Blasphemy Slate

The most revered priest in Fire-Stealing Village secretly worshipped an unknown evil god and even planned to bring down the village. Talk about the king asking why he was rebelling.

Yang Qizhou had figured it out. Ancient Earth was one giant game of Werewolf. You never knew who was human and who was a wolf until the cards were turned over.

"Good thing I'm a player."

Yang Qizhou grinned and happily continued playing.

"The long night passed, and you woke from your sleep."

"You felt an overwhelming sense of urgency, knowing that something terrible was about to happen in Fire-Stealing Village. As an impulsive adventurer with a cheat, you now faced four choices:"

"Leave Fire-Stealing Village immediately."

"Wait and see."

"Find Lena and tell her the truth."

"Go to the Evil Altar again and look for a way to stop it."

"At this crossroads of fate, what will you choose?"

There were actually four options. Yang Qizhou's expression gradually grew serious.

"Doom-Bringing Raven" could only take him back to a moment of choice once, and he couldn't repeat the same choice after rewinding. In other words, he could choose at most two storylines, giving him a fifty percent chance of finding a good ending. Of course, if he chose wrong, Fire-Stealing Village would most likely cease to exist.

"Leave Fire-Stealing Village immediately? Definitely not. Resentful Maiden Aliceina is still waiting outside. If I dare go out, getting slapped to death would be the best-case scenario. She'd probably camp my corpse and kill me over and over."

"Waiting and seeing is just giving up. There's no way I can stop Fire-Stealing Village from being destroyed that way."

"That leaves only two viable choices."

Yang Qizhou's gaze turned distant.

"The Evil Altar is guarded by an invisible monster, and the Fire-Stealing Priest is there too. After alerting them last time, I'd probably be killed before I even got close."

"Lena, on the other hand, might be worth approaching. I handed over the 'Remains of the Night Watcher' before, so I've earned her goodwill."

Having made up his mind, Yang Qizhou didn't hesitate. He clicked the third option.

The text continued to refresh.

"You forcibly suppressed your panic and found Lena, the captain of the Night Watchers. You told her that the 'priest' was secretly worshipping an unknown evil god."

"Lena remained calm and asked if you were finished."

"You replied that you were."

A flash of fire crossed Lena's eyes. Your body burst into flames. The terrible pain made you cry out in panic, demanding to know why.

Lena said that the "priest" was an emissary chosen by the Ancient Fire-Stealing God, protecting Fire-Stealing Village from the strange and terrifying horrors of the Wilderness. He was revered and virtuous; how could he worship an evil god? She said you were the villain sent by an evil god to lead them astray.

"Your consciousness began to fade. You saw Lena heading toward the Fire-Stealing Priest's home."

"You were burned to a crisp."

"You died."

???

The option that seemed most correct had actually been wrong?

Women really did turn cold the moment they got what they wanted. One moment she had felt kindly toward him, and the next she'd killed him without hesitation.

A hundred thousand bizarre ways to die were the very soul of the World of Weirdness, so Yang Qizhou stayed calm. He only grumbled to himself before preparing to activate the effect of "Doom-Bringing Raven."

But then something occurred to him. He hurriedly scrolled back up, and a line of text caught his eye.

"You saw Lena heading toward the Fire-Stealing Priest's home."

"Maybe I can gamble on it."

Yang Qizhou muttered to himself. After hesitating for a moment, he chose to come back to life normally.

"You woke up once again in Fire-Stealing Village."

"You were lost. Lena's distrust and sudden attempt to kill you had caught you completely off guard, and you didn't know what to do next. Maybe you should leave Fire-Stealing Village."

"Lena's goodwill effect was triggered."

"Two hours passed. Just as you were about to leave, a bloodied Lena suddenly burst in."

"She was gravely injured, covered in blood. Her left arm was gone, and half her face had been eaten away. Her horrifying appearance startled you."

From Lena's account, you learned what had happened.

After killing you, Lena had gone to the Fire-Stealing Priest to report the matter. But your words had made her pay special attention to his home, where she had unexpectedly discovered an altar dedicated to the "Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World." She had been attacked by invisible hounds and pursued by the Fire-Stealing Priest, and had only barely escaped with her life.

"Lena is about to die."

"Because you gave her the 'Remains of the Night Watcher,' she trusts only you now. She entrusts you with going to 'Dark Fog Town' to find the leader of the 'Fire-Stealing Cult,' explain the crisis facing Fire-Stealing Village, and beg for their help."

"As death drew near, Lena was overcome with emotion and told you a secret she had never shared with anyone."

"When she was a child, her mischievous curiosity once led her to wander into the Wilderness. She accidentally fell down a cliff and found a slate called 'Blasphemy.' It recorded secrets about wizards. Since wizards were a forbidden existence who had once brought disaster to Ancient Earth, she hadn't dared read it. She had fled in a panic and never told anyone—not even her father, Porter."

"Now she had told only you."

"Once again, fate had brought you to a crossroads. Would you accept Lena's request or reject the trust she had placed in you?"

"Doom-Bringing Raven" cried out. An uncanny realization surfaced in your mind: you could return to the last moment you made a choice and rewrite your current fate.

"So, adventurer with a cheat, what will you choose?"

Yang Qizhou smiled. He'd bet right.

He'd already guessed that Lena's goodwill might trigger a hidden storyline. As it turned out, his deduction had been right: handing over the "Remains of the Night Watcher" really had been the key to triggering a hidden quest.

As for what to choose—

Before, Yang Qizhou would most likely have accepted the request and unlocked the next map, "Dark Fog Town." As for Fire-Stealing Village, he would have had to leave it to its own devices.

But now he'd changed his mind.

Lena had found a slate called "Blasphemy" that contained secrets about wizards?

Yang Qizhou was very curious about wizards. He had no idea what they'd done to become so hated on Ancient Earth. Just carrying "Kanrui's Wizard Ring" had gotten him slapped to death by followers of the Old Gods and hacked to death by a Night Watcher.

Yang Qizhou really didn't want to become a wizard with a built-in taunt aura, but he still wanted to know why.

So he chose the third option.

"You returned to the moment when you last made a choice..."