It's time to become an evil god.

The children stood up, bowed slightly to say goodbye to their teacher, packed up their textbooks and homework, and went home with their backpacks. As they passed through the courtyard, the children nodded and politely greeted Xu Junfang as "Uncle."

The children who had been receiving tutoring left one after another. After the last child was picked up by his parents, the man standing in the living room, leaning on his cane, first turned on an audiobook app, where a narrator was reading a web novel.

He slowly sat down on the sofa, poured himself a cup of tea, and took a small sip.

The pale white jasmine flowers floated in the tea, and they smelled faintly of osmanthus.

He smiled contentedly and said to Xu Junfang in the courtyard, "Junfang, come in."

Xu Junfang stepped into the living room carrying a bag of lychees. Looking at the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and ancient poems written on them, he chuckled to himself, "I didn't expect that Senior Brother Zhang would actually be hiding here and secretly running a tutoring class."

"Actually, this isn't a tutoring center."

The man, referred to as Senior Brother Zhang, chuckled and said, “The people living in this urban village aren’t exactly wealthy. Many couples have to work from dawn till dusk, and they simply don’t have the time or money to pay for expensive after-school care and tutoring classes. When I was young, I worked as a repairman, carried cement on construction sites, ran a small shop, and even taught for a while. But then I was hit by a drunk driver and broke my leg, so I couldn’t do any of those things anymore. Now I can only make ends meet by receiving a small welfare payment. I might as well do my part and tutor the children of the residents here.”

Xu Junfang fell silent.

"sit down."

Senior Brother Zhang poured Xu Junfang a cup of tea. Holding his nine-section staff, he smiled and said, "First comes fate, second luck, third feng shui, fourth accumulating good deeds, and fifth studying. Families living here are struggling financially. They work from dawn till dusk and can't save much money in a month. They dare not get seriously ill, and when they are sick or in pain, they can only grit their teeth and endure it. Poor children have no luck, no power, and no good deeds. Studying is their only chance to change their fate. Your senior brother is old, but I will help if I can."

Xu Junfang's lips twitched. After hesitating for a moment, he said in a low voice, "There has been a slight change, Senior Brother. The Nether Dragon you placed at the Gates of Hell is dead, and the stagnation of Yin energy accumulated in Ghost Street has been broken. The first plan is basically hopeless."

The middle-aged man didn't speak, but slowly closed his eyes, his expression neither surprised nor pleased. "Alas, it seems fate cannot be defied. In the end, I am still required to be the one to light this lamp?"

What I got in return was silence.

When do you plan to make your move?

"We still need to make some more preparations, Senior Brother Zhang."

Xu Junfang asked in a low voice, "Are you afraid of dying?"

The middle-aged man paused for a moment, poked his head, and said with a smile, "Are you confused? How many times have we died already?"

"No, I mean real death, this time when there's really nothing left."

Xu Junfang said seriously, "Memory, consciousness, and even the soul, all vanished into thin air."

"Of course, I'm not afraid."

The middle-aged man revealed a mischievous smile that didn't suit his age. "What's so scary about death? What people fear is dying without any value."

"value……"

Xu Junfang did not continue the discussion with him, but changed the subject, "According to the intelligence from my informants, the actions of the Dark Dragon and Ghost Street are not the work of the Special Affairs Bureau. I suspect that it is the player hunters who are behind this."

"Player hunters? When will these bastards finally all die?"

The middle-aged man couldn't help but laugh out loud. He looked up at the dark, cloud-covered sky, where muffled thunder rumbled. He shook his head and said, "Junfang, everything we've pursued for hundreds of years has been against the principles of Heaven and violated the laws of Heaven. Let alone those old fogies of the prophetic school who are stuck in their ways, even Heaven itself probably couldn't stand it and wanted to strike us dead with lightning. Hahahaha, cough cough."

The middle-aged man coughed violently a few times, covered his mouth with his hand, and when he released it, his hand was covered in scarlet blood. But his eyes were more resolute than ever before. "There's no time. Everything has to come at a price. It has to involve bloodshed."

Suddenly, one purple lotus after another bloomed in the water vat placed in the corner of the yard, densely filling the small vat.

The petals of the purple lotus are crystal clear, dreamlike and ethereal, exuding boundless fortune.

Xu Junfang was stunned and stood there.

"Senior brother, you..."

The cheap amplifier emitted a hoarse electrical hum, and the online novel it was playing had reached a thrilling moment. A clap of thunder boomed past, and the storyteller's impassioned voice echoed through the living room.

"Great Sage, where do you intend to go?"

—"Treading the southern sky, shattering the heavens."

"If they go and never return..."

—"And then he went and never returned!"

Senior Brother Zhang walked to the door with his nine-section staff, looked up at the sky with a disdainful expression, and muttered to himself, "Even if there are thousands of people, I will go."

"Hey, hey, hey, seriously, officer? Playing King of Glory doesn't have to be this dramatic, does it? In short, it's just..."

The sudden sound from the corner of the wall made the two people present subconsciously raise their heads and see a young man sitting on the wall, swinging his legs and smiling as he looked them over.

"Monkey top laner, if you don't feed, you'll feed?"

Chapter 82 The Human Instrumentality Project 6K

A 6,000-word chapter might be messed up if it's reviewed before release, so I'll have to merge all the chapters together and release them all at once.

Bai Ge leaped down from the wall and stood in front of the two people. The other party immediately became wary, their eyes scanning the mysterious young man who had suddenly appeared in front of them.

"You're from the Special Affairs Bureau? No, you don't have that kind of aura, I can't even sense the aura of a player."

Xu Junfang didn't sense any unique aura from him, frowned, and asked, "How did you find this place?"

Bai Ge pointed to his eyes and said, "To be honest, if it weren't for the lingering yin energy in the sky almost forming a vortex that converged on this person, I probably wouldn't have been able to find you two culprits. Even if I had just passed by and overheard your conversation, I probably would have called the mental hospital to come over and help the concerned citizens arrest you."

Xu Junfang noticed a strange light flashing in the other party's eyes and suddenly realized, "Is that the Eye of Truth... I feel like I underestimated you guys. No wonder the anti-tracking spell I cast on you didn't react at all. It turns out you came following the Yin energy."

Bai Ge was also uneasy. Just after stepping into this place out of curiosity, he received a mission prompt.

[Hidden Quest Unlocked: Stop the Revival of the Evil Lotus]

[Punishment for Failure: Annihilation]

[Reward Items: Necronomicon (Rare), Ancient God Clay Doll (Legendary), Perfect Quality Recovery Potion, Ancient God Blood (Rare)]

Seeing such a generous reward, Bai Ge would have been tempted to run away if it weren't for the fact that failing the mission would result in his death.

He glanced at the panel, which was almost at LV7, and his face turned pale.

Is this a Sekiro game where you immediately fight Ashina Isshin at his peak after just entering the game?

Could it be that Hidetaka Miyazaki was involved behind this broken system?

Bai Ge's lips twitched slightly, but he tried his best to maintain a calm expression.

"Let me tell you a story before you take action."

The middle-aged man, leaning on a nine-section cane, slowly sat down and said in a low voice, "We are not bad people, but of course we are not good people in the true sense either."

"Even though I slaughtered an entire street in one night, constantly creating 'dead money' to collect lives for the sake of yin energy, am I a good person?"

Bai Ge sneered, "Is it because you lack morals that you are not afraid of moral condemnation at all?"

"Aren't these urban villages in the old city a microcosm of human society?"

He didn't answer Bai Ge's question directly, a gentle glint in his eyes. "Everywhere here are people struggling in the mud, just trying to survive. Look, Old Wang, who rents next door, has end-stage renal disease, but he refuses to spend money on treatment because his son needs to go to school, so he has to keep it a secret from his family. Old Li, who lives diagonally across the street, fell at the construction site and is now paralyzed on one side, confined to bed and cared for by his wife. His compensation money was squandered by his gambling son. The flower by the door belongs to Grandpa Sun, who was abandoned by his children and makes a living by collecting garbage. A few days ago, he was hit and killed by a drunk driver while collecting garbage on the street. Before he died, he tightly clutched a small toy he had given to his grandson. Ali, a high school student whose father died early and who takes care of her mother with cerebral palsy alone, is also taking the college entrance exam this year."

The middle-aged man has lived in this urban village for decades, knows his neighbors like the back of his hand, and has an inseparable and deep affection for them.

"They are at the bottom of society, the trash that some millionaires would look down on."

"Online, I was called lazy, poor, low-class, disgusting, and full of hostility. Instead of working hard, I complain about society all day long."

"When taking the subway, I'm even afraid of being considered dirty, so I'd rather sit on the floor than sit in a seat."

Senior Brother Zhang seemed to recall something and muttered to himself, "They just came from bad backgrounds; they didn't intend to harm anyone else."

Those well-dressed people walking among the skyscrapers don't even want to look at the struggling masses; their indifferent eyes are filled with a sense of superiority.

The residents of the dilapidated old town, familiar faces, bleak lives, their eyes filled with pity and love.

Every life wants to live on.

Xu Junfang coldly added, "Have you ever witnessed famine years when food was scarce and people couldn't support their children, so they chose to sell their children into the Daoist sect, only to find years later that their children had been skinned and their tendons used to make wicks for the Heavenly Lamp? Have you ever witnessed people voluntarily cutting off their own flesh so that their children wouldn't starve to death? My senior brother and I have lived for hundreds and thousands of years and have witnessed far too many tragedies."

Bai Ge felt a chill run down her spine, sensing that the two were plotting something more serious than a trivial matter. "What exactly are you two trying to do?"

"End this cannibalistic world."

The middle-aged man glanced at his watch, leaned on his nine-section cane, walked to the water vat, and plucked a lotus flower from the top and bottom.

The lotus flower, blooming under the influence of Yin energy, withered rapidly in his hands. The middle-aged man muttered to himself, "Xu City's Ghost Street has nurtured Yin energy for hundreds of years. I merely wished to use this Yin energy as a seed, the bones of the Nether Dragon as the root marrow, and the Blood Moon as the foundation to cultivate a lotus flower. Unfortunately, the Nether Dragon was destroyed, and most of the Yin energy nurtured for hundreds of years has spilled away, making it almost impossible to cultivate a lotus flower through the Daoist tradition. The only thing I can do is use my flesh and blood, and my soul, as a guiding light to nourish the lotus flower."

Bai Ge's eyelids twitched, an ominous premonition filled his heart, and his palms were sweating with tension. "What the hell is this 'Taoist Lotus Cultivation' thing?"

"It is a 'monster' that can pull all humans who see the blood moon into a grand dream without them even realizing it. Humans in reality no longer maintain their human form and are absorbed by the monster, becoming lotus flowers on the branches. Time in the dream is slowed down to the extreme, and everyone will continue to live peacefully. All their regrets and wishes in reality will be fulfilled in the dream."

"Born into happiness, all beings are equal, there is no illness or pain, healthy growth, happy families, successful careers, no gap between rich and poor, and not even bloody and terrifying games. Everyone can realize their life ideals and values ​​in their dreams. In the end, they lie on a hospital bed, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, and die without regrets, having lived out their lives."

Bai Ge felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing the middle-aged man's plan, and stared intently at him.

This guy is a real talent; it's a real shame he's not involved in developing the Human Instrumentality Project.

"For this plan, I deceived all the high-ranking members of the prophetic school. Although some conditions are not yet ripe, it is enough."

Bai Ge couldn't help but ask, "Who exactly are you?"

"My surname is Zhang, and my given name is Zhang Jiao."

The nine-section staff in his hand flickered with arcs of electricity, becoming increasingly dazzling.

A smile appeared on the lips of this ordinary middle-aged man who had once carried cement bags on construction sites, repaired shoes, fixed bicycles, and delivered takeout. "I once used my life as a sword to sever the fate of the corrupt and tyrannical Eastern Han Dynasty."

He raised his hand high, his ten fingers like hooks, pointing to the sky, "Today, I will once again sacrifice my flesh and blood and my soul to save all mankind."

"..."

Zhang Jiao planted his staff in the ground, which triggered thunder, and the thunder roared.

"Junior Brother Junfang, I'll take my leave first."

With the last lingering attachment to the world in his eyes, he clasped his hands together and calmly said, "Goodbye."

Zhang Jiao's feet began to harden, turning into rough, sturdy tree bark. Buds sprouted from his entire body, blossoming into swaying flowers. The physical transformation was extremely painful, but his face, slowly turning into a tree trunk, remained serene, peaceful, and gentle.

“His name is Ksitigarbha. In the five turbid worlds, he will always manifest in various forms to save sentient beings from calamities.”

He held a lotus flower, which was formed from countless yin energies and had no physical form, in his hand, and said softly, "It is filled with suffering, which is truly terrifying."

"If I don't go to hell, who will?"

Behind Zhang Jiao, a compassionate Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha appeared, adorned with a jeweled crown and necklace, holding a jewel in his left hand and a staff in his right, seated on a thousand-petaled blue lotus, his eyes slightly closed.

The ordinary people living in the old town were unaware of what was happening, but they all felt a warm and peaceful breeze blowing gently.

The accumulated yin energy was completely absorbed, and a blood-red moon hung in the sky.

Blood Moon Descends!

People leaving get off work in the old town looked up and, without exception, saw the blood-red moon.