The Sound of the Mother Conch

The execution ground and the streets were packed with people, all frozen in their final moments of terror and panic, their expressions eerily lifelike.

One by one, ghosts emerged from the "statues". They looked around in confusion, then scattered in different directions.

Some walked towards their homes, others to their workplaces.

They were searching for the places most familiar and safe to their hearts.

"It's getting dark, why hasn't Sasai come home yet?" A father's ghost hovered angrily at the doorway, repeating the same words over and over.

"Hee hee hee." The shadows of children flitted through the alleys, disappearing as quickly as they appeared, as if playing hide and seek.

"This isn't my home, neither is this..." A ghost who had gone to watch the trial at the execution ground couldn't find his way back.

He had wandered too far and realized he could never return.

He stopped in front of each house, peering inside, muttering the same words.

They repeated their former lives, like memories stuck in an endless loop.

Lester watched it all.

His hometown, the city where he had lived his entire life.

From today, it would be erased from the map. Even if someone were to build a new city here later, it would never be Cross City again.

The people he knew.

The people he loved.

And those who hated him, despised him.

Everyone.

They were all dead.

And after death, they couldn't even return to God's realm, wandering in this deathly silent, horrifying city.

What a terrifying scene!

It was enough to drive one to despair.

Even the word "death" seemed less frightening in the face of this spectacle.

Yet the so-called "God of Knowledge" was enthralled by this scene, feeling it was his masterpiece, like a sandcastle built in moments of loneliness.

He had been trapped on a deep-sea island, and the city was his sandcastle on the beach. Every person was like a tiny figure in his sandcastle, bringing him joy like toys.

"Look!"

"Everyone holding hands, never dying, staying together forever. What a beautiful scene."

"I have preserved your hometown forever. With so many people accompanying them, no one will ever be lonely."

Lester seemed to have gone deaf to all sounds.

He just stared blankly at everything before him.

"Boring."

The "God of Knowledge" felt somewhat uninterested. He walked past Lester.

He wanted to leave this city, to fully experience the wonder of this body, to feel what it was like to be alive.

He faced the sun, feeling the warmth of the fading light on his skin.

He smiled at the sun, but that faint smile was as chilling as a black and white photograph of the deceased.

"Come!"

"I am no longer the little person in the bottle."

"From now on, I am God."

"The God of Knowledge walking upon the earth."

He was smug, wildly anticipating a life of freedom.

But suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

He felt something was wrong, as if two forces within him were violently conflicting.

One belonged to him, the other came from the witch doctors.

This body hadn't lasted long before it began to collapse.

And it was an uncontrollable collapse.

Terrifying beams of mutative light burst from his body. The few Trilobite Man corpses nearby that were hit by the light began to bubble and expand uncontrollably.

Tumors grew, along with excess organs and eyes.

Finally, they turned into huge balls of flesh.

The "God of Knowledge" looked at his hands and body, only now realizing the truth.

The power of immortality from the witch doctors was incompatible with his own power.

As the two forces violently clashed, he looked towards the distant sun.

His expression changed abruptly.

The face that had been smiling now erupted with fear and despair.

"No!"

"No!"

"Don't lock me back in, I don't want to go back into the bottle."

After the little person in the bottle said these words, his body shattered like glass.

Endless darkness extended behind him, forming a vortex.

"I... don't... want..."

It was as if an invisible giant hand had gripped him, dragging him back.

His echoing cries stretched on in the darkness.

His consciousness, having just escaped the bottle for a moment, was pulled back inside.

The dark clouds in the sky dispersed, the sun and light returned to their normal colors, but the destruction caused by the demon's descent could never be undone.

At the end of the street, a long, melodious song could be heard.

"La la la la!"

A female Trilobite Man in a beautiful long dress floated out from the hazy street.

The song caught Lester's attention; he recognized that voice.

He looked up and saw it was Lester's wife.

He called out desperately, and she seemed to hear his voice, gradually floating towards him.

"Lester? Is that you?" the ghost asked, her voice uncertain.

His wife seemed unable to see him, even as she came close, only seeing darkness.

"It's me!"

"It's me!"

Lester nodded, wanting to get closer to his wife.

However, his wife seemed not to have heard him at all, and murmured:

"Stop it! Please, stop this madness!" Her voice was filled with anguish. "Don't play with my life. Let me die as a Trilobite Man."

Those lip movements were identical to when Lester had just resurrected his wife.

He finally heard what his wife had said at that time.

His wife passed by Lester, becoming a lone spirit.

She walked slowly towards the distance, never looking back.

At dusk.

The little stone demon pulled a carriage quickly towards Cross City, but it stopped when still far from the city.

The carriage door opened, and a figure wearing a robe imprinted with mysterious patterns stepped out.

His demeanor and attire made him look somewhat like a priest, but he was clearly not one.

He came from the distant House of the Witch Doctors.

He looked up towards Cross City, sensing that something was wrong there.

"What is that?"

At the edge of the sky, a huge, ethereal, transparent dome enveloped the entire Cross City.

It looked like...

A giant flask.

Strange lights flowed within the "flask", emitting illusory colors.

The newcomer immediately got back into the carriage and said to the little stone demon:

"Hurry!"

"Quickly, to Cross City."

But not long after, the transparent dome dissipated, and the sky that seemed polluted with clouds and light returned to normal.

However, this was not a good sign, but rather indicated that everything was over.

The little stone demon stopped the carriage at the city gate, not daring to take another step forward.

It even seemed to tremble slightly.

It appeared to fear the terrifying aura lingering in the city, that powerful existence not of this world.

The witch doctor stepped into the city, holding the letter Lester had written to him.

He had come as soon as he received the letter,

But clearly, he was one step too late.

The witch doctor passed through the city gate and walked onto the street. He saw the Trilobite Men turned into "statues", including guards at the gate, pedestrians on the streets, customers heading to shops, and workers pushing carts.

The entire city was deathly silent, not a sound could be heard.

"Is this... the remains of God-Servant City?"

"How did it become like this?"

The witch doctor walked through the city, finally finding the only living person in this city.

It was Lester, who had once studied medicine with him.

Lester was not dead, but he might as well have been.

His eyes were empty, motionless.

He looked no different from the other statues.

"Lester!"

"Lester!"

The witch doctor stepped forward, seeming to pull Lester's consciousness back.

Lester was tied to a pillar. Hearing the sound, he looked towards the witch doctor.

His pupils seemed unable to move, only glancing once before lowering his head.

"Left Hand," Lester said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Is it really you, sir?"

The witch doctor held out the letter Lester had sent him and said:

"I came as soon as I received your letter."

"You could never have succeeded, Lester. The Life Blood Stone is of a different nature. It originates from Shelly, the Mother of Life, while our power and bloodline come from Redlichia, the King of Wisdom. The two are fundamentally incompatible."

"Your idea wasn't bad, but it was doomed from the start."

"I originally wanted to come and warn you, but..."

"What exactly happened here?"

The witch doctor looked at the dead statues, the running corpses.

"Why are you the only one who survived?"

Lester just mumbled:

"It's meaningless."

"It's all meaningless now."

The witch doctor stepped forward, intending to release Lester from the chains binding him to the pillar, but Lester's body began to emit a strange light. An evil radiance started to devour his flesh and power.

He had made a deal with the demon, and now he was finally paying the price.

Lester looked at the witch doctor and shook his head: "Don't bother, that demon is about to take me away."

The witch doctor was now certain: "This is the power of mythology."

"That demon?"

"You mean the mythical being from God-Servant City."

The witch doctor knew much about the truth of what had happened in God-Servant City years ago.

The witch doctor named Left Hand wanted to prevent Lester from turning into a ghost, but as soon as he tried, he realized there was a problem.

If it were just a ghost transformation, perhaps the witch doctor would have a way, after all, he was a fourth-level power user and possessed the left hand of a God-Created Man.

But clearly, Lester was not only infected by the Light of Original Sin, he had also signed a Spirit Realm Covenant with the little person in the bottle.

That was the power of the spirit realm, which no one could stop.

This was an oath Lester had made to the Divine Cup, the supreme authority of Dream Power and a Divine Artifact.

The witch doctor stared intently at Lester. "No," he said, his eyes widening. "This is not just the power of that myth, but also the power of the spirit realm."

"You made a contract with that mythical being? And you made a deal with him."

The witch doctor looked around, surveying this city of death and ghosts. "All of this... was caused by you?"

"Tell me," he demanded, his voice stern. "Lester, what exactly have you done?"

Lester, hearing the witch doctor's words, was strongly affected.

He raised his head suddenly and shouted, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Yes!"

"I did it all! It's all my fault!"

Lester violently lurched forward, the chains piercing his body pulling taut, tearing his flesh.

But Lester paid no heed; he had gone mad.

"I was too arrogant! I thought I could save everyone!"

"I believed I could control life itself, that I could decide between life and death!"

"I forgot..."

"I'm just a mortal."

Lester revealed a face of bitter laughter, a smile so desperate it made one's heart ache.

"Me!"

"I've harmed everyone!"

Finally, as if in a last burst of energy before death, he used all his strength to roar at the sky.

Uttering his final curse.

"But there's still one person, still one person!"

"God of Knowledge!"

"What kind of god are you?!"

"You're just a demon, a trickster hiding behind the scenes!"

"It won't end like this! It won't end like this!"

Lester gradually transformed into a ghost in the light, separating from his body.

Two Lesters.

A transparent Lester and a Lester with a body, both emitting piercing howls.

His unwillingness, his despair were fully displayed in their voices.

"God of Knowledge!"

"Even if I'm eternally damned to hell, even if I suffer torment for eternity!"

"I will use everything I have to curse you! My hatred will follow you forever, until the day you are completely destroyed!"

Lester's ghost gradually took form, a tiny vortex appeared behind him, ready to take him away.

To that dark, deathly silent Sacred Mountain.

He would become the eternal plaything of the little person in the bottle.

Leaving Lester's body at the same time was a stone carved with a man and woman embracing.

This was also the price Lester had to pay, his universal elixir.

The witch doctor looked at him, suddenly feeling a bit sorrowful.

Facing mythology.

The curses and hatred of mortals could only be self-deception.

Probably even Lester himself didn't believe his curse could take effect!

But besides this, what other way was there to vent his despair?

As Lester's ghost was gradually leaving his body, something unexpected happened.

The blood-sucking worm that had been symbiotic with Lester underwent a sudden change within his body.

The blood-sucking worm suddenly melted its entire body into a mass of blood, occupying Lester's heart chamber, emitting a deep, dark light.

Blood gushed forth endlessly.

Like boiling flames, it completely engulfed Lester's body.

After the blood-sucking worm and Lester's ghost separated, the shell without any trace of wisdom power bloodline fused together.

Lester's body now melted slowly like a wax figure, turning into a pool of crimson, viscous liquid.

"Hmm?"

The witch doctor sensed something unusual and immediately moved away.

The fresh blood expanded endlessly like a gushing spring.

The blood continued to spread, flowing through the cracks between the stone slabs on the ground.

It became a stream, flowing through the streets.

The blood enveloped the corpses in the streets and buildings after their ghosts had left, completely devouring them.

More and more corpses were dissolved, and the blood flow grew larger and larger.

It converged into a surging river of blood.

The witch doctor stood on top of a building, watching this vast river of blood.

"Life power?" he gasped. "How is this possible?"

The witch doctor could even feel his left hand trembling slightly.

As if anticipating, yearning for something.

The river of blood engulfed the entire Cross City, tens of thousands of bodies merged into the blood river.

The blood river roared and surged through the city, and a figure appeared on the crest of the waves.

He broke free from the blood waves, reaching out to grab Lester's ghost that was continuously floating upwards.

He tore at Lester's ghost, also grasping Lester's universal elixir.

Lester's ghost suddenly smiled.

"Everything," he whispered. "I leave it to you."

The universal elixir fell into the blood river, and a huge sound erupted from within.

"Boom!"

The blood continuously gathered, finally taking solid form.

The vast, boundless sea of blood finally transformed into a Trilobite Man wearing a blood-red robe.

Endless blood light overflowed from his body, dyeing the entire street red.

The first being with wisdom to possess life power was born.

The witch doctor was completely dumbfounded.

He had never imagined that the life power would find a perfect opportunity to manifest at this moment.

"It appeared," he breathed. "It actually appeared!"

The setting sun was already blood-red, and the life power wielder walking on the street seemed to merge with the crimson glow of dusk.

He had Lester's appearance.

But on his chest, back, and neck, terrifying human faces continuously appeared.

These were the curses of those who perished in this disaster, the hatred of thousands upon thousands of people.

"Know... ledge," he rasped.

"God~"

These were the first words he uttered after his birth.

Broken and unclear.

As if the voices of thousands of people overlapped, emitting a cursing roar.

But without a doubt.

He wanted to make the demon called the God of Knowledge pay for all those who died in this city.

"Who are you?" the witch doctor called out from his perch on a nearby building.

In the twilight's projection, the shadows of the witch doctor and the building stretched long.

But the life power wielder didn't even glance at the witch doctor, transforming into rolling blood light and rushing towards the sunset, disappearing into the darkness with the last rays of the sun.

The witch doctor named Left Hand immediately gave chase, following the direction the life power wielder had left.

The answer the witch doctors had been seeking might very well be here.

Far beyond the realm of Yinsai, on the other side of the Great Chasm of Death, in the House of the Witch Doctors.

One witch doctor after another looked up, gazing in the direction of Cross City.

The Life Artifacts, God-Created Man, on their bodies simultaneously resonated.

From different mouths, they uttered the same words:

"The missing part... has been found."

In Cross City.

The ghosts wandering in the city let out sounds of relief after their bodies were devoured and destroyed.

"Ah~"

As their bodies were destroyed by that strange power, these ghosts seemed to be freed from their shackles.

The sun set, and the moon appeared in the sky.

Soft moonlight poured into the city, shining on these tragic lonely souls.

Even the ghosts without sensation felt a hint of warmth, as if a deity was comforting their souls and regrets.

The ghosts all raised their heads, gazing at the moon with wonder.

Then, one by one, they dispersed in the moonlight, turning into countless colorful, dreamlike bubbles slowly floating towards the sky.

In that endless height.

Something was attracting them.

"Buzz buzz buzz!"

Yet looking up at the sky, nothing could be seen.

It was as if an unseen door had opened, and one by one, the orbs of light entered through that door.

That was life's original destination, and also God's salvation.

Moonlight shone down, even retaining Lester's ghost.

Lester's ghost dispersed.

His own life dream separated from his body, following the life dreams of thousands upon thousands of Cross City citizens.

Amidst the colorful sky.

He saw another bubble, it was his wife's life dream.

The two life dreams touched, emitting a colorful halo, with one happy, fulfilling scene after another reflected on the glass walls of the bubbles.

Under the night moon, the two intertwined bubbles disappeared into the sea of clouds.

Sacred Mountain.

The sky was covered with dark clouds, terrifying shadows appearing behind the mountain ranges.

The little person in the bottle, enraged to the extreme, roared. He pressed his eyes tightly against the glass wall, looking outside, emitting powerless fury.

The light in his eyes was the despair of seeing hope and then having it shattered.

That despair was even deeper than before.

"Let me out!"

"Let me out! I don't want to be locked in here! I don't want to!"

"Damn it!"

"Damn you! Damn body! It only lasted this long!"

Amidst the roars, the little person's voice gradually subsided into powerlessness.

He could only stare at the outside world, his eyes full of longing.

"It's all that guy's fault."

"Lester."

"That's right, that guy's method was flawed."

"He's about to come, I'll definitely find the answer. I'll definitely be able to leave this damned prison."

The little person in the bottle quietly waited.

Waiting for Lester's ghost to descend.

He wanted to find out where the problem was from Lester's memories, from Lester's universal elixir.

However, the little person in the bottle waited for a long time, but Lester's ghost never came.

He looked outside expectantly, full of disappointment and bewilderment.

"What's going on?" he muttered. "Where's my treasure? Where's my... panacea?"

Dream Realm.

Thousands upon thousands of beautiful life dreams passed through the gate of God's realm, heading towards the dreamy star sea.

The Ship Giant and the ferryman were busy non-stop, using dim ship lanterns to light one life dream after another.

"For mortals," the divine messenger sighed, "death truly is a kind of salvation."

The divine messenger standing at God's gate, welcoming the dreams of mortals, shook his head in wonder.

A deep, melodious sound suddenly came from above the God-Given Land, echoing throughout God's realm.

"Woo~"

The horn of the Mother Conch of All Things sounded.

The desolate conch sound made people feel a sense of sorrow, unable to help but want to shed tears.

The divine messenger Hila turned her head to look behind the gate of God's realm: "Shelly!"

"Are you also mourning for these departed?"

Shelly, the Mother of Life, floating on a hot air balloon in the dreamy star sea, looked at the sounding Mother Conch with some bewilderment.

Shelly picked up the small "horn" hanging at her waist, her large eyes like green gems widening.

"Gurgle."

How did this thing sound on its own?