10: Chapter 10 Sadako the Four Stars

Su Bai opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping across this gray world.

Ghost Bride was running around out of boredom.

Slit-Mouthed Woman stood silently in the distance, holding her scissors like a guardian deity.

A hundred Yin Soldiers stood in neat formation, awaiting orders.

Enough.

Su Bai raised his hand, his consciousness sinking into the world core once again.

288 points of Power Of Faith.

He intended to use it all to create a new hero unit, and use the remainder to create Yin Soldiers.

Now that Su Bai's world had upgraded to a Rank 2 world, it meant he could go and attack other Rank 2 worlds.

Creatures in Rank 2 worlds were more powerful, and the environments within were more diverse.

What Su Bai wanted most right now was to be able to devour the creatures of those worlds and place them in his Netherworld, where they could survive on their own.

Even if their rank was a bit lower, as long as they had growth potential and could adapt to the Yin Qi World, they could slowly evolve and eventually become a part of the Netherworld.

These creatures that could adapt to Yin Qi were the existences that could provide Su Bai with Power Of Faith!

When that time came, Su Bai would be able to produce Power Of Faith on his own.

Although Su Bai could continuously devour other worlds, if his own world could never evolve a civilization and generate Power Of Faith, it would truly be a fatal flaw!

Su Bai closed his eyes and began to recall the horror legends he had seen in his past life.

Sadako.

A woman in white climbing out of a well, long hair covering her face, able to use her will to imprint memories into a target's mind, able to traverse through images, and able to kill with curses.

A classic existence in urban legends.

Eerie, lethal, and impossible to fathom with common logic.

Different from Ghost Bride's incarnation of resentment, and different from Slit-Mouthed Woman's mental shock.

The terror of Sadako lay in her omnipresence.

She could appear through any visual medium, carve an indelible mark in a target's memory, and drag the target into eternal fear in the slowest and most desperate way.

Su Bai opened his eyes, his finger sketching in the void.

[Power Of Faith consumed: 200 points]

[Created species: Sadako]

[Species type: Hero Unit]

[Initial level: Rank 1]

[Potential limit: Four-star]

The Yin Qi surged.

It surged even more violently than when creating Slit-Mouthed Woman.

Those gray mists gathered frantically in front of Su Bai, swirling and compressing, as if the entire world was trembling.

Ghost Bride stared wide-eyed at the surging mist: "Wow, this is quite a commotion!"

Slit-Mouthed Woman remained silent, but her hand holding the scissors tightened slightly.

The gray mist grew thicker and denser, finally condensing into a blurry human silhouette.

The silhouette gradually became clear.

Long black hair, wet and clinging to her face, covering most of it.

A long white dress, also wet, clung to her body, outlining a slender figure.

Bare feet.

Pale, mud-stained bare feet hung an inch above the ground, not touching it.

She looked up and reached out to brush the long hair away from her face.

Revealing a pale face.

Delicate, quiet, even arguably gentle.

But those eyes...

In those eyes, there was nothing.

No joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness; no love, hate, or resentment; not a single trace of emotional fluctuation. Only eternal calm and an indescribable sense of eeriness.

She looked at Su Bai and approached step by step.

With every step, the surrounding air distorted slightly, as if something invisible was being altered.

She stopped in front of Su Bai and lowered her head, her long hair falling again to cover her face.

"Master."

Her voice was calm, gentle, even carrying a hint of polite detachment.

Not coquettish and clingy like Ghost Bride, nor silent and eerie like Slit-Mouthed Woman.

Just like a quiet, introverted, ordinary girl who wasn't very good at communicating with others.

Su Bai looked at her, and information about her surfaced in his consciousness.

[Sadako (Hero Unit)]

[Rank: Rank 1]

[Quality: Four-star]

[Skills: Curse Brand (Active), Image Shuttle (Active), Memory Recall (Active), Resentment Perception (Passive), Undead Regeneration (Passive)]

[Description: An eerie existence condensed from pure Yin Qi and resentment, possessing extremely high growth potential. Can continuously evolve by cursing targets and absorbing fear and resentment.]

Four-star.

Five skills.

Su Bai nodded in satisfaction.

200 faith points, well spent.

"Wow!!!"

Ghost Bride floated over, circled Sadako three times, her eyes shining like two small lanterns.

"What's your name? Why is your hair so long? Did you crawl out of the water? Where did the water on you come from? You can float too! Can you speak? You..."

"Sadako."

A gentle voice came from behind the long hair, interrupting Ghost Bride's barrage of questions.

Sadako looked up at Ghost Bride, a faint ripple finally appearing in those hollow eyes.

"My name is Sadako."

Ghost Bride was stunned for a second, then smiled even more brightly: "Sadako! That's a nice name! I'm Ghost Bride! Master gave it to me! Were you also created by Master? How old are you? What skills do you have? Shall we play together?"

Sadako looked at her, silent for two seconds, then nodded gently.

"Okay."

Ghost Bride happily gave her a hug, completely unbothered by the wet stains on her.

The moment Sadako was hugged, her body stiffened slightly, but she didn't push her away, just stood there quietly, letting Ghost Bride hug her.

Slit-Mouthed Woman remained silent, her gaze lingering on Sadako for a few seconds before returning to her scissors.

Su Bai watched this scene, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

Three hero units.

He withdrew his gaze, his consciousness sinking into the world core again.

88 points of Power Of Faith left.

Create all as Yin Soldiers.

The gray Yin Qi continuously condensed, and one after another, Yin Soldiers stepped out of the mist. They wore tattered armor and held rusty spears, their faces so blurry that their features were indistinguishable, standing in a neat row.

Eighty-eight Yin Soldiers.

Adding the previous hundred, exactly one hundred and eighty-eight.

[Unit Count: 191]

[Hero Units: Ghost Bride (Rank 2, Three-star), Slit-Mouthed Woman (Rank 1, Three-star), Sadako (Rank 1, Four-star)]

[Normal Units: Yin Soldier × 188]

Su Bai stood before these one hundred and ninety-one units, feeling the information transmitted from the world.

Ghost Bride floated beside him, one hand hugging his arm and the other pulling at Sadako's sleeve.

Slit-Mouthed Woman stood not far away, silently holding her scissors.

Sadako stood quietly, hair covering her face, occasionally looking up at her surroundings before lowering her head again.

One hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers stood in neat formation, awaiting orders.

Su Bai took a deep breath and looked up at this gray world.

Thirty-nine kilometers in diameter.

Three hero units.

One hundred and eighty-eight Yin Soldiers.

Still not enough.

Far from enough.

He needed more species that could adapt to the Yin Qi World, more units that could reproduce on their own, and a true civilization cycle.

Only when the creatures in the Netherworld were no longer pure tools, but existences capable of independent thought, growth, and reproduction, would the Netherworld truly have a civilization.

At that time, Power Of Faith would be produced incessantly, and Black and White Impermanence, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Meng Po, Judges, the Ten Kings of Hell... would all step out of the Yin Qi.

Only then would the Netherworld truly be the Netherworld.