169: The True God of Huaiyuan Village

Jiang Fei pretended to be curious and asked the villagers, "Who is the True God?"

"He is not a person; he is a deity who bestowed upon us a pure land, allowing us to eat our fill and dress warmly."

"As long as you become a follower of the True God, you can live without worry in the apocalypse."

When the True God was mentioned, the villagers' faces all showed devout expressions.

At this moment, the village chief walked over, his smile amiable as he offered a temptation: "The Purification Ceremony is in three days. If you are willing to stay and join us, you will have the chance to become a Saint Son or Saintess and enjoy the best treatment."

"You'll have fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat with every meal, and you'll live in warm, comfortable houses with access to water and electricity."

"Even if you get sick, there's no need to worry; the True God will cure you for free."

The village chief looked at Jiang Fei: "One of my duties as village chief is to select candidates for the Saint Son and Saintess for the True God."

"Da Ni, you possess a unique temperament. If you don't mind, you can stay and be a candidate for Saintess."

"And you, Xiang Qian, you can be a candidate for Saint Son."

"Once the True God chooses you at the Purification Ceremony, you will have a life free from worries about food and clothing."

The other four people were older, and their appearance and temperament were not as good as Huang Da Ni and Niu Xiang Qian. The probability of them being chosen was too low, so it was not worth his special attention.

Jiang Fei feigned surprise: "Then, will I have endless meat to eat from now on?!"

"Of course," the village chief said symbolically.

"Your friends also have a chance to participate."

Xu Qianyao cooperated and said, "Since that's the case, why should we go to the Safety Shelter? The village is much better than there!"

Yin Jing: "I don't want to go hungry anymore. I want to stay in the village and be a Saintess!"

Huang Wenzhou and Cao Xingying looked longing, saying things like they hoped the True God would choose them.

The contempt in the village chief's eyes flashed and disappeared.

They believed him after just a few empty promises; refugees are always so easy to deceive.

A bunch of fools.

—

The welcome ceremony ended, and the villagers stayed to clear the dishes. Jiang Fei and the others walked towards the intersection, holding umbrellas.

When no one was around, Yin Jing disgustedly threw the piece of meat hidden in her pocket into the dirt and buried it.

"What pure land, what carefree life? This is clearly a deranged brainwashing organization!"

Xu Qianyao: "Everyone, hold on for a few more days. Once the mastermind appears, we'll get the evidence and be able to catch all these beasts in one go."

"Jiang Fei, Lu Yu, be careful recently. The village chief actively choosing you as candidates for Saint Son and Saintess definitely means he has ill intentions."

After giving his instructions, Xu Qianyao and the other three returned to the East of the village, while Jiang Fei and Lu Yu returned to the West of the village.

Jiang Fei was still thinking about what had just happened.

In her previous life, she didn't know about the Purification Ceremony and the True God, probably because of Jiang Zixuan.

Jiang Zixuan had actively exposed the existence of the Gold Swallowing Supermarket at that time, and her status was so high that the village chief almost worshipped her.

It was no exaggeration to say that if Jiang Zixuan told the village chief to eat shit, he would devour three large basins of it.

Jiang Zixuan wanted to imprison and torment her, so the village chief naturally couldn't hand her over to the so-called True God.

However, in this life, the village chief could only go to hell to see Jiang Zixuan.

As Jiang Fei thought, she walked into the small brick house.

Seeing Lu Yu take out a compressed biscuit to eat, Jiang Fei pretended to rummage through her backpack and took out 6 room-temperature plain steamed buns from the Supermarket warehouse.

During the extreme heat, she found the food in the Supermarket warehouse too hot and troublesome to cool down, so she had specifically set aside a batch of food to cool.

At room temperature, they could be eaten immediately without worrying about them being too cold and causing an upset stomach.

"I stole these last night; there's no meat inside."

"Thank you." Lu Yu took the steamed bun and took a bite.

The skin was thin, the filling generous, made of cabbage and egg, and the taste was fresh and savory.

At the dinner table just now, the only vegetable was sweet potato leaves, indicating a shortage of vegetables in the village.

Not to mention food like eggs.

Moreover, the taste of the steamed bun filling was very similar to her neighbor's cooking.

Doubt arose in Lu Yu's mind; he didn't think the plain steamed buns were food from the village.

But since Jiang Fei didn't explain, he didn't ask further, prying into her privacy.

Because of their status as candidate Saintess and Saint Son, Jiang Fei and Lu Yu were woken up by the villagers the next day.

Either they came to bring food, or they dragged them along to sing and dance.

As the villagers said, people living here didn't need to work at all; they just lived each day as happily as they could.

Jiang Fei and Lu Yu took the opportunity to glean information, secretly recording audio with the camera's video function.

Only then did they learn that the Purification Ceremony was held once a month.

There were very few Saint Sons, but many Saintesses.

Those chosen by the True God would leave the village to live in large houses and never return.

Regarding the True God's appearance, every villager who had seen him praised him wildly, calling him having a world-shattering appearance, and an unparalleled beauty.

Jiang Fei only listened for useful information.

A man, in his twenties.

Beyond that, there were no other important clues.

These villagers were quite tight-lipped.

Suppressing the urge to torture the villagers for information, Jiang Fei continued to fake a smile and chat with people.

Not just Jiang Fei, Lu Yu's face was also stiff from smiling.

The desire to kill reached its peak at this moment.

Finally, they endured until the Purification Ceremony.

That morning.

Aunt Hua knocked loudly on the door, waking up Jiang Fei and Lu Yu.

She was wearing a white robe that reached her ankles.

She was also holding two more in her arms.

"The white robe represents our purity and flawlessness."

"Put on your robes and come with me to the square to attend the Purification Ceremony."

Jiang Fei secretly checked the white robe, making sure it was fine before putting it on.

The white robe was made of waterproof fabric and had a hood, so it could serve as a raincoat.

The three of them headed to the village square.

All the villagers were wearing white robes and were not carrying umbrellas, only wearing their hoods as they stood around the rain shelter.

Under the rain shelter, more than twenty excited young men and women stood, these were the villagers participating in the Purification Ceremony.

On the high platform was a small generator connected to a microphone on a stand.

"Da Ni, Xiang Qian, you stand in the middle of the first row."

Aunt Hua instructed everyone to line up in 5 rows, with 6 people per row.

Jiang Fei secretly observed.

Xu Qianyao was not participating and stood among the crowd.

Yin Jing and Cao Xingying were in the third row, and Huang Wenzhou was in the fourth row.

Suddenly, a crackling sound of electricity rang out.

The village chief, also wearing a white robe, stood on the high platform and tapped the microphone.

Seeing everyone look over, the village chief gave a hypocritical smile and began his brainwashing rhetoric: "The reason we can stand here safe and sound today is not because of our own luck, having escaped the punishment sent down by heaven, but because of the True God's protection!"

"The True God would rather abandon his cultivation to descend and save us. Shouldn't we kneel and thank him for his divine grace?"

"Yes!" the villagers answered in unison, kneeling and kowtowing.

Jiang Fei and the others followed suit with the villagers.

When everyone stood up, the village chief raised his voice: "Now, let us respectfully welcome the True God's arrival!"

The villagers respectfully lowered their heads.

Jiang Fei looked up secretly.

Not far from the square was the village chief's house.

A man in a white robe, holding an umbrella, walked out from the back door.

As the person came closer, Jiang Fei's eyes trembled slightly.

Mr. Shang?

He is the True God?!

The sleeves of the white robe were wide, covering his hands. Jiang Fei quickly took out two 'Ugly Monster Talismans' from the Supermarket and secretly pasted them on herself and Lu Yu.

Almost the instant the talismans disappeared, Lu Yu's appearance changed.

Sparse eyebrows, mismatched eyes, sausage lips, and a face full of pockmarks.

Since her teammate was so ugly that he was unbearable to look at, then she wouldn't have any problems either.

Lu Yu, unaware that he had become ugly, was secretly looking at the approaching person.

It seemed... he had seen him somewhere before?

As for Yin Jing, Huang Wenzhou, and Cao Xingying, they had no prior interaction with Mr. Shang and didn't recognize him.

But Xu Qianyao had seen Mr. Shang at the Safety Shelter, so he immediately retreated behind the villagers and covered half his face with his hood.

Village Chief: "True God, please."

Mr. Shang took the microphone and deliberately lowered his voice, saying: "For the sake of descending to save the common people, I lost my divine power and divine body. I need a Saint Son and Saintess to cultivate with me to maintain the physical body I am currently using."

"And the Saint Son and Saintess will also benefit from the cultivation and will forever live a stable and happy life."

"Raise your heads and tell me, are you willing to cultivate with me?"

The young men and women under the rain shelter excitedly said "Willing," and Mr. Shang scanned the people below.

His eyes first fell on the middle of the front row, where a girl with slanted eyebrows, squinting eyes, a round face, buck teeth, and sausage lips stood.

Mr. Shang disgustedly shifted his gaze; the boy next to her was even uglier.

How could the village chief agree to such ugly monsters participating in the Purification Ceremony?

Was he that desperate????