Crossover Anime: I Became Invincible Starting as an Ajin

Chapter 153 New Life and Death

As a newly reborn embryo, its body is not yet able to support Wang Bai's consciousness.

If Wang Bai's spirit and consciousness spend too much time on this embryo, then it is very likely that the embryo will be burned out like an over-electrified CPU.

But right now, the embryonic brothers next to her and herself are inside the mother's body. Even without the help of other forces, the mother's bodily functions can sense the continuous loss of life simply through her body's instincts.

Or rather, the mother body is already dead, and the body is merely acting on its last instincts after death.

To prevent the mother from continuing to die, Wang Bai had to transfer his remaining strength to the mother before falling into a deep sleep to maintain her vital signs.

Unfortunately, it could only maintain the body's vital signs; the body's consciousness and soul had already dissipated.

Hopefully, it won't die shortly after being resurrected.

This is an era where human life is as cheap as grass.

A faint, putrid smell occasionally drifted through the air.

Gambino knew that this was the smell left by some dead bodies in the vicinity, after a long period of decomposition.

Sure enough, after walking for a while, they saw a huge dead tree.

Corpses were suspended above by ropes, and the stench of decay emanated from them.

"?"

One of the mercenaries in the group was surprised to find that among the pile of weathered corpses was a body that looked like it had just died.

Rather than saying they were killed and hung from a tree, it's more accurate to say they hanged themselves.

Of course, the mercenaries only noticed the corpse because it was different from the surrounding ones.

As mercenaries, they had seen many such scenes of death.

They might even become one of those who hang themselves from a tree tomorrow.

However, a woman rushed out from the group.

It was Sith, the wife of Gambino, the leader of the group.

After suffering a miscarriage a few days ago, the other party finally couldn't bear the pressure and went insane.

Gambino was about to spur his horse to stop the other man when he discovered that Sith had run under the fresh corpse.

At this moment, everyone noticed that there were two children among the blood and mud mixed together beneath the corpse.

Even the mercenaries, who had seen countless tragedies, gasped in shock.

No one spoke; everyone understood that the two babies before them had been born from the fresh female corpse in front of them.

This means that the mothers hanged themselves or were hanged when these children were about to be born.

However, under such circumstances, even if these two children had been born into this world with great difficulty, they would probably have been killed by cold and hunger long ago.

Finally, Gambino, unable to bear seeing his insane wife continuing her madness while holding two dead infants, rode up to her side and forcibly pulled Sith away.

The already frail Sith was suddenly pulled, and the two children fell from his arms and crashed heavily to the ground.

At this, both children on the ground started crying.

Wang Bai was jolted awake by the excruciating pain in his body and immediately realized the situation before him.

If it weren't for the power of the Imaginary Tree still sustaining the lives of its brother and itself, a normal child would probably have either starved or frozen to death in the past few days, or would have been killed by the fall.

What kind of world is this? Are mercenaries all so inhuman?

The babies' cries startled everyone; no one expected that the two infants would survive.

While Gambino was distracted, Sith picked up the baby in his arms and cautiously avoided Gambino as he fled back to the convoy behind.

Seeing his wife's actions and expression, Gambino immediately gave in.

However, the others in the group had some reservations, believing that children born in such a place were extremely unlucky.

It might bring misfortune and death to the entire team.

Hearing the complaints from the troops behind him, Gambino knew that as their leader, he had to stabilize morale and prevent such words from festering.

However, given his Sith identity, his decision to abandon the child was equally inappropriate.

This means that Gambino himself acknowledged his own fear and cowardice, two emotions that can exist in a mercenary but absolutely not in a mercenary leader.

Gambino turned around and looked at his teammates with a mocking tone: "What, are you scared?"

"Well—no, it's not that—but doesn't it feel a bit ominous?"

Hearing their leader's tone, some mercenaries dared not show their cowardice and stammered in response.

"Anyway, that child might die soon if left unattended, so it's better to keep him and let him comfort Sith's soul."

After saying that, Gambino yelled at the mercenaries behind him, "If you have nothing else to say, hurry up and get going, and stop gossiping."

Wang Bai nestled in Sis's arms and heard Gambino's voice, which put him at ease.

It seems he is safe for now, but continuing to use his still-developing brain could cause irreversible damage.

Wang Bai immediately fell back into a deep sleep.

Several years have passed, and Wang Bai's newly born body is now able to support his own consciousness.

He and his brother also received new names.

Laka and Gus are said to represent, respectively, luck in escaping death and courage in facing it.

Upon hearing this name, Wang Bai realized that he had actually entered the world of Berserker.

The guy next to me, who had only been running and talking for less than a year, turned out to be Guts, one of the main characters.

Wang Bai's expression was complicated. He really didn't know how Guts had survived in the timeline where he originally didn't exist.

You must understand, that wasn't just a simple birth; it was a period of several days without food and suffering from hunger and cold, perhaps with other animals hunting nearby.

In the original work, Guts' survival can only be described as "tough luck".

Perhaps the foreshadowing of the other person's many hardships was already laid at this moment.

His life was one of constant struggle against fate.

However, now that Wang Bai has come to this world and become brothers with Gus, it is impossible for Gus to suffer such a fate.

"Hey, Raka, is Mother alright?"

At this moment, Gus and Wang Bai were standing outside a tent, inside which the team doctor and several female servants were taking care of a woman.

The woman was the Sith who had rescued them from the pile of corpses. She was suffering from a disease that, in the context of this world and era, was equivalent to demons and death—the Black Death.

The tent was filled with the bitter smell of death mixed with herbs.

Sith lay on the simple bed, his face, which had once shone briefly when he found the two children, now emaciated from illness and high fever, his sallow skin covered with terrible dark purple spots.

Her breathing was weak and rapid, each inhale seeming to use all her strength, and a hoarse sound like a broken bellows came from her throat.

Outside the tent, Guss's little hands gripped Wang Bai's clothes tightly, his eyes, which inherited his mother's color, were filled with fear and unease beyond his years.

He didn't understand what the word "Black Death" meant, but he could sense the adults around him avoiding it like the plague, and he could smell the decaying odor coming from the tent, which was different from when his mother was sick in the past.

This disease terrified everyone, and people in the vicinity of Sith were cared for by hired help at high prices.

No one wanted to get near the tent except for them.

Even though he was young, Guts understood from the reactions of the adults around him that his mother, Sith, was not in good condition, and instinctively turned to his brother, Wang Bai, for support.

"Don't worry, Mother will be alright!"

While verbally comforting Gus, Wang Bai was not actually very optimistic.

Recently, all sorts of unexpected events have befallen the Sith.

First came lung disease, then poisoning, followed by the horse being startled and falling off, nearly being trampled to death.

Finally, there's the Black Death.

Each time, Wang Bai secretly used the power of rune magic to help Sith recover his health.

However, it seems that rune magic never existed in this world; it was purely Wang Bai who used the magic power transformed from his own life force as a demi-human to activate healing magic.

This resulted in the effect not being very good, but it was sufficient for the job.

But this time, even magic couldn't work against the Black Death.

He was able to cure Sith's lung disease, alleviate his poisoning, and accelerate the healing of his skin wounds because those were all "damages" at the individual level.

But the Black Death was different; it was more like a vicious "curse," a decay rooted in the very essence of life.

His healing energy, channeled into Sith's body, was like pouring water into a container with a huge hole in the bottom; it could only provide temporary relief, but it couldn't plug the "hole" that was constantly devouring her life.

The battle with the Hand of God on the ritual island of Sacsayhuaman previously severely damaged the Imaginary Tree.

The Hand of God is of a higher rank than one might imagine.

Furthermore, its consciousness and existence are maintained by the power of the Imaginary Tree.

This has resulted in the Imaginary Tree only just beginning to recover, and its current power is far from enough to overturn the Sith's current desperate situation.

Wang Bai hadn't felt this powerless in a long time.

In this world, perhaps desperate events are happening all the time.

It was just a trivial matter for the Sith, and would likely be forgotten soon afterward.

"Yes, Mother will be alright." Wang Bai comforted Gus again in a soft voice, but this time, his tone lacked some certainty and carried a heaviness that even he himself didn't realize. He reached out and gently patted Gus's tense back.

A few days later, the worst still happened.

Sith's condition deteriorated rapidly; he developed a persistent high fever, his lymph nodes swelled to an alarming degree, and he fell into complete unconsciousness.

The doctor Gambino hired at great expense, after examining the patient, could only shake his head helplessly, leaving behind a few vague words about "preparing for the worst," before hastily leaving the camp as if avoiding a plague.

The atmosphere in the camp grew even more oppressive. Although Gambino used a tough approach to suppress the rumors, whispers of "the son of misfortune brings death" still quietly spread among the mercenaries and their entourage.

The way people looked at the tent where Wang Bai and Ge Si were was filled with fear and rejection.

On a cold, early morning, the woman in charge of caring for Sith screamed in terror from inside the tent.

The mercenaries were still fighting on the battlefield, while the women who had been taking care of Sith left their tents, seemingly wanting to get away from this ominous place.

Gus and Wang Bai entered the tent and stood guard next to Sith.

Sith groaned in pain, calling out the names of Guts and Raka, their names.

Guts stepped forward, showing no regard for the horrors of the Black Death, and instead held Sith's hand tightly, staying by her side.

Wang Bai was deeply moved by the scene before him. He stepped forward and grasped Sith's hand, continuously channeling the power of the Imaginary Tree and magic into Sith's body, filling the hole that resembled a black hole.

Sith's expression relaxed considerably, and with this sudden relaxation, his long-term fatigue immediately subsided, and he drifted off to sleep.

Even so, it still couldn't change the fact that the Sith would die.

After exhausting all the power within his body, Wang Bai felt the life force within Sith's body instantly drain away, and his consciousness and soul vanished.

Sith is dead.

Guss was stunned. He seemed unable to comprehend the meaning of "death." He stared blankly at his mother's no longer rising and falling chest, then looked at Wang Bai, his eyes filled with immense, silent questions and panic.

Wang Bai stepped forward, gently put his arm around Guss's trembling shoulder, and pulled him into his embrace. He could feel Guss's thin body shaking uncontrollably.

"Mother—went to a place where there is no pain."

Wang Bai spoke in as calm a tone as possible, even though he knew that such a place might not exist in this world at all.

The next day, the victorious mercenary group returned to their camp.

Gambino silently faced the fact that Sith was dead, and after a long time, he said, "Prepare for cremation."

He commanded in a low voice that this was the only safe way to deal with the corpses of the Black Death, and also to quell the rumors.

The funeral was simple, even hasty.

A campfire was lit in an open area far from the camp, and Sith's body was reduced to ashes in the flames.

They watched from a distance, no one spoke, only the crackling of the burning firewood could be heard.

Gus's eyes were glistening with tears, but they didn't fall.

Gambino stood before the fire, silent for a long time.

He lost his wife, and the two children she had taken in have now become a heavy burden he has to bear, as well as a source of instability within the team.

He inadvertently caught sight of the two children emerging from the pile of corpses.

Unconsciously, the scene of Sith picking up two children from a pile of corpses came to mind.

Considering the rumors surrounding the mercenary group, perhaps they really are an ominous symbol?

Such thoughts flashed by, but some thoughts, once they arise, do not easily disappear.