webnovelvip Chapter 38 Adam and Eve
Chapter 38 Adam and Eve
The blood-stained fountain in the square has dried up.
After the succubus's remains dissipated into data fragments, a layer of light spheres covered the ground.
It has been a full hour since we entered the Garden of Eden.
Their hands ached from picking things up, so they gave up and simply stopped picking things up altogether.
Zhao Leiguang closed the lid of the last temporary extended warehouse, locked it, leaned against the warehouse box, and gasped for breath.
"It's too full. It's really too full."
He said without exaggeration that the personal storage space for the seven people, plus the three extended storage units they carried, was completely full.
It was filled with A-grade and above equipment and materials, with S-grade items stored in a separate storage box.
Lin Chuxue sat down against a half-broken wall, her dueling staff resting on her knees as she hurriedly took a break; she was simply too tired.
"Rest for ten minutes, then push towards the BOSS territory." Xiao Qianyu finished checking the durability of the Crimson Lotus Goddess Spear; the remaining flames on the spear tip had not yet completely extinguished.
Lu Yan was squatting by the fountain, examining the dried red marks, the Eternal Scepter tucked under his arm. His experience bar had reached level 43. He was gaining over seven levels per hour; his efficiency was decreasing, but it was still outrageous.
Shen Xinglin dismounted and took out energy fodder from the saddlebag to feed the horse. The warhorse ate happily, its tail swishing back and forth, sometimes hitting Zhao Leiguang's face.
"You beast—"
Zhao Lei hadn't even finished his rant.
A series of chaotic footsteps came from the direction of the church. It wasn't the orderly surge of monsters, but rather a person running, stumbling, falling, getting up, and continuing to run.
Everyone looked over at the same time.
A figure stumbled out of the ruins behind the church.
The man was young, dressed in tattered coarse cloth clothes, his face covered in ash and scabs, and barefoot. The moment he saw Xiao Qianyu and her group, his knees buckled and he knelt on the ground, his knees hitting the marble floor with a dull thud.
He did not kneel before Xiao Qianyu, nor before Zhao Leiguang, who was standing at the front.
He knelt in the direction of Lu Yan, who was squatting by the fountain.
"Please...please save Eden..."
The man's voice was hoarse, as if he had been crying for a long time. His hands gripped the ground tightly, his nails were torn off, leaving several bloody scratches on the marble.
"The false god...the false god has locked us all up...We are not monsters...we are human..."
Lu Yan stood up.
The system panel pops up automatically.
Gold border.
This was no ordinary task prompt. The pattern on the border was unlike anything he had ever seen before—every line was slowly flowing, as if it were alive.
[Hidden Unique Task Trigger]
[Mission Name: The Lie of Eden]
[Mission Level: S]
[Mission Description: The "False God" of Eden has imprisoned all the native inhabitants in the name of holiness, transforming their life force into a monster army. Defeat the False God and liberate the core area of Eden.]
[Quest Rewards: S-Rank Epic Set Blueprint (All Classes), Control of the Holy Nexus]
[Special Note: Sacred Nexus—A permanent passage node connecting reality and the secret realm. Capturing it will trigger an unknown event.]
[Note: This is a unique task; there is only one available worldwide. It will not refresh after you abandon it.]
Zhao Leiguang leaned over and glanced at the panel. When he saw "Only one in the world", his mouth dropped open in a wide grin.
"Sole Quest... S-Rank Epic Set Blueprint... For All Classes..."
With each word he pronounced, his voice grew louder.
"Is this a dream?!"
"Shut up." Xiao Qianyu walked over, squatted down, and looked at the NPC kneeling on the ground.
The NPC's life fluctuations are real. Unlike the monsters that disguised themselves as residents, this person doesn't have those repetitive, formulaic movements. His fear, his despair, and the blood he bleeds are all real.
"Where did you escape from?" Xiao Qianyu asked.
"The church...below the church..." The NPC looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "The false god imprisoned all those who refused to obey underground. Those on the streets...those who smiled at you...are puppets created by the false god using our life force..."
He grabbed Lu Yan's trouser leg.
"You have light within you... I can feel it... Please, save us."
Lu Yan looked down at him.
"Accept the mission," he said to Xiao Qianyu.
Xiao Qianyu nodded and pressed confirm on the panel.
The golden mission tracking marker lit up, pointing towards the church—no, towards the church's underground area.
The group regrouped. The NPC, having had his external injuries treated by Su Yunqing, was able to stand and walk with difficulty. He volunteered to lead the group, saying he knew the secret passage leading underground.
Walking along a narrow alleyway on the side of the church, winding and turning, passing through two collapsed archways, the landscape begins to change. The grass disappears, replaced by exposed rock formations and stone steps leading downwards.
The air became humid, carrying an indescribable, sweet smell.
The further down they went, the dimmer the light became. Lu Yan's Eternal Scepter became the only source of light, its golden halo reflecting back and forth in the narrow passage.
It took about ten minutes to walk.
The view ahead suddenly opened up.
At the end of the stone steps lay a vast underground space. Directly in front of the space, thick fog blanketed everything in a white expanse, obscuring all visibility.
Xiao Qianyu stopped in her tracks. Her intuition was screaming for help.
"spread--"
As soon as she began to speak, an arrow shot out from the thick fog.
Not one.
There are several hundred.
Arrows rained down from the depths of the thick fog, their sharp whistling echoing through the air. Their density nearly obscured all vision.
"defense!"
Zhao Leiguang reacted the fastest. He slammed his Earth Pulse shields into the ground, activating the "Earth Wall" skill. A thick rock shield rose from the ground and blocked the front of the team.
The arrows struck the rock shield, making a series of clanging sounds.
Xiao Qianyu rushed in front of Lu Yan, the Crimson Lotus Goddess Spear spinning rapidly in her hand. The flames generated by the spear formed a semi-circular curtain of fire, deflecting or burning any arrows that managed to escape.
The arrow grazed her cheek, shaving off a few strands of her hair.
"Milk!" Zhao Leiguang roared.
Su Yunqing's Blessing of Yao Guang had already lit up. Shields covered everyone in the front row, a white light membrane covering each person. It would flicker briefly when hit by arrows, but would not break—the "Shield regeneration is uninterrupted during healing" attribute demonstrated its value at this moment.
Wen Yue lay prone behind Zhao Leiguang's rock shield, her crossbow already loaded. She didn't return fire, because she couldn't see anything in the thick fog, and firing would be a waste of ammunition.
Lin Chuxue crouched behind Lu Yan, her staff held upright in front of her. The shield of 1 HP and 10,000 shields deflected all the arrows that were shot at her.
The rain of arrows lasted for nearly two minutes.
Then it stopped.
Zhao Leiguang's rock shield was covered with arrows, making him look like an oversized hedgehog.
"Casualty report." Xiao Qianyu holstered her gun, her voice steady.
There were no casualties.
The NPC who was leading the way was huddled in the far corner of the rock shield, holding his head and trembling like a leaf, but fortunately he was not injured.
The thick fog began to dissipate.
It didn't dissipate naturally; it was actively drawn away by some force.
The fog receded to both sides, like a curtain slowly being drawn back.
The scene behind the curtain silenced everyone.
A palace.
The pure white palace grows out of the rock walls of the underground space, constructed entirely of some kind of luminous stone. The colonnades, domes, and reliefs are all so exquisitely beautiful that they seem unreal.
The palace has no gates. Its facade is completely open, like a giant mouth.
The room was packed with people.
The common people of Eden. Men, women, and children, dressed in all sorts of coarse cloth clothes, stood on every step of the palace, beside every pillar, and in every corner.
Their eyes were all closed.
Their expressions were serene, as if they were sleeping. But they were standing, their bodies straight, their hands hanging at their sides, their breathing even and slow.
Hundreds of people were crammed together, and not a single one of them was awake.
The deepest part of the palace.
There is a high platform there.
Two people were standing on the high platform.
A man and a woman, both completely naked.
The man was tall, with muscles perfectly sculpted like a sculpture, and skin so white it seemed to glow. The woman's body was equally flawless, with long hair reaching her waist, and her face so exquisite it seemed unlike any known race.
The two people stood facing each other, holding hands, with their eyes closed.
But their bodies were glowing. Soft white light emanated from beneath their skin, gathered along their arms to their clasped palms, and then spread outwards, transforming into countless tiny rays of light that connected to the heads of every sleeping commoner in the palace.
What are those rays of light extracting?
At the end of each ray of light, a faint point of light would be drawn out from the sleeping civilian and flow back along the light to the hands of the two people on the high platform.
The NPC stood up, trembling, and pointed at the two people on the platform.
"That is... a false god."
His voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of waking something.
"Adam and Eve."
Lu Yan stared at the high platform.
Two red names popped up on the system panel in front of him.
【False God Adam Lv.55 BOSS】
【False God Eve Lv.55 BOSS】
Level 55. Two bosses.
The level has actually exceeded the maximum limit.
Zhao Leiguang swallowed hard when he saw the number on the health bar.
"Brothers, these two are level 55."