PSW - Chapter 90

Chapter 90

They could feel the excruciating pain in their bodies, the chill spreading from their internal organs. Their blood froze the instant it dripped down the ice, before it could even fall. A warm, golden light clung to the wounds pierced by the ice spikes, and they could feel their flesh being torn, frozen, and healed. Yes, healed? It was as if their very flesh and blood were about to grow together with the ice spikes!

They shouldn't have run. They shouldn't have tried to escape. They knew she was a water-type ability user… a water and ice dual-type? She could clearly manipulate the ice wall with precision and at will. How could they have possibly entertained the thought of climbing over it while her attention was elsewhere?

She could even make it rain at will…

No, it was impossible. What kind of being was this? Could a human really achieve such a feat? How could an ability user be so powerful? She was just a woman! A very young woman at that! The apocalypse had just begun, and even the strongest ability user in the village was…

"You can't kill us, you can't kill us! The Sea God… the Sea God won't let you go! We are the children blessed by the Sea God, you can't kill me…"

Sea God? Zheng Yi looked at the plant-type ability user pinned to the ice wall and chuckled. "Is that so? Then let him come and kill me."

What kind of thing dared to call itself a god?

She walked over to the thunder-type ability user, who was now just a torso and a head. She knelt down gently and sliced off a piece of flesh, skin still attached, from his severed arm, bringing it to his lips. "I think I heard you… wanted a taste of my flesh? I'm afraid that's not possible, but you can eat your fill of your own."

The thunder-type ability user shook his head frantically, tears and snot streaming down his face in a pathetic display. He wanted to beg for mercy, but a small, sharp hammer condensed from ice crystals appeared in Zheng Yi's hand. She suddenly smashed it against his teeth. He clamped his mouth shut, and the sharp tip pierced through his lips.

"Ah-" A blood-curdling scream made everyone present tremble.

"Hurry up and eat. It won't taste good once it gets cold~" But Zheng Yi's voice only grew gentler. Seeing that the man still wouldn't cooperate, she simply crushed his jaw for him, then thoughtfully stuffed the piece of meat down his throat, forcing him to swallow.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want a taste, too?" Zheng Yi noticed the terrified gaze of the water-type ability user and gave him a benevolent smile. She gently sliced off a thin piece of flesh and held it to his lips. "Be good, now. Eat up~"

The consequences of refusal were right before his eyes. The water-type ability user tremblingly opened his mouth, bit down on the slice of meat, and swallowed it whole. A physiological revulsion made his stomach churn, and he gagged repeatedly, yet he forced himself to endure it.

The torsos were laid out side by side. Zheng Yi then looked at the black crow ability user and the healing-type ability user. The moment her gaze fell on them, the two trembled and immediately fell to their knees, kowtowing. "Don't kill me, don't kill me! I can take you to the village, there are still a lot of people there! And the Sea God… I'm willing to take you to see the Sea God- no, the sea demon!"

With a simple point of Zheng Yi's finger, they scrambled over to the three torsos and knelt properly alongside them.

Next were the four people on the ice wall. The steel-type ability user had been killed by Yu Yinan, and the mental-type had overreached and self-destructed.

Once all the ability users were prostrating on the ground, Zheng Yi glanced at Yu Yinan, gently washed her hands with a stream of water, and fed her a Stamina Recovery Pill.

"To meet is to be bound by fate. I am fated to be with you all, so…" Zheng Yi chuckled softly. "Remember, my name is Zheng Yi."

Yu Yinan shuddered and immediately understood, stepping forward. "The apocalypse is fraught with disaster, but the Saint has come to save the world. She brings sweet rain, punishes the wicked, and offers salvation to all beings as she roams the earth. All things that believe in the Saint shall live."

"Zheng Yi is the Saint."

Her voice was resolute as she scanned the people before her. With her mental energy slightly recovered, she once again condensed flames, encircling them. "If you want to live, then believe in her. With devout faith as the path, below the third stage, all are lost. From the fourth to sixth stage, one begins to break through barriers. At the seventh stage, one returns to the true path. At the eighth stage, one begins to glimpse the truth. At the ninth stage, one's mirror is clear and bright." Yu Yinan deliberately omitted the tenth stage.

"Only when you recognize the true path will you have a chance at survival."

The scorching ring of fire grew hotter, trapping and roasting them within. The more fiercely the flames burned, the less oxygen they had to breathe. The high temperature caused burns, accompanied by a deepening sense of suffocation. Yu Yinan didn't even give them a chance to show their piety before she began roasting them for a full ten minutes.

As she did this, she glanced at Zheng Yi. Seeing Zheng Yi wink at her, Yu Yinan relaxed. A smile appeared on her face, but then she remembered their earlier foul language and imagined how many victims had fallen into their hands, and her smile turned cold again. She painstakingly split off cluster after cluster of flames, controlling their temperature and size, and threw them at the men's lower bodies. "Your bodies are defiled. Before you can have faith, you must undergo the rite of purification."

"The more qualified a believer you are, the less pain you will feel from the flames. The more miserably and fiercely you scream, the deeper your sins, and the more you need to be thoroughly purified."

"Hah-" Agonizing screams were forcefully swallowed back. The ability users' eyes were bloodshot as they clawed bloody marks into the ground with their fingers. The two torsos had completely lost hope, wailing and crying until their vocal cords were raw.

The fire blazed, the intense heat distorting the air. The ability users were on the verge of death. Just as they were about to pass out, icy water was splashed all over them, mercilessly drenching their burned and peeling skin. The golden light of healing enveloped them again, dragging them back from the brink of death. Bone-chilling ice was pressed against their chests, forcing them back to full consciousness.

Scalding hot water was poured over them again, only to turn into ice the next moment, freezing them solid. This cycle of hot and cold repeated. When the ice was ripped away, their skin and even some of their flesh were torn off with it.

In that instant, they yearned to faint, yearned for death, yearned for a clean release.

But there was none. The golden light once again enveloped them, both mercilessly and gently, healing them.

A set of exquisite surgical scalpels was laid out in a row. Zheng Yi gently ran her fingers over the various blades, then thoughtfully began to peel away the tender new skin that had grown back under her healing, bit by bit.

"Believe in the Saint," Yu Yinan said coldly from the side. "Believe in Zheng Yi."

"Zheng Yi is the Saint."

Unable to live, forbidden to die. Amidst this cyclical torture, they desperately cried out the Saint's name, their voices hoarse, tearing their vocal cords as they wept for "Zheng Yi" and the "Saint," screaming of their devotion.

They weren't even seeking a way to live anymore. Under this torture that defied imagination, all they craved was a clean, swift release.

"Saint. Saint… Lady Saint… I beg you, I beg you, please kill me, just kill me…"

"Kill me…"

---

But they were all still alive.

Like puppets, like marionettes, only their shells remained. The mere act of Zheng Yi calmly looking at them was enough to make them tremble uncontrollably.

In front of them, Zheng Yi brought out the large truck, tossed the two motorcycles onto the upper cargo bed, and then stored the truck back in her backpack. The men watched all this numbly, as if they saw it, yet were completely oblivious to the outside world.

But when Zheng Yi told them to carry their torso-only companions and lead her to the village, these men came back to life. They almost frantically hoisted their comrades, each one more eager than the last to lead the way for Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan.

Zheng Yi washed her hands with a stream of water and ate another Stamina Pill. In three rounds, these few people had provided her with a total of 168 Saint Points. Although the return was far less than at the Zhongshan base, under this one-on-one "conversion," the Saint Points they provided were exceptionally devout.

She wondered if it had something to do with Yu Yinan saying that only reaching the seventh stage was the true path and the only way to attain release.

Zheng Yi had no interest whatsoever in the psychological workings of such scum. She and Yu Yinan slowly walked down the path, noticing distinct gaps in the weeds on both sides. The marks of overturned soil were conspicuous, and the other weeds had been trampled down, forming a clear path.

Evidently, the mutated plants in this area had sensed the commotion earlier and had fled in a hurry.

Following the winding path downhill for a long stretch, they finally entered the coastal fishing village.

"You're back? Where are your vehicles? Are you hurt? Why do you look so rough?" Someone at the village entrance was watching. Seeing them finally return, he hurried forward to greet them, and then he obviously saw Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan following behind. "This time's goods are not bad! Fuck, I wonder when it'll be my turn for the first round."

As soon as he said this, the ability users all showed looks of terror, which he caught. "Wait, where are the other two?"

He never got an answer. In an instant, a high-pressure water blade severed his four limbs. The golden healing light quickly followed. Without a second glance, Zheng Yi walked past him. "Carry him. Take me to see the person in charge of your village."

"Yes, yes!" Their first "yes" was weak. Fearing Zheng Yi's displeasure, they almost instantly shouted their response again in unison. The fellow villager being carried by his companion had no idea what had happened. He didn't even know how the woman had done it; he hadn't even seen her move!

The warmth of healing intertwined with excruciating pain in his body. He belatedly realized he had been turned into a human stump!

Most of the people moving about freely in the village were male, ranging from children to young men, and then to middle-aged and elderly men. Of course, there was also a girl of about five or six, but she was naked and tied to a table. These people slit her wrist to collect her blood, then used it to draw strange, bloody patterns on her body. Once her entire body was covered in these blood-drawn patterns, they would heat an iron rod until it was red-hot and burn away her skin along the lines, ensuring the patterns would not fade.

This was the sacrifice for the Sea God.

A girl or a female infant.

"Why did you bring the prey here!" The old man presiding over the branding ceremony noticed the ability users who had gone out, along with Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan. He frowned, but after sizing up the two women, his tone softened. "The catch this time is indeed good. You can play with them first, no need to ask me for permission again."

"Heh." A soft, ethereal chuckle, as if falling from the heavens, echoed in his ear.

Only then did the village chief realize something was wrong. He turned around in horror, only to find that, without any warning, a heavy rain had begun to fall over the entire village.

A torrential downpour.

Their sinful blood couldn't even stain the land; it just transformed into endless streams of blood that swirled around, turning into blood-red ice spikes that pierced their equally sinful companions.

A gentle, soft Great Compassion Mantra slowly began to play throughout the village, accompanied by pleas and wails of "Saint" and "Zheng Yi." All sin was gradually washed away and converted by the rain. Those ability users who had already been converted and still had their limbs ran frantically through the village, dragging every male—ability user or not—into this courtyard. The twin brothers, their faces pale, used their abilities to turn the village into a "cage," allowing no one to escape.

The girl on the table had been untied, and a large coat was draped over her. The wound on her wrist was easily healed by the golden light. Yu Yinan led the girl out of the courtyard, gave her a piece of candy, and told her to go play far away before stepping back into the courtyard herself.

Where were the women of the village? Yu Yinan wondered, whispering something in Zheng Yi's ear. Seeing Zheng Yi nod, she glanced at the scum in the courtyard, walked across the muddy ground, and entered the single-family houses one by one, "visiting" each of the villagers' homes.

There were iron chains, hemp ropes, iron locks fastened around necks, tongues that had been cut out, and teeth that had been smashed out.

There were empty eye sockets, and severed tendons in hands and feet. There were naked bodies chained to bed boards like corpses, mutilated and scarred. There was a living person with a chunk of thigh meat cut away, exposing the white bone.

And there was a desperate, slightly bulging belly.

It wasn't that there were no women here; there were far, far too many women.

The living, and the dead—like the tattooed human skins hung on the walls like decorations, like the placentas and internal organs soaking in murky wine jars, like the human skeletons that had been reassembled and deliberately pieced together…

And under the soft soil in some courtyards, and in front of them, were buried and hidden entire lives.

In that moment, Yu Yinan felt an unprecedented, direct, and intense mixture of luck and grief.

How could they dare? How could they? The victims here weren't just outsiders, but also their own wives, children, mothers…

Oh, it seemed there were no elderly women left in the village.

Perhaps they hadn't survived the high-temperature period. Perhaps they had died during it. Or perhaps… their flesh and blood had allowed this pack of beasts to survive the high-temperature period.

This was the true apocalypse.

When humanity lost its humanity, when not a single glimmer of light remained, that was the true apocalypse.

It made Yu Yinan sick.

It wasn't that there were no normal men in this village, but any who were normal, who wanted to resist, had been killed long before the high-temperature period, regardless of whether they were ability users. A village that colluded in evil like this had no room for "kin" with dissenting hearts.

This fishing village even had a dedicated evaporation pond for drying coarse salt. Outside the courtyards, there were also many large iron barrels and other equipment for purifying the salt or distilling seawater. This was probably… one of the reasons why, with so few water-type ability users, most of the people in the village had managed to survive the high-temperature period.

Yu Yinan had wanted to release all the women from the houses, but their conditions were terrible, suffering from either mental or physical trauma. She hesitated for a moment and decided not to act rashly. Perhaps it would be better to handle this slowly after Zheng Yi finished converting the men. After all, the food and water were with Zheng Yi, and Zheng Yi's healing ability… could also restore their basic mobility.

A formidable wall of fire completely surrounded the courtyard. Yu Yinan took over from Zheng Yi, guarding the twenty or so men, allowing Zheng Yi to step away and heal the imprisoned women.

Even high-level healing couldn't regenerate gouged-out eyeballs. The tendons in their hands and feet, which had been severed long ago, showed some effect, but it was minor. It would likely take a very, very long time of continuous treatment to see significant results. Furthermore, the healing ability could only mend physical wounds; it couldn't soothe their spirits or hearts.

Zheng Yi healed them one by one, breaking all their restraints like chains. The women supported each other as they walked out of the rooms they had been locked in for who knows how long, only to see the great fire in the courtyard and the utterly wretched state of the men.

Fear, terror, hatred, disgust. Complex emotions intertwined. The next moment, Zheng Yi earnestly laid out a row of various weapons. Paring knives? Fruit knives? Bone choppers? Kitchen knives? Scalpels? There was even a fire axe, as well as iron rods and steel pipes.

"Go," she said softly. "They won't fight back."

"No matter how you torture them, they won't die immediately. I will keep them on their last breath, so don't hold back. Go." A gentle and warm Saint's Halo shone around Zheng Yi. Her expression was soft. She casually walked up to one of the men, and as if demonstrating, she gently used a high-pressure water blade to slice across the back of a bare-chested man kneeling on the ground. The skin was cut open with ease, and blood quickly seeped out the moment the flesh was exposed. He let out a pig-like squeal, but in the next instant, the wound was quickly healed by the golden light, returning to its original state.

The woman with the slightly bulging belly picked up a paring knife and charged directly at one of the kneeling men in the crowd. Terrified, the man cried out for the Saint and begged for mercy, "Don't, I beg you… the child in your belly is mine!"

However, instead of calming her in the slightest, his words only enraged her further. Her eyes turned crimson, and she recklessly stabbed the knife down again and again. The man tried to raise his hands to resist, but before he could move, a cold stream of water swept over him, freezing his hands and feet solid.

He could only passively endure the heart-stabbing pain.

With the first one acting, the fear in the eyes of the other hesitant women was quickly replaced by hatred. They gripped their weapons, their faces pale, and charged forward, viciously venting their rage.

Zheng Yi softly chanted the Rebirth Mantra as she filled a pot with clean water. Yu Yinan lit a block of solid alcohol fuel and skillfully took the rice Zheng Yi produced, starting to cook a thick porridge.

This death by a thousand cuts lasted until after dusk. The blind girls couldn't participate directly, but hearing the wails and cries of their former demons, they could guess what was happening. Yu Yinan carefully handed over a bowl of warm porridge and guided a girl's hand to hold the spoon. "Is this okay?"

"Thank you, thank you, Saint…" She couldn't see, fumbling in the darkness to grip the spoon tightly. "I can manage." She held the bowl with some clumsy effort, lightly scooped up some porridge, hesitated to gauge the weight, brought it to her lips to blow on it, and then carefully ate.

"Kill them all," Zheng Yi said, looking at the 382 Saint Points she had gained from this trip. The men had been tortured by the girls into a near-numb, unrecognizable state. Two large pots of white porridge were ready. Zheng Yi took out a dozen bags of pickled vegetables and placed them nearby. "Come and eat."

The girls were not in a good state. For their first meal, plain white porridge was the gentlest option.

Covered in blood, some staring blankly at the wounds on the men that were no longer healing, they heard Zheng Yi's words and once again raised their weapons high.

They wept. Even though the perpetrators were dead, some of them broke down and cried hysterically. Others, their hands stained with blood, frantically tore at their own hair, laughing and crying at the same time.

Zheng Yi didn't try to console them. She also filled a bowl with white porridge, took out a stool, and sat with Yu Yinan, eating one mouthful at a time. Yu Yinan wanted to intervene, but a single look from Zheng Yi told her she didn't want her to get involved. Yu Yinan's face showed a struggle, but she ultimately sat down and ate the porridge and pickles with Zheng Yi, though she kept her focus on maintaining the temperature of the porridge in the pot.

"Do you want to eat something else?" Yu Yinan had just taken two bites of porridge when she heard Zheng Yi ask. She came back to her senses. "No, it's fine. I'll just have what you're having."

"Tell me if you get hungry," Zheng Yi nodded, not insisting.

One woman, having composed herself, limped over and thanked them. Zheng Yi just waved her hand and pointed at the pot. The woman hesitated awkwardly for a moment, but still went over, picked up a bowl and spoon, served herself some porridge, took a bag of pickles, and squatted to the side, eating carefully.

It was just ordinary, warm white porridge, but its warmth seeped into their hearts. As they ate, salty tears rolled down and mixed with the porridge, and they swallowed it all down in big gulps.

Before long, all the women were eating porridge. Some ate quickly, and after finishing, they cautiously observed Zheng Yi. The blind woman held her empty bowl, at a loss. It was only after Yu Yinan finished eating that she went over and gently asked if she wanted another bowl. After the woman declined, she took the bowl and spoon away.

In this village, only these women and a few oblivious children were left alive. After they had all eaten and drunk their fill, Zheng Yi slowly went over to collect the bowls and chopsticks, washing them with her ability as she went around treating each of them again.

"We won't be staying here long, and we won't be taking you with us. If you want to survive, you'll have to rely on yourselves," Zheng Yi began. "Some of you were originally from this village, right? You should be somewhat familiar with this place. We won't take any of the food or tools in this village; you can take stock of it yourselves."

"You're by the sea. You can fish, you can farm. If you need salt, dry it yourselves and then purify it. If you need water, distill seawater. If you want to live, there will always be a way."

"For the few days we are here, you don't have to worry about food and water. I will take care of everything for you. But after that, everything will depend on you."

After this simple speech, Zheng Yi spent some Saint Points to buy five boxes of birth control pills and placed them in front of the women. Then she looked at them. "What else do you need? You can speak up."

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman with the slightly bulging belly fell to her knees with a thud in front of Zheng Yi. Without a word, she kowtowed twice before speaking. "Is… is your title… the Saint?" They had heard the villagers' shouts and pleas very clearly.

Yu Yinan smiled from the side and softly repeated her speech about "the apocalypse is fraught with disaster, but the Saint has descended." "Her name is Zheng Yi, and she is also Lady Saint. You can believe in her."

Saint…

"I beg Lady Saint to perform an abortion on me! I… I do not wish to give birth to this child!" She was about four months along, and the placenta had mostly formed. A typical medical abortion would be difficult and would harm the mother. But Zheng Yi had a healing ability that could minimize the damage.

"…" Zheng Yi pondered for a moment, opened the system store to search for related drugs, and then asked Zero One.

[…There is a painless induced labor potion in the store. It can be taken by anyone less than six months pregnant,] Zero One said after a thought. [But it's not a product of this world, so it costs three Saint Points.]

[After drinking it, she'll fall asleep, and the next day the placenta, tissue, and so on will be directly expelled from her body. Hmm, you should probably give it to her tomorrow. Your Saint Points are about to reach thirty thousand, and there will be a new reward.]

"Lady Saint!" Seeing Zheng Yi's lack of response, the woman's face fell into a miserable expression. She kowtowed again. "I am willing to cut my own belly open! I only ask that you use your ability to spare my life."

[Ding! Detected that Lu Lingying believes the host is a Saint from the bottom of her heart! Determining emotional intensity…]

[Determination complete. Awarding 8 Saint Points!]

"Lu Lingying?"

The woman's face showed surprise, and her expression grew even more devout. She kowtowed again. "Lady Saint…"

"Tomorrow, you will be granted a potion. You need only drink it," Zheng Yi said, her eyes lowered. "For today, rest well."

A stream of water flowed from Zheng Yi's hand, passing over each of the women and cleansing all the bloodstains from their bodies. The last of the bloody water scattered on the ground and vanished. After doing this, Zheng Yi put the cleaned pots and bowls directly into her personal space and left the courtyard with Yu Yinan.

"You… you don't need to worry about us. We are just passing through and won't stay long." Yu Yinan was about to follow Zheng Yi but slowed down to look at them and said earnestly, "…Your lives from now on belong to you."

Yu Yinan couldn't tell them to forget what happened, couldn't tell them they had to live well.

"For the next few days, if you need anything… you can find us."

After saying that, she hurried to catch up with Zheng Yi. But just as she stepped out of the courtyard, she saw Zheng Yi kneeling in front of a little girl, handing her a handful of milk candies.

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