Chapter 1159: 146. Old Acquaintance

Cracks had appeared across both Landa’s and Alan’s skin, and large amounts of light were pouring out from those cracks, but aside from that... there did not seem to be any other change.

Although the night was suppressing the Pollution, the two of them were, after all, the closest to Grandma Meg, and the Pollution had erupted in them first. For them not to be twisted into some malformed posture for a deeper provocation really did not seem right.

The two looked at each other and also felt that something was strange. Alan was the first to speak. “I can feel my body changing, but it’s very slow. Slower than I imagined.”

“Me too!” Landa nodded hard.

“Then that’s strange. Logically speaking, people with three kinds of Pollution inside them should definitely be more chaotic than those with two. So why are you two so stable? Andri’s power can’t achieve something to that extent.”

It couldn’t be that even fucking Pollution cared about triangles being the most stable shape, right?

Muen’s consciousness once again sank into the night. Through Andri’s darkness, he discovered that all the Pioneers who had been polluted by him, even if they believed in the Goddess of Light like Landa and had Pollution planted in them beforehand, were also not undergoing rapid distortion.

This feeling was as if... inside their bodies, the “Goddess of Light”’s Pollution was being suppressed.

But Muen knew that was impossible. Andri’s night could only delay it, not suppress it. As for his own black flames, even while he had seized the initiative, suppressing one type of Pollution alone was already the limit. It was impossible for him to suppress two kinds of erupting Pollution at the same time.

Then why had this phenomenon appeared?

Unless... one of the types of Pollution would not place much of a burden on his black flames to begin with?

“Landa, come here for a moment.”

Muen suddenly spoke.

“...Eh? Oh, all right.”

Landa widened her eyes and looked at Muen, then timidly glanced at Hamreign, whose thigh he was hugging. She swallowed and gathered her courage before walking over.

“Stretch out your hand. Let me take a careful look.”

“Oh.”

Landa rolled up her sleeve and held her arm out in front of Muen, while she herself leaned backward as far as she could, trying her best to stay a little farther away from the terrifying woman who had repeatedly declared that she would destroy Annabawei.

“...”

Muen fell silent for a moment. He also glanced at Miss Dragon and felt that she probably would not casually go berserk right now, so he simply let go of the thigh he was hugging for the time being, grabbed Landa’s arm, and observed it carefully.

Her arm was covered in tiny cracks, like exquisite porcelain on the verge of shattering.

Somewhat dazzling light kept surging out from the cracks, “slapping” against Muen’s face.

With Muen’s current resistance to Pollution, this kind of light shining on him had almost no effect on him at all. Among all mediums that transmitted Pollution, only the most direct “touch,” and a direct “touch” with a large amount of Pollution at that, could cause him to be eroded along with it in a short period of time.

But right now, he was clearly gripping Landa’s arm tightly, yet he still did not feel any sign of being polluted.

This was not normal.

Under the same long-term accumulation, an activated Pollution should be more frightening than Pollution that had previously been in a dormant stage no matter what. So why was that not the case for him?

With this question in mind, Muen leaned his head closer and looked carefully.

A faint fighting aura filled his eyes, strengthening his vision to the greatest possible degree. At a time like this, Muen missed Ariel immensely. If he had her Delusion-Breaking Eye, there would be no need to go through this much trouble. One glance would basically be enough to see through the essence of this Pollution.

Fortunately, because the Pollution that belonged to him currently occupied the deepest layer inside Landa’s body, and because it had arrived the latest, the “Goddess of Light”’s Pollution was basically drifting over the surface of her flesh and blood.

Therefore, through those tiny cracks, Muen finally managed to see a little of the inside of the light.

—That was not pure light.

The instant he saw it clearly, Muen immediately realized this point.

Or rather, although it was called a blessing from the “Goddess of Light,” as expressed through this Pollution, the so-called light was not important at all.

Light was only a byproduct of this power from a certain Evil God.

The true manifestation of the actual Pollution was... flame.

That was right, flame.

Beneath those cracks, beneath that escaping light, tiny crimson flames were constantly dancing between flesh and blood. The flames burned the flesh and blood, then reshaped the flesh and blood. The reshaped flesh lost its fixed restraints and gradually began to separate from the original body, becoming malformed and disorderly.

This was... the method of distortion brought by this type of Pollution.

Only, inside Landa’s body, this change was extremely slow.

Because that kind of crimson flame, that method of burning, and even that method of reshaping were all very familiar to Muen.

So familiar it was ridiculous...

“No way...”

After pondering for a moment, Muen raised his head, his expression shocked.

“So that’s what it is?”

To guard against the possibility of a mistake, or of being misled, Muen deliberately drew it out, allowing those crimson flames to burn him.

His flesh and blood were naturally burned directly.

Clear pain stimulated Muen’s nerves...

But within that pain, a certain familiar sensation returned, making Muen unable to stop himself from giving a soft hum...

“What, have you finally given up?”

Seeing that Muen had gone so mad that he was actively drawing out the Pollution, Grandma Meg sneered. “In this world, the weaker and more ignorant a person is, the more they produce some unrealistic fantasy. You should listen to Hamreign. The blessing from the great Goddess of Light is simply not something a brat like you can resolve. No... it should be said that no one can resolve it.”

“...”

Muen glanced at her, ignored her, and continued sensing the burning “.”

“?”

“Cough, cough. Sorry. This burning sensation, with a little restlessness inside its steadiness, a little madness inside its restlessness, and a little annihilation inside its madness, has truly been something I haven’t experienced in too long. I’m feeling a little nostalgic... But what you just said is right. For me, Pollution from an Evil God is still unsolvable.”

Muen’s expression turned strange. “It’s just that, regarding this Goddess of Light of yours, there’s a question I want to ask. Is it convenient for you to answer?”

“A question?” Grandma Meg was slightly startled. What did that mean? At a time like this, what else did this brat want to do?

“Ask.” She appeared very confident. “The Goddess of Light is merciful, so naturally, I am also incomparably merciful.”

“It’s actually not a major question.”

Muen scratched his head and said, “I just wanted to ask. That so-called Goddess of Light you speak of... her true body wouldn’t happen to be a giant eyeball covered all over with withered hands, would it?”

“???”

Grandma Meg’s brows furrowed, and obvious confusion appeared on her old face, followed by fury.

“What nonsense are you spouting! What giant eyeball? Are you blaspheming against the great Goddess of Light?”

“No, no, no, I’m not blaspheming. I’m just...”

After receiving this answer, Muen not only was not disappointed, the corners of his mouth suddenly lifted, only for him to force them back down... He had been burning with anxiety just moments ago, but now he was finding it a little hard to hold it in.

Because that fire, that Crimson Flame, was very familiar to him, and he absolutely could not have mistaken it.

No, it should be said that in this world, there was no one more familiar than him with who that Crimson Flame came from. Because in a certain sense, the root of this Evil God power in his body... came from there.

The place where the “dream” began.

The first Evil God power he had ever sensed.

—Withering King!

That was right. The Pollution of the “Goddess of Light” at this moment came from the Withering King!

Since his identification could not be wrong, that meant...

Who would have thought, who would have thought...

You fucking Evil God with your thick brows and big eyes, you actually changed into an alias too and disguised yourself as a noble goddess to fool believers?

How shameless!

I never thought you were this kind of person... no, this kind of god!

Back when you were chasing down the Silent Moon, I even imagined you as an evil uncle persecuting a blue-haired little girl, but it turns out the one with a maiden heart was you?

Muen felt that the direction things were taking had once again completely exceeded his expectations. After all, ever since the Withering King had killed the Silent Moon, He had shown no sign of activity at all. On top of that, even if Evil Gods liked wearing aliases, this alias of “Goddess of Light” was still... a little bit too different from the Withering King’s original posture, so Muen had not thought in His direction at all just now.

Until he confirmed it deeply now...

“Have you already gone mad?”

Seeing Muen’s expression as he struggled very hard to hold back laughter, Grandma Meg’s old face gradually furrowed tight as well. She did not understand how this fellow could still laugh when things had already reached this point.

“No... I haven’t gone mad. Although there are enough madmen here to form a reinforced platoon, I think I’m still normal.”

Muen said with certainty. Apart from repeatedly going against the strongest calamity in this world, he was normal most of the time.

“The reason I’m so happy is because I’ve discovered that the solution to this incident is simpler than I imagined.”

He did not even need to take the risk of troubling the Black Book and gambling.

The current him should be able to resolve it.

“Simple?”

Grandma Meg felt that this fellow had indeed gone mad.

There was no solution to Pollution that had already entered an eruptive state. This was common knowledge in this world. The humans of the entire continent had studied for a full thousand years under the heavy pressure of Evil Gods and had still not found a successful solution. But this yellow-haired brat in front of her actually said... simple?

Who did he think he was?

The protagonist chosen by destiny in this era?

No. Even if he were the protagonist chosen by destiny, when faced with this kind of thing that was doomed to be impossible to change, he would still be helpless!

“Heh, as expected, brats who know nothing of the height of heaven or the depth of earth just love making wild claims. Come on, then. Resolve it. I would like to see what methods you have to resolve the great Goddess of Light’s blessing!”

Grandma Meg sneered. “If you can do it, then I might as well believe in you too.”

“You said it yourself. A promise is a promise!”

Muen said nothing more. He simply used his consciousness to directly draw out the Pollution belonging to him on Alan and Landa.

For a moment, black flames stirred, intertwining with those crimson flames and forming an incomparably eerie picture.

“What is this fellow trying to do? Has he really gone mad?”

Muen’s act of directly making the black flames clash with the Pollution made Grandma Meg’s brows furrow again. Did he not know that doing this would only cause the Pollution to erupt even faster?

But the next scene no longer gave Grandma Meg any chance to sneer with disdain or mock Muen’s foolish madness.

Because as the two kinds of flames intertwined and collided with each other... the scene she had imagined, where two kinds of Pollution collided and eventually erupted together, did not appear. Instead, the crimson flames were gradually assimilated by the black flames... bit by bit transforming toward a pitch-black color.

The light on the two of them grew less and less.

The black flames gradually grew stronger.

The original Pollution was also gradually suppressed once again. The flesh and blood that had not really distorted much to begin with returned to calm once more.

“This... this is...”

A scene that should have been almost impossible to appear in this world left Grandma Meg completely stunned. She said in disbelief, “Why... Why can you control the Goddess’s Pollution? Why can you...”

“Hmph. Haven’t seen much, have you? Although you look like you deeply revere, remain loyal to, and worship your goddess, there seems to be one thing you don’t know.”

“Wh... what?”

“Your ‘goddess’...”

The corner of Muen’s mouth crooked, and he smiled wickedly. “Once gave me whatever I wanted, and was extremely generous about it! The wonderful relationship we had before is not something you can imagine!”

“???”

Grandma Meg shook. She could not understand Muen’s words. She only felt as if she had lost a great deal in this moment.

But she no longer had the spare attention to think about those complicated questions, because the yellow-haired man before her had no intention of stopping at all. The blessing bestowed by the great Goddess of Light, the blessing bestowed upon her, was so easily...

Refined in an instant.