Your Mom Is Dead!

Molly's footsteps halted, and she looked toward the sound.

In the room beside them stood a hospital bed.

An elderly woman lay on it.

Her hair was gray, and her face was covered in wrinkles.

Her body had already begun to rot, white maggots crawling all over her.

Her eyes were cloudy and lifeless, long stripped of all vitality.

Clearly, this woman had been dead for quite some time.

Yet she was faintly moving.

She stiffly raised a hand toward the middle-aged man and let out a weak voice:

"Son... son... are... are you okay...?"

Hearing that voice, a powerful emotion instantly surged into the middle-aged man's formerly despairing eyes.

He turned to the woman on the bed, a twisted smile appearing on his face.

"Mom... I'm fine... This little injury... is nothing..."

A storm churned within Molly's heart.

She finally understood!

No wonder she had smelled the rotten stench of a corpse the moment she came in, enough to make her nauseous. This was where it had come from!

No wonder this middle-aged man had been willing to sacrifice innocent people at any cost and join the Corpse Ghoul God Cult.

He had done it to save his mother!

But his mother was clearly already dead!

In her current state, she was not alive at all!

She was merely a moving corpse controlled by maggots! A puppet of flesh and blood!

The Corpse Ghoul God Cult had never extended his mother's life!

They had merely been using him...

Molly's feelings were complicated.

She looked at the middle-aged man and said solemnly:

"Are you sure... this is helping your mother live longer?"

"Your mom is dead. Your mom is already dead!"

The middle-aged man's body suddenly stiffened.

He turned toward Molly, his eyes full of venomous hatred.

"What nonsense are you talking about?!"

"Look carefully!"

Molly's voice was ice-cold.

"Your mother is covered in maggots."

"Her eyes are cloudy and lifeless!"

"She died long ago! She isn't human anymore! She's just a controlled corpse!"

Lies did not hurt people; the truth was the sharpest blade.

The middle-aged man finally cracked and roared hysterically:

"Impossible!"

"You're lying to me! Lord Corpse Ghoul God said he would extend my mother's life!"

"He wouldn't lie to me!"

"Whether he lied to you or not, you know in your heart!"

Molly sneered.

"Ask your mother! Ask her when your birthday is!"

"A mother couldn't possibly forget her own son's birthday, could she?"

The middle-aged man's body began to tremble violently.

His eyes became hesitant and panicked.

He turned to the woman on the bed, a pleading expression appearing on his face.

"Mom... do you remember? When... is my birthday?"

The woman on the bed stiffly turned her head and stared blankly at him with lifeless eyes.

After a long silence, she finally rasped:

"Mom... Mom doesn't remember..."

She didn't remember...

Those four words were like four sharp knives stabbing viciously into the middle-aged man's heart.

His mother, the mother who loved him most.

Every year on his birthday, she would make his favorite dish: tomato scrambled eggs, savory style.

How could she possibly forget his birthday?

Unless... she really was already dead!

The middle-aged man asked several more questions, all things only he and his mother knew.

Yet the woman on the bed could not answer a single one.

She merely kept repeating mechanically:

"Mom doesn't remember... Mom doesn't remember anything..."

Despair appeared on the middle-aged man's face.

He staggered back several steps, then collapsed to his knees with a thud.

He looked at the woman on the bed, and at last, tears began streaming down his face.

"Mom... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

His miserable, despairing sobs echoed through the empty factory.

Seeing him like this, Molly felt not the slightest pity.

Pitiful people often had hateful sides as well.

For his own selfish desires, he had harmed so many innocent people. No matter how pitiful he was, it could not erase his sins.

Molly raised a hand and pointed at the ghoul statue nearby, saying coldly:

"This thing is behind all of this!"

"Destroy it, and your mother can truly be set free!"

Following her finger, the middle-aged man looked at the ghoul statue radiating an evil aura.

His eyes filled with hatred!

He struggled up from the ground and staggered toward the statue.

He reached out, wanting to smash it, only to discover that all his strength had already been drained.

Molly sighed. She stepped forward, the broken sword in her hand flashing with cold light.

"I'll help you."

As the words fell, she slashed out with her sword.

Crack!

The ghoul statue was instantly cleaved in two.

Black smoke surged out from within the statue before swiftly dissipating into the air.

As the statue shattered, the woman on the bed suddenly stiffened.

The maggots on her body instantly turned into pools of pus.

Her body also shriveled at a visible speed, becoming a true mummified corpse.

Witnessing this, the middle-aged man completely broke down.

He slumped to the ground, his eyes hollow like those of a walking corpse.

Molly looked at him and said solemnly:

"The sins you have committed are too numerous to count."

"Turn yourself in. Spend the rest of your life atoning for them."

The middle-aged man slowly raised his head and looked at Molly, a bleak smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

He shook his head.

"Atone? I've killed so many people. Even if I died a hundred times, I could never atone for my sins... And besides..."

His body began to shrivel rapidly.

The corpse aura around him was swiftly dispersing.

"I can feel... that I... don't have much time left..."

The middle-aged man pulled a yellowed photograph from his pocket.

It was a photo of him and his mother. Back then, he had still been young, and his mother had still been healthy.

He looked at the photo, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

Then he raised his head and looked at Molly, his voice weak.

"Thank you... for letting me... see the truth..."

"After I die... please... bury my mother and me... together... I'm begging you..."

As the words fell, he pulled a sharp scalpel from his pocket.

Then, without hesitation, he drove it into his own heart.

This scalpel had once saved many lives. Now, blood gushed out, staining his white coat red.

His body slowly fell.

At the final moment before he closed his eyes, a bitter, relieved smile remained on his face. Perhaps he was comforted by the thought of reuniting with his mother.

Molly looked at his corpse in silence.

Golden Yellow slowly walked over. She looked at the middle-aged man's corpse, then at Molly, her eyes full of complicated emotions.

"Um..."

Golden Yellow suddenly called out to her.

Molly stopped and turned back to look at her.

A sincere smile appeared on Golden Yellow's stunningly beautiful face.

Her tone was full of gratitude as she introduced herself.

"Thank you for helping me earlier... My name is Golden Yellow. I'm a magical girl skilled in light magic, and also the president of the organization Constellation."

"And you?"

"..."

Molly looked at her, somewhat dazed.

Because magical girl Golden Yellow somehow gave her a faint sense of familiarity.

It was as if Golden Yellow were one of her close friends...

And Golden Yellow really was beautiful!

Both her face and figure were exceptional!

Her mature woman's voice was pleasant to hear as well, intelligent and cool!

Molly fell silent for several seconds before putting on an aloof act and slowly speaking:

"Magical girl... Pale."