quickly replied, “Alive and well. Extremely well.”

What a pity — another enemy added to the world. Zhong Xu considered whether he would resist if she killed him right now.

If he did resist, her failure would be a small matter — but getting that mucus on herself would be a big one.

Liang Qing moved, slowly turning his body. His expression was unusually calm as he spoke, “Have you remembered too?”

Zhong Xu was taken aback. “What?”

“So you haven’t…” Liang Qing’s calmness began to crack, and finally, he burst into manic laughter. “Fine, fine, fine! So that’s how we’re playing this! Disgusting, too disgusting, too disgusting…”

Zhong Xu completely understood his madness. Glancing at the slime covering him, she agreed, “It is disgusting.”

He, however, shook his head. “That high-and-mighty game producer — they’re the truly disgusting one.”

Zhong Xu raised an eyebrow, agreeing even more. Her desire to kill him faded considerably. She said, in a tone more sincere than she had ever used before, “You’re right.”

She paused, suspecting Liang Qing might have obtained some key piece of information, and asked, “Why do you say that? Do you… know that monster?”

“Are you sure you won’t join Tarot Path?” he countered instead of answering.

“The answer’s the same.”

“Then I won’t tell you.”

“Then will you tell the other members of Tarot Path?”

He grinned. “No. The game’s only fun when played this way!”

Zhong Xu stepped aside. “Go back and wash up.”

“We’ll meet again,” Liang Qing said as he passed by her, turning his head slightly. In his eye sockets, something resembling the compound eyes of an insect flickered faintly — but it was so fast that Zhong Xu couldn’t tell whether it was real or just her imagination.

When the tavern owner came in for work, he exploded the moment he stepped inside.

He stood in the doorway, hands raised to his head, as if unable to accept the state his tavern was in.

Zhong Xu lowered her head, guiltily mopping the floor.

“Did you stay in the tavern last night?” the tavern owner demanded sternly, walking up to her.

“Wasn’t me — it was a drunk customer,” Zhong Xu said without blushing or a flicker of guilt.

“I already told you — after 3 a.m., strange things appear in this tavern! They crawl up from the drains! No one is allowed to stay here overnight!” The owner grew angrier with every word. “You’re so disobedient — you’re fired!”

Zhong Xu: “…”

She tentatively asked, “Boss, what exactly are those strange things?”

The owner replied, “Ever since the heavy rain began in this world, those terrifying monsters started to appear.”

He began repeating his earlier lines.

Then, looking at the mess inside the tavern, he muttered, “They’ve begun to grow. They will eventually devour this world — because they once made mistakes.”

His dialogue… had changed!

Was it because a “new event” had occurred?

“How will they devour the world? Monsters can make mistakes?”

Zhong Xu wanted to learn more, but the tavern owner glared at her. “You’ve made a mistake too! Don’t ever show up in front of me again! Take your pay for these past few days — and get out!”

And just like that, Zhong Xu was thrown out, left wandering the streets.

Sevyn here ~~~

Enjoy!