166: Chapter 166 The Victim Is Still Alive

"Sigh."

"Leave the things and go back."

Looking at the middle-aged woman's terrified expression, Lin Sheng shook his head helplessly.

He had actually overlooked the characteristics of the skull.

Although high-level Transcendents and above would subconsciously ignore this skull, low-level Transcendents and ordinary people certainly wouldn't.

"Oh, okay."

At Lin Sheng's command, Rona stepped forward and took the piece of unknown beast meat the woman was carrying.

After Lin Sheng accepted the "protection fee," even though it was now daylight, the woman didn't dare to linger there for long.

After stammering a few words to Rona, she returned to her shop with trembling steps.

"Boss, here you go."

Rona handed the unknown beast meat to Lin Sheng. Seeing the faint traces of blood remaining on the meat, Lin Sheng felt a slight surge in appetite.

He handed the skull in his hand to Rona, gesturing for him to hold it.

Only then did Rona notice the skull in Lin Sheng's hand.

In that instant, Rona also realized the problem with this skull.

But he didn't ask; if Lin Sheng wanted to tell him, he would naturally find out.

Although the previous owner of this house was only a low-level Transcendent, they already possessed the ability of "Bigu."

Therefore, although there was a kitchen in this house, there were no cooking utensils.

However, Lin Sheng hadn't planned on cooking anyway.

He was a monster, after all; what monster would cook meat before eating it?

Lin Sheng placed the meat level with his abdomen. Then, a vertical slit opened in his stomach, and countless tiny Tentacles emerged from it.

These Tentacles wrapped around the beast meat and forcibly dragged it into Lin Sheng's stomach.

"The texture is good."

Lin Sheng nodded with satisfaction.

As he turned his head, he met Rona's slightly fearful gaze.

"Don't be afraid, I won't eat you."

Seeing this, Lin Sheng's lips curled into a grin as he offered a word of comfort.

However, perhaps because he had just touched blood, or perhaps because this body was transformed from the black sun.

Just as Lin Sheng grinned, a few disobedient Tentacles peeked out from the corners of his mouth.

*Clang!*

"Ven... Venerable God, please don't eat me."

The skull slipped from Rona's hand, and Rona's heart shuddered violently along with the crisp sound of the skull hitting the ground.

He no longer cared about his image as a True God; in front of an existence that was "both a Main God and an Old One," what did a True God matter?

"Pick that thing up."

Lin Sheng spoke indifferently.

Hearing this, Rona hurriedly bent down to pick up the skull and cautiously presented it to Lin Sheng.

"Don't be afraid, I won't eat you."

Taking the skull from Rona, Lin Sheng emphasized his point once more.

But even though Lin Sheng spoke seriously, Rona only nodded mechanically, not daring to believe it.

Seeing this, Lin Sheng shook his head and changed the subject:

"How much do you know about Main Gods and Old Ones? Have you ever come into contact with existences of that level?"

Hearing this, Rona suppressed his fear of Lin Sheng. After thinking for a moment, he answered seriously:

"Boss, although I am a True God, I have rarely come into contact with existences on the level of a Main God."

"The gap between a Main God and a True God is immense, to an unimaginable degree. I can hardly reach existences of that level, let alone speculate about them at will."

Rona paused, pondered for a moment, and then continued:

"However, Boss, speaking of Main Gods, I really have had contact with one before, and it was a close-range encounter."

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Learning that Rona had encountered another Main God, Lin Sheng immediately became interested.

He reclined on the lounge chair behind the counter, while Rona stood beside him and began to recount matters related to the Main God he mentioned.

"That Main God is currently the strongest member of my Dragon Race."

"Speaking of which, that existence seemed to appear out of nowhere."

"As soon as He appeared, with the power of a Main God, He forcibly killed the original Main God of my Dragon Race."

"Subsequently, that existence replaced the original Main God's position in my Dragon Race, becoming our new leader."

"However, rather than the title of leader, the people of the Dragon Race prefer to call Him..."

"Dictator."

Saying this, Rona took a deep breath.

He quietly looked up at the Sky, and after finding no unusual divine fluctuations nearby, he spoke again:

"The Dictator is very strong. When He descended, He defeated the former leader of the Dragon Race in just a few moves."

"Furthermore, after defeating the leader, the Dictator killed the former leader without the slightest hesitation."

"Even the former leader's divinity was completely absorbed by the Dictator; He left no room for the other party to recover."

"II thought the dragon race would become extinct.，However，Dictators did not kill us."

"After dealing with the former leader, He began the work of reorganizing the Dragon Race."

"Facing a Main God, and such a powerful one at that—who was also a member of the Dragon Race—almost all dragons surrendered to the Dictator's command, except for the former leader's loyalists."

"The Dictator did not force the remaining dragons to stay by His side, but if they left Him, they would lose His protection."

"Therefore, almost none of the dragons left the Dictator, including myself."

Hearing this, Lin Sheng had a question in his mind.

Aside from killing the former leader and his loyalists, this Dictator didn't seem to have done anything bad?

So why did the Dragon Race call Him the Dictator?

Thinking of this, Lin Sheng guessed that a turning point might be coming next.

Sure enough, Rona's tone suddenly shifted.

But he didn't seem to have much anger; his face showed more of a kind of "grief and indignation."

"The Dictator never treated us as His kin!"

"He has always treated us merely as tools to be summoned and dismissed at will. He only issues orders to us emotionlessly, never considering our feelings!"

"Only after realizing this did we understand that the Dictator is just a Dictator; He is not the leader of our Dragon Race."

"Because of this, after I became a True God, I left the Dictator and have since wandered the Deep Realm alone."

Looking at the grief-stricken Rona, Lin Sheng suddenly realized a problem.

"You said you left the tribe after becoming a god; did that Dictator not stop you?"

Hearing Lin Sheng's sudden question, Rona answered without much thought:

"No, the Dictator wouldn't care about such things."

Lin Sheng nodded and then asked:

"What kind of existence do you think the Dictator is to the Dragon Race?"

Hearing this, Rona was suddenly stunned.

What kind of existence was the Dictator?

He had never really thought about it.

But thinking carefully, the Dictator didn't seem as bad as he had thought.

Although the Dictator killed the former leader, He also provided protection for the Dragon Race.

Even if this protection was based on the premise that "the Dragon Race is His property," it was still a fact that the Dictator provided protection.

Furthermore, the Dictator did not restrict the coming and going of the dragons under Him; once a dragon no longer accepted His protection, they could leave Him directly.

Looking at it this way, for the Dragon Race, the Dictator seemed...

Not so bad after all?

Seeing Rona remain silent for a long time, Lin Sheng could roughly guess what he was thinking.

He didn't speak to interrupt.

After a while, feeling that Rona had finished his thoughts, he spoke again, asking the question he truly wanted to ask this time:

"You said the Dictator is a Main God, and you've had close contact with Him."

"Do you think He has the ability to create this thing?"

Hearing Lin Sheng's question, Rona's thoughts were instantly pulled back to reality.

His gaze focused on the skull in Lin Sheng's hand. After frowning in thought for a moment, he spoke uncertainly:

"Boss, I dare not speculate about things at the level of a Main God, but if you really want to hear it, I can venture a guess."

"Although this thing might be related to the Old Ones, I still feel it doesn't seem like something an Old One could create."

"As for whether a Main God could create this, my guess is yes."

At this point, Rona paused, glanced at Lin Sheng's calm face, and then continued:

"I can give an object the ability to evade Ishtaro's sight, so I believe a Main God could also make an object evade another Main God's sight."

"In other words, this thing is very likely a creation of a Main God?"

Lin Sheng's fingers rubbed the clay-like texture of the skull as he spoke slowly.

When touching the skull, Lin Sheng always felt as if the truth were within reach; if he wanted to, he could know the truth immediately.

However, this thing was the Ximi Starfield's trouble and had nothing to do with Lin Sheng.

The reason Lin Sheng wanted to understand this was mostly out of interest.

However, sometimes, if Lin Sheng was just a little careless and his consciousness relaxed for a moment, Omniscience would forcibly cram the information he wanted to know into his mind.

"Hmm?"

Lin Sheng suddenly pulled his fingers away from the skull. Looking at this skull that interested him, he felt somewhat amused.

Just now, he had learned a bit of the truth.

Although he instantly stopped Omniscience from continuing, just that bit of a clue had already pointed Lin Sheng in a direction.

"The outer shell is a disguise, a pollution, and even more so, a curse."

"The victim is still alive."

These two short sentences gave Lin Sheng a direction for researching the skull.

He channeled the divine power within him and began trying to clear the layer of filth on the skull's shell.

However, in Lin Sheng's current state, divine power had no effect on the surface filth.

Immediately after, Lin Sheng switched to using the power of the golden immortal dao fruit to try.

This time, the effect was slightly better than before, but the filth on the surface of the skull did not recede significantly.

After all, Lin Sheng was still only a half-step Golden Immortal, just one step away from merging with the golden immortal dao fruit.

While using the power of the golden immortal dao fruit to deal with the filth, Lin Sheng had an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

It was exactly the same feeling he had when he previously used the golden immortal dao fruit to fight the Old Ones.

Even though he had the ability to contend with it, he was powerless against it.