Chapter 321 (1): All Life Originates from the Void

“What does She want?”

Wayne drove away from the castle, heading straight for his residence while pondering his conversation with the Goddess of Darkness. He analyzed it word by word, trying to decipher her true intentions.

The Goddess of Darkness hadn’t provided much information. To summarize, the other goddesses were dangerous, but She was different—She cared about him.

Wayne didn’t believe a word of the nonsense. Whether She threatened him or tempted him, he had never trusted the Goddess of Darkness, and he trusted Her even less now.

But She was right about one thing: the other goddesses were dangerous, especially the Goddess of Nature. The path of being chosen by all five goddesses led to life, aligning with the Goddess of Nature’s grand plan perfectly. On this evolution path, he would be in the same business as the Goddess of Nature.

Competitors in the same business were essentially enemies. In a ruthless business war, he would certainly face advanced cyberattacks, such as unplugging his network cable. Wayne believed that the Goddess of Darkness hadn’t told Her fake friends the secret of Wayne being five chosen knights in one. Only by monopolizing the dining table could She eat her fill. Otherwise, with too many diners at the table vying for the porridge, the Goddess of Darkness would be left with nothing but thin stock.

The same question remained: what was the porridge?

Wayne looked into himself. The path of being chosen by all five goddesses pointed to life, to the all-encompassing universe that was the lifelong pursuit of mages.

However, that wasn’t enough to make the Goddess of Darkness descend in person, even erasing Anastasia’s memories for fear of exposing her true goal.

He pressed a hand to his chest and felt his pounding heart. His greatest treasure was the

Book of Greed

, which the Goddess of Darkness couldn’t possibly know about. Next was the evolution path that mimicked an ancient god, made possible by his ‘original bloodline’.

It was all a misunderstanding. While ordinary mages couldn’t see the truth, the Goddess of Darkness certainly could.

Wayne had indeed mimicked an ancient god, but he didn’t have the original bloodline—there was no blood relation between him and them whatsoever. Strictly speaking, it was the

Book of Greed

plundering knowledge from the Void that allowed him to see the essence of life from the beginning of his pursuit of magic.

All life originated from the Void!

Since ancient gods were the most powerful life forms in the Void, namely the Astral Plane, he increasingly resembled them, and because of his cheat, the

Book of Greed

, he was able to closely imitate the ancient gods.

“No, that’s just my belief. I only think this way because my perspective limits me,” Wayne muttered to himself. The Goddess of Darkness was undoubtedly seeing more than he was from her vantage point. She could see blind spots that were invisible to him. Perhaps his evolution was even more advanced, and due to his identical appearance to an ancient god, the goddess mistook him for one.

It was a coincidence!

Wayne thought about what the Goddess of Darkness had revealed. The Heavenly Father had progressed the furthest in evolution, surpassing the five goddesses, and the angels were molded like ancient gods’ vassals.

The Heavenly Father’s evolution path led toward an ancient god. Perhaps He had already succeeded, which spelled the complete failure of the Life Alliance’s evolution, leading to the alliance crumbling from within. The fake friends parted ways to each pursue their own path.

Now, the Goddess of Nature was taking the lead, putting tremendous pressure on the other four goddesses. In this case, a weak ‘ancient god’ like Wayne attracted the Goddess of Darkness’s intense attention...

“That can’t be right either. Even though the Life Alliance has fallen apart, the overall framework isn’t wrong, and neither is the alliance’s goal. Life should be like this. The universe should encompass everything...”

“Did the Goddess of Darkness take an alternative route because the Goddess of Nature was in the way, choosing the path the Heavenly Father had gone down?”

“But then the Heavenly Father is blocking this path...”

“Oh, there’s more than one ancient god. Even though the Heavenly Father has cut off one path, there are more to choose from.”

Wayne muttered as he analyzed the situation. He had more or less confirmed that the Goddess of Darkness did covet his body. The talk about him being five chosen ones in one was only lies meant to make him lower his guard.

Now, how would the Goddess of Darkness obtain his evolution? Would She take the risk and let him corrupt her?

“That’s not quite right. She is a goddess who has held a supreme position for years, with unfathomable power. She must have ways to maintain her autonomy...”

“So when is She descending?”

Wayne couldn’t help but wonder what the goddess would become if his flesh and blood defiled Her thoughts and body. Would She be unable to stop herself, like Senna and Anastasia?

The topic was so blasphemous and disrespectful that Wayne felt increasingly excited and eager the more he thought about it. He wished he could chat with the Goddess of Darkness face-to-face right now.

He was a rebel in the mortal realm and a blasphemer in the Divine Realms. Auston was being completely objective, fair, and insightful when he said Wayne was all treacherous bones.

“No, I’m wrong again. The goddess has such a great perspective that She wouldn’t be interested in a body corrupted by me. She only wants the actual evolution at its source...”

“Which is me.”

“She wants to take over my body?!”

“Still wrong. If She wanted that, she would do it now. There’s no need to give me time to get stronger. She’s a goddess, not a demon lord. She wouldn’t be arrogant enough to make things harder for Herself.”

His analysis led him nowhere and left his thoughts a tangled mess. The only thing he was certain about was that he didn’t have much time to grow. He had to become powerful quickly.

He pulled over at his residence. It was already past midnight, but Veryl hadn’t rested yet. As soon as he saw Wayne, he brought the late-night snack he had prepared to the table.

“Veryl, you don’t have to wait up. Rest well. Your health is more important than anything.” Wayne then added, “You may not believe it, but the Lando family has recently rebelled and seen some success. Auston can freely enter and exit the Queen’s bedchamber.”

Veryl smiled slightly. He believed the first part about the Lando family rebelling successfully and replacing the Windsor family as the nation’s new masters, but the second part was too absurd; his master was clearly talking nonsense.

It was the usual smear campaign against Auston.

“So your health is more important than anything. I’ll need you to manage an even larger estate in the future.”

Wayne finished the food and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Tomorrow, contact Megan and ask her to select a manor from the properties of the previous royal family, preferably in the Western District. Transfer it to me. I’m lending it to a friend.”

Another lady joining the house?

Veryl looked at Wayne with concern. After some hesitation, he suggested, “Master, you should take care of your health, too.”

“Um, you’re definitely misunderstanding something.”

“Master, is your friend female?”

“She is, but we don’t have that kind of relationship. Veryl, you have to believe me.”

“I understand, Master.”

You’d better understand.

Wayne grumbled to himself, feeling wronged that he was once again misunderstood as a bastard with a messy private life. He got up and went upstairs. Passing Vera’s room, he opened the door but didn’t see a potential crime scene. When he was wondering where she had gone, the door to the master bedroom opened, and a hand reached out, beckoning to him.

How outrageous! The master bedroom is Kristen’s room. And you call yourself her friend?

Wayne stormed into the master bedroom and punished Vera for an hour. Once she was a dead fish on the bed, he calmed down and started training.

***

October 5th: morning date with Vera, afternoon disciplinary session with Veronica.

October 6th: morning date with Veronica, afternoon disciplinary session with Mona.

October 7th: morning date with Mona, afternoon disciplinary session with Vera.

October 8th: Wayne, oh Wayne, how can you keep indulging in women’s embrace? Do you remember that you’re being targeted by a goddess? Do you remember your determination to train diligently? If you don’t sweat today, you’ll bleed tomorrow. This can’t continue. Pull yourself together, or you’re going to end up locked up in the goddess’s basement!

October 9th: morning date with Ottilia, another afternoon disciplinary session with Vera.

Vera stayed in Wayne’s residence and enjoyed the happiness that had belonged to Kristen. She won big time.

As the saying goes: the barren ground becomes more infertile, and the infertile ground is further fertilized[1].

Resources were limited. When some were fed well, others would starve. Kristen and Filomina belonged to the latter camp. They hadn’t even had a sip of the porridge the past few days, so they grew increasingly dissatisfied with Darienne and her obsession with card games.

They both knew that when they weren’t getting their porridge, the portions were going to someone else. However, Darienne refused to let them leave, stubbornly waiting for Wayne to visit first in another gamble.

Stop gambling. Give up! You’ve never won a game against him!

Wayne had been missing for the past few days. Who knew if he had gotten another girlfriend? Worst-case scenario, perhaps Anastasia was already fed up and was drafting her resignation letter, preparing to step down from her position as the Church of Darkness’s Holy Maiden.

Since Darienne came to Londan, the Church of Moonlight had been quiet. That made Kristen and Filomina suspicious, wondering if the Moonlight Knight was actually an undercover agent sent by a rival church, using the excuse of sulking to drive the knight successor to other churches.

Darienne came to the realization, too. The boy was definitely busy with his other girlfriends in his absence. But wouldn’t it be embarrassing for her to seek him out now?

No way. Even if she was being stubborn, she had to win once!

***

Wayne’s Detective Agency, Commercial Street.

Mona walked Solar, a senior spy from Franc’s intelligence agency, out. Then she called the mustached man to pick up his assignment.

Windsor’s MI6 was now in direct contact with Franc’s intelligence agency, eliminating the possibility of a middleman exploiting both and saving the agency’s boss time. The time saved could be used to keep his secretary company.

Mona opened the door with a smothered smile, closing the door behind her and creating a soundproofing barrier.

“Don’t, Mona. You’re a pure clergywoman, so you shouldn’t... Oh, you’re not crawling under the desk today.” Wayne looked at his secretary in confusion. Why wasn’t she crawling under the desk in broad daylight? Why wasn’t she getting close to his third leg? Did she still want to advance her career?

Mona adjusted her glasses, looking at Wayne with ‘disdain’ before ‘reluctantly’ sitting on his lap. “Boss, there’s word from Saint Paul’s Cathedral. A delegation from the Papal State will be arriving in Londan soon.”

The rising friction between them didn’t stop them from talking about work.

“A delegation from the Papal State...” Wayne wondered aloud. “What for? Who are they looking for? The Queen or the Lando family, now in charge of Windsor? Did the news spread that fast?”

News of the Lando family’s righteous reorganization had already spread, but was currently circulating among the upper echelons of Londan. Only after Auston took over Queen Sophelia’s authority would the news be allowed to spread completely.

Of course, to the ignorant lower classes, the Queen would still be the Queen, only there would be a Prince Consort whose identity itself was scandalous by the Queen’s side.

“Unclear. Given the Papal State’s intelligence capabilities, they should be aware of Windsor’s changes,” Mona said. “You’re a reincarnated angel. The Papal State’s envoys are certainly going to discuss the matters of faith with you once they arrive. Have you decided what to do, Boss?”

Was he going to let the Church of Heavenly Father expand and reclaim its former dominance in Windsor, or was he going to continue the Queen’s strategy, suppressing the Church of Heavenly Father and preventing its expansion?

Wayne felt a headache brewing. It had been thrilling to rebel, but more and more problems followed. To make things worse, this particular problem couldn’t be solved by Auston. He had to handle it personally.

1. The raw is “hand hands loud louds”, which is a humorous meme transliteration of the expression 旱的旱死涝的涝死 (han-de-hand-si, lao-de-lao-si). It literally means “dying of thirst in droughts and drowning in floods” and is often used to refer to the unfair situation of the rich becoming richer, or just any situation when there’s a great gap between the haves and have-nots. In this situation, it’s naturally referring to sex, and the droughts and floods work as a double entendre. The meme has a complicated linguistic progression and can’t be rendered easily, so I opted to preserve the meaning and innuendo. ☜