Chapter 47: The Whole Truth
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"Jiang Cheng,"
Lyle wiped his mouth and looked at Jiang Cheng after eating the last piece of food on the table.
"According to the time, today should be the day when those two factions you mentioned go to war, right?"
Jiang Cheng tilted her head. "Seems like it is. Ah~ time really flies."
"So, my dear Hero, do you want to go take a look? I didn't expect that you, like me, would be interested in such bloody struggles."
"No,"
Lyle shook his head and explained, "It's just that even if my training has all been arranged by you, I should still go see it for myself."
"Tch,"
Jiang Cheng curled her lip, "Useless pride, all it does is hinder your future."
"Maybe,"
Lyle said casually, "But at least for now, this is what I want to do."
Lyle knew he couldn't change Jiang Cheng's opinion, so since they were friends, he could only deal with her like this.
"Whatever~ Actually, I wanted to see how many will die."
Jiang Cheng spoke playfully.
In the next second, with a flash, the two of them appeared on top of a tall building next to the association.
"Tch,"
Jiang Cheng rubbed her sore arm, "Although I'm already used to this kind of pain, it really isn't easy to use after all."
Divine arts were far less convenient than magic. Once again, Jiang Cheng started to reminisce about the abilities of her other identities.
At this moment, inside the association, thick black smoke was billowing, and one of the two tall buildings had already collapsed by half.
"Wow,"
Jiang Cheng acted surprised. "They're actually fighting this fiercely? Looks like the resistance from the followers isn't that weak after all."
"No wonder the people over there are all running away. With fighting like this, it definitely is dangerous."
Lyle looked a bit worried and glanced in another direction. Seeing that the fighting was all inside the buildings and the civilians weren't being affected, he finally turned his head back with relief.
"Who would have thought,"
Jiang Cheng shrugged, "that the followers could still cause such a big rebellion after losing their Guardian Knights."
"Guardian Knights? What's that?"
Lyle asked in confusion.
Jiang Cheng seemed a bit helpless. She realized that ever since she agreed to tell Lyle about her plans and such, he had started to like asking why and what more and more.
"Those are the giant mechas you saw before,"
Jiang Cheng shrugged and explained anyway.
"Well, originally, they were the main fighting force for the follower faction, but who knew their 'god' liked to set people up?"
"What do you mean?"
Lyle pressed on.
Jiang Cheng rolled her eyes. "My dear hero is really getting more and more fond of digging for the whole truth."
Lyle kept silent, accepting Jiang Cheng's reproach, but he really didn't want everything to be under her care, so that was all he could do.
"In simple terms, as I said before, they're not human anymore,"
Jiang Cheng said with a smiling expression.
"Ah~ truly pathetic, they've already turned into black sticky muck."
"You mean,"
Lyle reacted sharply, "corrupted monsters?"
"Yep~ That's right,"
Jiang Cheng said, still smiling.
"Do you know why the most crucial condition for your training—killing the king of the corrupted monsters—is missing from my plan?"
"Why?"
Lyle faintly guessed, but didn't dare say it aloud.
"That's right~ Stick to your own thinking."
Jiang Cheng reached out her index finger and teasingly traced it across Lyle.
"The new fake God of Adventurers is a corrupted monster. So, killing 'it' is enough. How could 'it' not count as a corrupted monster~"
Lyle was shocked inside. He hadn't thought it was really possible for a foreign species to become a human god.
"Well, it's simple really. You've met Renata and the others, you should be able to figure it out."
Jiang Cheng smiled as she dropped another bomb.
"You mean, it devoured the God of Adventurers? Then, turned into a humanoid race in 'their' shape?"
Lyle exclaimed in shock.
"Very good, you got it,"
Jiang Cheng giggled.
"That's why it heavily promotes machinery as a divine domain. Besides the original God of Adventurers already having related domains, 'he' also needs to push for exoskeleton armor development. That way, as a god, wearing exoskeleton armor to cover the black patterns on his body won't look that strange."
Jiang Cheng grinned.
"This includes why the association encourages adventurers to go deep into the corrupted zone to kill corrupted monsters—not really for adventuring, but to train and feed 'his' kin."
"So a lot of the doubts are clear now, though it seems there aren't many questions left~"
"No,"
Lyle suddenly frowned, "there's still one question."
"I can understand everything else, but what's going on with the lack of old people?"
"Oh, that,"
Jiang Cheng shrugged, "Let me give my dear hero a free piece of intel then."
"If you worship a foreign being as god, under the influence of the world's will, your lifespan will be cut in half."
"In other words, followers who worship a foreign god can only live to their thirties or forties."
"So is that why Luan is fine?"
Lyle asked in return. "Because they worship the previous God of Adventurers?"
"Exactly,"
Jiang Cheng smiled. "You're finally not the idiot who only asks 'why' anymore."
Lyle blushed in embarrassment and continued to ask,
"But, what about the president of the Mechanist Association? Last time you said it wasn't because of his position that he lived so long."
"It's simple,"
Jiang Cheng shrugged. "Because he doesn't believe in any god."
"He doesn't even believe in this God of Adventurers?"
Lyle asked with a frown.
"No, no. He doesn't believe in any god,"
Jiang Cheng shrugged. "Although the tech faction are all lunatics, I actually have some respect for them."
"Their faith is only in technology and machinery themselves. No matter what the gods do, they wouldn't worship them, or even feel hatred or any extra emotions."
"But didn't they ignore all the things this God of Adventurers has done?"
"Not just those adventurers who died in the corrupted zone, but also those kids in the slums whose bodies were modified. Didn't they all..."
Lyle said angrily.
"That's why I say they're lunatics,"
Jiang Cheng interjected. "They think that for technological progress, no number of deaths matters, since it'll all lead to a happy world in the end."
"That's not right!"
Lyle clenched his sword.
"Yes, yes, I know it's not right,"
Jiang Cheng shook her head, "I think if you want to kill, just kill. What happy world, let the world be destroyed, that's better."
"As for why I'm working with them,"
Jiang Cheng smiled slyly, her narrowed eyes glinting with cunning.
"I won't let them have their way."
Accompanying her words, a huge crash suddenly came from inside the building.
"Is this your method?"
Lyle asked curiously.
"Unfortunately not,"
Jiang Cheng shrugged.
No, that same familiar presence again. Wait, fuck!
One of the two buildings was smashed down with a single punch, revealing a golem with golden iron beneath it.
Damn it, why is the golem I made for Lyle here!
Wait, I can't use my teacher identity to control it now, but I can't beat it!