282 Cuckoo

Forty days have passed since we arrived on Violet Star.

Although not much time has actually passed for White Candle Star due to differences in gravity and physical laws, Caramel Snail's perception has gradually changed.

Li Aoz said he had found a clue to the target, and then headed towards Suro City. His good looks worked everywhere, as if the heavens favored him. Whenever he went out, the weather was always good, and whenever he needed to rest, he would happen to encounter fallen fruit from the trees, without even a single wormhole.

As for Caramel Snail?

Along the way, he was basically responsible for acting as a bodyguard and agent. When he needed money, Caramel Snail would take on tasks assigned by Li Aoz to find hotels, restaurants, and theaters and negotiate payment.

Does Li Aoz need to work?

No.

He doesn't even need to move; simply sitting there quietly eating in full view of everyone is enough to make him the center of attention.

Women give Li Aoz flowers, men give Li Aoz money, and even passing monks, upon seeing the boy's stunning beauty, lose their composure.

Even for churches that strictly adhere to the rules and regulations, they knew that Li Aoz's charm was too powerful and could sway people's hearts, but every priest in the church was reluctant to let Li Aoz leave.

From that moment on, Caramel Snail realized the true power of the [Dominator] path.

This made it even clearer where Li Aoz's confidence came from, as he carried neither weapons nor Aoneng.

Good looks are not a rare resource, but this kind of devastating attraction is definitely the rarest resource in the universe.

When the attribute of "charm" reaches a certain level, it becomes an extraordinary ability to influence objective reality.

Humans are social animals. As long as we live in a group, we can't avoid interacting with other people. The charm of Li Aoz, which is indiscriminate of species, gender, age, profession, and life and death, can be said to be a special attack on intelligent beings.

Caramel Snail also benefited a lot from its charm and its close relationship with Li Aoz.

Violet Star is not a planet with a very high ceiling; the number of Gamma-rank is only a few million, and most people are at the level between beta and Alpha Rank.

As for its upper limit, according to the church, it is estimated that it will not reach the Zeta-rank.

With no safety concerns, Caramel Snail naturally relaxed.

Basically, he spent his days moving around, gathering information, eating and drinking with Li Aoz, and going up and down mountains.

Life here is almost like a vacation.

Gradually, the Caramel Snail adapted to this leisurely and natural life.

During the finals, facing Long Yuqiong's overwhelming pressure left him with a deep psychological scar. For a long time, Caramel Snail didn't dare to open the arena to challenge anyone to a one-on-one duel.

With just his eyes closed, he displayed impeccable movement, almost lag-free reactions, seamless combos between normal attacks and skills, and the ability to activate his prosthetic body at precise moments.

To put it bluntly, if it weren't for Long Yuqiong's decent character, Caramel Snail felt that this battle could have shattered his career, leaving him to live a life plagued by Long Yuqiong's PTSD.

But as he leisurely strolled along with Li Aoz, Caramel Snail gradually calmed down, forgetting about the competition and competition, and began to wholeheartedly immerse himself in enjoying the local customs and culture.

In order to gather information about 'rock and roll', he spent his experience points learning the local dialects. In every city he visited, he would ask passersby for information. Because of his high charisma attribute, he was often able to trigger some Side Quest.

For example, when he went to Suro City to look for clues about Rock and Roll, the local church, out of respect for Li Aoz, reluctantly gave him a piece of information. "Fifty years ago, an antisocial and dangerous person named Igor Tsoi, for some reason, suddenly decided to spread a kind of music called rock and roll everywhere. People who listened to his music would become rebellious and manic, and in order to pursue the rock and roll in their hearts, they would not hesitate to cut off contact with their Li Ren."

An elderly medium sighed, "The older generation of the church simply cannot agree with this idea, because small families are the foundation of church believers. The more traditional the family, the more likely it is that rock music will take away the children. They believe that the church controls people's thoughts and that people have no freedom. Igor proclaims that the church's purpose is to continuously take away people's basic rights so that people will eventually not allow them to go against the church's practices, or even question the existence of God himself."

"Hmm, it sounds like..."

Caramel Snail nodded in agreement, but something still felt off.

Because in the Star Abyss, gods truly exist, and not only do they exist, there are many of them...

"But as you have seen, God has never deceived us. For so many years, we have lived according to God's will. They accuse us of blocking technology, but if we were to accelerate the pace of technological advancement immediately, the population would inevitably explode— Violet Star only has so much land available for human habitation. If the population explodes, it will inevitably lead to war!"

The old medium complained, "Those rock fans never understand this about us. They're always too idealistic, as if they're thinking about things a thousand years in the future—but the reality is, if we don't follow the will of the Lord of the Undead, we'll bear the consequences of human error. They won't question God's decisions regarding the church's commands, but they'll impose all the errors on mortal rulers."

The Caramel Snail asked curiously, "You mean... God doesn't make mistakes?"

The question was very direct, but the old medium's answer was very insightful:

"God certainly doesn't make mistakes. The Lord's will and wisdom surpass those of mortals. Even if He makes a mistake, it's only a mistake that only God would make. For mortals, that's not something we can judge—would an ant care if an adult didn't brush their teeth or wash their face? No, an ant can't even understand what 'brushing teeth and washing face' means."

The Caramel Snail fell silent.

After gathering some clues, they bid farewell to Suro City, and Li Aoz and his journey continued.

Along the way, they passed a city destroyed by the Barren Sea. The church thoughtfully warned people from a distance to be careful, as bandits, monsters, and demons might appear in the ruined city.

However, those enemies were no match for the Gamma-rank Caramel Snail. He drew his Tsu・Shadow Edge and easily killed over a hundred bandits and several menacing monsters.

After that, no one bothered them anymore.

But people like them are clearly a tiny minority in this kind of world.

Along the roads through the city, traces of abduction and rape are everywhere; lonely, weeping Wandering Souls lie under the eaves; and life withers on the deserted land.

They also encountered a group of the Redemption Army from the Church: a mobile force composed of skilled combat shamans, specifically sent to wipe out all kinds of monsters.

"Although most parts of Violet Star have been civilized, and some areas have even entered the Industrial Era, there are still many cunning barbarians who refuse to accept the guidance of the correct path and cling to those evil paths, such as the demon god worship of [Dominion] and [Destruction]. Alas, there's just no way to deal with them..."

"If we could, we wouldn't want to be enemies with them either, but the resources of this planet are not suitable for their path of development. If they want to truly live a good life, they can only follow the [Strange] path. This is clearly the truth, so why won't they believe it?"

"You mean the starry sky? Uh, how can you step into the astral plane? The gods are still fighting there! Their war will never end. Isn't it better to stay here? Why do you have to go to the astral plane and participate in the battle between the gods and monsters?"

Li Aoz and his men drank and chatted, while these dogmatic warriors drank tea instead of wine and talked with them all night. Then they received an urgent mission to rescue a hostage kidnapped by heretics, Immovable Body leave, thus parting ways.

Caramel Snail particularly likes one of the short-haired girls who wears bell earrings.

She was a petite female shaman, clad in light leather armor and carrying a revolver and a flint and steel sword. She told one joke after another, which greatly endeared Caramel Snail, a severe socially awkward individual.

Seven days later, Li Aoz and Caramel Snail saw rows of wooden stakes by the roadside, covered with the heads of the Redemption Army soldiers.

One of the heads had short hair, its face was a bloody mess, and its only remaining feature was a bell earring on its left ear.

They passed a muddy wetland. Li Aoz picked up his camera, watched the egrets rise and fall in the distance, and pressed the shutter, while Caramel Snail seemed lost in thought.

"You look a little lost?"

Suddenly, Li Aoz asked.

Ah—um.

Caramel Snail pondered for a moment, then said:

"At first, I thought the church must be some kind of wicked villain who imprisoned people's minds and hindered progress; they must be very backward."

"It turns out that these people are not only very rational, but also very clear about their actions and purposes, right?"

Li Aoz captured a photo of a pink pelican taking off, commenting, "Doesn't it feel disjointed?"

"The cities are so isolated... because of the dangers of the Barren Sea, so the church came out to protect people and strictly restrict their activities to prevent them from being harmed by evil spirits."

Caramel Snail said with a complicated expression, "The technology is so underdeveloped... because the planet's resources are limited, so we can't develop too much technology to avoid overpopulation."

"Only the [Strange] Church rules—this is also because of the planet's unique nature, which allows more resources to be concentrated on one path, ensuring balanced production and making pollution easier to manage. Those barbarian tribes also went astray because they lacked resources on their path, resulting in mutations..."

"People are forbidden from discussing the starry sky and are refused to develop space technology—this is actually because it is known that in the Star Abyss, people fight each other to the death for the path of cultivation, and there is a [society] that exists in the shadows."

"Furthermore, haven't you noticed that there's no war on this planet? No capitalists, no bureaucrats, not even Landlords. And because of the existence of divine authority, the behavior of church personnel is very restrained, and the level of corruption is extremely low. No, it's not even the church that's corrupt, but the mortals..."

Caramel Snail looked at Li Aoz blankly:

"Li Aoz ...why is it that no matter how I look at it, I feel that none of these things are wrong?"

Li Aoz held a camera and gazed into the distance.

"Isn't the church supposed to be protecting people?"