Shen Jue's gaze suddenly narrowed. He stared at the celestial palace shrouded in mist for a long time, feeling an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
This celestial palace was identical to the temple where the Divine Lady had resided, which he had seen in Chaoyang City.
“That is the Divine Lady's temple.”
He spoke in a low voice.
Upon hearing his words, everyone on the boats turned to look at him.
The old fisherman's oar nearly slipped from his grasp. His lips trembled, and it took him a long while to squeeze out a sentence.
“The... the Divine Lady... lives here?”
Shen Jue did not answer.
He simply ordered the men to bring the boats a bit closer.
The closer they drew to the island, the thinner the mist became. A faint, sweet fragrance wafted through the air, reminiscent of the refreshing scent of damp earth and lush vegetation after a fresh rain.
Meanwhile.
Inside the temple on the island.
Yun Shu was standing on the temple's terrace, her bright eyes piercing through the layers of clouds and mist to look at the fishing boats on the sea.
Soon, seeing Shen Jue standing on one of the fishing boats through her surveillance screen, she frowned slightly. “Tongzi, what is Shen Jue's Favorability at right now?”
“Host, ever since you calmed the underwater volcanic eruption last time, the male lead's Favorability has risen to 70.”
The little fox scratched its head in distress. “If he increases your Favorability by another 30 points, it means the romance mission is complete. You will immediately unbind from me and be sent back to your original world, and I won't be able to stop you from leaving.”
By the end of its sentence, its voice was filled with deep sorrow.
It did not want to part with Yun Shu.
From the day it was created by the Great God, Yun Shu was the first and only person who had ever been good to it. It would never meet anyone better than Yun Shu again.
How wonderful would it be if it could remain bound to Yun Shu forever...
“This Favorability is indeed tricky.” Yun Shu rested her hand on the railing, her fingertips tapping lightly against it.
“Switching to an alternate persona on the fly to lower his Favorability would be too rushed and easily expose a flaw. But if I take the time to plan, it will disrupt my entire plan to rescue the citizens and capture Wuling City.”
She opened the surveillance feed inside Wuling City.
The tragic state of Wuling City unfolded before her eyes inch by inch, like a dull knife scraping against her heart.
On a silent street, a man lay on the ground. He was so emaciated that he barely looked human, his ribs protruding sharply, his limbs like dry firewood, with only a pair of disproportionately large eyes.
He crawled forward inch by inch, his bony knuckles digging into the cracks of the stone bricks, searching for any scraps of food left behind from some unknown day.
Under a corner not far away, a bone-thin child curled up, clutching a dead rat in their hands, taking one numb bite after another as tears streamed down unchecked.
The child's cries were choked in their throat, intermittent and gratingly sharp in the dead silence of the alleyway.
Yun Shu turned off the monitor, unable to bear looking any longer.
“They have no more time to wait.” Her voice grew very soft, a thin mist rising in her eyes.
Every time she saw such scenes, she would think of the suffering ancestors of her own world.
Having been born in a peaceful era, she could only learn of the hardships her ancestors had endured through documentaries.
When she was a child, she loved to gather in front of the television with her older brother and sister to watch the discs their parents brought home. Every time she saw the segments on the Long March, she wished she could leap into the television to hand them a bowl of hot rice or a warm cotton-padded jacket.
Unfortunately, even though she egged her eldest brother on to dismantle the back cover of the television, she still couldn't send anything through.
She still remembered that her eldest brother's wails had echoed throughout the courtyard for an entire day. Even though his backside was beaten black and blue, he never once ratted her out. His loyalty was truly beyond reproach.
After her death, she had transmigrated into this novel's world.
Her choice to save the people of this world was, in a way, her own method of making up for the regrets in her heart.
“Host, how about I go knock Shen Jue unconscious?” The little fox gestured as if it was about to play dirty again.
“Tongzi, the only reason Shen Jue didn't suspect foul play when you knocked him out last time was because he had injured himself by bumping into the protective wall of the Abyssal Tower Boat.”
Yun Shu paused for a moment before continuing, “If he faints for no reason at all, Shen Jue will definitely grow suspicious.”
“Once he becomes suspicious, he will follow the clues to verify his conjectures. It's hard to guarantee that he won't discover something in the process.”
The little fox said, “Host, your persona as the Divine Lady is practically welded to your soul. Why are you still being so cautious?”
“Tongzi, never underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. They are only limited by the background of their era. Just because their ideas and technology are backward doesn't mean their brains are any stupider than modern people.”
“If I let my guard down and cause my persona as the Divine Lady to collapse, the faith of those believers might not change in the short term. However, over time, when they realize that the Divine Lady is also human, can get hurt, and can die, the faith of many will begin to waver.”
“This is human nature, and it is unavoidable.”
“As long as this world still needs a deity, my Divine Lady persona must not have any flaws.”
Yun Shu concealed her figure and flew down from the high terrace.
Seeing this, the little fox didn't have time to process Yun Shu's words and hurriedly chased after her.
Yun Shu quickly found the blue whale.
“Zhuzhu, Xiao Funi!”
The blue whale happily swam in circles around the person and the fox.
“Xiao Lan, there is something I need your help with.” Yun Shu reached out to pat the blue whale's large forehead.
“What is it?” The blue whale's eyes were clear and innocent.
Yun Shu said, “Find a way to herd some schools of fish near the small island where we had a barbecue together last night.”
The skills from her Tide of All Things Set could also bestow the ocean's bounty upon Shen Jue and his men, but she was worried that if she showed herself, Shen Jue's Favorability would skyrocket in gratitude.
“Zhuzhu, I understand! Do you want me to help you raise the two-legged beasts on the island again?”
The blue whale promised solemnly, “Don't worry, I definitely won't let any bad guys onto the island this time.”
“You don't need to raise them. They are here to fish. Just send some fish to them,” Yun Shu explained patiently.
The blue whale nodded.
“Oh, so that's how it is. I understand now.”
Subsequently.
Under the watchful eyes of Yun Shu and the little fox, it swam toward the island.
“Host, I have a bad feeling about this. This silly whale is so dim-witted; it might mess things up.”
The little fox murmured in Yun Shu's ear.
Yun Shu patted the little fox's head. “Xiao Lan only has the intelligence of a three-year-old. Cut it some slack.”
Though she said that, she still followed closely behind the blue whale while remaining concealed, just in case.
Shen Jue was currently contemplating whether to land on the island.
Suddenly, he heard a muffled thud from beneath the hull, as if some gargantuan creature was rising from the deep sea.
Immediately after, all the fishing boats swayed violently. The fishermen cried out in alarm, barely able to keep their footing.
“What's going on?” some shouted.
“Under the water... there seems to be something under the water!”
Everyone tensed, tightening their grips on their harpoons and blades as they stared at the churning seawater beside the boats.
Rate on N.U.
