IWBL: Chapter 177

The friend beside President Sun was silent for a moment. His Adam’s apple moved up and down and his expression was ugly, but he didn’t completely lose his temper like President Sun. He turned to Xiao Li and asked, “Did you do it?”

Xiao Li replied nonchalantly, “Don’t just count me. It was a group effort. Yanluo still played a part.”

A teammate whose name was Yanluo…

The friend remembered the hot posts on the forum and crossed out a few names on the list in his mind, leaving only two. He pondered for a moment before speculating, “…Are you Hercule?”

Xiao Li asked in return, “Who are you?”

“You can call my Black Star,” the friend replied.

Black Star. He hadn’t heard of this person. Xiao Li remembered the star on the other person’s shirt but he hadn’t heard this name. Instead, Fu Guangbo standing behind him made an expression that said ‘it’s him.’

In order to escape the smell on this floor, Fu Guangbo had to punch his nose and open his mouth to breathe. He saw that Xiao Li didn’t know this person so he quickly released his hand and whispered, “I saw his name on a forum post. He is a senior member of the Judges.”

It was the Judges again.

“You know the people in this organization, they all like… well, they are associated with a Western cult and often use extremely cruel methods to pass a task.” Fu Guangbo was afraid of being remembered by Black Star so he lowered his voice. “Black Star is one of them…”

After saying that, he immediately opened his mouth and stopped breathing with his nose. As a senior of the reincarnation world, it wasn’t hard to have items to enter worlds freely.

“You can think of me as Hercule.” Xiao Li turned to Black Star after hearing Fu Guangbo’s words.

Black Star swallowed hard. His endurance was stronger than Fu Guangbo but he couldn’t bear the smell. Even so, he reluctantly asked the next question, “When did you know?”

“After you saw me.” Xiao Li gave a casual reason before Black Star could ask again, “Your notebook betrayed you.”

Regarding Black Star’s identity as a reincarnator, there was one more thing apart from the reasons Xiao Li told the others. It was the notebook that Black Star put on the desk at the time.

It was disguised as an ordinary notebook and the outer appearance was hidden. However, Xiao Li was very familiar with the paper of the task notebook due to the little yellow book. This was why he opened the little yellow book after returning to the staff dormitory. He wanted to compare it to Black Star’s notebook in his memory.

This detail combined with speculation about Black Star’s sentence formed a reasonable guess.

Black Star, “……”

His ability to control the little ghost was related to the task book so he was used to disguising it as a notebook and placing it in front of him anytime and anywhere. He never imagined there were humans in this world who would pay such attention to the task book. He was silent for a moment before covering his nose.

At this moment, President Sun to the side suddenly screamed. “No, no, my god, don’t…”

He knelt on the ground and faced everything in front of him. The gastric juices from vomiting was added to the already strange smell and it was enough to be a ‘biological poisonous gas.’ The liquid in the blood pool continued to rise about the statue. Xiao Li even vaguely saw a bottle of tomato sauce floating on the surface of the blood.

This one thing proved that although Xiao Li and Ye Zeqing added many ingredients to the blood pool, turning it into a dark dish, they didn’t hinder the sacrificial nature of the blood pool. President Sun figured this out and felt extremely desperate.

If the soul, flesh and blood were there, combined with the altar he had prepared for a long time, the god would descend after the energy of the blood pool reached its peak. Then he would be given some of the god’s powers so that he could leave this original world and realize his great ambitions with Black Star.

…Of course, this was on the premise that his sacrifices to the god were a sufficient price. But now—

President Sun couldn’t believe that a god who saw such a scene in the sacrificial pool would bestow power upon him. It would be lucky if he wasn’t punished on the spot.

President Sun and Black Star had thought of many ways that Xiao Li could use to destroy the sacrifice such as cutting off the soul bodies or destroying the statue of the god. They never thought there would be such a method…

The sacrifice was a success but it also failed. This was digging out their flesh from the roots.

President Sun’s wailing couldn’t stop the continuation of the sacrifice. The white spheres in the flesh and blood pool flashed and showed pained and struggling faces. The spheres melted in the pool and turned into white aura that was absorbed by the lifelike statue, adding to the statue’s vitality.

The bloody liquid that had flooded the statue’s knee burst instantly and formed a bloody mist that spread through the air. It draped over the statue of a god and turned into a coat for the statue. The moment that the sacrifice reached its peak, the entire world seemed to crack apart above them. An invisible pressure appeared and pressed President Sun’s head to the ground. Every ‘person’ in Future Theme Park could feel that a power beyond imagination had come.

Black Star was shocked. He knelt down and looked at the statue with indescribable awe and… panic.

“Lord Thanatos….” he murmured. “Forgive me.”

Thanatos? This was the name of the god of death in Greek mythology. It turned out that it really was the god of death.

Xiao Li looked at the statue in front of him. He had previously felt that the manipulation of the monsters in the exhibition halls of this theme park was very similar to the previous underground laboratory, which was also by the god of death.

In this way, he and death seemed to be connected.

He reminisced roughly and a bit of joy filled his heart.

Good, very good. Every monster under the command of the god of death was very interesting and useful. For example, the painter ghost here gave him a lot of inspiration on painting techniques. He really liked the god of death.

The invisible pressure in the air grew stronger and stronger, pressing on Xiao Li’s head and neck as if to make him lower his head. However, he just narrowed his eyes and stared straight away. The true body of the god of death didn’t come. He chose to show his miracle by possessing the statue that called him.

The face of the statue changed to that of a handsome man. He looked around 30 years old and had features as deep as a knife. The incarnation of the god of death opened his eyes. He hadn’t fully physically transferred to the statue. It was just an initial descent but in a rare moment, he was taken aback.

This… what was this smell?

President Sun’s kneeling back shivered like seaweed.

It wasn’t the familiar bloody smell or pure souls that surrounded the god of death but… a smell that was a mix of oil, salt, vinegar, tomato sauce and even sweet chili sauce. The smell hit the soul through the nose.

Thanatos, “………”

Not along that, the pool of blood mixed with the strange liquids sat just below the statue’s knees. Thanatos didn’t need to lower his head to see the few empty soy sauce bottles drifting before his eyes.

Thanatos, “???”

If it wasn’t for the existence of the underground altar, he would’ve suspected that his believers had summoned him in a garbage dump or a septic tank.

There was hardly any hesitation. Thanatos didn’t wait to completely possess this statue and couldn’t wait to get away. Just before leaving, the hand of the statue stretched out and flocked the transparent staircase. It instantly dragged President Sun and Black Star into the blood pool to allow them to feel the stench at close range.

The two men were caught off guard. Due to Thanatos deliberately making things difficult for them, they were carried into the blood pool in an upside down posture and caused two large splashes.

Fu Guangbo, “……Pfft, ha, pfft.”

He was already trying to endure it because he didn’t want to be hated by Black Star. However… this was a once in a century funny scene. He pinched his thigh and barely held back his laughter. It wasn’t just him. Xiao Li heard Shen Chenzhi give a low laugh next to him. It was unusual that this guy would laugh at others. Xiao Li couldn’t help glancing over.

Shen Chenzhi saw him looking and slightly restrained his laughter as he smiled at Xiao Li.

…It was pretty handsome.

Xiao Li turned his head blankly and walked to the edge of the pool. He bent over to look at the two embarrassed people standing upright in the pool. They were submerged in the pool at close range and the smell was countless times stronger than standing on the stairs. It hit their nerves over and over.

Moreover, only President Sun and Black Star knew that Thanatos didn’t only take away himself. He also took away the ‘divine power’ that supported Future Theme Park. It all left with the angry god of death

President Sun no longer cared about potentially vomiting after opening his mouth. He pointed to Xiao Li and the viscous liquid that fell from his sleeve was like unspeakable tears. “You… you… I won’t let you go. I want to… shove you into a place like this. I know the general type of tasks that people like you receive. Survive or find out the truth. I want you to—”

Xiao Li crouched on the shore and avoided President Sun’s fingers. “It isn’t up to you if I leave or not.”

Black Star watched Xiao Li. Although he had the same experience as President Sun, he hadn’t gone crazy. He took a few breaths and felt he couldn’t endure the unpleasant smell. He pinched his nose and this action made him lose his calm temperament. He barely managed to say, “You… already know?”

Xiao Li smiled. “Yes, the Future Theme Park is really a fun place.”

He sincerely praised, “As a tourist, I love it here.”

***

The other side.

Thanatos, who was preparing to return, was stopped by a familiar figure.

The god of lies  Pseudo-Logoi looked at the god of death in front of him with surprise. “Thanatos, what is that strange smell on your body? Did you go swimming in a septic tank?”

Thanatos, “………”

He raised his hand in an expressionless manner and a black scythe appeared in it.

Pseudo-Logoi smiled and flashed to one side. “I can actually see you looking so ugly. I’m starting to like him.”

Hercule was a truly interesting human being.

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The author has something to say:

Xiao Li: I really like death.

Lies: I really like Xiao Li.

Little yellow book: ?

Little yellow book: ???