absurd deduction game.

Yu Xing released her mouth.

He raised his head, his lips moving away from the container's pale neck, leaving a trail of thick, dark red blood. He casually stuck out his tongue, licking the crimson stain on his lower lip, and swallowed the last bit of nourishment.

My body was trembling slightly.

It was a kind of euphoric tremor, like that of someone who has just eaten a large meal.

The abundant "nutrients" with high-level pollution were being swallowed and absorbed, continuously transforming into the power of the curse within him. A long-lost, solid sense of "satisfaction" was rising up his spine, almost making him sigh.

The cursed branches surrounding him seemed to sense this satisfaction, and slowly wriggled and stretched out in a lazy and pleasant manner.

The branches rubbed against each other, making a faint rustling sound that only Yu Xing could clearly perceive.

[Delicious! I want more!]

[Grandpa and Grandma, I'm finally full!]

I want to be an astronaut, and my grandparents are so happy! They gave me my favorite treats!

[A big slap in the face.]

Over there, there are even bigger ones... in the sky.

The branches' "gaze" pierced through the attic, pointing towards the sky; their subconscious greedily locked onto the sinking blood moon, radiating endless filth and energy.

Following this feeling, Yu Xing raised her head.

His pupils clearly reflected the terrifying celestial body that occupied almost his entire field of vision.

A dark red, murky light enveloped everything, and the crater structures on the moon's surface, resembling festering wounds, seemed so close they could almost be touched.

He looked at the moon, then lowered his head slightly to look at the "container" he was holding in his arms, the wound on his neck slowly wriggling as it tried to close.

Despite his towering 1.9-meter frame, the container's slender figure appeared quite small.

“That moon,” Yu Xing began, her voice slightly hoarse from swallowing and excitement, “wasn’t it the ‘eye’ you placed around this planet beneath our feet long ago?”

Inside the container, the twin nebula-like eyes stared silently at him.

“If you really are the so-called ‘combination of countless stars’,” Yu Xing continued, his tone carrying an almost mocking certainty, “you probably wouldn’t care about such a small star that gave birth to humanity. In the vast universe, such planets are as numerous as dust. And you wouldn’t… be so easily blocked from the outside for so long by the rule barrier set up by other righteous gods working together.”

He paused, staring at those inhuman eyes.

"You are exaggerating your 'concept'. You may come from the stars, but you are not the stars themselves."

The container remained silent for a moment.

On that young but stiff face, the muscles twitched slightly again, as if trying to understand or respond to this "questioning".

"Are you so certain?" His voice was hollow and flat, yet it seemed to carry some invisible weight. "As a human, how much do you really know about the stars? The scale of the universe and the realm of the gods are things that humans cannot comprehend. Your brains cannot bear this knowledge."

Therefore, the only way to uncover the secrets is to coexist with the monster and alter the structure of existence.

Just like esoteric Buddhism.

“I don’t need to know anything further away.” Yu Xing tugged at the corners of his mouth, a smile devoid of warmth. “But it’s clear that the sun, this star… doesn’t belong to you.”

The instant those words were spoken, the thick, dark red aura of contamination surrounding the container momentarily became imperceptibly disordered.

It's a very slight change, but for someone of high status, it's almost equivalent to a dramatic emotional fluctuation.

In the corner, Carlos, who had been maintaining spatial isolation, suddenly groaned, raised his hand and pressed hard on half of his head, his knuckles turning white, and more cold sweat instantly seeped out of his forehead. The air cutting plane around him also showed subtle distortions and ripples, as if it had been impacted by some invisible interference.

"Why did you provoke Him!" he muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth, his gray-blue fur practically standing on end.

"Why do you say that?" The voice of the ancient god rang out again from the altar, and He actually began to speak with Yu Xing.

“If the sun is also a part of you,” Yu Xing said slowly, his fingers unconsciously stroking the container’s cold, stiff shoulders, “you wouldn’t have to let the ‘chaos rain’ climb across the sky during the time before the descent ceremony begins.”

"The rain and dark clouds, the persistent gloom... they blocked the sun's light and heat for a long time. The sun 'disappeared,' or at least its presence was reduced to a minimum."

His gaze swept once more over the oppressive blood moon outside the window.

"And so, the moon's presence became... both large and powerful. This is no coincidence, is it? This is your arrangement. You need to weaken the sun's order and light, and strengthen the 'moon,' which is closer to your essence—to pave the way for your arrival, to open a breach for your divine kingdom's encroachment."

The attic was completely silent.

Only the dull thud of flesh pounding against flesh at the altar, and the faint, distant groans of buildings oppressed by the blood moon, could be heard.

The ancient god within the container did not deny it.

Those nebula-like eyes simply stared at Yu Xing silently for several seconds.

“You are very clever,” He said, his voice devoid of praise, more like recording an observed quality. “Would you like to become my servant?”

Yu Xing was stunned for a moment.

He then burst out laughing.

The laughter started low and breathy, then gradually grew louder and clearer, even revealing a hint of undisguised, almost manic joy.

He tilted his head back and laughed, his shoulders shaking with the sound, as if he had heard a particularly hilarious joke. The laughter echoed in the polluted and blood-stained attic, and the teachers around him looked on in horror, thinking he had gone mad.

After laughing for several seconds, Yu Xing slowly stopped, looked at the container, and the last trace of warmth in her eyes disappeared, leaving only a cold, hungry glint.

“Family members?” he repeated the word, his tone flippant. “No. I think… you won’t need any more family members in the future.”

The moment the words fell—

boom! ! !
Centered on Yu Xing, an indescribable, deeper, more ancient, and undeniably terrifying aura suddenly erupted.

Complete tree-shaped patterns appeared on the back of his hands, and fine, irregular black lines appeared on the surface of his body, meandering and moving like living things, exuding a cold, withering curse.

At the same time, the earth—no, the manor itself, made of flesh and mutated matter—trembled and roared violently!
Countless cursed branches, far thicker and more ferocious than before, like ancient giant pythons breaking free from the earth's restraints, tore through fleshy floors, ripped apart walls, and smashed through the dome, growing, spreading, and intertwining wildly upwards with unstoppable force.

They intertwined and coiled together, and amidst the chilling roar and the pervasive decaying black mist, they forcibly formed a colossal tree above the attic, under the filthy light cast by the blood moon!
The trunk was formed by thousands of the thickest branches twisted together, its surface covered with black veins. The withered branches stretched out in all directions in a twisted manner, without a single leaf or flower growing on them, only bare black branches that looked like countless withered arms. But at the ends and forks of those branches, thick, impenetrable black mist hung and condensed. This black mist constantly rolled and deformed, vaguely outlining various twisted and painful contours, like solidified "fruits," or like the remnants of imprisoned and digested souls.

Thick black fog, like living miasma, swirled around the entire giant tree, casting layers of eerie, constantly writhing shadows.

This "tree" is too big.

So large that for Herbert, Carlos, and the other survivors near the attic, its towering canopy and branches obscured most of the terrifying blood moon from their view, casting shadows as heavy as iron, mixed with an aura of despair and death emanating from the giant tree itself, more chilling than the corruption of the ancient gods.

It was a completely different kind of oppressive feeling, yet it was equally oppressive, belonging to someone of high status.

At the center of the altar, the pupils of the ancient god inside the container suddenly contracted!
Not just this container.

Above the blood moon in the sky, the pupil of the giant crimson eye also contracted sharply, its entire outline tensing, revealing a clear emotional fluctuation called "vigilance" or even "fear".

He sensed it.

This sudden burst of energy that enveloped the area... its essence "height" exceeded the limitations of the rules of this world, and even faintly surpassed the power that it could project here at this moment!

……Danger.

Hollow whispers and murmurs came simultaneously from the container's throat, from the direction of the giant eye in the sky, and from all directions, chaotic and urgent, carrying an instinctive rejection and warning.

Inside the container, the dark red galactic patterns flickered, and the outline of the young body began to blur and become transparent, as if something was trying to detach from this "shell" and float to the surface.

He wanted to leave.

He wanted to immediately sever the connection with this temporary vessel and allow this wisp of consciousness to return to its more powerful form in the heavens.

Only by being in its complete form can one deal with this suddenly appearing giant tree that exudes an ominous aura of high status.

But just as His consciousness began to loosen its connection with the vessel and attempted to ascend—

hum!
On the surface of the altar, the dark red runes that had been flowing steadily and providing anchoring suddenly began to flash intensely.

The light took on a murky, dark hue, like congealed blood. The structure of the runes seemed to have undergone some subtle change, its flow becoming sluggish. Instead of helping it escape, the energy field it emitted generated a viscous, reverse pulling force.

The summoning ritual is not truly over yet.

Although Fernal is dead, the framework of the ritual and the mandatory connection between the altar and Him remain.

This connection has now become a constraint. His wisp of consciousness, which had arrived earlier, is now more firmly imprisoned within the altar by the altered altar runes. His connection with the altar has been forcibly strengthened, and he is unable to break free for the time being!

The terrifying aura emanating from Yu Xing, belonging to the Ghostly Sinking Tree, precisely locked onto his temporarily trapped consciousness as the giant tree took shape, just like a predator smelling blood.

Following this wisp of consciousness, the aura was violently spreading upwards, tracing back, attempting to establish a connection, and directly anchoring to His true form hidden behind the blood moon, deep within the starry sky...

Yu Xing raised a hand and placed her palm on the container's forehead, which was becoming blurry.

The touch was icy cold, and the star-like texture beneath the skin pulsated violently.

His fingers tightened slightly.

At the same time, the most sturdy branches at the very top of that terrifying giant tree, which stood between heaven and earth, suddenly stretched upwards, resembling black dragons.

Their goal is not a physical entity, but a conceptual "channel," an invisible connection between the consciousness of the ancient god and its physical form, the blood moon that serves as both "eyes" and "coordinates."

Under everyone's horrified gaze, the tips of those black branches actually transcended the concept of distance, touching the surface of the moon. Then, like entangled with a candy ball, countless branches took root, emitting a teeth-grinding sound of growth.

These black lines spread, intertwined, and penetrated the surface of the blood moon at an alarming speed, as if a demonic tree from the abyss was using this blasphemous moon as new soil, greedily taking root and drawing upon the pollution and energy from the stars contained within it!
woo-

A sharp shriek reverberated simultaneously from the container's throat, from the giant eye in the sky, and from the direction of the blood moon—a violent reaction to the ancient god's status being challenged and its domain being invaded.

The ancient god in the container clearly did not intend to sit idly by and allow itself to be devoured by this strange tree through the connection.

Since we cannot leave the altar for the time being, let's first sever and contaminate the most direct connection between this container and the altar.

A soft sound.

The container that Yu Xing pressed against his forehead suddenly softened and collapsed.

The young man's body melted like a candle, his skin, muscles, and bones instantly turning into a viscous, foul-smelling, pure black filth-like substance.

The black mud flowed down Yu Xing's arm and onto the surface of the altar, quickly covering the flickering dark red runes on the altar.

The black mud is highly polluting and corrosive, attempting to cover and obscure the structure of the runes, thereby weakening the altar's binding force on His consciousness.

Yu Xing chuckled softly, and was about to use the wriggling branches beside him to brush away the troublesome black mud when...

The dark red runes covered by the black mud suddenly burst forth with an even more dazzling, blood-red light!

The runes themselves began to ooze viscous blood, which mixed with the black mud covering them. Instead of neutralizing each other, the blood created a strange fusion.

The viscous, black and red substance writhed as if it were alive, enveloping the runes even more tightly, while also making the connection between the runes and the altar, and between the runes and the consciousness of the ancient gods, increasingly complex, chaotic, and inseparable.

Amidst the viscous black and red mixture, a striking, vibrant emerald green quietly emerged.

It was a small patch of moss.

Moist, fresh, and carrying the fresh scent of earth after rain, it stood out starkly against the filthy and bloody surroundings.

As soon as the moss appeared, it grew and spread at an incredible speed, covering a large area in the black and red slime in the blink of an eye, and even climbing up the altar along its patterns.

Immediately afterwards, a figure, as if "growing" out of the moss, slowly materialized from the ethereal.

He was tall and slender, with picturesque features and a faint, enigmatic smile playing at the corners of his lips. His demeanor was composed and unhurried, even exuding the leisurely air of someone watching a stage play.

He was a court entertainer.

He first looked up, his gaze falling on the moon and the giant tree, then gently raised his hand and clapped three times slowly.

The crisp applause sounded unusually clear, and also unusually eerie, in the attic filled with the roar of pollution and the rumble of energy.

“What a sight,” the actor began, his voice gentle, a knowing smile playing on his lips. “A magnificent stage setting.” (End of Chapter)