Chapter 104: Heart of the Dead
Royal City.
The King’s living room.
The Vice-Chairman sat on the sofa, wagging a finger at King Asuke opposite him:
“I clearly ordered you to have that village burned to the ground directly.”
“How did you change the order to just destroying the facilities?”
Asuke’s sunken eye sockets were a blank void, showing no reaction.
The Vice-Chairman clicked his tongue:
“Clearly already a ‘dead man,’ yet still capable of such petty thoughts.”
“You humans… are quite tenacious.”
The Vice-Chairman leaned back, shifting his physical body into a more comfortable position, “However, your little bit of ‘mercy’ is useless.”
“You don’t actually think that by sparing those people’s lives, they can still struggle, still produce something ‘useful,’ do you?”
Asuke’s lips seemed to twitch twice.
The Vice-Chairman burst into laughter, “So even ‘dead men’ can dream!”
“Human king, let me tell you, you won’t have time no matter what you do.”
“Your little bit of low-level civilization, interrupted for hundreds of years, how could it possibly recover overnight?”
“And on our side…”
“The ‘worms’ painstakingly cultivated within this physical body have already been placed inside your ‘esteemed royal family members.'”
“You ‘esteemed royal family members’ are now nothing more than our incubators.”
“And the ‘worm core’ will activate in three days.”
“From then on, the offspring you bear will be my perfect copies, born ‘worms,’ ‘worms’ absolutely obedient to me, ‘worms’ capable of draining this planet dry.”
“At that time…” The Vice-Chairman leaned his head back on the sofa, his expression extremely relaxed, “At that time, it will be our ‘feast.'”
“We can finally leave this low-level plane and return to our world again!”
How difficult it has been…
My kind have perished one by one, leaving only me struggling here for so many years with these modified bug that can’t amount to much…
Finally, it’s time to harvest!
The Vice-Chairman stood up, looking at the human king who was still sitting motionless on the sofa, “Speaking of which,”
“I also have to thank you.”
“If it weren’t for your willingness to make a treaty with the association, exchanging ‘sufficient healing ability users’ and ‘the prosperity and revival of the royal city’ for ‘ceding some rights,’ how could I have progressed so smoothly?”
The Vice-Chairman imitated the gesture of a human courtier, making an exaggerated bow of thanks, “Thank you, my King.”
Asuke naturally gave no response.
The Vice-Chairman straightened up and rotated his wrist. Several tiny white worms slipped from his sleeve and burrowed into Asuke’s body.
*
Bean Village.
The few villagers working in the printing house had never seen such a scene. Their legs were shaking with fear, and they knelt directly on the ground.
Douglas’s face was pale, his chest heaving violently, but he could only grit his teeth, not knowing how to refute.
The people who came this time were not from the association.
If they were from the association, they could confront them, even dare to fight.
But this time, it was the King’s guard, conveying the King’s decree!
As a former member of the patrol team, Douglas had two most basic beliefs: “Loyalty to the royal family” and “protecting the weak.”
To openly defy the royal order? To directly conflict with the royal family?
He really couldn’t do that.
At this moment, he heard the sound of a villager sobbing behind him:
“Why, why does the King want us to tear down the printing house?”
“We… built it with so much difficulty…”
Yes!
With so much difficulty!
It was the hard work of Bean Village! It was the characters that old Mr. Nicholas had carved one by one late at night! It was the metal blocks that the little squirrels had made after countless adjustments! It was old Village Chief’s tears of “old He can rest in peace,” and the cheers of Mary and the others, “We have books!” “We have books!”
And, it was the raw materials and recipes that Chu Jiu had brought back for them after countless times venturing alone into the wilderness!
No, they couldn’t just tear it down like this!
At this moment, Douglas felt as if two different forces were pulling at his heart.
His face was deathly pale, and large drops of sweat appeared on his forehead.
What on earth should he do?!
Just at this moment, a clear voice rang out, “Sir.”
It was Chu Jiu!
Douglas’s heart jumped, and he quickly reached out to grab Chu Jiu, gesturing with his eyes: Don’t be rash! Don’t directly conflict with them!
Even, don’t let your spirit beasts conflict with them!
Chu Jiu nodded lightly to him, then turned to look at the red-clad guard captain and said, “Sir, please forgive my boldness—”
The captain had already frowned in displeasure.
Chu Jiu: “You said to tear down and burn it, of course we will obey.”
Douglas: !
The villagers were all stunned, kneeling on the ground and hugging each other, looking at Chu Jiu with surprise and suspicion.
Chu Jiu: “But…”
“But I’m worried that burning the things inside will damage your reputation, and even make His Majesty… troubled.”
Red-clad Captain: “…Oh?”
Chu Jiu sighed, “Your meaning just now was that the things printed here are all ‘indecent’ reading materials.”
“This…”
Chu Jiu bent down and made a “please come in” gesture, “Why don’t you come and see what we are printing.”
“You can also judge whether these things can be burned in one fire.”
With that, Chu Jiu pushed open the door of the printing house, first stepping inside himself, and at the same time said loudly, “Sir, please come in!”
The red-clad captain frowned and looked at the vice-captain beside him.
After a brief discussion in low voices, they decided: they could at most burn it after seeing it.
So, the red-clad captain walked into the printing house with his head held high, followed closely by the vice-captain.
What exactly did this inexplicably strange workshop produce—
!
These neatly stacked piles of, “King Asuke’s Collection of Admonitions”?! “The Grace of the True God”?! “The Miracles of the Royal Family”?!
Red-clad Captain: …?!
Not to mention the two captains, even Douglas himself had not expected this scene at all.
After all, Douglas knew very well: these reading materials had never been printed in this printing house!
Wasn’t the plan for additional printing yesterday “New Tales of Ten Days”? How did it suddenly become these kinds of books…?
…Understood.
It was Chu Jiu.
It must have been Chu Jiu. In those few seconds before he came in, he used his abilities to arrange all this.
Chu Jiu, with the well-behaved expression unique to teenagers, presented a copy of “The Miracles of the Royal Family” with both hands to the red-clad captain:
“Sir, this is what we in Bean Village wholeheartedly print!”
“We don’t understand why praising the King and praising the True God would be slandered as—’indecent content’?”
Douglas first put on a heartbroken expression, “Yes! Why would anyone slander our Bean Village? Is it because our Bean Village is valued by His Majesty the King and is about to be upgraded to Bean Town?”
Then he feigned indignation, “When we go to receive the King’s hearing in a few days, I must ask for clarification! We can’t be unjustly accused for nothing!”
The red-clad captain’s expression changed again.
Chu Jiu looked at Douglas and “whispered” in a voice that everyone present could hear, “Also… I remember the revised ‘Kingdom Law’ mentioned that destroying reading material that praises the royal family and the True God is uniformly defined as ‘contempt for the royal family’ and ‘disrespect for the True God’?”
The red-clad captain’s brow furrowed even tighter.
He thought to himself: This is troublesome.
If they didn’t burn it, they would be disobeying the King’s decree.
If they did burn it, and if these people from Bean Village really saw the King and said that they knew they were printing “King Asuke’s Collection of Admonitions” but still burned it indiscriminately—would the King praise him for his “unwavering loyalty”?
This is really troublesome…
If only there was a way to please everyone…
Just as they were in a stalemate, a commotion suddenly came from outside.
A moment later, a woman in riding attire with her fiery red hair tied high strode into the not-so-spacious printing house:
“Douglas, why haven’t the things you were supposed to print for us been delivered to Sea Moon City yet?”
The person who came was Clara.
She “inadvertently” glanced at the two captains and said with “surprise,” “I didn’t expect the captains of His Majesty the King’s guard to appear in this small village.”
Red-clad Captain: …Come on, our caravan is right outside, how could you not see it?
Although both captains knew that Clara had come to “save the day,” they also intended to go along with it.
So the red-clad captain also looked surprised, “City Lord Clara! So you were the one who commissioned Bean Village to print books?”
Clara withdrew her gaze from the “King Asuke’s Collection of Admonitions” on the side and said seriously, “That’s right.”
“Although I am not a member of the royal family, I am a noble personally bestowed with a title by His Majesty the King.”
“Of course, I hope that all subjects, like me, hold deep gratitude towards His Majesty the King.”
“Therefore, I specifically commissioned Bean Village to print such reading materials for us to widely disseminate in Sea Moon City.”
She frowned, “I wonder why His Majesty the King’s guard has appeared here?”
After listening to the red-clad captain explain their purpose, she exclaimed, “There must be some misunderstanding.”
The vice-captain immediately said, “We were also worried that there might be some misunderstanding.”
The red-clad captain gave the vice-captain a fake glare, looking “embarrassed.”
Clara: “How about this—the two captains lead their team back to the royal city first and say that what Bean Village is printing are royal-praising reading materials commissioned by City Lord Clara of Sea Moon City. City Lord Clara is willing to go to the King in person with the managers of Bean Village to explain.”
“Besides, His Majesty the King had already ordered Bean Village to go to the royal city for a hearing.”
“In this way, the guard is also carrying out His Majesty the King’s decree and is not violating it in the slightest.”
Clara’s words took all the responsibility upon herself, completely exonerating the guard.
The two captains, of course, did not hesitate at all and immediately stated that they would return to the royal city to report.
After the guard left, Douglas, and Old Village Chief and the others who had rushed over upon hearing the news, all breathed a sigh of relief and were extremely grateful to Clara.
Clara, however, looked solemn, “I received news that the ‘medicine’ was made and rushed over immediately—I didn’t expect the King and his people to come directly from the royal city to Bean Village and even want to destroy this place.”
She looked at the neatly arranged “proper reading materials” beside her, her expression slightly relaxed, and said to Chu Jiu, “Pioneer Chu Jiu, did you just ‘print’ all of these?”
Chu Jiu: “That’s right. I thought if it was these books, they definitely wouldn’t dare to burn them directly.”
In those few seconds just now, he had taken the [Movable Type Printing] recipe, flipped through the unpopular “proper books” in his backpack as the base, and used “quick crafting” to print piles and piles of them.
Clara smiled slightly, “Truly clever. If not for this, even if I had come, they would have had enough reason to burn this place to the ground.”
Chu Jiu said, “I was just stalling for time. What really made them leave were your words.”
Speaking of this, Chu Jiu bit his lip, “…But, I have a feeling this matter won’t be resolved so easily.”
Clara: “It indeed won’t be resolved so easily.”
She asked the attendants to dismiss the other villagers, leaving only Chu Jiu, Old Village Chief, and Douglas, and said directly:
“I suspect that the association’s claws have already controlled the royal family.”
“We must confront them head-on.”
*
Royal City.
The King’s audience chamber.
The red-clad captain knelt on one knee, reporting everything he had seen and heard in Bean Village without concealment, and also conveyed the other party’s request to “meet His Majesty the King.”
Asuke sat on the throne, seemingly pondering something.
After a moment, he said to the red-clad captain, “Based on your senses as a high-level ability user, that young man you spoke with, under twenty years old, named ‘Chu Jiu,’ does he have mental power?”
Red-clad Captain: “…Mental power?”
Asuke: “That is what you call ‘ability.'”
Red-clad Captain: “Your Majesty, no. He is just an ordinary person.”
“The others present are either ordinary people or ability users over thirty whose abilities have faded.”
Asuke: “Good.”
“Since I once issued a decree for them to receive a hearing, let them come to the royal city and explain themselves to me in person.”
“The older ones don’t need to come. Just let that Chu Jiu come.”
Red-clad Captain: “Understood!”
The guard went to deliver the order.
Asuke sat motionless on the throne like a clay sculpture.
In the small side room next to the audience chamber, the Vice-Chairman flipped through the records of the decrees issued by Asuke, clicking his tongue:
“It seems this pioneer named Chu Jiu is the human struggling desperately in Bean Village, creating all sorts of messy things.”
“…That Prince Halsin even said he ‘hoped Chu Jiu would become his family.'”
“Heh, good.”
“Coincidentally, we still need an ordinary person without mental power to store the ‘worm core’…”
“At the first ‘family banquet’ the day after tomorrow, let this Chu Jiu have the honor of being irradiated by the worm core and then swallowed piece by piece into the royal family’s stomachs, so he can become their family properly.”
*
Outside the Royal City.
Clara’s carriage stopped.
Clara looked at Chu Jiu, saying nothing, her expression complex.
Chu Jiu, however, smiled at her.
Clara sighed, “The King has ordered that only you are allowed to enter the royal city.” “I can only send you this far.”
At this moment, the King’s guard, who had come to greet Chu Jiu, had already walked towards the carriage.
Chu Jiu nodded, “It’s okay. Don’t worry.”
He walked over to the King’s guard and smiled at Clara again, “Thank you for the escort, City Lord—rest assured, we will definitely be upgraded to Bean Town!”
Clara nodded at him, jumped back into the carriage, her expression solemn, “Return to Sea Moon City, immediately.”
She still had many, many arrangements to complete.
Chu Jiu had said: the matters in the royal city would be left to him and his spirit beast partners.
The matters outside the royal city, we will naturally do our utmost to accomplish, even at the cost of our lives!
We must not waste the young man’s painstaking efforts and this one and only chance!
*
Chu Jiu got into the guard’s carriage.
The city gate’s drawbridge lowered heavily, and the carriage slowly drove in.
Chu Jiu looked out at the scenery of the royal city from the window with the curtain lifted.
…It was too unexpected.
Although Clara had told him before that the “royal city” was different from other cities, and Chu Jiu had prepared himself mentally, he still hadn’t expected to see such a city:
Clean, tidy, elegant, beautiful.
The road surface was wide and smooth, and there were rows of streetlights on both sides of the road.
Every so often, he could see elegant street gardens with fountains spraying water.
And the houses on both sides of the road were painted a soft off-white, with neat red tiles.
This… was too beautiful.
It was not even that different from those European small towns on Earth that had “preserved their classical streets and architecture.”
While admiring, Chu Jiu pointed to the streetlights on both sides, “Do these streetlights light up at night?”
Guard: “Yes, they do.”
Chu Jiu: “…How do they light up? I mean, who makes them light up?”
Could there be a giant diesel generator in this city?
Guard: “Of course, it’s our high-level fire ability users.”
“They can precisely control the ignition points and light the oil in the streetlights on time every day.”
Chu Jiu: “Oh… Then how do the fountains in the pool opposite spray water?”
Using water pipes and pressure devices passed down from ancient times?
Guard: “Of course, it’s our high-level water ability users.”
“They can make water form different shapes and maintain them for a long time.”
Chu Jiu: “Oh…”
“Wait, there’s a clinic over there—the physicians inside…?”
Guard: “Healing ability users.”
Chu Jiu: “Ah, there’s a row of shops over there, are they selling fruit? Where did this fruit come from? I’ve never seen it before?”
Guard: “Grown by plant ability users.”
After asking all the way, Chu Jiu completely understood.
This “beautiful,” “elegant,” “refreshing” royal city was built on the abilities of countless ability users.
…In other words, beneath every beautiful red brick was a human being who had been poisoned and died inexplicably.
Chu Jiu stopped talking.
The carriage stopped in front of the royal palace.
Led by the guard, Chu Jiu stepped into this palace, which was said to have remained unchanged for hundreds of years.
Red tiled squares, arched pillars, sculpted fountains.
Chu Jiu sighed inwardly and walked all the way to the “banquet hall.”
His Majesty the King had specifically instructed that Chu Jiu was to be received in this place, during the “family banquet.”
Before him was a heavy wooden door with gilded decorations.
Chu Jiu steadied his mind and once again recalled Lu Qingyan’s words of instruction in the mirror world.
Lu Qingyan’s last words were: I believe your judgment. If there is anything I haven’t thought of, just improvise.
Just improvise.
Chu Jiu silently repeated these words, watching the servant help push open the wooden door.
Upon entering, the first thing he saw was a circle of long tables arranged in a square shape, covered with snow-white tablecloths.
On the tablecloths were gleaming silver cutlery.
Around the long tables were members of the royal family in gorgeous attire.
Among the unfamiliar faces, Chu Jiu saw a familiar one: Prince Halsin.
But Prince Halsin just stared blankly at Chu Jiu, as if he didn’t recognize him at all.
Chu Jiu wasn’t surprised.
He looked towards King Aksu, who was sitting alone at the front.
His Majesty the King was emaciated. He first stared straight at Chu Jiu, silent for a long time, and finally gave a strange smile, “Are you His Excellency Chu Jiu?”
The voice was hoarse and terrifying.
But the tone was genuinely respectful.
Chu Jiu: “…Your Majesty, yes, I am Chu Jiu, a pioneer from Bean Village.”
Chu Jiu had of course imagined that as soon as he entered this hall, he would have a “head-on confrontation” with the King—or rather, the insectoids that had infiltrated the royal family.
At that time, Little Can would naturally turn into Big Can.
So Chu Jiu wasn’t flustered.
But the King’s greeting surprised Chu Jiu a bit.
Could it be that they had all guessed wrong, and the King was still the King?
But if it really was the King, he wouldn’t be so polite to a commoner.
Just as he was thinking, the King even stood up and bowed to Chu Jiu, “Please, take a seat.”
Chu Jiu: …
What’s going on here?
Never mind, he would just play it by ear. If enemies came, Little Can would block them; if trouble came, Big Can would cover him.
*
Not only Chu Jiu was surprised.
The Vice-Chairman, who had changed out of his black robe and was mixed in with the royal family members sitting at the long table, was also extremely astonished.
What was going on?
I clearly controlled this “corpse” and ordered it to: walk over to the King.
As long as Chu Jiu walked over, the worm core buried within the corpse would burst out and then burrow into Chu Jiu’s body!
This corpse, even now, was still being stubborn?
*
Chu Jiu sat down opposite the King.
The King’s hollow eye sockets faced him, as if asking a question, yet also as if talking to himself:
“So young.”
“When I ascended the throne, I was as young as you.”
Just as Chu Jiu was greatly puzzled, he heard another voice, another almost weeping voice: “Your Excellency, do you have the ‘Heart of the Undead’?!”
Chu Jiu: …?
He quickly scanned the people present, confirming that no one had spoken.
Even Little Can meowed softly, “No one spoke.”
Were these words only audible to him?
Could it be…
He concentrated again, trying hard to look ahead—
He saw a nearly transparent phantom emerging from the richly dressed, skeletal-faced King!
[Activate! “Heart of the Undead” ultimate effect—Regret of the Undead!]
[Regret of the Undead: No matter how chaotic and mad the undead has become, it can briefly regain its sanity under this effect and communicate with the host.]
[Please seize this precious opportunity for communication!]
While the phantom slowly floated towards Chu Jiu, the “King” opposite him was still “speaking.”
He was talking about old royal affairs or the “Chronicles of the Carrot Kingdom.”
Chu Jiu watched the King while glancing at the phantom undead out of the corner of his eye.
Finally, the undead landed in front of Chu Jiu.
It said in a mournful tone, “Your Excellency, I was the king here—the true King Asuke.”
“The one sitting there now is a monster injected with drugs by the association, still able to walk and talk.”
“After death, I became an undead spirit, residing in the monster’s body.”
“I—I can take advantage of the times when the drug’s effect weakens to briefly make this monster do some ‘right things.'”
“But most of the time, I can only let this monster run rampant!”
Red tears of blood fell from the undead’s eye sockets.
It turned its head, looked at the royal family members filling the room, and sobbed, “I’m sorry to my family, sorry to my people…”
Chu Jiu knew that the undead would say many, many things when talking to the holder of the “Heart of the Undead.” Therefore, he pretended to listen intently to the “King” recounting the chronicles, without interrupting.
The undead continued, “Decades ago, when I ascended the throne…”
“A plague suddenly broke out in the royal city… many died.”
“At this time, someone from the association found me and said, ‘The association has made agreements with your father and your grandfather. We are willing to help you with the power of the True God, to make your country prosperous and your royal family eternal.’ ‘As long as you agree to sign the agreement, we will immediately have healing ability users dispel the plague for the royal city.'”
“I agreed to him.”
“From then on, I allowed them to close schools, burn books, sink ships, and smash machinery…”
“But… as I grew older…”
“I began to realize that this was wrong.”
“We cannot rely on ability users for true ‘prosperity.'”
“The association is just enslaving my people!”
“I wanted to tear up the agreement and disband the association—”
“So, after a long talk with the association, I died. Died on a very ordinary afternoon.”
“At the moment of death, I instead felt relieved.”
“I had no children, and Halsin should have inherited the throne.”
“If it were Halsin, he would definitely not make the same mistakes as me, being so weakly exploited by the association.”
“But… the association used my ‘corpse.'”
“The only thing I can do is briefly seize control of this corpse…”
The undead raised its right hand, pointing to a gray-haired man with a square mouth and nose beside the long table, “Now, the association has sent a new puppet!”
“He set up this scheme, intending to have all the royal family members, all the residents of the entire royal city, be eroded by the worms he brought!” At this time, the “King” draped in gorgeous robes had already begun to praise the weather.
Chu Jiu’s expression remained unchanged, and he calmly responded:
“Your Majesty, today is indeed a fine day.”
“On such a fine day, what would you like Pioneer Chu Jiu to do for you?”
The undead used its hand to vaguely grasp its empty chest, “…Worms…”
“Tiny worms, inside all of us…”
“I know, he’s using worms to control everyone!”
“His body is also full of worms!”
“If we can drive away the worms, he will definitely lose his power and no longer be able to manipulate us so easily!”
…Drive away worms, huh.
Quick Feather, the little gray bird who could drive away worms with his singing, had been sent by him to do another task.
However… there was a weapon more powerful than Quick Feather’s singing.
Chu Jiu slowly stood up and bowed, “Actually, besides the books mentioned by City Lord Clara, I have also prepared other gifts for His Majesty.”
The gray-haired man sitting at the table watched Chu Jiu without any change in expression.
He could sense that this person indeed had no mental power.
Therefore, even if this ignorant human suddenly pulled out a knife to cut, kill, or assassinate, he would remain unmoved.
It was just a little trick of a low-level human.
Then, he watched with his own eyes as Chu Jiu took out a pair of earplugs from his backpack and put them on.
Next, Chu Jiu took out a wooden box.
What could this be?
Chu Jiu looked at the “King” and said loudly, “Your Majesty, this is a secret treasure of the Feather Clan, gifted to us by the Feather Clan living in Bean Village—”
“The song of the Feather Clan ancestors!”
Chu Jiu suddenly opened the box!
[Activate! “Songstone” ultimate effect—Twist! Crawl! My audience!]
[Twist! Crawl! My audience!—Any creature that hears the song without wearing earplugs will twist into a mass of dark crawling!
Humans will flee from their houses, worms will crawl out of their holes!
No creature can survive such a song unscathed!]
La… lalalala…
The song of the Feather Clan ancestors poured out of the box, reverberating in the room!
The spacious banquet hall amplified the song with echoes!
In just a few seconds, the nobles who had been sitting upright at the table all fell to the ground, their mouths and noses twisted, blood even flowing from their ears!
At the same time, countless tiny worms drilled out of their eyes, mouths, noses… continuously!
These wriggling worms, under the attack of the song, quickly turned into powder!
Chu Jiu found Halsin, who was curled up on the ground in a ball, stuffed cotton in his ears, shook him hard a few times, and mouthed, “Take everyone and run out!”
With that, he rushed towards the “King” at the front at lightning speed.
He saw the “King” fall backward, his body emitting wave after wave, an almost endless stream of worms—as if his body was entirely composed of worms!
And within these dense white worms, a fist-sized, constantly wriggling fleshy object finally revealed itself!
That was it!
Chu Jiu’s intuition told him that the thing that should be locked away by the [Special Black Box] was this!
Without waiting for Chu Jiu’s order, Little Can leaped forward, rushing towards the fleshy mass!
However—
Bang!
Little Can was suddenly flung away by something and landed heavily on the ground!
At the same time, the door that had just been pulled open by Halsin slammed shut!
Chu Jiu’s heart sank, and he looked back:
At this time, the Feather Clan’s song had just stopped.
The “gray-haired man” had long since become a piece of skin riddled with holes.
From under that skin, a worm, a bizarre worm faintly resembling a human figure and as tall as a person, wriggled forward.
It extended a tentacle and waved it at Chu Jiu:
“So it’s you…”
“You monster from Arsa Star… you didn’t die… and you even chased us here…”
