Who hid my body?

Chapter 382 Welcome Back, Lord Vesas (The End)

Unleash your humanity and avoid becoming the next "us"?
After a moment's thought, Bai Wei nodded: "Continue."

"Hehe, judging from your expression, you don't seem very surprised by this," the Lord of the Underworld said with a smile. "Did you already have this in mind?"

Bai Wei said calmly, "I've been in this world for so long, I must have some thoughts."

"Hmm...that's how it should be." The Lord of the Underworld nodded slightly. "Even if you didn't have any ideas, you should have heard the rumors about this from the Land of Contracts. You just didn't expect it to be true."

“There are many rumors, and I don’t know which of them are true and which are false,” Bai Wei said. “You say I came here to end the Age of Gods, and you say I want to end this world, and you even say I’ve gone mad.”

"These three points don't conflict, do they?" the Lord of the Underworld said with a smile. "They are simply your purposes at different times."

"I'm really quite busy."

“Yes, you were indeed very busy back then.” The Lord of the Underworld pointed to the chair next to him. “It’s a long story. If you don’t mind, we can sit down and talk about it slowly.”

"Won't your priest get a little unhappy if we talk for too long?"

"Probably," the Lord of the Underworld said with a smile. "But he will forgive me. I told you he's a good person."

Bai Wei shrugged and didn't refuse the Lord of the Underworld again, since he certainly didn't lack the time.

After Bai Wei sat down, Zoe, who was standing next to him, was stunned for a moment before squatting down at Bai Wei's feet. Bai Wei had no choice but to pull her up and put her on another chair.

This scene was naturally witnessed by the Lord of the Underworld, who said, "To be honest, I didn't expect you to still remember her."

“I only have some vague memories.” Bai Wei looked at Ming Tu. “If possible, I would prefer you to tell me who she is.”

"She is someone who shares the same fate as you."

"The same fate?"

"Yes, do you still remember the Lord of the Shadows?"

"Who is that?"

"You don't even remember? He was the first god you killed."

Bai Wei thought for a moment: "Now that you mention it, I do have a vague recollection of it, but it's not a memory. I heard it from the Land of Contracts. What's wrong with this god?"

"He destroyed your homeland—Peach Blossom Spring," said the Lord of the Underworld, "and thus you were created."

"I see." Bai Wei smiled. "Then it seems that He is a sinner of your divine race."

"In a sense, yes." The Lord of the Underworld shrugged in a humane way. "It's just a pity that He was killed by you at the very beginning. By the time everyone realized how great a crime He had committed, it was too late to hold Him accountable."

"That's quite a pity."

The Lord of the Underworld smiled, then turned his gaze back to Zoe: "Let's go back to this child. Like you, this child's hometown was slaughtered by the Lord of the Underworld, leaving her all alone. But unlike you, the Lord of the Underworld missed you, but deliberately spared her and brought her to his side."

"why?"

"It's probably just His twisted sense of humor."

Bai Wei thought for a moment and said, "Like when humans hunt, they kill the big ones and leave the small ones?"

“This analogy isn’t entirely accurate; there’s a significant difference between the thinking of gods and that of humans,” said the Lord of the Underworld. “But it’s fine if you think about it this way. In short, that’s exactly what He did, and then you came knocking on His door. After you killed Him, He kept this child with Him until… you killed her with your own hands.”

Despite being mentally prepared, Bai Wei still felt a very bad feeling when he actually learned that the person who killed Zoe was "himself".

He glanced at Zoe again, who was still staring at him blankly, as if she knew nothing.

"Because I've gone crazy?" Bai Wei asked.

"Yes." The Lord of the Underworld nodded slightly. "At that time, you had already gone mad, or rather... become more divine."

"Is he insane or just spouting divine nonsense? Just say it clearly," Bai Wei said. "Stop beating around the bush."

"I also want to tell you the whole truth in one go, but it's not a simple matter that can be explained in a sentence or two."

"Then tell me first, what exactly does divinization mean?"

“Yes, that is indeed a very important question.” After organizing his thoughts for a moment, the Lord of the Underworld asked, “Do you know how we gods view humanity?”

"Pigs in the pen?"

"The pigs in the pen... are you referring to food?" The Lord of the Underworld shook his head. "No, the gods' understanding of humanity is not that simple. If it's just about food, then there are far more delicious foods in this world than humans. Compared to that, you humans are not so palatable."

"That's quite blunt," Bai Wei asked. "So, how do you view humanity?"

"A worthless fellow human."

Bai Wei raised an eyebrow.

"The kind of beings I'm referring to are 'intelligent beings,' not actually our own kind," the Lord of the Underworld explained. "In our race's understanding, gods and humans are the only two intelligent beings in this world. This alone distinguishes you from those pigs, dogs, cattle, and horses that can only be used as food. You are capable of thinking, have emotions, and can even develop your own power later on. If there were no gods, humans would be the masters of this world, without a doubt."

"But the gods are not as friendly to humans as they are to their own kind."

"Yes, this raises another issue. While we acknowledge humans as our 'kin,' we also despise them," said the Lord of the Underworld. "Because you possess wisdom, but not much; you possess power, but it is also weak. Especially in ancient times, in our eyes you were probably like uncivilized monkeys in your eyes. Weak, ignorant, filthy, and stinking, yet you were everywhere. You were like us before we were fully developed, disgusting no matter how you looked at you."

"That's why I say that humans are not food in the eyes of the gods. We don't hate food, but we hate you, a physiological aversion. Some of the gods among us would think of simply wiping out all of you creatures, while others would not choose to do it themselves, but would watch you struggle in the plagues and natural disasters they casually create before helplessly heading towards destruction."

"All of this is because... the gods are born to despise mortals."

After the Lord of the Underworld finished speaking, a long silence fell over the church.

The afternoon sun shone through the window, falling on the human and the god. Both of them had calm expressions, as if they had just been discussing an ordinary topic, without any cruelty or despair.

However, this is ultimately the world of the dead; the sunlight is fake, and the tranquility is fake.

Only cruelty and despair are real.

“Actually, there’s no reason,” Bai Wei said. “Dislike can’t be a reason; it’s just an excuse.”

"Yes." The Lord of the Underworld did not deny this. "I have no intention of whitewashing what my people have done. To this day, the gods still view humanity in this way, except for you."

Bai Wei suddenly thought of the Star God and the Abyss Prison.

That lie that has lasted for thousands of years, isn't it also a kind of wicked humor from the gods?
"Are you angry?" the Lord of the Underworld asked.

“It’s impossible to say there’s absolutely none,” Bai Wei shrugged. “After all, I’m a human being too. Even though you don’t think that way anymore, I still do.”

“That just proves you’ve succeeded, Vesas.”

Bai Wei then looked at the God of the Underworld.

“Do you remember what I just said? You banished your humanity,” said the Lord of the Underworld. “Now that you still perceive yourself as human, it means that your humanity has indeed been preserved. You have succeeded.”

The topic has circled back to the beginning. "You just said that I had already become divine at that time," Bai Wei said. "You mean, I also became like you, and started to hate humanity?"

“Even more extreme, you begin to loathe all living beings in this world,” said the Lord of the Underworld. “We consider humans foolish and despicable, and in your eyes, we are the same.”

“But this shouldn’t be,” Bai Wei said. “I am taking revenge on you, from the bottom up. But your contempt for humanity comes from the top down.”

"That's why I said you were losing your humanity back then, because humanity comes from the bottom up. Endless killing made you gradually forget who you were. You went to extremes, and only the thought of ending the Age of Gods remained in your mind," said the Lord of the Underworld. "And something that happened after that pushed all of this to the extreme."

"whats the matter?"

"Humanity has betrayed you."

Bai Wei frowned: "Humans betrayed me?"

“I don’t know the specific details, because the gods at that time were already dead,” said the Lord of the Underworld. “I only know that several gods lured the people of a village to attack you.”

"Can they hurt me?"

"Of course not, but they can hurt the people around you."

Bai Wei subconsciously looked at Zoe.

“It’s not just this little girl,” said the Lord of the Underworld. “You may not remember clearly, but it wasn’t overnight that you went from living in the shattered paradise to becoming a god-slayer capable of destroying everything. You were still interacting with people, still getting to know this world, still carefully maintaining the emotions that belong to humanity. But in the end, all of that was destroyed, and not by the gods, at least not directly by the gods.”

Several figures, both old and young, flashed through Bai Wei's mind.

But their appearances were too blurry for Bai Wei to remember.

“That incident greatly affected your already wavering humanity. You were furious at the betrayal of those around you, and this anger eventually escalated to the human race as a whole,” said the Lord of the Underworld. “In retrospect, this incident was a premeditated scheme by those gods. They wanted to change your perception and turn you into one of us. And they did succeed… but unfortunately, they only succeeded halfway.”

At this point, Bai Wei understood: "From that time on, my goal shifted from ending the Age of Gods to..."

"Reboot the world," said the Lord of the Underworld. "Destroy all life on this world."

Bai Wei remained silent for a long while before saying softly, "That's a crazy idea."

"To others, this is indeed a crazy and unrealistic idea," the Lord of the Underworld said softly. "But for you... you almost succeeded. From the moment you lost control and killed the girl beside you with your own hands, no one in this world could stop you anymore. You slaughtered all the gods, leaving only a hundred or so, and these hundred or so were affected by the remnants of your divinity after your death, starting a final divine war, killing each other until only eight remained... Oh, now there aren't even eight left."

The Lord of the Underworld paused, then continued, "Humanity is the same; it has reached the brink of extinction. You were just one step away from completely ending this world. But you stopped just before that final step."

"why?"

"I don't know. It can only be attributed to the last bit of power your remaining humanity unleashed before being completely devoured by divinity," the Lord of the Underworld said softly. "In short, you stopped. But you realized you could never go back to the past. Divinity was too powerful, so powerful that humanity was powerless against it. So in the end, you banished your humanity and used your divinity to destroy yourself. That's the whole truth."

After the Lord of the Underworld finished speaking, the church fell silent once again.

Bai Wei leaned back in his chair, deep in thought, while Zoe stared intently at him, and the Lord of the Underworld waited quietly.

After what seemed like an eternity, Bai Wei finally spoke again: "How do you know so much?"

"Because I obtained your heart." The Lord of the Underworld pointed to his chest. "And it was this that told me."

"Does it also tell you that I will come back?"

“Yes, it has been beating all along, never stopping, so I knew you would definitely come back,” the Lord of the Underworld said with a smile. “If you were not going to come back, why not kill your humanity along with your divinity? This would be a journey for you.”

"Travel?"

"Yes, from leaving the paradise to becoming the god-slayer Vesas, your divinity has grown stronger and your humanity has diminished. Even the part that was banished is still insufficient to support your original power. Therefore, you need more understanding, and you need to reclaim your humanity."

How can I get it back?

"You've already been doing it, haven't you?" the Lord of the Underworld said softly. "Think back to when you were banished. Before, you viewed humanity as ignorant, weak, and deserving of destruction. And now... what about now?"

Bai Wei's pupils narrowed slightly.

……

"I became an insect because I met Lugi. But he became a flower because he met me."

……

"Vesas, I want to make one last deal with you."

……

"This is my final chapter."

……

"Ow!"

……

"So this is what the starry sea, unobscured by the gods, looks like? I've finally... seen it."

……

"So that's how it is." Bai Wei finally understood everything. "So... that's how it is."

The Lord of the Underworld looked at Bai Wei: "Well, do you have a new understanding of humanity now?"

Bai Wei smiled with relief.

This was the first time I'd seen this since entering the church.

“Of course,” he said.

The Lord of the Underworld also laughed.

"Then, only one question remains." Bai Wei slowly stood up, looking down at the Lord of the Underworld. "You... are not the Lord of the Underworld, are you?"

"You finally figured it out."

The "Lord of the Underworld" sighed softly, then pulled open his collar again.

A vibrant heart beats within it.

“I have been waiting for you for a long time,” “Heart” replied softly, “Lord Vessas.”

(End of book)

　It seems a bit abrupt. Originally, this volume was planned to have about ten chapters of short stories related to Zoe, but after writing this far, I realized that I've already written everything I needed to. Ten chapters really wouldn't be enough to create a new character, and it would be a bit too tedious. So I'll end it here. I'll talk about the details in the epilogue.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)