Chapter 593: Prayer

Xiong Hanzi opened his mouth, and he no longer felt like eating the fruit in his hand.

Hearing Lin An's evaluation, he couldn't help but feel somewhat surprised.

Since the Apocalypse broke out, the ability Lin Dui has shown is already the strongest he has ever seen.

Of course, except for Chu Da Yin Bi.

What exactly did the first Ascetic Practitioners do to make Lin Dui sigh like that?

On the throne, Lin An put away the map and gazed toward the hall's exterior.

It was already dusk.

The faint yellow light dispersed the three-foot of dark ash, scattering onto the jade tiles inside the hall.

Inside the main hall, although the furnishings were not bad, one could still sense an ancient, decaying aura from repeated reconstructions.

"Zhang Tie, have you ever raised a dog?"

"Huh?"

Xiong Hanzi froze for a moment; he didn't expect Lin Dui to suddenly switch topics and ask about that.

But he knew, Lin An never engages in idle chatter.

In hesitation, he slowly nodded, his eyes showing memories:

"I have raised..."

"When I was young I also raised pigs... then I went into the army... and after that..."

Lin An gave a light smile, waved his hand, and said directly:

"Having raised one is enough."

"Soon you'll understand what I mean."

"It's very simple."

"Just as you said, the first Ascetic Practitioners dealt with several zombie outbreaks, endured a century of struggle, but all failed."

"What do you think he was thinking?"

Self-question and self-answer.

"He indeed felt hopeless and powerless."

"At first, he didn't understand what exactly he was facing."

"He believed man could conquer heaven, believed he could surely save the world, believed that by exhausting all his efforts he could certainly reverse everything."

"I guess when he entered the Secret Realm he was weak, merely an ordinary Awakened One."

"When he realized the Awakened Ones' power was insufficient to fight the zombies, he chose another path, and with a genius idea, found this Secret Realm's power 'loophole'."

He sighed, Lin An looked at Zhang Tie, then suddenly paused:

"But we..."

"We also know the essence of this Secret Realm's power, and even say we can help others forcibly become Ascetic Practitioners."

"But we ourselves cannot do this..."

"We cannot obtain power through this 'loophole', not even by taking medicine."

"This means outsiders cannot achieve this."

"I can even feel the Ascetic Practitioners' power rejecting us."

Zhang Tie, hearing this, suddenly recalled this matter and widened his eyes:

"Holy shit, I almost forgot!"

"This guy is a player just like us; he doesn't belong to this Secret Realm!"

"Exactly."

After the two first extracted the medicine, they intentionally tried many times, but could not obtain the Ascetic Practitioners' power.

The reason is simple; their bodily structure differs from that of this world's natives.

It's not just a pituitary issue; there's also a factor Lin An hasn't yet found.

In speculation, perhaps it's a "data mismatch".

Then the question arises.

The first Ascetic Practitioners could break through these obstacles.

The price he paid and the effort he exerted are certainly not as simple as what Lin An saw on screen.

A century of life-and-death struggle condensed into those few seconds; as an outsider to the scene, Lin An cannot see how many times the first Ascetic Practitioners experienced despair and rebuilt their faith.

Lin An nodded:

"So, this is what I marveled at."

"By his own strength, he broke through the Secret Realm's rejection and created a new power system."

"Just this alone is enough to shock."

"And this was the first thing he did to fight the zombies."

The conversation shifted.

"His second act is quite simple."

Standing up, Lin An gave a self-mocking smile, even somewhat bitter:

"He was praying to 'heaven,' he was promoting asceticism."

"Just like the real world, before the Apocalypse, advocated protecting animals and treating all beings kindly."

"Benevolence, universal love, empathy..."

"When this idea was first proposed, our slogan was 'loving animals is loving oneself.'"

"Zhang Tie, do you understand what I mean?"

Xiong Hanzi listened for half a day without replying; this time he truly did not understand Lin An's meaning.

How did the topic suddenly drift so far off?

Lin An was not surprised by Xiong Hanzi's reaction; he just sighed:

"It's a very simple principle."

"For animals, we are deities; we are the so-called 'heaven's will,' the rules."

"If we want them to live, they live; if we want them to die, they die."

"Just like a circus performance."

"Can animals understand why we whip them with a whip?"

"Can the pigs in a slaughterhouse understand why we slaughter them?"

"They cannot."

"In their eyes, we are inscrutable deities, our methods cruel."

"And for the first Ascetic Practitioner."

"When he realized disasters would keep occurring, even if he exhausted everything and gained great power, he still could not oppose the so-called rules."

"He then realized that, before the rules of this Secret Realm, he was like a lamb awaiting slaughter."

"He had no recourse; he could only beg for mercy."

"It's like when slaughtering cattle, a few cows will kneel and weep, moving the killer to 'soften his heart.'"

"Ding-dang..."

Taking out a small bell from his ring, Lin An looked at the somewhat worn bell with a complex gaze, and gave a bitter smile:

"So, he practiced asceticism, and he did not kill the infected children."

"He occupied no resources, wasted nothing, and treated everyone kindly."

"He even repeatedly rebuilt civilization on the ruins."

"Because he knew that, before the rules, he was like an animal before humans."

"Dogs and humans cannot communicate."

"Only through actions and expressions."

"With whimpers, with glances, with wagging tails... to plead and fawn."

"He was using his actions to tell the 'rules'..."

"Please, have mercy on me...!!"

"Likewise, beyond the Secret Realm's rules there must be greater rules."

"He was also using this method to inform the Secret Realm's rules."

"Rules!... Do you see my despair?"

"If one day you face the same suffering before a greater 'rule,' what would you do?"

"When powerless, must one also only beg for the other's mercy?"

"He succeeded!"

"The Savior System... responded to him..."

Zhang Tie only came to his senses after half a day, feeling it somewhat absurd and fantastical;

"'Captain Lin, do you mean he's trying to use this method to communicate with the Secret Realm's 'rules'?'"

"'I'm willingly being a good dog, so don't mess with me?'"

"'You keep messing with me; if you ever meet someone stronger than you, your fate will be just as miserable as mine.'"

"'Wouldn't it be better if we all just acted like good dogs?'"

Lin An paused slightly, giving Xiong Hanzi a helpless glance.

Hmm...

This analogy is about the same.

Clearly it's a rather tragic story, but coming from Xiong Hanzi's mouth it somehow carries a comedic feel...