Chapter 44: Zero-Frame Startup, The Faith of Arca

“WTF? Bro! When you said you thought of a way to stop them from hurting me, did you mean you want me to proactively become the sacrifice?” Wu Xiaoyou was lost in a sea of question marks, completely bewildered.

The two of them had been arranged by the old village chief to stay in an empty house near the ancestral hall.

This place was usually reserved for receiving distinguished guests.

Although Yin缘 Village had little contact with the outside world, it wasn't absolute isolation.

After all, children with academic talent still had to be sent to school; they couldn't let future generations be wasted in the private schools of a mountain village.

The other villagers were buzzing with gossip.

They hadn't expected outsiders to enter the village during the Yin缘 Grand Sacrifice, let alone be arranged by the old village chief to stay in the highest-level accommodation.

It was a first in a very long time.

“I don't think I said I was going to sacrifice *you*?” Wu Wang raised an eyebrow, pulling a handful of melon seeds from his pocket and cracking them aggressively.

“?”

Now Wu Xiaoyou was utterly dumbfounded.

She had already been brought here, and he was still being stubborn?

If it wasn't her being sacrificed, then who? Him?

“Oh, right, you guessed correctly. I intend to sacrifice myself, and while I'm at it, see what kind of thing the Yin缘 Great God actually is,” Wu Wang said, glancing at the string of inner thoughts floating above her head.

The Abyss God was exerting its power again.

Before Wu Xiaoyou could express her shock, Wu Wang continued: “But it’s not impossible to sacrifice you. If you have that kind of need, I’ll try my best to accommodate you.”

“...”

Wu Xiaoyou was completely speechless.

She suddenly realized that the villagers calling him a "little lunatic" wasn't without reason.

His mental state was definitely off.

Who would proactively choose to be sacrificed!

Oh, wait—he would.

“You don't actually think I'm joking, do you? I'll give you two choices now.” Wu Wang's tone gradually turned icy. “Either you tell me clearly who you are and why you came to Yin缘 Village; or you get sacrificed along with me. I've wanted to die for a long time.”

“!?”

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

She really hadn't expected this little beggar, who had been protecting her all day, to turn on her so abruptly.

In fact, the killing intent and coldness she felt from him were even more intense than when they were being chased by the female ghosts in the forest earlier.

He really wanted to kill her!

So, bringing her into the village was actually to prevent her from finding a way to escape?!

“I... I don't remember...”

*Click-clack—*

Before she could finish, Wu Wang expressionlessly pulled a homemade, hand-crafted Kalashnikov from behind his back.

With practiced ease, he loaded the magazine and chambered a round.

The dark, hollow muzzle pressed against Wu Xiaoyou's forehead. The bone-chilling coldness made her inexplicably certain that this was not a toy.

This guy actually had a gun!

“If I don't hear the reason why you're here in five seconds, I'm going to shoot through your limbs and wait in this room until the day of the sacrifice so we can go on our way together.” Wu Wang held the gun with one hand while continuously chewing on snacks with the other. “Don't worry, I'll treat the gunshot wounds. I'll make sure you stay alive until the sacrifice even with your limbs blown off.”

No one can resist the charm of an AK.

If they can, it's because the firepower isn't high enough.

Suggestion: Switch to an RPG next time.

Wu Xiaoyou tried to argue one last time.

“I really...”

“5!”

“You're not joking?”

“4... 1!”

“I'll tell you! My name is Wu Xiaoyou, I live at No. 225 Xingfu Community, Huichuan Avenue, Mingyang City. My parents are alive, and I have an older sister and a younger brother with a disability. I came here to find my origins because both my sister and I were adopted from an orphanage!” Wu Xiaoyou's words poured out like a machine gun.

In her heart, however, she was cursing profusely.

【Is this guy for real with the five seconds? He went straight from 4 to 1! Does this bastard even know how to count?!】

【Fuck! This mystery of my origins is getting messier and messier. First ghosts, now a lunatic!】

【That damn fortune teller! Once I get back, I'm going to settle the score with you!】

【If I can actually make it back alive...】

Wu Wang silently watched the stream of mental activities above her head.

His own heart was also difficult to settle.

It was true...

This second sister was the real deal!

When his family's plane crashed five years ago, it was only because his second sister happened to be traveling alone that she survived. He never imagined she was out here searching for her origins!

She had a connection to this Yin缘 Village!

So, her ability to command the female ghosts to stop wasn't a coincidence, but due to a real reason?

“What's the deal with that fortune teller?” Wu Wang asked, lifting the muzzle of the AK slightly.

Wu Xiaoyou said in surprise, “How do you... forget it. I met a blind old fortune teller under a pedestrian bridge. He immediately pointed out my status as an orphan and noted my abnormalities.”

“Finally, he told me that if I wanted to find the source of everything, I should come to this mountain range and find a place called Yin缘 Village. Then, I happened to run into a landslide...”

The rest went without saying.

Zhang Sanfeng had picked up the unconscious Wu Xiaoyou and, by sheer accident, brought her to Yin缘 Village.

Wu Wang caught the key point: “What abnormalities?”

In his memory, although his second sister was a simple-minded airhead, she shouldn't have been easily fooled by a fortune teller into coming to such a remote mountain range.

What exactly did he say?

“I... I've been able to see ghosts since I was a child.” Wu Xiaoyou's voice became low and despondent. “In the orphanage, no one believed me except my sister, but that fortune teller stated it directly. The key was...”

“He actually released a ghost from a gourd to prove that he could also see and subdue them.”

Wu Wang: “?”

That was indeed something he hadn't anticipated.

After all, before obtaining [Immortality], if someone had told him they could see ghosts, he would have only mocked them by saying he saw ghost heads too.

“Then, just now in the ruined house?”

“Yeah, I could actually see them, and I felt a strange sense of familiarity from them, as if I actually knew them.” Wu Xiaoyou finally laid all her cards on the table.

*Are you kidding me, bro!*

*I have to rely on the Abyss God just to see them!*

*My sister actually has a hidden talent!*

The second sister who was carefree and cheerful all day in reality—she actually had such an unknown side?

“OK, go to sleep. Tomorrow we'll go chat with your 'good sisters',” Wu Wang said after a moment of contemplation.

Once he was certain this was his real sister, he had no further objections.

Another zero-frame transition.

One second he was the embodiment of the Grim Reaper.

The next second, they were damn close buddies.

Let's just pretend nothing happened just now.

Wu Xiaoyou was stunned.

“Wait! What do you mean 'just ask me'? What about you? Who are you?” she asked, somewhat indignant.

Wu Wang replied in surprise, “I have a gun! Do you have one too? And I'm a lunatic! How am I supposed to know who I am? Asking a lunatic questions—you're the real psycho!”

With that, he flopped over and fell asleep.

Wu Xiaoyou: “?”

It... actually made a bit of sense.

But she couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.

In principle, she had an unyielding personality, but unfortunately, her principles were currently held by the other party and had been chambered.

Caliber is justice, range is fairness, and power is democracy.

At this point, she was indeed speechless.

She silently crawled into the other bed, pulled up the quilt, and lay down. As her tension from the entire day slowly eased, sleepiness washed over her.

The moon was bright, the stars were sparse, and the sound of snoring reached her ears.

————

The next day, clear skies, the sun rising in the east.

Before Wu Xiaoyou could even fully open her eyes from her groggy state, she heard Wu Wang's voice chatting with the old village chief at the door.

The content of the conversation woke her up instantly.

“Old geezer, I want to go check out the place where the Yin缘 Holy Maiden was handled in previous years.”

“Oh, and by the way, she wasn't sent here to be your sacrifice. *I* am the sacrifice. If you dare touch a hair on her head, I might not be able to kill you, but I can definitely slaughter every single person in this village tonight, believe me.”

“Without Yin缘 Village, will you still be the chief? Will the Yin缘 Great God let you off?”

“By the way, do you recognize this?”

“Its full name is Kalashnikov.”

“Short for AK47.”

*Click-clack—*

Chambered! Faith in the AK!

(End of Chapter)