Who left their last words here?

Chapter 104 The Solitary Red on the Iron Throne (6009 words!)

"Rumble..."

The wolf rider statue knelt on the ground, slowly turned its head, and looked at the white boat.

The face covered by the wolf-face armor was expressionless, and the emerald green gems behind the armor, which served as eyes, glowed faintly.

In that instant, Bai Zhou felt that the Wolf Knight was no longer a statue, but as if he had come to life.

He seemed to be looking at the white boat, but also as if he were looking at the white sun and red moon behind it as it descended from the sky.

"If only I had inherited that power back then."

"If it's you..."

The words stopped abruptly.

The faint light in the wolf rider's eyes vanished.

The kneeling wolf rider returned to normal, and the knife wound on his neck disappeared automatically.

It is obvious that even in a battle between equals, Bai Zhou knocked him down... but for the real Wolf Knight statue, this injury is nothing to worry about.

At the same time, the familiar, cold, mechanical voice, devoid of any emotion, once again emanated from the wolf knight whose back was turned to the white boat:

"First hurdle of the assessment passed."

"Now, pilgrims, please prepare to begin the second test."

The second level?
"Cough! Cough-cough-cough!"

Bai Zhou coughed twice, spitting out two mouthfuls of blood that had been stuck in his chest into his hand.

This was an internal injury caused by the wolf rider's repeated blows to Bai Zhou. Now, as he coughed up the accumulated blood, he immediately felt relieved.

The [Tears of the Moon Goddess] began to exert its power, and Bai Zhou's body slowly recovered.

The golden bean hidden in Bai Zhou's palm was also nourished by Bai Zhou's mouthful of hot blood.

"Buzz!"

The golden bean trembled, rapidly absorbing the white boat's blood.

Under Bai Zhou's gaze, the golden bean slowly transformed into a blood-red crystal, then into a deep red liquid, merging with Bai Zhou's blood.

“It really works!”

Bai Zhou's spirits lifted.

How do you use the "blood of the Roman royal family" to water the statue? How do you restore the gold beans to their "blood" state?
Bai Zhou has been pondering these questions.

Then he remembered a story he had heard in the city, about how Old Wang accidentally found a golden seed in a graveyard, planted it, and it grew into a golden bean, making him rich overnight.

But the neighbor next door was horrified to discover that this golden bean could suck people's blood and could only grow by being watered with the blood of living people.

However, by the time the neighbors discovered the truth, Old Wang was already dead in his sleep, drained of his life force by the vines that had wrapped around his body.

—This story was recorded in the Night City Safety Awareness Handbook.

The purpose is to tell everyone not to be greedy for small gains and mistakenly treat prohibited items as treasures.

If you find any gold or antique, be sure to hand it over to the Black Robe for appraisal and safekeeping as soon as possible. This will not only eliminate any risks, but you will also receive a commendation and certificate from the Black Robe.

Bai Zhou remembered that Grandpa Wang from the corner street once found a three-pound gold nugget. After handing it over, he even received half a pound of pork belly in return. When the braised pork was served, it made everyone envious!
—It was because of this story that when Bai Zhou coughed up blood, he hurriedly took out the gold bean and tried it with a try-it-and-see attitude.

So, before the second stage of the assessment began.

Bai Zhou slowly approached the statue and carefully poured his increasingly hot blood onto the broken base of the wolf knight statue.

Is this what you need?

Bai Zhou silently asked himself.

Bai Zhou would be happy if he could help his former teacher fulfill his long-cherished wish.

The benefits of writing your will before the new test are undeniable.

Putting aside the gift that helps deliver a last will and testament, the information hints alone... are equivalent to the examiner giving half a strategy guide!
But Bai Zhou remained uneasy, after all, he still couldn't be sure whether the golden bean was truly the blood of the Roman royal family...

Then, in the next instant—

"Buzz!"

The statue itself remained unchanged and did not react to Bai Zhou's actions.

But the three lines of last words wrapped around the back of the statue rushed towards it like madmen.

"It works!"

Bai Zhou, who had been observing intently the whole time, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The wriggling last words danced in the air, each character eagerly tearing at the blood, devouring the pool of blood in the blink of an eye.

"Crack..."

The red light shone brightly, as if it were satisfied.

The sound of breaking came from the last words.

Revenge... kill... the Roman royal family... water... their remains...

The fragmented words, the flamboyant strokes and lines, rushed towards the white boat all at once.

A torrent of fragmented information flooded Bai Zhou's brain, causing a series of images to flash before his eyes like a running scroll.

"This is……"

Bai Zhou saw it.

He saw the wolf rider's past—

...However, Bai Zhou was seeing things from the perspective of the wolf rider.

But throughout the entire story, Bai Zhou hardly ever sees the Wolf Knight.

This is strange.

In these important memories left behind by the Wolf Rider, almost all the stories are about only one person.

Influenced by the emotions left by the wolf rider, Bai Zhou's feelings would become extremely complicated whenever he saw that person's figure.

baffling.

But one thing can be confirmed as a result.

That person... she is the protagonist of this story, at least in the life of the "Wolf Knight," she is a "protagonist" who far surpasses the Wolf Knight himself.

This is an……

The story of "King".

……

This is a long story.

It's so long that it has to start with a prophecy.

The fratricide, nurtured by wolf's milk, sowed the seeds of evil.

The evil seeds buried beneath the seven hills will sprout! They will sprout!

Locusts devoured the city, torches extinguished the roses, and a deluge destroyed the temple!

The golden crown is, in reality, a chain that imprisons freedom.

An ancient god from beyond the heavens devours the monarch on the Iron Throne.

The evil god that will take its place will sweep across the world and become the eternal enemy of all civilizations!

We must plan ahead, before the claws and fangs overwhelm everything—

[Escape to another world!]

A great sage, who believed in the god of wisdom and truth, observed the stars at night and received this terrible prophecy.

As a price, the moment the prophecy was written down, the great sage bled from all seven orifices and died suddenly.

This prophecy, obtained at the cost of death, awakened a sleeping civilization.

Similar prophecies also appeared in other civilizations at the same time, and each civilization took different actions in response.

But witnessing the death of a great sage firsthand, these extraordinary beings of high caliber deeply felt the inevitability of fate and the uncertainty of the future.

Without hesitation or retreat, an epic of the entire clan's escape unfolded.

This epic story is called "Project Fire".

Our wise ancestors, drawing upon all their wisdom and accumulated knowledge, struggled for a century to finally create a mobile secret realm capable of automatically circulating its internal resources.

An ultimate ark capable of wandering in the cracks of the world!
Of course, nearly half the population also chose to fight to the death in the face of the catastrophe mentioned in the prophecy.

They stayed in the hometown that nurtured them.

And so, the enormous ark of secret realms, carrying nearly half the population of a civilization, set off, bearing the embers of civilization's desperate situation and its hope for the future.

People always say that the old horse knows the way home.

Thus, carrying the simple hope of returning to one's roots, and bearing the faith of a world waiting to return home while wandering, the shape of the Secret Realm Ark was designed as a giant wooden horse.

—A Trojan horse named "Troy"!

From that day on, the image of the wooden horse was displayed on various flags and appeared among children's toys, becoming an omnipresent symbol of faith in this civilization.

—The wandering wooden horse is the outward appearance of this secret world!

Sky City is the center of the entire secret world and the driving force behind the Trojan Horse.

At first, everything was fine.

A hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye.

This place is peaceful and tranquil, with green grass, grains, and flowers everywhere.

A spark of civilization, resting and thriving in a secret realm, gave rise to a new civilization.

People have even gradually forgotten their original intention of escaping, unaware of the changing civilizations and nations of the outside world.

The contentment and tranquility they experienced are truly indescribable to outsiders...

—This is what Bai Zhou saw: the very origin of that civilization deep within the Ruins Realm.

But the good times are not long.

He wandered for 149 years.

The sky has fallen.

A blood-red hole burst open, and the virus was unleashed upon the world!

“They…are coming!”

Without a doubt, the prophesied evil god and his minions—

Rome, in the end, came after them!
On that day, people who had long enjoyed peace and comfort recalled the fear of being dominated by prophecy.

A terrible virus has swept the world. This is no ordinary virus; it is contaminating the very rules that govern the world at the most fundamental level.

The virus's name is the same as the world's name: "Troy".

A virus called "Troy" turns a stray Trojan horse into a dying, sick horse.

More and more people are turning into zombies without warning, devouring the lives of others.

This world needs heroes.

Thus, the first "king" stepped forward.

He merged himself with the world's core, the Sky City, thereby forcibly incorporating the world's ailments into himself. Using himself as a container and chain, he stopped the rampage of the virus and temporarily halted the world's collapse.

This feat led to him being elected by the people as their first king.

However, this also created a continuous curse called "King".

From this day forward, every successor with the qualities of a king is destined to embark on this irreversible path of self-destruction and becoming a container for the virus!

With the changing of dynasties, tragic songs never cease.

As a supreme being with the instinct to live for thousands of years, King Yongzhen of the Iron Throne passed away in the fifth year of his reign.

The second king reigned for only thirteen years before his body was crystallized by a virus, causing him to lose control and transform into a howling monster.

The Five Dynasties kings attempted to find another method, but completely lost control during the experiment, turning the entire secret fortress into pus.

The ninth king was the youngest, merely a child, and was utterly corrupted just three days after his coronation, leading to his painful execution. The first responsibility of every king upon ascending the throne was to search the world for a child possessing the "qualities of a king" to cultivate as his next successor.

The candle of hope dimmed further with each premature sacrifice.

...Everyone knows that this world is just barely clinging to life.

In this desperate and oppressive environment, some seek a way to save the world, while others indulge in extreme pleasure.

Finally, the endless cycle of tragedy collapsed in the nineteenth generation!

Witnessing the cycle of despair, witnessing the tragedy of the previous king going mad from the virus... the elegant chosen one, the prince who was about to sit on the Iron Throne, disappeared on the eve of his coronation.

He scorned this vicious cycle, believing that each generation of kings carried the virus for a shorter and shorter time, and that the world would eventually be destroyed as a result.

Becoming king cannot save the Trojan civilization!

He will embark on a new path, seeking the power of the Moon Wolf from ancient legends—a path that is unproven and fraught with taboos.

The prince disappeared.

Thus, the throne remained vacant, and the Iron Throne was left unchecked.

Zombies returned, the earth wailed, and the people were plunged into unprecedented panic.

The world is in ruins, plague is rampant, yet the king is nowhere to be seen.

It seems that no matter how much they struggle, the collapse of the world is inevitable.

Heroes arrived in droves, only to return empty-handed, overwhelmed by zombies.

This world is facing its end and needs a new king to save it once again.

—The last king, the final king.

The protagonist of the story.

And here we truly begin!

That was a girl in a red dress who liked to wear a little red hat.

On that cold winter night, the brother and sister who sold matches depended on each other for survival. The brother was discovered by a passing "king" who recognized his potential and chose him by fate.

She was also able to enter the supreme Temple of the Sun to study and become a candidate for sainthood.

Everywhere here are treasures that radiate light, even the rose-scented curtains are blessed by the gods, and the fragrance of milk and honey can be smelled everywhere.

But the little girl only loved a little red hat that she had worn since she was a child, because it was the only gift her brother had given her to keep warm when they were poor.

Little Red Riding Hood is always gentle yet passionate, just like this lovable, always laughing, lively, and cheerful little girl in red.

Inside the temple, no one disliked her.

Gradually, she became a saint who served wisdom and truth, and the only candidate for the next priestess.

And her brother, whom she was always proud of, naturally became the prince who would inherit the entire world.

Since their separation, they have devoted themselves to spiritual practice and have never met again, but they are both doing well and achieving their own success.

"I've grown up, and when we meet again, I want to give my brother a surprise..."

With this in mind, the little girl in the red hat worked even harder.

however.

Instead of the day the siblings were reunited, the vibrant red sunset on the horizon shattered.

When the monarchy falls, the sky collapses and the earth caves in!
The prince, Little Red Riding Hood's brother, who was chosen by fate, disappeared into the moonlight on the eve of his coronation to pursue a mysterious and elusive power.

He said that the former kings of the past used themselves as containers to absorb filth, which was a foolish act of drinking poison to quench thirst... He might be right.

However, the reality is that the plague, now free from the Iron Throne's control, is consuming the world at a visible speed, with cries of agony reaching the sky and spreading to the steps of the Temple of the Sun.

They knelt outside the hall, a dark mass, like drowning people clutching at their last straw.

Under the watchful, concerned gaze of the waiter, the silent saint seemed lost in thought, stroking the soft edge of Little Red Riding Hood, as if it still retained the warmth of the sun.

But actually... in recent days, a dark haze has shrouded the sky, and the artificial sun in the secret realm has long since lost its color.

"He ran away."

The saint in her red hat and red dress looked beyond the kneeling crowd and saw the vast, ravaged lands of the world:
"But they had nowhere to escape."

Then, the seventeen-year-old saintess, on the day before her eighteenth birthday coming-of-age ceremony—

I have lost an older brother forever.

And put Little Red Riding Hood back on her head.

This time, however, her movements were unusually slow, as if the red hat carried the weight of a crown.

He turned his back to the kneeling crowd outside the palace, leaving only a silhouette shimmering with light.

She walked deeper into the temple and came to a scepter wrapped in thorns and flames.

Grasp it, and raise it high.

she says:

"I come!"

Theocracy and monarchy are inextricably linked; if the throne were to be borne by priests…

Even if one does not possess the qualifications of a king, the Iron Throne will not refuse under the current circumstances!
The moment she sat on the Iron Throne, the sudden pain and weight almost crushed the bones of this seventeen-year-old girl.

The suffering of billions of lives seeped directly into their bones. On the burning throne, the little girl in red clothes and a red hat would never again see the familiar cheerfulness and liveliness of the past, nor would she ever show a single laugh again.

She had no brother, no laughter, no emotions or pain... she had nothing.

She became the solitary red on the Iron Throne, forcibly bearing the burden, carrying the festering wounds of the entire world alone!
—"The Crimson King!"

"Follow me into battle!"

She conquered, she purified, and the plagues that roamed the world were all brought back.

Red hats and red clothes fluttered in the scorched earth and bloody winds, becoming a banner and a symbol of faith in the eyes of the survivors.

During a journey to recover a virus, she encountered a strange adversary.

That was the most dangerous battle, as the mysterious man with ominous power was quite troublesome.

With everyone's combined efforts, the mysterious man was subdued and became a knight who would forever remain silent and follow the new king.

No one knew his origins, not even the Queen. All people knew was that he always covered his face with a wolf's head.

The end of the story.

With a loud "boom"—

The Queen swept away the virus that had spread throughout the world and returned to the Iron Throne, closing the palace gates tightly.

The palace was forever silent, deathly still, like a prison that locked up the queen.

There are no maids, no palace attendants, only a silent queen who forever reigns on the throne.

And a wolf knight who was also mute, always standing silently to the side.

—He was like a king's shadow.

The world has returned to its former beauty, but the palace that sealed the virus remains locked up, with "Little Red Riding Hood" and "the wolf" still inside.

It seems that the story should end here.

however--

More and more viruses began to take root, grow, and spread within the Queen's body.

First, she lost feeling in both legs, and the Queen ended up in a wheelchair.

Then, ominous marks and even pustules crawled onto the skin in the mirror, eventually eroding away all the flesh and blood of the entire face!

The young girl, who was only eighteen years old at the time, was at an age when she should have been loving beauty, but she became a crippled monster named "Wang".

"It's okay even like this."

"A beautiful world has been achieved."

She sighed softly as she looked in the mirror.

The girl pulled down her hood, using her favorite shade of red to cover her increasingly ravaged appearance.

Originally... apart from the Queen's own health condition, the world had already improved.

But that day—

No one knows what happened.

The sky collapsed again, and a new virus was released in Rome.

Later, the people of Troy called this day "the day the sky fell".

The Scarlet Queen, already suffering terribly from the virus, was ultimately powerless this time.

Despair overwhelmed the queen, overwhelmed the knights, and of course, overwhelmed the whole world.

The zombie horde engulfed everything, turning the world into a dark and hopeless place.

Perhaps a faint light appeared at one point during that time.

The pure light of the banner once shone from afar, illuminating the withered face of the queen who was oppressed on the Iron Throne.

She brandished her purple-gold saber, and the incredible battle report from the isolated army behind enemy lines reached her ears through the staff.

But in the end, the struggling light could not withstand the overwhelming darkness.

The tide of zombies eventually engulfed the seemingly eternally high and sacred Sky City.

In the depths of a world shrouded in darkness, only a solitary, lofty red remains, struggling to hold on.

"Brothers, hang in there!"

"Troy is right behind us! The Queen is right behind us!"

The pitch-black rain poured down, and waves of zombies crashed against the walls, leaving the last city teetering on the brink of collapse.

Amidst the ruins of the royal palace, witnessing the final struggle of civilization in the flames of war, the crippled and disfigured girl finally departs from the Iron Throne of suppression, allowing the virus behind her to spread in all directions.

Pushing her wheelchair out of the palace, the Queen took a deep breath, witnessing firsthand the horrific scene of cannibalism.

They are fighting for themselves, how can we stand idly by?
"—The king will bear it, the king will protect it!"

The nineteen-year-old queen's power comes from wisdom and truth, yet she cannot save the world from all the human tragedies here through wisdom and truth alone.

She must become stronger!
Having realized this, the queen swore an oath to a certain statue in the temple.

She cast aside the wisdom and truth she had served since childhood, along with all her weakness and hesitation.

To protect this civilization, and her people—

Wang brazenly abandoned the path of faith.

"Take it all! My broken body, my soul... take it all!"

"If it can be exchanged for power enough to incinerate everything!"

This time, she chose...

war!

"Buzz!"

The power of war poured in like molten lava.

Perhaps she was born to be a believer in war, and in the blink of an eye, she became an exaggerated war machine.

The wheelchair beneath his feet transformed into a metallic killing weapon, intricately intertwined with flesh and blood.

Its entire body of flesh and blood transformed into a form most adept at warfare, and even the little red hat on its head turned into a blood-red halo.

This is proof of the divine servant!

She sacrificed everything she had, and her radiant soul seemed to have made her an extraordinary half-"war angel"!
In the Trojan civilization, the full name of the priest was High Priest.

But now, her true state should be called "War Sacrifice"—

Both priest and sacrifice!
Of course, she was also a queen, the last leader of the Trojan civilization during its turbulent years, and the first solitary red queen in the history of that civilization to be both king and god!
"...It's her!"

Upon seeing this, Bai Zhou shuddered, his expression complex and inexplicable.

How could it not feel familiar?
This disfigured, silent, and aloof Scarlet Queen, in her final transformation into a "War Angel," was actually...

The "Great Priest" that Shirashu had seen in the temple, with songs being sung above his head!
(End of this chapter)