Chapter 16

“Strictly speaking, as long as you have experienced any part of the Replication Ritual in your life, you can be considered to have completed part of the ritual.”

Yulis shook her head and continued, “But generally, most people will rearrange the Replication Ritual once again, which is usually safer…”

Rearrange it once again?

Xia’er couldn’t wait that long; she could only stay in the Simulation for 24 hours.

Since she had accidentally completed the process of the Avenger’s ritual, she definitely couldn’t miss the opportunity to drink the Potion in the Simulation and become an Extraordinary Person.

In this way, even if she didn’t gain any significant rewards, she could still accumulate some experience for her own advancement to Extraordinary status in reality.

“I think the current state is already good,” Xia’er looked at the Potion floating behind Yulis and continued, “I am very sure that I have completed all conditions except for lighting the fire.”

She wasn’t lying…

Yulis felt her hair stand on end.

This girl was clearly saying something outrageous, yet Yulis couldn’t detect any signs of deceit in her words.

She has really gone through the content of the Avenger’s Replication Ritual. How old is she? And she has already killed her enemies when her life was hanging by a thread?

Yulis didn’t understand, but she was deeply moved.

Maybe this is what a Holy Maiden-to-be is like…

“Just in case, I’ll ask one more time,” Yulis opened her mouth and asked, “Are those two people inside your enemies?”

Yulis naturally referred to the two people kneeling on the ground, glaring at Xia’er’s direction, but unable to move their bodies, not even able to utter a single scream.

“Yes.” Xia’er nodded.

“Alright…” Yulis nodded.

The black fog-like Potion slowly drifted towards Xia’er’s hand, while Yulis stepped back outside the tavern.

Xia’er turned to look at Yulis, only seeing the black rubble floor behind her being dragged out, forming grooves quickly. Soon, a half-circle, similar to a Church emblem, enclosed the tavern.

“When you’re about to lose consciousness in the fire, drink the Potion and kill them,” Yulis instructed from outside the door.

She didn’t want the Holy Maiden-to-be to fail after completing the baptism. She would try her best to ensure the smooth progress of the ritual and isolate its impact on other ordinary people.

Xia’er nodded, turned to look at the two men kneeling on the ground, and watched as the kerosene lamp inside the tavern slowly floated up and circled around Xia’er.

“Whoosh —”

The kerosene lamp exploded, scattering flames that formed a circle around Xia’er.

This flame circle also enveloped the two kneeling men.

The wooden floor ignited, and the fire spread rapidly along the kerosene, setting the bar and all wooden furniture inside the tavern ablaze.

Thick smoke and heat waves enveloped Xia’er, and her hair curled and deformed under the high temperature.

After inhaling a large amount of smoke, Xia’er couldn’t stop coughing. Her skirt was already on fire, and her cloak was stuck to the flames.

In a little while, she would faint inside…

She took a slow step forward, holding the already hot revolver in her right hand. Xia’er slowly raised the gun barrel, aiming at the two figures kneeling before her.

“Bang — Bang —”

Two bullets, accurately piercing their foreheads. The two figures lost all support and collapsed, engulfed by the fierce flames.

Xia’er reached for the translucent vial containing the Potion, slowly pulling out the specially designed wooden stopper, and extended the vial to her mouth.

The black fog inside the vial rushed out swiftly, like a black sprite, directly heading toward Xia’er’s feet.

Where is the Potion?

“Crash —”

The wooden beams finally couldn’t bear the heat of the fire and snapped.

Just as it was about to smash down on Xia’er, it shattered into two halves, rolling aside.

In this moment, the flames, corpses, everything seemed to fade away. In her mind, several images flashed by like slides.

The scene of Li Qi’s tragic death at the doorstep, the cake on the ground mixed with sewage, white cream intertwining with black gravel;

The gun barrel pressed against her forehead, the first time she willingly gave up her life, not allowing the ritual to succeed;

The dimly lit tavern, Solari dead beside her, twisted illusions, the black-robed person advancing slowly towards her…

The sound of gunfire still echoing in her ears, Xia’er, who had reversed death, chopped off Thomas’ head with one stroke after another, like a walking corpse.

Malignant fire and malice began to spread across Xia’er’s chest, an uncontrollable sense of relief causing the images before her to tear apart, as if she had finally avenged herself.

The fire inside her heart and the fire outside ignited Xia’er.

Flames burned fiercely within her, fueled by her seemingly endless hatred and anger. Under the light of the flames, Xia’er’s shadow, flickering with the flames, began to twitch.

The dark shadow broke free from its constraints, its edges dissipating like mist, as if it were burning black flames.

It supported itself on the floor, slowly rising behind Xia’er, with long hair like black smoke drifting behind her.

She slowly opened her eyes, white light flowing in her eyes with her movements, like a silhouette of a burning Xia’er, using terrifying eyes to gaze upon everyone in front of her.

“Pangtong—”

A strong sense of dizziness overwhelmed Xia’er, and she fell straight backward, landing on the burning charcoal behind her.

“Ha…”

The shadow burning in the flames panted heavily, slowly turning towards Xia’er’s direction, then leaning down, grabbing Xia’er’s burning red hair, dragging her backwards step by step out of the tavern.

Yulis, who had been observing from behind the door, felt her heart tighten when she saw the shadow through her ethereal vision.

Success or failure hung in the balance.

If the shadow started attacking the host, Yulis would immediately intervene and destroy the ritual.

Luckily, she saw the shadow carrying something, walking out of the flames and dispersing.

She quickly moved forward, taking off her white robe to cover Xia’er, wrapping her burning body, and extinguishing the remaining flames.

“She is definitely the Holy Maiden…”

Yulis looked down at Xia’er in her arms, lowering her head to press her forehead against Xia’er’s.

Fumes rose from Yulis’ neck, her exposed right hand’s back gradually being burned into charcoal.

“Don’t be afraid… It doesn’t hurt anymore… I’ll take you back to the Papal State now…”

Yulis quickly disappeared into the night with Xia’er in her arms, leaving a white phantom swirling around her, while the tavern continued to burn behind her.

…

「Reality」

「Sheng Year 741, June 17, 18:50」

「Evaluation: The longest sleep ever. Congratulations, you survived your first simulation. You found the first path to survival.」

「But it turns out you relied on betraying the trust of this system to survive… Just be more careful. If you say such things in reality or in past simulations, you will be in trouble.」

「You truly entered the realm of the Extraordinary in the simulation. This is a small step for you, but a giant leap.」

「Take it. This is what you deserve based on your performance.」

「Reward: Mortality Point *33, Unlock new system function 【Save】」

「Auto-saved Extraordinary role save file [Unnamed] to [Role Save], available for the host to load in reality or in the next simulation.」

「Mortality Points: 43」