Chapter 1099: 86. The Third Attendant
The wind swept across the wilderness. Even in this barren place where there was not even the cry of a crow, the atmosphere still seemed slightly awkward.
Identity code?
I don’t know a damn thing, and you’re asking me?
"Ahem. Aren’t the only things that prove identity that whatever document and that whatever badge?" Muen coughed once and forced himself to remain calm. "And didn’t you say that the only defining trait of pioneers is being strong? Besides, I lost my memories. Something like that, you want me to take out..."
"The City-State United Pioneering Association’s approval document and the Ironfoot Badge of Merit can indeed prove the identity of a ‘pioneer,’ but the identity code is the most special thing of all, the one that can prove your own identity."
Marcie picked up the thread:
"And besides, an identity code isn’t some kind of characteristic. It’s something that only shows itself at critical moments! And even memory loss doesn’t affect it at all!"
Muen: "???"
That advanced?
"It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the identity code is the most important thing on a pioneer!"
Marcie explained slowly:
"After all, a pioneer’s work is extremely dangerous. They might sacrifice themselves in some unknown region at any moment. So when you become a pioneer, the City-State United Pioneering Association uses a specially made magic ink to brand an unfading number onto your skin.
"This number can locate your target after your death, recover your corpse, confirm your identity, and ensure that every brave pioneer ultimately returns to their homeland. There will also be dedicated personnel who record the extent of your pioneering, guaranteeing as much as possible that every road opened by every pioneer was not opened in vain."
"Of course, the most important thing is that, compared with documents and badges, every pioneer’s identity code is unique. You said you lost your memories, right? Tell me your code, and I’ll help you confirm your identity."
Marcie rummaged through her bag and pulled out a tattered book, saying excitedly:
"I’ve been recording these codes and their corresponding pioneer information since I was five. As long as you tell me the code, I’ll definitely be able to find out all your information!"
Muen: "..."
No, girl, you never said you people played this seriously!
"Huh? Is something wrong?"
Seeing that Muen still had not produced the number, a trace of suspicion gradually surfaced in Marcie’s eyes.
"Great pioneer, don’t you want to recover your past?"
"I... Well, my number is in a rather private place. It isn’t very convenient to show it in front of outsiders."
Muen rubbed his nose and said shyly, "Especially a pure little girl like you. I’m afraid I might scare you."
"Private? Aren’t all identity numbers branded on the back?"
Marcie gestured with both hands. "Right in the center of the back. Because when many pioneers are discovered, even their limbs are no longer intact. To preserve the lettering as much as possible, ever since this mechanism was established, identity numbers have always been branded on the back. After all, every pioneer is a brave warrior who fearlessly advances forward. The possibility of them being wounded on the back is far, far lower than the possibility of being wounded from the front!"
"...Pioneers truly are great..." Muen’s mouth twitched.
"Of course. So I’ll do everything I can to help solve your worries, great pioneer! Come on, let me see the code!"
"..."
Silence.
"Great pioneer?"
"..."
Still silence.
"I understand. Because you can’t see your own back, and with your memories missing, you don’t know about this at all, right? Don’t worry. You only need to lift your shirt for a moment and turn around. You were already bare-chested in front of me before, so you shouldn’t be embarrassed at a time like this, right?" Marcie clapped her hands and revealed a sweet smile.
"..."
Silence. Silence was tonight’s wilderness.
Even Muen, who advocated realism, could not help wanting to compose a poem at this moment.
"Great pioneer..."
Marcie tilted her head and stared at Muen. Only, the stars in those eyes had long since vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a hair-raising darkness.
"You can’t even fulfill such a simple request. Don’t tell me... you’re tricking me."
"...Sigh."
Under the pressure of that gaze, Muen finally stopped being silent. Instead, he once again looked up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, and an aura of deep, weathered melancholy naturally emerged from him.
"I admit that in this world, there truly is no such thing as a perfect disguise. Any self-satisfied attempt to close the distance will lead to extremely serious consequences."
"You admit it?"
Marcie bared her teeth, looking exactly like a furious little beast eager to pounce and tear into him at any moment.
"Bastard... Do you know what crime impersonating a pioneer is?"
"I do not know. And... the admission I’m talking about is not temporarily what you think it means."
Muen lowered his head again. That solemn expression, completely unlike someone whose lie had been exposed, made Marcie freeze slightly once more.
"Trying to put on an act again?"
But this time, she reacted quickly. "You think I’ll still be tricked by you this time? I’m telling you, I’m the most outstanding person in the village, someone who’s going to become a real pioneer. Even if I’m deceived... I’ll only be deceived once!"
"..."
If you say that, won’t the villagers who know you were almost tricked dizzy by a yellow-haired man cry?
"That isn’t what I mean."
Muen sighed. His gaze swept past her and locked onto a certain spot behind Marcie.
"Then what do you mean?"
"What I mean is... duck."
"Huh?"
Muen’s voice was deep and magnetic. If placed in a choir, he would surely become an outstanding bass.
But the words he spoke at this moment did not bring the pleasant feeling of a choir.
Instead...
They were like an unquestionable command, making someone instinctively... choose obedience beneath that intimidation.
Marcie’s mind was still completely blank, her eyes full of clear, foolish innocence. The moment she thought she had been tricked, she had already forgotten the enormous gap in strength between the two of them and had even wanted to find herself an explanation.
But her body had already reacted for her. She immediately held her head with both hands and crouched down.
"Good girl."
Muen praised her.
However, after the praise, what he took out was not candy.
It was a blade.
The pure-white blade was instantly gripped in his palm. Sound was forever slower than his movements. As soon as his words fell, the dazzling flash of the blade had already sliced through the darkness, passing over Marcie’s head and slashing forward.
Clang—
A small hill not far away was silently cut through by Muen’s slash.
And split in two along with it was a figure that had been hiding there just now.
The figure’s eyes were open in confusion, as if he completely did not understand how he had been discovered, nor how he had been cut in half with one slash.
Splurt.
Flesh and blood separated. He collapsed to the ground, his face full of unwillingness, as black blood slowly flowed out and gradually seeped into the earth.
"Th-th-th-this..."
Equally dazed and confused was Marcie. She stared blankly at the hill that slid down along the cut with a rumble, finally crashing into fragments of stone and soil all over the ground and burying that corpse. Her little head spun and spun, yet she still could not understand the scene that had just happened in such a short time.
What had that pervert just done?
Why had the hill collapsed directly?
Why had that person died directly?
And who was that person? When had he been here?
Question after question came one after another. Before any answers could arrive, a new change had already occurred.
A hand covered in black blood suddenly reached out from the pile of broken stone and mud. Then it grabbed a nearby rock and slowly "pulled" itself out.
Very quickly, that person appeared once more in Muen and Marcie’s line of sight.
That person’s face was only an ordinary face, without anything abnormal about it. But at his waist and abdomen, where Muen had cut him in two just now, skin, flesh, and bone squirmed continuously. Countless maggots crawled in and out, and very soon, they restored him to his original state.
If that posture, covered everywhere in rotten holes, could be called his "original state."
"That hurt... I didn’t expect I’d be discovered the moment we met. And strength like this..."
That person moved his newly grown flesh. "The one the Goddess personally ordered me to dispose of really is extraordinary."
"The evil believers I ran into before didn’t seem to have any powerful regenerative ability."
Muen raised an eyebrow. "You’re different."
"Heh heh... Don’t compare me to trash like that, trash that can’t even bear the Goddess’s grace."
That person swayed unsteadily. His posture and movements were completely those of a bizarre creature with an underdeveloped cerebellum, yet the pressure emitted from each and every motion was terrifyingly intimidating.
He stared at Muen and revealed a smile, sinister as a venomous snake flicking its tongue in the darkness.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Third Attendant beneath the Goddess of Night’s seat, one who worships darkness and has sworn to cleanse all sin from this filthy land."
"The Third Attendant?"
Before Muen had time to say anything, Marcie at his side suddenly screamed. "It’s actually the Third Attendant?"
"Oh? You know him?" Muen raised an eyebrow.
"I don’t know him, but I know of him!"
Marcie lifted the tattered booklet in her hand. "Inside this, besides collecting information on many pioneers, I’ve also collected information on the pioneers’ archenemies. Those hounds of an Evil God who are trying to trap us to death in this barren land! They commit every evil imaginable and are extremely vicious. Their favorite thing to do is destroy a village’s food and watch the people starve to death alive in the dark! And the so-called Goddess’s Attendants are the most terrifying group among those hounds!"
"...That does indeed sound like they’re not good people."
Muen tapped the blade with his finger.
"Hey, hey, little girl."
The Third Attendant said unhappily, "I can endure you calling me a hound. But calling the Goddess an Evil God is an unforgivable blasphemy. The Goddess is the true god of goodness, completely different from that hypocritical thing you people believe in."
"A god of goodness wants to exterminate pitiful people like us?" Marcie’s eyes reddened slightly. "You Believers of the Night cause destruction everywhere. My parents starved to death alive because you destroyed their crops."
"That is because their sins had not yet been cleansed."
The Third Attendant spread his hands. "I was only letting them atone. You should be thanking me instead."