This Chat Group's Vibe is a Bit Off — Chapter 49

Out of curiosity, he came over to take a look, only to see that "Guangdong Big Cockroach" was about to be skewered to death by Theresis's sword.

If W died, who was going to make up for the Vishdale I was missing?!

Without Vishdale, Watashi...

So without a second thought, he had Kiana open a Space Gate to save W. Then, for some inexplicable reason, W pounced onto his face with an excited expression.

Oh no, cockroach attack!

Softness surged against him, filling his vision.

The girl excitedly spread her arms as if she wanted to embrace the entire world, pulling Qianyi into her bosom.

"Your Highness..."

The Sarkaz Mercenary W held Qianyi tightly.

Qianyi really wanted to ask this Guangdong Big Cockroach whether she was some cockroach from his old home that had gained sentience and come back to repay a favor.

But after thinking about it, he held back.

That would have been too much of a mood-killer.

He knew that W must have mistaken him for Theresia. After all, when the King of Scavengers had seen him use Black Abyss White Flower's power of creation earlier, he had inevitably assumed that Qianyi was connected to Theresia. W had seen an illusion of Theresia in her dying flashbacks, then mistaken him for Theresia. It made perfect sense.

"Theresia is dead. I'm not Theresia." Those were the first words Qianyi said to W.

W, whose heart had been full of joy, was nearly scared to death upon hearing that. At the same time, she noticed something strange—why didn't Her Highness have exaggeratedly huge pectorals?

Then she looked more closely...

Fuck! Wasn't this Your Majesty?!

Shuddering in fright, she scrambled off Qianyi. But because she had taken a sword from Theresis, even though Qianyi had healed her, she still looked extremely weak. Her voice trembled as well. "Your Majesty..."

Qianyi steadied W, who looked like she might be blown away by a gust of wind, and reminded her, "Ata is the Emperor of Ursus. At most, I'm just a tool she dragged over to do work. I'm not the Emperor."

"There cannot be two suns in the sky. In my heart, you are the true Your Majesty." W immediately declared her loyalty.

"Under this Community of Shared Destiny called Ursus, whether Emperor, soldier, or citizen, we only differ in our duties. Our status is equal. You don't need to pledge loyalty to me; you only need to pledge loyalty to Ursus. Besides, I already said that the true Emperor of Ursus is Ata, not me. So relax." Qianyi took off his coat and draped it over W.

Theresis's sword strike had nearly blown her entire body apart, clothes included. Qianyi could heal her body, but he could not heal her clothes back into existence. W was currently in a state of being barely clothed.

W froze when the coat was suddenly placed over her, then abruptly lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty."

"Why are you apologizing?" Qianyi asked in confusion.

"Because I acted on my own and ruined your plan." W pulled the coat tighter around herself, her toes awkwardly nudging a little stone on the ground.

"Since you know you were wrong, then don't say sorry. Whenever people apologize, there's always a next time. If you want to make up for it, then become my companion."

"Hmm?" W was dumbfounded. What kind of punishment was that?

Qianyi ignored her confusion and continued on his own. "In the past, I swore before that damned Bass that I would return the sorrow born from loss and setbacks to the world that took away my dreams. That's why I want to build a world where no one ever leaves, where every member can be happy and fulfilled, a world that will never disband. But I absolutely can't do it alone. So, W, can you give the rest of your life to me?"

What the hell was Bass?

W did not understand, but she understood that everyone could become happy because of it.

This dream was so much like Her Highness Theresia's...

I thought that with Her Highness's death, my heart had long since become incapable of sorrow or joy. But what is this emotion flowing through me now?

She did not know. All she could do was stand there in a daze. After she had been frozen for quite a while, Qianyi patted her head. "Theresis was defeated. That was your contribution, W. You did well. Go back and rest first. Once you've rested enough, I'll be putting more on your shoulders."

Although Theresis had been blown unconscious by one of W's bombs purely because they had previously used an exhaustion strategy, wearing Theresis down for a full ten days—and W's attack had not actually caused Theresis any real harm—he had fainted solely because W had blown up his Pin Hao Fan, causing his mentality to collapse and making him pass out from rage.

Put simply, W might have dealt only 10 points of physical damage to Theresis, but her mental damage had landed a 10,000-point critical hit.

Still, W had delivered the finishing blow, so it was fine to count the credit as hers.

"Go get some rest."

After seeing W off, Qianyi decided to meet the Regent King.

If the other party was willing to help, taking Victoria would go exceptionally smoothly. But if he was unwilling to help...

Then Qianyi would beat him until he was willing!

Kazimierz Dungeon.

Theresis groggily opened his eyes. While his vision was still a blur from the overwhelming impact he had suffered, the King of Scavengers, Nietzre, was already speaking in his ear, offering commentary and criticism.

"Today's fermented rice shrimp is truly excellent. The rich flavor of shrimp roe in the head mixed with a faint aroma of wine moved me deeply. The shrimp itself is also superb—the flesh is firm and springy. The moment my teeth crack through the shell, the freshness of water and the mellow sweetness of fermented rice collide on the tip of my tongue in an entanglement on the scale of the Big Bang. It's so astonishing that I want to give up my position as lord of the royal court and let this chef become the King of Scavengers instead."

"Let me try the Fish Head Stew... Damn it, how did you make Fish Head Stew like this? The fish head has no flavor, and the broth is as thick and gloppy as Indian curry paste. Does Kazimierz not have a single person who knows how to make Fish Head Stew?!"

"Where did this rotten meat come from? Why would you add something so ruinous to such a delicious meal? Its appearance on this dining table is like adding the words 'working overtime' after the beautiful phrase 'New Year.' It's so disgusting it makes me want to vomit!"

When the aroma of food woke Theresis and his pupils adjusted to the dim blue light deep within the prison, he saw an absurd scene unfolding in Nietzre's cell next door.

In front of Nietzre, who occupied the cell beside his, stood a black table with a smooth ebony surface, dark as ink. An exquisite brocade tablecloth in deep, lavish colors covered it. A wineglass, several delicate plates, and an ice bucket filled with alcohol were arranged neatly atop the table.

Theresis recognized the wine in that ice bucket. It was Moët & Chandon. He had once been fortunate enough to drink a glass at a party hosted by a duke in Victoria. It was undoubtedly a rare and fine wine, yet here it was merely a thirst-quenching beverage served alongside the dishes.

The sight left Theresis utterly dumbfounded.

"Theresis, you're awake." Nietzre speared a piece of foie gras with his fork and stuffed it into his mouth before greeting Theresis.

"You lost to those brats too?" Theresis was utterly disheartened. Even the King of Scavengers had been locked in here—there truly was no one left in the Sarkaz worth using.

"Brats? What makes you say that?" Nietzre did not understand, and he retorted, "The New Emperor of Ursus is simply the greatest, kindest, gentlest ruler in the world."

Theresis: ???

Are you really the King of Scavengers I know?

Could you be some Great Deceiver in disguise?

The King of Scavengers before him suddenly seemed hideous. Though he was still wearing those clothes made from strips of Kazdel battle flags, Theresis felt as though the man seated before him was some Victoria duke drowning in luxury. It frightened him. "What did they do to you?"

"Try living a life outside the Sarkaz," Nietzre said.

"A life outside the Sarkaz?" Theresis was even more bewildered.

"This was the first time I learned that you could actually eat your fill of lobster and king crab. But I'd advise you not to eat that stuff. It doesn't taste good—the meat is tough and doesn't absorb flavor easily. I recommend squab instead. The skin is delicious, the meat is tender, and it's bursting with juices. Oh, right, and Fermented Rice Shrimp. I just wolfed down forty of them. Food recommended by the New Emperor of Ursus really is good."

"???" Theresis's fists clenched, and his voice began to tremble. "So you're saying you've been eating lavish meals in here for ten days?"

"Lavish meals? Who are you looking down on? If I were really eating lavish meals, anyone who didn't know better would think I was suffering in here," Nietzre retorted.

Fuck! We're no longer kin!! Nietzre, you old bastard who betrayed the Sarkaz!!!

Theresis's eyes were split wide with fury.

I starved for ten days—ten whole days! Do you know how I got through those ten days?!

While I was surviving in the wilderness and getting excited over finding an expired, spoiled Pin Hao Fan meal, this old bastard was in here stuffing himself with lavish food, lobster, and king crab?!

In the end, he forced himself to calm down and put on a professional smile for Nietzre. "O-old... old senior, then how do we escape this place? If we remain imprisoned, that new king will execute us sooner or later. Once we die, Kazdel will truly have no hope of revival left."

"Why escape?" Nietzre looked confused. He stood, pushed open the completely unlocked cell door, and said, "Can't we just walk out?"

Theresis: "..."

Oh, oh, oh. I get it. I get it.

You mean that all this time, you could have gone out whenever you wanted and rescued me and the Blood Demon Great Lord, but you chose not to leave and spent ten days gorging yourself on lavish meals instead?

You old bastard!!!

Theresis's blood rage erupted. The person he hated most immediately changed from W to the King of Scavengers, Nietzre, standing before him.

A teammate who watched you die without helping while living extravagantly was even more hateful than an enemy who blew up your Pin Hao Fan meal!

"Nietzre!" Theresis had decided he would no longer show this old thing even a shred of respect, calling him directly by name. "Have you forgotten your duty as the King of Scavengers?!"

"I discarded that title on the fifth day." Nietzre wiped his hands. "The New Emperor of Ursus was right. Perhaps only those who have never eaten Fermented Rice Shrimp would eat corpses and rotten flesh."

"Have you betrayed the Sarkaz?!"

"What makes you say that?"

"You've been bewitched by the enemy's sugar-coated bullets and lost your Sarkaz heart!"

"That kind of backward custom should probably have been thrown away centuries ago. I've been thinking that perhaps the scavengers need some reforms. Maybe we should have changed long ago. We were simply too stubborn. It was not until that new king's lobster hit me on the head that I realized the barbaric age of the Tigaz had long since passed."

The scavenger race could draw upon an enemy's flesh and blood, absorbing the hatred within to strengthen themselves. And the more miserable a person's death, the stronger their hatred tended to be.

But a new era was coming. If scavengers continued to maintain such a barbaric way of life, they would be eliminated sooner or later. So over the past few days, Nietzre had been experimenting—live-cooking lobsters and crabs to see whether the hatred produced by those creatures' deaths was greater than that produced by a person dying on the battlefield.

The result was that lobster was too delicious. He had accidentally eaten a whole lot more, so the experiment was invalidated.

"You're going to betray Kazdel along with the Wendigos too?!" Theresis had not expected even his most supportive ally to betray him.

"The salary that the New Emperor of Ursus offers Sarkaz willing to submit to Ursus is worth a year of working under you in a single month, and that doesn't even include meal allowances, medical care, housing subsidies, and the like. Theresis, you have become the greatest obstacle to Kazdel's and the Sarkaz's development," Nietzre said flatly.

Theresis, who had devoted everything to the Sarkaz and was willing to die for them, had become the greatest obstacle to the Sarkaz's development.

"That's impossible. How could anyone be willing to take in the Sarkaz?" Theresis did not believe it. If even a single country had been willing to treat the Sarkaz a little more gently, how could Kazdel have been driven to the point of having to self-destruct?

"Nothing is impossible." The one who answered Theresis was not Nietzre, but Qianyi.

Seeing Qianyi arrive, Nietzre immediately rose and bowed. Qianyi waved him off, then said to Theresis, "Tens of thousands of years of eating raw meat and drinking blood, thousands of years of feudal dynasties, centuries of industrial civilization—the speed of the world's transformation is beyond your imagination. It's entirely possible that you close your eyes, then open them again, and the world has already changed beyond recognition. Theresis, the train of the times has already set off. Will you try to stop it with your own feeble strength, or will you join it?"

Theresis shook his head. "You don't understand at all. The hatred between the Sarkaz and this land has long become irreconcilable."

"I will sever the shackles of hatred!" Qianyi declared resolutely.

"That sounds nice, but what if you can't sever them?" Theresis retorted. Sarkaz who died with hatred in their hearts would enter Originium's Internalized Universe after death and find no peace. That hatred would affect every living Sarkaz. The Sarkaz Collective Souls imprisoned within the Internalized Universe had long since ceased allowing the Sarkaz to let go of their hatred.

"Then I'll kill every Sarkaz, give you all a quick death, and make the day of your collective demise Thanksgiving, to commemorate the sacrifice the Sarkaz made for peace on Terra Continent," Qianyi said calmly.

Theresis's legs trembled at those words. If you couldn't solve the problem, then you solved the people causing it. If the Sarkaz coexistence problem couldn't be solved, then slaughter every last Sarkaz. How could there be something in this world even crueler than the Demon King and the Tigaz?!

Just as he was about to question what Qianyi thought life was, he heard Qianyi continue, "Before killing all of you, I'll do my utmost to ensure that all of your information can be recorded in Originium and 'Continuance of Civilization.' Afterward, I'll take your Internalized Universe to another planet or world, pull you out of Originium, and rebuild Sarkaz civilization. If there are only Sarkaz and no other races, will there still be a problem of coexistence?"

Theresis wiped away his sweat.

Th-then... that was fine.

He had thought Qianyi was the Great Western King, but he turned out to be Ultraman.

Still, he somewhat doubted whether Qianyi had that ability. And frankly, he did not really want to leave the planet where he had been born and raised, so he cautiously asked, "Then... what if the problem still can't be solved after going to another planet?"

"Then you Sarkaz have earned your deaths. I'll make every last one of you become Observers of Tens of Thousands of Proverbs." Qianyi felt that killing all the Sarkaz might be easier than taking them to live in another world.

"Both the Sarkaz and the other races were at fault for their hatred of each other. Why were you so biased toward the other races?" Theresis asked.

"Bullshit. Ata is my brother. My brother belongs to the 'other races' you keep talking about, not your Sarkaz. Do you expect me to abandon my best brother and favor you Sarkaz instead?" Qianyi truly wanted to stab this idiot Theresis to death. What kind of idiotic questions were those?

Cold sweat streamed down Theresis's back. He had considered countless possibilities—perhaps Qianyi held a grudge against the Sarkaz, or perhaps the Sarkaz population was smaller than that of the other races—but he had never expected the reason to be this simple and blunt.

That's... some seriously intense personal sentiment.

There might be something seriously wrong with this guy.

Even the well-traveled Regent King could not help but suffer a mental shutdown at that moment. After a long silence, he stared at Qianyi for quite some time before slowly saying, "You should be human, shouldn't you? Not the humans of Terra's current civilization, but true humans."

"Yes." Qianyi admitted it openly.

Theresis nodded, thinking that it was indeed as he had suspected. Otherwise, how could someone comparable to the Lingering Doctor of Babel have suddenly appeared on the continent? So they were from the same family after all. No wonder he was this unhinged. After learning of Qianyi's origins, he could not help asking, "If you had to choose between the humans of Terra's current era and the true humans from before..."

"I'd choose the humans of the current era."

"Why?" Theresis had not expected Qianyi to answer so decisively.

"Don't ask the same question twice. My best brother, Ata, is a person of the current civilization, not a human from the Previous Civilization." Qianyi had never been a rational person, nor had he ever liked taking a neutral stance. There were only two situations in which he would remain neutral: when the referee was on his side, or when he was beating the living hell out of the other side.

Brother, for you, I'll slaughter every last Sarkaz and everyone from the Previous Civilization.

If the Lingering Doctor of Babel was a rational madman, then Qianyi was an absurdly, invincibly unhinged lunatic. He wanted everyone to live well and eat well alongside him—but if there was no way for everyone to be well...

Theresis glanced at Qianyi and thought that if it had been Qianyi his sister Theresia had dug up back then, rather than the Doctor, his own head might already have been kicked around like a football on a field, while flowers bloomed across the entire Terra Continent.

With no time to think about the IF-line, Theresis asked a question that was crucial to the current situation. "How do you intend to solve the problem of Originium Infection?"

"Why should I solve it?" Qianyi was dumbfounded. He was not a doctor; how was he supposed to know how to cure that thing?

Just throw it to my subordinates and have them research it.

"If you don't solve Originium Infection, then all the prosperity you've created will be nothing but an illusion. The infected have far shorter lifespans than you imagine." Theresis was equally dumbfounded. Wasn't this thing created by you people? How could someone standing with the current civilization not know how to solve it?