Chapter 358: Want to Cheat?

Why did Shamala fall in the first place? Because she was too obsessed with pure light, wanting to seize Seeing Ange's power—unfortunately, she couldn't win.

Pure light was not only her obsession, it was her pursuit, and it became her correct understanding of radiance: light should be like this.

Why is your light so full of impurities? Why is your light so filthy?

If there were no comparison, it would be fine, but clearly there is pure light—so why are you so impure? Have you all betrayed the radiance?

The above is the true inner portrait of Shamala at the moment of her fall—no comparison, no harm.

So all along, her feelings toward Seeing Ange have been rather conflicted. Seeing Ange has the light she pursues, making her unable to resist wanting to get close (seize it), but a voice inside her frantically warns her not to do anything stupid.

If she can't seize it, what else can she do? Give gifts?

Shamala smiled bitterly and dragged over the sack of holy burial shrouds she had been pulling: "I had a premonition that something good would happen if I came here now. I thought I shouldn't come empty-handed, so I brought some gifts. I didn't expect that before I could even give them, the good thing already arrived."

"So the 'good thing' has nothing to do with whether you give gifts or not. But Ange, why exactly are you patting her head?" Lord Nai Ge asked, puzzled and curious.

This farming skeleton rarely takes the initiative to do anything besides planting. Even the little angel has to circle around him, bouncing about for ages, before he reluctantly pats its head—so now he's actually patting Shamala's head on his own?

Seeing Ange tilted his head, a little blank. He just felt he should pat her, so he did. Where did so many reasons come from?

Seeing that expression, Lord Nai Ge knew he wouldn't get anything out of Seeing Ange. This dog-shit-luck skeleton often didn't know himself why he did things.

Apart from planting, where his goals were clear, everything else was muddled—but the results were always good. Truly the Goddess of Fortune knocking at midnight—luck to the max.

Having no choice, Lord Nai Ge turned to Shamala and asked: "What about you? How do you feel? Has the pure light changed you in any way?"

"Oh, oh." Shamala closed her eyes, sensed for a moment, then spread her left hand—a black orb of light condensed in her palm—and spread her right hand—a holy orb of light condensed in her palm.

"Huh? You can use holy light again?" Lord Nai Ge exclaimed in surprise.

The power of corruption is highly contaminating; any holy light it touches will be polluted into the power of corruption. So after her fall, Shamala could no longer use holy light.

But now, the orb in her right hand had regained its former holiness.

Shamala shook her head. Her left hand tightened, and the black orb suddenly flared, as if the blackness inside had been drawn away, turning the orb holy.

Then her right hand tightened, and the holy orb turned black. If someone happened to close their eyes at that moment, they'd probably think she had simply switched hands quickly.

But Lord Nai Ge and Duroken saw through it: "Conversion between the two powers?"

If the power of corruption and holy light can be switched at will, couldn't Shamala pretend to be a saintess again?

Shamala nodded, then slowly brought the corrupt orb in her right hand and the holy orb in her left hand together.

Two powers of different attributes—either they pollute each other, or they repel each other, or…

"They fused?" The black and white orbs merged into a single grey-white orb.

Shamala drew the grey orb back into her body, then extended a single finger, condensed a tiny bit of light, walked over to Luther, and poked his arm.

"Ouch!" Luther clutched his arm and cried out in pain; a finger-sized burn appeared on it.

Then she ran over to the little angel and poked with her finger. The little angel's arm was immediately covered in a layer of holy light, blocking her finger, but where the holy light met the finger, it sizzled and smoked.

Finally, Seeing Ange took out the little zombie, and when her finger poked it, it smoked just the same.

Only then did Lord Nai Ge and Duroken's expressions turn Solemn: "Bonus damage against both undead and celestials?"

Shamala nodded, then repeated the earlier steps, poking Luther and the little zombie once each. When she tried to poke the little angel, she got a fist to the eye socket and missed.

But there was no need—because Luther smoked, but the little zombie did not.

"Hiss—power that changes with your will? You can add whatever damage you want, or not add it, and switch at any time?" Lord Nai Ge sucked in a cold breath.

Shamala nodded.

Luther couldn't help clutching his arm and shouting: "Then why does it hurt me too? I'm not undead, and I'm not a celestial."

Lord Nai Ge said irritably: "That's the base damage. You got burned."

An arrow shot at an undead or celestial deals bonus damage, but shot at a living person, it's just an arrow wound.

Luther suddenly understood: "Got it. Whoever hits me, it hurts—too unfair."

After some investigation, Shamala's situation was more or less figured out. Her body now hosts two powers simultaneously—one is the power of corruption, the other holy light—and the two can convert into each other.

And she can attach bonus damage against undead and celestials, but can also choose not to, at will.

After sorting it out, Lord Nai Ge couldn't help sighing: "This benefit of yours is just too great."

"So… so that's why I brought gifts, caught them on the way." Shamala also felt she'd gotten the better end of the deal, and said a little embarrassed, hurriedly gesturing at the sack she'd brought.

That sack had already been opened earlier, propped up with a small gap, and something inside was peeking out. Seeing everyone's gaze turn its way, it quickly pulled the mouth of the sack shut.

The sack was pulled open, revealing the Goddess of Redemption's indignant face: "I already ran very far. I didn't want to come here—I was caught and brought."

……

"Tell me, tell me, why did you catch her? Isn't that just making trouble for us? What do we do with her now?" Lord Nai Ge said to Shamala with a headache, looking at the Goddess of Redemption.

The Goddess of Redemption had already given up on herself a little. She didn't fuss or make a scene, just glared sulkily at the Archangel Staff in the little angel's hand—her collection.

Of course the little angel wasn't going to give it back. She sulkily tucked the staff behind her back, poised and ready to deliver a fist to the eye socket at any moment.

The two of them just stood there, big eyes staring at small eyes, about to come to blows.

Shamala was so embarrassed. She'd come to deliver gifts, and the gift turned out to be trouble:

"I ran into her on the road. She was hiding in a small town, couldn't farm or do laundry, living worse than me. She could only occasionally secretly heal the sick and save people to earn a bit of living expenses."

"A while back, the Church issued an order to capture witches, so she got reported. When I ran into her, she had just beaten to death everyone who came to capture her. I took one look—huh, the Goddess of Redemption? Perfect, I can't show up empty-handed, so I caught her."

Lord Nai Ge said irritably: "What do you mean you caught her? The one who actually did it was Seraphim Luna, right? Isn't that right, Luna?"

A voice came from the holy armor on Shamala: "Ye… yes, my lord God of Knowledge."

"What do we do now? Back then it was Seeing Ange who kicked her away, and now you've caught her back. How are we supposed to settle her?" Lord Nai Ge said irritably.

Shamala and Seraphim Luna listened, feeling uncomfortable all over, and could only offer apologetic, sheepish smiles: Awkward—even gifting a goddess gets turned down, this conversation can't go on.

It wasn't that Lord Nai Ge was being picky—it was genuinely hard to know what to do with her. The Goddess of Redemption had been very obedient; after being driven away, she hid in a small town, lying low until she was mistaken for a witch, not violating her agreement with Seeing Ange in the slightest.

Naturally Seeing Ange couldn't kill her, but how to settle her? Wherever she was placed, she was an unstable factor. And right now she looked a bit like she'd given up on herself, actually squaring off against the little angel.

The Goddess of Redemption also felt wronged. She'd hidden in a small town, healing the sick and saving people to earn a little pocket money, and still got caught? Anyway, she couldn't hide no matter where she ran, so she simply stopped hiding. That Archangel Staff is mine—give it back!

In the end, before they could come to blows, Shamala stepped forward and dragged the Goddess of Redemption away.

"Let me go, let me go, that Archangel's Staff is mine, let me snatch it back." The Goddess of Redemption struggled.

Shamala whispered, "Well, put some effort into it, I haven't even been pulling you hard."

The Goddess of Redemption whispered, "I'll put in some effort, you hold on tight to me."

Just like that, she was dragged away 'most unwillingly.' Only when Seeing Ange and the others were out of sight did Shamala finally let go of her: "What do we do now? Where are you going? Shall I take you?"

The Goddess of Redemption said blankly, "I don't know. I've already hidden myself in such a remote little town, and you still found me—are you a kobold?"

"Why not go to the Church?" Shamala asked, puzzled. If she went to the Church, with her identity as the Goddess of Redemption, there would be a whole crowd of people protecting her; why would she need to quietly heal and save people?

The moment she heard the word Church, the Goddess of Redemption shook her head like a windmill: "No, no, no, absolutely cannot go. I'm the Goddess of Redemption, do you know where the most despair I sense comes from? It's right there in the Church."

Redemption's words left Shamala silent. She knew exactly what the Goddess of Redemption meant. There were many clergy in the Church; the training of clergy began from childhood, and the process was extremely cruel—erasing one's nature from soul to will.

In this process, the thing felt most keenly was despair, because one couldn't even give up. Giving up meant abandoning faith, and that was unthinkable—either locked in a dark cell, or sent to the stake.

Every year, the number of those who died or went mad from being unable to endure the training couldn't be counted on two hands.

But no one paid any attention to these children's mental health; instead, they considered it necessary training. Those who endured it became the gods' most steadfast believers.

If it were any other deity, they actually wouldn't care about this either—having believers to spread their faith was enough; how those believers came to be didn't matter.

But the Goddess of Redemption was different. She was originally the one in charge of love and redemption; all despair and pain ultimately fed back to her. If she could, she would have long since smashed the Church to pieces—how could she possibly go back?

Shamala was only chosen as a Holy Maiden in her teens, so she actually hadn't gone through the cruelest stage. But even so, her personality was still extreme and radical. One could well imagine how despairing and oppressive the environment inside the Church was.

"Then come along with us, so you don't end up unable to even afford clothes—your armpits are showing through." Shamala said.

Redemption shyly covered her armpits and said stubbornly, "I just don't want to use divine power, otherwise my clothes could be a different style every day."

"Having money works too—look, black stockings?" The moment the talk turned to clothes, Shamala's interest was piqued; she unclasped her holy armor and pulled out the edge of her bustier.

"Oh, with lace trim—what material is this?" the Goddess of Redemption said in surprise.

"Silk. Lisa said this is a black-lace-trimmed, anti-odor, sweat-wicking, immune-to-static, body-adhesive silk undergarment—Meishencheng product, very expensive." Shamala pulled it open a little.

"Wow!" The Goddess of Redemption shrieked like a little girl who had never seen the world.

So, when Seeing Ange's group departed, they spotted two fellows by the roadside pulling at each other's underclothes to look.

……

Returning to Fallen Dragon Lake, the grain by the lakeside had already been harvested and was being bagged and packed, to be shipped out at the fastest speed.

Bulk transport of grain has never been an easy matter. More often than not, famines are caused by insufficient transport capacity.

The north has a bumper harvest, the south suffers drought, but the grain cannot be transported there, or the cost of transport is too high with no profit, so the south cannot buy grain.

At such times, a strong and powerful organization is needed to allocate resources regardless of cost, in order to solve this problem—such as Anthony.

If it weren't for this, Anthony actually wouldn't have wanted to fall out with Guli Anni so quickly. Of course, he also had to consider Dai Sen's situation—if he didn't break with them, Dai Sen would soon be exposed.

Multiple factors drove him to take this step. What needs to be done now is to continue consolidating the foundation of victory.

This might require a relatively long process. Anthony has already been so busy his feet haven't touched the ground, so he didn't come along this time.

Those with work scattered to their own tasks, leaving only Seeing Ange, the little angel, the little zombie, and a few others. They mounted Lightning and flew toward the island in the middle of the lake, where the Recording Shi Zhu had been moved, because during the recording process Seeing Ange had discovered a loophole.

"You actually discovered a loophole? You've never discovered anything in other matters, so why is it that once you start growing things, you discover everything?" Lord Nai Ge said irritably, "What loophole? Let's hear it."

Seeing Ange said, "Outside the range, it doesn't record."

Once Seeing Ange explained, Lord Nai Ge understood. For example, what the Recording Shi Zhu recorded was the crop growth situation within a range of three thousand mu. If the factors affecting growth exceeded the range of three thousand mu, then it couldn't record them.

What factors, exceeding the range of three thousand mu, could still affect crop growth?

If someone cast some special growth-acceleration magic upwind, or cast magic in the air during rainy weather, letting the magic fall along with the rain, it could potentially achieve a cheating effect.

"You mean to say that someone might, through cheating means, deceive the Recording Shi Zhu and make their grain seed yield exceed ours?" Lord Nai Ge said in shock.

If it were before, exceeding would just be exceeding—Seeing Ange might even have gone to learn how others grew things.

But this time it was best to take first place, because the rallying power of first place and second place were simply not on the same level, which would be unfavorable for promoting the new grain seed.

If it was still through cheating means, then the grain seed grown would be meaningless, because it had no promotional value.

Just as they were talking, over a certain patch of fertile black soil, a few owls huddled in the air whispering to each other: "Teacher, do we really have to do this? If the conference finds out, our reputation will be ruined."

The owl called Teacher said, "Yes, we must. Don't forget, the highest record in the school's simulation array is already one thousand three hundred and twenty jin. If we can't surpass this number, we're very likely to lose—what reputation will we have then?"