Nightmare Light

Chapter 223 Who Died First
Many years later, when Shi Xiong recalled that scene, he had to admit that he was momentarily dazed when Lin Wang picked up Miaomiao and said those words to her.

In his view, the tall northerner, surrounded by boundless white flames, darkness, and night wanderers, was carrying a little girl with a cold but flustered expression.

In that instant, the young northerner's gaze was gentle, filled with a sense of looking down and acceptance...

A gentle yet condescending gaze looks down upon the young children of the world.

Shi Xionglue was steadfast in his faith and devout to his mother.

However, in his memory for many years to come, he would always confuse that moment, that scene, with a religious painting in his memory.

He recalled the conversation between Huang Quan Gong and Lin Wang.

In a daze, Shi Xiong vaguely understood why Luo He's white fire had fallen into Lin Wang's hands.

It wasn't Luo He who chose him...

Only he could do it...

……

In the Shadow Orphanage, Lin Wang was carrying Miaomiao in his hand.

The little girl's cold face showed a defiant look as she bared her teeth at Lin Wang: "I'm not a child!"

"Okay." Lin Wang looked at the little girl in front of him, who was baring her teeth and claws, and couldn't help but laugh. He then flicked her forehead.

The little girl bared her teeth and opened her mouth, trying to bite his finger, but she wasn't as fast as Lin Wang. She was still flicked on the forehead, and glared angrily at Lin Wang while covering her forehead.

Lin Wang was even happier.

"This little girl..."

"I'm not a little girl!"

"I reckon that when the leader of the Shadow Rebels' soul merged into this body, it was influenced by Miao Miao's soul. So now, although he retains the memories of the Shadow Rebels, his personality has changed into that of a complete little girl."

Ah Zhe suddenly realized: "Oh, I see!"

"I've already said, I'm not a little girl anymore!"

"Want some candied hawthorn?" A-Zhe produced another candied hawthorn from who-knows-where.

"...I want a second one, the orange-flavored one." The little girl stared at the candied hawthorn, her eyes shining, and a snot bubble popped out of her nose.

"..."

The little girl was being held in mid-air by Lin Wang, munching on a string of candied hawthorns. Taking advantage of this moment, Lin Wang asked her, "Take us to catch Vice-Bishop Zhao."

Miaomiao, holding the candied hawthorn, was having a great time and didn't even turn her head: "Turn left at the end of the corridor...the cafeteria, she's there."

Upon hearing this, Bishop Du waved his hand, preparing to direct the Holy Army's actions, but then heard Miaomiao say something else.

“However, I suggest that these Crusaders withdraw to the ground, leaving only a few of you.”

She pointed at Lin Wang, Bishop Du, and Shi Xionglue with the candied hawthorn: "Anyone else going would just be sending themselves to their deaths."

"Why?" A-Zhe asked.

“Because…” The little girl looked up, a thoughtful expression on her face, and then twisted in mid-air because she was uncomfortable, and said, “Before, that old lady came to me asking for help, saying that she wanted to completely become a shadow and then help the Shadow Reverser command the Shadow Legion… so I gave her something.”

"what?"

"A thought of a dead god."

As soon as the little girl finished speaking, the surrounding crowd felt the temperature drop sharply. Almost everyone present, except for A-Zhe, was practically a god, and naturally understood what Miao Miao meant.

“A wisp of thought of a dead god…” Bishop Du trembled involuntarily, his long eyebrows twitching in the darkness. “Don’t you know that the thoughts of gods possess the ability to self-complete, if the ritual is performed properly…”

“Of course I know.” Miao Miao interrupted the middle-aged bishop, shaking her candied hawthorn. “It’s just as you guessed—once the old woman’s ritual is completed, she will successfully become a shadow, but what will wake up is that god.”

Why...why did you do this?!

"Why? That old lady has gone mad; of course she's the perfect experimental subject." The little girl took a bite of the candied hawthorn, spat out the hawthorn, then bit into an orange, crunching away. "Do you know how hard it is to find this kind of perfect experimental data? I've been in the shadows for forty or fifty years..."

A priest angrily interrupted her: "If you do this, you will resurrect a dead god!"

Bishop Du's face was as black as charcoal: "Do you know what a dead god does when he is resurrected?"

“I don’t know,” the little girl shrugged. “I’m just a leader of the Shadow Rebels… I don’t care.”

Lin Wang asked Bishop Du, "What will the gods do when they are resurrected?"

Bishop Du's expression was extremely grim: "If my knowledge is correct..."

He took a deep breath: "Normally, it is extremely difficult for a god to die. When a god dies, he will return the 'authority' he holds to the world."

"Therefore, when He rises from the dead, the first thing He will do will be the same—He will try again to take over some authority in the world!"

"If that god is resurrected in the Shadow Realm, and He takes over the authority of the Shadow... then in the Shadow Realm, the god who holds the authority of the Shadow is invincible."

Bishop Du paused for a few seconds: "But that's not the worst part."

"The most terrifying thing is if that god refuses to rule the shadows and instead chooses to enter the mortal realm..."

He looked at all the priests around him: "Guess what will happen when a mad god corrupted and tainted by the shadows enters the mortal world?"

A deathly silence enveloped them.

Shi Xiong didn't say anything, but silently took out a pot and began to cast a divine spell on it.

The surrounding priests also drew their weapons and made the same choice.

Suddenly, a bright, magical light shone throughout the orphanage.

Bishop Du slammed his scepter down: "Church Army, heed my command, advance!"

The little girl looked up from the candied hawthorn and glanced at the Holy Knights around her, her expression somewhat surprised: "You all know that we are facing gods, yet you still want to go and die?"

A very young priest, half of his face covered in blood, with black, rotting flesh around the wound—a bite inflicted by a shadowy monster during the recent battle.

He was holding a handful of holy ash and wiping his shield.

Upon hearing Miao Miao's words, the priest looked up, grinned, and revealed a mouthful of white teeth stained with blood: "If the other party is really a god, he will die when he returns... I'm going to use my holy shield to give that guy a good beating later."

Another priest standing nearby said very seriously to the young priest, "If you die prematurely, I will use your shield to strike Him."

"Thanks brother."

Miaomiao tilted her head, looking at the soldiers with a bit of confusion.

A few seconds later, she nodded to the soldiers, her expression cold but her tone serious: "Regardless of your position, you are all very good soldiers."

"The Shadow Rebels... Miao Miao, I salute you."

(End of this chapter)