Chapter 117: Just Tell Me If These Wishes Came True or Not!

Chapter 117 Just Tell Me, Were These Wishes Fulfilled or Not?

"The less it explained, the better. The more it tried to justify itself, the more it revealed its insecurity. That lack of conviction was all too familiar to Cai Zhixuan. Every time she got caught sneaking her phone under the covers to play games late at night, she acted exactly like this."

"And every time school grades came out and she had to report them to her parents, it was the same story."

"Desperately explaining that she’d tried her best, worked hard, but failed for various reasons—yada yada."

"She had plenty of experience in this area and couldn’t possibly mistake it. Besides, its attitude toward her had shifted ever so slightly. It wasn’t as friendly as before. Clearly, she’d struck a raw nerve."

"Even if it bit back its temper, it couldn’t maintain its composed demeanor. It couldn’t help but throw in a subtle dig at her."

"What else was there to understand?"

"A paper tiger!" one staff member remarked sharply. Admittedly, seeing an enemy like this eased the pressure on everyone, at least a little.

Upon closer reflection, the things it had done in the original story were things ordinary humans could achieve. Though it called itself a "god," it was far from the divine beings commonly imagined on Tianlanxing.

"It’s like when fighting for territory—who wouldn’t want an enemy like Emperor Gaozong of Song (a notoriously weak historical ruler)? The more useless Xian Zhaxigua is, the better it is for Tianlanxing."

"Then why did the original story still lead to an apocalypse?" This left everyone baffled.

Did Xian Zhaxigua, the so-called evil god, have some ace up its sleeve?

At the very least, it dared to call itself a god, so it wasn’t surprising if it had some self-preservation skills. But Tianlanxing should have been prepared long ago.

"After gathering enough intel, Cai Zhixuan decisively called the police."

"Or was she caught while trying to report it? Before the cops could blink, it threw a tantrum and went nuclear, catching them off guard?"

"Or maybe the police just didn’t believe Cai Zhixuan’s words?"

"Would Cai Zhixuan have been dismissed as a prankster?" The staff put themselves in the shoes of the police. Before the prophecy book arrived, before they could hear Sheng Qingquan’s inner thoughts, they had all been hardcore skeptics.

Even the most superstitious among them—a medical worker—admitted that his superstitions were limited to refusing to eat mangoes or dragon fruit, avoiding Wangzai milk, and never saying things like 'It’s not busy today' or 'We’ve got some free time.'"

Just to avoid jinxing things.

Not because he actually believed morgue drawers would open on their own and corpses would crawl out.

If they ever saw a corpse moving, their first instinct wouldn’t be to assume it was a ghost—they’d immediately wheel it into the emergency room for a checkup. Most likely, the person wasn’t completely dead. Just clinically dead but revivable.

Given that, if they were the police and someone came in claiming to know the culprit behind the recent massive explosions—only to say it wasn’t a human but a no-name interloper deity named Xian Zhaxigua—their reaction wouldn’t be excitement.

"You pulling my leg?!"

"Xian Zhaxigua? Kid, if you want a fresh-squeezed watermelon drink, go to a smoothie bar or juice joint. Don’t waste our time here."

"Making a fake police report is illegal. Serious cases can lead to detention or fines. But since you’re young, we’ll let it slide with a warning. Don’t do it again. The police are busy—don’t waste our resources."

Or, more cautiously, they might take her into an interview room: "Alright, you’re safe here. If you have any real leads, you can tell us now. No need to keep feeding us a line to cover up the truth."

"Did you see the perp committing the crime? Time, location, how many suspects, male or female, appearance, heavy or thin, how tall?"

"Or did you stumble upon some related clues? You can tell us that too."

No way would they believe in the existence of gods—especially not some random outsider deity that had never even been mentioned in folk legends. The less credible it sounded, the less seriously they’d take it.

Come to think of it, could it be that in the original story, the fall of Tianlan was actually because nobody believed in superstitions?!

When Cai Zhixuan went to the police, no one believed her. As a student, she couldn’t find any better options. Even if she told her parents, would they believe something the police didn’t?

With no way to get help, if Xianzhaxigua found out what she had done, things would end badly for her.

Everyone held their breath.

“After going to the police, they didn’t believe her.”

No surprise there.

The team sighed. Although Liu Caiyi had guessed this possibility, hearing it out loud still left her deeply disappointed.

She couldn’t resist opening WeChat and clicking on Cai Zhixuan’s profile.

They were friends on the app but rarely chatted. Their last conversation was last year when Cai Zhixuan had asked to borrow her exam papers.

But now, even though she knew nothing had happened yet and Cai Zhixuan should be safe, she couldn’t suppress her worry and wanted to confirm it.

Liu Caiyi thumbed the screen nervously, hesitating.

After waffling, she still couldn’t hold back and sent a message: “You there?”

She usually rolled her eyes at “Are you there?” texts, but right now, apart from those two words, Liu Caiyi truly didn’t know what else to say.

Cai Zhixuan didn’t reply for a long time.

Liu Caiyi clutched her phone, rationally aware that the other person might just not have seen it yet. After all, it was vacation time—not everyone would be on their phone 24/7. She might be traveling, sleeping in, or engrossed in a game on her computer…

Under normal circumstances, Liu Caiyi wouldn’t overthink a delayed reply. But at this moment, her gut twisted the longer she waited. She couldn’t help suspecting that something had happened to Cai Zhixuan—that she might already have been targeted by that evil god.

“The police didn’t believe her, but they didn’t dismiss it as a prank either.”

“After all, for major cases like these, no tip is too small. Even if Cai Zhixuan’s claims sounded out there, the fact remained that no traces of human involvement had been found in the two explosions so far.”

“The crime scene team found no residue of explosives. Like the school just decided to explode, without any external trigger.”

“Of course, rather than blaming magic, the officers suspected that a genius might have developed a new type of explosive.”

“This new explosive could be entirely different from known varieties, using unfamiliar materials, which would explain the lack of detectable traces.”

“Moreover, for experienced cops, detecting lies wasn’t just about logic—it was also instinct.”

“Some skilled criminals could craft flawless alibis and clean records, but veteran officers could smell a rat and hound them until evidence surfaced.”

“Many suspects had been caught this way in the past.”

“If Cai Zhixuan had been lying, she’d never slip past them. Everyone could tell she wasn’t deceiving them.”

“Or at least, she believed she wasn’t lying.”

“Perhaps Cai Zhixuan had been misled, and the real culprit was mocking the cops.”

“This was the initial assumption, but Cai Zhixuan had come prepared. She revealed Xianzhaxigua’s next target.”

"Xian Zhaxihua isn’t exactly the patient type. It’s itching to see results, so it acts quickly. The ink wasn’t even dry on their plan before it had already picked its next target, poised to make its move."

"This time, it had its eye on the mayor of Yunteng City. It planned to blow up the bridge over the river on the mayor’s usual commute route early in the morning, causing the mayor’s car to plunge into the river. Then, it would work its magic to ensure the mayor survived."

"Originally, this would only prove who the next target was, not that the culprit wasn’t human."

"The key point, besides this, was something else Cai Zhixuan mentioned."

"Despite Xian Zhaxihua initially claiming she was its first believer, implying she was the only one who knew the truth and had been chosen to collaborate with it..."

"Later, after being provoked by Cai Zhixuan, Xian Zhaxihua spilled the beans—maybe on purpose—to light a fire under her. Or perhaps it was intentional, to make her feel threatened and work harder for it."

"Xian Zhaxihua understands the principle of throwing out lots of lines to reel in more suckers."

"It had selected many 'lucky winners' from wish-makers across Tianlanxing."

"Aside from the explosions at Yunteng University and its sister school being wish-related, a gas poisoning incident in Linqian City came from a wish."

"A young woman, a new mother, had a baby who was crying nonstop. No amount of soothing or medical help worked, so she resorted to mystical stuff, praying for the baby to stop crying."

"Later, the baby indeed stopped crying."

Everyone realized what happened to the baby.

Dead, of course, it would never cry again. Silent forever.

"An accident in Mingfeng City. A worker, dead on his feet from overtime, fell down a short indoor staircase—only two freaking floors—and still managed to die from the fall."

"The reason? The worker had wished for a paid long vacation to rest properly."

"Xian Zhaxihua had intended to break his leg—after all, how could he work with a broken leg? He’d have to rest, and since it happened at work, it’d be paid leave, with the company covering medical expenses."

"But it screwed up the angle and ended up sending him straight to the grave."

"A plane malfunction in Baiju Province. The plane had already taken off when a fault was detected, making it turn tail."

"Yet upon inspection, the plane was perfectly fine, as if the earlier warning had been false. Even so, the plane wasn’t about to risk flying again that day."

"An old man, unwilling to let his child work abroad, had wished for the child to stay in the country and keep him company."

"The child’s destination was remote, serviced only by that one flight. With the plane grounded until safety was confirmed, the child couldn’t leave. If they still insisted on going, they’d likely end up with a broken leg."

"And then there was Lujie Province..."

"Holy crap!"

Sheng Qingquan leaned back in tactical astonishment.

"So this evil god specializes in literal wish-granting, huh?"

"None of the outcomes were what the wish-makers truly wanted, but you can’t say the wishes didn’t technically come true."

"Regardless of the methods, every wish was technically fulfilled."

["‘Back when I first descended, I didn’t understand humans well enough. I botched it a bunch of times, burning through my power without even being able to follow up,’ Xian Zhaxihua said carelessly to Cai Zhixuan."]

["‘But some of those can still be repurposed. Like that mother who is dying to get her baby back—you can approach her later, tell her that by worshipping me, she can conceive again, and the dead child will come back as her new kid.’"]

"After terrorizing Cai Zhixuan, Xianzha Xigua further warned that it could replace her as its vessel/spokesperson anytime if she disobeyed. After listing all its 'exploits' one by one, it was satisfied to see Cai Zhixuan turn pale, her eyes wide with terror."

"Pleased to hear Cai Zhixuan pledge fervently that she would work hard to harvest believers for it."

"Though frightened by Xianzha Xigua's threats, Cai Zhixuan committed every detail to memory. Now, all of it came in handy."

"Initially, with no evidence of external interference, foul play was ruled out. Local police had assumed these incidents were either accidents or suicides, never suspecting anything else."

"Now that the truth was pointed out, further investigation revealed some cases defied all scientific explanation."

"Still, if forced to rationalize, explanations could be found. Take the plane malfunction—though no signs of hacking were detected—could be chalked up to the work of an exceptionally skilled hacker who left no trace, making it seem supernatural."

"When Cai Zhixuan, following the evil god's instructions, contacted the mayor of Yunteng City, the mayor said he'd worship Xianzha Xigua but requested an audience to 'witness its divine form.'"

"The mayor's position carried clout—otherwise, Xianzha Xigua wouldn’t have targeted him. So, after hearing Cai Zhixuan’s message, the evil god didn’t hesitate long before agreeing."

"After a ceremonial show of incense-burning, bathing, and changing clothes, Xianzha Xigua appeared before the mayor."

"Witnessing a monstrous entity with dozens of eyes, two wings, and seven tails manifest out of nowhere—even smelling its foul stench—the mayor asked to touch its form. Confirming it wasn’t some high-tech projection but a real creature, the mayor couldn't deny it anymore."

"Once convinced, the mayor enthusiastically brought in converts to meet the 'divine being.' Despite precautions to avoid surveillance, numerous people personally verified the evil god’s existence."

"Everything Cai Zhixuan said was true."

"The full severity of the situation hit them."

"But when they attempted to eliminate the evil god, they discovered that while Xianzha Xigua was weak—lacking even the abilities of many legendary monsters—its defenses were formidable. During their false alliance, they realized Tianlanxing’s existing weapons couldn’t harm it."

"This forced them to tread carefully."

"Then, as if misfortune piled on, Xianzha Xigua sensed something amiss."

"It wasn’t sudden omniscience, poor acting, or Cai Zhixuan’s slip-up."

"Even with its limited intellect, Xianzha Xigua noticed a glaring inconsistency: despite amassing so many devoted followers—willing to live, die, and do anything for it—its power remained stagnant."

"No amount of excuses—like 'Tianlanxing’s faith is impure'—could explain this. Even low-quality faith should’ve triggered some growth by sheer volume."

"With so many believers, why was there zero progress?"

"The sweet lies clouding Xianzha Xigua’s mind abruptly cleared."

"Only one explanation fit: it had been deceived. These were all false believers!"