From the end of the world

Chapter 360 Believers
"But as you can see, I'm recovering well now," I said.

My room in the nursing home looked like a fairly spacious bedroom, with a large bed, a large TV, potted plants and a fish tank, and it was decorated like a warm home.

I had just woken up and was sitting on the bed. Lu Chan had just arrived, and Ma Zao was also here.

"I heard that the state of spiritual manifestation is related to the self-attested true spirit. Originally, I had only seen such legends in books. However, seeing your current condition, perhaps the legend is true. If it has nothing to do with the true spirit, how can you explain this extraordinary recovery speed?" Lu Chan sighed.

“I don’t think it’s fast enough,” I said.

"Compared to your usual efficiency of recovering from any injury in an instant, the fact that it has only been three days and it is still only a scab is not that fast." Lu Chan agreed, "The treatment you should take at this stage is to simply rest and keep your mood as stable and sunny as possible, waiting for the natural recovery of your true spirit..."

He thought for a moment and said, "So if we just work harder in this direction, our recovery speed will also be faster? At least I don't think you're particularly optimistic right now. At most, you can be considered stable, which means there's still room for improvement."

"How to do it specifically?" I was curious.

"How about letting the girl you like cook for you?" Lu Chan said seriously.

While speaking, he also took a special look at Ma Zao who did not join in the conversation and was sitting obediently next to the big bed.

Because Lu Chan had tried to kidnap Ma Zao during Lu You's patrol period, Ma Zao was obviously a little wary and looked at the other party as if he were a suspicious person.

But she seemed to be listening carefully to what the other person said. When she heard this, she showed a serious expression, lowered her head and pondered, muttering to herself: "The girl that Zhuang Cheng likes..."

"Specifically, it's you," Lu Chan added.

"Hey, me?"

Ma Zao first looked to her left and right, and when she saw Lu Chan raised his hand and pointed at her, she also pointed at herself in confusion, and then she suddenly realized something, her face turned red, and her posture sitting on the stool became awkward.

Lu Chan put down his hands and urged them seriously: "Is there anything you can cook? The chefs here should be able to lend you the kitchen, and all the ingredients and seasonings are available."

Ma Zao raised his hands and rubbed his face vigorously, as if trying to restore his congested face to its original state. Then his mood seemed to become very positive. He jumped off the stool, and his voice unconsciously became a little higher, shouting: "I...I'll go ask!"

She trotted out of the room.

Is it really okay to let Ma Zao use the kitchen? I couldn't help but think of this. Since I have never seen Ma Zao in the kitchen, and considering that Ma Zao probably has little contact with modern kitchen utensils in the apocalypse, to be honest, I am a little worried that she will make something inedible.

But on second thought, because she had experience surviving in ruins before, she should have some basic experience on how to cook food with fire. At most, the result would be hard to give a high evaluation in terms of taste and flavor, but it would not be something that was completely inedible. Even if she accidentally broke the tools in the kitchen, there was no need to worry as long as she had the power of return.

"So...you sent Ma away early, is there something important you want to tell me?" I asked Lu Chan.

"No, I didn't send her away to talk to you in private. What I said just now was from the heart. Asking her to make you something to eat might actually help you recover a little."

As Lu Chan spoke, he took out a document and said, "But I do have something to report to you. It's a report on my work over the past three days.

"Although I guess you don't care much about this kind of thing, since I am your loyal subordinate, I must fulfill my responsibilities."

The term "loyal subordinate" really makes me uncomfortable. If he hadn't said it, I would have almost forgotten that he had sworn allegiance to me not long ago. But I didn't mean to ask him to correct it. After all, we weren't close friends. If we lost that relationship, I really didn't know how to get along.

I glanced at the information he submitted. The main content was about Mr. Zhu recruiting soldiers in Luoshan under my name.

Mr. Zhu has informed me about this matter and I have authorized him. He seems to be really trying to establish some "Zhuangcheng forces" in Luoshan, and Fazheng's forces seem to be helping to make plans and provide initial resources behind the scenes. The content of the activities is similar to other hegemony forces, mainly to solve the increasingly frequent strange events in various places, to reward the members of the forces according to their contributions, and to punish those who fail and slack off.

In other words, this is what the Luoshan organization has always been doing. Although the task indicators and rewards and punishments given by each faction are different, I don’t quite understand why they have to create various factions.

From my perspective as a great impermanent being, if many people join the mountain established in my name, it means that my connection with the weird world is deepening, which is of great benefit to me. But what about from the perspective of the joiners? The demon hunters who are already doing their jobs well, as long as they do their jobs well as always, is it necessary to join this suspicious "Zhuang Cheng force"?

I told Lu Chan about my doubts. He showed an expected expression and began to explain to me.

"Do you know the 'Xuanming Believer', one of the three great troubles in Luoshan?"

For some reason, Lu Chan brought up this first.

I just agreed with him for now: "I have heard it a few times. It is said that Xuan Ming has many followers inside Luoshan, and after he defected from Luoshan, these followers still exist inside Luoshan, becoming the 'internal trouble' among the internal and external troubles."

"Yes. The three major troubles of Luoshan each have their own troubles, but in the final analysis, the trouble still comes from the Great Impermanence behind the three major troubles." Lu Chan said, "Among them, the Humanitarian Department is the most special. Although the Humanitarian Department does not have the Great Impermanence, if they achieve an impossible miracle in the future and master the method of achieving the Great Impermanence with technical power, they will become the greatest enemy of Luoshan in history. Therefore, even though it is still very weak now, it is listed as a trouble by Luoshan.

"The leader of the Taoyuan Township organization is a ruthless person with extremely evil ideas. It is easy to understand why Luo Shan would regard this organization as a serious threat.

"The last followers of Xuanming are a group of forces secretly connected and assembled with the remnants of Xuanming's former followers who stayed in Luoshan as the core. They all believe in Xuanming as a god and have a very strong cohesive force. There are many fanatics among them who will sacrifice their lives for Xuanming at any time and place. Xuanming will not hesitate to use this power when necessary...

"But did you notice something wrong?"

In light of the direction of the previous conversation, I asked, "Are you talking about the reason why the believers are so cohesive?"

Xuanming suddenly went crazy, killed his own people for no reason, rebelled from Luoshan, and disappeared. Although fanatics will find reasons to continue to regard Xuanming as the sun and moon in their hearts, most people have their own lives and positions. If they want to be an enemy of Luoshan as a whole in order to continue to uphold Xuanming's beliefs, most people will probably hesitate.

Especially when Xuan Ming appeared again, he was already an apostle of the virtual world who was the forerunner of the Lord of the Divine Seal, holding the idea of ​​destroying the world. Although I know that was just Xuan Ming's acting in front of everyone to frame the Lord of the Divine Seal, most people could not know it. He wanted to destroy the world and became a subordinate of an unknown person. After Xuan Ming did such a thing, how could his followers maintain cohesion?

After listening to my thoughts, Lu Chan made a correction: "I want to correct one point. Xuan Ming becoming a subordinate of the so-called Lord of the Divine Seal may not have damaged the impression of Xuan Ming's followers on him. Because after the Fantian incident, the demon hunter community has realized that there is a power in this world that is superior to the Great Impermanence, and there may be an unknown individual who manipulates this great power to control the world. In some rumors, this unknown object is even regarded as a god above gods.

"The belief of Xuanming believers in Xuanming is not originally like monotheism. In Chinese mythology, there are kitchen gods, Yama, and even historical figures like Guan Gong, and they all have many believers among the people. These objects of belief are not the supreme characters in their own mythological system, but are all below the Jade Emperor.

"Besides, Xuanming was not a high and mighty god from the beginning. According to legend, when he was still Ziqi, he was under Emperor Yao and was named Situ, who was in charge of fire. The demon hunters' understanding of gods is different from that of ordinary society. They can accept the existence of gods that are more powerful than the gods they believe in, and they can accept that the gods they believe in were weak humans in the past. They can accept that gods also have seven emotions and six desires, and sometimes even need their help...

"And if there really is a person in this world who can manipulate the power of the divine seal to rule the world, then it is undoubtedly a god like the Emperor of Heaven. Xuan Ming's followers will not feel disillusioned if he is inferior to him. Instead, it can be interpreted that Xuan Ming's current position is the orthodox one."

Ah? The Apostles of the Void Realm are the orthodox ones? There is such an explanation angle? I really didn't expect this.

But I soon noticed the loophole.

"If that's the case, why don't they go directly to worship the Lord of the Divine Seal?" I said, "Some people in the folk worship the Kitchen God, Yama Luo, and Guan Gong instead of offering sacrifices to the Emperor of Heaven for everything. In many cases, it is because they believe that these gods in charge of corresponding duties can bring corresponding blessings to themselves, and Xuanming can't... uh, wait, could it be that..."

Lu Chan nodded and said, "Having a sincere belief in the Great Impermanence... can really bring you strength."

(End of this chapter)