Zero-Frame Startup, AK Faith

"What the hell, bro? When you said you had a way to keep them from hurting me, you meant sacrificing me?" Wu Xiaoyou was utterly bewildered.

The Old Village Chief had arranged for them to stay in an empty house near the Ancestral Hall. This place was usually reserved for distinguished guests.

Although Yin Fate Village had little contact with the outside world, it wasn't completely cut off. After all, children with a talent for studying still had to be sent to school. They couldn't just let future generations be buried in a village private school deep in the mountains.

The other villagers were all buzzing with discussion. They never expected outsiders to enter the village during the Yin Fate Grand Ritual, let alone be housed in the most prestigious accommodations by the Old Village Chief.

This was a first.

"I don't recall saying I was going to sacrifice you, did I?"

Wu Wang raised an eyebrow, took a handful of melon seeds from his pocket, and started cracking them ferociously.

"?"

Now Wu Xiaoyou was completely dumbfounded.

He brought me all the way here and he's still denying it? If you're not sacrificing me, are you going to sacrifice yourself?

"Hey, you guessed it," Wu Wang said, glancing at the string of mental chatter above her head. "I'm planning to sacrifice myself. While I'm at it, I'll see what this ‘Yin Fate Great God' really is."

The Abyss God was at it again.

Before Wu Xiaoyou could express her shock, Wu Wang continued, "But it's not like I can't sacrifice you. If you have such a request, I'll do my best to satisfy it."

"…"

Wu Xiaoyou was speechless. She suddenly realized there was a very good reason the villagers called him a little psycho.

His mental state was completely off. Who would willingly get themselves sacrificed?

Oh, right. He would.

"You don't think I'm joking, do you? I'm giving you two choices now." Wu Wang's tone turned icy. "Either you tell me clearly who you are and why you came to Yin Fate Village, or we get sacrificed together. I've been wanting to die for a long time, anyway."

"!?"

A zero-frame startup. Wu Xiaoyou was caught completely off guard.

She never expected this little beggar, who had been protecting her all day, to turn hostile in the blink of an eye. The killing intent and chilling aura rolling off him were even more intense than when they were being chased by the female ghosts in the forest.

He really wanted to kill her!

So he brought me into the village because he was worried I'd find a way to escape?!

"I… I don't remember…"

Click-clack.

Before the words had even left her mouth, Wu Wang expressionlessly pulled a homemade Kalashnikov from behind his back. He expertly loaded the magazine and chambered a round.

The dark muzzle pressed against Wu Xiaoyou's forehead. The bone-chilling cold of the steel was all the proof she needed that this was no toy.

This guy actually has a gun!

"You have five seconds. If I haven't heard why you're here, I'll shoot you in all four limbs," Wu Wang said, holding the gun with one hand while the other was still stuffing snacks into his mouth. "We'll wait in the house until the day of the sacrifice, and then we'll be on our way together."

He chewed nonstop.

"Don't worry, I'll treat the gunshot wounds. I guarantee you'll live to see the sacrifice."

No one can resist the charisma of an AK.

If they can, the firepower isn't big enough.

I suggest switching to an RPG next time.

Wu Xiaoyou still wanted to argue.

"I really…"

"Five!"

"You're not kidding?"

"Four… one!"

"I'll talk!" Wu Xiaoyou's words came pouring out like machine-gun fire. "My name is Wu Xiaoyou! I live at Number 225, Xingfu Community, Huichuan Avenue, Mingyang City! My parents are alive and well, and I have an Eldest Sister and a blockhead younger brother! I came here to find my origins, because my Eldest Sister and I were both adopted from an orphanage!"

Inside, however, she was cursing up a storm.

【Damn it, that was five seconds? He went straight from four to one! Does this asshole even know how to count?】

【Fuck! This whole ‘mystery of my origin' trip is getting more and more messed up. First ghosts, now a psycho!】

【That damned old fortune-teller! When I get back, I'm going to kill you!】

【If I can even make it back alive…】

Wu Wang silently watched the stream of mental activity above her head, his own heart in turmoil.

It's real… This is my real Second Sister!

When his family died in a plane crash five years ago, his Second Sister had been traveling alone and was spared. He never imagined she'd come here, of all places, searching for her roots.

She was connected to this Yin Fate Village!

So, her scolding the female ghosts and making them stop wasn't a coincidence. There was a real reason for it.

"What's the deal with the fortune-teller?" Wu Wang asked, raising the muzzle of the AK slightly.

Wu Xiaoyou said in surprise, "How did you… Never mind. I met a blind old fortune-teller under an overpass. He immediately saw that I was an orphan and also pointed out my abnormality."

She continued, "Finally, he told me that if I wanted to know the source of everything, I should come to these mountains and find a place called Yin Fate Village. As it turned out, I ran into a landslide…"

The rest of the story went without saying. Zhang Sanfeng had found the unconscious Wu Xiaoyou and, by a stroke of luck, brought her to Yin Fate Village.

Wu Wang seized on the key point. "What abnormality?"

In his memory, his Second Sister was a simple-minded airhead, but she wasn't that gullible. She wouldn't be tricked into coming to these desolate mountains by just a few words from some old man. What exactly did he say?

"I… I've been able to see ghosts since I was little." Wu Xiaoyou's voice became dejected and low. "In the orphanage, no one believed me except for Eldest Sister. But that fortune-teller mentioned it directly, and the crucial thing is…"

She took a deep breath.

"He released a ghost from his gourd, proving that he could see and subdue them, too."

Wu Wang's eyes widened slightly. "?"

He truly hadn't expected that. Before he got 【Undying】, if someone had told him they could see ghosts, he would have just scoffed and called them crazy.

"Then just now in the dilapidated house?"

"Yes, I could see them," Wu Xiaoyou laid all her cards on the table. "And I felt a strange sense of familiarity from them, as if I actually knew them."

No way! I need the Abyss God's help just to see them, but Second Sister has such an exceptional talent?

The Second Sister he knew from his past life, the carefree, happy-go-lucky girl, actually had such a hidden side to her.

"Okay, let's sleep," Wu Wang said after a moment of thought. "Tomorrow, go have a chat with your good sisters."

Once he confirmed this was his real Second Sister, he had no more objections.

Another zero-frame startup. One second he was possessed by the Grim Reaper, the next they were the best of buds. Just pretend nothing happened.

Wu Xiaoyou was dumbfounded.

"Hey! What's with only questioning me? What about you? Who are you?" she asked, a little indignant.

Wu Wang looked at her as if she were an idiot.

"I have a gun. Do you?"

He gestured with the Kalashnikov.

"Besides, I'm a psycho. How would I know who I am? You must be nuts asking a psycho a question like that."

With that, he flopped down onto the bed and went to sleep.

Wu Xiaoyou was left standing there. "?"

Seems like… he has a point.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was deeply wrong.

She was an unyielding person, on principle. But it was hard to argue with the principle of a loaded AK-47.

Caliber is justice. Range is fairness. Firepower is democracy.

At this point, she was truly speechless.

She silently climbed onto the other bed, pulled the covers over herself, and lay down. As the tension that had been wound tight all day slowly loosened, sleepiness washed over her.

The moon was bright and the stars were few. The sound of snoring soon filled the room.

The next day was clear. The sun rose, its first light dawning in the east.

Wu Xiaoyou was still groggy when she heard Wu Wang's voice at the door, talking with the Old Village Chief.

The content of their conversation instantly chased away her sleepiness.

"Old Codger, I want to go see the place where the Yin Fate Saintesses were dealt with in past years."

"Oh, right. She wasn't brought here to be your sacrifice. I'm the sacrifice."

"If you dare to lay a finger on her, I may not be able to kill you, but I can definitely slaughter this entire village tonight. Believe it or not?"

"Without Yin Fate Village, would you still be the village chief? Would the Yin Fate Great God let you off?"

"By the way, do you recognize this?"

"Its full name is Kalashnikov."

"AK-47 for short."

Click-clack.

A round chambered. AK Faith.