HP - Chapter 35

Kingdom of Gods 13

The fountain lights came on, water splashing upward as a mist drifted through the air. Neon colors wove through the haze.

Qiu Heming stood there quietly. Behind his silver-framed glasses, his eyes were calm—neither joyful nor sorrowful.

Ji Zhou stared into those eyes, feeling a noise like scrambled code buzzing in his ears. Zzzzt, zzzzt.

He didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling.

Not long after entering this stage, he had reunited with Qiu Heming.

At the time, Qiu Heming had been dealing with a lot as well.

But in the end, they had resolved everything together, and the three-person starter team had been their shared goal.

Their other teammate was Zhong Xu.

Once they made a promise to be teammates, they would never give up on finding each other.

They often joked about how, when they invited Zhong Xu again, she would refuse—cold, ruthless, maybe even with violence.

But Ji Zhou truly believed they would succeed in forming their team.

Now, his teammate was telling him he had killed the other teammate.

How was he supposed to accept that?

“You’re joking, right?” Ji Zhou asked, just like they used to joke about Zhong Xu when they were together.

But there wasn’t the slightest hint of humor on Qiu Heming’s face.

“Her identity may be different from ours,” Qiu Heming said quietly.

“And then?”

“You knew this?”

“I didn’t.” Ji Zhou had vaguely suspected—ever since Zhong Xu told him she held a blank card.

But he’d had no time to think about it, and it didn’t matter now.

“You know the game rules, right?” Qiu Heming reminded him. “‘Find the sinner hidden among the gods.’ If Zhong Xu’s identity is different, then she might be the sinner. You have to judge her to clear the stage.”

“Ji Zhou, isn’t your goal to escape this game world?”

Ji Zhou froze for a moment, then snapped, “You can’t even confirm whether she’s actually the sinner!”

“That’s why I tried. I killed her.” Qiu Heming’s voice was gentle. “Did you forget our agreement? If there’s even a chance of clearing the stage, we have to try.”

“But that attempt didn’t have to be killing Zhong Xu!” Ji Zhou’s composure was breaking. His eyes reddened, his voice trembling. “Why did you do that? Qiu Heming! She was our teammate!”

“She hadn’t agreed yet. I acted before she did, so there wouldn’t be any psychological burden.”

Qiu Heming’s tone remained calm. “If she had already become a teammate, then I would’ve been trapped in a dilemma. Would I spare her to uphold the teammate code, or kill her to help my other teammate clear the stage?”

“……”

Silence fell. The two of them stared at each other, speechless.

“I do want to leave this place. I want to live,” Ji Zhou said at last. His tone was steadier now, the redness gone from his eyes—but his gaze was lifeless, like stagnant water. “But my survival will absolutely not be built on the death of a teammate or a friend.”

“Even if Ah Xu never agreed to team up, we were already friends. So you know what? You probably don’t… because maybe you didn’t interact with her as much. But I had already recognized her as such. Her death would cause me real pain. Real sorrow.”

“Qiu Heming, you killed my friend. I can’t be on the same team as you anymore.”

“But I won’t kill you either—because you’re my friend too.”

After the heavy rain, the river rose.

Water that had once been fairly clear was muddied by the downpour, turning the entire river filthy. From afar, it looked like a black river flowing through the landscape.

"With water this dirty, are there really fish?"

"I heard fish only appear during the black-water period."

"If there really are fish, that'd be great. We could actually have meat today."

The three friends helped one another down a steep slope and reached the river’s edge.

"Good thing I went fishing once during a company team-building event—I know how to do it."

"The current’s really fast. Are you sure you can catch anything? Hey, hey—Li Li, why are you taking your clothes off?"

"I can swim. I’ll just go down and catch the fish directly."

Do you have to go that far?

The one called Li Li had already stripped down and started warming up. "Who knows how long it’ll take to fish here? Might as well do it directly. Give me your rope—I’ll tie it around myself. If something happens, I’ll need you two to pull me up."

The other two friends agreed.

Once Li Li secured the rope, he plunged straight into the river with a splash.

The black water was murky and heavy, and Li Li quickly sank out of sight…

"Why has Li Li been down there so long? Did something happen?"

After waiting for a while, the two friends onshore grew uneasy.

Just then, the rope suddenly jolted. The two exchanged a look and hurriedly pulled—only to be stunned by how heavy it was.

"Did Li Li catch a shark?!"

…

Li Li hadn’t caught a shark. He had caught a person.

All three collapsed on the ground, panting. The two friends pointed in disbelief at the person Li Li had hauled up. "You fished up a corpse! You’re not planning to eat it, are you? You’re disgusting!"

"Are you stupid?" Li Li snapped. "What nonsense! She’s not dead—she’s alive!"

Alive?

They looked at the person.

She lay face-down on the ground, covered completely in black sludge, filthy and foul-smelling. One could vaguely make out that she was a woman.

But she didn’t move—not even the faint rise and fall of breathing. Seriously? She was still alive?

Li Li said, "She made sounds, and I checked her pulse—it’s strong. She must’ve been thrown in not long ago. And she doesn’t have any Tarot cards on her."

The other two fell silent for a moment. "Was it those people from the city district…? They really are vicious. We’re all the same kind, and they still do this."

Li Li stood up. "Alright, help me carry her back later."

"Ah? You’re going to save her? We’re already starving, and you want to save her?"

"Hauling her out is enough. Shouldn’t we just go back to catching fish?"

Li Li tapped his friend on the head, exasperated. "Idiot. I think she looks decent enough. Once we clean her up, we can sell her. That’ll feed us for at least a month."

Hearing this, the two friends made odd expressions. They hadn’t expected Li Li’s moral bottom line to be that low.

But that was all—they didn’t say anything.

"What about the fish?"

"We can come back later… Those fish looked a bit off…"

…

A basin of ice-cold water splashed over her, washing away some of the stench.

Zhong Xu was already awake, but she didn’t open her eyes—and even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to see.

Although she wasn’t dead, the damage to her body hadn’t recovered. Her eyes, stabbed blind, remained irreversibly ruined, and the pain still lingered.

She was thrown into a bathroom. Someone used a hose to spray her down, and after rinsing her clean, simply left her lying on the floor to dry.

The man who had pulled her from the river was named Li Li, and he had a wife.

After he brought her home, it was his wife who handled her care—at least to some extent.

Zhong Xu’s hearing was still intact.

She heard Li Li talking with his wife. His wife said she had checked the woman over—her entire body was injured, and she even had fractures.

As soon as Li Li heard she couldn’t be sold, he decided to toss her at the garbage dump that night.

During all this, his wife, who had far more conscience than he did, kept secretly trying to wake Zhong Xu, nervously telling her that if she were thrown into the dump, she would likely die.

But Zhong Xu continued pretending to be unconscious, not responding at all.

And so, Zhong Xu was thrown out with the trash.

Her life truly was a series of ordeals—because just when another group had set their sights on her, someone else stepped in to save her.

This person lived in what seemed to be the basement of an apartment building. It was damp and cold.

She had no idea where she actually was.

Whether it was Li Li’s home or this man’s home, both places radiated the feeling of people barely scraping by.

Nothing like the bustling prosperity of the city districts. Was this world really home to places like this?

“Have some porridge?” The voice belonged to a young man.

A spoonful of thin porridge was already held to her lips.

Zhong Xu didn’t drink.

But then he spoke again: “I know you’ve been awake for a while. You haven’t opened your eyes, but your ears move—you’re listening for sounds, aren’t you?”

Zhong Xu ignored him.

“Sigh, do I need to feed you mouth-to-mouth like in those TV dramas before you’ll wake up?”

Suppressing her killing intent, Zhong Xu slowly opened her eyes.

The man laughed. “Looks like my method worked. At least you responded to me… Hey, you can’t see?”

“How pitiful,” he said, bringing the spoon back to her lips again.

This time, Zhong Xu drank.

“Such a little girl—needs coaxing just to drink porridge.”

Zhong Xu let him prattle on and finished the entire bowl.

“That’s how it should be. Eat properly so your body can heal. I believe your eyesight will definitely recover,” he said with satisfaction. Then he added, “My name is Xu Mu. And you?”

Using his voice to locate his position, Zhong Xu looked roughly in his direction. After a moment of silence, she said flatly, “Little Butterfly.”

“Oh, Little Butterfly—what a cute name. It just doesn’t match your expression.”

“Where is this place?” she asked.

“My living room. I don’t have any spare rooms, so you’ll have to sleep on the sofa.”

“…”

Perhaps her expression was too sour, because Xu Mu burst out laughing, then quickly added: “I’m just joking. This is Tomb City—‘tomb’ as in grave.”

“Good name,” Zhong Xu said. “Find a spot and bury me.”

“…” Xu Mu paused for a long moment, then said earnestly, “Land here is pretty valuable. If you don’t have money, you should stay alive a few more days—earn something first, then die.”

All she could see was pitch-black darkness; not a sliver of light penetrated.

Listening to his voice, Zhong Xu slowly nodded.

“Fine.”

And so, Zhong Xu stayed in Xu Mu’s home. He left early and returned late each day, looking very busy, but he always remembered to take care of her.

“Butterfly, look what I prepared for you today…” Xu Mu said cheerfully, bringing a bowl to her. “Nourishing like with like! Drink this bowl of eyeballs and you’ll see the light again!”

As he said it, he quickly hopped back, as if expecting her to throw the bowl at his face.

But Zhong Xu didn’t. Instead, she scooped up a spoonful and drank. As expected, it wasn’t eyeballs at all, but a bowl of fragrant meat soup.

“I didn’t think you’d trust me this much already,” Xu Mu said as he came close—very close. He was probably smiling, his voice gentle. “Get well soon, Little Butterfly.”

Zhong Xu smiled too, drinking the soup one sip at a time.

Playing house, is it?

She’d play along.

But her hourly rate was expensive—she would be charging for it.

Sevyn here ~~~

Enjoy!

I know it is introduced as Tomb City, but I think going forward I'm going to use Grave City