Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 293: Chapter 293: Bottled Prisoner (17)_1

Quite the responsive leader, aren’t you?

Fu Qian looked at Lin En, whose body flickered with a dark red glow, and praised him.

Actually, just by thinking about it a bit, one would know that the moment the man in black fell to the ground, no one else would dare to step forward.

They had gathered together out of fear in the first place, and the courage to take action was built on the basis that people like themselves could be easily dealt with.

But after showing a glimpse of his power, facing someone strong and indifferent to life and death, a total maniac, it was impossible to expect people to continue throwing themselves at death, piling up corpses to defeat him with sheer numbers.

And the reason he didn’t blow the head off the man in black was because doing so had three advantages.

...First, he could avoid contaminating himself with Sinflame. Second, it solidified his reputation as a lunatic who didn’t care about death. And finally, it could inspire someone like Lin En to make the move he just did, creating a demonstration effect.

Of course, others weren’t as calm as Fu Qian when it came to Lin En’s actions.

“What are you doing?”

Natalia, with eyes ready to pop from their sockets and brimming with murderous intent, stared at the decapitated black-clad man.

However, Lin En merely glanced at her before turning away silently and walking outside.

Everyone around was contemplative, and no one tried to stop him.

…

In the end, Natalia managed to suppress the urge to lash out until Lin En’s figure disappeared, then her heart sank.

“Clang!”

A crisp clang sounded as a flash of cold light was blocked away from Ailina.

Cross, holding his hammer aloft, had positioned himself in front of Ailina without anyone noticing when.

At that moment, his deadly glare was fixed on a female prisoner sitting diagonally from him.

But this time, Cross had learned his lesson and did not leave Ailina’s side to seek retribution.

The latter, seeing this, left almost without looking back.

This scene seemed to flip a switch, and suddenly everyone snapped out of their trance and began to descend.

They even maintained a subtle distance between each other, warily watching their backs.

After gazing at Fu Qian with hatred and desolation for a while, Natalia finally followed the others and left without a word.

She was very clear in her mind that no matter what she did next, this fragile alliance could no longer exist.

From now on, everyone was a bloodied opponent.

All thanks to this maniac.

“Why…”

Despite Cross’s hints, Ailina still hadn’t moved from her spot, looking at Fu Qian with an expression not even she understood.

Fear of death, perplexity, and a sense of loss from her foiled efforts—varied emotions churned within her.

Only now did she realize she didn’t understand him at all.

How ludicrous it seemed now, the idea of inviting him to join them, thinking to monitor and use him.

Including his so-called willingness to cooperate, which now seemed like nothing more than a one-sided judgment of his perception.

Extremely strong, unpredictable, and totally indifferent to life and death—one should logically stay as far away from such a person as possible.

Yet she couldn’t help but want to ask this question.

“Often, answers have no meaning. It’s the choices that matter,”

Fu Qian said as he walked away from beside the statue of the Goddess of Sin and Punishment.

Cross almost instinctively stood in front of Ailina.

Even though Fu Qian had just shown monstrous strength, Cross wasn’t sure he could stop him.

However, Fu Qian paid no attention to him and left behind a single sentence before continuing directly past them without pause.

Their gazes followed his back, filled with loss.

…

When he finally stepped outside, there was not a single person in sight.

As for why he didn’t stay by the statue to prevent them from coming back?

It’s a joke. After what just happened, even if a knife were held to their throats, these people would never offer up the Sinflame again.

Once trust has collapsed, it’s extremely difficult to rebuild.

The strategy of expelling the tiger to swallow the wolf had failed, and now the Sinflame was the only thing they could rely on for survival.

Next, this group of people would do everything in their power to avoid being attacked by others, while seizing every opportunity to obtain the Sinflame.

And true to being one of the organizers of this alliance, it was Lin En who almost instantly realized this.

Before the others could react, he directly took the life of the man in black, gaining a share of the Sinflame.

This act also signified the complete collapse of the mutual understanding between them, which is why Lin En left the contentious place immediately.

Of course, if he was smart enough, he would likely hide somewhere and ambush those who came later, cunningly claiming another head.

Fu Qian took a deep breath, his senses wide open, sensing the movements around him.

A few breaths later, a scream came from a certain direction, followed by silence.

Without hesitation, Fu Qian leaped in that direction.

With such efficiency, and judging by the crispness of the scream, there was at least a fifty percent chance that it was Lin En who had struck.

And for Fu Qian, there was something he needed to confirm with this person.

…

Indeed it was.

Rushing to the source of the sound, Fu Qian saw the body floating in the water and Lin En processing the belongings on it, the first thing he observed when he arrived.

And with Fu Qian’s arrival, Lin En stiffened and quickly turned around.

“What exactly is your purpose?”

Lin En’s expression was unprecedentedly solemn, clearly very displeased to see Fu Qian.

But he did not take action immediately; instead, he attempted to converse with Fu Qian.

“If you’re just here for amusement, completely indifferent to life and death, then I don’t understand why you would target me specifically?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to kill you.”

Fu Qian looked at Lin En with a smile, even spreading his hands to show that he was not holding a weapon.

“Then what do you want to do?”

Although he didn’t quite believe Fu Qian’s words, Lin En’s emotions had slightly improved, mixed with a bit of confusion.

“I just have a question to ask.”

Fu Qian pointed at Lin En. After killing a new target, the dark crimson Sinflame had intensified slightly from before.

“Does it hurt?”

Indeed, that was what Fu Qian wanted to confirm.

He remembered clearly that the first time they met, this person had said something like “I deeply understand the pain of the Sinflame,” indicating that Lin En had definitely been tainted by the Sinflame before.

And since there were no dark flames on him at that time, it was clear he had been cleansed by the Goddess of Sin and Punishment, hence belonging to the third scenario Fu Qian had surmised.

But when he decapitated the man in black, Fu Qian noticed a strange phenomenon.

Although the Sinflame ignited, Lin En didn’t seem to show any pain, and there were no apparent burn marks on his body.

Even now, after having killed at least two people, the Sinflame on him was more intense, but he still didn’t appear to be in agony.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

Despite his attempt to hide it, the fleeting unnaturalness on Lin En’s face did not escape Fu Qian’s notice.

“So it doesn’t hurt anymore, huh…”

Fu Qian didn’t pick up the conversation, instead, he murmured to himself.

It seems the Goddess of Sin and Punishment’s cleansing doesn’t just reset the Sinflame to zero.

The key issue probably lies in that “making contact.”

Does the contact established with the Goddess through a special gesture cause a fundamental change in the cleansed body?