Chapter 158: The Terrifying Truth

"I'm not a hero. I just want to go home." Yang Dongqing stepped forward without hesitation.

"Looks like it's just the three of us." Su Mu walked slowly forward, leaning on his Snakewood Cane, an unchanging smile fixed on his face.

"And me!" The burly, buzz-cut man from yesterday strode forward with his head held high. "Whoever wants to stay in this godforsaken place can stay, but I sure as hell ain't!"

Hu Jie narrowed his eyes slightly, a nearly imperceptible glint flashing in his gaze as he looked at the four of them.

He laughed aloud. "Since the four of you are prepared, I won't try to persuade you otherwise. Please, follow me."

"Wait a minute," Mu Qing suddenly interrupted, staring intently at the smiling Hu Jie. "Before we set sail, I still have a few questions. I don't want to die out at sea for no reason."

Hu Jie's smile didn't falter. "Does Miss Mu want to ask about the strength and numbers of the undead sirens?"

"I want to ask about you!" Mu Qing dropped the pretense and said bluntly, "I don't trust you. I think you have an ulterior motive, and even the ship you prepared might be compromised."

Hu Jie looked stunned. "Why would Miss Mu say such a thing? Have I done something wrong? I believe I've treated everyone here with the utmost sincerity. Besides, considering we're all from the same homeland and have no conflicts of interest, why would I tamper with the ship?"

"Sigh. Old Hu, I told you that you have a treacherous face. No one thinks you look like a good guy, but you never believed me." Pang Yang stepped forward and looked at Mu Qing. "Miss Mu, I understand your doubts. Old Hu... well, he really has been hiding some things.

"I'll just give it to you straight. Old Hu doesn't want you to set sail at all."

"Pang Yang, you..." Hu Jie sighed, ultimately making no move to stop him.

"What do you mean he doesn't want us to set sail?" Mu Qing asked coldly.

Pang Yang swept his gaze across the group, taking in the wariness on their faces. He didn't keep them in suspense and immediately revealed the truth.

"I'm sure you've all noticed that the Sea Kingdom has no elderly people, and that the so-called Sea Stones meant to repel sea monsters are just ordinary rocks. In truth, the Sea Kingdom isn't nearly as peaceful as you imagine. To put it bluntly, the entire Sea Kingdom is nothing but livestock raised by the sea monsters!"

"What!?"

Everyone gasped in shock.

"Livestock?" Mu Qing frowned deeply, as if connecting the dots.

"Right, livestock." Pang Yang sighed repeatedly. "Do you know the origin of the undead sirens? The very first sea monster was actually just a fisherman who drowned in the sea.

"The ocean is an extension of the Sea God's power. Out on the sea, the souls of all who drown belong to the Sea God. Once the Sea God takes their souls, the curse of undeath spreads through them. The corpses of the drowned turn into undead sirens, constantly attacking the living to plunder souls for the Sea God.

"This plundering is like a plague. Those whose souls are taken by the sea monsters will eventually become sea monsters themselves."

"What!? Isn't that just like the zombies in movies?" someone asked in horror.

Pang Yang gave a bitter smile. "I wish they were zombies. At least zombies can be killed by blowing their heads off. But the undead sirens bear the Sea God's curse—that's the power of a deity. Ordinary mortals can't kill them at all!

"So we could only watch helplessly as the sea monsters multiplied. They charged the Sea Kingdom time and time again. Old Hu, myself, and the other Nightmare Apostles fought desperately to hold them back, but it was completely useless. Who can defeat immortal monsters?"

"Then why didn't you build high walls to keep the sea monsters out? Even though these sea monsters can't die, they aren't very strong," Mu Qing countered.

"Do you think we didn't think of that? It's useless! Completely useless. The sea monsters aren't strong, but there are more than just sea monsters in the ocean. There are also massive sea beasts that used to be sharks, whales, octopuses, and the like.

"If it were only them, that would be one thing. But the most terrifying part is that there's a sea god's familiar in the sea! It is the most powerful existence in these waters. High walls can't stop it at all—not even a Silver tier powerhouse like Old Hu can hold it back!"

The absolute despair in Pang Yang's words chilled everyone to the bone. They hadn't expected the sea to hide so many terrifying existences, much less a divine familiar.

"Then how did you survive?" Yang Dongqing asked, his face pale.

"Heh, it's a bit embarrassing to admit. Because of the sea monsters' constant attacks, the population of the Sea Kingdom dwindled until there were fewer than ten thousand people left. At that critical moment, it was Old Hu who stepped up. Don't look at him like he's just some pushover nice guy. He's a solid friend who actually steps up when it counts!

"He went into the deep sea all alone to negotiate with the sea god's familiar. He told it that if it wiped out the Sea Kingdom, they would no longer be able to harvest souls."

Mu Qing's small face turned faintly pale. She gritted her teeth. "So you reached an agreement with the sea god's familiar to help them raise humans like livestock?"

"Little girl, I know what you're thinking, but what else could we do!?" A ferocious look seized Pang Yang's face. "We are facing a deity! A deity! We had no choice but to make a deal with the sea god's familiar—letting the humans on the island continuously reproduce, and then sacrificing them to the sea monsters at regular intervals in exchange for peace!

"That bullshit Sea Stone is just a tool Old Hu came up with to calm the people. The truth is, we struck a deal with the sea god's familiar to have the sea monsters ignore anyone holding a Sea Stone, making the citizens believe that the sea monsters had a weakness.

"Because people won't reproduce when they are in complete despair! We had to give them hope!"

Now everything finally made sense. Why were there no elderly people in the Sea Kingdom? Because they had all been sacrificed. Why could a Sea Stone, which was just an ordinary rock, repel sea monsters? Because it wasn't the Sea Stone that worked, but the King's secret pact with the sea god's familiar. Why were the women here unusually open? Because they needed to constantly reproduce.

Pang Yang's words had completely shattered the whitewashed, fairytale illusion of the Sea Kingdom.

There were no fairy tales in this world. Fairy tales were just lies.

"That's why Old Hu didn't want you to set sail. The Sea Kingdom needs fresh blood to reproduce. If the population gets too small, it will eventually lead to inbreeding and children born with incomplete souls. The sea god's familiar doesn't want imbeciles.

"Don't think Old Hu is selfish. He's doing this for your own good. Going out to sea is a guaranteed death sentence. You can't fight the endless monsters in the ocean, nor the mysterious and powerful sea god's familiar. Rather than throwing your lives away, it's better to stay. At least you can live peacefully. Even if there are sacrifices, they'll draw from the ordinary citizens first. It won't be the turn of us Transcendents."

Yang Dongqing's body trembled, finding the whole thing completely absurd. "You... you actually chose to cling to life like this? Don't you think about your own descendants? What's the point of constantly having children? Being born just to be livestock?!"

Pang Yang said coldly, "At least livestock get to live. It's better than being dead."

"But... but what's the point? The more you sacrifice, the more undead sirens there will be, and then you'll just have to sacrifice even more. It's a vicious cycle! One day, the rate of birth won't be able to keep up with the rate of sacrifice, and when that happens, the Sea Kingdom is doomed!" Yang Dongqing said, his voice trembling.

Pang Yang clenched his fists tight, boundless anger erupting across his fat face. "Then you tell me what the hell we're supposed to do! Tell me! What else can you people do besides standing on the moral high ground and criticizing us?!"