Pain Immunity: Worried the Villains Aren’t Twisted Enough

Chapter 878: World-Class Civil Unrest, Divine Punishment Disbands!

As Xie Antong spoke, a distant, unfocused look began creeping into her eyes, as if she were sinking into some fantasy, her smile turning rather twisted.

Lu Ce couldn't help but glance sideways at her. He had known all along that a restless seed had always lurked within Xie Antong's heart, and now, under the influence of the power she'd absorbed, that aspect was swelling.

Could she... end up developing into someone like the Sun one day?

Just thinking about it sent a chill running down Lu Ce's spine.

"What did you just say?!"

The Dragon Group members felt a deep cold settle in their hearts at her words. The Blank they remembered wasn't someone with such a cruel disposition.

The end of the world was staring them right in the face, and she was talking about a "carnival?"

Xie Antong looked around at the crowd and immediately realized they must have misunderstood her. She waved a hand to clarify:

"No... what I meant is, from the perspective of the gods, the carnival is about to begin."

"It's not that I'm happy to see the apocalypse coming. Of course... what's about to happen next might actually benefit my abilities."As she spoke, she pulled up her game interface and looked at the section marked "Faction Leader."

The number of members in Divine Punishment had swelled to an abnormal degree. Even at this very moment, people were constantly applying to join.

A faint smile curved Xie Antong's lips. Using her authority as the leader, she directly approved all the pending applications that had piled up!

To the public, aside from a few who knew the truth, like the Dragon Group, Divine Punishment was seen as an organization leaning toward the gods!

After all, even its name had originally been meant to signify "punishing on behalf of the gods."

At a time like this, the ones being absorbed were practically the most vile scum of the earth.

...

"You mentioned what's about to happen next... What do you think will happen?" Long Jiu asked. His mind had no room for anything else; the urgent matter came first.

"Well, first off, after those bastards descend, they probably won't just indiscriminately slaughter everyone. After all, the people here are their nutrients."

"It's just like how Despair needs to draw despair from his victims, and Pleasure needs to find entertainment. If everyone died, it would all be a setup for Death."

"So they probably want to reshape Blue Star into a game world where they can do whatever they please. Roughly, anyway."

"In the process, following their usual habits, they'll probably announce their arrival and try to seduce humanity. There's going to be no shortage of people willing to surrender back then, you know."

Hearing Xie Antong's words, the Dragon Group members all felt a sense of dread. A large-scale civil uprising was the biggest headache. In the past, they had often kept things from the public precisely because they worried about this.

Xu Long's face darkened as he considered this. "It can't be that bad, can it? Ever since the god-player wager started, no matter how sweetly they talked, their actions have stopped pretending."

"After those brutal game methods, don't people still see their true faces by now?"

Xie Antong spread her hands, offering no opinion on the matter.

Beside her, Lu Ce finally spoke up, looking at Xu Long. "Your optimism sometimes truly baffles me."

"No matter how cruel reality gets, there will always be people who dream that kowtowing will let them scrape by. Their spines are incredibly soft."

As he spoke, the color of his mask shifted slightly, settling into the pale pink shade of Jealousy.

"In truth, the apocalypse doesn't even need external forces. A single world-class civil unrest is enough."

"Eighty billion people tearing each other's heads off all over the world would basically do the job without the gods having to lift a finger. The world would be finished either way."

With a somewhat caustic tone, he said to the Dragon Group members, "Protection is sometimes the same as the deprivation of power. If this world-class civil unrest had started sooner, things might even be better now."

The Grand Elder coughed a few times and fell silent. Had the Dragon Group's decades of effort somehow backfired?

"I've said too much. Did you call me here for something else? I might need to go."

"I can't control how the masses think, nor is it my job. Right now, I need to start preparing for the final battle against the gods."

As he finished, even Lu Ce felt a pang of melancholy. Having witnessed the power of the gods, he knew how absurdly difficult this would be.

The only trump cards he could still somewhat rely on were the Arbitrator and Agony. But he couldn't fully control one, and the other he couldn't control at all!

First, he needed to absorb the divine power of Agony within his body...

"Oh, right, if you really had to pick one god for a one-on-one fight, who would you choose?" Xie Antong suddenly asked.

"No idea. I'm sure plenty of gods are looking for me. If worse comes to worst, I'll just take on multiple at once." Lu Ce crossed his arms and said flatly.

What could he do? He was exceptionally popular among the gods.

The Dragon Group members' mouths twitched. Just Xie Antong's "who would you choose" was already arrogant enough. The other party was a god, and she was acting like she could pick and choose!

And now, he was talking about taking on multiple?

...

Suddenly, Xie Antong paused mid-sentence and opened her game page.

Chiyo Eine, who hadn't contacted her in a long time, had just sent her a message.

"I just noticed, you approved a bunch of membership applications all at once?"

"I used to handle recruitment matters. I thought I should mention this to you."

"A lot of those people were ones I had screened out because I thought they weren't suitable."

"They're people who, for reasons I don't understand, are insanely eager to betray humanity and throw themselves at the Game and the gods."

"Even though Divine Punishment was originally positioned to deal with sin and leaned toward the gods, now... it's basically been confirmed that the gods mean no good."

"Right now, a lot of people seem to claim they've been called by the gods. What do you think about these people...?"

Xie Antong's lips curled into a slight smile as she replied:

"What do you think? Do you have any objections?"

In Tokyo, Chiyo Eine, standing by the window, stared at the instant reply, stunned.

She hadn't had proper contact with Xie Antong in a long time. After realizing that she and Sin had rekindled their relationship, she hadn't known how to position herself.

But just now, she felt it was necessary to warn her, worried that Xie Antong had made a mistake.

After a moment's thought, she quickly replied:

"You're the leader. I'll follow your lead."

"Good!" Xie Antong replied from the other side. "My opinion is to disband Divine Punishment!"