Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Desolation of Grudge scanned its surroundings. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine. It had never imagined that it would be beaten by nine Quasi Gods in one day.
Who was the last Quasi God with such a privilege…? The Desolation of Grudge fell into contemplation. It suddenly felt that its fate was a miserable one.
“It’s not a wrongful death.” The Desolation of Grudge raised its head, and the hollow eyes revealed a tinge of inexplicable charm. “From the day I was born, I’ve been ready for death. In fact, death is a kind of… relief for me.”
Its voice faded. The Desolation of Grudge’s body quivered as it began to collapse. Hidden in the depths of its soul, bits and pieces of its memory were broken into fragments and that dissipated into tiny spots of light in the sky. The softness which was hidden in its depths was exposed to the air.
I’m Gloria. I’m a puppeteer. My teacher told me that he picked me up on a snowy day, in our town. Gloria meant winter. My master was the most famous puppeteer in the whole city; he made puppets almost as beautiful and exquisite as real people. Those who looked for him to custom-make their puppets were endless. In that environment, I also began to learn how to make puppets.
I’ve learned for 13 years, but my teacher always commented that my puppets were without souls. Then, I fell in love with a boy in our town.
He was very cheerful, warm and he was just like the sun above. We met and dated secretly once, then a second and third time. Finally, we were bumped into by our teacher during a secret date. The angry teacher said that if he tried to harass me again, he would let others break his leg and put him in jail.
He escaped out of fear from the back door and never appeared again.
Since then, teacher’s attitude towards me changed. After that night, my teacher was drunk and strayed into my room… The next day, teacher gave me three days off to give me a good rest. I made a decision to pack my bags and leave the city that night. I didn’t know where I was going, but I got on a ferry to other cities.
I had no other abilities; I only knew how to create puppets, so I opened a small shop, and my days were simple. After that incident, I focused on puppet making, and from that day onward, I realized that my puppets seemed to have something different from usual. Every puppet I made was the same as the one before, but their eyes had become more… vivid.
One night, I got up in the middle of the night and went to the toilet, and I found something else moving in the shop downstairs. A thief? I picked up the scissors from the table and snuck downstairs, and by the moonlight outside the window, I saw a man sitting on the floor. His back was facing me, and he was crying.
Those clothes were familiar. I’d definitely seen them somewhere… I had a sudden realization, and the scissors in my hand fell to the ground. The crying stopped, and the shoulders stopped shaking.
Then I saw it stand up, creep up to the wall, and hang itself up. Wind was blowing through the windows, and the puppets on the wall swayed with the wind. The next day, after a night of sleep, I woke up and took all the puppets in the shop to the suburbs and burned them all.
The flame devoured the puppets, which danced in the orange fire that lit up my cheeks. Looking at the dolls in the flames that were screaming and shrieking, I suddenly felt a strange pleasure. It turned out that those puppets had souls… Do they all have souls too, and do they hurt?
From that day on, I would make a bunch of puppets every day and burn them. I listened to their silent wails and poignant cries, and I was always extremely happy. Gradually, a simple puppet made from wood was unable to let me derive more satisfaction.
I had set my sights on stray animals. After killing the animals, they were made into specimens and given lives like beautiful dolls. Then I would burn them to death. There was a day when I suddenly wondered: since animals can be made into living dolls, what about a man?
Hence, I made half a year of preparations, then spent a week working. When the last wire pierced my joints, I thought maybe… the next day I’d be a puppet.
Sweet and bitter memories. There was longing, there was sadness, there was madness, all kinds of memories were eventually dissipated. They had transformed into a gray-white cloud that dissipated into the world.
As the Desolation of Grudge died, the Soul Silk Threads connected to it broke off.
The tribe’s familiars and the people who were connected to the Soul Silk Threads were cut off. With a loud thud, everyone dropped to the ground. They didn’t know who was alive or dead, but traces of life were born and condensed from their bodies.
“They’re returning to life.” Flamy looked at the scene with an indescribable feeling.
There was a wind howling sound from behind; Purple Star came from the Cloud Dream Swamp behind. Gao Peng sensed the movement behind him and turned his head to see Purple Star stand motionlessly outside the tribe watching the fall of the people and a group of familiars from the Li Tribe.
Purple Star was silent for a moment, then walked to Gao Peng, tall as it looked down at him. It paused for a moment, then crouched down and said, “Thank you.”
After saying that, between Purple Star’s brows there was a purple glow. A person’s shadow slowly floated out from its eyebrows and finally landed steadily on the ground. The white-haired old man with sharp teeth and a hunchback said, “The old man here is very grateful to you. Thanks for avenging for the people of our tribe and doing what I’ve been afraid to do.” The old man mocked himself, then coughed with his right hand over his mouth.
Gao Peng was a little surprised to see that the old man’s right hand had been completely turned into white bones. It looked extremely frightening.
As the old man saw the look in Gao Peng’s eyes, he rolled up his right sleeve, showing him there were only bones on his wrist, too, not even a trace of muscle. “I’ve been trying to live a little longer,” the old man said calmly. “The longer a man lives, the more afraid he is of death.
“I met a man who fought with the Mutated Tribe. He was called the Heavenly Kingdom of the Dead by the Mutated Tribe.”
“The Heavenly Kingdom of the Dead.” Gao Peng repeated it, then asked Fatty Big Sea if it had heard of that name.
However, Fatty Big Sea hadn’t heard of it. “He must have been born after I died.”
“If one day you run into him, be careful of his familiar. All his familiars are have Ghoul attributes, and the scariest one of all ghouls is the Nine-Headed Hades! It’s a super powerful mutant familiar,” the old man recollected. He sighed. “Even if the battle of that year came again, I wouldn’t have confidence in defeating it.
“Over the years, instead of making progress, I’ve been losing my power, and he should be even stronger now.”
Gao Peng coughed. “What’s the Nine-Headed Hades’ ability?”
“It can reverse life and death and rule the dead.” The old man lifted up his clothes, and Gao Peng couldn’t help but gasp in disbelief when he saw what was underneath. That’s scary!
Six symmetrical pairs of ribs were visible side by side, and even the spine behind them could be seen through the gaps between the ribs. Gao Peng had seen more disgusting monsters than this, but it was the first time he had seen a human like this.
“It turns all living forms into the undead. The year I was hit by its attack, my familiar took the attack on my behalf, so both of us became the way we are now,” the old man said calmly.
Standing behind the old man, Purple Star silently held its hand on the old man’s shoulder, the owl-like head grunting as if it to comfort the old man.
It hasn’t healed in so many years…
Although Purple Star, who stood behind the old man, had a very weak presence, it seemed harmless. However, a thin camel was stronger than a horse; at its peak, it was likely a powerful God-level familiar. If it did risk its life in the battle, the power of a god could definitely launch an earth-shaking attack.
In other words, the mighty power of the Nine-Headed Hades was unimaginable. It had turned such a powerful God-level familiar into the present creature that had been undead for thousands of years.
“Dumby, the Nine-Headed Hades has your Ghoul attribute.” Goldie bumped Dumby with its shoulders, squeezing its eyebrows. “What are your thoughts?”
With its hands in the pockets on both sides of the black robe, the dark golden chin was exposed under the eaves of the hat. There was silence for two seconds.
“Master’s viewpoint is my viewpoint.”
