The Captain grinned. Looking very sincere, he said, “Senior, that’s totally impossible. Back then shē was the one who begged for the honor of helping me.”

His calm voice, relaxed demeanor, and the reminiscence in his eyes made it seem like he had absolute trust in the entity behind this door, all based on their previous beautiful relationship.

Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu exchanged a glance. Based on what they knew about Erniu, and especially this specific facial expression, they were very suspicious about what they were hearing.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qing backed up a few dozen meters until he was standing by the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom. That seemed like the safest spot. He didn’t even bother thinking about the Captain’s invitation to come along. He thought of himself as a reasonable person who never went too crazy. It was all about costs and benefits. In that respect, he was different from the Captain. That was why, when it came to crazily courting death, the Captain always had the edge.

Seeing Xu Qing backing up caused a flash of bitterness to appear in the Captain’s eyes.

“Shē’s pretty good at cursing,” Eighth Sib said, looking at Chen Erniu. “In fact, from the way shē’s cursing you, it sounds like you were a heartless rat who seduced hēr, then tossed hēr to the side. Shē wants to eat your flesh, drink your blood, absorb your soul, and dig out your marrow. Oh, right. Shē’s been looking forward to you coming.”

The Captain’s expression flickered slightly, and his heart started pounding a bit. Instinctively suppressing that, he cleared his throat. “There’s no way! We were just friends, that’s all!”

When Eighth Sib noticed that his older brother and sister weren’t interrupting him, he started to get excited. Sneering, he continued, “My authority relates to emotions and longing. By means of hēr aura, I can tell that this High God Moonfire views you with the utmost loathing, as well as infinite madness. Hunh. The fluctuations are really intense!”

Eighth Sib seemed to focus on the fluctuations for a moment. An admiring expression appeared on his face.

“Erniu, you got hēr emotions so stirred up they’re very close to transforming into human nature. That’s not easy!” When Eighth Sib saw that the Captain was about to launch into another explanation, he got visibly annoyed. He hated it when people didn’t believe what he said. Glaring, he continued, “If you don’t believe me, fine. Just walk up to the door and see if the banging gets louder!”

His heart starting to race a bit more, the Captain thought back to his bragging, then gritted his teeth and started walking forward. However, he’d only taken a few steps when the banging on the black wooden door grew more frantic.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

It was more anxious than before. Almost maddened. And the door was shaking so hard it looked like it might shatter at any moment.

As of now, even people without authority related to emotion, for instance Ning Yan and the others, could tell that the voice behind the door was terrifyingly furious. All of them inhaled sharply and backed away.

Eighth Sib chuckled coldly.

Seeing all of that, the Captain sighed. “You still hate me, Little Moonie?”

All of a sudden, the banging stopped. Everything went quiet. The hidden implication of the Captain’s words caused Xu Qing’s gaze to harden. Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan both looked astonished. Nethersprite frowned as she looked at the door. She’d been hoping to see Chen Erniu simply die, except now everything seemed peaceful.

Meanwhile, the Captain’s expression was one of loneliness. Walking up to the door, he stopped in place, eyes flickering with reminiscence.

“Little Moonie,” he said in a near whisper, “just wait a bit longer. Everything’s going to be fine.

“Truth be told, I was lying to my friends just now. Even little Ah Qing. Oh, right, you don’t know who little Ah Qing is. He’s my Junior Brother in this life. Once you’re out of there, I’ll introduce him to you.

“Ai. I told them that you and I were just good friends. But the reality is… that our relationship couldn’t possibly be described with the word ‘friend’ alone….”

The Captain’s words drifted along the pathway made by the green hair, through the vortex created by hope power, and into the ears of Xu Qing and the others.

At first, none of them had believed anything the Captain said. But as he kept talking, and as the door went silent, it started to seem like maybe he was actually telling the truth. Ning Yan, Wu Jianwu, and Li Youfei were all starting to believe. Nethersprite just frowned.

Xu Qing, meanwhile, looked very closely at his Eldest Brother’s hands. At the same time, Erniu sighed and looked back at everyone.

“Let me do the introductions again. On the other side of this door is my ex-wife.”

His words struck like lightning bolts. Ning Yan let loose an exclamation of shock. Wu Jianwu’s eyes couldn’t have opened wider. Li Youfei was dumbstruck. Nethersprite was deeply shaken.

“Ex-wife?”

“A god?”

“W-what’s… what’s going on here?”

Xu Qing didn’t react in the same way. He was looking thoughtfully at his Eldest Brother’s right hand, which was clenched into a fist.

The Heir Apparent and his siblings also reacted slightly differently. Eighth Sib seemed suspicious, Princess Brightblossom’s eyes narrowed, and Fifth Sister seemed thoughtful.

“What are you holding in your hand?” the Heir Apparent asked.

Such reactions caused the Captain to rejoice inwardly. But he kept the emotions off his face. He sighed. “Please, don’t laugh at me. Years ago when Little Moonie attempted godly ascension, shē could hardly bear to part with me. But in the end, we went our separate ways. Shē became a god in heaven, while I remained a person on earth.

“Yet I still loved hēr. And that’s why, in reincarnation after reincarnation over the countless years that have passed, I was willing to be hēr anchor. I am what lets hēr keep a grip on hēr human nature, and not become lost in godliness.”

As the Captain’s sorrowful words echoed out, he opened his right hand. There wasn’t anything there.

Everything was silent. Ning Yan and the others were shaken by what they were hearing, but at the same time, realized it sounded vaguely familiar. Xu Qing looked at the Captain and could guess where he’d come up with the storyline.

Princess Brightblossom looked at the black door, and then back at Erniu. “If we hadn’t come along, those were the lines you planned to have our ‘father’ say in the performance. Right?”

Eighth Sib couldn’t help but add, “I remember that High God Moonfire was born a god. Shē wasn’t a postheaven god. So what would shē need an anchor for?”

The Captain blinked a few times and was about to answer when, all of a sudden, the banging resumed on the door, this time, louder and more insistent. Cracks spread out on the door, and even started to bulge out in some spots. The bulge was the same shape as a seven-fingered hand. Along with the banging came gasping sounds that pulsed with greed and longing. There were also some hoarse cries.

Xu Qing’s expression turned serious. The Heir Apparent and his siblings all looked on gravely. As for the Captain, he was definitely alarmed, but was working hard to look calm and casual.

He even reached up and rapped lightly on the door.

“The time hasn’t come yet, Little Moonie! I can’t open the door right now. But don’t worry. How come you still have the same little temper as before? I just came to wake you up and make sure you don’t go back to sleep. And I also wanted to let you know you should keep activating all the things you prepared over the years.

“In less than a year, I’m going to live up to our agreement. And that’s because, in no more than a year, I’ll make sure you lay eyes on the sleeping Crimson Mother. That’s what I promised you years ago, and I’m going to live up to it.

“Finally, I have a little authentication device for you. It’ll enable you to ignore the might of Crimson Mother and walk right up to her.”

The Captain reached up, dug his eyeball out of the socket, and smashed it onto the wooden door. The eyeball sank through the door to the other side.

“The authentication device is inside my eyeball that I just—”

Before he could finish speaking, chewing sounds drifted out from the door….

Xu Qing said nothing. Ning Yan and the others had strange looks on their faces. The Heir Apparent looked at Erniu. But it was Eighth Sib who spoke.

“Shē ate it.”

The Captain cleared his throat. “It’s called love.”

With that, the Captain started growing a whole bunch of eyeballs, which he sent into the door one after another. The chewing sounds never stopped. Finally, after about a hundred eyeballs, the Captain angrily said, “Alright, no more! Worst-case scenario, I just get help from another High God!”

A huge bang on the door was the only response the Captain got. As a result of the bang, the path made by the green hair started to collapse, and the hope power began fading away.

The Land of God Decapitation in general started crumbling.

Xu Qing hurried over to the entrance of the vortex in case he needed to help the Captain.

Thankfully, after that huge bang, there were no more noises from behind the door. Instead, one of the Captain’s eyeballs suddenly appeared on the surface of the door. It was staring at the Captain. Inside of the eyeball was a wriggling strand of gray hair that almost resembled a worm of some sort. It emanated a terrifying aura that far surpassed anything from the previous green strand of hair.

The Captain’s eyes narrowed and shone with blue light. Reaching out, he took the eyeball, then started backing up. The moment he moved backward, the palm print that was bulging out of the door wriggled and transformed into a vicious face. Opening its mouth, it lunged toward the Captain.

Blue light flared around the Captain as he raced backward toward the exit. The path beneath his feet was crumbling, and the vortex of hope power grew dim.

Seeing that, Xu Qing reached out, grabbed the Captain by the shoulder, and dragged him out.

Even still, the face closed in with a gaping maw, and then a crunch rang out as it bit into the Captain’s waist. Blood spread out of his mouth. The path collapsed into nothing. The vortex of hope power disappeared. And Xu Qing was left holding the upper half of the Captain.

“Happy, Eldest Brother?” Xu Qing sighed.

The Captain laughed heartily. “Totally! When you do big things, you have to be thorough. Otherwise, how could they be considered big? Please, everyone, don’t laugh at me. This is just how my ex-wife and I bid farewell to each other.”

The Captain didn’t seem worried at all about his missing lower half. Looking pleased, he opened his right hand to reveal the eyeball. After squeezing it, he managed to extract the gray hair, which shot through the void into the outside world.

In the blink of an eye, it reached the air above the Greenhair Badlands, where it expanded to cover the entire desert. Then it started breaking apart. It turned into countless grains of gray sand that fell down, once again filling in the huge basin. The process made the desert gray. And a gray wind blew over it….

According to the legends, there were different types of wind in the Greenhair Badlands. In addition to the green, white, and black winds, there was a fourth type. It was said that the fourth type had only appeared once in the entire existence of the Greenhair Badlands. Now it had appeared a second time.

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