Chapter 401: Devil, You’re Talking About Me?

"Where... is this?" Qi Suian got up, rubbing the back of his head.

He had thought the back of his head was smashed, but it was just an illusion from the teleportation, not a real injury.

His gaze then fell upon the Doomsday Game’s panel. He subconsciously checked to see how many survivors there were this time.

"No survivors?" Qi Suian’s expression was one of slight surprise. He hadn’t expected the Doomsday Game to not add anyone new this time.

He quickly realized this was likely the change the Ghost World had mentioned.

It wasn’t that the Doomsday Game didn’t want to, but that it simply lacked the ability to do so.

After landing, Qi Suian surveyed his surroundings and first deployed a satellite drone.

Then, the Doomsday Game actually sent him a rare mission.

[Compulsory Mission: Collect the World Core and turn it in]

[Reward: Survivor status restored]

[Failure: Obliteration]

’World Core? What the hell is that?’ Qi Suian thought, looking at the newly issued compulsory mission.

The Doomsday Game had been severely damaged and could now only rely on him, which was why it had to issue him a compulsory mission.

He suspected this so-called World Core could repair the Doomsday Game’s injuries; otherwise, it wouldn’t have bothered asking him for it.

’Judging by the name, it must be some kind of core of the world.’

’But where am I supposed to find that for you?’ Qi Suian was well aware of his own capabilities.

At best, he was nation-destroying level, but there was still a huge gap between that and world-level power.

Even with plot armor, he couldn’t take on an entire world.

He had witnessed the power of a World Will. The Ghost World’s Will might have been a prime example, but the feat of wielding a dead world to smash into the universe was something he found utterly astounding.

He even suspected that if it hadn’t needed him to scout ahead and mitigate risks, it probably could have just attacked him directly.

After ignoring the compulsory mission, Qi Suian began to ponder something else.

If he actually managed to obtain the World Core, how should he use it?

He certainly wasn’t going to hand it over to a World Will. Instead, he was wondering if he could become a world himself.

He had always coveted the power of a world, but had been forced to give up on the idea due to a lack of means.

His attention quickly shifted from his thoughts to the intelligence coming from the satellite drone.

"A medieval village?" Qi Suian looked at the data from the satellite map and quickly analyzed the corresponding information.

No energy signatures were detected. It was apparently an ordinary place.

’This isn’t going to be one of those weird worlds where a knight lord’s castle can get up and walk, is it...’ Qi Suian grumbled to himself.

However, he soon reached a new conclusion. This world wasn’t structured like a universe, but more like a plane.

The sun and moon in the sky seemed more like natural phenomena than actual celestial bodies.

Planets and planes had different data signatures, making them relatively easy to distinguish.

The main concern was encountering something as bizarre as the Horizon Realm in the Polar Day World. That would be difficult to handle.

As for whether this world was a single-plane or multi-plane structure, Qi Suian wasn’t sure.

His understanding of spatial mechanics was rather limited.

’I wonder how powerful this world is.’

’And what kind of apocalypse is it?’ Qi Suian felt uncertain. The main reason was the complete lack of energy signatures in the environment.

It was as if there was truly nothing Extraordinary.

But that was completely unrealistic.

To put it bluntly, how could an ordinary world possess something that sounded as grand as a World Core?

It must be something that could only be born in a high-energy world.

’Someone’s approaching? The speed is that of a normal horse.’ Through his reconnaissance network, Qi Suian saw a knight on horseback heading toward his position.

The knight had just come from the aforementioned village and was apparently leaving after taking care of some business.

Qi Suian considered whether he should capture him for dissection and interrogation.

After all, he was a native, and a knight at that—a member of the privileged class. He was bound to know some useful information.

Furthermore, with no energy signature detected from his body, there was a high probability he was just an ordinary person.

Unless he could make his castle stand up, he had basically no chance of resisting.

[Suggesting you move forward approximately...]

The AI chimed in at the perfect moment, providing Qi Suian with a good spot for an ambush.

The target’s stats were around 1.1. He stood no chance against Qi Suian.

But to be on the safe side, Qi Suian would naturally choose to ambush if he could.

Ambushing a weaker opponent showed a lack of a true expert’s demeanor? Qi Suian didn’t care about such things.

Following the AI’s suggestion, Qi Suian quickly finished his preparations.

Before long, the sound of hooves approached. Qi Suian sprang up and slammed the knight to the ground on the spot.

There was no cliché beautiful female knight, just a burly, rough-looking man.

"Damn you! How dare you attack a knight of Baron Fisher! I’ll have your whole family hanged!" the knight yelled after being pinned, showing no fear.

Qi Suian ripped off his helmet, revealing a blond, blue-eyed Westerner. He immediately slapped him twice across the face.

The slaps stunned him.

The two blows hurt quite a bit. Then, he saw Qi Suian’s face, and his eyes filled with terror.

"D-Devil!!!" His voice was shrill. "The Lord says, all glory..."

Then he began to pray, intending to drive Qi Suian away.

Qi Suian guessed why he’d said that. It was clearly because of his appearance.

He looked perfectly human, but his black hair and black eyes were indeed different from theirs.

"Tell me more about these devils." Qi Suian grabbed the man, lifted him up, and hung him upside down from a tree by the roadside.

Qi Suian had torn off all his armor with his bare hands.

After that, the man obediently shut his mouth.

"I’m very interested in devils. I hope you’ll start talking before this whip lands on you." Qi Suian molded the polymorphic energy in his hand into a long Energy Whip.

’His skin wasn’t right for the part, but a hundred free lashes right at the start was nothing to complain about.’

"But... but you’re a devil yourself."

"The church has described them before. Devils are ugly, with sharp fangs and claws, black hair and eyes, and skin as withered as old tree bark."

"They also give off a foul stench, worship the darkness, and are burned by the sun."

"Under the moon, devils use their long fangs to suck human blood."

"They are especially fond of the blood of children and women, and will even abduct them to be their offspring and wives."

"And also..."

The knight stammered out a long list of traits. In short, these creatures were not good news.

Qi Suian’s expression darkened. "Besides the hair and eyes, I don’t fit any of the other descriptions, do I?"

He glanced at the bright sun. Even if it wasn’t noon, it was still afternoon.

’Judging a book by its cover,’ Qi Suian thought, then continued asking, "What’s the situation with this church?"

"The church is the church. It is the home of everyone’s faith. Everyone except devils believes in it." The knight secretly glanced at the Energy Whip in Qi Suian’s hand.

He was certain that if he took a single lash from that whip, he wouldn’t live for three days.

As a knight, it wasn’t as if he had never whipped the commoners himself.

Hearing the knight’s answer, Qi Suian instantly understood that this knight’s knowledge of the church and faith was superficial at best.

This meant that even as a member of the privileged class, a knight was not qualified to learn the true nature of the church.

They simply believed whatever they were told.

He guessed it wasn’t just the knights; the commoners were likely in the same situation.

"What were you doing in the village up ahead?" Qi Suian asked.

"A villager reported that after the blacksmith’s daughter died, she crawled out of her grave, became a devil’s servant, and has already caused three deaths."

"The Baron sent me to burn her body and the bodies of the victims," the knight said honestly.

As he said this, he began to curse and complain, "It’s all that blacksmith’s fault! He was unwilling to hire a Priest to preside, to pray for the deceased and bless her."

"That’s why his daughter became a devil’s servant."

Hearing this, Qi Suian was a little surprised. He had assumed a Priest from the church would be a high-level figure, but it seemed they could be hired with money, even by commoners.

"Why did she become a devil’s servant?" Qi Suian pressed.

"I heard the reason for the blacksmith’s daughter’s death was that she was... favored... by a devil and was already carrying the devil’s child."

"She was cursed because of it. I’ve seen the body. She was very beautiful. No wonder a devil took notice of her." The knight glanced around before saying this in a low voice.

To Qi Suian, it sounded like the knight was just spouting nonsense.

"Then why didn’t a Priest from the church come to purify her? Why let her die from a curse and then rise from the dead to kill people?" Qi Suian felt this sounded more like a rumor created to cover up some truth.

"Kapuli Village is too far from the nearest church, and there aren’t many Priests."

"So they just couldn’t spare anyone. That’s why the Baron sent me to handle it."

The knight answered Qi Suian’s questions in a hushed tone.

Qi Suian gained a deeper understanding of the church and its Priests. They would help commoners, but only on the condition that they had the time.

Furthermore, there seemed to be some kind of restriction on the selection of these clergymen, resulting in an insufficient number of them.

Of course, it was also possible that this knight’s social status was too low for him to have access to more detailed intelligence.

"Now, tell me about your baron." Qi Suian was quite satisfied with the knight’s pragmatism.

He needed to learn more about this world.

It was rare for someone to deliver themselves to his doorstep; he certainly wasn’t going to let him go so easily.

The knight hesitated for a moment, thinking of his oath of loyalty, but he quickly caved under the terror of the ’devil’ before him and chose to betray his lord.

"Baron Fisher is from..." the knight began to speak slowly.

Compared to abstract things like the church and devils, the knight was naturally far more knowledgeable about his lord, Baron Fisher.

The knight was indeed very detailed, but unfortunately, it was all trivial nonsense. There was little that Qi Suian found interesting.

Fortunately, he could still learn a little about this world’s situation through the man’s words.