Sacred Souls: Genesis-Chapter 83 - 82: Hoodwinking

Chapter 83: Chapter 82: Hoodwinking

The Hornet Knight ultimately had no choice but to accept Jiang Qiao’s proposal, but her decision was not a compromise.

The Hornet Knight also realized that if she didn’t eat something soon, it was very likely she would die again.

So, the Hornet Knight had to eat, and eat she did… until she had cleared everything on the table.

After all, this was the enemy’s food… or rather, their rations. Upon encountering an enemy’s rations on the battlefield, one either confiscates them or destroys them.

The Hornet Knight chose the latter. She pulled up her mask just enough to reveal her mouth, then, with the same kitchen knife she had used earlier to stab Jiang Qiao, she began poking at the dishes on the table.

Jiang Qiao didn’t suggest that the Hornet Knight try using chopsticks to eat because her movements ‘pinching’ food with the kitchen knife were incredibly skilled, and the speed was very fast, at least four times faster than Jiang Qiao’s.

...

Before Jiang Qiao had a chance to take a bite, the Hornet Knight had almost polished off a plate of mapo tofu.

Prior to eating, the Hornet Knight had suspected that Jiang Qiao might poison the food, but even if it was poisoned, she was very confident in her resistance to toxins, and she could tell by smell alone whether something could be lethal to her.

If there was any danger in the food Jiang Qiao brought, it might only be that the flavor was… slightly too good.

“Let’s get straight to the point, I suspect the Red Knight has betrayed us.”

Jiang Qiao didn’t beat around the bush and directly informed the Hornet Knight of the bad news. The Hornet Knight appeared calm upon hearing it, but she did speed up her pinching motions considerably.

After she had devoured all the spicy dishes on the table, she finally put down the kitchen knife.

Jiang Qiao glanced at the status bar in the top-left corner, which showed the real-world time. The Hornet Knight had taken about five minutes to finish thirteen plates of food.

Worthy of a former chosen of the Sea Blue Goddess, huh?

“Your attempts to win us over are meaningless,” the Hornet Knight remarked, lightly licking the chili oil from her lips before putting her mask back on.

The meal had cooled her temper, and she began to speculate about Jiang Qiao’s purpose in confining her… most likely, he wanted to recruit her.

But the Hornet Knight’s loyalty to Queen Mei was not something that Jiang Qiao could destroy with a few words, not even with a pile of delicacies!

“Win over? Why would I want to do that? We are originally on the same side,” Jiang Qiao said, puzzled.

“The same side?”

It was then that the Hornet Knight, upon hearing Jiang Qiao’s words and considering the eerie space around them, finally realized who Jiang Qiao was.

“Hai Lan? Or a proxy of the Sea Blue Divine Sect? But no matter who you are…” a mocking tone crept into the Hornet Knight’s voice as she looked at Jiang Qiao “I can never stand on the side of the Sea Blue Goddess.”

“That… Sea Blue Goddess, I have no respect for a goddess who does nothing but eat and sleep, and then sleep and eat,” Jiang Qiao said, spreading his hands helplessly.

Nobody would… given Hai Lan’s current lifestyle, any believer who learned the truth about Hai Lan would not have any respect left.

Just thinking about how Hai Lan could compete with her own followers for chicken legs made Jiang Qiao feel disillusioned about the image of the goddess.

“???” The Hornet Knight paused for a moment, having thought Jiang Qiao came to recruit her into the ranks of the Sea Blue Goddess. She assumed Jiang Qiao must be an Archbishop under the Sea Blue Goddess.

But no Archbishop would ever lead the charge in saying their goddess only knew how to eat and sleep; such blasphemy could invite divine punishment if the goddess found out.

The Hornet Knight actually wanted to challenge, “Dare you say that in front of the Sea Blue Goddess herself?” but she could hear in Jiang Qiao’s tone not the slightest burden, rather the exasperation someone might feel when reprimanding a mischievous pet husky for wrecking the house again.

“Let’s talk about serious matters. I truly am a supporter of Queen Mei,” Jiang Qiao said.

“Proof?” inquired the Hornet Knight.

“The proof is that you’re no longer in a corpse-like state,” Jiang Qiao pointed out, indicating the Hornet Knight’s lips. The way she had licked her lips earlier was not something a living corpse could do “As far as I know, Queen Mei’s wish is to restore her kingdom to its former glory. It’s just those mindless corpses that have truly died and can never return, which you must realize.”

The Hornet Knight fell silent; what Jiang Qiao said was true… the citizens in the royal city had died a hundred years ago, but Queen Mei sustained the ‘prosperity’ of the royal city with her own blood and the power of the Divine Fragments.

This was a reality that the five Knights were unwilling to confront, not knowing when they might lose consciousness in their living dead status.

Queen Mei’s incursions into other worlds were also to cleanse her subjects of the Corpse Curse.

“Thank you.”

The Wasp Knight suddenly showed her kindness. Although Jiang Qiao was an enemy, he purified the Corpse Curse from her body, which was also Queen Mei’s wish. Jiang Qiao indeed fulfilled Queen Mei’s wish.

“But we are still enemies, and the soldiers under your command are still attacking my country…”

“Let me interrupt you for a moment, the soldiers you’re referring to should be the Spirits, who are not under my command, and I don’t have the authority to give them orders. Moreover, they are admirers of Queen Mei and are participating in this war… well, it’s more like a pilgrimage to see Queen Mei from afar than a war. Did your world have stage dramas in the past? It’s like being a fan of a stage drama star.”

What Jiang Qiao said was actually the truth. When Jiang Qiao had uploaded the content updates for the Divine Fragment War instance onto the official website,

As soon as the photo of Queen Mei, the final boss, was published on the official website, a thread titled “Who is more beautiful, Fureya or Queen Mei?” appeared on the forum.

The intensity of the debate within this thread was like sweet versus savory Doufunao (tofu pudding), having a tendency to escalate into online brawls. After recalling, Jiang Qiao remembered that this fierce battle was diffused by a single sentence,

“Amateurs make choices. I want them both. Fureya is my main wife, and Queen Mei is my second wife.”

“Wait a minute! Why should my Queen Mei be the second wife?”

“Do you freaking want my doll sister to be a concubine?”

Well… in the end, the argument was not resolved, but it proved that Queen Mei was quite popular among the players.

“Are you serious?” The Wasp Knight actually really, really, really, really wanted to refute Jiang Qiao, but recalling her encounter with the Spirits in battle, if she hadn’t remembered incorrectly, as soon as this group of Spirits appeared in the royal city, the loudest cry they had was ‘for Queen Mei.’

“Seriously.”

“Then why aren’t they fighting for Queen Mei?” the Wasp Knight asked again.

Because there’s no reward, duh!

Of course, Jiang Qiao wasn’t going to tell that to the Wasp Knight.

“Queen Mei’s invasion of other dimensions is to purify the Corpse Curse, and the Spirits fighting the cursed soldiers are also helping the Queen purify the Corpse Curse. Essentially, we’re doing the same thing. Look… isn’t your Corpse Curse cured after you got taken down by the Spirits?” Jiang Qiao said.

“…”

It seemed to make sense, actually.

The Wasp Knight felt a bit dizzy, but she quickly steadied her mind, trying to break free from Jiang Qiao’s strange logic. However, before the Wasp Knight could fully collect her thoughts, a heavy thud suddenly came from the garden outside the room.

The Wasp Knight’s figure instantly disappeared from in front of Jiang Qiao, and Jiang Qiao stood up and leisurely opened the door, only to see the Hawkeye Knight lying in the garden.

“Skorn! Wake up!” The Wasp Knight climbed onto the Hawkeye Knight’s body and knocked hard on his helmet with her hand.

“Where am I?” the Hawkeye Knight said, sitting up with his head in his hands, as the Wasp Knight jumped down from his massive form.

“Skorn! Did those Spirits get you too?” the Wasp Knight immediately asked anxiously.

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

“Spirits? Troy, you’re still alive? The invaders? I fought with them for a long time, but, but the one who killed me was Nolan, his familiar…”

“Calm down! Don’t think too much,” the Wasp Knight immediately soothed the Hawkeye Knight, who was the second most troubled of the five knights; the Wolf Knight had lost his sanity, and he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

And Nolan was the original name of the Hawkeye Knight.

“Hey, did I guess right?” Jiang Qiao said as he walked out of the room.

“You… turned Nolan?” the Wasp Knight asked, her pupils fixed on Jiang Qiao behind her mask.

“If I really had that kind of eloquence, I wouldn’t be standing here and arguing with you. I’d just go directly to persuade Queen Mei, right?” Jiang Qiao’s eloquence was only at seven points, but his charm was quite high at seventeen points. However, the Wasp Knight was immune to attributes like charm and eloquence.

“I believe you! Can you let me out now?” the Wasp Knight chose a conciliatory tactic at this time.

“Don’t worry so much; there are plenty of knights who want to protect your queen. She won’t have any problems,” Jiang Qiao said.

But these Guardian Knights are currently ganging up on Queen Mei over a pet…