Pei Du could barely contain the surge of excitement in his chest, his heart pounding wildly out of control. He had never imagined that being acknowledged by the Goddess would feel so profoundly uplifting.
For no apparent reason, his eyes began to sting with the threat of tears.
Over the years, he had watched the people who had followed the Goddess all the way from Xindu City, one by one, carve out remarkable achievements in their respective fields and earn the Goddess's recognition. He alone had remained obscure, never once catching the Goddess's eye. How could he not have felt dejected about that?
At first, he assumed it was because he hailed from the prestigious Pei clan of Heluo that he failed to win the Goddess's favor.
But after careful consideration, he dismissed that thought. If her disapproval stemmed from his noble birth, then how could Shen Yu and Pei Wanning, who also came from aristocratic families, have gained the Goddess's high regard?
This question had plagued him for a very long time.
It was not until this very day, when the Goddess finally acknowledged him, that he realized exactly where he had gone wrong all those years.
Every action the Goddess took was for the good of the common people.
Yet for all his claims of being a devout follower of the Goddess, whenever trouble arose, his first instinct was always to prioritize the interests of his aristocratic clan. Compared to Shen Yu and Pei Wanning, he had truly fallen far short.
While Pei Du was lost in these swirling thoughts, the Little Fox, invisible to others, perched on Yun Shu's shoulder and sighed, "Host, in the original book, Pei Du was a staunch defender of aristocratic interests. It's really quite something that he's now thinking of saving the common people."
Yun Shu's gaze lingered on Pei Du for a moment. She had to admit that scions of aristocratic families far outstripped ordinary people in terms of breadth of vision and academic knowledge, and that was an undeniable fact.
Besides, there was a saying that rang true: position dictates perspective.
People like Shen Yu and Pei Wanning, who set aside the interests of their own class to fight for the common folk, were the rare exceptions.
Most people could not help but harbor their own selfish motives.
Moreover, along her journey, she had witnessed Cui He rise from a penniless peasant girl to the prefect of a city. There was no doubt that in a hundred years, the Cui clan would become a new aristocratic house.
This made her rethink the entire issue of aristocratic clans.
If these aristocratic scions could work for the good of the people, no matter their underlying motives, as long as the people's lives saw tangible improvement, she should encourage them to do so. That was the only way to maintain a virtuous cycle.
Judging by her calculations, Shen Jue should be arriving very soon.
She stopped wasting time, directly activated the array component of the Mirror of Retrogression, and summoned a wisteria flower gate. "Pei Du, Feng Chunya, you come with me to Wuling City."
With a favorability score as high as 70, Shen Jue was no less of a threat to her than a ghost chasing her down with a knife in hand.
Once Wuling City was stabilized, she really needed to find a way to lower Shen Jue's favorability rating.
Alas, she never thought that karmic retribution would come to her in such a form.
It was such a headache.
With these thoughts in mind, she could not help but complain fiercely to the Little Fox in her head, "Lil' Sys, I've always had a question. This book is supposed to be a male lead's unification war epic, right? Why is Shen Jue acting like a total lovesick fool? That doesn't make any sense."
The Little Fox explained, "Host, that's because I'm a romance strategy system. As soon as the male lead develops romantic feelings for you, the world automatically shifts to a romantic romance genre.
You know that romance stories always revolve around the romantic plotline. The male lead acting so lovesick is all tied to the romantic arc that the Lord God prearranged. According to the usual tropes of most romance male leads, once they fall in love, everything else gets pushed to the back burner, and even their IQ plummets to zero."
Yun Shu: "......"
No wonder she had felt lately that Shen Jue seemed as if he was possessed by some evil spirit. It wasn't just her imagination.
She was genuinely intimidated.
Though she hadn't noticed any odd changes in herself, she still tentatively asked, "Lil' Sys, the Lord God didn't add any weird stuff to me, did he?"
The Little Fox puffed out its chest confidently, "Host, I've been keeping a close watch on that old rascal the Lord God this whole time. He can't harm you!"
Feeling reassured, Yun Shu stepped through the teleportation gate, with Pei Du, Feng Chunya and the others hurrying to follow close behind.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived in Wuling City.
The moment they stepped out of the portal, a thick stench of rot assailed their nostrils.
It was a foul mix of the smell of decaying corpses and the reek of long-untended sewers.
The group walked down the main street, their clean, neat clothes starkly out of place amid the gray, dilapidated surroundings.
Even though they had steeled themselves for the worst, Pei Du could not suppress his instinctive reaction. He doubled over, covering his mouth.
Feng Chunya gripped the hilt of her saber so tightly her knuckles turned white, and tears welled up uncontrollably in her eyes.
The scene before her was every bit as shocking as the mountains of corpses and seas of blood she had witnessed on the battlefield.
The streets were full of people.
Some were corpses reeking of decay, others were living skeletons.
They leaned or lay scattered under dilapidated eaves and against crumbling walls, as if they were nothing more than discarded rags.
This was no longer the human world. It was a living hell!
A young soldier of the Northern Garrison Army stumbled backward, his boot heel clicking against the stone pavement. The sound roused a man lying on the ground, who slowly lifted his head to look at him.
His eyes were wide, murky and empty. He stared at the soldier, his lips twitching as if trying to speak, but only dry, raspy gasps escaped his throat.
"Food... I'm so hungry..."
The soldier's hands shaking, he pulled a half-eaten pancake from his chest and handed it to the man on the ground.
As if by unspoken agreement, everyone silently passed out the food they carried to the people on the street.
But it was not enough. Far from enough.
"Divine Lady, please save them."
The Goddess let out a soft sigh.
The next second, she tapped her toe lightly against the ground, turned into a streak of light, and shot straight toward the sky.
Immediately, thousands of golden rays poured down from the firmament.
Those golden lights landed in everyone's hands, instantly turning into bowls of steaming hot white porridge.
Tens of thousands of people in the city, each had a bowl in their hands.
"All I can do for you is this much. The rest of the hardship, you must get through on your own."
The Goddess's voice echoed from the heavens.
[Pei Du Shock Value +100]
[Feng Chunya Shock Value +100]
[Zhang San Shock Value +100]
[......]
[Current Shock Value: 65,550,000]
Yun Shu sat invisibly on the rooftop, "This infinite white porridge skill is really great. It's useful no matter where I go."
"Host, Shen Jue heard that you came to Wuling City with Pei Du and Feng Chunya, and he's on his way here too," the Little Fox said as it perched beside Yun Shu.
"Did he come chasing after me all alone?" A dull ache began to throb at Yun Shu's temples.
The Little Fox checked its surveillance, "No, he brought the Northern Garrison Army with him, and they transported a huge haul of fish."
Yun Shu let out a long sigh of relief, "At least that means Shen Jue still has his wits about him. The lovesickness hasn't completely addled his brain."
"By the way, Lil' Sys, how much longer will it take for Shen Yu and the others to reach Wuling City? Eating fish every day isn't a long-term solution. If they're moving too slowly, I'll have to think of something to speed things up."
The Little Fox replied, "With Fang Shuo around as our lucky charm, they should arrive in Wuling City in about 10 days."
