Welcome to Nightmare Game III

The promenade is full of paintings, Qi Le people walk all the way, they will inevitably be attracted by some works.

The suspicious devil is like a conscientious narrator, who knows the origin of each painting.He is quite a knowledgeable demon, and the Qi Le people heard a series of content about art, architecture, science and even religion from him, which surprised him.

"In fact, I have collected several versions of "The Holy Scripture". It has been quite popular in the devil world in recent years." The suspicious devil said.

After all, the Destroyer Demon King brought the goods himself, and the high-ranking demons each had a copy, and the only textbook designated by the council, if you fail the exam, you will lose your head.

It can be seen that the exams in the demon world are far more cruel than those in the human world. If you fail the exams in the human world, you will lose points, but you will lose your life if you fail the exams in the demon world.

The Suspicious Demon deeply regrets this.It's not that he sympathizes with these unlucky demons, but regrets that the Demon King of Destruction doesn't know the art of killing, and such a simple and rude act of beheading is no fun.

At least the demons who have not passed the exam should be hung on the cross outside the exam room, so that the group of "top students" who have passed the exam can happily decide how to die - I believe they will give full play to the creativity of the devil, and let every The corpses of colleagues are all strange.

Rabbit dead and fox sad?Demons are not such empathetic creatures, they just drool greedily over the death of a rabbit.

"What's your level of the Teaching Code?" Qi Leren asked.

"I think it should be at a level where I can keep my head from my neck." The suspicious demon replied humorously.

"..." A backbone of the deceitful demon king's camp, what scriptures do you study?The way Qi Leren looked at him gradually became strange.

"Studying the scriptures is just my personal interest. If you live in the devil world for a long time, you will understand how boring creatures are the high demons. Survival is easy for us, the material is abundant enough, and reproduction is not a problem-if necessary, I probably have tens of thousands of blood heirs now, and I’m afraid I don’t have enough paternal love to give them.” The suspicious demon shrugged, “We have a lot of boring time, and we can have some fun. For example, I I am very interested in the technology of your Twilight Land."

Qi Leren: "Oh? Which aspect?"

"In the field of research. I have sponsored a lot in my territory... Well, alchemists, scientists, magicians? You can call them what you want, anyway, they do the same thing. In short, I will sponsor them to do experimental research, Sometimes good results are obtained, such as stable electricity. Before, we had to rely on catching lightning or running magic circles to generate electricity, which was time-consuming, laborious and expensive, but now it is much cheaper.”

So this is still a Demon Realm version of an angel investor?Qi Leren was a little surprised: "So you are powered on now?"

He wanted to get an electrical order from the Devil Realm for Twilight Town, but the suspicious devil's answer was beyond his expectation.

"Oh, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you. We mainly use electricity for execution. Have you heard of the electric chair? It's a bestseller in the Demon Realm now, and the electric chair factory I invested in is making a lot of money every day."

"..."

It is indeed a demon world with simple folk customs.

If it weren't for the ability of demons to reproduce far beyond human beings, they would have died out in cannibalism long ago.Perhaps, though, the demons' habit of competing among themselves is precisely to balance out their horrific birth rates.

Think about the hive of flesh and blood. The first time people in Qile heard about the existence of this kind of BUG demon arsenal, they understood why humans had no way to deal with demons in the two world wars—there were too many low-level demons, and they grew too long. So fast, it's almost endless.

The carnivorous plants hidden in caves and underground crevices, after capturing enough low-level female demons, use their wombs to produce offspring, and they can breed tens of thousands of demon soldiers who obey orders within a year.These soldiers look strange, but they obey the mother's instructions uniformly, like worker bees serving the queen bee, they continue to prey, multiply, and migrate like locusts...

The Demon Realm is thus rich and barren.

The abundance lies in the food source "sky jellyfish" that can be found all over the territory.They are mobile farms floating in the sky. These photosynthetic jellyfish chase light and water vapor, drift around along the wind direction, and feed countless animals and demons that feed on them.

But it doesn't taste good. Qi Le people occasionally see Ning Zhou eating when drinking white coffee. If he eats food made of sky jellyfish, his expression will be very solemn.

"By the way, I also have a few very special works in my collection. If you are interested, I can introduce them to you." Suspicious Demon said graciously.

"Need not……"

As soon as Qi Leren refused, he saw the suspicious demon standing in front of several charcoal sketches and asked with a smile: "There is no need to rush to refuse, you can take a look and make a decision."

Qi Le people stared at the charcoal sketches in front of them, the cathedral standing in the ice field, the light and shadow cast from the stained glass dome of the church, the icons and murals in the church... Qi Le people have no appreciation for paintings , but he suddenly felt a strong sense of loneliness lingering in his heart, which was the emotion silently conveyed to him by the painter with his brushstrokes.

Finally he stopped in front of the only sketch without religious elements, a fluffy little penguin, wrapped in a thick scarf, poking out its cute little head.

Suddenly, the oppressive loneliness dissipated, leaving only the tenderness in his heart dedicated to the creatures in the painting.

If Qi Leren only had a vague premonition when looking at the first few paintings, but when he saw this painting, he was already sure: this is Ning Zhou's painting.

"Where did you get these paintings?" Qi Leren asked.

"The Destroyer Demon King once traveled in the northern continent of the human world, and many paintings were scattered around. For example, I bought these few paintings from a human businessman who often travels between the various dioceses of the Holy See. To buy some supplies, he bought these paintings from the Demon King of Destruction... Ah, I guess he was about fifteen or sixteen years old at that time." Said the suspicious demon.

Qi Leren: "How much did he spend?"

The suspicious devil smiled: "A bottle of wine. I think this should be a pretty good deal, considering that when I bought the painting from him, he charged the price in gold coins."

As he said that, the suspicious devil smiled even brighter: "At first, I accepted the price straightforwardly. But my attitude gave him the illusion that he could negotiate the price again. He said, this is a painting of a dead saint, and it has to be paid for." Add money - he probably mistook me for a human cultist as 'pious' as he was. So I just demonstrated the way we demons do business... Anyway, I 'bought' these paintings, even a bottle There was no payment for the wine."

Qi Leren: "..."

Ning Zhou didn't seem to be as well-behaved and obedient as he imagined when he was a child, he actually drank secretly!The Holy See certainly wouldn't allow it, so he traded paintings—it seems that his guardian, the Pope, didn't give him much pocket money—in exchange for wine from merchants... Should he praise him for his wit, or should he show his wit? "So you are such a bad boy" expression on his face.

But... this is too cute!

Qi Leren, whose filter was 800 meters thick, staggered because of his cuteness. Since entering the Land of Dawn, his honest tail suddenly refused to accept discipline, wishing he could twist it into a heart shape.

It turned out that Ning Zhou was not born calm, restrained, and following the rules. He would also be rebellious when he was adolescence. Maybe he hid a lot of empty wine bottles under his bed, and he would squat beside the bed, worrying about how to dispose of these bottles.

It was difficult for Qi Leren to maintain a decent expression in front of the suspicious demon just by imagining this scene, but he still used his excellent acting skills to control the curvature of the corners of his mouth and his tail by the way.

It would be great if I could meet Ning Zhou earlier, Qi Leren couldn't help thinking this way.

What kind of person was Ning Zhou when he was young?Qi Le people can only restore from these paintings: a teenager who drew a lot of sketches of the Holy See but exchanged them for wine-this does not sound very pious.

But is Ning Zhou born religious?As an unbeliever, Qile people think that people are not born with faith.

Ning Zhou grew up under Maria's knees. When she was 13 years old, Maria died and he was sent to the Holy See of Neverland.

At that time, the Vatican was no longer the glorious holy land of the past. The Vatican forces that were defeated after the first war between the two worlds retreated in the polar region, and there was a depressive solemnity and dignity everywhere.

In the strange land of ice and snow, the young Ning Zhou was unaccompanied.The Pope is his guardian, but as the Pope, it is destined that he cannot care for him like an ordinary elder.

People in Qi Le clearly remembered that Ning Zhou couldn't even learn a basic holy light healing technique when he was a child. Of course, Maria would not blame him. She would only tolerate him, care about him, and worry about him.

However, this love failed to accompany him to grow up.

When Ning Zhou arrives at the Holy See, what will the people around him think of him?

As the only heir of a holy nun, everyone will only have strict expectations of him.

But for a child who is destined to awaken to the source of destruction, this kind of expectation is too cruel.He is struggling on a path that goes against his origin, sailing against the current, and getting twice the result with half the effort.

"When your mother was your age..."

"Work hard, focus, be pious, boy, you should be able to do better, don't let the Pope down."

"I thought how amazing the son of the holy nun is. What's the use of learning swordsmanship well? His grades in divine arts are not as good as ours. I saw him painting in the corner of the church yesterday. If I have this time, I might as well make up for divine arts lessons." , anyway, the teacher is always willing to make up lessons for him.”

Those skeptical eyes, regretful sighs, and whispered ridicules from peers are more piercing than the polar snow.

Did Ning Zhou question himself when he was young?Could it be that he was born without talent, that's why he couldn't learn magic arts well?Or, is this the god's punishment for his lack of piety?

In this sense of self-blame, guilt, and guilt that he has nowhere to confide in, he must have had a long and tangled mental journey: whether to admit that he can't do it, or to try his best to prove himself.

In the end, the lonely and depressed teenager pinned everything in his faith.

All trials are to purify the original sin of filth and impurities.

He must firmly believe that the temptations he encounters will not exceed what he can bear, and that God will help him overcome the temptations.

Then he will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Thus, those grievances and injustices, those guilt feelings of self-blame, and those depraved indulgences ceased.

His tormented mind found peace.

Year after year, the young Ning Zhou sang hymns with the children in the choir to welcome the first ray of sunshine after the long polar night.

This light has witnessed his growth every year.

His facial features faded from the softness of his youth, and his figure gradually became taller and tougher. There was no longer any confusion in his beautiful blue eyes.

He finally passed through the loneliness and pain of his youth, alone.

Until he shed the weakness and rebellion of his youth, until his heart was tough enough, until he earned his status and respect in the Holy See with far more efforts than ordinary people.

Only then did Qi Le meet him.

That year, Ning Zhou was 21 years old.

The author has something to say:

PS: The prototype of the sky jellyfish is a fantasy creature: Jupiter jellyfish.Some scientists hypothesize that if life exists on gaseous planets, they must not be able to take root on the surface like they are on the earth, so they can only choose a state of floating and swimming like marine organisms.

However, it is generally speculated that they cannot live by photosynthesis, but rely on lightning to generate organic matter.

PPS: Le Mei urgently took a tutorial on what kind of person Ning Zhou was in adolescence.No matter what kind of Ning Zhou was at that time, Le Mei would only call her cute, this is the filter.I also wrote a paragraph about Xiao Ningzhou raising penguins before, and everyone can move it here after seeing it.

After the end of this dungeon, there is a chapter about Ning Zhou's past, the 13-year-old Xiao Ning Zhou.