Chapter 107: The Favor of Fate, the Only Son of the Ouroboros, Sharing the Supreme Glory and Praise with the Lord.

Chapter 107 The Favored of Fate, the Only Son of the Ouroboros, the Young Majesty Who Shares the Supreme Glory and Praise with the Lord.

Outside the snakeskin, Eurus was skulking around the corpses of the two Scholars, even rummaging through their pockets thoroughly, earning a disdainful look from Lena.

"Even the smallest mosquito has meat, right? Who knows if they have any valuable items or tools?" Eurus stuffed the items into her inventory while defending herself. "They're dead anyway, so what's wrong with me benefiting a little? Consider it payback for stabbing me in the back and my emotional distress..."

Suddenly, a strange scuttling sound came from inside the cave, rustling and rapidly approaching, making Eurus jump up nimbly and brazenly hide behind Lena. "Your Grace, you'll protect me, right?"

"...Tch, you're not a believer favored by Fate. What does that have to do with me?"

Though her words were merciless, Lena didn't push her away, raising her shears toward the cave entrance, standing at the ready.

The sound from inside the cave grew closer, accompanied by imperceptible vibrations on the ground, signaling the approach of a large, fast-moving creature.

Despite their mental preparation, the first glimpse of the monster—with serpentine limbs, crawling unnaturally along the stone walls—still made their hearts skip a beat.

The monster leaped out of the cave, crawled a few steps, then suddenly raised its head toward the Players. Its faceless face, scales flared open, revealing a dark void as it let out a bestial, mindless roar.

The ends of its long limbs also opened into maw-like appendages, layers of fine teeth unfurling like tools designed to tear flesh and grind bones.

Lena's hand didn't waver for a second. Without hesitation, she swung her shears, severing half of the monster's fate—leaving only the part where it was still "human."

Instantly, the hard, dense scales shed from its body, revealing beneath the monster's skin a haggard, middle-aged man with bloodshot eyes.

He practically scrambled forward on his hands and knees, begging Lena, "Please... kill me... I don't want to live anymore... Living is too painful..."

Despite her young appearance, Lena now exuded a maturity beyond her years. She looked down at Father Zhang with compassionate, tender eyes, stroking his head soothingly until his trembling subsided.

"As you wish," Lena intoned devoutly. "May the Lord of Fate shelter you and guide you into the next cycle of reincarnation, where you may find true peace and happiness."

With a soft *snip* of her shears, the blade passed lightly over Father Zhang's head. The man slowly closed his eyes, filled with anguished frenzy, and peacefully stopped breathing.

In the distance, the countless wandering "Father Zhangs" gradually dissipated. Lena's power helped them merge back into a single, complete entity, granting them passage to end their fate.

"That... that was the monster that killed and beheaded people? It really was Father Zhang transformed?" Eurus stepped out from behind Lena, thoughtfully staring at the corpse and scratching her head. "Ah, you acted too fast. We didn't even get to hear what wishes he made."

With that, Eurus pulled out an unremarkable-looking mask from her system backpack, put it on, and leaned in close to the corpse, cooing affectionately, "You might not believe this, but I'm actually the one who truly cares about you in this world..."

Lena: ?

Ignoring Lena's look of disbelief, Eurus continued cozying up to the corpse: "Look, Zhang Ming shares blood with you, yet he only came to save you now. Meanwhile, I, with no relation whatsoever, came looking for you without hesitation—if we were family, I can't even imagine how much more I'd do for you!"

"Who truly cares about you more? Isn't it clear as day?"

Eurus said affectionately, "So now, would you tell me everything about your experiences?"

As she spoke, a simple line-drawn mouth appeared on the mask, opening and closing as if alive, greatly amplifying the effect of her Ability, "Perjured Testimony."

—Finally, through her relentless efforts, even death and the corpse were deceived by the power of lies.

In a daze, the corpse of Father Zhang mistakenly believed it was still alive. Its mouth opened, and it began spilling everything about its experiences.

"See? I have my ways!" Eurus boasted triumphantly. "Our Liar Domain is pretty strong too..."

Lena glanced at her and smirked. "Then why didn't you use it against Scholar and Chen Hui earlier? Did you just enjoy getting beaten up?"

Eurus's smile instantly fell.

Of course, she didn't have a masochistic streak. The mask, called "You Might Not Believe Me," could amplify her Ability to the point of deceiving inanimate objects, but its limitations were severe—it only worked on humanoid beings or objects with an IQ under 50...

The heavy restrictions made the item neither fish nor fowl. Without them, it would have been highly sought after, far beyond Eurus's reach.

Scholar aside, even if Chen Hui was foolish, his IQ was still within the normal range. Only a corpse, with its brain no longer functioning and its tissues decaying, could be judged as having an IQ under 50 and thus exploited.

Father Zhang's corpse now regarded Eurus as its closest confidant, recounting its experiences chapter and verse, allowing Lena and Eurus to piece together the instance's progression and fill in the remaining 15% of the quest completion.

Then, another rustling sound came from the cave—not from a single entity this time, but... a swarm.

Eurus stiffly turned her head to see a silver tide of snakes slithering out, their tangled bodies coiled beneath the peacefully slumbering Zhang Ming, who looked fit for a coffin at any moment.

These snakes gave Eurus a familiar yet dangerous feeling.

Especially when their golden vertical pupils locked onto her, sending chills down her spine—the primal fear of being targeted by a massive predator.

Fortunately, the snakes merely pushed Zhang Ming out of the cave before retreating into the dark tunnel without lingering.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Eurus expertly hoisted Zhang Ming's arm over her shoulder while coaxing the corpse to stagger to its feet and follow her. Casually, she asked Lena, "You coming down the mountain?"

"I don't have a hidden mission," Lena waved her off. "We part ways here."

"Then see you if fate allows!" Eurus effortlessly carried the nearly 200-pound Zhang Ming with one arm, muttering, "Ugh, why did I get stuck with this thankless hidden mission..."

"My luck's terrible. Maybe after dumping this deadweight, I should devoutly make offerings to the snowy mountain?"

"..."

As Eurus's figure disappeared into the snowy wilderness, Lena watched the mountainous snakeskin collapse and shrink until it transformed into a heart wrought of silver radiance.

The black-haired young man stood alone in the snow, reaching out to catch the silver-white heart and placing it inside his chest.

"Divine Son, Your Eminence!"

Lena removed her snow goggles, her quicksilver eyes brimming with joy. She hurried toward Yi Fengchu but stopped short, not daring to get too close. Flustered, she straightened her clothes and braid before bowing respectfully. "A humble follower of Fate is honored to meet you."

Seeing her stubby limbs, Yi Fengchu instinctively steadied her as she bowed. She suppressed her excitement and said, "Your coming here must be to reclaim the remnants of the great Lord of Fate. Fortunately, the Players' interference did not hinder your purpose..."

Pausing, she proudly straightened her back and added, "Of course, nothing could ever divert Fate from its destined course. Praise Fate!"

Yi Fengchu, however, was more concerned about the title "Divine Son." He hadn't hidden his abnormalities from the Players, expecting his "Narrator" persona to be exposed.

Yet, somehow, this offhandedly claimed identity as the Divine Son seemed to be growing more entrenched.

"I'm curious—how did you all learn of my existence? And how do you distinguish me from..." Yi Fengchu coughed awkwardly, "(ahem) ...my 'father'?"

Lena was unusually indulgent toward the young divine being, happy to satisfy his curiosity. "Worry not. Though no formal divine decree has been issued, the entire mystical world already knows of your exalted status—the Favored of Fate, the Only Son of the Ouroboros, the Young Majesty Who Shares the Supreme Glory and Praise with the Lord."

"Once we finalize the church's holy texts with the Lord's approval, your name will spread across the Nine Dimensions alongside your father's title, reverently recited by myriad faithful..."

Yi Fengchu: "..."

Spare me. For the first time, he felt the emotion of "embarrassment" so vividly and intensely!

Originally, Yi Fengchu had adopted a neutral stance toward the Divine Son identity—neither confirming nor denying, letting others speculate as they wished.

But now, he realized that this title, born from the forums' headcanon, had far exceeded his initial expectations in terms of influence...

At this point, everyone seems to genuinely believe it. If he were to clarify that this identity doesn't exist, wouldn't that make things super awkward?

After a moment of silence, Yi Fengchu chose not to explain further and let Lena continue with this misunderstanding.

"As for how to distinguish you from your father..."

Perhaps it was Yi Fengchu's imagination, but he felt that for a brief moment, Lena's eyes held a look of motherly affection, as if she were gazing at her superior's child. "Although the power of you both originates from the same source and is extremely similar in form, you clearly appear to be a very young... um, divine being."

Instinct told Yi Fengchu that what she had originally intended to say was probably "young one."

But upon reflection, it made sense. He currently only had memories spanning a mere twenty-something human years—in the mystical world, that was practically kindergarten age...

Meanwhile, his past self had allegedly left behind numerous legends in the playground, likely appearing as a self-made badass who carved his way through bloodshed in others' eyes. Without those past memories, Yi Fengchu naturally didn't match that intimidating reputation.

Yi Fengchu silently glanced at Lena and realized that even she had already had over two centuries of life experience. Her youthful appearance now seemed to be the result of some curse...

Alright, no wonder she was looking at him with such affectionate eyes.

Yi Fengchu asked, "Would you like me to remove the curse on you?"

Lena looked flattered and surprised. "Thank you for your concern—but my enemy... I will personally cut her life thread myself. There's no need to trouble you."

"If it's convenient, please give my respects to the merciful Lord of Fate," Lena said earnestly. "And should you have any needs, you may inform me at any time."

"I swear upon fate, I shall lead the faithful to clear all obstacles for you, charging forward without hesitation."

Yi Fengchu pondered for a moment and indeed thought of some questions.

Just then, the system's portal slowly unfolded. In the last second before leaving this world, Lena heard his response:

"'Longinus'... Discreetly gather information related to this organization for me. You may submit it to me through prayer."

With Lena gone, only Yi Fengchu and the two players' corpses remained in the frozen wasteland.

He was in no hurry to leave. Instead, he carefully examined the bodies of the Scholar and the other player, a thoughtful expression on his face.

「Instance concluding. Detected that player Ray Arnold has lost all vital signs. Disconnecting from the system.」

「Bzzt—unbin-binding&%#!」

「Beep—」 After a sharp alarm, the system reported, 「Error. Unbinding failed.」

The culprit behind the system's chaos—a small snake—had already slithered through the Scholar's ear canal and into his brain.

Before long, as the system announced 「Life signs detected」, the Scholar's fingers abruptly twitched. Then, under the snake's control, his eyes reopened.

He flexed his wrists, elbows, ankles, and knees, attempting to stand.

However, due to the snake's limited control over the human body—and the fact that the Scholar's corpse had frozen stiff in the icy wilderness—this attempt ended in failure.

The Scholar only managed to get halfway up before wobbling in the wind and faceplanting back into the snow.

"......"

Yi Fengchu, silently observing from the sidelines, found his own avatar kinda dumb-looking. Wordlessly, he turned away, unwilling to watch further.

The Scholar gave up and flopped in the snow, then awkwardly squirmed for a while, trying to regain the flexibility of his serpent form—though the result resembled a zombie mid-transformation.

After an embarrassingly long struggle, he finally managed to stand steadily. They locked eyes for a second, then he stepped into the system's portal.

The snake thought to itself: *Let me infiltrate the organization first and see what's up.*