Forge a path to success.

Chapter 216 Three Days of Despair (Part 2)
Within minutes, everyone was summoned by Chu Hengkong, and they all witnessed Qingxia's current predicament. She was like a dying patient who had ingested too much stimulant—excessively active yet on the verge of death.

"Vander, I need your help."

Vande paced back and forth, as anxious as a squid on a hot plate: "Dude, to be honest, I'm helpless! Even if I put her to sleep, the Plague Demon's commands will still exist. I can't reverse the nature of a race."

Chu Hengkong sat beside Qingxia, holding her hand and urging her to control herself as much as possible. He spoke rapidly: "What's the principle behind the Desire Demon's control over its subordinates? Is it related to the heart?"

“The scientific name for that organ is ‘Heavenly Demon Furnace Heart,’ and this mechanism is far more complex than you imagine. It involves pheromones, mental suggestion, bloodline factors, and deep information interaction within the ghost body.” Vande tried to organize his thoughts. “You can imagine a hand clenching a heart. Whatever that hand writes on the heart, the lustful demon must do. If that lower-quality lustful demon disobeys, that hand will clench. And then bang! It’s all over, understand?”

"Understood." Chu Hengkong nodded. "Fande, I'd like to ask you to perform surgery."

Vande slammed his tentacle onto the ground: "I told you I can't do it! If it were just the influence of the ghost body, I could try to use hypnosis to perform precise manipulations, but this is a racial trait, a mechanism created by the damned heretic ancestor. I'm not powerful enough to cure this!"

"I know."

"You don't understand!" Vande grew increasingly agitated. "If I can handle this, there won't be any more lustful demons, you understand? If I can perform this surgery, they can return to being the Myriad Transformations Immortal Clan!"

Chu Hengkong pressed it flat on the ground, using the simplest and most effective method to calm his buddy down.

“I have a treatment plan,” he said. “It’s the transplantation surgery of the Immortal Machine.”

Van der was so angry that he closed his eyes on the spot.

"Dude, ultimate-level mechanical devices aren't a cure-all. Even if I transplanted your spine into Qingxia, it wouldn't solve the problem; the rejection reaction would just kill her on the spot—"

“It’s not the spine, it’s the heart,” Chu Hengkong said calmly. “If Qingxia no longer has the Heavenly Demon Furnace Core, then Wen Yao’s commands have no reason to take effect.”

"It will still work. It will just weaken, its effect reduced to one-tenth or one-twentieth of what it was before, but... but..."

The tentacles dangled in mid-air for a while, and Vande's voice was filled with disbelief: "Oh fucking, it's definitely possible! But there's no material! The Blood Knight's infectious power is too strong, and besides, the artificial heart can't handle the power of the Asura's Heart—"

“We have them,” Chu Hengkong said, pointing to his chest, “with my heart.”

"Then how will you live?!"

"You transplant Qingxia's heart into me," Chu Hengkong laughed. "That solves the problem, right?"

For a full ten seconds, no one spoke, then Ji Huaisu clapped his hands vigorously.

"Awesome, Akong!" Ji Huaisu exclaimed excitedly. "You're simply a genius!"

"The problem is solved." Qingye nodded repeatedly.

“It’s very feasible, why not?” Shakes asked, looking down. “How much time do you need? Two hours?”

Van der was already in research mode. He pulled out a travel guide and buried it deep within: "At least three hours, no, four hours… two and a half hours of which will be spent reviewing the relevant content of the paper. You all have to assist me—"

"Chu Hengkong, what are you talking about?!"

Qingxia's scream shattered the heated discussion. She gripped Chu Hengkong's hand tightly, almost hysterically: "The Heavenly Demon Furnace Heart is no different from poison to you. You will die!"

Chu Hengkong patted her head: "You underestimate me a bit."

"You've gone too far! After the transplant is successful, Wen Yao's instructions will be transmitted to you, and she will try to control you!" Qingxia stammered. "Moreover, your current life essence is insufficient to withstand Xu Lie's heart. You must undergo a transformation to survive, and once you transform, she will find out! We can't hide it from her!"

"I can just endure not upgrading," Chu Hengkong said with a relaxed expression.

Qingxia was on the verge of a breakdown: "That's not what you think—"

“Listen to me, Qingxia,” the assassin interrupted her forcefully. “You’ve endured this long for everyone, so can I. We believe in you, and please believe in me too.”

Qingxia looked into the man's eyes and realized there was no contempt or pretense in them. He fully understood the danger of this decision; he knew what this choice meant. But he stepped forward without hesitation to put it into practice, not only because only he could do it, but also because he was determined to do so.

He asks you to trust him.

Qingxia collapsed to the ground, clutching the assassin's hand as if in prayer.

"Thank you..." she sobbed softly, "Thank you."

Chu Hengkong vigorously ruffled the girl's hair, appearing much more relaxed. Shakes, standing nearby, coughed.

"Let me interrupt your touching conversation. What happens after the heart transplant is successful?" His gaze swept over everyone in the room. "If it were just that woman, we could go all in. But now there are three... Amazonian centaur warriors..."

“Blood Knight,” Van Der corrected.

“Three Blood Knights.” Shax nodded. “A head-on fight is hopeless.”

“We won’t fight a direct battle,” Ji Huaisu continued. “When we first arrived in the Despair Wilderness, Akong also received a gift from the Benevolent Elder. It was a ‘story’…”

She recounted the old man's words of advice: "Pass through the underwater valley, traverse the misty forest, and you will arrive at the Allied village. From the north of the village, cross the former battlefield and head to the mountains littered with corpses. In the deepest part of those mountains, lie the weapons that once slew the evil god. That is your hope for victory."

“We already saw the mountains when we were on the battlefield,” Chu Hengkong said. “We’ll go into the mountains, one of us will find a way to get weapons, and then kill all the outsiders. That’s the battle plan.”

“Excellent, insane, fantastic.” Shaks nodded repeatedly. “How did you manage to keep it from the outsiders?”

Qingye had an idea: "We have Wacro's pen! We can use it to draw illusions, and combine it with my Substitute Technique to create the illusion that we're still here." "That thing can only be used by heretics..." Ji Huaisu sighed, "We..."

Qingxia silently raised her hand.

"Please let me draw... I'm an outsider after all!" she said haltingly. "I promise... I'll draw everyone!"

“Sure, we absolutely believe in your artistic talent; it's far superior to Chu Hengkong’s,” Van der agreed. “Now, the last question: what about the settlement?”

Chu Hengkong blurted out instinctively, "There's a sacred pillar—"

“The Holy Pillar is being held up by Ji Huaisu alone, and she is the strongest fighting force.” Shakes pointed out the key point: “If she’s not here, the barrier can’t hold up, and everyone will die. If she stays here, we have no chance to fight that woman, and we will all die.”

The discussion fell silent as everyone pondered a way to break the deadlock, but no one could come up with a solution. The settlement had sheltered them in the wilderness until now, and everyone here bore responsibility for its safety. But the Sacred Pillar wasn't something that could be bypassed with tricks; Ji Huaisu carried the core, and no one else could use any illusion to keep the Sacred Pillar going.

The door to the cabin was flung open with a bang, and a small, pure white animal stood in the doorway, panting, but with its chest puffed out and head held high. It proudly held out its bright red nose.

"Everyone can stop worrying now!" Gulibo said smugly. "My job is done! All the problems are solved!"

Qingye crouched down, forcing a smile: "Gulibo, things aren't as simple as you think..."

Guli Bo is right.

At that moment, a familiar voice rang in everyone's hearts.

In conclusion, I've journeyed with everyone to this point. I've received so much support along the way, and now, please allow me to contribute my share in return.

The stone seed—no, the divine tree—explained its opinion in detail, and the final question was answered. Thus, this insane, brutal, and fantastical plan began to take shape. Every decision was a gamble; every time they had to succeed, and everyone had to push themselves to the limit. An excessive reliance on luck and perseverance was indispensable to even be qualified to fight the enemy.

But this is the battlefield, this is reality, and so they stepped forward without hesitation, despite the difficulties.

"I just realized we haven't discussed the payment for this commission yet," Chu Hengkong said before the surgery. "What's the price?"

“No thanks, it’s voluntary work.” Shakes fiddled with the unsmoked cigarette butt. “God would hate me if I charged him this time.”

"You actually believe that?"

I believe it occasionally.

Shakes collected his cigarette butts, and the surgical instruments he had prepared were neatly arranged on the wooden tray. He walked out of the operating room, closed the door, and the room was left only by the light of twilight. Vande picked up a small drill, beside which Qingxia was groaning unconsciously. She had been pushed to her limit and was now only able to enter a deep sleep through hypnosis, otherwise she would have transformed on the spot.

"I just did the math. Are you interested in knowing the success rate of this terrible surgery?"

"One hundred percent." The assassin laughed.

"By the way, one hundred percent," Van der laughed. "You're not so fragile as to die here. It's guaranteed to succeed!"

·
At the same time, in the deep valley at the bottom of the sea.

Bernhard sat at the church entrance and heavily closed the book.

The Requiem records the fate of all beings. Because of his contact with the settlement, Eternal Time also made inferences based on the information he knew. It was a cold number, a certain conclusion: regardless of the process or the plan, the fate of the group was determined at the moment the decision was made.

But Bernhard didn't want to see that conclusion. He was a bone-praying monk, a member of the funeral procession, and in this hell where there was no rest and no death, he shouldn't and couldn't do anything. He could only fulfill the wishes of the dead.

He wandered through the desolate valley. He had personally buried the souls who had lost hope; now less than a third of the Mist People remained. The poor souls, tormented by nightmares, merely shook their heads as he approached, determined to persevere. They knew not what they were waiting for, nor what they were hoping for.

Bernfar felt a growing sadness, a sorrow that deepened as he passed the sand houses, destroyed and rebuilt, and discovered a figure in the mist who had not yet gone inside to rest. The man, torn apart by the vicious dogs of his nightmares, gazed forlornly at the black moon, seemingly having not slept in a long time.

“Sir, do you need help?” Bernfar approached. “You…”

He froze, recognizing the man in the mist. The man being mauled by the hounds turned around; it was Vovka, a former miner from the Kingdom of Lennar. He stared at the man dressed as a priest, distant memories drifting like a dream in his lifeless eyes.

"You, you!" The dog-bodied man, Wolfka, seemed to suddenly come to his senses. "I remember you... Bernfar! You were the priest who warned us!"

“...It’s me,” Bernfar said with difficulty.

"My God, so many years have passed, how are you still alive?! You were right, we should have listened to you back then, you..."

When Vaughka saw the Requiem, he understood everything at once. Bernhard bent down and took his old friend's hand.

“Mr. Wolfka, if you need any help…”

“I need it. I need it!!” Wofka’s voice trembled. “You will fulfill the dead’s wishes, won’t you? You…you will! Right?”

"It is my duty. I will do everything I can to meet your expectations."

Wofka tugged at his clothes like a drowning person grasping at the only straw.

“I need nothing now, Father. But you don’t know, there’s a group of people fighting against the devil,” he said, trembling. “They might die. I beg you, Father! Please! Help them!”

(End of this chapter)