Chapter 169: Zhaohua

"You have accompanied us, so you are considered our kin."

"They will not kill you. In this apocalypse, you only need to go to a town where no one cares, live out your old age in peace, and wait until the very last moment of the Three Towers War... I will have no further need of you."

"Run away quickly."

Run away quickly.

This was the only thought in the Priest's mind right now.

He had to escape quickly, because he remembered.

There was a "God's" hiding place; he remembered it. That God hidden in his memory.

He was originally the priest of that church. After those seventeen "Gods" were chosen, he had also obtained an extremely terrifying power because he had been too close to them.

Moreover, because he had taken care of them, he had not died.

He was one of the very few who had escaped from that eerie place.

Most others had remained there, becoming extremely twisted and terrifying existences.

After the "Gods" awakened, it was like a source of radiation that had infected him as well.

He discovered that he possessed a certain power, and by borrowing this power, he could construct a fleeting reality.

For example...

The accident rooms of the ancient castle.

Here, he could briefly distort reality. He could make certain stories become real.

And one of the Gods was hiding within this hard-to-discover "reality."

"They feel gratitude for your past care and will not kill you. But you must also forget me, and use more grandiose memories to dilute my existence. That way, I can hide until that war ends."

"That way, I can hide until that war ends."

A long, long time later, the Priest had forgotten how many stories he had heard and how many accidents he had witnessed...

Plus, those "Gods" really didn't seem to make things difficult for him, so he had indeed survived.

He had also gradually forgotten that most important thing.

But now, that memory had been awakened.

And the person who awakened the memory was Tang Rui.

The Master of the Ancient Castle, that is, the Priest, was quite manic at this moment.

But he dared not act rashly.

Because he couldn't grasp Tang Rui's strength.

The Demon King An Rongzai, the Ghost Bride, the Slender Shadow, and that woman with the aura of antiquity...

None of these people were easy to deal with.

But they were all targets of Tang Rui's evil deeds. It was evident... Tang Rui's own strength must be unfathomable.

Facing such a formidable enemy, he could only choose another method to deal with him.

"If one day in the Obsession World, you encounter someone you cannot oppose, send him to the Land of Old Memories. Priest, I am leaving. I am actually quite reluctant to part with you."

"Thank you for your care in the past. I will grant you a means. When you encounter an existence you cannot defeat, you will have one opportunity to restart everything."

"Although you yourself will forget that you have restarted, your opponent will become very weak as a result."

The child holding the water bottle—no, it should be said, that God—had once said this to the Priest.

This was also the subsequent style of that God's actions: once encountering an existence that couldn't be defeated in the Obsession Land, he would drag the opponent to the Land of Old Memories, because the rules there forbade violence. This formed an unsolvable loop.

Of course, that was the old saying; the authenticity of this saying had never changed.

But now, it had a new name.

Once you can't beat someone in the Mysterious Tower, drag the opponent to the Tower of Desire. This would lead to memory restarts, and one might even forget who the opponent was.

But it didn't matter; the opponent would definitely be near your domain and would become extremely weak.

The Priest had never used this method, but now, he had no choice but to use it.

The Priest's figure vanished instantly.

【Obtained Item: Invitation Letter · Desire for Repentance】

At this very moment, Tang Rui, who had just beaten a group of children to the ground, suddenly received a notification.

What the hell?

How did he suddenly obtain an invitation letter?

"I had looked forward to it, but I looked forward even more to those people beating the Master of the Ancient Castle to death directly..."

"Did they fail?"

The Storytelling Meeting was still ongoing, but Tang Rui's expectation value was now very low.

The Lecturer had already died, killed instantly by the terrifying aura of An Rongzai. A mortal body, facing a fight between the Red House group—even just watching from the sidelines—was a certain death.

The Brat, however, had survived.

"The Storytelling Meeting hasn't ended..."

"At least I haven't received news of victory, which means the brat is likely still alive."

"Then, his expectation value from the previous round was higher than mine. If I don't use the invitation letter next..."

"I will inevitably be killed by the rules."

"This is troublesome."

Tang Rui looked at the invitation letter in his hand, feeling for the first time that this invitation letter was tricky.

"The ancient castle... implies that what I am facing might be some resurrected ancient existence. Of course, it's also possible I guessed completely wrong."

"But one thing is certain: An Rongzai, the Ghost Bride, the Shoe Woman, and Jiang Qing could not kill it."

"In the previous round, I at least had the corresponding high-level Mysterious Tower and Slaughter Tower attributes. But this round..."

Tang Rui had a feeling that this invitation letter had come too suddenly. It was as if the boss had entered a second phase.

"Why does it feel so much like the situation on the train?"

Tang Rui felt more and more that this scene was familiar.

But this time, he had no Slaughter Tower attributes.

"Calm down, think about it, the effect of the invitation letter. The invitation letter is equivalent to letting me return to the source of everything."

"Last time, the invitation letter was sent to me by Jiang Qing. But interestingly, even Jiang Qing didn't know who I was. She didn't remember me."

"So..."

"My disadvantage is that I can't beat the opponent. This Master of the Ancient Castle is definitely at the Red House level."

"But my advantage is that I have retained all my memories, while the opponent has no memory..."

"At the same time, the current situation is that I have to accept the invitation."

If he didn't accept the invitation, the Storytelling Meeting would have to enter the fifth round...

Without a doubt, at the end of the fourth round, Tang Rui would die. After thinking it over, Tang Rui decided to accept the invitation.

He opened the invitation letter and pressed his handprint on it.

The next moment, the world seemed to stand still, and the surrounding scene began to change.

Tower of Desire, Rest Area.

Tang Rui discovered that there seemed to be many fewer people in the Tower of Desire.

"Have you heard? Tang Rui pulled out two orange vortexes single-handedly."

"Now more than half of the white vortexes of the Great Devouring have been eliminated!"

"I heard... It's really outrageous. I thought it would last a long time, but it's ending so fast."

"It's said that the casualties this time are also the lowest."

"Because of the Anti-Magic Value, right? Sigh, it's not that these people are powerful; it's mainly because of the Anti-Magic Value. I could do it too if I were there."

"Then why aren't you going?"

"I look down on vulgar acts like climbing the Mysterious Tower or Slaughter Tower, okay."

Well, the Tower of Desire was as foul as ever.

Although there were many fewer people.

Tang Rui still walked toward the Tianyuan area, intending to take a look.

However, this time, Tang Rui did not meet the two student teachers, Liu Ruyan and Ji Boda.

He did not meet any acquaintances.

Tang Rui didn't stay long. Through the conversations of people in the Tower of Desire rest area, he roughly knew...

The disintegration progress of the Great Devouring was exceptionally fast. And the casualties were the lowest in history.

This wasn't strange at all.

After all, with the Level 7 facility Safe House, plus the advance intelligence from the Safe House—everyone could upgrade from Jiraiya to Intelligence Jiraiya.

Tang Rui didn't delay, found an empty spot, and activated the login device.

Tower of Desire, 30th Floor.

A small town in an unknown country.

Morning mist drifted over the bluestone bridge, asphalt road cracks curled with damp locust flowers,

Blue and white school uniforms were drying on the riverbank railings, and the caramel aroma of the community coffee shop made people feel happy.

The church in the distance had an extremely simple and ancient feel, and from time to time, the chanting of many people could be heard.

Those sounds carried Sanskrit, making people feel as if their souls had been purified.

Tang Rui stood on the riverbank of the small town, feeling this small town.

Everything was exceptionally beautiful and peaceful.

At this moment, a child riding a bicycle suddenly swept past Tang Rui.

"Big brother, be careful."

Tang Rui was startled by the child's face.

He was very familiar with it, but this child was not the brat from the Mysterious Tower, but someone he had met in the accident room who had been bullied by the brat.

Tang Rui stopped the bicycle:

"Hello, I'd like to ask you about someone."

"No problem, ask away. If I know, I'll definitely tell you." The child didn't refuse; instead, he seemed very enthusiastic.

Tang Rui thought to himself, perhaps the folk customs of this place were originally very good.

He began to describe the brat's appearance. Although describing appearance in words was difficult, after Tang Rui mentioned the clothing, the child immediately said:

"Andrew? Big brother, how do you know my classmate? Are you his relative? You don't look like one."

"Is Andrew a good child?" Tang Rui asked with a smile.

"Of course, he's a model student. However, Andrew's mom and dad don't believe in the religion... that's going to bring bad luck."

Tang Rui said:

"Believe in the religion? Are you talking about that classical-style church in the distance?"

The child nodded:

"Recently, some people in the town... have acted as if they've lost their minds..."

"Sigh, Teacher Mitchell, our former kindergarten teacher, suddenly went crazy. My mom said..."

The child seemed to realize that saying this wasn't right and immediately stopped.

Tang Rui said:

"Actually, I'm here to investigate this. Can you tell me what's going on with losing their minds?"

The child's eyes widened:

"Really? Big brother, are you here to investigate the curse?"

"Oh, right, saying it's a curse isn't wrong either." Tang Rui thought to himself... It seems he hadn't guessed wrong.

"Recently... there are always people in the town, sometimes even several people, who suddenly change their temperament drastically and do some very excessive things."

"But if they disguise themselves well enough, you can't tell at all."

"Teacher Mitchell, a very good person... But my mom said she's a slut now; she must have been cursed."

Tang Rui asked:

"How long has the curse been appearing?"

"I don't know... but the first person to lose their mind was Mr. Lewis. He suddenly got a tattoo, on his head, making himself look very fierce. It's said he ran to the big city to rob a bank and even killed someone. This matter even made the news."

The child was still fearful:

"But Mr. Lewis used to be very gentle and kind. This happened three years ago."

The bald Spider-Man? This contrast was quite big. The bald Spider-Man three years ago was a good person.

Tang Rui asked again:

"Three years ago, did the church exist?"

"No... This was only built the year before last. Because the Priest said that this small town was cursed and needed a huge church to purify the curse with divine power. Although at first everyone didn't believe it... but! But Mr. Clark, who used to be very bold, was cured by the Priest!"

"Over these years, many outsiders have also come here and were all cured by the Priest."

Tang Rui said:

"Mr. Clark? Can you tell me about him?"

"No problem!" Seeming to feel that he was participating in a very righteous matter, the child was very interested.

"Mr. Clark was a brave person, but for a period of time, he suddenly became very cowardly and shifty-eyed."

"There were multiple thefts in the town... and it turned out from the surveillance that it was Mr. Clark who did it."

"We actually didn't believe it at all. Mr. Clark seemed to have become a different person!"

"Fortunately, we sent him to the Priest, and in just one day, Mr. Clark returned to normal. His demeanor was the same as before."

"It was also after that incident that many people felt they should believe in the religion. Our family too!"

"Sigh... Teacher Mitchell, didn't believe in these, and later became like that..."