The High Priest of Changsheng City nodded silently and said nothing more.
To change this city, we must first change the mentality of everyone who depends on immortality to live.
They don't live for immortality; they live simply for the sake of living. Their eyes are always on the distant future, while they ignore their current lives.
Ye Tianxuan decided to give the residents of Changsheng City a good ideological lesson in the days before Zhong Mu arrived, to correct their thinking, so as to ensure that when he left, they would not be in a state of utter despair again because of losing their god.
This city can survive without a god; in fact, all cities can find a way to find a future even without a god, but they are simply stuck in their ways.
Ye Tianxuan went to class, while Yin Xiu remained lying down.
He could feel his body undergoing some changes due to the lifespan he had been given, but he couldn't quite grasp what those changes were. He only felt a brief moment of weakness, which made him hold onto Li Mo tightly without letting go.
"How's your boyfriend?" Li Mo sat on the edge of the bed, watching over Yin Xiu while flipping through a book, occasionally patting her boyfriend's head as if to comfort him in the same way he comforted herself.
"It's alright." Yin Xiu closed his eyes calmly. Compared to the slight discomfort in his body, he was more concerned about the news that the High Priest had told them earlier.
Before the life transfer took place, the high priest told them what she knew about the man they were looking for.
The mysterious person who brought the breeder, Li Mo, to their world.
The High Priest of Changsheng City lived the longest and knew slightly more about that man.
She said that although the man rarely appeared in Changsheng City, she could sense that Shen respected and loved him immensely, and when they chatted occasionally, his tone was full of fervor.
For a while, she would hear God call him "Father," and for a while after that, God would call him "Lin."
"God seemed to be grieving for that man for a while. I don't know why God changed his address for him from a kinship term to his name, but something must have happened to make that change. I could hear that God's love for him was as fervent as our love for God, and something we could not lose."
"But that man hasn't appeared since more than a decade ago, and God hasn't mentioned him again since; it's as if he suddenly disappeared."
"As for finding him... only the gods who have already disappeared would know where he is."
"However... I was fortunate enough to talk to that man once, about a decade or so ago. He said he had just planted a new hope and might not live to see it grow, and then he handed something to me."
Yin Xiu turned his gaze to the key that Li Mo was clutching tightly in his hand. "He only left behind one key and then disappeared. It's really hard to find."
Li Mo silently opened his palm, inside which lay a key.
"Does my boyfriend remember when the high priest said that the man disappeared?"
"About ten years ago?"
Li Mo smiled and nodded, "It's around the same time I was brought to Hai Village, and then he disappeared."
Yin Xiu lay on the bed, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Before handing this key to the High Priest of Changsheng City, he said he had just planted a new hope... Was he referring to you?"
"But he also said that he didn't have time to see that hope change, and that he handed the key to the priest of the City of Immortality because he sensed that something was about to happen to him or that he was going to disappear?"
"Yes." Li Mo held the key a few steps closer to Yin Xiu, holding up the key in his hand. "This key was probably specially left for me, and only I can use it. After I got it, I could feel an aura similar to mine on it."
Yin Xiu stared intently at Li Mo, "He took you to another world, but sensing that you would return, he left something for you in advance."
"Maybe so." Li Mo lowered his head and nuzzled Yin Xiu's head. "For some reason, holding this key makes me feel unusually comfortable, like... I have a house key."
He didn't know how to describe his feelings, but Yin Xiu understood.
For Li Mo, who was in another world, he was like a wandering cub. Years later, he sensed the same aura in a key. The wandering child found his kind and found his way home.
He must have been delighted, but also somewhat apprehensive.
It was impossible for him not to be excited when he met someone of his own kind or someone similar to him for the first time, or when he met his birthplace for the first time.
Back in Twin Cities, the little tentacle dumpling had unintentionally revealed that it was looking forward to seeing the gods here and its own kind, and it should feel the same way now.
Yin Xiu reached out and touched his hair. "I understand you."
Li Mo buried his head in Yin Xiu's arms, hugging his boyfriend tightly to express the inexplicable joy that had arisen within him. Of course he was happy, of course he was looking forward to it, but at the same time he had to suppress it, because he knew very well that his boyfriend was now his home.
Yin Xiu patted Li Mo's back silently and embraced the little monster who was both excited and uneasy. Outside the window, several wide-eyed eyes, full of resentment, were still trying relentlessly to break through the window.
On the third day after escaping the City of Destiny, the high priestess of the City of Destiny had transformed from a lump of flesh in a basket into a whole body, and finally returned to the appearance of a young girl.
Her regenerated body had none of the horrific scars, nor the pain inflicted upon her by the City of Demise. Her appearance was flawless, completely different from how she looked in the cage.
Zhong Mu had prepared her clothes in advance, but in order to avoid being noticed, he hid them in a basket, but they were still stained with blood.
The high priestess nonchalantly put on the clothes and started jumping around. Compared to the bloodstains, a painless and intact body was what pleased her the most.
The three of them walked and stopped frequently, and arrived at the City of Immortality without incident.
The High Priest of Fatefall City gazed at the quiet Eternal City so close at hand, a slight worry appearing on his face. "It's so quiet. Is everything really alright here?"
A city that is too quiet is definitely not a normal thing, especially after the gods have disappeared. Excessive quiet or excessive noise are both signs of instability within the city.
"Don't worry, Brother Xiu and Boss Ye are both here!" Zhong Mu nodded confidently, but then suddenly paused, remembering what the little tentacle ball had said on the communicator earlier, and became somewhat uneasy, "Could it be... that Brother Xiu was affected by something and went on a killing spree, emptying the city?"
The high priest beside him stared wide-eyed in silence.
Zhong Mu asked in alarm, "Could it be that Boss Ye couldn't stop him and was killed too?"
High Priest: ...?
Zhong Mu looked serious, genuinely considering the possibility of this development.
The high priest was stunned. "This Brother Xiu you're talking about... is he really that powerful? So ruthless that he'll even kill his own people?"