Chapter 214: End of story
Lin Ye certainly wouldn't offer himself as a sacrifice—he wasn't crazy.
The real sacrifice was that killer woven from lies and masks.
In Lin Ye's view, what the so-called True God needed wasn't a flesh-and-blood body, but a specific, unique individual. He hoped this offering would satisfy the other party.
The effect was much better than Lin Ye had anticipated. As the ritual began, an illusory smiling face mask appeared on the face of the True God above, then the ruins began to shake violently. After a moment, the True God let out a furious shriek before completely vanishing.
Lin Ye collapsed onto the altar. He didn't know what had happened above, but he knew he was about to die.
Without the mask, the Active Flesh within Lin Ye's body began to riot. It was the mask that controlled them, not Lin Ye himself.
Now Lin Ye was truly helpless. He couldn't control the Active Flesh and could only lie on the altar waiting for death.
As he awaited death, the tremors in the ruins suddenly weakened significantly, and the raging Active Flesh within Lin Ye's body gradually calmed down.
The smiling face mask returned to Lin Ye's face, and he regained the ability to control the Active Flesh.
'It came back even after becoming a sacrifice? It seems that True God isn't much.' Lin Ye climbed up from the altar and used the Active Flesh within him to stabilize his body. After the mask returned, all its abilities seemed to have strengthened considerably.
Turning around, Lin Ye found that no one else remained on the altar. During the earlier chaos of the tremors, Yang Hua had taken Lin Jing and escaped.
'They ran quite fast.'
Lin Ye followed them back to the camp, then entered the Administrator Cabin to change back into his own clothes.
On the way back, Lin Ye had already familiarized himself with the mask's abilities. The current mask was several tiers stronger than before.
Now he could use the mask's abilities remotely without even wearing it.
Lin Ye used the mask to control the Active Flesh to repair his body, then used the Active Flesh to create new bodies for the two head students before finally removing the mask and leaving the Administrator Cabin.
Just before leaving the cabin, Lin Ye suddenly remembered a minor detail he had previously overlooked. So he took off the mask and threw it into the Underground Tunnels.
When Lin Ye stepped out of the Administrator Cabin, the sky was gradually lightening, and the cultists in the center of the camp were all dead.
After destroying the remaining Flesh Puppets and Bone Traps in the camp, Lin Ye gathered the students who had been hiding in the cabins.
The two head students had obtained new bodies and blended into the crowd.
"Brother! Are you okay?"
Lin Jing ran anxiously to Lin Ye's side, checking his physical condition.
"Of course I'm fine. Last night during my patrol, I encountered a group of armed bandits. I was afraid of being shot, so I hid in a nearby cabin all night."
Lin Ye had already prepared his explanation.
"I'm so glad you're okay! I thought the killer had taken you!"
Seeing Lin Ye was unharmed, Lin Jing breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright, so many people have died here, and the killer might still be nearby. Everyone, get on the bus quickly. We need to leave this place as soon as possible."
Lin Ye addressed the students.
"Right, get on the bus quickly! We can come back for our luggage later!"
"This is terrifying! I never thought there really was a killer!"
"I saw it! That killer even had two monsters that were just heads!"
"Several students are missing, and Driver Wang is gone too. Thankfully Teacher Lin can drive, otherwise we'd have no way to leave."
"Wait a minute! Lin Ye just finished telling a story about a killer, and then a killer appears in the camp that very night. Don't you think that's strange?"
Li Xu suddenly stepped in front of everyone and said loudly.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It is a bit strange."
"Where was the teacher last night?"
"Teacher Lin was with us last night!"
Head Student Number One stepped forward and declared.
Li Xu was about to speak again, but he suddenly noticed that everyone was looking behind him in terror.
"...What are you all looking at?"
Li Xu turned around. A tall figure wearing a blood-red smiling face mask was standing right behind him.
The Mask-Wearing Killer grabbed Li Xu's head with one hand and his body with the other, then with a slight exertion, tore his head from his neck, the head still trailing a bloody section of cervical spine.
Amid the students' screams, the killer dropped Li Xu's body and disappeared into one of the cabins, still holding the head.
After that, the students didn't dare to delay any longer. They abandoned their luggage and rushed onto the school bus. Lin Ye demonstrated his racing skills, successfully driving the bus back to the city.
………………………
Lin Ye snapped back to reality. He was still sitting by the young girl's bedside, holding the book "Selected Collection of Millennium Empire Horror Stories" in his hand, his sitting posture unchanged.
"...How long have I been sitting here?"
Lin Ye poured himself a cup of black tea; it was still hot.
"A few minutes. You seemed quite busy, so I specifically compressed the time."
The young girl took the book back. She planned to read this story again later. Unlike the busy Lin Ye, she was extremely bored.
"Thank you. So it's over just like that?"
Lin Ye did feel that his Seed of Spirit had grown significantly and his mental energy had strengthened, but he wasn't sure if this would actually help his physical body.
"Yes, it's over. Your performance was astonishing. The Dreamrealm has recorded your spiritual imprint. It likes you. From now on, there's a certain probability you can enter the Dreamrealm world when you sleep."
The young girl said seriously.
"Ah? That simple? Will this really work? What is the Dreamrealm world? Who is 'It'?"
Lin Ye raised his questions.
"It's not simple at all. Many people have come into contact with this story, but so far, you're the only one who has changed its outcome. As for the Dreamrealm world, it's a very complex mental world composed of mental energy. If you encounter it, you can go in and explore, but you must not delve too deep into the dreams."
The young girl warned Lin Ye. Although delving deep into dreams wasn't easy, she didn't think it was impossible for Lin Ye.
"Okay. Was changing the outcome difficult? What was the original ending of the story?"
Lin Ye asked curiously.
"Very difficult. The original ending was the destruction of the world—that's why the book is called Millennium Empire."
"Those who enter the story cannot retain their own memories; they can only take on the false memories of the teacher. So it's easy to make wrong decisions, like leaving your sister at home, taking the main road, letting the unwell Driver Wang continue driving, stopping to check the situation, allowing the Camp Administrator to act freely, permitting the traitor to operate, and so on. There are too many factors in this story that can lead to world destruction. If you make a single mistake anywhere, you'll get an inevitable ending."
While Lin Ye was acting, the young girl had been observing the story from the sidelines. She had to admit that Lin Ye always made the right decisions, and often in surprising ways.