Love, Gun, Cupid

Finally, he had no choice but to throw it in the trash can. In the huge town, Lin Jiade couldn't see a single stray dog ​​or cat.

It's not that there are no cats or dogs in the town, but every pet wears a necklace with the owner's name on it, and they are all on leashes when they go out. Some large dogs also have muzzles to prevent them from suddenly attacking people.

"This guy knows how to behave better than the pet owners in our city," Lin Jiade muttered.

The young man later observed the effects of the policy that single people support marginalized people: the town's eligible men and women were all in pairs, and there were hardly any single people to be seen; every family had multiple children.

Lin Jiade checked into the only hotel in the area, which inevitably led him to bump into the other two contestants. Di Tao remained calm, while Qi Yanli wondered why Lin Jiade, an outsider, was here, where Mu Mian had gone, and why Yi Lu Ting Feng was on Lin Jiade's back.

"Ah, thanks."

Yi Lu Tingfeng jumped down from Lin Jiade's shoulder and thanked him somewhat awkwardly. She tried to take a couple of steps and found that the NPCs ignored her. It seemed that only the Virgin Diana was hostile to groups other than men and women.

Di Tao crossed her arms and asked, "What do we say now?"

Lin Jiade released the cotton tree, and she transformed back into human form, saying, "Before entering the forest, we will work together to gather information, and after defeating or repelling the King of the Forest, we will compete for first place based on our own abilities."

Di Tao smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. The other two agreed with Mu Mian's proposal, so they first opened four adjacent rooms to supervise each other, and then gathered in Mu Mian's room to discuss the place... under the supervision of the oath-keeping magic.

Di Tao said, "There is a custom in this town that they will offer their female offspring to Diana to become Diana Virgins. Diana Virgins can marry when they turn 25."

Although titled "Virgin of Chastity," Diana allowed widows to join her service. Her requirement for chastity was that women not to commit adultery within marriage; any woman who did so would be stripped of her title.

Although somewhat surprised that Di Tao was the first to share information, Di Tao set a good example for everyone. Qi Yanli continued, "I saw the Zhen Nu's barracks from afar. Their main camp is located outside the city. Apart from supplies brought back from the town, the Zhen Nu hardly have any contact with the town."

As I passed by, they were taking turns with the people returning from the temple. I have keen hearing, and I overheard them complaining that the King of the Forest had recently become somewhat neurasthenic.

Diamond elves possess a sphere of influence and hearing range far exceeding that of humans. Unfortunately, these creatures, perfect in both physical attributes and appearance, could not defy human destiny. Although the diamond elves achieved impressive exchange ratios in every battle with humans, they were ultimately forced to endure 400 years of humiliation.

“We don’t have much to say to each other,” Yi Lu Ting Feng said. “Those feudal remnants of the Diana Virgin... cough, conservatives have been watching us as we entered the city. They’ve been asking around about the town.”

Lin Jiade repeated the shopkeeper's words, and Di Tao said, "So, how can we get information about the King of the Forest?"

"We use the method of exhaustive search, looking one place at a time, starting with asking those places and people who might have records of the past ten years," said Kapok.

The town government and library are likely to record the events of these ten years, while the town's document administrator and the elderly people in the welfare home are likely to remember them.

So the contestants split into two groups: Di Tao and Mu Mian went to the welfare home, Yi Lu Ting Feng and Qi Yan Li went to the town government, and Lin Jia De went to the library to investigate.

Kapok's plan carries obvious risks. Lin Jiade is her main weapon, and she is teamed up with the treacherous Di Tao. However, it is precisely because of this that her proposal has power.

The hotel had a map of the town, and they bought an electronic version (incredibly, the town had mobile payment services) and imported it into their respective map navigation systems. When they parted, Mu Mian looked at him for a while, but ultimately said nothing and disappeared from Lin Jiade's sight.

Chapter 103 The Final (4)

Lin Jiade lingered for a while in front of the building marked as a library because it looked more like a cowshed, a place for raising livestock than for preserving knowledge.

He pushed open the door and went in. A musty smell wafted out. A young man was sitting in a chair, dozing off, with his hunting rifle beside him.

"Hey friend, excuse me..."

The moment the young man was awakened, he grabbed his shotgun and pointed it at Lin Jiade's head. But Lin Jiade reacted faster. He first slid in and teleported to the young man's blind spot. As the young man turned, he delivered a chop to his wrist.

The young man, in pain, let go. Lin Jiade used his foot to pick up the falling shotgun, held it in his hand, and aimed it at the other man with a less-than-perfect motion (he currently only had experience with handguns). Then he moved it aside and placed it on the table.

“You’re overreacting, friend,” he said.

"Excuse me... uh, are you from out of town?"

Lin Jiade shrugged. This outfit couldn't be hidden. He activated his soul vision and scanned the other person. The other person's soul flame was a faint golden flame, which indicated that he was an ordinary person.

“Uh, I suddenly feel a bit cold.” The young man held out his hand. “My name is Orestes.”

The Temple of Diana is located on land formerly known as the Apennine Peninsula, while Orestes is not a name that men from the Apennine Peninsula would use.

"Are you an outsider?" Lin Jiade asked.

“How could you… Ah, after all, I have a name that doesn’t fit in with the locals.” Orestes said with a wry smile, “My ancestors fled here by sea, and I can proudly say that it was my ancestors who brought the faith of Diana here.”

Lin Jiade perked up: "What do you mean?"

"Diana was not that name in my ancestors' homeland. My ancestors were being pursued by enemies and were forced to flee across the sea to this place. My ancestors thanked the goddess Diana for saving them from death, so they built a temple to worship her."

On the other side of the sea, the priestesses of Diana would order the protectorate militia to slaughter every stranger who landed, offering them up at the altar of the Temple of Diana, from which they were said to gain all sorts of strange powers.

Orestes smiled and said, “Of course, this is feudal superstition. My ancestor came here to spread the faith of Diana and built a temple, but the location is remote and strangers may not meet one for several years. So he pretended to be divine and changed the ritual, turning the sacrifice into a series of murders by Diana priests.”

Each Diana priest kills the previous Diana priest and is also killed by the next Diana priest.

Instead of sacrificing outsiders, the priestesses of Diana offered themselves to please Diana Nemorensis (Diana of the Forest/Diana the Forest Goddess).

Lin Jiade stared at the other person: "You really know it all by heart."

Orestes smiled and said, “My family has passed down the story of the goddess Diana for generations, regarding it as a family honor. Unfortunately, my family and the faith in Diana have declined.”

As I mentioned above, Diana was originally just a goddess of forests and nature. Later in Rome, she became the goddess of the moon and fertility, and had her own temple on the Seven Hills. Her life ended with the end of Roman polytheism.

However, polytheism did not end in every place. The Temple of Diana in Arachia was the last witness to and preserver of polytheism in old Rome, but it was only a preserver.

Orestes chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Only ignorant, rural towns and empty-hearted country women believe that goddesses truly exist, and they have set up militias stationed outside the town."

Moreover, this fabricated history is being disseminated in a convincing manner, attracting curious tourists like yourself.

Orethres' perspective was that of an ordinary person unaware of the existence of supernatural powers. Lin Jiade asked curiously, "If all of this is just a fabrication, then how do you explain the incidents of outsiders crossing the sea every year for the past ten years, only to end up dying in the Temple of Diana?"

"The forest is dangerous, with many wild beasts inside. The temperature difference between day and night in the mountains and forests is huge. When it gets foggy at night during this season, it is easier for outsiders to lose their way. Low temperature, fear, the threat of wild animals, and limited supplies are enough to turn the journey of outsiders to find the so-called king of the forest into a nightmare."

Moreover, I really don't understand why you outsiders come in groups, but only one person actually goes to the woods, and after the person who went into the woods disappears, the rest of you don't choose to call the police, but just leave by boat.

The local incompetent police are happy to leave one thing alone. As long as you don't call the police, they'll act like nothing happened. For the past ten years... every year, outsiders have come here, and most of them come to ask me.

I've said this several times, strongly advising you not to court death, but the tragedy keeps repeating itself... Sigh, why won't you believe me?

Orestes offers an interesting perspective on the Temple of Diana, particularly the rituals of the King of the Forest over the last decade. But Lingard knows that the goddess is not a figment of imagination, that immense power truly exists, and that the greedy warriors who went never returned, the group that lost its leader and fell apart—this is the truth behind all the absurdity in Orestes' eyes.

Lin Jiade changed the subject: "How did this library become like this? And why are you so wary of people who come to the library?"

Orestes replied, "The answer to both questions is the same. As I said before, Diana is the goddess of the forest, the moon, and fertility."

The town had tried to modernize, but the modern lifestyle made people dizzy and also lowered the birth rate. So those crazy virgins used every legal and illegal means to change the town back to its original state.

In this process, knowledge was considered heresy, which reduced the birth rate. Possessing knowledge in this town made one a dissident who defied the will of the goddess, so they destroyed the library and persecuted most of the knowledgeable people.

Today, the townspeople have an average primary school education, live a simple life of raising children without contact with the outside world, and everyone is very happy. Knowledge is of no use to them. In this atmosphere, you can probably understand what will happen to those who go against them.

Every year, my happiest time is when you outsiders come to visit, because we all share the same thirst for knowledge. But you come and go so quickly, the longest you've stayed is no more than a month, and most of the time it's only a week or ten days...

I try to imagine life outside based on your descriptions and the objects you show me, but it's all just imagination. You might ask, why not leave here?

My answer is, I can't leave.

Extra chapter added

Chapter 104 The Final (5)

"Why?" Lin Jiade asked.

Orestes raised his head and smiled slightly. He picked up his shotgun and aimed it at Lin Jiade again. Lin Jiade crouched down and heard the gunshot above him. Some of the scattered steel balls hit his head, activating the protective spell on his body. The deformed steel balls rolled on the ground.

“The information ends here,” Orestes said. “A man who calls himself the King of the Forest recently gave the town a large sum of money to ensure that you outsiders’ lives are spared here, but he instructed that some information be revealed to you before you are killed.”

Although I don't know what the point of doing this is, I have to do what my employer says for the money.

Lin Jiade retorted, "For money, you'd risk other people's lives?!"

"There are people in this world who bring their own food to kill for some empty thought, so isn't it more logical and normal for me to kill for money?"

Orestes paused, then said, "Besides, I don't think murderers have the right to accuse me."

The audience outside the arena laughed at the sight. Before Orestes could fire his second shot, Lingard drew his sword, and a silver arc of light severed Orestes' head from his body. Orestes' head fell to the ground, and he continued to talk to Lingard.

The gunshots were a signal; although they didn't happen in Lexington, they awakened the fighting spirit of the town's residents, and the once peaceful town was replaced by an atmosphere of carnage.

"Okay, okay, I was the one who was attacked, so it's perfectly reasonable for me to use the necessary force to protect myself."

Lin Jiade found a reason to take action. He picked up his sword and walked towards the door, ready to fight ten men at once. But as soon as he opened the door, a burst of gunfire erupted and bullets of all colors clattered around him, causing Lin Jiade to shrink back.

His protective spells are powered by an Amanda Stone, one of the few items that survived the battle between the Mirror Realm and Korobochka.

He didn't want his precious energy to be wasted on the crude weapons in the hands of the townspeople. So he dragged a rotten bookshelf to block the doorway, but it was unreliable and wouldn't buy him much time, so Lin Jiade opened a map to look for an escape route.

“We’re in a standoff with the town police,” Kapok’s voice reached his ears. “We’ll meet up at the checkpoint in the north of the town, the same checkpoint we came from.”

"Shouldn't I transform into a sword and come find you?"

"If Diana the Virgin of the Vest enters the arena, I will become a sword to find you."

"it is good."

While Lin Jiade was on the phone with Mu Mian, a burly man burst in with a pot lid. Lin Jiade kicked him back, and the burly man rolled on the steps, knocking down the people behind him.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Lin Jiade pulled out his gun, turned left, aimed at the open space outside, and pulled the trigger. The red bullet hit the ground, and the flames spread, creating even greater chaos. However, the wind blew the flames toward the library, and the building emitted an unsettling crackling sound.

"Oh no, I think I set the library on fire too."

Lin Jiade turned around and wielded his celestial weapon, cutting open the window and escaping through it. A group of Boy Scouts spotted him and immediately blew their whistles to call for the adults to come.

Children are like dung-smeared pitchforks in battle, disgusting characters that stink if you touch them. While children can help adults in battle, Lin Jiade must never lay a hand on children, otherwise he will face both moral and legal pressure.

So he transformed into a sword and flew to the rooftop, looking down at the town from the sky. He found the meeting point that Kapok had mentioned, but unfortunately, there were many people there, so he jumped down and ran in the opposite direction.

Lin Jiade didn't know what the King of the Forest had promised, but it was clear to the naked eye that the entire town had become his enemy. He began running through the streets, and the people around him attacked him with guns, arrows, stones, tiles, and even cabbage leaves.

"Swearing on the court!"

When Lin Jiade saw someone carrying a bucket of indescribable yellow stuff out of the third-floor window on the left, he couldn't hold back anymore. There were some things he didn't want to get his hands on, even with protective spells.

So he changed course on the spot, randomly picked an apartment and broke down the door. The man inside swung a rolling pin and hit him on the head. Lin Jiade slid to the side, pulled a skewer of sausages off the wall and chopped it down with a whip.

He injected a little energy, and the enhanced whip lashed the man, causing him to temporarily lose his fighting ability due to the pain.

He ran upstairs and heard a scream, "Dad!" An angry Girl Scout rode down the handlebars on a skateboard and soared into the air, heading straight for Lin Jiade's face. Lin Jiade dodged to the side, confiscated her skateboard, and caught her in the process.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?” he yelled at the other man. “A fall like that would at least result in a contusion, or at worst a broken neck. With the medical care in this crappy place, you should just reserve a tombstone in the cemetery!”

The little girl was stunned by his shout and stood there blankly. Lin Jiade ignored her, got up and went upstairs. Outside, people had already chased into the apartment and carried the injured man and girl out.

Lin Jiade stayed here to move people here and clear out the crowds near the assembly point.

So he ran up to the second floor, and as soon as he got there, he saw a shrew rushing out with a spatula. He brandished a sausage whip, but the shrew was even stronger than the man. With a flick of her wrist, she deliberately wrapped the sausage whip around her wrist and then tore the sausage off.

The shrew rushed over at lightning speed, and Lin Jiade turned and ran. Women are the least likely to be attacked in a fight, after children and the elderly. It's not that they can't be fought, but if physical contact occurs, and the woman yells "You filthy hooligan!" and then acts disheveled, no matter how many bowls of noodles he's eaten, he'll end up with a bad reputation in the end.

Lin Jiade ran into the kitchen, grabbed an onion and threw it at her. The shrew used her spatula to push the onion aside, and the splattering juice made her cover her eyes and scream. So he picked up a potato and threw it at her, hitting her on the forehead and knocking her unconscious.

By this time, the pursuers had reached the second floor, so he grabbed potatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, onions, and eggplants from the kitchen and started cooking them. After temporarily repelling the pursuers, he dragged a large bucket of cooking oil from the kitchen onto the stairs, then took down the tuna hanging on the wall—this heavy, slightly smelly thing was more useful than his celestial weapon under certain circumstances.

Lin Jiade was confident that he could take down an ordinary person in close combat, stunning them without inflicting fatal injuries. In his view, it was unreasonable for the King of the Forest to have such fanaticism among the townspeople simply because of money; he believed that the King of the Forest must have used some kind of magic to coerce the townspeople into attacking.