Why Couldn't I Be the Mother, If the Holy Child Needs One?

Before Cheng Shi revealed part of the answer, Gao Ya was the first to figure it out.

This "Folly" Believer could always deduce the whole picture from the smallest clues, but she was not surprised by the current situation because she had experienced far more absurd and outrageous things.

She simply remarked that there were too many coincidences in this matter, and the result of connecting them was somewhat unexpected, but still within the realm of understanding.

Scorpio was completely dumbfounded.

He never expected that things would eventually come full circle back to the track planned by Cheng Shi, and that he was the one who did the work of correcting the wrongs. This left him somewhat at a loss and dumbfounded.

He looked at Tullatin and murmured to himself, "You... and Afros had a child?"

Tullatin nodded readily. "Yes, I had a child with him."

"So fast?"

Oh no, I mean, so you're the mother of this child?

Scorpio's expression was somewhat complicated. His eyes flickered with inexplicable excitement, but his brows were tightly furrowed. He seemed to be torn between being happy and not being happy. This strange emotion was noticed by the other two, which surprised Cheng Shi and Gao Ya.

Cheng Shi thought of something, and raised an eyebrow, asking, "Is it related to your prayer?"

Scorpio nodded with a complicated expression, his admiration for Cheng Shi's ability to observe people's hearts growing even stronger.

Yes, that's right.

"So what exactly did you pray for? Can you tell me now?"

Scorpio hesitated for a moment, then slowly said:

"I pray to witness a miracle concerning time, so that I may understand time on a higher level..."

But now I'm not so sure if all of this is what I'm looking for...

If so, a person who predicts the future conceives a child with someone in the present—it seems like a miracle of Birth...

I also think that in the future that Afros exists in, when I find him, he doesn't seem like someone who experienced Tullatin's pregnancy firsthand. I can sense a hint of fear and confusion in his reaction to my appearance.

But now, he's become this child's father...

So, did he lie to me and hide something, or did his arrival change the present and the future?

The miracle of "time" that I am looking for cannot be something that I created on my own.

But this level of entanglement in time is far from a miracle.

Brother Cheng, I remember you said that the Wuma Sinners of the Inquisition had died in a fire. So who exactly is he?

Cheng Shi realized that Scorpio didn't really care who Afros was; what he cared about was why Tullatin had chosen Afros as the father of his child, because judging from her attitude, the pregnancy was entirely of her own free will.

In other words, it is very likely that it was not Afros who chose Tullatin, but Tullatin who chose Afros.

Why?

Scorpio, kept in the dark about everything, never understood, but Cheng Shi either, because he didn't quite understand this kind of coincidence in timing.

But one thing is certain: Tullatin knew everything.

He looked at Tullatin, smiled, and asked:

"You're not surprised at all by our discussion, so you know that Afros is from the future, right?"

Did he confess this to you?

It's funny, even though he's someone who shouldn't exist in this moment, you still chose him in this tense situation, so I guess...

You know him, don't you?"

Know?

They probably know each other.

Tullatin smiled and touched her belly, her eyes filled with both longing and pity. Her expression seemed more complex than that of a Scorpio, giving Cheng Shi the illusion that Tullatin was feeling sorry for Afros.

Heartache?

What is there to pity about a homeless man, a womanizer, an ugly man with a hoarse and unpleasant voice?

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Cheng Shi froze on the spot as if struck by lightning. He swallowed hard, feeling his nerves twitching violently.

Because he suddenly realized that Tullatin was also a womanizer. Before he turned back into her, he was a master who advocated physical pleasure. At the beginning of their cooperation, Cheng Shi introduced Gao Ya to him. He coveted Gao Ya, who had already become a girl at that time.

Moreover, and most importantly, after Cheng Shi and Mo Shu fought, Tullatin was injured and his flesh was eroded beyond recognition by the power of [Annihilation]!

Even just now, when she called out to the three of them, her voice was still hoarse!

Heartbreaker, ugly, hoarse voice...

When three coincidences collide, can it still be called a coincidence?

Cheng Shi gasped, immediately turning to Scorpio to ask for confirmation:

"I guess you heard the thunderous roar in the city before you started the simulation, right?"

Scorpio was taken aback by the sudden question, then quickly nodded. "That's right, after the five thunderclaps, the thunder continued incessantly, and that's when I entered the future."

Really!

Cheng Shi narrowed his eyes, realizing that everything matched up, because Tullatin had already been thrown out of the window and escaped, but he still had the marks of the [Annihilation] poison on his body!

And that Afros, whom I've never seen before, is very likely a future Tullatin brought back by Scorpio from a future where the spread of [Filth and Decay] failed due to the collective disappearance of players!

Hiss--

Isn't this too much of a coincidence?

No, no, no, this is too absurd. How could such a coincidence happen in the world?

Cheng Shi felt he was overthinking things. He patted his face to clear his head for a moment, but when he looked at Tullatin again, he could clearly see something called self-pity in the other's eyes!

Oh no, I guessed right!

That's him!

He is the future Tullatin, he is Tullatin himself!

This is insane!

This world has gone mad!

At this moment, Gao Ya also noticed something amiss, and after Cheng Shi's expression changed drastically, her expression finally changed as well.

The absurdity of the situation exceeded her expectations. She looked at Tullatin in shock, her tone, for the first time, devoid of any hint of Folly, instead brimming with a thirst for knowledge and Truth.

"Afros... is yourself from the future, right!?"

"Huh?" Scorpio's mind went blank. "No... no, no, no, huh?"

Tullatin stroked his belly and nodded affirmatively.

"Yes, he met me, recognized me, and told me."

He said he came from a future where "the missionary plan failed, everyone disappeared unexpectedly, the [Filth and Decay] Faith died prematurely, and I was expelled from the church."

However, considering that he was the son of the head of the church, they did not expel him from Dolgo D. Instead, they faked Tullatin's death and expelled him from the church, leaving him to fend for himself.

So, having lost his identity, he could only change his name to Afros.

Having lost all support, he had no other pursuit but to put into practice the last will of [Filth and Decay].

More than a decade later, he unexpectedly met this brother again.

As Tullatin spoke, he looked at Scorpio. Scorpio's mind went blank for a moment, and he suddenly realized that Afros hadn't been trembling with fear in that alley, but rather with excitement!

Because he seemed to have guessed something from the appearance of Scorpio, a glimmer of hope suddenly rekindled in his heart!

That's why Scorpio said he was both terrified and confused, because he never imagined that he would see one of those "Filth and Decay" Believer from back then more than a decade later!

A Believer has never grown old and Filth and Decay!

He was so happy that he couldn't contain his joy and wanted to recognize his brother directly, but then he realized that his brother didn't seem to recognize him.

He sensed something was amiss but dared not utter a sound, fearing that this only chance would slip through his fingers again.

When he was actually taken back to the past and back to the present moment we are in, he felt at peace.

He told me that at the time, he had only one thought in his mind: he couldn't let the Filth and Decay Faith perish again in this era!

"..."

Cheng Shi was numb. He didn't know what expression to make, but he did have many questions in his mind.

"So, how did he find you? Was it a tacit understanding stemming from shared Memory?"

"No, it's tacit understanding, but not shared Memory."

I don't know what he went through in his past, but what I want to say is that we bumped into each other by chance, rather than one of us deliberately seeking the other out.

!!

With just this one sentence, Cheng Shi had already guessed all the details of the whole matter.

Indeed, Tullatin was right; their meeting wasn't due to the tacit understanding of being the same person, but rather because...

A fanatical and unwavering Faith in Filth and Decay!

Cheng Shi narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a sigh, "You two met in the prayer room."

"Yes!

I met him in the prayer room; he had arrived before me.

I was thinking that since the "Filth and Decay" Holy Infant must have a mother, why can't that mother be me?

I worship Him, follow Him, and yearn for His Will to save the whole world. If I have such an honor, I would die for it.

So the first thing I did after struggling to get back to church was go to the prayer room.

And he...

He wanted to change the misfortunes of the future, make up for the regrets of the past, and let the will of [Filth and Decay] continue to live on. So, the moment he returned to the present, no, even the moment he was 'threatened' in the alley, he made up his mind that he could no longer let the Faith of [Filth and Decay] perish on the land of Dolgo D.

He never expected that he would actually be taken back to the past, so when he realized that he had a greater opportunity, he decisively seized the opportunity and slipped into the prayer room.

When I saw him, I didn't recognize him, but he recognized me, since I looked exactly like him in the past.

The moment he saw me, he stopped and gave me the opportunity.

He told me about his tragic life and begged me not to become another version of himself, a pitiful person who spent the latter half of his life like a walking corpse.

It was at that moment that I suddenly grasped the true meaning of the will of [Filth and Decay].

Because I remember you once told me that following one's own inner desires is the greatest offering to Him.

At that time, I had only one desire: to prevent him and myself from having any more regrets!

So I turned back into myself and asked him for a child.