Out of fear of death, Invest Everything into Health-Chapter 288 - 148: Lord Rou (Part 3)

"Moreover, did you notice that those four little girls seem to lack distinct features?"

The Mountain God paused, "Now that you mention it, it's true. When I try to recall them, I can't distinguish who is who. Their personalities are almost identical, aside from their appearances and clothing, they seem to be carved from the same mold."

"What does this indicate?" Fan Wubing asked with a piercing gaze.

"That their education and living environment are exactly the same."

Fan Wubing and the Mountain God formed a hypothesis in their minds and immediately set off to investigate.

They split into two groups, navigating through streets and alleys, visiting different families, and about half an hour later, they regrouped at the original location.

The Mountain God described the situation of the families he visited.

Fan Wubing lowered his gaze, "Exactly the same as the families I visited! No difference at all. Each is a six-person household: grandparents, parents, and then a son and a daughter. The family structure, atmosphere, and members' personalities are exactly the same."

"What's going on here!" This situation gave the Mountain God chills. The entire Sickness City was just too healthy and harmonious. This ironically made it frightening because it was so far from common sense.

Fan Wubing and the Mountain God further immersed themselves in Sickness City's life for a day.

In the morning, after the sun rose, the children played everywhere; the elderly gathered to play chess and cards, chat, and drink tea; the mothers did various household chores at home, while the fathers went out to work. At dusk, everyone returned home to rest.

Everyone's life was like this. Each family had the same structure, and even the ages were the same! Boys were uniformly ten years old, and girls were uniformly eight. The fathers were thirty-six, the mothers thirty-four. Grandfathers were sixty-two, and grandmothers sixty.

There were no other ages in the entire Sickness City.

"Everywhere reeks of an 'arrangement' feel," Fan Wubing remarked with a focused gaze.

"Lord Rou!"

As long as you prayed to Meat Mountain, you could get everything you wanted: food, water, clothes, toys… all sorts of things, just by praying. After praying, things would appear in the home. But everyone only ever prayed for daily necessities, never anything beyond the usual. Everything proceeded methodically, everyone doing what was appropriate for their status and age.

Perfect, ideal, healthy, with not a trace of sickness or anything undesirable. Not even NPCs in games were this templated.

However, perfection itself is a kind of illness.

"So, what exactly is that Lord Rou to possess such power?" Fan Wubing wondered with narrowed eyes.

The Mountain God said, "This reminds me of the past Divine Dao. Back then, incense offerings were called 'faith power,' and as long as a Divine Cultivator had believers, they could continually grow, obtaining endless faith power. These people in Sickness City believe in Lord Rou, and it seems like this faith is unusually strong."

"Didn't you say that Sickness City was created three hundred years ago by one hundred and twenty-six Qi Observation Envoys and their families? Most of them would have been cultivators, right? Why is Sickness City now filled with ordinary people?"

"That... I don't know. Maybe they died?" The Mountain God speculated, "After all, they were all sick at the time, living short lives, no longer having the lifespans of cultivators. These people are their descendants, but because they couldn't cultivate, generation after generation, all became ordinary people."

"That does make sense, but... what is this Lord Rou?" Fan Wubing focused intently, "We need to clarify this point."

"But how do we find out? The people in the city only know how to pray to Lord Rou, they have no idea what or where Lord Rou actually is."

Fan Wubing furrowed his brow. "The city's order is so consistent. What would happen if this order were disrupted?"

With that, he leaped to the top of a house, surveyed the area, and activated the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill, quickly enveloping the entire Sickness City, forcing everyone to leave their positions. Children couldn't play, the elderly couldn't play chess or cards or chat, women couldn't do housework, and men couldn't work.

Then,

After a brief silence, the entire Sickness City plunged into massive panic.

Crying and frightened voices echoed from all directions, one after another.

Suddenly unable to do what they did day after day seemed like a great catastrophe to them.

Seeing this terrifying scene, the Mountain God was stunned, "This..."

Meanwhile, Fan Wubing sensed a powerful force trying to correct these changes. His heart skipped, and he focused on tracing the source of this force.

"It's over there!"

Fan Wubing grabbed the Mountain God, his body darting like lightning across the sky, slicing through the air with a trail of dynamic energy.

In a matter of moments, they landed at a crossroads in the northern part of Sickness City.

In the center stood an osmanthus tree, beneath which lay a dried-up well.

The power was emanating from the dried well.

"This is the well," Fan Wubing said with bright eyes, a bit excited. He had never forgotten his real purpose for coming here was for the Trial of Heart's Desire.

"It doesn't look good," the Mountain God squinted.

This dried well did not give off the same "healthy and perfect" feel as the rest of Sickness City. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

An aura of sickness.

One wouldn't usually use "sickly" to describe a well, but that's exactly the feeling this well gave. Wasted, dried, dilapidated—these words couldn't describe it as accurately as "sickly" could.

Fan Wubing fixated his gaze, "Let's go in and take a look."