Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 648 The Truth
I saw some comments today reminding me about the hiatus in updates, and I apologize for that. Although I've been discharged from the hospital, I still have to go back. After a series of doctor's visits and tests, I feel dizzy and lightheaded when I get home. Plus, I've been moving recently, so sometimes I forget to write leave requests. I'll try my best to guarantee updates this month, and if I feel better, I'll add more updates to make up for it. I'm extremely sorry.
"Where's the sound coming from?"

Luo Liangde jumped up and looked around in a panic.

However, he didn't see anything.

The house was still the same house, but everyone outside was dead. Only he and Zhou You were left inside.

so.

Is this haunted?
Zhou You patted Luo Liangde, then stared at the statue for a long time before suddenly breaking into a smile.

"It's been quite a while, HP Monk."

The statue did not move at all; just as Luo Liangde said, it was simply a clay puppet—yet a voice could be heard coming from it.

"Yes, it's been a long time. You still have the same charm as before, while this old monk is already on his deathbed."

At this moment, Luo Liangde, who had been left out, spoke up in a low voice.

"Brother Zhou, what's going on?"

Zhou You smiled and shook his head.

"It's nothing, just ran into an acquaintance. By the way, Brother Luo, I suddenly remembered something—I knocked out one of those guys from before, and I hid him behind a tree. Could you do me a favor and go take care of him?"

Luo Liangde was taken aback.

However, he quickly understood what Zhou You meant—it was nothing more than finding an excuse to get rid of him.

But he didn't say anything, and even agreed with a bit of relief, before running out in a flash.

Based on his decades of experience, he knew that what Zhou You and the others were about to say was definitely not good news – if they wanted to save their lives, they had to run as far away as possible.

Only after the figure disappeared outside the door did Zhou You speak to the statue.

"Now that you've recognized me, let's stop wasting time with small talk—tell me, what exactly happened after I left?"

After a long silence, the old man from HP finally spoke.

“Benefactor, as you can see, we have been invaded by the Heavenly Demon.”

Zhou You replied impatiently.

“I can see that, but didn’t I seal away that Auspicious and Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva back then? How did it turn out like this?”

HP gave a wry smile.

“Benefactor, this humble monk has failed you.”

"How to say?"

The statue remained motionless, but lime began to fall from it, as if it could not hold on for much longer.

"You have performed great deeds, but this humble monk—no, all practitioners in this world—are incompetent, and in the end, this great calamity was still caused."

Zhou You stood there, listening quietly.

HP, on the other hand, was speaking with shame.

“Since you suppressed the Bodhisattva, this place has indeed become much quieter. My fellow disciples and I eliminated the local Buddhist scourge and moved the main temple here, which revitalized our sect for a time. We also made connections with other sects, and we are all thriving together. I thought that life could continue like this, and that I could eke out a living with this golden body, but…”

"We were wrong, everyone was wrong."

“As long as cultivation methods are not purified, the more people who practice them, the stronger the pollution will be, and the stronger the pollution will be, the more likely it is to attract the attention of something.”

The scene fell silent instantly.

HP didn't say much, but this was the most explosive news Zhou You had heard since the beginning of these scripts.

—Even though this place is considered remote in the Milky Way, and no one should care about it, for some reason, it attracts extraterrestrial demons like flies drawn to filth, just like a toilet.

But if we follow HP's explanation, everything makes sense.

Why could a single demon cause the entire Heavenly Court, Underworld, and Mount Ling to fall together?

Why does this corrupted script keep flowing no matter how many I kill?
Fundamentally, the problem lies in the pollution at the 'source'.

All cultivation techniques were marked from the very beginning. As long as someone cultivates them, these techniques will be like guiding lights, or like a loudspeaker shouting to all the demons, "I am here."

This also explains why modern times are so peaceful—there are practically no spiritual practitioners left in the world, and what's presented to the public are mostly films aimed at gaining fame and fortune; it would be a miracle if such films could attract any attention.

—Wait a minute, but that doesn't make sense. Back in Wanyuan, there were a bunch of talented people in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. How did they become extinct in just a hundred years?
Unfortunately, asking this question would expose his identity, so Zhou You had to suppress it for now and asked another question.

"And then the moon appeared?"

“Yes,” HP sighed. “At first, all the cultivators went mad, even my senior brother couldn’t withstand it and turned into a shapeless mess. I had no choice but to intervene and give him a release—but my abilities are ultimately limited. If I can help one, how can I help millions of others?”

"So you eventually lost even your divinity, and could only rely on your last bit of sanity to guard the desolate temple?"

HP sighed.

"This is the bitter fruit of my own actions. If I hadn't committed so many atrocities, how could I have suffered this calamity?"

Silence fell on both sides.

After a long pause, HP suddenly uttered a sentence.

“Benefactor Zhou, I know you must be that extraordinary person, but given the current situation, please, run away quickly.”

Zhou You frowned.

"Run away from what?"

HP did not respond.

The statue seemed to be bearing an immense weight, with even its surface showing fine cracks.

However, he still spoke with great difficulty.

"Because the low tide is coming."

This was the third time Zhou You had heard this word, but for some reason, the sense of oppression was the most intense this time. Looking at HP's shaky appearance, he took a deep breath, concentrated most of his magic power into a single point, and knocked it down on the statue again.

What exactly is a "dry tide"?

With the infusion of magic, HP finally regained his balance—and it took him a while before he spoke.

"The moon in the sky needs food."

".What?"

HP took a deep breath and then said.

"That thing didn't come into this world for no reason. It needs to eat every once in a while—but by its very nature, it can only hang high in the sky and can't directly devour anything." "So, those strange things are born from this strangeness, just like ants nurture fungi, and every once in a while, it harvests its own food, which is the withering tide."

"So this is the place you've chosen this time?"

"Exactly."

Zhou You fell into deep thought, and after a few minutes, he suddenly spoke.

"But why are those strange creatures so tense? If it's just harvesting grain, does that mean they ate the farmers too?"

The questions abruptly ceased.

HP then laughed.

"Of course, the Blood Moon doesn't care about these strange creatures. To humans, they are predators, but to the Blood Moon, they are the same—when the dry tide comes, they are just a piece of meat in someone else's mouth."

"Of course, as farmers, they still receive some preferential treatment. As long as they offer enough tribute, or obtain some rare items, or even prove their abilities, the Blood Moon will let them off the hook."

Zhou You suddenly thought of the shop owner, the generator in the apartment building, and even the restaurant he had encountered at the beginning.

To put it another way, aren't these guys also struggling for their own lives?
Zhou You paused for a few seconds before continuing.

"Then what can you do?"

However, HP's response was unusually curt.

"There's nothing I can do. Originally, I might have been able to summon the Bodhisattva from the underworld to the world and try to buy him some time. Unfortunately, about ten years ago, for some unknown reason, the Bodhisattva and the sea of ​​blood suddenly vanished without a trace. So..."

The old monk let out a long sigh.

“Benefactor, you should run, but if possible, I hope you can take as many people with you as possible. I know you have done great good deeds. I don’t ask you to save the world, I only hope you can help some poor people to the best of your ability.”

Zhou You did not agree, but instead took a step back and examined the old monk's body.

He clearly remembered that when he was on night patrol, the clay statue was shimmering with light. At the time, he didn't know what it was, but after watching a few scripts, he learned that it was the result of the faith and vows accumulated by the temple over hundreds of years, which could protect the person inside from corruption, preserve their intelligence, and even help them achieve even greater heights.

By then, he had more or less realized that his family had been tricked by this bald guy. However, he wasn't too angry about it. After all, no matter how cunning HP was, he had genuinely saved the lives of a city. As the saying goes, a gentleman judges by actions, not intentions. At least he was much better than those monks who only amassed wealth without doing anything.

But now.
Zhou You knocked twice, which woke him up, but he also sensed that there was nothing inside. If no rescue was carried out, he would probably become one with the stone statue and become a completely dead object soon.

After looking at it for a while, he spoke.

"Baldy."

"Donor, please tell me."

"What about you? What will you do?"

This question touches on life and death, yet the old monk remained remarkably magnanimous.

"This humble monk has already broken the precepts of greed, anger, and ignorance countless times. As I just said, all of this is the retribution this humble monk deserves. When the dry tide comes, my soul will be scattered and I will receive this precept."

"."

Zhou You ultimately said nothing.

He was completely ignorant of rituals and ceremonies, so even if he descended in his original form, it would be difficult to save the old monk—so all his words ultimately turned into a long sigh.

"Baldy, I have another question for you."

"This humble monk will answer all your questions to the best of his ability."

"You want me to save more people? How can I, with my limited resources, possibly do that? Putting everything else aside, the city's leaders don't even know what the Dry Tide is."

Otherwise.

The old monk suddenly interrupted him.

“What are you saying, benefactor? It’s understandable that the common people are unaware of the coming dry tide, but those in power have all been warned by Paradise. How could they not know that the dry tide is coming?”

"."

Zhou You's face suddenly turned extremely ugly.

But soon, he asked one last question.

"Monk, what is that paradise?"

no answer.

The clay sculpture fell silent once again, but just when Zhou You thought Hewlett-Packard was too weak to speak again, a faint voice suddenly came from behind.

"I originally thought that place was a gathering place for the remaining practitioners, but judging from the few bits of information I've gathered, it's probably quite different. In any case, that place is definitely not the so-called last refuge for humanity. If you really want to go there, please be extremely vigilant and careful in everything you do."

After saying that, he paused for a moment, and then continued.

"Furthermore, I need to remind you of something—this humble monk knows that you probably come from another world, but since we all share the same origin and flow, if possible, please try to find traces of your past in your own world. This might be of some help to you."

As Zhou You walked out the door, he saw Luo Liangde looting the corpse for money.

Those bandits were indeed penniless, but Luo Liangde was also the kind of person who would plunder every last penny. Even if the other party didn't have much money on them, he would still search them first—there were several guys sitting next to him who had been stripped naked.

Hearing Zhou You's footsteps, Luo Liangde didn't stop what he was doing. Instead, he stuffed a rag into his bundle and then looked up with a smile.

"Brother Zhou, are you done with your business? Wait a moment, let me finish this one before we go."

Before he could utter the word 'go,' his voice abruptly stopped.

It's no wonder Luo Liangde felt this way. At least in his memory, Zhou You always had a smiling expression, and it seemed that even if the sky were to fall, it wouldn't affect him. But now...
His face was already ashen.

He stopped touching Luo Liangde's body, first carefully straightening up, and then asking even more cautiously.

"Brother Zhou, what happened to you?"

Zhou You only then noticed his expression. He rubbed it, smoothed out his brows and eyes, and then spoke.

"It's nothing, I just heard some bad news, Brother Luo. Is there anything else you need to do? If not, let's hurry back."

"Of course, of course, then let me put the incense stick back on and we'll go."

Luo Liang quickly expressed his agreement—but just as he was about to leave, Zhou You threw him a wine bottle—the very one he had just placed as an offering.

"Brother Zhou, what's going on?"

"There's no need for that. That monk never drinks alcohol, and besides..."

He turned around, looked at the faded vermilion gate, and shook his head.

"This temple will probably collapse in a couple of days, and no matter how many offerings we make, people won't need them."

(End of this chapter)