Chapter 206: Borrowing a Chicken and Stealing a Chicken

On the operating table, Tina watched as the patient's back was slit open like a fish; even though she had done this many times, her heart still quickened.

She realigned each vertebra one by one, severing the adhesions formed over several days, reattaching the fragile, soft nerves and tissues; though she had done it all herself, each step left her incredulous.

"Good job. It seems you're slowly learning how to use your ability."

Feng Xue recorded every detail of Tina's ability; even though he had amassed countless such data points, he still marveled at how this world's "faith-based powers" were uniquely favored.

He even suspected this might be humanity's desperate struggle against aliens, but probing such matters was tantamount to chasing a fire-breathing dragon in a garage, so he simply enjoyed the results without asking why.

"If you can, please don't talk to me while I'm operating," Tina said sharply, yet her tone was soft; Feng Xue replied indifferently:

"You're a medical student—how can you not understand the importance of chatting in the operating room?"

"But this is major surgery! This is when you shout 'Tweezers! Hemostat! Wipe the sweat!'" Tina had heard operating room jokes too; if this were an appendectomy, she'd be laughing about which konbini's katsu-don tasted best.

"No, this is minor surgery. The patient's vital signs are stable, all potential risks have been eliminated—it's at worst untreatable, never worse. So it's minor surgery."

Feng Xue corrected her, then sat down casually in the anesthesiologist's usual seat, even beginning to hum. Tina felt her blood pressure rise, yet her eyes remained locked on the wound as she activated her ability; to drown out his off-key tune, she gritted her teeth and said:

"The materials are ready. When can we summon the Jade Rabbit God?"

"Anytime. But be careful—surveillance around here has tightened lately. One or two people are fine, but too many will draw attention." Feng Xue yawned, then added:

"Just a reminder—even if the consecration succeeds, gaining true divine favor takes a long time. The deity may not answer you at all."

"We understand," Tina nodded. The Xiao Lingdang Goddess had already told them this.

Unlike the goddess born from Yoru's wish, the Jade Rabbit God was an ancient relic, distant and unapproachable, requiring prolonged devotion to earn even a sliver of divine grace.

But the Xiao Lingdang Goddess had taught them a technique called "nourishing one god with another"—by offering beliefs in deities linked to Tsukuyomi, Kaguya-hime, or the White Rabbit of Inaba during worship of the Jade Rabbit God, they could leverage traces of long-extinct deities on this land to deepen the Jade Rabbit God's bond with the territory and accelerate its evolution.

Once the Jade Rabbit God ascended into a Creator God or Earth Mother God, even if it had once ignored this land, it would inevitably favor it for its own benefit.

"You, as a devotee of the Jade Rabbit God, wouldn't know this, would you? That's the greatness of the Guide God!"

Thinking of this, Tina suddenly felt a sense of superiority toward Feng Xue, imagining how soon his divine favor would shift to Nihon—she felt a forbidden thrill, like a cuckold's secret joy.

"Your ability has changed!" Feng Xue, using his Qi-seeing technique, immediately noticed the shift in Tina's devotional energy and warned her; Tina instantly tensed, refocusing all her attention on the healing.

Feng Xue, who had personally guided all of this, understood Tina's thoughts perfectly. The knowledge he'd taught her was true—but one thing the Nihonese would never understand was—

The Jade Rabbit God's relationship with him was not that of deity and believer, but of a phantom god and shaman bound by a spirit pact.

Thus, no matter how much Nihonese offered materials for the Jade Rabbit God's evolution, the evolved deity would still remain tethered by the spirit pact; yet they weren't working for free, since the core entity wouldn't relocate, and the consecrated divine seat could still serve as a node for divine power, granting believers strength proportional to their devotion.

…

"Teacher, you called for me?" In an office, a three-faced Giant He Xing bowed respectfully before a screen displaying six-headed Giant He Xing.

"Hmm. How's your progress?" The six-headed Giant He Xing swayed its mushroom-like head, its tone unreadable.

"It's complicated. That 'Ou Jin Jin' graffiti does exhibit divine traits, but it's more chaotic—feels like a failed product born from He Zujie's unique pressure environment, similar to ones we've collected before, yet with stronger reactions."

"The real issue is the legends tied to it—they show clear signs of artificial fabrication. Their posting times don't match our database archives, and further tracing reveals many similar urban legends."

"We're now searching for similar entities based on these legends and found another 'Ou Mang Guo' graffiti. But it's very new and weak. Based on current research, we suspect this is an experiment by the resistance, unrelated to the False Bait Project."

The six-headed Giant He Xing wasn't surprised by the answer. He extended one tendril into the device, and instantly, a file was transmitted to the three-faced alien's terminal:

"The devotional energy environment across the entire He Zujie is changing. The chaos we engineered is slowly returning to order. If this continues, this land may once again become suitable for deities. Do you think this is connected to those graffiti?"

The three-faced alien, having studied under the teacher for so long, immediately realized this wasn't a question—it was a test. He swallowed his first reply, thought deeply, then said:

"Possibly. Like how various 'graffiti totems' absorb different types of faith—we've recorded similar cases in our African battlefields. But that only fragments belief. Unless the entire He Zujie knows of it, it can't alter the overall devotional environment. There must be another, more central factor."

"Excellent. I think the same." The six-headed Giant He Xing nodded happily, satisfied:

"We've induced degraded devotional energy by pressuring the Nihonese of He Zujie. In other words, the simplest way to reverse this is to reduce Nihonese pressure. But recent He Zujie governance policies haven't changed—in fact, the assimilation forces' destruction has worsened since the Gui Xie Wei Building incident. I want you to investigate what's causing the drop in Nihonese pressure."

"Understood!"

(End of Chapter)