My wife is an immortal black snake.

8 month 5 day.

When the reconnaissance squad stationed at the border checkpoint where the Duchy of Kosiché and the Duchy of Nikolai intersected reported that the main force of the Duke of Nikolai's army was slowly advancing—

Yang Hao and Kosiché were handling business at home.

Meanwhile, Hela, under the protection of Monica and Serpent Scales, was enthusiastically preparing to execute the mischievous boy in the Duke's prison while conducting her soul-collecting experiment.

Although Monica, the head maid who truly treated Hela like a daughter, had some complaints, she only vented her dissatisfaction on Duke Yang Hao's waist, who was already pitiful that night. Therefore, when it was time to officially begin the experiment, Monica simply stood aside and watched, ready to record Hela's actions at any time.

"Sister Monica~!"

Because of Monica's care for her, Hela's affection for Monica is definitely higher than her affection for Koschei. She already calls Monica "sister," which shows the depth of their relationship. As for Duke Koschei, who is still called "aunt," he still needs to work harder on taking care of the children.

"What's wrong, little Hela?"

Monica simply smiled at Hela's call, and then, under the eerie gaze of the snake scales, she walked up to Hela, who was holding a scythe, and reached out to rub Hela's cheek in front of the terrified but immobile "Mischievous Kid".

"Is it alright for Aunt Sonia to be with Daddy?"

"Ms. Sonia... Ah, no problem. Hela just needs to focus on her own affairs, okay?"

"Good~"

Hela asked a good question—is it really okay to let Sonia stay by Lord Yang Hao's side?!

Monica really doesn't approve of the way the deep-sea hunter treats adults—she's practically trying to turn them into useless wretches!

But thinking about it carefully, if Lord Kosicheck is also there watching, there shouldn't be any problem, right?

So Monica's doubts quickly subsided, and she smiled and told Hela to focus on her own business. After Hela obediently nodded, she took a few steps back, picked up her pen and paper again, and prepared to record everything in front of her.

After receiving a reassuring answer from her sister Monica, Hela blinked and stood before the "naughty boy" she was about to execute, scythe in hand.

Hela's ability to collect souls is destined to involve the dead—regardless of whether those deaths were caused by her or others, as long as they have died, Hela can extract their souls.

In a sense, this also means that Hela will be the absolute nemesis of immortals like Koschche who achieve immortality by constantly "inheriting bodies"... and indeed that is the case.

Although Yang Hao and Monica did not want Hela to create the dead by herself, since their child insisted, couldn't the parents just soften their hearts and let her have her way?

Monica sighed. She watched Hela's every move with a sense of helplessness, and then—

Hela has begun to take action.

She stood on the ground, tossed her long, silvery-white hair, and finally, Hela revealed a serious expression that Monica had never seen before.

"—Are you ready to face death, mortal?"

Hela said. As she spoke, the air around her seemed to freeze, forming a separate space.

The person Hela questioned, the mischievous boy who was completely immobilized and unable to utter a single word, couldn't even shake his head in denial. Frost began to condense on his body, and Monica, with her Ascended senses, noticed that his body seemed to be pulled into another world...

Before Monica could continue paying attention to the details, Hela swung her scythe.

A sharp scythe made of an unknown material sliced ​​through the mischievous boy's body, cleaving him in two. The scythe's surface remained completely dry, not because it was so sharp it was watertight, but because its blade trailed a wisp of white, cloud-like mist.

"This is...?"

The fog gradually took on the shape of a human, and then disappeared without a trace.

And it was during Fog's childhood that the mischievous ghost's bleeding corpse turned gray. It stopped bleeding, exuding an aura of death and annihilation. Like a sand sculpture, it gradually began to sink, eventually disappearing without a trace.

The trace of the mischievous boy's existence has vanished completely. His body has turned into a small puddle of ashes, and his soul has been taken by Hela.

When Monica realized this—reverting to the innocent child she once was, Hela, who had somehow begun tugging at her skirt, laughing and begging her sister Monica to take her to their father to boast.

"...Okay, let's go."

Monica gazed at Hela's smile, and after a moment, she smiled back. She then signaled the snake scales to collect everything at the scene before taking Hela's hand and leaving the underground prison.

......

[Event: First Collection]

Hela successfully collected souls for the first time. As an imperfect living doll, this was her first step towards ascension and the "perfection" she desired.

But she wasn't happy about these things—she was happy that she could finally help you.

You can now view her data.

Yang Hao blinked, thinking that Hela had already completed the test they required—she had collected a soul for the first time. In other words, had she killed that naughty boy?

He'd have to wait until Monica and Hela returned to know the details, but for now...

"Sonia? Could you bring me two cold drinks?"

"Yes. Mr. Yang Hao, was your experiment successful?"

"Yes. Um... I'll wake her up later, you can go ahead."

"understood."

Sonia gently stroked Yang Hao's hair before leaving. Just as Sonia went to prepare drinks, Yang Hao rubbed the ear of Koschei, who was napping in his arms. He checked Hela's data, hoping to bring her good news when she woke up.

So, what is Henrietta Lack's condition?

Under Yang Hao's concerned gaze... [Puppet Stage] provided a statistic:

[Living Doll: Hela]

Age: 12 years old

Individual bravery: 30

Traits: Death God of the Spirit World, Incomplete Divine Puppet

Description: A powerful individual who is not fragile. If she were to infiltrate a city, she could easily use her abilities to turn that city into a true ghost town.

But all abilities come at a price—she is not mature yet, and every action you make her take will affect the direction of her growth.

Will the future bring a just Grim Reaper, or a tyrannical one? Or perhaps a Grim Reaper who blesses mortals, or even a Grim Reaper who belongs to you?

This is a result of your education.

Chapter 79

When Kosichie woke up drowsily from her nap, she found her sexually aroused husband constantly playing with her tail and ears.

She felt an uncontrollable tingling and pleasure emanating from two sensitive areas. She shivered, complaining about how sensitive her body was, while simultaneously opening her eyes and biting the fingers of her husband's hand that were sliding down his hair and stroking her cheek.

"Ouch!"

"You actually tried to touch me while I was sleeping. Why don't you try a little harder every night?"

"Hahahaha..."

She looked extremely embarrassed and pale when she saw Yang Hao smile, but oh well, isn't it nice to be in charge every night?

So after grumbling for a moment, Kosiche released her grip. She licked Yang Hao's fingers, then licked the spot where she had bitten him. After a while, as their cheeks flushed and a rosy atmosphere filled the audience hall, she finally finished.

"So, darling, have you discovered anything?"

She lay on Yang Hao's lap, wiping her mouth with his clothes as she asked. She noticed that her actions had aroused her husband. "Sigh, can't we do it when we get back?" she thought. "Really."

She looked at the little tent bulging out of his pants, chuckled mischievously, and then reached out and pointed at the erect thing.

Even through her pants, she could feel an exciting heat emanating from her. If it weren't for the fact that this was the audience hall, she really would...

"Ah, um..." After being teased by his lovely wife, Yang Hao blushed and laughed awkwardly a few times before getting straight to the point: "In short—Hela isn't as fragile as we thought, you know? She's even more capable than most soldiers and capable generals, it's just... her worldview isn't fully developed yet."

"...I understand the first part, but what does the second part mean?"

"It means that the things we arrange for her will affect her future. If we play with her every day, she will become a spoiled child. If we accompany her to study every day, she will study hard and strive for excellence."

"If we let her kill, does that mean she'll become a serial killer or a good soldier?"

"Hmm. But this is definitely not something that will have a long-term impact from doing the first thing... As long as we guide them properly, it will be fine."

“I understand now. Aside from unavoidable events like this one, we’ll have to worry about our children’s education in the future… Alright, I have experience with that, I’ll handle it—but only after the war is over.”

Having said that, Kosicie sat up on Yang Hao's lap. She stretched lazily, gently flicked Yang Hao's neck with her tail to wake him up quickly, and then smiled at Ms. Sonia, who was just bringing over drinks not far away:

"And speaking of which, Ms. Sonia, you're quite good at taking care of children too!"

"Hmm? Hmm, Ms. Koschei, if you put it that way, it's true." Faced with Koschei's sudden interruption, Sonia's mother first glanced at Yang Hao, who was inexplicably sweating profusely, then smiled and nodded, placing a tray carrying two glasses of cold drinks beside their seats. "But Hela probably isn't suitable for me to train. She has her own fighting style, and our Deepsea Hunter training is too cruel for that child."

"That's true."

Kosiche took two cold drinks and handed one to Yang Hao. After taking a few sips to refresh herself, she said, "Let's get back to work."

...... ......

While everyone at the Duke's mansion worked diligently, the reconnaissance troops at the front lines, having gathered all the necessary intelligence, chose to withdraw immediately. They planned to deploy warning traps along the way; these traps, triggered by ropes and capable of launching signal flares into the sky, would provide them with additional information on the progress of Duke Nikolai's main force.

Before the retreat, many soldiers felt a chill run down their spines at the deathly silence of Duke Nikolai's army—after all, to be honest, it was far too quiet for an army.

Apart from the sound of their footsteps as they moved, and the rumbling of the mobile city behind them, whose surface was already corroded by flesh and blood, the entire army moved in a quiet, swaying motion.

Occasionally, some scouts with keen ears, who were listening for enemy movements through listening devices deployed in the shadows ahead, would hear strange laughter coming from there. But when they tried to use their binoculars to observe the approximate location of the listening device in order to find the source of the laughter, they could only see the gruesome scene of Duke Nikolai's soldiers surrounding a militia.

"What on earth are those lunatics doing?"

Observing the approaching army through binoculars, the scout muttered something while sweating profusely as he ordered the sorcerer to bring back the drone flying in the sky.

"Don't ask me, I don't want to know what they're doing—and among those infantry groups, there are quite a few things that are two or three people tall, those are flesh golems?"

"I've heard it's a very powerful monster; I'm not sure if we can withstand it..."

"So we need to evacuate quickly and bring the intelligence back! And how could Duke Nikolai's city have become such a horrific state?! Even if he really killed all his people, it shouldn't have come to this, right?"

"Who knows."

The scouts who remained behind quickly took everything they needed. After packing everything up, they hurried away, ready to return as fast as possible to report back.

Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Duchy of Nikolai also underwent strange changes under the influence of the city's blasphemous rituals.

The bodies of the soldiers who were closer to the flesh puppet were gradually moving towards it, merging together and becoming new "organs" on the flesh puppet, wielding weapons and moving about.

Those elite soldiers clad in high-level armor transformed into new monsters through the fusion of flesh and metal.

They have gradually lost their human form; their skin and metal have fused together, and new organs have grown on their bodies—perhaps a third hand, or perhaps a fifth pair of eyes.

As they gradually lost their minds, they ascended the path to becoming Ascended, then fell, eventually becoming unspeakable monsters and food for Duke Nikolai.

Chapter 80, 8.7.1

February 8.

After accepting all the refugees, all the garrison troops still active abroad, and gathering all the resources that could still be collected, the entire megacity began to move westward—in the direction of the Nikolai Duchy's attack—in an attempt to buy a few more days to produce more weapons and train more soldiers to prepare for the upcoming war.

During this time, the first caravan that went out to purchase food returned, bringing with them a large amount of food. However, this food could only sustain the city for three more days at most, which was a drop in the ocean compared to the city's enormous needs.

During this period, the Duchy of Kosice implemented a rationing system, with the wounded and soldiers receiving the largest rations, followed by workers and medical personnel, then general service workers, and finally, the idle refugees and those unable to work. This system did not generate much public outcry within the Duchy of Kosice, because everyone knew that whether the city could survive until peace arrived depended on the sacrifices of soldiers and the efforts of workers and medical personnel.

Meanwhile, Her Majesty's army was also making a concerted effort to advance towards the Duchy of Kosiché. Her army was undefeated, but faced with a protracted siege, she had to halt to ensure the complete capture of the city—in this situation, even if Her Majesty intended to make progress by directly defeating Duke Nikolai's main force and then advancing towards the heart of the Sherlock Holmes nightclub, it would be futile. Because she could not afford to ignore the city built of tunnels and above ground; it simply couldn't.

"So His Majesty really can't be relied on—by the way, Kosiché, how's the construction of our defenses going?"

"Anti-flying devices have been built in the outlying districts facing the direction of Duke Nikolai's main force. But I think the outlying districts will be destroyed in the first round of attacks, and then our soldiers will have to fight them in urban warfare on the ruins of the city."

"So we're going to lose several outlying districts no matter what—oh right, I remember our eastern districts aren't very smooth, are they? Let's treat those protruding districts as salients in the battle line, and then we need to evacuate the residents there immediately..."

"Okay. I'll leave this to you—I'll handle the military matters."

"Row."

During this period, Duke and Duchess Koschei had a clear division of labor: he dealt with people's livelihood, and she dealt with politics. Apart from the fact that Hela often snuggled in Yang Hao's arms recently, which made Koschei very angry, and that Monica, the head maid, felt uncomfortable with Sonia's mother's doting on Mr. Yang Hao, everything was fine.

So, after picking up the drowsy Hela from his arms and handing her to Head Maid Monica for care, Yang Hao took Sonia and her mother to the administrative office to carry out their work. After Yang Hao left, Duke Kosiché began her military planning. Utilizing her years of connections and experience, she meticulously planned the strategic deployment for the eastern outpost while also trying to obtain assistance from others through the communicator.

This was destined to be no easy task, but fortunately, Kosiché's connections proved very effective—at her urging, nobles and generals who had previously attended her gatherings responded via expensive communicators. Since His Majesty the Emperor couldn't come to our aid anytime soon, it wouldn't be too late to send others.

After a while, Kosiché nodded in satisfaction and hung up his communicator. He had secured the support of a total of 3 soldiers with just a few words, although they had arrived in batches, with the closest batch being only 3 men and still a day's journey away—but that was enough.

The Duchy of Kosiché is currently in dire need of soldiers; if they can fill the gaps in the front lines, that will suffice.

"Phew... at least this way, in the midst of this continuous war, we can get support from outside soldiers from time to time. Monica, how's the situation with our militia?"

"People are enthusiastically joining the army. We now have over 3 untrained militia members—and that's after we've screened out many of the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled."

"Thirty thousand militiamen? That's our total number now."