Chapter 2: Two, I want to see what you look like when you, this sleeping maggot, wake up.
Bai Wei felt somewhat helpless.
Being transmigrated was one thing, but to transmigrate into a finger was another.
Indeed, Bai Wei had become a finger, the very same one that had "spoken" with Ulu moments ago.
A normal person transmigrated into a finger would be confused for a while, and Bai Wei was no exception. However, he had spent his confusion inside that little box, and now he had figured out the situation.
He had transmigrated into a fantasy game called "Desecration" and become a... well, a very special character, namely the Visas that Ulu had previously feared. What made this character special was that in "Desecration," he was merely a background character with no storyline whatsoever. His sole purpose was to introduce the concept of "Corpse Blocks."
In most RPG games, players typically strengthen themselves through leveling and allocating skill points, along with collecting special "items." These items have various names in different games: Holy Relics, Artifact Spirits, or many other things. In "Desecration," they were "Corpse Blocks," belonging to the ancient being Visas. The more formidable Visas was, the more powerful his Corpse Blocks were, therefore, the more motivated players would be to collect them.
However, Bai Wei had never imagined he would become the source of that motivation.
While looking at the system panel that indicated "Visas — Body Integrity 3%," Bai Wei felt a surge of points he wanted to criticize welling up in his chest.
Unfortunately, he couldn't let them out for fear Ulu would hear.
"You, you, you, you, you..." Upon hearing Bai Wei's voice in his mind, Ulu immediately collapsed to the ground, repeating "you" five times but unable to utter the rest of his sentence. The bravado he had felt when he thought he had obtained Visas's power had vanished, leaving only fear that made him unable to even stand. "Who are you?!"
Bai Wei momentarily repressed the urge to criticize and said indifferently, "You want my power yet you don't know who I am? Do you truly not know, or are you pretending not to know?"
How could he not know?!
At this moment, Ulu's face was drained of all color except for white.
Who was Visas?
He was an indescribable being who could even slaughter gods!
And now he was in my head!
Oh no, not in the head.
Ulu then noticed his left middle finger, more precisely, the middle finger of Visas, and realized the truth.
This was the real culprit!
So he hurriedly got up and picked up the knife from the table, about to cut down on the middle finger again.
Bai Wei's voice leisurely echoed in his mind again, "Oh? Are you sure?"
Ulu hesitated, "Why wouldn't I be sure?"
"Do you yearn for my power but fear my existence?" Bai Wei asked placidly, "You're quite interesting."
It seemed Ulu hit a nerve, but he still roared with a feigned toughness, "Don't spout nonsense! I am a Priest of the Rhein Church, a clergy of the Orthodox! You are a filthy Blasphemer, a malignancy meant to be forever eradicated. You are..."
Ulu's vocabulary seemed to falter, but he struggled to continue.
"You are the enemy of all gods, and thus, my enemy. How can I tolerate your presence in my body?!"
"Well, if that's how you feel, do as you please," Bai Wei said.
Ulu once again raised the knife.
"Just make sure you understand the consequences," Bai Wei said with a light chuckle. "Not my consequences, but yours."
Ulu froze again, and this time, his face finally showed an emotion other than fear.
Witnessing this, Bai Wei wasn't particularly surprised. After all, he was quite familiar with Ulu's character: a stupid, malevolent, and cowardly fellow with aspirations.
An ideal candidate to be manipulated.
"What do you mean?!" Ulu demanded.
"Hmm? Do I need to spell it out for you?" Bai Wei continued in a lazy tone, "What do you plan to do after cutting me off?"
"Of course, I'll hand you over to Lord Bishop," Ulu said. "Let Lord Bishop seal you completely."
"Hmm... Let's not even discuss whether the seal that you've been attempting for so many years has any effect on me. Let's talk about you," Bai Wei said with a smirk. "Are you planning to tell your superiors that you tried to graft my finger onto your hand, but gave up when you found out I was still alive? Are you sure that's what you're going to say?"
Ulu's expression suddenly stiffened.
Hoarding Visas's Corpse was expressly forbidden by all major churches, and as a member of the clergy, his crime would be even more severe.
But if he turned it in willingly, such a merit...
"And moreover, my soul has already entered your body," Bai Wei said slowly and leisurely. "How are you going to explain to your superiors that your soul hasn't been tainted by me?"
At these words, Ulu's face, which had just regained some color, turned pale once again.
"But, but if that's the case, I'll just hide you away!" Ulu was still unwilling to show weakness and instead threatened viciously, "As long as I throw you in a place where no one can find you, naturally no one will know about tonight's events."
Bai Wei made a sound of acknowledgment: "Then go ahead and do that."
"…What?"
"I said, then just do that," Bai Wei spoke indifferently. "There's no need to explicitly state it for my benefit."
Ulu's face flushed and then went pale.
Obviously, he also knew this was the best choice.
Chop off this finger and throw it as far away as possible; even if someone found it in the future, it would have nothing to do with him. By then, he might already be dead.
Thinking this, Ulu raised the knife once again, staring intently at his left middle finger.
But for some reason, his right hand seemed out of control, unable to chop down no matter what he tried. Scenes flashed through his mind like a spinning lantern, including the one from decades ago in this very room, when he faced the smiling Priest with a face full of horror.
Finally, the knife came down fiercely, embedding several centimeters into the table, revealing the force behind the blow.
But unlike before, the blade did not touch any blood this time because it landed a few centimeters away from the finger as well.
So, the finger remained intact on Ulu's hand, but after striking that blow, Ulu seemed to have used all his strength, collapsing completely, eyes bloodshot, gasping for breath.
After a long while, Ulu seemed to have made some difficult decision, propping himself up, while asking in a hushed tone, "What… what do you want?"
Indeed, just like in the game.
Bai Wei silently smiled: "What do I want? Well… to be honest, there's not much I want."
Ulu was taken aback: "Not much you want? You… how can you not want anything?"
"Hmm?" Bai Wei asked with interest, "What do you think I want?"
"Don't you want to… come back to this world?"
"Oh, resuscitate? Actually, not really; there's nothing left in this world that I need to come back to life for," Bai Wei said.
Ulu was somewhat confused. After all, the All Gods divided Visas's body to prevent his soul from returning one day, revived and reentering this world. Now, Visas's soul had returned, yet he claimed he had no thoughts of coming back.
What did that mean?
He had thought, if Bai Wei wanted to be revived, he could exert effort, which would put them in a mutually beneficial cooperation. He could use Bai Wei's power, and Bai Wei would need his help.
But now, Bai Wei said he had no intention of coming back to life, leaving him feeling at a loss.
Looking at the murky yet naively foolish glint in Ulu's eyes, Bai Wei knew his goal was about to be achieved, so he calmly added another comment: "However, I am quite interested in you."
Upon hearing this, Ulu's dim eyes suddenly regained some brightness: "In me?"
"Yes, I have never met anyone quite like you, neither in life nor in death. You are base, foul-smelling, yet harbor ambitions unbefitting of your status, like a maggot in a dung heap."
When Bai Wei had begun with "I have never seen anyone like you," Ulu thought Bai Wei was about to praise him, only to hear such words follow, each humiliating term piercing into Ulu's chest like needles, making him tremble uncontrollably.
Then, Bai Wei's tone shifted: "However, you are a maggot that desperately wants to leave the dung heap, continually climbing if given a stick. Heh, previously, you had no such stick, but if I gave you one, how far would you climb?"
Bai Wei's analogy caused Ulu's face to alternately redden and pale, but he understood Bai Wei's implication: "You mean…"
"I'm curious to see, if someone like you had my power, how far you could go." Bai Wei appeared amused, his words dripping with sarcasm, "I've heard that at the end of the world, a colossal maggot sleep, its awakening would disgust the entire world… I find that quite interesting, so I want to see, can you become such a maggot?"
Such profound insults would have exploded on anyone else.
But not Ulu.
He extracted the most critical content from those disparaging words — that Bai Wei was willing to give him power.
Give him that ancient power belonging to Visas.
Thinking this, Ulu's body trembled again, not with anger, but with excitement.
He excitedly prostrated on the ground, knocking his head against the wooden floor, and said with a quivering voice.
"Please… grant me power!"