Chapter 2210: Xu Huo Intervenes
The Holy Maiden Xue Yi sneered mockingly, "That sounds nice, but you're just trying to control the Goddess Cult."
"Now there's no need at all to use hermaphrodites as the main force for reproduction. Instead, merging genes from outer zone people can improve the fate of our descendants. The Goddess was born to protect our ancestors—what does that have to do with whether the ancestors were hermaphrodites?"
"Ridiculous little person, driven by selfishness to show off your uniqueness, forcibly preserving deformed genes. How many innocent children have died in the living quarters behind the temple where the Holy Maidens stay? If not for you, they wouldn't have been born at all, and no Holy Maiden would have lost her life for these meaningless efforts!"
"You're not the one paying the price, so of course you can act all righteous. You claim to protect the Goddess Cult and uphold the Goddess, but can you actually communicate with Her?"
"Look at what just happened—did the Goddess pay any attention to you? Only the tears of believers can awaken Her, and among those believers are not just hermaphrodites but also outer zone players. Did you see the Goddess treat them any differently?"
"The Goddess protects the believers of this nation, not just the hermaphrodites!"
"Do you even know what you're saying?!" the Divine Envoy roared in anger. "You're slandering the Goddess, denying the status of hermaphrodites—do you understand the consequences of this?"
"I understand. It's precisely because I've thought it through that I've decided to do this." Xue Yi regained her composure. "For the sake of so-called religious orthodoxy, you deliberately create hermaphrodites, forbid them from marrying outer zone people, and make children who could have been more normal and healthy become weak and short-lived. Then I am willing to bear the price of denying the status of hermaphrodites."
"I believe my descendants will surely understand my decision today. I want to escape the fate of being a hermaphrodite. I don't want to see any more innocent babies die before my eyes because of the greed of adults!"
With that, she suddenly pulled out a dagger and charged at the Divine Envoy.
However, the Divine Envoy, who appeared to be an ordinary person, had protective instruments on him. An automatically triggered barrier sent her flying several meters back. At the same time, the players who had been lying in ambush outside the Holy City also entered the city—all of this was the Divine Envoy's advance arrangement. Compared to shattering the current situation and starting over, most players preferred to maintain the status quo, including quite a few stranded players, because they couldn't afford the cost of the instance disappearing!
The Holy Maidens were once again placed under guard. A player was asking the Divine Envoy how to handle them. Killing them was certainly out of the question—killing the Holy Maidens would leave no way to explain things to the believers afterward. As long as they lived, everything could be smoothed over with time.
The Holy Maiden Xue Yi, lying on the ground, let out a bitter laugh. Most of the players on their side had already been swallowed into the temple instance. The few remaining were captured by the later-arriving players. With her own strength alone, there was no turning back...
"Goddess!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "It was the hermaphrodites who built the first temple for You! Are You just going to watch these people treat the descendants of hermaphrodites like this?!"
The eyes in the sky and on the ground continued to open and close, showing no signs of revival in response to her desperate plea. It seemed everything had come to an end.
"Sister Xue Yi!" A Holy Maiden with a swollen belly rushed to her side, seemingly to help her up, but actually using her body to shield herself. Tears streaming down her face, she said, "Since the Goddess won't help us, why should we force it? Our ancestors rebuilt this nation with their hermaphrodite bodies—don't we have the same blood and spirit within us?"
"I! And my descendants! Will never live in disgrace because of a mistake!"
With that, she pulled out a hidden dagger and stabbed it fiercely into her own neck!
Before this Holy Maiden's body even fell, the other Holy Maidens on the central altar simultaneously drew their blades and slit their own throats, facing death with resolute determination and not a moment's hesitation!
More than twenty Holy Maidens collapsed, their blood instantly flooding the altar. This scene seemed to affect the Holy Maidens on the other altars as well, who one after another pulled out the weapons they had prepared in advance, intending to use their own lives as a final act of resistance!
"Stop them! Stop them!" the Divine Envoy roared in fury. But there were too many Holy Maidens, and the altars had protective barriers. The players' items were being interfered with, making it impossible to save everyone at once. One by one, the Holy Maidens continued to fall.
"Crazy, they've all gone crazy!" The Divine Envoys had never anticipated that the Holy Maidens had long been prepared to die. Shocked and enraged, they also felt a deep-seated fear.
"From now on, there will be no more Holy Maidens in the Goddess Cult." Xue Yi stood up, setting down the body of her companion. She reached up and tore off her veil and Holy Maiden robe, pulled a knife from behind her waist, pressed it against her own neck, and laughed loudly, "Future generations will not forget the blood we shed today!"
As the words left her lips, she pressed the blade hard against herself. But at that moment, a force swept through the temple, inside and out. Everyone on and off the altars suddenly fell into a state of stillness. Except for players equipped with temporal items, everyone else was frozen in place. Then, a figure appeared on the central altar, gently twisting a ring on his finger. The next second, everyone within the frozen time snapped back to awareness.
"Clang!" The dagger in Xue Yi's hand fell onto the altar. It was a local zone player who had been trying to stop her all along who had knocked it away. After the blade fell, she herself was subdued by him.
"Who are you?!" A Divine Envoy on the left pointed at the man who had appeared out of nowhere on the altar and shouted, "This district's affairs are none of your business, an outer zone player! Get down!"
With those words, several players surrounded him. But as they moved, their items inexplicably failed, and even their traits couldn't activate. Then they crashed into an invisible barrier around the altar. This barrier was clearly different from the items they had set up themselves. The moment they touched it, it turned into invisible blades, killing them on the spot. Then, those watching saw the man on the altar lightly flick his index finger through the air, and the Divine Envoy who had just spoken had his head severed.
The local zone players were stunned. They were about to rush forward together when, the next second, they felt an overwhelming mental pressure bearing down on them from all directions. Intense headaches left them unable to move, and they fell to the ground one after another.
But they weren't swallowed by the temple instance. Instead, they were swept out of the temple by a force and sent tumbling into the square. With a series of cracking explosions, they smashed several large craters into the square. The surrounding believers were forced back, watching the unfolding incident in confusion and helplessness.
"I haven't even said a word since I stepped up here. No need to be so hasty." On the central altar, Xu Huo swept his gaze over the players with their ugly expressions, finally landing on the Divine Envoy beside him. "I don't really like talking to people whose faces I can't see. How about you take off that item suit, and we have a face-to-face chat?"
This was not a request, but an order.