# 1233
Chapter 1234: Silent Defiance
As the God's Ruins spread to cover every corner of the King's Treasury, the earth beneath everyone's feet suddenly trembled violently!
In the sky, the puppet Hero King held the [Royal Scepter] in one hand while the other made an empty grasping motion in the air, as if seizing some invisible authority, and abruptly clenched it!
BOOM——!!
An explosion rang out in the sky.
Lin Qiye only felt a jolt in his chest as a box suddenly burst open from his collar and rapidly flew toward the puppet Hero King in the sky.
"The crystal ball?" Lin Qiye tried to reach out and grab the box, but it was simply too fast and slipped through his fingers instantly.
The box contained the divine artifact crystal ball gifted to him by the old city lord of Wu City not long ago. Now, following the puppet Hero King's movements, it seemed to receive some kind of directive and flew out into the sky.
It wasn't just this crystal ball—streams of light, one after another, rose from the ruins of Wu City and the Vast Desert, shooting into the clouds!
"Is that the [Thunder-Suppressing Hammer]? I saw the [Thunder-Suppressing Hammer]!"
"My bracelet!"
"The wind grandmother's bell flew away too!"
"The divine artifacts... the divine artifacts are all flying away! What's happening?!"
"..."
The survivors standing on the city walls cried out in alarm.
The divine artifacts that the Wu City residents had protected and maintained for generations flew up from the ruins one after another into the sky. Within the yellow sand-billowing Vast Desert, numerous black dots were also rapidly approaching. Lin Qiye squinted his eyes and even caught sight of the Wine God Jar, winged boots, that spear, and the silver flying bird.
All the divine artifacts stored within the King's Treasury were actively flying toward the puppet Hero King in the sky.
Controlled by the moon god Nanna, the puppet Hero King activated the [King] Law, once again awakening this [King's Treasury] that had slumbered for thousands of years!
The numerous divine artifacts flew to the clouds, hovering behind the puppet Hero King, gradually weaving into a wall of dazzling divine artifacts. The magnificent divine radiance illuminated the dim sky until it was bright and splendid.
At the same time, everyone felt their bodies grow heavy. The black city walls beneath their feet also rose from the ground, carrying their bodies toward the clouds.
The survivors who had lost their footing tumbled off the city walls one after another amid terrified screams, falling from the heights toward the ground.
When Lin Qiye saw this, he proactively jumped down from the city wall and recited loudly:
"A roc rises with the wind one day, soaring ninety thousand li on its wings!"
Howling gusts of wind lifted everyone's bodies, setting them safely on the ground. The terrified residents' faces were pale with fright. Only then did they realize that a stranger had been hiding near them all along.
Lin Qiye had no time to say more to these residents before his expression hardened.
The palm gripping the King's [Star Coins] abruptly tightened, imprisoning them firmly within his grip, but the terrifying force transmitted from the [Star Coins] nearly carried his entire body up into the sky!
The King's Treasury's "Absolute Obedience" attribute could forcibly control all divine artifacts that had been contained within it... even the other four artifacts of the same "Supreme" rank were no exception.
No, if this continues, I'll end up in the puppet Hero King's hands too!
A glint of light flashed in Lin Qiye's eyes. After a moment, he proactively released the [Star Coins] in his hand.
The [Star Coins] transformed into a stream of light, streaking across the sky and returning to the puppet Hero King's side. Together with the [King's Treasure Sword], the [Holy Grail], and the [Royal Scepter], they orbited around him like satellites paying homage to the moon.
Without the protection of the city walls, the survivors and Lin Qiye's forms were completely exposed within the ruins.
The three gods in the sky lowered their gazes to look at them.
Nanna spoke calmly:
"There are still some fish that slipped through the net... Offer them all as sacrifices to the [Holy Grail]."
The goddess of love and war, Inanna, nodded. Her form blurred, and she instantly flashed to the sky above the Wu City ruins.
She coldly gazed down at the dozen or so figures beneath her feet, stepping forward through the air, slowly raising the spear in her hand...
"Great goddess of love and beauty!" Among the terrified survivors, a woman frantically pushed through the crowd, looked up at that towering figure, and begged:
"Please spare us... You've already killed so many people, isn't that enough?! I beg you, for our king's sake, spare us..."
"Your king?" Inanna said with a hint of amusement, "You mean Gilgamesh? Don't tell me you still believe we are actually gods under his command?
As for... sparing you?
Even your king has become a puppet dancing at our strings. What are you bunch of mortals?
Without Gilgamesh, Uruk is nothing but a rabble. Being sacrificed to restore Sumerian glory is an honor you mortals should be grateful for!"
Inanna's voice thundered in the ears of the Wu City residents. She raised her spear, and a torrent of divine might came crashing down!
These ordinary people, under the pressure of a Chief God's might, had no room for resistance whatsoever. They felt as if mountains were suddenly pressing down on their shoulders, forcibly pinning them to the ground.
They were forced to prostrate themselves on the ruins. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down their cheeks. Their eyes were filled with fear and despair.
Tali's forehead was pressed hard against the sharp corner of a jagged, uneven broken stone slab. The sharp stone point pierced her skin, and blood flowed down her temple, staining the earth beneath her feet red.
She gritted her teeth tightly, straining with all her might to stand up, but her body felt as heavy as lead and didn't budge an inch... She whimpered, tears mixed with blood seeping through the broken stone slabs, flowing into the gaps below.
She didn't understand. What had they done wrong?
They had simply lived in this Wu City for generations as their ancestors had instructed, maintaining and caring for these divine artifacts... They hadn't provoked anyone, yet disaster after disaster had come upon them.
Father was dead. The city lord and the other uncles were all dead. The invaders coveted their divine artifacts. The three gods they had always worshiped treated them as sacrifices. The Hero King their ancestors swore to protect had been turned into a puppet. And even the divine artifacts they had guarded for generations had fallen into the gods' hands.
Before the disaster, they were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Anyone could easily slaughter their lives.
No one was standing on their side.
Tali's委屈 tears kept welling up. She slowly closed her eyes, preparing to welcome her own death.
At that moment, her peripheral vision caught sight of a charred seal lying quietly in the ruins beside her.
It was a cuneiform seal... the seal of Uruk.
Every household in Wu City hung such seals.
It was a symbol, an inheritance. Their ancestors passed down these seals so that future generations would remember—they were descendants of the Kingdom of Uruk, and their veins carried Uruk's blood!
Wu City would always be the city of Uruk.
Seeing the crowd prostrate before her like ants, Inanna's lips curved slightly upward:
"That's more like it... You should kneel to me instead of your Hero King."
Upon hearing these words, Tali, who had been staring blankly at the seal, felt her heart tremble.
Her exhausted body began to shake uncontrollably. An unprecedented conviction surged through her heart, and her eyes blazed with惊人的毅力.
Her entire body pressed against the ground. She turned her body sideways with effort, like a turtle, struggling to roll over on the ground. The originally prostrate body actually rolled until it faced upward.
She stretched out one hand and gripped the seal beside her tightly. Those defiant eyes stared up at Inanna in the sky. A smile curved on her pale lips.
She didn't speak, but her gaze seemed to say:
Look, I didn't kneel to you!
I know I'll die. I know I can't resist you. But so what?
Even if I have to roll on the ground... I will never kneel to you!
Catching Tali's movements in their peripheral vision, the elderly people who were also prostrate on the ground began to slowly follow suit.
Their hunched bodies awkwardly rolled halfway on the ground, like dying fish turning over, facing the sky and Inanna.
This was a silent defiance, and also a silent perseverance.
Under the overwhelming divine might, in the desolate and lonely city,
A group of abandoned people, pitiful yet absurd, guarded the last flickering ember of Uruk.