Chapter 194

"Such a thing is absolutely impossible, you have to believe me! I am completely devoted to you."

"This one is definitely not that kind of thing."

"But I heard it twice already," Kallen said, seemingly a little annoyed. "I came here because I heard your and Li Pu's voices. I thought I had misheard."

"It seems I'm not mistaken now."

"And Otto!" Kallen said seriously, "Don't you trust me at all?"

No! This isn't a matter of trust! Otto was so anxious he was almost incoherent. This isn't a matter of trust, damn it! No, Otto, it really isn't!

"I believe you completely," Otto said, holding Kallen's hand. "Please believe me; look into my sincere eyes."

Do you think I would have any doubts about you?

"But this isn't a matter of trust."

"Hmm?" Kallen looked into Otto's eyes, and it seemed Otto truly didn't doubt her. Then what was the reason? Had she misunderstood something? Or overlooked something?

After almost a second, Kallen suddenly understood!

She immediately looked disgusted and said, "I never expected you to be like this, Otto."

"I don't..." Otto hurriedly retorted, but then seemed to realize that Kallen's train of thought had veered off to a place he didn't understand. He said urgently, "No, what kind of Otto? I am just this kind of Otto!"

"Otto Apocalypse!"

"Yes, I know you're Otto Apocalypse," Kallen said with a look of disdain. "No wonder Li Pu looked down on you too."

"I know you must have found someone you liked back home, and then found someone else here."

"And you must have said bad things about that guy back home, that you were lusting after Li Pu's body."

"Otto," Kallen said in a condescending tone, "Although I can keep your secret, don't you think this is particularly unfair to him and Li Pu?"

"Do you think you can split yourself in two? Or are you saying you can take Li Pu back with you?"

"A person should be more focused. Li Pu is a good man, but you can't forget your hometown."

"Don't worry, I will keep it a secret for you, but it's in the Far East."

"Otto, you'd better stop flirting with guys so casually."

"Listen to your sister's advice, eat your fill!"

Chapter 223 You're Overthinking It

Li Pu was found and caught by Kallen.

Li Pu didn't know how Kallen found him, but some things in this world couldn't be deduced using common sense. It was as if the world had shrunk to just the two of them.

Kallen can always find herself in the right place, as long as she's willing.

"Otto ..." Kallen was about to speak.

"No, I don't want to talk about these things," Li Pu immediately interjected, "Please don't talk about that name in front of me, thank you."

"Um, Li Pu," Kallen insisted, seemingly unconcerned, and even went so far as to say, "I want to know why you hate Otto so much."

"But Otto does know about this."

"Otto, well..."

"Can we not talk about Otto?" Li Pu was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Why not?" Kallen seemed determined to bring this up. "If we don't talk about this, there will always be something between you and Otto..."

"No, that's not it." Li Pu's face fell quickly, and he said weakly, "Do you think I don't know what you're trying to say?"

"You should know that, although I haven't said much, you should be able to sense that I know you quite well."

"So I know how I'll interpret what I hear and see."

"I'm not going to explain this to you, nor am I going to listen to what you have to say about it," Li Pu said. "And if you're going to say something nice about Otto."

"You're overthinking it. Otto won't give up just because of a few words from you."

"If he gave up, he wouldn't be Otto anymore; he would just become more secretive."

"You seem to know Otto very well." Kallen said, looking slightly displeased, whether from embarrassment or something else. "Otto was right about some things. Your relationship with him isn't as simple as it seems on the surface."

"Could it be..."

"You'd better stop making unfounded connections," Li Pu said with a dark face. "If you keep talking about Otto, then everything else will be a complete waste of time."

"I don't want to know, and I'm too lazy to know. In fact, I can say I've already guessed what's going on in your mind."

"But it's actually more complicated and absurd than the plot in your head."

"I don't think your brain capacity and brain cells are sufficient to support this kind of calculation and thinking."

"Oh..." Kallen shut her mouth, but after thinking for a while, she said, "I always feel like that last sentence is saying that I'm stupid."

"No!" Li Pu said seriously, "What I mean is that you need to be even smarter to think this through more thoroughly and see it more clearly."

"Otherwise, coming here like this will only make things worse and make it harder to persuade them."

"If you don't want me to actually grab a weapon and go after Otto."

"It's best not to talk about this anymore."

"Oh..." After a simple logical analysis, Kallen decided to give up on the matter. After all, matters of the heart are indeed very complicated, and she herself couldn't quite understand them.

It's best not to say anything.

"But I do have a real reason for coming to see you," Kallen said. "What did Otto mean by 'things that happened in history'?"

"It's Sacrifice Ritual," Li Pu said, arms crossed. "This is a problem that's about to happen and will be very difficult."

"Sacrifice Ritual?" Kallen said immediately. "I've heard of that before."

"Have you heard of it?" Li Pu glanced at Kallen and said, "Oh, right, you have it too. You must know, but the Sacrifice Ritual here are different from your Sacrifice Ritual."

Sacrifice Ritual are something that can be found in any religion and culture.

The gods are not the kind of overly compassionate people like the saints that Li Pu's era talked about. In fact, if you compare them, Li Pu would approve of the gods' actions more.

To receive divine protection and blessings, one must have faith, offerings, and rituals.

If you are a heretic and have no offerings, then you will all die and go to our opposing hell.

It all looks like a business transaction: I believe in you, I worship you, and you have to give me good luck and let me enjoy happiness.

So overall, this is a transaction.

As for those saintly figures, what a bunch of worthless idiots!

Nausea!

"The Sacrifice Ritual is simple," Li Pu said, "But the problem lies in the offerings, and of course, in the people who participate in the ceremony."

"What do you mean?" Kallen asked.

"It means it's very troublesome," Li Pu said. "This Sacrifice Ritual is fraught with ulterior motives. It's definitely not an ordinary Sacrifice Ritual, and Sacrifice Ritual requires the use of living people."

"I'm not very clear about what's going on in Europe," Li Pu said with a furrowed brow, "But this Sacrifice Ritual is definitely going to cause a big problem."

Sacrifice Ritual require living people, something Yae Sakura would definitely be happy to do, or even be eager to do.

And who should we use?

In official history, she was a girl whose name was never recorded. But here, the choice of whom to use her is quite intriguing! Will they use an anonymous person like in history?

More importantly, Otto wasn't around at that time in history, so how would things proceed if Otto were here now?

Meanwhile, the Sacrifice Ritual is a very late event in both history and the game's storyline. It was because of this that Kallen truly discovered that Yae Sakura had released the Demon in the Box. So, the event that was close to the final boss battle happened ahead of schedule. How will this event unfold?

Li Pu felt that this matter would definitely not come to a conclusion so quickly.

It's just that the Sacrifice Ritual ceremony happened ahead of schedule.

"A living person?" Kallen frowned and asked, "Why? Does the Sacrifice Ritual require a living person?"

"Sacrificing to the gods," Li Pu said. "This is a kind of culture, although it is cruel, but there is no other way."

"Can't we stop it?" Kallen said. "Do the people here agree to this?"

"Why not?" Li Pu countered. "From a psychological perspective, this is called risk transfer. What's wrong with shifting the risk that everyone has to bear onto one person?"

"Although doing so does not transfer any risk, it does transfer the burden to the people here."

"Moreover, the Sacrifice Ritual itself is driven by the local people's will."

"Don't think that just because you resisted the Honkai Beast and temporarily became a hero, you can do whatever you want."

"Fear power, not virtue! Don't think they'll wonder why you have such great power but don't attack them."

"They can target you with impunity as long as they know you won't lay a hand on them."

"If they feel that you are getting in their way, they will take action against you."

"What about Yae Sakura?" Kallen asked. "Would she be willing to do the same?"

"That's the problem," Li Pu said. "Yae Sakura's attitude, and your comrade-in-arms."

"Otto's attitude is the key to this matter."

"I've already looked for Yae Sakura."

"There is no clear stance."

Chapter 224 Disrupting the Event

Offerings.

A gift to God.

Can such a candidate really be an ordinary farm girl?

Of course not. Could it be like the common novels and what ordinary people think, where a poor peasant girl is chosen as the sacrifice? That's not entirely impossible.

However, compared to the times, girls from poor and lower-middle peasant families might not have been qualified.

To borrow a common modern concept, beauty is something that needs to be nurtured. Modern girls invest a lot of money in their pursuit of beauty.

There are plenty of skincare products and beauty-enhancing meals available.

Therefore, if a family wants to raise a girl with above-average looks, they will definitely have to invest a lot!

Judging solely from the basic requirements for appearance, they might not even pass the nutrition test!

Don't be fooled by the fact that modern girls always like to diet.

They dieted to lose weight, while girls in this era diet because there isn't enough food. Food must be saved for more important productive activities within the family.

At the same time, girls in this era are also a source of labor.

They certainly wouldn't be completely unaccustomed to housework.

The offerings themselves carried special meaning, holding different significance for people of that era. At the very least, one had to choose a girl of decent social standing.

At the same time, the selection of offerings is itself a very special process of financial transaction.

Therefore, the children were selected.

"She is the sacrifice." Li Pu stood sideways behind the shrine gate, watching the girl being carried in by the crowd.

She is very young, and her full name is 'Rin'.

No surname.

Yes, no name.

In this era, surnames were a privilege! People were divided into four different classes based on their birth: scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. There were virtually no channels for movement between these classes.

Status and rank are all hereditary.

This characteristic was almost entirely carried over into the future of Area 11.

If you pay attention to some anime from that region, you'll often see characters with the option of 'inheriting the family business'. This isn't some kind of craftsmanship spirit, just ordinary sons following in their fathers' footsteps.

This is what we call class solidification!