Chapter 1126

"This broken book is finally of some use." Lu Mian showed the contents of the "Post-Apocalyptic Book" to Franca and Anthony.

Franca pondered for a moment and said:

"According to the characteristics of the 'Post-Apocalyptic Book,' even if this prophecy is fake, as long as one believes it and prepares in that direction, it will eventually become true.

"The problem is, if it's a fake prophecy, can it affect a true god like the 'Primordial Demoness'?"

"I don't know." Lu Mian shook the head in the middle. "Anyway, we aren't just relying on it for prophecy."

"Shall we contact Madam 'Hermit' now?" Franca suggested.

On this matter, they couldn't act separately, because the important medium for prophecy or divination was Lu Mian's Cheek face, the "Apocalypse Demoness" Beyonder characteristic that had already merged into his body.

Lu Mian nodded first, then gave a self-deprecating smile:

"Not yet, 'Occasionally' is almost over."

Franca pursed her lips, stood up, and said:

"Then let's go outside the protection zone.

"Anthony, handle the affairs of the Church of Disease for now. Do you still have the 'Ice Mirror Charm'?"

"I do." Anthony responded to Franca steadily.

After Lu Mian and Franca left the villa, he took out the mirror representing the Pope of the Church of Disease from his "Traveler's Bag," checked the messages accumulated earlier, and replied to them one by one using the "Ice Mirror Charm."

Ludwig sat on the sofa, eating a roasted sweet potato normally while watching Anthony work.

After a while, when Anthony was preparing to put away the mirror, Ludwig suddenly asked:

"Is life really always full of pain?"

Anthony raised his head, looked into Ludwig's brown eyes, nodded, and said:

"'Hand of Decay'..."

Ludwig continued to ask:

"If you had the chance to do it over, would you still choose to be a human?"

"I suppose so." Anthony smiled. "After all, I have no experience being any other species."

"But life is full of pain, so why be a human?" Ludwig asked, puzzled.

Anthony thought for a moment and said:

"Most of a human's pain comes from the brevity of their life and the weakness of their own power, from constantly thinking about these things. But if one doesn't think, even one's own existence becomes meaningless.

"Perhaps it is precisely because life is short and power is weak that we always want to do something, create something; we are always forced to seek help from others and help others. We huddle together for warmth, we lean on each other to dream, we create bits and pieces of beauty, and because of this, we suffer.

"There was once a poet—I don't know who it was, anyway it wasn't Emperor Roselle—who said something I think is very reasonable:

"'If I have never felt pain for life, it means I have never loved my life.'"

Ludwig wrote his confusion on his face.

Anthony added with a peaceful expression:

"Pain stems from love and longing.

"Words like beauty, anticipation, and yearning are like flames, making humans feel pain, but also making humans like moths, constantly rushing toward them, bursting into short and brilliant light until they turn into ashes.

"Franca told me that the keynote of the entire universe is darkness, and we short-lived humans must create light in the darkness, one moment after another, generation after generation."

Ludwig gnawed on his roasted sweet potato and concluded very seriously:

"I still don't understand why."

Anthony smiled:

"I actually don't understand either.

"If anyone says they truly understand humans and life, then they must not understand humans and life at all.

"Perhaps it is precisely because we don't understand that life is so addictive."

After speaking, he stood up and walked toward the edge of the living room.

Ludwig didn't ask where Anthony was going; he remained on the sofa, whispering two words repeatedly:

"Beauty... pain..."

The little boy began to talk to himself as if he were thinking about some philosophical question.

"These aren't unique to humans..."

After a while, having finished the roasted sweet potato, he shook his head and picked up an Intis general education textbook from the coffee table.

As Ludwig flipped through it, he muttered:

"An inefficient way of knowledge transfer..."

Anthony left the villa, feeling the shine of the brilliant sun, and wandered aimlessly in the shadows by the street.

He had no main task for the moment.

He was currently responsible for two things:

First, acting as the manager of the Church of Disease's affairs when Franca was busy, effectively the Pope of the Church of Disease in a substantive sense. But he could tell that Franca had not yet truly accepted Jenna's passing and was still looking forward to her resurrection one day. Therefore, several times when he wanted to formally hand over the Pope's "Crown," the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back.

Second, assisting official Beyonders in finding those humans who had been eroded or lurking anomalies by monitoring the collective subconscious sea, and secretly monitoring certain official Beyonders—the symbols and power of the "Great Mother" had broken through the barrier. Even if She wasn't focusing Her attention on the protection zone right now, She would naturally cause an impact here. Not only were Beyonders of the "Planter" and "Pharmacist" pathways prone to problems, but other humans would also alienate from time to time, though relatively speaking, the frequency wasn't as high.

After walking for a while, Anthony saw street musicians performing in the small square ahead. Many Trier citizens stopped to listen, and some even danced, very joyfully.

Anthony stared for a while, his expression suddenly a bit dazed.

He decided to be a little better to himself.

Before the apocalypse arrived, there was less and less time to enjoy life properly.

Anthony sat at an outdoor round table at a cafe and ordered a cup of rich Intis coffee and a pork sausage.

He emptied his mind, enjoyed the performance in the small square, and from time to time cut a piece of sausage and stuffed it into his mouth, or picked up the coffee cup and took a sip.

The sun was bright, already bringing the heat of summer.

Just as Anthony was preparing to leave, an old man wearing an old blue-shirt, white-pants military uniform walked over.

The old man looked left and right and found that only Anthony's round table still had an empty seat.

He sat down without hesitation and ordered a glass of Nepos wine with tomato juice—in the bars and dance halls of Trier, this mixed drink was called a "Slut."

The old man with completely white hair looked at the barricades in the corner of the square and said to Anthony familiarly:

"Do you feel that Trier has changed, that it's not as vibrant as it used to be?"

"Why do you say that?" Anthony could roughly interpret what the other party wanted to express, but still asked cooperatively.

The old man picked up the cane leaning against him and poked it:

"In the Trier of the past, what year didn't have ambitious people planning riots, what year didn't have chases over barricades, crossfire relying on obstacles, and throwing things?

"Are the young people today so lacking in vitality? Only daring to engage in petty theft?"

This is because the existence form of the protection zone is special; one person's explosion could implicate thousands of people, so every human's subconscious in the protection zone has been suggested, knowing what can be done and what cannot be done... but this can only reduce the probability of alienation due to the influence of the "Great Mother," it cannot be completely eliminated... Anthony answered in his heart.

"Did you participate in street riots before?" he asked instead.

The old man gave a "Heh":

"When I was still in the army, I was responsible for suppressing those rioters and demonstrators. They would build a large number of barricades overnight, and then rely on the barricades to throw bottles filled with alcohol as firebombs, using every weapon they could think of to resist...

"Later, I left the army, received unfair treatment in Trier, and also became one of the demonstrators..."

The old man recalled the past, rambling on and on.

Anthony didn't feel the slightest annoyance, as if he were reading a biographical story.

When the other party finished speaking and drank the Nepos wine with tomato juice, he was silent for a few seconds and asked a question unrelated to the previous topics:

"Why did you join the army in the first place?"

The old man laughed "Haha":

"Of course it was for wealth, for women, to become an officer!

"I came from a very poor background. Whether I went to be a hired farmer, a shepherd, or a worker in a factory, or did other manual labor, it was impossible to get rich. I couldn't even fill my stomach, and I wouldn't live for many years. So it was better to go to the army; maybe there would be a chance to perform military exploits and touch the pockets of corpses. At worst, it was just an early death."

The old man looked at Anthony:

"You were a soldier too? I feel you have the temperament of a soldier."

"Yes." Anthony did not deny it.

The old man laughed:

"Then what was your reason for joining the army?

"Weren't you going for wealth and women?"

Anthony shook his head, cast his gaze back to the street musicians still playing and the onlookers, and did not answer.

He drank the last of the coffee and stood up before the old man could press him.

Suddenly, he saw a four-wheeled, four-seater carriage stop next to the cafe.

The carriage door was opened, and an old man wearing a black suit, a dark tie, and a top hat, with quite graying temples, stepped down.

This old man had well-defined facial contours, a clean-shaven beard, and a pair of ice-blue eyes.

Anthony's heart stirred; he already knew that this old man was here to find him.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Anthony?" the old man asked very politely and with great cultivation.

There were not-so-obvious bloodshot eyes around his ice-blue pupils.

Anthony responded cautiously:

"I am. May I ask who you are and what is the matter?"

The old man with ice-blue eyes smiled and replied:

"You can call me Napo Redisli."

Napo Redisli? Napo Redisli, suspected to be a clone of one of the ancient gods, the Demon King? Anthony felt quite surprised inside.

He remembered Lu Mian mentioning that Napo Redisli's true body was on Hant Island, protected by the "Mother Goddess of Earth," and thus not completely eroded by the "Mother Tree of Desire." But when the Red Moon descended, the "Mother Goddess of Earth" fell into a deep sleep, her state was worrying, and she should no longer be able to provide any help to this clone of the Demon King.

Based on this, Lu Mian suspected that Napo Redisli had been dragged back to the Abyss and was completely finished.

Who would have thought that Napo Redisli would appear in the protection zone today, and his state seemed quite good!

The ice-blue-eyed old man who called himself Napo Redisli smiled and explained his purpose:

"I would like to visit Mr. Lu Mian Lee."

(End of chapter)