The apple orchard lay just north of the circular plaza, a brisk ten-minute walk away.

“Sister Ding Yi, are you alright?”

“What might be wrong with me?”

Yan Ming found himself at a loss for comforting words. He scratched his head and glanced at Jiang Xianqing, only to see her frowning and shaking her head, then subtly pushing him away. Yan Ming looked aggrievedly at Ding Yi, who appeared perfectly composed, and mustered his courage to sidle up to Qin Yuan.

“Brother Qin, perhaps you could say something?”

Qin Yuan cast a brief glance at him, pondered for a moment, then quickened his pace to walk beside Ding Yi, gently bumping her shoulder. “You were angry just now.”

“Me?” Ding Yi frowned slightly. “What reason would I have to be angry?”

Qin Yuan offered a knowing smile.

Although he couldn’t fully decipher the intricacies of her thoughts, he had come to understand her temperament to some extent. She was undoubtedly harboring some degree of anger at this moment.

The exact cause of her ire remained unclear to him, yet her anger was palpable.

Just as the four of them were about to reach the vicinity of the circular plaza, all the town residents suddenly froze in perfect unison.

The four Wishers halted in their tracks, startled by this sudden and bizarre anomaly, and cautiously surveyed their surroundings.

Abruptly, the frozen scene shattered as the town residents erupted in a cacophony of cheers.

They shouted with fervent excitement, pulling out intricately crafted animal headgear that they had seemingly prepared beforehand, and swiftly donned them.

They seized knives, arrows, axes, and other readily available weapons, raising them high above their heads with triumphant cries.

The decorative animal heads adorning the shops began to move their eyes, their inanimate mouths opening to emit piercing, shrill cries.

Almost simultaneously, these severed animal heads sprouted grotesque bodies from the walls, struggling to crawl out in a variety of unnatural forms.

As soon as they reached the ground, the now-animated animals, still unclothed, scurried into their respective houses, frantically rummaging through drawers and cabinets to procure clothing and weapons.

They leaned out of the windows, their voices rising in a unified shout, “Long live the great Ophelia!”

“What in the world is going on?” Yan Ming looked around in utter panic, his eyes wide with fear and confusion. “What is happening?!”

Ding Yi and Qin Yuan exchanged a significant glance, a silent understanding passing between them. “Run!”

They were the first to bolt, darting into a narrow alleyway and running with desperate speed towards the circular plaza.

The closer they drew to their destination, the more they could discern the scene unfolding in the circular plaza—the bronze statue of Ophelia, once radiating a gentle and loving aura from its pedestal, had shed its metallic hue.

A pristine white gauze dress now enveloped her, and her sheep’s unique horizontal pupils slid up, down, left, and right at exaggerated, unnatural angles.

She stepped down from the pedestal, bent over, picked up the square base, and tossed it casually into the air.

As it descended, it underwent a bizarre transformation, morphing into an elaborate and ornate scepter, which landed gracefully in Ophelia’s now-gray palm.

“Despicable humans,” her voice resonated with an undeniable air of authority, a chilling power underlying her words.

The elaborate scepter tapped lightly against the ground, yet the very earth beneath their feet vibrated violently. “Are you prepared to face eternal damnation?”

“This is a complete and utter rip-off!” Jiang Xianqing exclaimed, running forward with every ounce of her strength. “What is even happening?!”

“Isn’t there still time remaining?”

“The allotted time has not yet expired!”

“What kind of boss makes such a premature entrance?!”

“Is there no semblance of justice in this forsaken world?!”

---

Fifteen minutes earlier.

The circular plaza.

The shocking spectacle of Wishers being transformed into animals and then brutally beheaded by the town residents was unfolding here as well.

While the fresh, spilled blood seemed to ignite a primal adrenaline rush within every town resident, it simultaneously sent jolts of pure terror through the nerves of every Wisher present.

“What the absolute hell is this?!”

Liu Yanliang’s face was ashen, his pupils involuntarily dilating and contracting.

The man who had casually walked past him just a fleeting second ago had become a slaughtered lamb.

He had even witnessed up close the sickening arc of the axe as it swung towards that fragile neck, the severed head flipping grotesquely in the air.

Whether it was a figment of his overwrought imagination or not, he truly felt as if he had made direct eye contact with that disembodied head.

Within those eyes, now devoid of any human spark, he had glimpsed his horrified reflection, and the terrifying premonition of himself suffering a similar fate soon after.

The spreading pool of blood felt like a searing burn against his already terrified heart.

Just then, Qiao Yu, who had thankfully not directly witnessed the bloody and brutal beheading but was nonetheless paralyzed by the sheer horror of what had already transpired, let out a short, stifled scream.

Although she immediately clapped a hand over her mouth after the sound escaped her lips, she still received a fierce, accusatory glare from Liu Yanliang.

The townspeople surrounding them watched the raised, dripping head with fanatical gazes, their bodies trembling uncontrollably in some bizarre mixture of ecstasy and reverence.

“Ophelia, our benevolent goddess.”

“Continue to watch over and protect our cherished Animal Town.”

“Ophelia…”

“Ophelia…”

As Liu Yanliang listened to their passionate chants, he felt a potent mix of fear and latent anger bubbling inside him. He refrained from expressing his rage towards the townspeople, who teetered on the edge of total mental breakdown.

He could only turn back and glare venomously at the statue, which still maintained its serene and loving facade, and curse under his breath, “Bah, what a disgusting, worthless thing.”

“A pathetic excuse of a deity that couldn’t even safeguard its offspring! What manner of goddess is she?!”

“Filthy bitch! Utter dead weight!”

“Damn it! These people are all raving mad! Why do they always—”

His muttered curses were abruptly cut short when the goddess, whose eyelids had been languidly half-closed and her expression gentle, suddenly snapped her eyes open and locked her gaze directly with Liu Yanliang’s.

The previously tightly closed mouth slowly curved into a strange, unsettling smile, revealing rows of disturbingly sharp, pointed teeth lurking behind her lips.

The immense, unseen pressure that emanated from her allowed Liu Yanliang to hear the frantic pounding of his own heart in his ears. His forehead tightened with a sudden, throbbing pain, and a high-pitched ringing filled his ears.

“Yanliang!”

“Yanliang!”

Liu Yanliang struggled to regain his senses, the goddess’s gaze a suffocating weight. Following the frantic direction of Qiao Yu’s trembling finger, he saw tall, grotesque beastmen emerging one after another from the low-slung buildings.

They all raised their crude weapons and roared in unison, “Long live the great Ophelia!”

The town residents nearby, as if on cue, produced bizarre animal headgear seemingly out of nowhere.

They swiftly placed the headgear upon their heads, and the strange headgear appeared to meld seamlessly with their skin. They then pulled out an assortment of weapons from equally unexpected places and shouted their allegiance loudly.

It took Liu Yanliang a precious few seconds to fully process the unfolding nightmare before his eyes. Then, his survival instincts kicking in, he turned and fled.

Qiao Yu desperately tried to keep pace with his panicked flight, her voice cracking as she shouted, “Yanliang! Yanliang, please wait for me!”

She pushed through the sharp pain of colliding with other fleeing Wishers, focusing intensely on Liu Yanliang’s disappearing figure. Clenching her teeth, she urged herself to run faster, determined to bridge the ever-increasing distance.

Please don’t leave me.

Please don’t abandon me.

I still possess value.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t leave me.

Qiao Yu chased after Liu Yanliang’s receding figure, a crushing wave of sorrow and despair washing over her.

Her strength was rapidly failing.

She had barely scraped through the first instance due solely to blind luck.

In this second, terrifying instance, she had latched onto Liu Yanliang. Deep down, she knew this man was no different from the countless pieces of human garbage who had cheated her, used her, and left her drowning in a mountain of debt.

It seemed she had always been a magnet for the dregs of humanity, inexplicably attracting all kinds of detestable characters.

She knew it.

She had always known it.

She knew these men were no good, but because they were willing to feign affection, to whisper empty words of love and make her feel, for a fleeting moment, as if she were worthy of being cherished…

So she was willing to sink into the mire again and again, fully aware of the self-deception that accompanied it.

It was as if, as long as she clung to this fabricated love, she could somehow transform into a truly lovable person.

The past, a bleak landscape of parental hatred, abuse, and cold abandonment, like clinging mud, would somehow cease to exist.

The noisy, panicked crowd jostled her violently, knocking her off balance. Liu Yanliang’s back had vanished from her sight, swallowed by the surging mass of fleeing Wishers.

Ah, it was always like this.

It was the same agonizing feeling she had experienced when her parents had abandoned her in that crowded marketplace so long ago.

In the chaotic, overwhelming crowd, the small and utterly helpless version of herself had desperately searched for her parents, their figures already swallowed by the uncaring crowd.

Before the icy tendrils of the fear of imminent death could fully engulf her, a sudden, chilling realization pierced through her panic.

Ah, this time… this time I am truly going to die.

Perhaps… perhaps it was for the best.

Dying would be a release, wouldn’t it?

This dirty, dark, and endlessly painful existence could finally come to an end, right?

She stopped struggling against the relentless current of the crowd, allowing herself to fall, to be swept away by the surging mass of terrified Wishers.

Just as she had resigned herself to embracing the oblivion of death, a strong arm snaked through the chaos and grabbed her falling body.

“Run, you fool, if you don’t want to die!”