Chapter 94: The Gambler

Yang Yi flew around this desolate planet at top speed; there was nothing here.

No animals, no plants, nothing alive at all.

Her heart grew increasingly anxious: What had become of Earth? What had become of the British people? What had become of those sixty-seven million people?

And what had become of her colleagues?

She had never expected that one day she would worry about people completely unrelated to her, about people she had never even met. Why should she worry about them? What did their lives or deaths have to do with her?

But thinking of sixty-seven million—how many people was that? How high would they stack up? As high as Mount Himalaya? —each of them could cry, laugh, speak, communicate, love, and hate; some might be rushing about for a few hundred pounds, just as she had once busied herself for a few thousand yuan; some might be gathering with family, eating fish and chips or a pie baked by mother, telling their parents about the nonsense at work and daily troubles; some might be strolling with their children on the park lawn; some might be holding newborn infants, gently kissing their tender little faces...

They were all living people, people with blood and flesh just like her...

Yang Yi's breathing quickened. Yes, she had hated humanity; in the darkest nights, she had cursed the entire world; in her most desperate moments, she had even wanted to drag the whole world down with her—but she had also longed for those beauties she had never obtained, and she had also hoped that everyone would find happiness...

She did not wish to draw near people, nor did she wish for people to draw near her, but she absolutely did not want them all to vanish... As long as they were there, living well, living their own lives... She was human; only among her own kind did she feel safe...

Suddenly, she seemed to see a familiar structure on the ground; she snapped awake and quickly descended to the surface.

This seemed to be the ruins of a city; perhaps it had once been prosperous, perhaps these buildings had once been incredibly sturdy, but over long ages, all had rotted away; even the sturdiest steel would rust and decay in endless time.

In the center of the vast city ruins stood a short, round building; many parts had already collapsed and crumbled, and the patterns above had long been worn away; if not for that familiar outline, Yang Yi truly would not have recognized it.

The altar of the Evil God, an extremely ancient altar of the Evil God.

Compared to those completely rotted buildings, this altar was the only one relatively intact.

Was this people, having realized the Evil God's immense and unchallengeable power, once again submitting to the Evil God?

Was this the final plea of this planet's intelligent race in the face of a desperate apocalypse?

Yang Yi reached out and touched the altar, but her finger went straight through—it had rotted as soft and crumbly as a block of tofu.

After a long while, Yang Yi straightened her waist and gazed at this city corroded by time.

She said, "I know you have countless ties to the Evil God. Why do you dwell within my body? What do you want from me? What conditions? Just say it—all I ask is that you let me return to Earth."

It remained silent.

Yang Yi sneered, "What do you want? My body? My superpowers? What else about me is worth your interest, you entity connected to the Evil God? What an honor, what great fortune; since you deign to notice me, take whatever you want!" She suddenly screamed hoarsely, "Take it!"

Only the silent world responded to her.

Yang Yi lowered her head and smiled silently; this smile carried self-mockery, and gradually the smile grew wider and wider until her whole body trembled.

"Sigh—" She sighed, her tone cold and venomous: "How could I forget? You fear that Evil God. You have always been hiding from It; you do not even dare let the Breeding Race utter Its name. You fear drawing Its gaze; you fear exposing yourself before It. So how could you help me? How could you help me sabotage the sacrifice?..."

Yang Yi's tone was sarcastic and cruel, yet It remained silent, as if it had not heard her words.

But she knew It could always hear.

"Very good, very good indeed." She spoke lightly, though her face suddenly twitched, making her complexion look somewhat gloomy: "The original form within my sea of consciousness... that black-hole-like vortex... it should not be my original form, should it?"

It suddenly spoke: "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing..." Yang Yi's smile was gloomy, yet her tone was instead composed and leisurely: "Suppose... I mean suppose, I fully unleash this vortex-like original form on this planet, would it draw the gaze of some entity? Would it produce some grave consequences? I am truly curious... hehe..."

"If you do that," It paused for an instant, "you will die."

"But you will die too; even if you do not die, you will suffer grievous damage, correct?" Yang Yi's smile grew wider. "Shall we make a deal?"

She looked up at the two blood moons in the sky; the dark-red moonlight reflected on her face, like blood drying and congealing upon her skin.

"You help me stop the sacrifice; I will not expose your location. How about that?" Her smile was faint, her tone very light: "Otherwise, let us perish together; after all... I have long been tired of living... this is also a kind of release..."

Silence stretched for a long time, so long that she thought It would not accept the threat; she smiled silently, and the black-hole vortex within her sea of consciousness began to rotate slowly...

"They are in another world, using the life sources of ninety thousand people as a power source to project the altar onto Earth. If you wish to stop the sacrifice, returning to Earth is useless; you must go to that world." His tone was extremely cold, extremely indifferent.

Yang Yi shuddered all over; this was not the surprise of receiving news of saving her kindred, but a kind of pleasure, a pleasure derived from Its indifference!

Yes, how indifferent Its tone was, yet she seemed to hear a trace of anger within that indifference; this "seemed" excited her immensely, making her blood boil; she would even dare say it was more thrilling than making love!

Ah, It—that enigmatic, unfathomable entity, that threat that had always pressed upon her heart, that terrifying shadow that had always silently loomed over her—could It also feel anger? Could It also become enraged? This entity connected to the Evil God—today had actually been threatened by her! She had seized Its weakness, even at the cost of her life!

What was life? She had won! This gambler on the brink of despair had staked her last chip and won a return a million times greater!

In that moment, she laughed—crazily, madly, trembling all over; she laughed until her face turned flushed, tears threatening to spill, releasing every smile she had never shown from childhood to adulthood; only in this empty world could she let out her true self for a while, letting the beast caged for over twenty years breathe a little...

Back on Earth, she would have to don the mask of calm and composure again, put on that shy and introverted surface, and become that god among mortals once more!

"Then, let us begin; what are we waiting for?" She finally stopped laughing, tears still glistening at the corners of her eyes from her laughter.

Within the sea of consciousness, It appeared silently and soundlessly, manifesting as another, even larger black-hole vortex; when It appeared in her sea of consciousness, Yang Yi was involuntarily pressed into a corner by Its presence.

Her body also lost control; she shivered all over, feeling countless tentacles extend from It, entering her five viscera and six bowels, her four limbs and hundred meridians, taking over her body.

"She" stretched her limbs, as if unfamiliar with this body, then extended her right hand and casually slashed through the air; a crack with smooth edges appeared out of nowhere before "her"; "she" strolled in as if taking a leisurely walk.