Chapter 74: Eyes
“Archbishop?”
It sounded like something from three centuries ago.
“Yes.” The boy nodded.
When he said the word archbishop, there was a hint of both fear and longing in his voice.
“That assistant priest changed her plan. She didn’t rashly attempt to create a ritual capable of communicating with ‘It’ directly. Instead, she decided to first create the first bishop.”
“So there wasn’t a bishop before?” Xu Zhi asked.
“No,” the boy nodded again. “If a bishop had appeared, all believers would have felt it. That would be our pillar, our leader.”
“The assistant priest wanted to quickly forge a bishop by sacrificing a large number of transcendentals and low-ranking believers, but the risk was high—no one knows whether it would succeed.”
“Everyone in this area was captured by us to become offerings and blood sustenance.”
Xu Zhi understood what was going on, but: “If that’s the case, why did you run away?”
At this question, the boy’s eyes flickered. “Because… we were among the offerings. Just the low-tier believers weren’t enough. They needed us higher-ranked believers too.”
“That’s it?” Xu Zhi looked at him.
The boy’s expression stiffened slightly. Xu Zhi’s tone hinted at deeper meaning: “Looks like your faith isn’t very sincere.”
“Of course not!” he snapped, as if she had insulted him.
“For ‘It’, I would sacrifice myself!”
“It’s just… just…”
His chest rose and fell rapidly. “Why was he chosen to become the bishop’s vessel and not me?”
“I could do it too. I’m no worse. Why am I only a sacrifice?”
“I will go back. When I gain greater power and status, I’ll return with even more sacrifices to prove I’m the one truly worthy of becoming bishop!”
So that’s it.
Xu Zhi lowered her eyes slightly in realization. He wasn’t disloyal—he was greedy and arrogant.
That’s the flaw of having reason and self-awareness: it gives rise to selfish ambition.
Even becoming a fanatical believer, even with brainwashing-like devotion, couldn’t erase the base nature of humanity.
“But you’re about to die now,” Xu Zhi said, a tinge of mockery and pity in her eyes. The boy’s face froze, his earlier arrogance now looking ridiculous.
“But… if you keep answering my questions honestly…”
She didn’t finish the sentence—letting him fill in the blanks himself. It wasn’t hard to guess: “Keep talking honestly, and maybe I’ll spare you.”
“Why did you bring your friend out? Isn’t she just dead weight?”
The boy suddenly gave a sharp laugh, a hint of pride in his voice. “She’s different.”
“She’s special—of a higher rank than me. If anything, she should be called a Saintess.”
“Not only her eyes—her internal organs have nearly been removed. What’s left is probably just one heart keeping her barely alive.”
“Her body is now just a container for that heart. But in this sparsely populated city, if they want to pile up enough offerings to create a bishop, there’s no way they can succeed without eating the Saintess’s heart.”
“Only one heart left and she’s still alive?” Xu Zhi was surprised. Even for a [Cup]-type transcendent, that level of vitality was extreme.
“Of course.” The boy chuckled, slightly deranged. “Her ability is precisely to survive the removal of organs—so she can be the perfect vessel.”
“Saintesses are incredibly rare. Rarer than ginseng fruits. No one expected a Saintess to appear in such an empty city—it’s as if the heavens smiled on us!”
It sounded… tragic.
Xu Zhi stayed silent, but a thought began to form in her mind.
“What happens if her transcendent ability runs out?” she asked.
“She’ll die immediately, of course. That’s why we’ve had to feed her flesh or cores every day to keep her going.”
Xu Zhi once again felt that these [Cup]-type transcendents had long ceased to be human.
“So, what powers does a bishop have?” Xu Zhi changed the topic.
To her surprise, the boy shook his head.
“I don’t know. Someone like me doesn’t have the qualifications to know that.”
“All I know is that what’s difficult for us is trivial for a bishop. Bishops know many things—perhaps even remember rituals long since lost, or deduce the complete form of broken rituals from fragments.”
“In short, they can do what no one else can.”
What blind faith and idol worship.
“Last question—where is the place?”
Xu Zhi took out a map, had him mark the cult’s hideout, then folded the map away and said, “I won’t kill you—for now.”
Because she suddenly had a bold idea.
“I’m going to check whether she really has no internal organs left.” She walked over to the girl lying on the bed. Just as she bent down, she paused and said, “No peeking. Go wait outside.”
The boy was speechless for a moment, but Xu Zhi was clearly in charge now. So he obediently staggered out, dragging his injured body.
Xu Zhi wasn’t worried about him running. Once the door was closed, she held up her index finger—and two moths formed from her transcendent power appeared at her fingertip.
With her other hand, she pulled out her game console. “I want to make them into a pair of eyes. Is there a way?”
[…]
[What are you planning now?]
The narrator sounded uneasy.
“Mind your business. Just tell me if it’s possible.”
[Insert 10 Cup-attribute cores to unlock the recipe.]
“Got it.”
Once the cores were spent, a new recipe appeared before her:
[Eyes of the Moth]
Recipe: A pair of fresh eyeballs, two moths, your blood, ten Cup-attribute cores.
Note: Low-tier crafting. Limited shelf life.
“How thoughtful.”
She couldn’t make any high-end eyes yet, but this would do. And all the materials were ready.
Xu Zhi walked outside and looked down at the boy slumped against the door.
“Excuse me—gonna borrow your eyes for a sec.”
With that, she unceremoniously took his eyes, ignoring the boy’s screams as he clutched his bloodied sockets. Instead, she just looked at the blood on her hands with mild annoyance. “So I just store them and add them to the ingredients?”
[Yes.]
“How much blood do I need to use?”
[As much as possible. It will determine the quality and shelf life of the eyes, among other aspects.]
“‘Other aspects’?”
[Such as compatibility—if someone else were to receive the eyes.]
Xu Zhi felt like the narrator was hiding something. Why not just say “compatibility”? Why be all mysterious with “other aspects”?
Soon, the pair of new eyes was forged in the game. Xu Zhi took them out of her inventory and examined them.
They were red—perhaps due to the Cup-attribute cores and her blood—but within the red irises shimmered specks of silvery-gray light. If you stared long enough, it seemed like gray moths flitted across the surface, or perhaps it was just silver sand flowing like a current in the depths of the eye.
“Beautiful eyes,” Xu Zhi commented.
