Chapter 1151: 138. If You Don’t Court Death, You Won’t Die

Where had he won?

Muen was stunned.

Immediately afterward, he felt that this dragon was truly unreasonable.

Hadn’t he fought with her for half a day precisely to contest the victory or defeat of “whether Annabawei could be saved”?

Now, although Annabawei had not yet been completely saved, he had undoubtedly already explored a successful method. What came next was only a matter of time.

Without question, he had already won.

But she actually asked this...

Was she trying to go back on her word?

“I’m asking you, where did you win?” Hamreign continued pressing him.

“Of course it’s that I succeeded. I solved Annabawei’s Pollution problem. They can now live normally beneath the sunlight.” Muen answered with a darkened face.

“Oh, so it turns out you solved Annabawei’s Pollution problem...”

The corner of Hamreign’s mouth curved into a mocking arc. “But did you really solve it?”

“How did I not solve it... They are now already my ‘evil believers.’ Their bone and blood, flesh, and souls already all belong to me! My Pollution will not make them mutate, nor will it harm this world!” Muen grew increasingly angry, and his voice could not help rising by several degrees.

“Indeed, they are already your things now, and they will not mutate at random. But you still have not answered my question.”

Hamreign still kept that posture, staring at Muen without moving at all. “Did you really solve... the Pollution on their bodies?”

“...”

Muen fell silent, but he was still very angry.

So angry, in fact, that he disregarded the pressure of Hamreign’s golden pupils and met her gaze.

Not yielding in the slightest!

Just like that... three minutes passed? Five minutes? In any case, the stabbing pain brought by those golden pupils made Muen’s consciousness somewhat muddled, and for a moment he could not clearly feel the flow of time.

He only vaguely felt that he had glared like this for a very, very long time.

Hamreign was still sneering like that, only her eyes grew colder and colder.

“The Pollution... has been solved?”

“...Of course.”

“Still being stubborn? It seems that from head to toe, the hardest thing about you really is only your mouth.”

“...Nonsense!”

Muen was trembling with anger and cold. What did she mean, only his mouth was hard? The hardest part of him had not even yet...

“If you insist on deceiving yourself like this, I can use a slightly less gentle method to beat you awake.”

The radiance in Hamreign’s eyes gradually became dangerous:

“I’ll ask you one last time. Have those Pollutions been solved?”

“All right, no.”

Muen backed down very quickly.

As the saying went, being able to bend and stretch was a man’s virtue. He had always been extremely outstanding in this regard.

What a pity.

He had originally wanted to muddle through, but it seemed this sort of thing still could not escape the eyes of the great Hamreign.

A calamity was a calamity.

Old things that had lived for a thousand years were all very hard to deceive.

“You’re right. Those Pollutions have not been solved,” Muen sighed helplessly.

In the story just now, his Pollution had covered Marcie, including the Pollution on the bodies of the group of Pioneers, making them no longer suffer erosion and no longer spread their own Pollution outward...

But... that was only covering, only suppression.

From beginning to end, the original Pollution on their bodies had not been cleared away.

Temporary suppression and thorough cleansing were two concepts to begin with.

“See? That is why I said you were foolish.”

Hamreign raised her hand and gently stroked the old woman beside her... the Goddess of Night had been here ever since Muen began carrying out Pollution. She had been beside Hamreign, quietly watching the entire process.

No one knew which personality she was at this moment, but she was actually able to briefly coexist peacefully with this calamity.

Sensing Hamreign’s mockery, a trace of bitterness could not help appearing on that aged face of hers.

She had also realized it.

Or rather, she had realized it long ago.

“What you have done is, in essence, no different from what this fool beside me did. It is merely the same kind of self-deceiving method. You are like ostriches burying your heads in the dirt, thinking that doing so can solve the problem... but you fundamentally have not solved the problem. You have only temporarily hidden the problem.”

Hamreign said, “Although solving the people who produce the problem is indeed very unreasonable, in the end, it is still a kind of solution, and not a kind of escape. On this point, what I do is clearly superior to you. After all, the laws of this world are that cruel.”

“It’s not the same. Mine is not escape either.”

Muen shook his head and seriously denied it. “The essence of the Pollution indeed has not yet been solved, but logically speaking, there is no problem with my method. Since new Pollution can cover old Pollution... then devouring, assimilating, or even expelling the old Pollution should also be possible. The reason hidden dangers still remain after I did all this is purely because...

“I am too weak.”

That was right.

Too weak.

That was all.

Pollution came from Muen’s near-god characteristic, from his Divine Foundation, from the embryonic form constructed by faith and the power of Evil Gods.

...But in the end, it was only near-god.

He was not a true god, nor was he anywhere near that powerful. No matter how well a dog rode Lü Bu, it was still only a dog. It had no way to defy heaven, defy earth, and be omnipotent.

If it was only short-term, not yet deeply rooted Pollution, then it was still fine. For example, when Ariel was polluted by the Love God, as long as the Pollution was stripped away in time, of course it could be completely cleared.

But over the long passage of time, the Evil God’s Pollution had already completely fused with these people.

The Pollution belonging to him successfully connected with everyone’s consciousness and gained the upper hand, but the Evil God’s Pollution... still hid in the deepest parts of their flesh and blood.

It could not be removed.

Unless their flesh and blood were completely crushed and everything was destroyed on a physical level.

Just like what Miss Dragon had once done.

“It seems you are still not so stupid that there is no saving you. That’s right. The most fundamental reason is still that you are too weak. But even if you became powerful, would you be able to solve the problem? If you want to thoroughly crush and clear away these Pollutions, you would at least have to be stronger than the source of these Pollutions.”

Hamreign’s fingers tapped on the armrest of the divine throne, and she said with a smile that was not quite a smile:

“So, do you think that one day, you will be able to surpass a true Evil God?”

“...”

Muen fell silent once more.

He had no way to answer.

Because something like becoming stronger than an Evil God... let alone doing it, in the thousand years since, within this world barrier, among the countless living beings on this earth who suffered from Evil Gods, how many even dared to think such a thing?

From a logical perspective, rather than place hope in him one day becoming stronger than a true Evil God, it would be better to hope that the source of these Pollutions was actually a good Evil God who could turn into a tsundere little girl.

—Even if he possessed Artificial Authority, Divine Foundation, and had secretly hidden away that strange thing called the Black Book.

This dream was far too vast. It was not something a yellow-haired one who carried the humble dream of living happily dared to fantasize about.

This was a goal even the protagonist, who bore the will of destiny, might not necessarily be able to achieve, let alone him.

“See? Very clearly, the one who lost is you.”

Hamreign suddenly rose. That sharp aura immediately made the Goddess of Night beside her become terrified.

“I didn’t lose,” Muen still answered this way.

“You really do want to die.”

The sharp golden pupils abruptly turned icy. “Do you think that merely because the time power you carry is useful to me, I would not dare kill you?”

“Lady Calamity, of course you would dare.”

Muen suddenly reached out and grabbed Hamreign’s hand.

This offensive behavior not only made the cold light in Hamreign’s eyes surge violently, it also made the Goddess of Night beside them open her mouth wide in astonishment.

This guy... had he always been this brave?

Muen completely ignored it.

He held this Lady Calamity’s unbelievably soft small hand and placed it... against his own neck.

“Lady Calamity can kill me.”

“Of course I can grant you that.”

“But I hope it will not be now.”

“Are you ordering me?”

“I am not ordering you, but begging you...” Muen lowered his head.

“...”

“I admit that regarding Annabawei’s Pollution, the problem indeed has not been completely solved. But being able to temporarily render them harmless, so they no longer pose a threat to this world itself, is already a very great advance. It also shows that there may not truly be no other way to completely solve the problem. It is only that we have not found it yet.”

“And if you never find it?”

“When that time comes, it will not be too late for you to kill me directly.”

Muen said seriously, “If you kill me, the Pollution belonging to me on their bodies will erupt. The pitch-black flames will devour everything of theirs completely... bone and blood, flesh body, soul, and even those Pollutions—that is everything they sacrificed.”

Those Pollutions he had worked so hard to lay down were not entirely a method of salvation.

They were also insurance.

He had placed all those Pollutions specifically into a safety box, ensuring that they would absolutely not affect the outside world.

And the key to that safety box was his life.

“...”

Hamreign’s gaze lowered slightly, and her sharp golden pupils watched that face which, for a human, could be considered rather good-looking.

At this moment, even she had to admit that compared with the many fellows over the thousand years who only spoke pretty words, although he still had not solved the problem, his actions were indeed far more practical.

At least, he had given her a reason to keep enduring a little longer—no matter what the result was, things would not become worse. In that case, why not try once more?

...But then again, she had never seen such a bold human.

He actually dared to provoke her and offend her again and again.

If he were not that fellow’s disciple, if he did not carry time power useful to her, if... it were not that, long ago, she had already found him interesting, then perhaps the very first time he offended her, he would already have been killed by her.

When it came to eliminating fools, she never showed mercy.

And yet...

Hamreign narrowed her eyes... her molten-gold eyes swept across this entire valley.

There were a little too many fools who had survived her hand this time.

“What does Miss Dragon think?” The greatest fool of them all lifted his head hopefully and even winked playfully. “No matter what, when the time comes, killing me alone will be much easier than going through the trouble of destroying Annabawei, right?”

“...”

Of course.

Even Hamreign had no choice but to admit it.

Killing one person was naturally easier than killing a group of people.

And she had always had a personality that disliked trouble.

So...

“Are you ordering me?”

In an instant, Muen felt heaven and earth spin.

His body, which had only just recovered a little, was once again grabbed by a cold small hand, as if she were lifting a small and adorable rag doll.

Then this rag doll of his spun seven thousand two hundred degrees through the sky before being smashed viciously into the ground.

Boom!

The enormous movement startled everyone again. Marcie almost instinctively grabbed her own weapon and aimed it at that calamity who looked extremely unhappy.

Fortunately, from the spreading smoke and the enormous pit, a trembling hand reached out in time and stopped Marcie’s overestimating-herself offense.

“Cough... cough cough!”

Muen crawled out of the pit with difficulty. Even though his bones felt as if they were about to fall apart, he still could not help revealing a smile:

“So does that mean Miss Dragon approves?”

“I am only giving you a little more time for the moment.”

Hamreign gave a cold snort. “In any case, if it reaches the limit of my patience, I will kill you without the slightest hesitation. If you fail to satisfy me, I will also kill you without the slightest hesitation.”

“That strict?”

“Mm?”

“All... all right...”

Muen took a deep breath. “These things are of course only natural. Miss Dragon, don’t look at me like this. In truth, I cherish my life more than anyone. From here on, I will definitely do my utmost to search for a way to break the deadlock.”

“I do not care.”

Hamreign said, “Whether you succeed or not has not the slightest effect on me.”

Killing a little less, killing a little more—for this dragon crowned with the name of death and doom, there was no difference.

“Is that so...”

Muen lightly tilted his head.

He did not know whether it was his imagination. Although there was still a layer of strange haziness across her face, and her attacks were still ruthless, his outstanding female-emotion radar told him that... in that instant just now, Hamreign’s mood seemed to have become much gentler.

Could it be that he had accidentally said something Miss Dragon liked hearing just now?

Muen thought about it, then immediately shook his head.

With other women, forget it. But with this Miss Dragon, it was still better not to casually court death.

Because he really would be beaten to death.