purgatory artist

Chapter 560 The old man and the young man

Liu Ping raised the knife and fork, and he was silent for a while.

First of all.

I am currently protected from being hurt, killed, or eaten.

——Because tomorrow I will "manifest".

This seems to be a very important thing, even for monsters.

Second.

This piece of meat is God's.

It exudes incomparable, indescribable, and inconceivable holy power—I didn't feel any ominousness, disaster, or poison from it. . .

At last.

With the power of "special effects artist" and "deception", it should be possible to deceive the monsters around.

and so--

The only decision I have to make is whether to really eat this piece of God's flesh and blood.

What would happen if you ate the flesh and blood of God?
strangeness.

Liu Ping suddenly stopped the knife, looked towards his parents, and asked in a strange tone:

"Do you feel that this scene seems to have happened somewhere?"

Both father and mother were taken aback.

"This child, we have never brought you to such a restaurant. Maybe you have wanted to eat such a big meal for a long time - eat it quickly." The mother said with some emotion.

"Yes, this time it's not a dream, this is a real steak, eat it quickly." Father also said warmly.

Liu Ping nodded.

It's really strange, I seem to have seen this scene before.

When exactly?

His table knife fell down and cut lightly on the piece of golden flesh.

all of a sudden.

A line of small burning characters jumped out and appeared before Liu Ping's eyes:
"The present moment has been foreseen by the Almighty Lord, and as agreed with you, returns to you the memory of the past ages."

A thought burst out from the depths of Liu Ping's mind, and gradually unfolded at a speed beyond time, turning into a certain scene of the past era.

……

Under the dim sky.

The city is in dire straits.

The earth is dry, locusts are flying all over the sky, and the sound of weapons clashing and screams can be heard from time to time in the winding streets and alleys.

Times have come to an end.

A teenager was lying in the center of the dilapidated city, curled up in the corner of the fountain that had long since lost any water droplets.

The killing and howling all around had nothing to do with him.

Because he had already been bruised all over his body, and his whole body exuded a foul smell. It seemed that he had contracted the plague and was about to die soon.

No one dares to touch the plague.

Even those wild dogs moved their noses when they tried to approach, and immediately turned and ran away.

The boy just curled up in the corner of the dry pool from dusk to night.

suddenly.

A voice sounded:
"Son, I need your help with something."

The boy reluctantly turned his head to look away.

I saw an old man in a white robe squatting in front of me, looking at me with a sad expression.

"I... am about to die, how can I help you." The boy said weakly.

The old man shrugged and said, "The stench is well tuned, a bit like the smell of a rotting corpse; the place to lie down is also well chosen, avoiding direct sunlight and blocking other people's sight, so people can't see your left shoulder covering it. There are still a few liters of residual clean water in the underground pipes."

The young man stared at the old man again.

"I ate a piece of bread in the morning, and at noon I snatched a chicken caught by a wild dog. I haven't got dinner yet, right?" the old man said.

"Huh? You are interesting. You seem to know everything about me."

The boy stopped pretending, got up from the ground, leaned against the wall and said slowly.

The old man laughed and said in a low voice: "There's no need to dig out the brick, the dagger you hide behind the brick can't hurt me."

The movement of the boy's hands stopped.

"You are so powerful, why do you still come to me?" the boy asked.

There was a gleam of sadness in the old man's eyes, and he sighed: "Because I know too much, so I am always unhappy."

"Then you know less." The young man spread his hands and said.

"This is my ability." The old man said.

"It makes you unhappy, what do you want it for?" the boy said.

The old man was silent for a while, and said, "I have something to entrust to you."

"The world is in chaos, I haven't been cheating for a long time - I think you look like a big shot, what do you need a street gangster like me to do?" the boy said.

"I am a person with magic skills, and I have won the trust of many people. They pray to me every moment, eager for my protection and herding." The old man said.

"What does this have to do with me?" the boy asked.

"I have encountered a problem. Before I entrust it to you, I need to test your professional ability. If you can pass—"

The old man fumbled through his robe, holding a handful of colorful gems and showing them to the young man.

"This is a lot of money, but I heard that warlocks are very rare. You must not be my colleague. You want to find me to do big things together." The boy licked the corner of his mouth and said.

The old man stretched out his other hand, and gently released a soft light from the air.

The wound on the boy's body healed immediately.

"Okay... I now believe that you are a warlock." The boy said.

"Do you accept my test?" asked the old man.

"Test? There is still a test before commissioning?" the boy said.

"This test is also a troublesome thing for me. I want to see if you can handle it well." The old man said.

"...Let me see what's going on first." The boy said.

It is also strange that during the time they were talking, the nearby killings, locust plagues, and wild beasts all stayed away from this area.

The old man waved his hand casually, and a scene of light and shadow suddenly appeared in front of him.

In the light and shadow, some human beings in gorgeous battle armor stood on the towering city wall.

—but the walls are utterly useless.

The enemy is from heaven.

Countless monsters were shrouded in the gray mist, only revealing a pair of crimson pupils, flying down from the depths of the sky, surrounding humans.

A monster with a particularly huge figure and exuding infinite power descended and landed on the city wall with a bang.

It bent down its huge body and quietly looked at the human warriors who were not even the size of a finger in front of it.

The boy took a quick look and said, "Humanity is going to lose?"

"Yes, they prayed to me silently in their hearts." The old man said.

"what did they say?"

"They said -- 'Dear Lord, I'm in trouble.'"

"Is this calling you?"

"Yes."

"Then you can help them."

"But at this time, I can't make a move. Once I make a move, the enemy will immediately see through my tricks, and then I will be completely finished." The old man said.

"Understood, it turns out that the enemy cannot see through it, so what is your test?" the boy asked.

In the light and shadow, those humans gradually stopped praying.

Because nothing happened.

The old man remained silent and did not respond to their calls.

I saw these human beings became crazy, as if they were affected by something, and roared: "Lord, I am here to guard the Holy Kingdom for you. We have encountered the most troublesome things, and we may even sacrifice here, and you Are you going to leave it alone?"

The boy looked at the old man.

The old man shrugged and said, "This is the test—I can't make a move, but I have to respond and let everything happen as it is."

The boy asked: "It happened as it happened——"

"These things are bound to happen. I should let it continue to happen. There must be no deviations. If this is the case, there will be a turning point in the future." The old man said.

"They seem to be troublesome enough, so what's your trouble?" the boy asked impatiently.

"I love these mortals deeply, and I don't want them to lose their faith because of my silence, and I don't want them to fall when death comes." The old man said.

"We want to let everything happen, and let them be faithful to their faith at the last moment of their lives, so as not to go on the wrong path?" the boy asked.

"Yes, in this case, maybe I can save their souls in the future." The old man said.

"It's easy, you just need to lie to them." The young man spread his hands.

"I never lie." The old man said solemnly.

The boy said: "So—"

The old man said: "So this is your test, you can't lie to them, but also make them faithful to their faith."

The boy thought for a moment, then said, "Can I use your tone to communicate with them?"

"Yes." The old man said.

"Then let's start from scratch." The boy said.

"Okay." The old man said.

All the pictures were reversed, and the scene at the beginning reappeared.

On the sacred wall, the human warriors looked up to the sky.

Countless monsters flew down.

A particularly huge monster was shrouded in gray mist, crashing onto the city wall, overlooking the human warriors below.

"Listen," said the old man.

The boy immediately heard the voices of those human warriors:
"Dear Lord, we're in big trouble."

The boy nodded, his lips tightly shut.

After a while.

The human warriors were surrounded by a gray mist, as if their minds had been affected, they roared in unison:
"Lord, I am here to guard the Holy Kingdom for you. We have encountered the most troublesome things, and we may even sacrifice here. Are you going to leave it alone?"

The old man looked at the boy.

The young man coughed and said to the human warriors in the picture:

"No, you're not in trouble."

"At this moment, everything is not troublesome - what you are guarding is my place, you just need to pick up your weapons and attack the enemy without hesitation."

"attack!"

"attack!"

"I give you fearless courage!"

He said one sentence after another, and then the voice of the old man appeared in the screen, speaking the same lines, which sounded full of sacred and inviolable meanings.

The human warriors were shocked.

The beliefs that have been upheld for countless years finally worked at this critical moment.

Inspired by these words, they once again burst out with courage, and rushed towards the monster with all their weapons.

Almost instantly.

The monster was covered with human warriors.

They waved their weapons with all their strength, slashing, stabbing, and strangling the monsters!

"Stop!" shouted the old man.

The screen suddenly stopped.

"They will die." The old man stared at the boy and said.

"That's right, they didn't abandon their beliefs until they died, and you didn't make a move either. Your goal has been achieved." The young man said calmly.

"I said before that when you speak to them on my behalf, you can't lie to them. Once you lie to them, all cause and effect will not be established." The old man said again.

"I'm not lying."

"No?"

"If you don't believe me, keep making them move." The boy said.

The old man thought for a while and waved his hand.

The screen moved again.

The boy looked at those human warriors and whispered: "Okay, everyone, now you are really in trouble."

The voice fell.

The monster let out a roar full of frustration.

——It didn’t make these guys fall!

It took a deep breath, and endless dark power emerged from its body, strangling all human beings.

The old man's eyes suddenly lit up.

He waved his hand, and the screen disappeared immediately.

"A perfect ending. Everything went as planned. The holy souls remained devout until the moment of death. They returned to me. I also knew that everything would go to destruction, but there was still a glimmer of hope in the end."

"—and your words prove that the Lord never works in deceit."

the old man said.

He looked at the boy again, and said in a solemn and majestic tone:
"Very well, you are a real liar."

"Many times, we need bravery, piety, dedication and sacrifice, but in the dark age of utter hopelessness, perhaps deception is the best way to deal with it. It allows us to preserve a little strength and wait for the dawn."

"—You have won my commission."

(End of this chapter)