Chapter 3535: Medusa (1)
Chapter 3535: Medusa (1)
Even with the pressure of public opinion, Ning Shu had no intention of bowing down. She didn’t believe that many people truly knew her. To them, she was just an incompetent city lord. Task-takers spent most of their time in tasks using other people’s bodies, so who would really care?
At the very least, Ning Shu didn’t care at all.
The fact that the other side was resorting to such tactics showed they were getting desperate. This was a good sign. She would simply wait for the big shot behind the scenes to reveal themselves.
Shu Bai paused for a moment before finally saying, “As long as the city lord doesn’t run into any accidents in my restaurant, everything is fine.”
“Of course not. After what happened with the auction house, I’ll definitely be extra careful. You can rest easy on that,” Ning Shu said with a smile.
She wasn’t crazy. She wouldn’t seal off a shop for no reason and kill its business. Where would her tax revenue come from then?
The auction house treated her like they were tossing scraps to a beggar. Since she wasn’t gaining much from them anyway, she might as well keep them sealed. To her, the loss was negligible.
Shu Bai gave a gentle smile. “Hearing you say that makes me feel much more relieved.”
“Be as relieved as you like. As long as I get my fair share, everything is negotiable.” Ning Shu settled the bill and left the restaurant. She rose into the air and spent some time repairing the city’s barrier to prevent the surging ordinances outside from damaging the streets.
Ning Shu looked down at the deserted auction house and smiled faintly.
Keep it up. These days are going to be very long.
Afterward, Ning Shu traveled to other cities to see if any world origins were available. Anything that could be bought with merit or faith points was a minor issue, as she now had enough resources to seek them out.
However, after a full circuit, she found nothing. She still needed three more types of world origins.
Aside from those, she also needed a reincarnation world, which was giving her a real headache.
She could only search slowly. She had the resources and she had the time. There was nothing that couldn’t be settled eventually. Ning Shu felt she was quite lucky already. She had a world carrier and had already found four types of world origins.
She had even become the embodiment of the water ordinance.
Many task-takers hadn’t even begun to construct their worlds yet.
Since worrying was useless, Ning Shu could only comfort herself by taking it one step at a time.
“Back to the system space,” Ning Shu said. Having failed to find what she wanted, she decided to head back.
Ning Shu looked at the black hole in her space and felt an almost uncontrollable urge to jump in and see what on earth was inside.
“Don’t do anything reckless. What if you can’t come back?” 2333 saw Ning Shu’s eager expression and quickly moved to stop her.
Ning Shu thought about it and slowly reached her hand toward the black hole. She felt like she wouldn’t be satisfied unless she courted death at least a little bit.
Suddenly, Ning Shu felt a sharp pain in her soul. It seemed her arm had been severed by the spatial winds inside the black hole.
She took two steps back, distancing herself from the void, and re-solidified her arm.
It had cost her a bit of soul power just to learn that the interior was dangerous. She wouldn’t be poking around in there again anytime soon.
Ning Shu also abandoned the idea of going inside to explore.
She took out her books on the ordinances, practicing as she read.
Using the ordinances was a heavy drain on her mental strength. When she got tired, she would stop to rest before resuming her cultivation.
During one of her breaks, Ning Shu said to 2333, “Try not to give me any more bizarre tasks.”
“Oh…” 2333 replied. “Picking tasks for you is a real pain. With all your various requirements, I’m the one who’s suffering. It’s a thankless job, and I don’t even get a single kind word. All you do is complain about me every day. Do you think my life is easy?”
Ning Shu: …
“It’s been hard on you. But we each have our roles. You get ten percent of my soul power just by sitting still, so stop complaining,” Ning Shu said.
“I’m not complaining. I just want you to know that I’m struggling too. Life isn’t easy for anyone,” 2333 said.
Ning Shu raised an eyebrow. “What’s with you? Why are you trying to sell me a sob story? That’s not your character archetype, and besides, your life isn’t miserable at all.”
2333: …
After resting for a while, Ning Shu went back to her cultivation, repeating the process over and over.
Eventually, her mental strength reached its limit. She stopped her cultivation and took another break.
Lying on the sofa, she opened the chat system. Seeing that no one was looking for her, she closed it again.
By now, Mei Ziqing was likely lecturing her ‘child.’
How dare you run off with a stranger, you brat!
Ning Shu stretched and said to 2333, “Let’s do a task!”
She didn’t have any special requirements this time, as long as she wasn’t a dog.
“Alright.”
Ning Shu’s head spun as her soul slowly entered a body.
She opened her eyes to see a magnificent room. The ceilings were high and vaulted, and the walls were covered in various paintings. The colors were exaggerated and the figures were somewhat abstract; looking at them for too long made her eyes ache.
Ning Shu looked down at her clothes. She was wearing bright yellow, off-the-shoulder garments. Her arms were slender and her fingers were long. When she lifted her skirt, she saw her legs were long as well. This physique was excellent. Even if her face turned out to be ugly, her figure was top-tier.
She had a great body, a slender waist, fair skin, and long, brown curly hair.
Well, this body should be quite beautiful.
Ning Shu began to accept the storyline. This time, she wasn’t a dog, but she was still part serpent.
She was the famous ‘beautiful snake-demon,’ Medusa.
The entrustor was named Medusa, a virgin priestess in the Temple of Athena. Originally, Medusa was simply a beautiful, ordinary human.
Medusa the Gorgon was known as the most terrifying female monster in Greek mythology, but she had once been the most beautiful maiden in the myths. Both mortal men and male gods had wanted to marry her.
Poseidon coveted her beauty and forced himself upon the priestess Medusa right within the Temple of Athena. In a fit of rage, Athena turned Medusa’s hair into venomous snakes and placed a curse upon her—anyone who looked at her would turn to stone. Thus, she became a hideous monster.
After being defiled by Poseidon, Medusa had cried out to the goddess she worshiped, Athena, for help. Athena had ignored her. Once Poseidon had finished and left, Athena vented her fury onto Medusa instead.
The crime was defiling her temple by performing such a filthy act within its walls.
Athena could not punish Poseidon because he was the brother of Zeus, the king of the gods.
In their youth, Poseidon and his brothers had united to overthrow the tyrannical rule of their father, the previous king of the gods, Kronos. After Zeus distributed the realms, Poseidon became the god of the sea, ruling over all waters with a status second only to Zeus. His power was absolute.
His majesty rivaled the infinite vitality of the earth and the power of the floods. He was known as the ‘Zeus of the Sea.’ His status and strength were so great that his influence spanned the entire universe; he was the most powerful ruler after Zeus himself.
Under the curse of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, the minor temple priestess Medusa was transformed into a hideous monster with a head full of snakes, a pair of boar-like tusks, and snake scales covering her neck. Even her lower body was transformed into a serpent’s tail.
In the end, Medusa was beheaded by the knight Perseus, who offered her head to Athena. Athena then set Medusa’s head into the center of the aegis.