You Hurt Me

Serena did not care in the slightest that the Red Hats were wiping out her stronghold. As a "Touch," the concept of "failure" did not exist in her vocabulary—only "delayed success." Every resistance would turn into an embrace, every departure would turn into an approach, and every death would turn into a reunion. Like a story whose ending had long been written, no matter how the plot twisted and turned, the final chapter would inevitably arrive on schedule. The only thing she cared about was Yaxiu Heath. The fact that the Four Pillar Gods had not answered her sacrifice was enough to prove this man's weight. Fascinatingly, the Four Pillar Gods had not answered the man's sacrifice either. While bystanders might have thought Yaxiu's attempt to turn the tables and sacrifice the Four Pillar Cultists was a hilarious joke—nothing more than the desperate madness of a cornered beast—Serena didn't think so at all. If she hadn't been presiding over the sacrifice, if she hadn't been in the underground hall, if she hadn't been included in Yaxiu's sacrificial proclamation... if even one of those conditions hadn't been met, Yaxiu might have already succeeded. Because the Four Pillar Gods' reluctance to sacrifice Yaxiu meant that Yaxiu's words carried weight with them. In Serena's experience, the Four Pillar Gods rarely paid attention to mortal beings; the only exception she knew of was a "Touch." Although she had no idea how Yaxiu, as a "Touch," had ended up in such a miserable state, as long as he held that status, the Four Pillar Gods would grant some of his reasonable requests—such as conducting a sacrifice. Therefore, in the ritual just now, it had been entirely possible for the Four Pillar Gods to answer his offering. Yet in the end, the Four Pillar Gods responded neither to him nor to Serena. There hadn't been the slightest stir. The Four Pillar Gods rarely "neglected" a Touch like this. Serena believed there was only one possible explanation: the Four Pillar Gods could not reach an agreement among themselves. If they had all decided to support Yaxiu or support Serena, one side's sacrifice would surely have succeeded. But since both had survived, it meant the Four Pillar Gods were divided in their judgment of their respective values: some thought Serena was worth more, while others found Yaxiu more promising. She just didn't know whether the votes between Serena and Yaxiu were three to one, one to three, or a two-two tie. Moreover, Serena recalled that a few days ago, the Four Pillar Gods had issued a rare divine oracle, demanding that the next batch of sacrifices include "people from another realm." It was quite unusual for the Four Pillar Gods to suddenly develop such an appetite. At the time, Serena hadn't thought much of it and simply hired the Funeral Agency to track down foreigners, which had resulted in capturing Yaxiu Heath. Thinking back now, that oracle had clearly been arranged specifically to bring Yaxiu to this stronghold so he could replace her—within the same realm, a second Touch was unnecessary. The moment that oracle was handed down, Serena had been destined to make way for Yaxiu. A "Touch" was indeed important, but when there were two of them, the Four Pillar Gods would become picky, keeping only the best and discarding all the rest. Yet for some reason, the Four Pillar Gods had abruptly changed their minds. They were no longer having Yaxiu replace Serena, but they didn't consider Serena more important than Yaxiu either, dithering and unable to form a consensus. So what Serena needed to do was very simple: ease the Four Pillar Gods' troubles and help them eliminate an incorrect option. Yaxiu was momentarily stunned by her sudden head-first charge, but he quickly realized it didn't hurt as much as he had anticipated. With a dazed look, he stared at Serena, whose forehead was scraped and bleeding. "What are you doing?" Yaxiu's thick-skinned forehead was completely fine, whereas Serena's delicate little brow had broken skin. Serena poked out her little tongue, seemingly wanting to lick the blood trickling down to the corner of her mouth. But her tongue was so small that she barely managed to lap up a tiny drop after great effort. She beamed sweetly and said, "Look, I'm bleeding." "Yeah, so what?" "Though I look down on people who do nothing but rely on the Book of Gospel, I must admit, everything the Book of Gospel says is true," Serena said. "'You must not harm me' is an admonition you must obey. "You hurt me, so you have to pay with your life." Yaxiu stared at the blood on Serena's forehead, his expression like that of a cancer patient crying 'Why me?': "You're the one who threw yourself at me and got hurt! You can't pin that on me! The fact that I'm not pressing charges for intentional assault is already me being generous to women and children! You're straight-up running a scam on me!" "Angry? Frustrated? Come and hit me then." Serena stuck out her tongue, blew a raspberry, and flashed a brilliant smile. "The moment you injured me, my Touch had already reached you. If my Touch can absorb your death, maybe it'll become even stronger?" Yaxiu sensed trouble. "What on earth is a Touch? A miracle? Or some kind of special ability?" He had heard the term back from Professor Xilin, but he had never found any relevant information about it. He hadn't expected that after transmigrating to a new realm, he would still be entangled with the Four Pillar Cult—it was like changing jobs only to discover his new company had long been bought out by his previous exploitative employer. "A Touch is just a Touch." Serena looked at Yaxiu curiously. "If you want to know what my Touch is, didn't I just tell you?" "Huh? Could you say it again?" Serena tilted her head and gave a sweet smile: "Bound by eternal calamity, ever present to the end." "Serena!" By this time, Cleios and the other Red Hats had finally managed to temporarily seal all the breaches using earth and water arts. Glaring at Serena through tear-blurred eyes, Cleios raised her gun and fired straight at the half-submerged silver throne! As long as the silver throne shattered, Serena would naturally plunge into the water and drown! The elf's marksmanship was exceptionally precise, squarely striking the pedestal submerged underwater. The silver throne instantly collapsed with a crackle of rogue currents. Fully immersed in water, Serena was like a marionette unable to even paddle, sinking below the surface like a doll. Yet Serena remained thoroughly calm from start to finish, without the slightest fear of being swallowed by the flood. *Gurgle, gurgle—* A strange sound rumbled from beneath the silver throne, and swirling eddies formed around Serena. The water level dropped at a visible pace. Cleios bit her lip until it bled in fury, but when she raised her hand, she froze—she could not directly harm this monster disguised as a little girl, or the one dying would only be herself! "You're afraid, Cleios." Serena floated comfortably in the water, allowing her body to be dragged down into the newly formed vortex. "But what you fear isn't actually me—it's God's gospel. "If the safety is on, who can a gun kill?" Leaving behind those words, Serena was sucked into the small fissure that appeared after the silver throne shattered. Fortunately, the cavity was small; otherwise, Yaxiu would have been swept into the whirlpool as well. Cleios rushed over to take a look, and her ears instantly bristled with fury—beneath the fissure lay, by sheer coincidence, a Void Realm passage! And it was a Void Realm passage on the verge of collapsing. The Void Realm turbulence was dissipating rapidly. By the time Yaxiu poked his head over to look, the turbulence had already vanished into nothingness. Now, even if they wanted to charge in and pursue her, it was completely impossible! "Damn it, damn it all!" Cleios fired several rounds into the hole in frustration. She suddenly collapsed to the ground, biting her lower lip in bitter resentment and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "She got away even like this... and by my own hands..." Yaxiu hadn't expected Serena to escape like this either. It wasn't through a sorcery spirit, nor a miracle, nor by summoning the Four Pillar Gods to come down and pummel the kids. It had happened because Cleios blew up the floor, causing this heinous Everlasting Presence to be sucked into an evanescent Void Realm passage underneath. Her true body hadn't done a thing; she hadn't even moved. If Cleios hadn't done anything, they might have captured her by now. But that was impossible—just as it was a law of nature for subterranean rivers to flank the underground hall, Cleios's fear of the Everlasting Presence had also been fated from the start. This was... bound by eternal calamity, ever present to the end. She was the very law of calamity itself. Although the ache on his forehead had practically faded, a chill ran down Yaxiu's spine. That headbutt from Serena was definitely no harmless prank; she was deliberately sabotaging him! Given the favor Serena enjoyed, combined with the fact that Yaxiu had jumped ship without notice and caused the Four Pillar Cult to lose their Blood Moon Country market, the board members of the Four Pillar Gods were definitely going to hold a massive grudge against him!