I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 280 - 244: Do Your Utmost, Leave the Rest to Fate
East of Wangshan City.
The black flag with red characters of the Evil Suppression Bureau was planted on the ground, flapping in the wind. A bonfire was lit to dispel the chill of the deep winter night.
The people who survived the disaster saw the light, saw the flag of the Evil Suppression Bureau, and ran here crying and wailing to gather.
It was supposed to be a time for family reunion on New Year’s Eve, but every household experienced life-and-death separation.
He Buning’s face was pale, covered with a cloak that was not clean, gathering all the Day Traveling Envoys and ordinary constables who escaped from the Evil Suppression Bureau, totaling just over thirty people.
The commotion in the city had long since ceased. Xiao Liu led a team to investigate, while He Buning paced nervously.
Before long, he saw the Black Donkey carrying Xia Chan rushing out of the forest. Xia Chan’s hair was disheveled, and she was crying so hard she could hardly breathe.
He Buning quickly stepped forward, took off his cloak, and wrapped the shivering Xia Chan with it.
"Where’s your sister?"
He thought Sang Que should have escaped with Xia Chan by now.
"Sister... Sister went back..." Xia Chan cried.
He Buning’s face turned pale, still haunted by the echo of that mistaken call of ’brother’ Sang Que had left with him when she handed him the mirror.
"Boss!"
Xiao Liu ran over, out of breath.
"Nothing’s wrong in the city. Except for large-scale subsidence and collapse, there are no evil spirits or ghosts. It’s unbelievably clean."
He Buning’s voice trembled uncontrollably, "Where is Sang Er?"
Xiao Liu shook his head, "Couldn’t find him, didn’t see Yu Da either. The strange thing that appeared over at the Evil Suppression Bureau vanished, leaving only a big pit, within a radius of ten miles there’s not even a corpse, but I did find these."
Xiao Liu took out a broken Hundred Victory Saber, jade bracelet fragments, and some arrows, all belonging to Sang Que.
"And... this."
Xiao Liu frowned, holding up a blood-stained cloth bundle, and slowly opened it to reveal the no longer beating heart inside.
"Looks like it was... extracted alive."
"Is this my sister’s?" Xia Chan asked fearfully.
He Buning’s vision darkened, and Xiao Liu quickly supported him.
The Yin Child’s heart was in Shengjing. She lacked a heart and would inevitably rip out someone else’s. Did the Yin Child backfire on Sang Que?
Without a heart, how could Sang Que live?
"Boss, you must take care. There’s still no trace of the Corpse Nest. If this is true, we’ll need you to command everyone in handling it."
He Buning took a deep breath to calm down, pondered carefully for a moment, and his expression turned grim.
"Go to the nearest courier station, mobilize everyone, notify all of Qinzhou, say the Yin Child has invaded, Wangshan City is ruined, with nearly twenty thousand dead or injured. Evil Suppression Bureau’s Female Night Wanderer Sang Mulan, Day Travel Captain Cui Cheng, Day Travel..."
He Buning stopped and realized he didn’t even know Yu Da’s real name, angrily clenching his fist, then loosening it powerlessly.
"...Day Travel Yu Da, Night Travel Qi Shiping fought to stop them. The ghost disaster is temporarily quelled. Ask each city to deploy personnel to support quickly. Write it like this, not a word wrong or missing, use the shortest time to let everyone in Qinzhou know about this!"
"Yes!"
Xiao Liu did not question it at all, immediately took the order to proceed. In the past, Xiao Liu would have asked why it was written this way, would have questioned if He Buning spreading the news violated the rules of the Evil Suppression Bureau.
But now Xiao Liu must be like his Fifth Brother, be the most trusted subordinate of the Captain, asking nothing not to be asked, saying nothing not to be said!
Xia Chan cried and shouted to find Sang Que, but He Buning forcibly held her back, "She will be fine."
"You’re lying, you all lie to Little Chan, you’re all bad people!" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
He Buning couldn’t comfort her because he didn’t know how the situation would end.
The Ghost Opera Troupe wanted to use the Wangshan City incident to spread fear, so he redirected that fear onto the Yin Child.
Sang Que told him the Yin Child needed the fear of ten thousand people to return to Ghost Level, as long as the news spread, terrifying ten thousand people wouldn’t be hard.
The name Sang Mulan might be fake, but her identity as a Female Night Wanderer is unique, and the incense offering from the people could fall on her.
No matter her situation now, joining the Yin Child to step into the Ghost Level might be her only way to survive, it’s just...
He feared it might be too late!
Years ago, he was too late to see his mother one last time to ask everything clear, now he was too late to speak openly with the sister he finally found, to explain everything clearly.
Looking at the heart, He Buning felt regret, self-blame, and heartache.
There was also Cui Cheng, Xiao Wu, and Yu Da. Even though he knew the result couldn’t be reversed, he still held a glimmer of hope that a miracle would happen.
All he could do was this.
After calming Xia Chan, He Buning found her some food to restore her strength, then immediately threw himself into the aftermath work.
The sky gradually brightened, the night gradually passed, and the Corpse Nest the Ghost Opera Troupe mentioned never appeared. He Buning didn’t know why, so he could only keep everyone on high alert.
Around Wangshan City, more people were gradually arriving, the sound of sobbing lingering for a long time.
Drenched, with red water grasses covering him, Qin Ze panted heavily, anxiously searching through the crowd.
Near the bonfire, Old Ma, who always set up a stall near the Evil Suppression Bureau, was holding a jar of wine and crying.
Yun Niang leaned against a tree, silently weeping, humming an unknown tune, gently patting a sleeping child.
There were also a group of Orphanage children, sitting in a circle not far from Yun Niang and her daughter, crying softly with their backs to everyone.
"Stop crying, we survived, we need to thank Mr. Liu and the Divine Envoy of the Thousand-faced God, let’s together thank the Thousand-faced God, ask the Thousand-faced God to bless Teacher and Sister, okay?"
Someone suggested, and the children all took Divine Statues out of their school bags, but without exception, each child’s Divine Statue had a cracked face.
The children looked at each other helplessly, then the girl who suggested said again,
"It’s okay, we’ll fix the face of the Divine Statue. When we grow up and have our families, our descendants will also worship the Thousand-faced God, the Thousand-faced God will definitely continue to protect us."
"Yes!"
The children all nodded, digging mud from the ground, earnestly mending the cracked faces of the Divine Statues.
A thousand people have a thousand faces, and every face the children crafted was different.
...
"Have any of you seen my wife Wan’er?"
Qin Ze searched everywhere but couldn’t find Lian Wan’er and his two sons, he knelt to the ground in despair, crying bitterly.
In such a world, living without seeing people, dying without seeing bodies, it was all too common.
He was not the only one who couldn’t find his family.
*
The rosy light pierced Yao Zhen’s eyes. She raised her hand to shield them and slowly opened them.
Five children with large doll heads squatted around Yao Zhen, staring at her with five weird smiling faces the moment she opened her eyes, instantly alerting her.
After the initial alertness, she realized,
"I’m not dead."
"You were very lucky, a hair’s breadth away from death."
A man’s voice came from the side. Yao Zhen waved her hand, and the five large doll heads vanished on the spot, becoming five dolls on the vendor’s rack beside her.
Yao Zhen looked at the one-eyed young man sitting by the rack, tapping his leg, frowning as she tried to remember who he was.
It’s the Ghost Vendor. They were somewhat familiar with each other, but she could never remember him.
The Ghost Vendor also looked extremely weary, "You’re too stubborn. Luckily, the Five Ghosts transmitted the message, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it to save you."
Yao Zhen lowered her eyes. She almost forgot, the Five Ghosts have their transmission methods. Any Five Ghosts cultivated through the Taoist Sect’s ’Five Ghosts Transporting Skill,’ as long as there’s a mark left, can communicate with each other.
"What about the Corpse Nest?"
"It was lured into the deep mountains, probably to find a place to sleep, only to awaken next spring."
Yao Zhen retrieved her iron sword, propped herself up, and stood.
The Ghost Vendor said, "Wangshan City was destroyed, we didn’t make it in time."
Yao Zhen’s outstretched hand paused, her eyes dimmed, she had no one to blame.
Man’s efforts sometimes fall short, and destiny is hard to fight.
No matter how ordinary people revered the Nine Songs as deities, they were only flesh and blood, not at the level of Ghost Gods. Moreover, their foundation had been ruined. They were no longer the Nine Songs of the past.
Yao Zhen sometimes truly wished that the people of the Nine Songs possessed Divine Power, so her master would not age and would live on forever.
"It’s not your fault; Mo Yan Shu must have interfered."
The Ghost Vendor also stood up, "Someone is already after him, and we will deal with it."
"Alright, since there’s nothing else to be done, let’s part ways."
"Take care."
And so they parted ways, Yao Zhen, carrying her injuries, continued traveling, earning money to restore the Taoist Temple.
The vendor continued carrying his load, traveling from place to place, making a living by selling goods.
The golden crow rose in the east, and the rosy light fell upon the ruins of Wangshan City, scarred and broken, as the despairing night had passed.
Those who survived must continue to live.
