Chapter 488: Chapter 341: The End of the Great Expedition, Issuing Xue the Death Order_3

He was going to become a champion of justice; feelings and that kind of crap just got in the way.

Even though his family seemed really worried, Xue Dili still stubbornly stuck to his own pace of life and said, "I just need two days of rest and I’ll be fine."

And he added:

"It’s really nothing worth making a fuss over, just some desires and emotions, that’s all." With that thought in mind, Xue Dili drifted back into sleep.

Two whole days passed in utterly ordinary fashion. Xue Dili really was in full rest mode; he didn’t even go to school, spending most of his time curled up in his little quilt, spacing out.

He’d even had a Mist Council meeting last night, but this time the Mist Council was unusually quiet. None of the Apostles talked much, and the meeting wrapped up after they briefly exchanged some mostly worthless intel.

The position of Ninth Apostle had been left vacant all this time, and might very well remain vacant forever. After all, the Squid People had basically been slashed to pieces by their own kind, and the Squid Cult had been wiped out. That seat would never have an heir.

After leaving this session of the Mist Council, Xue Dili looked at the countdown. That "go experience a romance" mission had a little over four hours left on the clock. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Xue Dili had considered trying to trick Fafnir into going shopping at the mall. He’d even ended up buying Fafnir a whole pile of books and a little backpack, but that still didn’t count as completing Mom’s mission.

So he shrugged. Since he didn’t even know what exactly "being in love" meant, he might as well just get zapped. Anyway, he was pretty resistant to electricity now; it wouldn’t be a big deal.

With that thought in mind, Xue Dili finished breakfast and went back to spacing out, right up until the mission countdown hit zero.

[Please complete the mission as soon as possible, or soul electrocution will commence!]

Xue Dili remained unmoved. He didn’t even know what the exact criteria for "being in love" were, and he had zero interest anyway. He just rolled over, ready to continue zoning out.

"There’s no way I’m going to be in any kind of romance."

[Warning. Electrocution countdown: 3...2...1... Soul current, preparing to discharge.]

Being a bit cautious, Xue Dili cut off his pain nerves, to make himself feel a bit better and avoid screaming when the shock hit.

But suddenly, a violent current tore through his soul in an instant. It wasn’t acting on his body; it was as if a violet lightning bolt struck straight at his soul, pulverizing every bit of his mental state in a heartbeat. The pain was so intense that even with his pain nerves severed, his body started convulsing on instinct.

The moment the current shot through his whole body, his muscles clenched up hard, like countless steel needles were stabbing straight into his bone marrow. Every inch of skin burned, as if molten metal was racing through his veins. His vision exploded into a blinding sheet of white, and all that remained in his ears was the buzzing of electricity, drowning out every other sound.

Xue Dili had thought that cutting his nerves would let him dodge it, and after enduring the torment of the thorns in the Netherworld of Greece, he believed he no longer feared any kind of pain.

But now, he realized he’d been wrong. The pain Miracle could be cut off, but the feedback from the soul would never be erased.

His fingers spasmed and curled, nails digging deep into his palms. A hoarse whimper squeezed out of his throat, so faint he couldn’t even hear it himself.

When the electrocution finally subsided, Xue Dili felt his soul still trembling. At the very least, though, that soul-deep agony stirred up a whole mess of emotions inside him.

Pain, misery, and a tiny bit of grievance and sadness.

All this just because he didn’t go fall in love? Isn’t this a bit much? A person can’t—at least shouldn’t...

Even if you’re trying to push someone into marriage, who ties them straight onto an electric chair like this?

Even with normal electrocution, he’d already cut off his nerves, so he felt nothing—just his body twitching out of control. But this soul electrocution seemed to pierce right through his brain, stab straight into his soul, like his very spirit was being skewered.

Even so, Xue Dili still had no intention of falling in love. He felt like his electric resistance just went up by about 1%. At this rate, all he had to do was take a few more shocks, and his resistance would keep leveling up until he could handle the current.

[Mission 1 (Round Two): Experience a romance within two days. Failure penalty: soul electrocution at double intensity.]

Shit!

No way, Mom, you can’t do this! I’ve shed blood for Earth! I’ve done great deeds for Earth, you can’t treat me like this! Mom, you can’t!

Earth Consciousness said nothing, merely preparing to raise the voltage.

Xue Dili shot up from the bed. For some reason, after the soul electrocution his whole body felt weirdly energized, like he suddenly had endless stamina. But that deep soul-level pain was absolutely beyond what a human should be able to endure.

Even someone like Xue Dili, who’d borne countless hardships already—just recalling that current in his soul made him subconsciously shudder.

It was like ten thousand silver needles piercing into his brain and endlessly stirring inside his skull, or billions of ants gnawing their way out from the inside. The pain made his brain itself vibrate.

And the most inhuman part was that Mom had made the next failure penalty double electrocution. So the time after that, would it be four times?

Mom, can’t you just let me off this once? In my next life I’ll happily keep being your kid that never grows up!

"Can we negotiate?" Xue Dili asked.

[No.]

Mom said nothing else, only getting ready to further up the dose.

"I’ll do it, I’ll do it, okay?"

Right now it felt like Xue Dili was wearing a mask of pure suffering. If he failed again, he had no doubt that Mom would double the dosage to four times, then eight, then sixteen, letting him fully experience the joys of exponential growth.