From the end of the world

Chapter 550: Ma Zao's Dark History
Ma Zao was a student of the human god Huang Quan... and was even considered a direct disciple?
Doesn't that mean that Ma Zao is actually Ming Zhuo's junior sister?

Xiaowan and I looked at each other, and incredible feelings spread in our hearts.

Thinking back to the first time I saw Huang Quan in the historical flashback scene at the ruins of the Humanitarian Division's headquarters, although I could tell that he was very familiar with Ma Zao's speaking attitude, and he even said something like "considering the favors we had in the past", I didn't expect that Ma Zao had actually been a capable man by his side in the past.

"I remember that Ma Zao was not a blessed monk." I said, "Does that mean that not all monks in the Gospel Convent are blessed monks?"

"The monks of the Gospel Academy can be roughly divided into the blessed and non-blessed types, with the former accounting for the majority." No. 7 said, "First, the Gospel Academy will screen out qualified individuals from the survivors outside and absorb them into its own ranks. For those with high qualifications, they will be provided with complete, rich, and long-term systematic monk education to enable them to thrive. Such seed players will become cadres and senior officials of the Gospel Academy in the future, and Ma has long been one of them.

"As for the majority of those with mediocre qualifications, the Gospel Academy will try to transform them into blessed monks. The advantage of this route is that it is quick to achieve, and one can gain powerful strength in a very short period of time; the disadvantage is that the losers will become karma demons, and it will become very difficult for them to continue to grow in the future. Without any adventures, they will not be able to make a breakthrough... To be honest, I am this type of person.

"The survivors wandering around in the outside world cannot receive systematic monk education. If they want to become monks, they can only rely on their luck and risk their lives to become blessed monks. Moreover, almost all the monks in the Gospel Academy they can come into contact with are also blessed monks. Naturally, they will think that all the monks in the Gospel Academy are blessed monks."

I took the opportunity to ask a question: "Ma Zao has a physique that attracts strange disasters, which will attract countless disasters to the Gospel Temple. It is even more serious in this afterlife that is like the apocalypse... Even so, is the Gospel Temple willing to cultivate it?"

"She had a talent that could not be concealed even with such a serious flaw." No. 7 said nostalgically, "But in the early days, before she fully revealed her genius, there were indeed a lot of doubts against her. Both her friends and teammates died in the disasters she attracted, and she was able to survive every time. For a while, she was even suspected of being a perverted killer who liked to secretly murder her friends and teammates.

"However, Huang Quan paid special attention to Ma Zao's unlucky physique. Perhaps it was because Huang Quan had a scholarly side. He might have sensed some shocking secrets from this bizarre phenomenon and developed a strong interest in researching it.

"After receiving the educational resources provided by Huang Quan, Ma Zao grew up rapidly. The various disasters brought to her by her unlucky physique may have also become materials for her tempering. Just like the protagonist of some royal adventure stories, in my sense of time, in just less than a year, she has transformed herself into a demigod of the Gospel Academy.

"If things go smoothly as everyone expects, maybe there will be another 'Ma Zao Gospel Temple' in the future. Of course... the premise is that Ma Zao can become a human god, and human gods are not so easy to achieve. Although many people thought she had a chance to become the fourth human god, it is impossible to become a human god. That is beyond the realm of talent or not. Even so, it is still an indisputable fact that she attracted much attention at the time.

“So no one expected that she would betray the Gospel House.”

Xiao Wan read out: "——Is it because of the Gospel Institute's human extermination plan?"

"Based on her subsequent actions, this could only be the reason," said No. 7. "As far as I know, she didn't oppose this plan at first... or rather, she had no way to oppose it. For a period of time, she was even the executor of the preparatory stage of this plan and eliminated a large number of survivors in the afterlife.

"For her, who has forgotten her past and has no relatives, the Gospel House is her home, Huang Quan is her mentor who has kindly nurtured her despite the negative comments from others, and the Human Extinction Plan implies the righteous cause of saving the world and the human race.

"In the fanatical environment of the Gospel House that fully supports the human god, she felt something was wrong for a moment, and had no choice but to obey the voice of the environment. In fact, this plan itself was drafted by her teacher Huang Quan and submitted to the head of the Gospel House, Yama.

"After all, she has a kind side, and she must have raised many objections. But how could a child like her who is dumb and easily fooled, and becomes speechless at the slightest emotional appeal, possibly be a match for an evil old fox like Huang Quan?

"In the end, she was tricked into doing the dirty work. Did she really believe that nonsense that 'if she does it herself, she can find a chance to show mercy, but if someone else does it, it will only make things more brutal'? This is really ridiculous..."

As she spoke, No.7's tone became somewhat sarcastic and familiar. She had originally been describing Ma Zao in a distant and objective manner, but now it seemed as if she had inadvertently revealed the attitude of an acquaintance or friend. Then, as if she realized that her attitude was too familiar, she coughed twice under the gazes of Xiao Wan and me.

So this is the origin of the title "Witch of Gospel".

When I first heard this title in the past, I thought it was very dark and handsome. I thought that the Ma Zao in the past was some kind of deep and mysterious villain, maybe a completely different character from the Ma Zao now. But after listening to it this way, isn’t this exactly the silly Ma Zao now?

If memory is the most important element in distinguishing personality, then the past Ma Zao and the present Ma Zao are probably two different personalities. However, I still have a close impression of the "past Ma Zao" described by No. 7.

Number 7 paused for a moment, then continued, "In short... after that, she may have accumulated enough pressure to the limit, and finally could no longer bear it, or she may have finally come to her senses and figured it out, so she openly rebelled against the Gospel House. Later, she turned around and attacked other executors in the outside world, and gathered a group of victimized survivors, trying to establish a righteous force to resist the Gospel House's massacre...

"But that small faction soon fell apart. The reason is easy to imagine - those weak survivors who stayed with Ma Zao, most of whom were not even monks, would soon die under the various monsters attracted by the power of the unlucky star; and without Ma Zao, they would be completely unable to face the oppression of the Gospel Academy.

"After a series of messy conflicts, Ma Zao ended up being deserted by everyone and her whereabouts have been unknown since then."

It was a sloppy and bad ending, but it was only natural. From what I know about Ma Zao, it would be strange if she could make a good success of building her own power.

I also understood what Huang Quan in the past meant by what he said to Ma Zao in the historical flashback scene.

Even if she was opposing the Gospel Institute's plan to exterminate humankind, Ma Zao certainly wanted to prevent the end of the world; however, from Huang Quan's perspective, her approach was undoubtedly going in the opposite direction.

After that, Ma Zao must have been full of frustration, and in order to prevent herself from spreading bad luck to other survivors, she would definitely stay alone. How dangerous it is to be alone in the "Apocalypse Era" has been repeated many times. In addition, her grief-stricken mental state would most likely intensify the infection of madness, causing her to quickly lose herself.

She didn't become a demon in such a situation, probably thanks to her power of returning. Even so, she still lost too many memories, and in the end she couldn't even remember where she came from or where she was going, and became a "wandering ghost" wandering in the afterlife.

Then, by accident, the thirteen-year-old girl met another girl who was younger than herself.

The two children depended on each other until another accident happened and the demon of disaster separated them.

What followed was Ma Zao's arrival in the modern world and his meeting with me.

It all started here.

(End of this chapter)