Chapter 104

Just one moment ago, Jeremy looked like a manufactured god descending to punish the blasphemers, and the next moment, he took two hard blows to the face.

The massive impact left his brain temporarily blank, unable to shift his emotions.

He sat dazedly on the roof of the main house, hand over his face, staring at Wu Chang in disbelief.

His eyes brimmed with shock, confusion, and shame-fueled rage.

In another setting, him shouting, "You dare hit me? Even my father never laid a hand on me!" would feel perfectly natural.

But the nun's plump figure, paired with Jeremy's rugged, angular features, looked utterly incongruous.

It was like a SweetBaby-modified beauty.

Starlight Agents would've been a shame without you.

He yanked Jeremy's hood, sneering: "You just entered the fallen statue—you didn't get castrated and turn into a little boy-girl. Show me the presence of the Iron-Fisted Earl!"

Hearing Wu Chang's mockery, Jeremy's eyes grew even more filled with hatred.

He—or rather, she—wanted to break free of Wu Chang's control, but lacking the core sin of pride, Jeremy's consciousness, though occupying the fallen statue, could not unleash its true power.

It might suffice against the Sword Star or the Negotiation Master, but against Wu Chang, who possessed 140 points of strength, it was utterly inadequate.

Wu Chang only needed to press one hand against his forehead, pinning him firmly to the roof, to neutralize every attack.

Jeremy had never endured such humiliation—he immediately went for broke, fully activating the black halo above his head, trying to forcibly channel the power of the manufactured god.

Facing the halo radiating mysterious light, Wu Chang felt a faint sting at his neck—even his 15-meter-tall frame couldn't grant him enough safety.

His intuition told him Jeremy's accumulated power posed a threat to him.

After all, it was a system-certified manufactured god—even the most impoverished version couldn't be ignored by ordinary players.

So, before Jeremy could succeed, Wu Chang activated his signature skill.

"Man!"

An iron elbow, wider than the fallen statue's face, slammed into Jeremy's face, instantly caving in his high, sculpted features.

Worse still, a cascade of negative status effects followed, stripping Jeremy of any ability to counterattack.

Jeremy broke. With his face caved in, he snarled:

"Did Ebert guess my plan and secretly tell you?"

Wu Chang shook his head. "Ebert—the old man—thought a mere postal worker could ruin the ritual. How could he have discovered your plan?"

In Ebert's eyes, Jeremy was already dead, killed by the townsfolk's backlash; the earl's manor had become ownerless. Whoever held the town councilor's title and could enter the manor could disrupt the ritual.

Jeremy froze. He'd assumed Ebert was the mastermind behind everything, the one who outplayed him at the last moment—but how could this traitor just die?

These island fish-brains were all dumber than the last—who could kill him? "Ebert's dead? How?"

Wu Chang's expression didn't change. "Old age. Fell down, then fell ill and died."

The Church's chief alchemist just… died like that?

Jeremy felt absurdity surge through him, then said: "I saw you resurrect the maiden. You're not Ebert's man—you must be sent by the Church."

Wu Chang shook his head again. "The item used to resurrect the maiden did come from the Church—but those old bastards can't command me."

"Then who sent you?!" Jeremy refused to accept this.

He could accept losing to Ebert. He could accept losing to the Church. But he could never accept being defeated by an anonymous nobody.

Wu Chang shrugged. "Stop guessing. I'm just a passing postal worker."

Figuring out Jeremy's plan wasn't hard. His plan's biggest flaw was how he minimized his own presence.

As the actual controller of Briver, his death was far too hasty.

To be realistic: the townsfolk of Briver were like Jeremy's dogs. As their trainer, how could he not know whether his own dogs would bite? Could Pan Hong let Liu Liu be chained in the corner, then chase after him with kicks and dragon fruit?

If you don't know, look at Eileen on the pyre.

Given Jeremy's understanding of the townsfolk, how could he not foresee that once they regained their senses and couldn't bear the weight of their own conscience, they'd turn their blame onto him? Of course, he might have trusted his own control too much, believing his grip on the townsfolk was absolute.

Or he might have trusted Ebert too much, never imagining Ebert, his ally on the same boat, would truly betray him.

Jeremy might have made such a mistake with low probability—but the illusions appearing in the earl's manor were far too deliberate.

As if afraid no one knew he was dead, rather than fearing he was hiding somewhere else.

Especially after Wu Chang observed two rotund manifestations of resentment and realized the Faceless Nun wasn't motionless—yet when he arrived with the other six Proof of Sin items, she pretended to be inert.

Even if all these were coincidences, Jeremy's plan still had one fatal flaw: his persona.

In the instance dungeon's plot, Jeremy's persona was the Iron-Fisted Earl—the control freak.

Facing such a crucial god-making ritual, he was far too lenient with Ebert, granting him too much freedom.

Ebert's Starlight Lighthouse could pierce the manor's barriers and infiltrate directly; after burning the maiden, he didn't seize control of Ebert—he let Ebert roam outside, stirring up trouble and corrupting the townsfolk.

Then, facing the rioting townsfolk, he made no attempt to resist, instead preaching on his deathbed—further proving his persona had collapsed.

Combined, all these inconsistencies pointed to one likely answer: Jeremy was acting on purpose.

His obsession with control let him easily read people's hearts.

He saw through Ebert's nature, knew Ebert would sabotage him at the critical moment, so he deliberately allowed it—even secretly helped him—so Ebert could successfully kill him.

Jeremy and Ebert's god-making ritual differed entirely from the Church's method of creating Eileen.

The Church sought to strip away all negative emotions to create a perfect saint, using the saint to control the Stigma and become a manufactured god directly.

Jeremy's god-making approach was completely different: realizing the Seven Sins couldn't be eradicated, he reversed the ritual, using the Seven Sins as the core to create a demon god.

Thanks to Ebert, Eileen's Seven Sins had fused with the Stigma—using Eileen's Seven Sins as the foundation, he could seize the Stigma's power and create a demon god.

Jeremy's goal in letting Ebert kill him was to use the land's advantage and the townsfolk's judgment to transform himself into the Proof of Pride.

Once the inner world formed by the Seven Sins spiraled completely out of control, and the Seven Proofs of Sin matured, they would be absorbed into the Faceless Nun as planned, forging the manufactured god.

He could then use his core identity as the Proof of Pride to possess the Fallen Statue and become the manufactured god.

Pride is the foremost of the Seven Sins because its sin isn't just against humans—it's also against the gods.

Ebert's former professor once said: gods are born divine, inherently noble.

To long to become a god oneself is the greatest disrespect toward the gods.

It was precisely because he knew the core of the man-made god was Germain that Wu Chang hesitated over whether to accept the hidden side quest.

Count Germain was black-hearted, ruthless, and possessed a fierce need for control; cooperating with him was no different than plotting with a tiger for its skin.

One must understand that the main quest of the Quiet Town is to survive on the island for thirty days.

And right now it is only the fourth day.

With Germain resurrected as a man-made god, if he wanted to complete main quest one, he would have to survive twenty-six days under Germain's hand.

Even if he had the life to claim the hidden side quest's reward, he did not necessarily have the life to spend it.

Even if Germain bore no grudge and did not kill him the moment he resurrected, what awaited Wu Chang was nothing more than wine and dine, behead, and take him in as a dog.

He did not want to be a dog — at least not the dog of some sweetbaby-brand old trap.

"The player has chosen to refuse the hidden side quest. The player's relationship with the Fallen Idol has become mortal enemy. The Fallen Idol will use every method to seize the missing Proof of Original Sin."

The hidden side quest's reward is indeed very tempting, but — I refuse.

"Any last words?"

As Wu Chang refused the hidden side quest, Germain seemed to sense something; a look of resentment and unwillingness surfaced in his eyes.

"No matter who sent you, after I die the Church will not let you off. I'll be waiting for you down below!"

"Oh, then you'll probably be waiting a long time."

Wu Chang dragged Count Germain down from the rooftop, raised the bronze statue that had once smashed him to death, and viciously stabbed it into the Fallen Idol's throat.

Count Germain's eyes went wide, staring fixedly at him.

Wu Chang reached over and shut his eyelids for him. Stop looking, it's disgusting.

As Count Germain closed his eyes, the halo atop the Fallen Idol's head dropped off, like an iron ring, tumbling forward, hitting an obstacle, spinning half a circle on the spot, and lying flat on the ground.

The obstacle the halo hit was Irene, who had appeared at some unknown time.

Irene bent down and picked up the halo from the ground, breathed on it, wiped the black off it with her clothes, and made the halo turn gold again.

Then she flipped it onto her own head and let out a comfortable moan.

"How should I thank you, mighty mortal?"

(End of chapter)