The Little Guy 09

Fang Zhiyi looked at the night sky, feeling somewhat apologetic. "I'm sorry, Mom and Dad."

"Silly child, if it weren't for you, your father and I would have died long ago." A voice came from behind as Mother Fang comforted him with a chuckle. At this moment, the elderly couple was walking forward, supporting each other.

Father Fang also rarely puffed out his chest. "Heh, I never expected my son to be so amazing. Those espers were no match for you!"

Fang Zhiyi scratched his head. "It was just a fluke."

"You brat, are you hiding something from us?"

Fang Zhiyi was silent for a moment. "I am, but you clearly knew and didn't ask."

For a moment, the air grew quiet, leaving only the rustling sound of leaves swaying in the wind.

"You child, what nonsense are you spouting..." Mother Fang still tried to smooth things over, but her voice trembled slightly.

Fang Zhiyi sighed. "My acting skills are actually quite good, but when it comes to playing the role of a son, I am indeed a bit out of practice."

He did not say his inner thoughts out loud. After all, he himself had never been a good son.

Father Fang stopped in his tracks. "At least you don't intend to harm us. May I ask, where exactly did my son go?"

Fang Zhiyi turned his head. By now, the expressions of Father and Mother Fang had completely changed. At some point, Father Fang had pulled out a short knife, and Mother Fang was looking at Fang Zhiyi nervously.

Fang Zhiyi smiled. "Put the knife away. The grass on the grave of the last person who ambushed me is already growing tall."

"For my son, my life doesn't matter." Father Fang looked down at the knife in his hand, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

Fang Zhiyi suddenly said, "I'm just helping your son out with a few things. He will return."

Time seemed to stand still.

After a long while, Mother Fang patted her husband's arm, and Father Fang sheathed the short knife back at his waist.

"Where is our family going?"

Fang Zhiyi turned to look into the distance. "The Northern Frontier."

"Isn't it said that place is full of the Evil God's believers?" Mother Fang grew worried.

Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "They are merely remnants of the old era."

The puzzle in his mind was about to receive its final piece.

Fang Zhiyi's anti-tracking skills were virtually flawless. Even the most elite espers of the Empire failed to discover their family's traces, which allowed them to arrive ten days earlier than planned.

However, just as he stepped onto this barren land, a heavy sensation crept across his skin.

Fang Zhiyi made a hand gesture. Father and Mother Fang hesitated for a moment, then stood still where they were.

"Heh heh heh, let me see, where did these lost lambs come from..." A strange cackle rang out, followed by a man with his face entirely wrapped in bandages flying in front of them, looking down condescendingly at Fang Zhiyi.

"Boy, do you desire power?" The hoarse and unpleasant voice sounded like rusty iron plates scraping against each other.

Fang Zhiyi took a breath. "What is your name?"

"Divine Envoy Ron." The strange man chuckled weirdly. "Where you come from, my name should be quite renowned..." But before he could finish his sentence, he witnessed a baffling scene.

The scrawny boy before him began to take a running start, using the nearby rocks, tree trunks, and branches for leverage to leap high into the air. Then, a massive fist rapidly filled his entire vision.

Floating in midair, Ron was struck by this punch, and his entire body crashed rapidly into the ground like a cannonball.

Fang Zhiyi crouched in front of him. "So, Ron, can you take me to see your boss?"

"Um, son, he seems to have passed out," Father Fang said hesitantly.

Fang Zhiyi glanced back at him. "Sometimes I really think you're taking advantage of me on purpose."

In the brief moment he turned his head, Ron's body sprang up from the dirt, and a plume of black smoke enveloped Fang Zhiyi. "You're courting death! Courting death!"

He was somewhat frantic. He had actually been beaten by a little brat? What a humiliating disgrace!

However, an even more astonishing scene occurred. Fang Zhiyi's face emerged from the black smoke, followed by an open hand that pressed against his face. With a surge of immense force, he was shoved right back into the very dirt pit he had smashed into earlier.

"You, how are you unaffected! What kind of monster are you!"

Fang Zhiyi tilted his head. "What right do you have to call me a monster? Do you have zero self-awareness?"

As a loyal believer of the Evil God, Xing Bugui prayed to the Evil God's name almost every morning, noon, and night, before assigning tasks to his subordinates.

He, too, once had a happy family in that Empire, until... during an imperial mission, he watched with his own eyes as the battalion commander killed several civilians.

He had been furious, but the battalion commander told him they were just a few civilians unfavored by the gods, and told him not to be so hot-tempered.

However, as time went on, he saw the rotting flesh hidden beneath the Empire's harmonious facade. Those civilians had to struggle incredibly hard just to stay alive, yet espers could easily take their lives away.

In order to stabilize the Divine Council's position, the Empire would periodically launch massive manhunts for those who blasphemed the gods, namely, the ordinary people struggling on the brink of survival.

The agents of the gods fought for power on behalf of different deities, and there were always many who were inexplicably dragged into their conflicts and lost their lives. Meanwhile, the Empire's highest echelons of power, the Divine Council, were even more corrupt. They worshipped those deities, and to curry favor with the gods, they would resort to any means conceivable, even if it meant senselessly sacrificing living humans as proposed by some baffling ancient tome.

Xing Bugui had actually grown quite numb. He himself was an esper and represented his belonging to a certain deity. Yet, on the day he saw his own wife and child die tragically on the street, he still could not suppress the impulse in his heart.

They clearly could have protected the civilians during the battle, but they deliberately chose to strike at the heretics right on the main street.

On that day, Xing Bugui sneak-attacked the celebrating battalion commander and then fled the place in a panic. However, after committing such an act, he felt the esper abilities within his body gradually being drained away. He limped along until he collapsed on the ground. He knew that he had been abandoned by his god.

So what? He spat on those high and mighty entities!

But the news that followed reignited his life, which had been on the verge of extinguishing.

The battalion commander did not die; he had been saved.

Driven by his hatred, Xing Bugui walked all the way to this desolate land. In the unseen depths, he heard that voice full of temptation, that voice... asking him if he wanted power.

From that moment on, he became a believer of the Evil God. To him, any god was fine. As long as it allowed him to exact his revenge, it would be his god.

Finishing his prayers, Xing Bugui bowed his back and retreated. He had heard that the subordinates sent on the recent mission had been completely wiped out, which left him somewhat puzzled. Were the Empire's espers already this strong? He distinctly remembered that among the subordinates he sent out, there was even a guy who had reached Level Two. Even when facing an encirclement by an entire battalion, he should have been able to escape.