novelraw Chapter 1366 - 689: Am I Not Human?
Chapter 1366 - 689: Am I Not Human?
Thirty seconds.
Or perhaps even shorter.
In the sudden howling wind, the mist roiled, as if boiling, the darkness within the gray danced like a beast, ready to devour.
After realizing the brink of life and death just now, Minkler dared not delay any longer. He straightforwardly pulled open his collar, revealing a ring hanging from his neck.
It looked simple and understated, without any complex or extravagant design, yet no one in the Xiang State dared to imitate it, for it was the symbol of the Minkler Family's identity.
As an alchemy creation, it seemed to carry some verification function, identifying authenticity and providing certification.
Ji Jue had seen it before, in Minkler's hand, and now it was hidden away by Minkler, not daring to show it — because within the gemstone on the ring, a tiny, shifting crimson light flickered like a flame, silently rising and swirling.
It left Ji Jue stunned.
Because he had seen that faint light before — during the farewell banquet in Xiang State before departing for Central Earth, when the Family Head welcomed them.
Throughout the entire Minkler Family, only the Family Head's ring would bear this faint light!
Yet now, this faint light appeared out of nowhere in Minkler's hands.
In other words...
"I, I am the next Family Head!"
Minkler's expression twitched, half-crying, half-laughing: "This is my father's final will, as well as the Family God's recognized certification."
[Family God]
In these days, if one wanted to make a name and career, there always needed to be accomplishments. The greater the work, the broader the achievements, the tougher the efforts required. To dominate amidst the chaos of the Thousand Islands or establish a prosperous city-state like Xiang State as the economic hub of the Western Endless Sea, it's evident having no skills was not an option.
The Family God was, without a doubt, the hidden trump card of the Minkler family.
Call it an ancestor, a guardian deity, or the illustrious ancestors — this was a Secret Ritual birthed from the fusion of Ascension and Tian Yuan. With the surname as the core, the bloodline as the foundation, and the family as the body, generation upon generation of ancestors, after passing, their residual spirits gathered in the family fire, gradually transforming into a fierce and uncanny artificial spirit, capable of safeguarding the family in times of difficulty.
It could be said that, since the first Chopra bore the name, their Family God was born from the sacrificial fire.
Since then, through the years, as ancient as the family was, as powerful the Family God became.
It was entirely a domesticated evil ghost and guardian spirit.
Though not as dynamic as the Chosen Ones, being a fusion of shattered consciousness and power from the illustrious ancestors, for the entire family, it was akin to a Fusion Bomb serving as the stabilizing force of the seas.
And for Ji Jue...
What? Minkler's generations of ancestors are still around?
This is really, cough cough cough... just fantastic!
I'll have to study this closely later!
The reason the Family God would recognize Minkler, well, there could only be one — the last arrangement made in the dying moments of the previous Family Head.
It's just a pity...
"Your dad was really ruthless."
Ji Jue couldn't help but feel.
Sending one's own son to be a scapegoat and sacrificial pawn, even if one among dozens of sons.
Just in the brief moments before his death, he unhesitatingly made such an arrangement, its ruthlessness truly left Ji Jue in awe.
Minkler was already in tears, unable to cry out: "The old man despised me all his life, and in the end, he still used me as a sacrifice!"
Family Head's designation, Family God's certification?
Does it work?
What use is it?
If it really worked, would Minkler be scurrying like a stray dog to New Spring looking for a way to survive?
Choosing him as Family Head? It only matters if it's effective, besides, if he was really chosen, would it have been at this death knell stage?
What are you thinking!
If they truly wanted to groom him as Family Head candidate, they should've arranged for him into politics long ago!
But in the end?
He was left to fend for himself, like a pig, managing to live lavishly off his monthly allowance, far from achieving anything substantial.
This life, his only fierce endeavor to make a mark was to join the military, then after a gilded stint with an auxiliary cannon fodder unit, he was placed back into the Seven Cities Defense to while away.
It was only during the operations that he met Lu Feng, and through a fortuitous encounter connected with Ji Jue, otherwise aiming high? In your dreams!
The contemporary Minkler somewhat barely squeezed from the family's fringes into the core.
Commander of the Seven Cities Defense Fleet? Look at those ships older than Ji Jue himself, discarded armaments by the Empire and Federation for years, with lousy command and organization, merely seven households cobbling together to scrape by, gathering junk to create an empty shell.
It's fine for routine patrols and stopping smuggling; but when action is needed, each household has to pull together their elite private soldiers to fill gaps, dismantling back to their villas instantly post-mission.
Minkler remains a commander in name only.
Not quite at the top, but better than the bottom, purely a scapegoat middle management with even all efforts made upwards, simply allowing him in this round of struggle, the qualification to become a sacrificial offering.
What does it matter if the Family God acknowledged him as the new Family Head candidate?
It's merely recognition, without ancestral ceremonies, without offering holy oil and blood to the family fire, he couldn't mobilize the Family God, it might not even pay him heed.
True holy oil to subdue the Family God was firmly in his fourth brother's hand!
Such certification, Minkler dead, immediately replaced by another.
Saying goodbye is goodbye, the next one being more obedient.
His father's sole aim by doing this was to place this son in danger, draw all attention onto him, allowing him to stand out, go die first, awarding the disordered family time to reorganize...
In other words, his family would definitely not save him.
In fact, they wouldn't spare him!
After understanding this point, two hours after his father's death, Minkler made an excuse to go to the bathroom and directly fled overnight from the Seven Cities Defense port in a commandeered large boat.
Tears flowed inwardly, and he didn't dare to look back.
He didn't dare to tell the truth either.
This is not some disaster befalling a landowner; it's more like cannon fodder awaiting death, the kind everyone condemns...
"You have to help your brother out, Old Ji."
He grasped Ji Jue's hand tightly, refusing to let go, tears and mucus streaming down: "At this critical juncture, I know you won't believe my promises on paper, but once it's done, you can have anything you want. Just save my life, and we can talk about anything!"
"Do you trust me that much?"
Ji Jue chuckled, unconcerned about him suddenly lowering their social standing relationship.
Minkler decisively retorted: "Of the people I know, who can I trust? Who else has two Chongshan Medals?! Who else has thrown billions into the Chongguang Church when they had nothing?
Since we've known each other, I've borne the name of treachery at home, fought for so many conditions for you, expecting nothing in return, just hoping that if anything ever goes wrong, you could lend me a hand..."
He pleaded miserably: "I don't ask much, really I don't, just save my life, let whoever wants to be the Family Head be it!"
"If you spoke so openly from the beginning, there wouldn't be so much trouble."
Ji Jue coldly withdrew his hand to avoid tears and mucus from falling on his sleeve, "At the very least, it's more genuine than the act of clutching legs and calling me 'father'."
"You agreed?" Minkler was surprisingly joyful, nearly smiling with a snot bubble.
"In the end, we're friends, whether to help you or not depends on dealing with the current trouble first."
Ji Jue walked forward with his hands behind his back, step by step to the bow, peeking at the eerie shadows stirring in the mist, suddenly curiously asking: "Close but not close, retreating but not retreating, fleeing but not fleeing, fighting but not fighting... Why is this?"
At that moment, it seemed like a sound of falling came from within the mist.
Immediately, a terrifying roar like a tsunami erupted!
.
"Ji Jue!!!"
On a reef emerging from the surface of the sea, the Chosen One holding the water mirror had a sudden twitch in expression, his face pale, nearly slipping into the sea, crying out in alarm:
"Oh no, it's really Ji Jue!"
Inside the water mirror, that vague figure suddenly became clear, grinning at everyone.
Though full of enthusiasm and generosity, it was chilling to the core.
Like falling into an ice cave.
She hesitated a bit, then looked at the hunched, eerie, emaciated old woman beside her, "Mom, should we retreat…"
The old woman had a twitching expression, never expecting that what seemed like a convenient, easy job to squeeze a soft persimmon, would hit a dead end.
No, why?!
Why would a Federation craftsman get involved in the affairs of the Seven Cities!
But feeling the sinister gaze from deeper in the mist behind, the old woman's expression twitched, squeezing out words from between her teeth: "So what if it's Ji Jue!"
A craftsman without a single weapon, not in the workshop, on a broken, ragged ship, as ferocious as he may be, could he really overturn the heavens?
Could old lady still be afraid of you!
A hint of malice flashed in the old woman's eyes.
"Ignore him!"
She said: "Quickly kill him then we leave, be careful, leave no trace, at worst we could hide in the Empire for a couple of years…"
After all these years of wealth and luxury, bound by the Blood Covenant, there's no room for retreat. If they don't flee, they'd only face Ji Jue; if they ran, they'd be hunted by the wrathful Family God all their life, their soul tormented in their abdomen…
"Do it!"
She made up her mind, pulling out a black and green bone flute from her arms and suddenly played a silent melody. Amidst the sharp whistling, eerie outlines appeared in the void, like starving souls climbing out from the sea.
A stench appeared from nowhere on the deck of the Prosperity, footprints and handprints with fragments of broken seaweed emerged from the hull, climbing up unbelievably fast, heading towards Minkler.
Rotting corpses entwined with seaweed and barnacles, their swollen faces full of thick liquid and barnacles, crawled towards Minkler using hands and feet, calling his name, wailing and screaming.
Minkler screamed in fear, his face deathly pale, nearly clinging onto Ji Jue.
Yet Ji Jue couldn't see anything at all.
He only felt Minkler being an inconvenience!
It could be said that regardless of what kind of Superior, running to a place like Thousand Islands which is vast but full of narrow corners, each with a larger cultural gap than the next, there will always be some Great Evil or other messy stuff that comes out.
Perhaps the orthodox essence is hard to grasp, but the mix and add of chaotic patches and secret weapons could only be described as astonishing.
The mixture of Ascension and Absolute Abyss, the coexistence of transcendence and sinking, somehow also contains some Mirror and rainbow, even curses have turned into such bizarre forms.
They completely ignored Ji Jue, heading directly for Minkler.
The result was, Minkler screamed more miserably than a clucker, whereas Ji Jue couldn't see a single ghost shadow.
This fellow's birth date and personal items were evidently already within the grasp of the Chosen One who cast the curse, if not for escaping to the Federation, he might have already been absorbed into a hollow shell by attracted resentful spirits and evil ghosts.
Outsiders simply have no way to intervene…
But then again.
An outsider may be an outsider, but unfortunately...
Ji Jue is not human.