Chapter 32: “Come, Call My Name Together!”

Chapter 32 "Come, Call My Name Together!"

On the rugged mountain road, two dilapidated minivans raced one after another through the lush forest.

A fierce wind howled beneath the gloomy sky, bending the trees on either side of the path. Whirling leaves churned like a raging green sea, while swaying branches occasionally scraped against the windows and bodies of the vehicles, casting sinister, talon-like shadows.

"They... they're catching up!"

The student in the driver's seat glanced at the rearview mirror and paled further, her foot trembling as she slammed the accelerator to the floor.

Behind the two vehicles, swarms of moths flapped their gray-white wings, chasing after them with terrifying swiftness. From a distance, they resembled countless distorted human visages darting through the trees. The moths' feelers quivered, emitting the villagers' unnervingly cheerful greetings:

"Hornet-Ant Village, Hornet-Ant Village, Hornet-Ant Village..."

"Hornet-Ant Village welcomes you!"

At their closest, the eerie faces all but pressed against the rear window, blinking at the passengers inside.

Everyone in the car clenched their fists in fear, shaking their heads as if to disperse the horrifying welcome. They prayed silently:

Faster, drive faster—

The van lurched violently on the rough mountain road, the engine groaning, protesting under the strain.

The rain grew heavier, forming a cascading curtain. Even with the wipers working relentlessly, the view ahead became increasingly blurred.

Time passed, and the swarm of grotesque face-moths drew closer to the fleeing students, who could do nothing to escape.

No matter how much they accelerated or how far they drove, the endless stretch of forest remained before them.

Only after passing the same gnarled tree several times did the students begin to despair—they were trapped on this road, as if caught in a supernatural circuit...

Li Yin sat beside Yi Fengchu, her face drained of color, her expression drawn with terror.

Her lips trembled as she whispered to Yi Fengchu, though her eyes focused somewhere beyond him, as if she were speaking to herself:

"...We’ll survive, we’ll make it out alive... right?"

Yi Fengchu seemed lost in thought and didn’t answer.

He only let out a quiet sigh before calmly telling the driver, "Stop the car."

The driver froze, she nearly bit back a protest—Are you insane? Trying to get us all killed?

But when her eyes met Yi Fengchu’s impassive dark gaze in the rearview mirror, her foot unconsciously eased off the accelerator.

In that moment, everyone remembered the malignant presence Yi Fengchu had either driven away—or outright killed—outside their door earlier.

Torn between trusting the "professional" and their survival instincts, they ultimately yielded to the former.

"To hell with it!"

The driver gritted her teeth, slowing down while alternating between high and low beams to signal the other car ahead. "We’re not getting anywhere like this anyway. If we keep going, we’ll just get caught... Might as well take the gamble!"

"Leave the expert stuff to the expert. Since we don’t know anything, the least we can do is not make things worse..."

The shuddering van gradually came to a halt. The other vehicle hesitated, coasting forward a short distance before stopping about ten meters ahead.

Docile, obedient—Yi Fengchu liked people like that.

His expression softened, and he gave rare praise to the driver: "Well done."

The driver blinked in surprise. Though they were just classmates, she felt inexplicably a surge of pride, as if she’d been commended by someone of great importance.

Yi Fengchu paid no mind to the others’ reactions. He opened the car door and glanced outside, tutted. "No umbrella..."

Before anyone could respond, he stepped calmly into the rain, shutting the door behind him.

Above him stretched the angry, leaden sky. Before him surged the tide of gray-white moths. Yet Yi Fengchu walked forward with the same measured pace as always, as if heading not toward danger, but toward a long-awaited feast.

The howling wind lifted his hair and the hem of his coat, but instead of looking disheveled, he carried an air of unruffled composure, starkly out of place in this nightmare.

The trees along the road bowed their branches in the wind, as if bending in deference to this extraordinary guest.

Through the rain-blurred windows, the students couldn’t clearly see Yi Fengchu’s expression—only his unshakable figure, a steadfast anchor in the midst of surreal chaos.

In this wordless awe, the quiet sobs faded, and the car fell into silence.

Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on Yi Fengchu as he strode toward the nightmarish swarm.

When the moths were mere inches away, Yi Fengchu suddenly smiled.

Instead of retreating, he threw his arms wide eagerly, as if welcoming the swarm—or embracing the downpour.

—"Come, call my name together!"

His laughter was snatched by the wind as he addressed the moths.

The swarm froze.

Then, a piercing screech erupted in the rain, deafeningly loud, as if exploding right beside them.

Bound by the rule of "answer when called," countless moths spat out resentfully Yi Fengchu’s name—only to twitch in torment, their wings blackening as if scorched by unseen flames, their bodies disintegrating to ash and dissolving in the rain.

The gray-white swarm whirled madly around Yi Fengchu, attempting to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, but each moth burned and melted the instant it drew near.

As their wings fluttered, glistening white phosphor scattered like falling stardust, mixing with the rain and coating Yi Fengchu’s body.

The peculiar powder thickened the rainwater, gradually forming a silvery, gossamer mantle.

From a distance, Yi Fengchu appeared arrayed in shimmering silver—half of the shimmering veil settling upon him, the rest flowing with the rain into meandering silver streams on the ground.

The moths shrieked as they turned to ash, their once-impenetrable swarm thinning rapidly.

When the last moth fell from the sky, Yi Fengchu seemed to sense the stunned gazes behind him and glanced back.

Against the backdrop of the silvery phosphorescent film, his eyes appeared even darker, deeper—preternaturally cold, stealing the breath from those who met them.

This coldness wasn’t the sharp threat of a blade, but something vaster, more indifferent... like the existential chill one feels when staring into the endless cosmos.

For a moment, the students wondered: Was the figure walking toward them truly their classmate—or something far more terrifying than the moths?

Yi Fengchu returned to the car, but everyone remained transfixed in stunned silence, the only sound the rhythm of their collective breath.

Only Li Yin moved quickly, opening the door and motioning him urgently inside.

A smile appeared on her face: "Great, we can escape alive together..."

"No."

Unexpectedly, Yi Fengchu rejected her words: "Only 'we' will make it out—not you."

Not only did he not take the opportunity to board the car, but he also grabbed Li Yin's wrist resting on the door and ruthlessly pulled her out.

Staggering into the rain, the cold rain instantly drenched her from head to toe. Li Yin was clearly stunned, raindrops rolling down her pale face, soon leaving wet trails.

Under her bewildered gaze, Yi Fengchu looked at her strangely: "Here, anyone who responds to the call of the chrysalis will be replaced by them."

"When the classmates were walking through the mountains and first heard 'Wang Lin' call Li Yin's name, she had already responded unthinkingly, hadn't she?"

"Li Yin should have been the second host targeted after Wang Lin," Yi Fengchu stared into "Li Yin's" eyes, said slowly and clearly, "Everyone will make it out alive—except you."

"—The Moth God who has ruled these mountains for over a century."

Yi Fengchu pulled back the final veil, revealing the true identity lurking beneath "Li Yin's" guise.

"Li Yin's" expression gradually grew distant, as if enormous moths were fluttering deep within her eyes, vast white films spreading to obscure her brown-black pupils.

"So, you noticed this flaw..."

"Li Yin"—no, the Moth God let out a soft sigh:

"I thought that amid the sudden chaos—especially under the thrill of nearly escaping—you might overlook this detail."

"What a pity. I even sacrificed so many of my children just to lower your guard. This robe woven from their bones—does it suit your taste?"

The Moth God gazed at the silver cloak draped over Yi Fengchu, its tone finally shedding its feigned fear, taking on a mocking tone as it chuckled lightly.

As it spoke, it began clawing at its throat in a manner unnaturally human, its mouth opening and closing to spit out newly hatched moths.

They fell out, their wings still crumpled and fluttering, before gathering worshipfully around the Moth God—both as loyal guards and intimate companions.

Yi Fengchu replied impassively: "Thanks. It's the thought that counts. I suppose it's acceptable."

The Moth God paused slightly, its face darkening.

To it, its offspring were nothing more than infinitely replaceable minions—yet that didn’t mean it would tolerate others treating them as mere consumables.

How was this any different from spitting in its face?

"Just a mere mortal... Even with a drop of True God's blood, you’re still an insect," the Moth God curled its lips into a stiff, eerie smile, like a smile painted on flesh, "What gives you the audacity to act so insolently before me?"

"No matter how powerful your patron is, you are not them! Besides, 'Fate' didn’t even care enough to stop you from coming here. Clearly, you’re barely worth noticing..."

As it spoke, the moths spilling from its mouth multiplied rapidly, twisting into a terrifying swarm behind it:

"A chrysalis of True God’s blood—this shall be my final and most perfect metamorphosis before ascension!"

"To the blasphemer, I curse you—may 'Fate' forever forsake you, may your flesh and soul become stepping stones for my ascent!"

As the Moth God beat its wings, a gale howled.

Each of its words was filled with immense power, the wind sharpening into blades that slashed toward Yi Fengchu, soon cutting jagged wounds across his body.

Blood welled from the cuts, yet Yi Fengchu remained calm, as if impervious to pain—completely unfazed.

"Just as I thought. Pretending to slip up to nearly let us escape, infiltrating our group—all this scheming just to hunt me..."

He smiled faintly, the tiny blood trails on his cheeks lending his expression an unnerving danger, his eyes gradually burning with ravenous hunger: "How fortuitous. I, too, have been waiting—to devour you."

Before the Moth God could ponder his words, something triggered its memories.

On Yi Fengchu’s hidden phone screen, the countdown finally hit zero. In an instant, using its impression of Bryce as an anchor, he summoned Bryce into the Moth God’s memories!

After invoking Bryce’s Ability, Yi Fengchu immediately canceled the summoning. To an outsider, it would seem he had just zoned out briefly before snapping back.

And now, the Moth God had no ability to notice this anomaly.

In its mind, the past image of the Fate Apostle seemed to suddenly come alive, turning its head to smile gently at it.

From those crimson eyes, a storm of chaos erupted deep within the Moth God’s consciousness, sweeping through its memories across time.

In a daze, it began losing count—was this its fiftieth metamorphosis, or its fifteenth?

The Moth God was, after all, the "Deity of Metamorphosis and Rebirth," growing more powerful with each cycle. As its memories regressed to earlier stages, so too did its power wane.

The once-overflowing power within it scattered like sand, swept away by memory's tide, impossible to reclaim—

The moth swarm that had been writhing toward Yi Fengchu now froze mid-motion, lost in confusion over its own state.

"You’re right. I am just a mortal—and that’s my advantage." Yi Fengchu sighed.

He recalled his experience devouring the Tidal Prince. It seemed only when lost in unconsciousness could he shed his physical shackles, experiencing the boundless freedom of an unfettered soul.

Of course, Yi Fengchu couldn’t simply fall asleep while fighting. But he could exploit his body’s fragility to forcibly induce that same "unconscious" state!

"Wang Lin, use your Ability!" Yi Fengchu suddenly turned, shouting toward the car.

By now, nearly all the unprepared humans who had gazed directly at the Moth God had lost consciousness.

Only Wang Lin, following Yi Fengchu’s prior warning, had kept his eyes tightly shut, head pressed against the seat, not daring to look.

At Yi Fengchu’s command, he stammered out: "Sleep... sleep... sleep..."

The moth wings in his throat fluttered madly, uttering curses in relentless repetition.

Though Wang Lin’s Ability was still weak, requiring probability to take effect, enough attempts would eventually succeed.

As he chanted, a slight drowsiness rose in Yi Fengchu’s awareness—so small it was like a ripple on an endless ocean.

Had he not been searching for it, he might have missed it entirely.

Yi Fengchu seized this wisp of drowsiness, giving up all resistance—even actively discarding lucidity, letting the ripple grow into waves that slowly drowned every nerve.

Soon, he successfully fully fell into slumber.

And the moment Yi Fengchu’s consciousness faded, a terrifying force awakened within him.

The wounds that had bled now ceased, silver light shining beneath each cut like scales hidden in flesh—

In an instant, numerous golden snake eyes opened within the gashes, countless silver snakes emerging to flick crimson tongues at the Moth God.

The real hunt was finally on.