Title: A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse
Translator: Little Bamboo Spirit
Chapter 223 - Then I want the guy that's the tallest and most handsome! (1)
The dense mass of people remained kneeling and deeply bowed in front of the metal cage. It was their most devout salute that was used during ceremonies.
Seeing that no one responded to her command, Yawen gritted her teeth. She walked into the crowd, leaned over, and pulled out a knife hanging from someone's waist.
The sharp blade reflected the blazing fire on the trees. Yawen gripped the knife and walked toward the imprisoned Bei Nuan with murderous intent.
Bei Nuan looked at Yawen. Was she going to kill her for no reason? In that case, setting her on fire would be self-defense.
Bei Nuan stared at her and raised her hand, ready to touch her head. Just when her fingers were about to touch her head, she heard a clear and firm voice coming from behind the group of kneeling people.
"Yawen, what are you doing?"
Jia Han had come over here in a hurry and brought a large group of people with him. He was walking too quickly, and his white robe was billowing in the night wind.
The people behind him caught sight of Bei Nuan, the monkey on her head, and the blazing trees. In unison, they also knelt down.
Only Jia Han remained standing. He glanced at Bei Nuan without any special reaction. It was as if the sight of several burning trees and the sound of crackling as they fiercely burnt, a girl in the cage by those trees, and a monkey on the girl's head was extremely normal and within his expectation.
Jia Han turned to Yawen. His voice was calm without any emotion.
"Never mind that you're not kneeling. Why are you holding a knife?"
Yawen held the knife and blankly looked at Jia Han. She suddenly flung the knife away with a thud and ran away.
Jia Han didn't continue looking at her. He walked to the cage and crossed his arms on his chest and bowed.
Bei Nuan saw that he once again saluted her with the most respectful bow that he had shown her earlier today.
"The Saint has descended to the mortal realm to kindly bless us with good fortune."
Bei Nuan: Huh?
Ten minutes later, Bei Nuan was no longer in the cage. She was comfortably sitting in Jia Han's house. Great Sage was sitting on her shoulder, and she was sipping a cup of hot tea.
After serving her that cup of tea, Jia Han sat down in the wooden chair next to Bei Nuan and ordered the person behind them, "Bring over the portrait of the saint."
That person respectfully agreed and soon came back with a large box. The box was made of old-fashioned mahogany, carved with delicate patterns, and locked with an old-fashioned copper lock.
Jia Han took out the key, opened the lock, and handed the painting inside to Bei Nuan.
It wasn't a big painting, only slightly over two square feet. It was painted on cloth. The cloth had changed colors from age and looked quite old.
As soon as Bei Nuan clearly saw the painting, she was stunned.
It was a painting of a girl sitting crossed legged and draped with a blanket embroidered with complicated patterns with tassels on the edges. Next to her, there were several large torches. There were narrow, lightly drawn vertical lines in front of her. Most importantly, there was a little monkey hugging her head. The girl's eyes were round, and so were the monkey's.
This was the exact scene from earlier.
Bei Nuan: "..."
"This painting has been passed down in our tribe for countless generations," Jia Han explained, "Our tribe has a prophecy that the evil god, Xiuye, will take over the world and bring a disaster that will destroy the world. Countless people will die in this disaster. However, the water god hasn't given up on the world."
"A saint favored by the water god will descend to the mortal world and save everyone. This painting is a portrait of the saint. Every time we hold a sacrificial ceremony, we'll hang this painting up for worship. That's why everyone immediately recognized you as the saint earlier."
No matter how she looked at it, she found it funny that there was a monkey hugging the saint's head. Still, there was no doubt that she looked very similar to the saint in the painting. It was as if the painter had witnessed the scene earlier.
Bei Nuan returned to her senses and couldn't quite find the right words to say.
"Doesn't the tribe already have a saint?" She asked.
The saint that had let Xiuye's evil temptations get the better of her, almost tried to kill her, and threw away the knife and ran away. In the end, no one chased after her.
"Yawen was found by my father, the former chief."
Jia Han's tone was gentle and objective as he told Bei Nuan about Yawen's origins.
As it turned out, back when his father was the chief, his father had passed by a remote village. That village worshiped monkeys as gods, and the village was full of monkeys. There was a family in the village that guarded the temple dedicated to monkeys. The daughter in that family played with monkeys every day. That daughter was very young, but she was pretty with a clever mind.
When Jia Han's father saw her, he thought she might be the prophesied saint.
"Yawen has had a sweet-mouth since she was a child and is good at coaxing people, including my father. Her status as a saint has been very stable over the past years."