Yes, I did all of this!

"No..." Looking at Duanmu Mo's expression, Yu Zhi was silent for a while before cautiously opening her mouth: "Mr. Duanmu, didn't you think anything when you heard that sentence?"

"What's there to think about?"

Duanmu Mo calmly countered, "Didn't Cangyi say before that the enemy you're going to face is someone who's good at using words to bewitch people? If that's the case, why didn't you just ignore him from the start?"

"Mr. Duanmu..."

Hearing his words, Yu Zhi felt relieved, her tired body went limp, and she couldn't help but fall into Duanmu Mo's arms.

Chapter 332: The Identity of the Sacrifice

"Um......"

Yu Zhi sat on the sofa, and Duanmu Mo handed her a dessert:

"Eat up, replenishing your sugar levels will help your body recover."

"Thanks......"

Yu Zhi looked up at the news on the television screen.

"...It's already in complete chaos outside."

"I'm doing everything I can to control the information online." Wind Chime didn't deactivate her transformation; her eyes flashed with various data, her brow furrowed. "Information outside might not spread, but it's a different story in the cities near us..."

"Just adjust things a little to prevent bad comments from spreading, and don't force the rest." Duanmu Mo also handed her a dessert: "Even if the internet is very developed, it is only one of the tools people use to spread information, not the only one, so there are some things that you can't stop even if you want to."

"...Hmm." After a moment of silence, Fengling sighed and deactivated her transformation.

"What's the point of that guy spouting all this nonsense?" Xia Yan asked, arms crossed, frowning as she looked at the screen.

"Yuri-nii, didn't you listen to it?" Kamiya asked, looking at her.

Xia Yan scratched her head: "I did hear it... Even if I wanted to cover my ears, I couldn't. It must be the power of that giant whale, right?"

Duanmu Mo took a bite of the chocolate bar and calmly analyzed:

"—Its plan is very clear: first, to demonstrate its power, and then to reveal its purpose of bringing about the end of humanity... However, it also said that its strength is the same as that of magical girls, and the stronger the magical girls are, the stronger the monsters will be, and vice versa."

"So..." Upon hearing this, even Xia Yan realized something.

"He wants to instill the idea in people that the weaker the magical girl, the weaker the monster will become—to force magical girls to give up their powers through this idea," Duanmu Mo said calmly.

"Really...? Surely no one actually believes that?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Yan paused for a moment, then asked in confusion.

“It’s not just ordinary people, but also magical girls.” Duanmu Mo turned his head and looked at Xia Yan, saying, “Xia Yan, I remember you told me when you were in Fengchuan City that if a magical girl hates her power, that power will start to disappear, right?”

"Yeah...right!"

Xia Yan finally realized what was going on and stood up abruptly: "That's its purpose?!"

"In addition, it has the power to bewitch people. Under extreme fear, people will unconsciously believe its words. So, although it is very illogical, I'm afraid that right now, some people are clamoring to make magical girls give up their powers."

"...Are you kidding me?" Upon hearing Duanmu Mo's words, Xia Yan clenched her fists and glared at the television screen, saying angrily:

"We saved so many people! How could they..."

"This has nothing to do with ordinary people." Before she could finish speaking, Duanmu Mo interrupted Xia Yan with his calm words.

He stood up, came to Xia Yan, and pressed his hand on her shoulder.

The force wasn't strong, but Xia Yan didn't resist and simply sat back down on the sofa as Duanmu Mo exerted himself.

After Xia Yan calmed down, Duanmu Mo turned to look at everyone and said, "This has nothing to do with the wishes of ordinary people. People's thoughts have been distorted by the weirdo. This is the premise of everything."

He paused, looking at the magical girls: "You wouldn't just ignore the influence of the weirdo and assume that people's behavior is because they genuinely hate you, and then shut yourselves up, would you?"

"How could this be..."

Upon hearing this, Shen Wuyin chuckled softly, looking at the gem on her wrist: "I'm no longer that naive child. I know what I should do."

"With Mr. Duanmu and everyone else here, I'm fine," Yu Zhi said with a smile.

After thinking for a while, Shen Wuling said, "...But even so, that sea monster is still a huge threat to us. Even if we can ignore its influence on people, we will have to fight it sooner or later."

"In that case... we can only ask Cang Yuan for help."

Yu Zhi nodded and looked at Duanmu Mo: "Mr. Duanmu, how is Cangyuan's dream?"

"There's been some progress, but not much. I'll get some more sleep tonight."

"Okay, but don't push yourself too hard. Too much penetration will cause headaches and make you feel very uncomfortable, right?"

"Ah."

After talking with everyone, Duanmu Mo watched the news for a while, confirmed the current situation, and then lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

. . . . . .

After a moment of disorientation, Duanmu Mo opened his eyes and looked ahead.

The villagers gathered around the village chief, their faces filled with fear.

"It's true, I saw it! It's Leviathan, it's back!"

Duanmu Mo, standing in the crowd, turned his head to look around and nodded knowingly.

It seems that because it was himself who unearthed the contents of Cangyuan's subconscious, the contents of this dream did not disappear much after Duanmu Mo left.

According to the timeline in the dream, yesterday should have been Duanmu Mo and Cang Yuan talking about the stars and the moon, and then the hanged ghost crawled up from the shore to scare the villagers.

Now, it seems the villagers are the ones reporting this to the village chief.

"...Everyone! Calm down."

The village chief spoke, but his face was just as pale as theirs.

After everyone quieted down, the village chief remained silent for a while before speaking: "Yesterday, I actually had a dream, a dream that was related to Lord Sea God."

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked and looked at the village chief, wanting to know more about the sea god.

After all, people still worship the sea god.

"What is it? What did the Sea God say?" The crowd anxiously gathered around and asked.

"..."

Duanmu Mo could tell that it wasn't good news.

"..."

The village chief was silent for a moment, then said, "Ten years ago, when we sacrificed ourselves to Leviathan, did that child still remember?"

"That child? Oh, the sacrificial offering."

Offerings... Upon hearing this, the meaning of the word came to Duanmu Mo's mind.

In this village, after the people had been performing human sacrifices to the sea monster for some time, they could no longer bear the pain of their children being sacrificed, so they made a decision.

Every year, a family is chosen to give birth to a child, and that child is raised as a sacrifice.

This child has no name, no human rights, and is not allowed to have close contact with others; all that is needed is to bring him leftover food to keep him alive.

The only purpose of such children's lives is to die as sacrifices.

"..." The name flashed through his mind, but Duanmu Mo's expression remained calm as he listened to the village chief speak:

"I dreamt that... I transformed into the form of the sea god."

"what?!"

The village chief's words caused a huge uproar among the crowd. The villagers couldn't believe it: "You mean, that sea god was actually a sacrifice?!"

"She's been deceiving us all along; she's not a sea goddess at all!"

People stared at each other in shock, discussing amongst themselves. The atmosphere grew increasingly heated, and people's emotions gradually turned to anger.

To be precise, they are using anger to mask their shame and fear.

They were deeply ashamed and angered that the god they had worshipped for ten years was merely a lowly sacrifice.

This being, which had no human rights, had harmed Leviathan, the object of people's faith at the time, making them even more afraid of the sea monster's revenge.

"—I said."

Duanmu Mo crossed his arms and finally spoke from the crowd:

"Don't you guys even want to discuss where the Sea God's power comes from?"

"..."

The unexpected angle stunned everyone, and a moment of silence ensued. The village chief looked at Duanmu Mo and said firmly, "Is this important?"

“It’s extremely important.” Duanmu Mo said calmly, “If she has the power to defeat that sea monster, it doesn’t matter whether she is a sacrifice or not. What you should be more worried about is whether she, as a sacrifice, will seek revenge on you for the unfair treatment she received in the past.”

He swept his gaze across the crowd and slowly said, "For example, the number of people to be sacrificed each year changes from one to ten, and the offerings change from young children... to adults?"

"Stop trying to sow discord here!"

Under his gaze, some people became uneasy and angrily shouted at him.

“I’m stating the facts,” Duanmu Mo calmly retorted. “But the result is that she was not more brutal than that sea monster; on the contrary, she gave us a better life. That’s the truth.”

After everyone fell silent, Duanmu Mo continued, "What is your choice? Do you prefer a life of self-torture, suffering alongside the sea monster, or do you choose to enjoy pleasure with the sea god?"

"..."

People remained silent, exchanging glances as they listened to Duanmu Mo's words.

Just then, the village chief suddenly became furious: "Enough! The sea god was just a sacrifice that deceived us, and it harmed Leviathan. That is an undeniable fact!"

—Looking at the village chief whose temperament had changed drastically, Duanmu Mo stared intently at him, his thoughts becoming clearer.

It's likely that in Cangyuan's past experiences, this village chief was the first to kneel before the returning sea monster Leviathan, which is why he has such a menacing expression in Cangyuan's dream.

"Think about it the other way around. Perhaps before that sea monster gained power, it was something even lower than a sacrifice? Or perhaps it deceived you even more than the sea god did?"

Looking directly at the village chief, Duanmu Mo spoke calmly.

"Shut up! How could you say such blasphemous things! Lock him up! Lock him up!"

The village chief spoke angrily, ordering the people around him to surround Duanmu Mo.

Looking at the village chief's expression and the people who immediately became hostile towards him, Duanmu Mo quickly realized that this was probably something like a correction force.

In this dream, the village chief plays just such a role.