PSW - Chapter 83
Chapter 83
[Ding! Detected that the host's cumulative Saint Points have surpassed 15,000! Reward: Unlimited Communication Mark unlocked x1, Saint Exemption x1]
Aside from the time she hit five hundred Saint Points, it seemed that every cumulative milestone unlocked something new. It could be a special hidden item or the first in a series.
This final prayer session had yielded a total of 5,560 Saint Points, an average of 4.7 points per person. Zheng Yi didn't take a Stamina Recovery Pill this time. Instead, she opened the store to look at the newly unlocked item.
【Unlimited Communication Mark】: Can be applied to any target, forming a specific pattern on the back of their hand. The marked individual has three opportunities to communicate with the host over an unlimited distance. Once the opportunities are used up, the pattern will disappear and the mark will become void. (Note: Each opportunity lasts for 5 minutes.)
Price: 300 Saint Points
So, one hundred Saint Points per call? Zheng Yi looked at the mark. Although she knew these cumulative rewards were predetermined and the system's designers might not have thought that far ahead...
...it was truly fitting.
After the last faith value recording, when Zheng Yi left the conference room, Feng Shuxian and the others didn't stop her or try to persuade or recruit her any further. Only a day had passed. They had said they were willing to give the two sisters time to think, so they wouldn't press them repeatedly or act aggressively, instead giving them ample time and freedom.
Host: Zheng Yi
Saint Points: 13,274
Backpack Slots: 11
Special Abilities: Water/Healing (Intermediate)/Personal Space (Beginner)
A balance of over thirteen thousand.
[...So fast,] Zero One muttered to itself. It was too fast. If she had acted like a proper Saint, voluntarily sacrificing everything to provide rain for free, to heal the sick and save the world, how long would it have taken to accumulate this many points? Just a few days ago, Zheng Yi's balance had been just over two hundred...
According to the original intended path, by the time a Saint reached this cumulative value, she would have certainly joined a shelter or founded one to save the world.
The fake Saint: Diligently saving lives and healing the wounded, building a base brick by brick.
The real Saint: Touring the apocalypse, proselytizing with flair, and mastering various methods of sending souls to the afterlife.
Great, just great, nothing wrong with this at all! Zero One thought dazedly, absolutely blooming with joy.
The high-temperature period continued.
After the three prayer sessions ended, on the fourth day, Zheng Yi arranged the time for the second daily rainfall with Feng Shuxian, fixing it at six in the evening. Since prayers were no longer needed, attendance was no longer mandatory. Everyone was free to choose whether to come. The rain still centered on the residential building, and various water collection devices had been made and placed on either side of the building, ready for use.
Life seemed to have settled into a calm routine.
Consuming two stamina pills a day, Zheng Yi could also conjure ice blocks to cool down while resting in her room.
On the fifth day of the twice-daily rain, the temperature broke sixty degrees Celsius, setting a new world record.
On the sixth day, the temperature shot up to a terrifying sixty-seven degrees Celsius.
That day, despite the two rainfalls, some ordinary people still suffered from dehydration and heatstroke, falling unconscious. They collapsed around noon, but Feng Shuxian didn't have them dragged into the alley. Instead, she waited until the second rainfall at dusk, had them moved under the residential building to be soaked by the rain, and then cleared out an air-conditioned room to put them all inside. There were no beds, nor was there any need to waste space on them; they were simply laid on the floor.
This time, she had the healing ability users enter the room to treat the unconscious individuals.
One day.
If, after receiving such treatment, they showed no signs of waking up after a full day, there was no point in wasting any more resources on them. After all, the base's demand for water... would only increase as the temperature rose. Even with two rainfalls a day, it was just a drop in the bucket.
No one would complain about having too little water during a heatwave.
The sour stench of sweat? The foul odor of filth? Skin peeling, cracking, and dehydrating from the dry heat?
Even the base leader didn't have enough water to drink as she pleased. How could the other ability users and ordinary people be any better off? Since the high-temperature period began, or even since the apocalypse started, some ordinary people hadn't even had the chance to take a proper bath.
The need for cleanliness always came second to the need for survival.
Fortunately, the peak temperature during this period only reached sixty-eight degrees Celsius and didn't climb any higher.
Starting from the seventh day, the temperature began to drop. On the seventh day, it fell back to sixty degrees Celsius.
On the eighth day, the temperature dropped to fifty-three degrees Celsius.
On the tenth day, Zheng Yi finished the second rainfall of the day. The temperature had already dropped to forty-five degrees Celsius. While still hot, it was nowhere near as extreme as before. At this rate, the temperature would probably return to the thirties in a few more days, which was a relatively normal summer temperature.
By then, it would be about time to leave.
Feng Shuxian and the others hadn't pressed Zheng Yi for an answer, so naturally, Zheng Yi was in even less of a hurry.
Almost as soon as the rain ended, Yu Yinan came to Zheng Yi's side. "Are you okay?"
Zheng Yi popped a Stamina Recovery Pill into her mouth and glanced at Yu Yinan. The woman said the same thing every day, but it never got old.
At this temperature, some ability users would come downstairs for a walk in the evening to get some fresh air. It was still hot, but not the kind of extreme heat that made it hard to breathe and felt like death was imminent. Most ability users could manage.
Most importantly, more than escaping the heat, they wanted to see Zheng Yi, and even try to get close to this special ability user.
Some were driven by devout faith, hoping to be closer to the Saint. Others... hoped to stir Zheng Yi's emotions.
Compassion, pity, admiration... even love.
If the Saint could pity him, take mercy on him, he would not only receive more attention but also more resources. If he could make the Saint admire him, then the base leader and the others would notice his talents and appreciate him.
If he could make the Saint like him, fall in love with him...
He would become a great hero of the base. To stir the emotions of a "goddess," a "deity"-what a thrilling achievement! Just the thought of it was enough to make him tremble with excitement. If he could do it, this Saint would stay at the base permanently. Given how much the base leader valued her, he might even secure an official position for himself.
Even without these added benefits, the Saint's appearance alone was enough to move one's heart. Besides, both sisters were ability users. From any angle, it was worth a try.
Some men were just that strange. When they saw a powerful, prominent, high-and-mighty woman, their first instinct was to possess her. They would exhaust every effort to make her fall for them, to taint her with surging lust and love, and finally lock her away in a room until she lost her last spark of color.
This was exactly what Li Hongyun was thinking.
An ability user? A Saint? A goddess? The more unattainable the title, the more he wanted to pluck her down. The girl didn't look very old. Before the apocalypse, university students of that age were the easiest to fool, especially the ones who looked like good girls. The more naive and innocent they were, the easier they were to deceive and the more readily they gave their hearts. Once you had a girl like that, she was also the easiest to control. Sometimes, you didn't even have to be explicit; just showing a hint of trouble or sorrow would make them "understandingly," eagerly, and sincerely try to solve all your problems for you as a surprise.
Sweet nothings? Vows of eternal love? He had mastered these things; they came to him with ease. He just needed an opportunity, a chance to get close to her.
Even if all his methods failed, it didn't matter. That Saint could only make it rain. And she disappeared after every rainfall, which clearly meant using her ability took a huge toll on her. And he was a mental-type ability user. Using hypnosis or suggestion on an ability user might be difficult, but if his target's mental energy was depleted and they were exhausted, his ability would have a one hundred percent success rate!
As long as he could find an opportunity, it wouldn't matter if he was found out later. He would have had the Saint's body, and might even get her pregnant! When the time came, he could just put on the persona of a man deeply in love, claim he couldn't control himself, and say that she didn't resist-that she even submitted and enjoyed it. He probably wouldn't be punished too harshly. After all, what's done is done.
He thought about many things, including the idea that "since she's a Saint, even if something unexpected happened, she surely wouldn't have the heart to take a life."
On the morning of the eleventh day, it rained.
His gaze burned as he stared at the girl on the platform, bathed in holy light like a goddess, as if he could see through the light and her clothes to something deeper. The scorching weather made his mouth dry and his blood boil with desire.
The high-temperature period was almost over. Before it ended completely, he had to, he absolutely had to...
...have her.
Those two words echoed in his mind as he stared intently at the person on the platform. The rain stopped, and the girl, as if sensing his burning gaze, suddenly looked up at him.
Was she... smiling at him?
She smiled at him! She noticed me! Li Hongyun was ecstatic. She's giving me a hint! She must be! She noticed me, so she must be interested in me too!
This realization made him step forward uncontrollably, but before he could get close enough to say a word, the girl turned and walked off the platform.
Playing hard to get.
He sneered inwardly, turned back to the residential building, and found a can of luncheon meat he had scavenged before the heatwave. After a moment's hesitation, he took it out, then found some paper and a pen, sat down at the table, and began to write earnestly.
"Did the drop in temperature make them get other ideas?" Yu Yinan said angrily, clutching a stack of notes. The people in charge had passed them to her to give to Zheng Yi. The handwriting on each note was different; some were written on scraps of advertisements, some on cards, others on plain paper or pages torn from notebooks...
They were all love letters for Zheng Yi! All sorts of people were using this method to express their admiration, devotion, love, and other various sentiments.
Although she didn't know if the base leaders had instigated or encouraged this, it was clear they wouldn't intervene to stop these declarations of love and pursuit. An ability user or an ordinary person in the base professing their love for the Saint? Everyone had the freedom to pursue love. As long as they didn't cross any lines, the base wouldn't interfere too much.
After all, failure had no consequences, but success would be for the best. If Zheng Yi found a lover in the base and started a family, would they still have to worry about her leaving?
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