WorldCrafter - Building My Underground Kingdom-Chapter 214: Temptation
Chapter 214: Temptation
Apophis’s tone shifted, turning flirtatious once more.
“And that’s why you’re still alive, my dear master~.”
She stepped forward, slow and deliberate, until only a single step separated them.
“Let’s make a trade. Free me… and I’ll grant your deepest wish.”
Ben let out a sharp laugh, but his guard never dropped. His aura flared subtly, coiled like a spring. His instincts were screaming now, every cell on high alert.
“You really think I’d release the one thing keeping me safe?” he said coolly. “Nice try.”
Apophis’s smile faded. Her eyes turned sharp, and her voice dropped, cold as the void.
“Do you even understand there are fates far worse than death?”
Ben’s grin widened. “If you’d said that when I first arrived in this world… maybe I’d have folded. But now?”
He stepped forward, refusing to yield.
“Go ahead. Try me. Let’s see who breaks first.”
Apophis moved in closer. Too close.
Her face hovered inches from his, but there was no warmth, only an overwhelming, suffocating cold.
It was like looking at death.
Then she whispered, “Do you even know where you are?”
She snapped her fingers.
The world shifted. In an instant, the broken space was gone, replaced by a familiar city.
Ben stood in the middle of a wide, sunlit street. Cars passed. People laughed in the distance. Buildings rose around him.
And it hit him, He knew this place. It was home, his old home.
Towering glass skyscrapers loomed on all sides, their windows reflecting the hazy afternoon sun. Traffic lights blinked overhead. Horns blared. Yellow taxis weaved between lanes. A bus rumbled past him, its tires screeching as it turned the corner.
People moved around him, dressed in modern clothes, suits, headphones, handbags, coffee cups. Laughter echoed from a sidewalk café.
Apophis’s voice echoed beside him, rich and laced with temptation.
“This is my domain. Here, I’m the god. I can do whatever I want.”
Ben turned slowly, eyes narrowed.
“You think offering me paradise will win me over?”
His lips curled into a cold smirk.
“If anything, I’d just keep your soul locked away and live in your fake utopia myself.”
Then the smile vanished.
“But what makes you think I’d accept that? Living in a lie?”
Apophis smiled softly, stepping forward.
“Of course not. I’m not foolish enough to offer this to you. My real offer is different.”
She raised the glowing sphere in her hand.
“Don’t you want to return to your old world?”
Ben’s expression darkened.
“Hah. The world where I lived like a rat?” he scoffed. “No.”
“Oh, you did live like that, before. Because you were powerless. But now… what could the current you do if you went back?”
Apophis circled him slowly, her tone light, almost playful. But every word struck like a needle.
“Don’t you want to go back and put your old boss in his place?” she whispered.
Ben didn’t respond, but his gaze hardened.
“You remember him, don’t you?” she continued. “The guy who got the foreman job because his uncle ran the company. While you worked fourteen-hour shifts in freezing rain, he spent the day in the trailer, air conditioning, coffee, and his feet on the desk.”
The scene around them shifted, no longer the city.
Now it was a construction site. Mud. Scaffolding. Steel beams. The sound of hammers in the distance.
Ben stood at the edge of it all, watching his old self, grimy, exhausted, shoulders burning as he hauled rebar under the sun. And there he was: the boss.
Leaning against a stack of crates, talking too close to a young woman in office heels, laughing too loud, eyes never leaving her chest.
Apophis stepped beside Ben.
“He never lifted a damn thing, but he got paid triple. You gave your youth, your strength, and he handed out orders between flings. And when anything went wrong?”
She snapped her fingers.
A memory surfaced, Ben being chewed out in front of the whole crew.
His boss screaming, red-faced, while upper management nodded from a distance.
“You took the fall for his mistakes.”
The scene faded.
Apophis turned toward him, her golden eyes narrowing.
“But now? With your power? You could go back and make him carry the weight. Bury him in the dirt he thought you belonged to. Let him see what it’s like when the weak become gods.”
Another shift, A city skyline rising behind Ben. Skyscrapers. Neon signs. The smell of gasoline and asphalt. People rushing by, unaware of what he could do.
Apophis held up the system fragment, now pulsing faster, like a heartbeat.
“You could rewrite your story, Ben,” she said, stepping closer. No more humiliations. No more debts. No more begging to live a decent life.”
She leaned close enough for him to feel the chill of her breath.
“You wouldn’t just survive in that world anymore… You’d own it.”
Her voice dropped, almost a whisper,
“Every woman you ever dreamed of. All the wealth, the power, the status. It would all be yours.”
She smiled, slow and wicked.
“And those who crossed you, those who treated you like trash?”
Her eyes gleamed gold.
“Oh, they’re in for a treat.”
Ben would be lying if he said he wasn’t tempted.
Not by the women. Not the wealth. Not the status. But the chance to put those who treated him like trash in their place?
To force every smug face that once looked down on him to kneel?
His heart stirred. Rage long buried clawed its way to the surface. For the first time in a long while, he hesitated.
Apophis saw it. And pressed harder.
“If you’re afraid I’m lying…” she said gently, “don’t be.”
She held up the glowing system core. “This, this is how I know. How I know your past, your pain, your hatred. It’s thanks to the system. With it, I can send you back to your world.”
She stepped even closer, voice turning solemn.
“Take what you want. Get your revenge. And if you still don’t trust me… return the soul after it’s done. I’ll swear it now, on soul oath. I will never harm you.”
Her hand extended. “Just say yes.”
