Sang Lan's arrival couldn't have been timed better.
Bai Ci had originally been worried about what would happen if the explosives weren't powerful enough.
But now that Sang Lan and the Boss had merged into a single monster, with Sang Lan's death buff added to the mix, the Boss was absolutely doomed.
Boom—
The sound of the explosion suddenly echoed through the mountains.
Flames shot into the sky immediately after, as the items originally prepared for the Honey Rite became the perfect fuel.
Blazing fire instantly swallowed the entire Red Church. The violent shockwave of the blast swept in all directions, instantly shattering the hard stone and heavy wooden pillars, sending debris flying everywhere.
Her luck had kicked in; the epicenter of the explosion was positioned exactly where the Boss's main body was located, without a single millimeter of deviation.
The sky full of vines, the incoming villagers, and the three women—Bai Ci, Shen Tan, and Qu Ling—were all swallowed up by the surging flames and explosive force, leaving absolutely no room for struggle.
Bai Ci had genuinely thought she was going to die in the blast.
Given the sheer power of the explosion, everyone inside the church should have been wiped out, reduced entirely to ash.
Yet the moment the raging fire and violent shockwave swept toward them, a pale gold, transparent barrier suddenly enveloped Bai Ci, Shen Tan, and Qu Ling.
The barrier steadily warded off all damage. Be it the flames or the flying debris, the small patch of ground where the three stood remained completely untouched and safe.
Once the shockwave subsided, the flames slowly receded, and the dust gradually settled.
The three of them stood quietly at the edge of the devastated ruins. Their clothes were slightly dusty and their hair was a bit messy, but other than that, they were completely unharmed and safe.
A dead silence enveloped the mountains.
After a long time, Shen Tan finally raised her eyes. Looking at the ruined Red Church before her, her eyes were filled with an expression of disbelief and dazed confusion.
She whispered softly, her voice carrying a trace of daze, “...Is it over?”
The revenge she had planned for so long, the final battle she had risked her life for, had concluded just like that.
Qu Ling let out a long breath and put away the single-use invincibility barrier item, which had cost her most of her points. With a look of deep financial pain, she replied helplessly, “I guess so.”
“I really took a massive hit this time...” she muttered in a low voice, her tone merely regretful rather than truly remorseful.
The night breeze blew softly, dispersing the lingering heat and smoke.
“We probably won't ever see each other again after this, will we?” Shen Tan suddenly spoke.
Hearing this, Qu Ling asked curiously, “Why do you say that?”
She thought to herself that this NPC was surprisingly intelligent. Did she somehow know they were about to leave the instance?
Shen Tan slowly raised her hand and gently caressed her slightly swollen lower abdomen, her eyes filled with a gentle resolve. “I plan to take my baby and go somewhere where no one can find us.”
“Far away from this village, hidden completely. So, we won't meet again.”
Bai Ci looked at her slender yet upright figure, fell silent for a moment, and finally uttered two words: “Take care.”
Shen Tan turned slightly, her gaze falling gently on Bai Ci. Her eyes held a faint smile and a touch of reluctance. “Bai Ci, this is the end.”
“I gave you perfume twice. Aren't you going to give me a parting gift?”
Bai Ci felt that she could, but she didn't have anything on her right now that she could give away.
Suddenly, she noticed Shen Tan looking at her finger—specifically, the ring on it.
“This is the only thing I have on me.”
Shen Tan nodded in satisfaction and said, “This will do.”
Bai Ci slipped the ring off her right hand and handed it to Shen Tan.
On the third day after the fire at the Red Church had completely died out, Tianmi Village held a mass funeral.
The village's official story to the outside world was that an accidental fire had broken out in the church on the back mountain, burning to death the elderly ancestral hall keepers and a few villagers patrolling the mountain.
There weren't many people left in the village now. Even including the elderly, the weak, women, and children, there were only about twenty or thirty of them.
They gathered voluntarily, set up a mourning canopy, laid out a continuous banquet, and wept as they paid their respects to the deceased, as if those who had died were innocent, good-hearted souls.
Hypocritical, laughable, and disgusting.
Shen Jiayi stood in a corner of the banquet, looking at the scene before her and thinking sarcastically.
This funeral was the final gift she was presenting to Tianmi Village.
Before long, the noisy banquet suddenly fell into chaos.
Muffled groans, retching, and the sounds of bodies collapsing to the ground echoed one after another.
The villagers, who had just been chatting at the banquet tables, clutched their chests and clawed at their throats, their faces turning deathly pale as they collapsed to the ground.
Their limbs twitched weakly, their consciousness rapidly faded, and their eyes quickly lost focus. In silent agony, they soon drew their last breaths.
Within moments, the entire mourning banquet area fell into a deathly silence.
Shen Jiayi didn't even raise her eyelids. She didn't look at the poisoned dead, feeling neither a sense of satisfaction nor a shred of regret.
More than twenty years of pent-up hatred had been settled in a single day, her great vengeance finally achieved.
Yet when the very last breath quieted down, and when not a single enemy remained alive in the entire village, she didn't feel the relief she had anticipated. Instead, she felt only an empty, desolate void.
It was as if the sole pillar that had supported her through her dark childhood and helped her survive countless hopeless days and nights had suddenly collapsed.
Her revenge was complete.
But what now?
She suddenly didn't know what she should do next, where she should go, or whom she should live for.
This village, which had trapped her for her entire life and destroyed all her hopes, was now completely ruined.
Yet her roots were here, her pain was here, and all her obsessions were here.
Since she had nowhere to go and no one to care for, she might as well turn to dust along with this filthy, rotten land.
Shen Jiayi picked up the bottle on the table and poured herself a fresh cup of juice.
She raised the cup to her lips, and just as she was about to throw her head back and drink, she suddenly remembered that before leaving, Bai Ci had stuffed a small, sealed vial of medicine into her hand.
What was it that Bai Ci had said back then?
She had said, “I'm not sure what this thing actually does, but if you want to drink it, you can give it a try.”
Honestly, what kind of advice was that?
Who would drink something of unknown origin, when even the person who gave it to them didn't know what it was?
But since she had nothing left now anyway, the worst that could happen was death.
She might as well try it.
Shen Jiayi put down her poisoned drink, fished out the transparent vial, popped the stopper, and drank it all down in one gulp.
The liquid felt slightly cool as it entered her mouth. It had no distinct flavor, sliding down her throat and spreading through her limbs like plain water.
In the next instant, a piercing coldness rushed straight to her head.
Her muddled mind suddenly cleared, and her stagnant heart began to beat once more.
She stood dazed among the corpses. The evening breeze brushed past her hair, and the emptiness in her eyes was filled bit by bit.
Suddenly... she didn't want to die anymore.
The end of revenge was not the final stop. Living well was her true new beginning.
Shen Jiayi lowered her gaze, staring at the empty vial in her hand. After a long silence, she suddenly let out a soft, self-deprecating laugh.
Bai Ci, you really are a jerk...
“Once upon a time, there was a very, very bad village. They worshipped an ugly god and wanted to force your mother to marry an ugly creature, so they locked her up.”
“It was very dark and cold back then. No one wanted to help me. Everyone wanted to sacrifice me to satisfy their illusory god.”
“But your father stepped through the night, guided by the moonlight, crossing mountains and forests, braving countless dangers to save me.”
Shen Tan spoke very slowly, her eyes glowing with a tender light as she fabricated a perfect, brave, and peerless image of her lover.
“He held my hand tightly and ran with me under the bright moonlight.”
“The mountain path we escaped on looked very, very long, as if it would never end. But in my heart, it felt incredibly short because with him by my side, I wasn't afraid at all.”
“He did everything he could to help me escape the cage that trapped me, allowing me to survive and giving me you.”
“It's just a shame,” Shen Tan paused slightly, her voice tinged with a perfect blend of gentle melancholy, “that he left this world before you were born.”
The little boy in her arms listened with half-understanding. His misty gray eyes blinked softly as he nodded obediently. “Daddy is a hero.”
“Yes, he is a hero,” Shen Tan softly agreed, stroking the child's soft hair.
She had condensed the kindness and efforts of Bai Ci and Shen Jiayi into a perfect father figure, leaving it as a lifelong memory for her child.
This was her selfish wish, and also the only and gentlest commemoration she could offer.
After soothing the little guy, Shen Tan took an exquisite small wooden box from the table.
Pushing open the lid, she revealed a plain band ring resting quietly inside, strung on a thin silver chain.
The ring's material was extraordinary. It was made of a special ore she had spent a massive amount of money and effort to find, which had the effect of isolating anomalous auras and shielding against unknown prying eyes.
She had a little selfish desire, having it crafted in the exact same style as the ring Bai Ci had gifted her.
Shen Tan picked up the silver chain, carefully draped it around the little boy's neck, and gently put it on him.
“This ring is exactly the same as the one your father gave to your mother back then.”
“You must wear it well, grow up safely, and live a life free of worries.”
“One day in the future, if you meet someone you want to protect for the rest of your life, someone who will become your wife, give this ring to her.”
“Lin, this is Mama's birthday gift to you.”
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