Tang En returned to the cabin and entered the system space, which at least ensured that he would not vomit in reality.
"Ding, congratulations to assassin Tang En for completing the mission of killing York."
"Task difficulty: f. Completion evaluation: d"
"Experience gained: 0. Health: 150"
"Ding, congratulations to Tang En for completing the assassin certification mission. The system will randomly reward you with the skill - Calm Mind."
As soon as Tang En stepped into the system space, he was prompted by a series of synthesized voices.
The old butler said, "Congratulations, Killer Tang En!"
Tang En said with an embarrassed look on his face, "I'm sorry, yesterday I..."
"That's okay. I don't mind."
"Well, thank you." Tang En nodded, then said dejectedly, "I never thought Father York would be such a person..."
The old butler said, "The human heart is the most unpredictable. No one can fully understand another person. It's normal for you to be wrong."
Tang En nodded with emotion. This incident had indeed touched him deeply. Thinking of the old butler's words beforehand, he asked curiously, "You seemed to have decided from the beginning that York was not a good person?"
"Let me correct you first. I don't distinguish between good and bad people. Just because he is a good person doesn't mean I won't kill him. Just because he is a bad person doesn't mean I will kill him." The old butler said lightly.
After saying this, he waved his right hand, and a screen of light appeared. It played all the scenes of Tang En meeting York. There were their first encounters upon arriving in the other world, as well as several other times Tang En had accidentally witnessed in the village.
"As I said before, I see the same things as you. It's just that I see things in more detail. For example, at this moment, he's greeting the old farmer next to him, but his eyes are actually focused on the girl's buttocks. Of course, for a man, this is understandable, and she is indeed more attractive than the old farmer. But pay attention to the depth of his eyes and the curve of his mouth. That's too dangerous, usually indicating greed and possession."
"For example, this moment... this moment..."
The old butler kept zooming in and switching angles, telling the story intuitively.
Tang En listened stupidly. At this moment, the old butler was like a god in his eyes.
Finally, the old butler said, "Do you understand? It doesn't matter if you don't. These are just some little tricks that will be useful in battle. I will teach you one by one."
Tang En's mind was stirred. "If I learn this, won't I be able to see through others at a glance?"
The old butler shook his head and said, "I just said that the human heart is the most unpredictable. Perhaps someone else has the same idea as York, but he might not necessarily act on it. Moreover, judging people by their eyes is something that everyone notices, and it's easy to train. If you focus too much on it, you might be deceived by other people's eyes."
Tang En nodded, and then his stomach began to churn again. The image on the screen had just made him think of York's death.
"Are you okay?"
Tang En's face turned pale and he said, "Not bad."
The old butler said, "Perhaps you should try to calm your mind."
Calm as a heart? Tang En's heart moved. This seemed to be the skill that the system had just given him. He quickly opened the killer panel. Under the previously empty status skill tree, a skill appeared.
Calm Mind, a natural skill that cannot be upgraded. Quickly restores calmness and immunity to most negative status effects. Duration: 30 minutes, cooldown: 3 hours. Consumes 100 Health.
"Talent skill?" This was the first time Tang En had seen this kind of skill.
"So-called innate skills refer to skills that you can use without having to learn them. You can use them by simply consuming your health points."
"Oh... uh, wait, no need to learn? Then all other skills need to be learned?"
"Of course!"
"Can't you just use it by adding skill points?"
"Skill points?" The old butler frowned in surprise, then said seriously, "Tang En, it's good for a killer to have a game mentality. But killing isn't a game. No skill is flawless. Can you imagine using a jump attack skill and then being nailed to death in mid-air by someone with a crossbow?"
"Oh, I get it. How do I use this skill?" Tang En knew that he had thought things too simply, so he quickly changed the subject awkwardly.
"Just recite it silently."
"Heart as still as water"
Instantly, I felt a coolness enveloping my whole body. Although I still felt uncomfortable in my heart, I no longer felt like vomiting.
Huh... Tang En couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
The old housekeeper said, "This is just a temporary solution. It's better to find a way to resolve the aftereffects of murder."
Tang En asked hurriedly, "How should we resolve this?"
"It depends on the person, you can only ask yourself!" Unfortunately, the omnipotent old butler did not give a definite answer this time.
"Ask myself?" Tang En was dumbfounded.
Well, the old butler nodded and said, "For a killer who walks on the edge of life and death, it's normal to have mental problems. If you feel stressed, it's best to vent it out."
"But every killer has different personalities and hobbies. The more withdrawn ones would lock themselves in a dark room and bleed themselves to death. The more relaxed ones would do exciting things like rock climbing, crazy car racing, having sex constantly, etc. The most gentle ones would read, travel, grow plants, play music, etc."
"You can use your so-called good guy and bad guy theory to support your convictions about killing, but honestly, I'm not optimistic about it. My advice is to find something you're interested in. Of course, it's best not to do something too intense. You know, those loners often end up committing suicide."
"...Actually, I have a better way," Tang En suddenly said after hearing the old butler's words.
"oh?"
"Just stop being a killer."
The old housekeeper said: "But you have already killed someone."
"…That's different."
"You mean to say York isn't human?"
"In a way, he really isn't human."
"Ridiculous wordplay!"
"Whatever you say," Tang En shrugged lazily, and then he followed the vines to the old housekeeper's cabin.
"What?"
"Rest, I'm going to try to fall asleep within half an hour."
The first time he killed someone, it was a huge shock to Tang En. Even before entering the space, his scalp was numb. However, after casting Calm Water on himself, his mind and body calmed down considerably. Tang En decided to take advantage of the half-hour skill window to quickly fall asleep. Perhaps a good night's sleep would make him feel better...
"I know, but you should go to your cabin."
"Come on, don't be so stingy! Okay, good night." Are you kidding? What if I can't fall asleep after being out for half an hour and then throw up again? That's my little house...
Tang En quickly slipped into the wooden house and threw his body on an antique wooden bed.
...
No words were spoken that night.
Perhaps it was the effect of his calm mind, or perhaps it was because his heart was stronger than he thought, Tang En fell asleep easily in a short time and spent the whole night dreamlessly.
Sleep is the cheapest way to heal your health. After a good night's sleep, Tang En felt much better.
The old housekeeper's cabin is good in every way except that it doesn't provide breakfast.
Tang En then thought of the old farmer's smoked rabbit. However, the village must have been in turmoil because of York's death. The old farmer probably didn't have the heart to cook rabbit anymore...
Silently say to exit the system.
Pushing open the simple wooden window, Tang En took a deep breath and the fresh morning air hit his face.
"Hey, why do I feel like something is missing..."
Yes, it's smoke from cooking!
Tang En couldn't see Xiaoshi Village from the wooden house where he lived, but he could still see wisps of smoke rising from the north every morning.
Could it be that what happened yesterday had such a huge impact on them that they had no mood to cook?
For some reason, Tang En suddenly felt a little uneasy.
Let's go check it out first…
Tang En quickly slid down the tree.
No, I should be able to see the statue of the God of Light on the church roof from here... No, I should be able to see the mud walls of the farm from here...
Tang En walked faster and faster in the grove, with a bad feeling pressing in his heart.
boom--
Finally at the edge of the woods, Tang En's head exploded and he staggered back a few steps.
The peaceful and harmonious farmland had vanished, replaced by a charred, sunken expanse of earth. The mud houses, the church, the farmers were gone. It was as if nothing had ever existed here.
"ah!!!"
Tang En's eyes were bloodshot and he rushed towards the scorched earth.
"This is all an illusion, a hallucination, all fake. The farm is still there, the villagers are still there..."
The most conspicuous thing in the scorched earth is a stone tablet emitting white light in the middle, which is located exactly where the church used to be. The inscription on the tablet reads,
"In the autumn of the 997th year of the Light God's calendar, the divine might descended upon the world, bestowing blessings upon all. At that time, the small stone village of Bran was suddenly seized by an evil demon, and the two hundred villagers were transformed into undead spirits. Fortunately, the gods granted him the blessing of a visiting Inspector of Light, who led twelve Knights of Light to battle the demon. After a bitter battle, the demon was finally defeated. The two hundred evil spirits were purified and returned to the embrace of the gods.
Ulrich de Sethman"
It was just an ordinary stone tablet, its carving marks clearly visible. Intricate and mysterious runes were added around the inscription, which was probably why it was emitting a white light. This was the Holy Spirit Tablet of the Church of Light.
If future generations were to view this stele, they would probably express their admiration for God and feel fortunate that the evil spirits were eliminated in time, otherwise the surrounding area within a hundred miles would be overrun by the undead and the people would suffer.
Of course, Tang En, who knew the situation, would never think so.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
Tang En fell to his knees, slapping himself furiously with both hands, lost in endless regret. He had clearly heard York say that the inspector would be coming, so why hadn't he thought of this? Why hadn't he thought of this...
Evil spirits, undead spirits... He was almost certain that all this had something to do with Sethman.
"Ah…ah!"
Tang En punched the Holy Spirit Monument. Bang, his fist broke and blood flowed out.
The piercing pain instantly cleared Tang En's mind. He quickly stood up and ran around the scorched earth. Then he entered the system space.
"Old butler, old butler..."
"Here it is!" said the old butler behind Tang En.
Tang En grabbed the old butler and said, "You can find their traces, right?"
The old butler observed the light curtain: "Under this kind of power, it's hard to leave any trace. Besides, even if you find it, what can you do?"
Tang En roared fiercely: "If I find them, I will kill them!"
"Your courage is commendable." The old butler gave his evaluation without comment.
After a moment, the old butler said calmly: "I'm sorry, I don't have any clues."
"You deliberately didn't tell me. Right! No! Right?" Tang En obviously didn't believe this result. He stared into the old butler's eyes and spoke word by word.
"Calm down, I'm not God."
…
The two of them confronted each other for a moment, and Tang En exited the system with a dark face.
The old butler fixed the light curtain on the road west of the scorched earth again and shook his head after a while: "It cannot be said, it cannot be said."
The light screen turned again, and Tang En, who had retreated, was now kneeling on the ground, punching the stone tablet again and again.
With the sound of banging, the white stone tablet was stained with blood.
"I hope this incident can bring some changes to you..."