All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 8: Contracting The Goddess

“Could it be this crown?” Zhanyue looked at the golden crown on the female corpse’s head. It was the only object in the coffin that could be considered an artifact.

“Excuse me.” Zhanyue touched the golden crown, but the legendary contract still didn’t form. “Not this either?” Zhanyue’s face was now pale white. The palpitation had become extremely strong, but he just couldn’t find the so-called contract object.

“It couldn’t be the clothes this female corpse is wearing, could it?” Zhanyue felt a headache coming on. If that were the case, it would be too embarrassing and insulting. He tried touching the white dress on the woman’s body. As expected, nothing happened. Zhanyue let out a long sigh of relief, “Thank god, I almost became a pervert. If the contract object were a set of women’s clothing, I’d rather die.”

“I’ve tried everything. Wait it couldn’t be…” Zhanyue thought it more and more impossible, but… the fact was that this was the only possibility left. He mustered up his courage and looked at the female corpse again, praying in his heart, asking for heaven’s forgiveness.

“Excuse me.” Zhanyue could touch the corpse’s hand or foot, but he was inexplicably drawn to reach for the corpse’s pale cheek. The moment his hand made contact with the corpse, a feeling like an electric shock filled Zhanyue’s entire body.

The previously cold corpse suddenly opened its eyes. Their gazes met, scaring Zhanyue out of his wits. He immediately withdrew his hand and fell sitting on the ground.

The ‘female corpse’ suddenly sat up, looking at Zhanyue with an incredibly complex gaze. How could such a thing happen in this world?

“Are… are you human or ghost?” Zhanyue scrambled away, still unable to believe what was happening before his eyes.

“Human? Ghost? No, I am neither human nor ghost, but your contract object,” the woman said. She seemed to have quickly understood the situation.

“No… impossible. The first iron law of contracts is that humans can’t become contract objects,” Zhanyue said, his mind calming a bit as he saw the woman didn’t seem to intend to harm him.

“Of course humans can’t become contract objects, but what about just a corpse? I can confirm that I’m already dead, only ‘revived’ because the corpse became your contract object,” the woman calmly accepted this fact, much more composed than Zhanyue.

“How… how can this be?” Zhanyue was speechless, encountering such a strange event. “So you’ve been resurrected? And who are you?”

The woman shook her head, “I only exist as a contract object, not truly resurrected. My soul hasn’t dissipated, my consciousness has returned, but I’m not an independent living being. If you die, I’ll immediately return to being a cold corpse. As for who I am? My name in life was — Xixuan.”

“Xixuan? This name sounds familiar…” Zhanyue suddenly realized something and sprang up from the ground, “Xixuan? illumination Goddess… you’re the illumination Goddess… Holy crap!”

The woman nodded. She looked at Zhanyue with confusion, and also looked around at the environment and the crystal coffin, puzzled about who had preserved her corpse here, and how the faith power absorbed by the statue had maintained her soul without dissipating.

“How long have I been dead?” the woman asked curiously, as if she had just woken up from a long sleep.

“According to records, it’s been about… about three thousand years,” Zhanyue answered, thinking to himself that if this matter were exposed, he would probably be hunted down by people across the entire world. The corpse of the illumination Goddess, the faith of all humanity, had become his contract object.

“Over three thousand years? My old friends have probably long passed away. I was already dead, yet here I am. Is my mission still not complete? Sigh…” the woman said somewhat dejectedly.

“What’s the world’s situation now?” Xixuan asked.

“Uh, it’s not something I can explain in a word or two. Let’s leave this place first. It feels strange here. I have books at the inn I’m staying at that can explain things much better than I can,” Zhanyue suggested.

Xixuan showed a rare smile, as warm as sunlight. “There’s nothing to fear when you’re with me.” She grabbed Zhanyue’s shoulders, and the two of them turned into a ball of ghostly light, appearing above Sun City.

“The illumination Tower is still here, which means the Nightmare race hasn’t been eliminated?” Xixuan frowned as she looked at the bright illumination Tower. She remembered that after the great battle back then, humans had achieved a great victory. Why hadn’t the Nightmare race been eliminated?

“We’ll talk about it when we get back. The books have this history written in them,” Zhanyue said, hanging in mid-air, feeling the cool breeze.

“Alright.” Following Zhanyue’s directions, Xixuan quickly brought him back to the inn. The entire process went unnoticed; the illumination Goddess’s power was no ordinary matter.

In the room, Xixuan flipped through the books, sometimes frowning, sometimes sighing. Zhanyue sat quietly to the side, idly observing Xixuan. At this moment, she still didn’t have the rosy skin of a living person, but her eyes were full of life. Sitting there quietly reading books, she looked just like a charming bookworm.

“After my death, humanity went through three internal conflicts. It was these three conflicts that allowed the Nightmare race to catch their breath, and now we’re back to an evenly matched situation,” Xixuan said, her eyes full of sadness. Didn’t this result mean that all those sacrifices made back then were wasted?

“Don’t be so sad. Your efforts are what allowed humanity to persist until now and develop an advanced civilization. Otherwise, with humanity’s tendency for internal strife, they would have been wiped out by the Nightmare race long ago,” Zhanyue comforted her, seeing her thoughts.

Xixuan smiled for the second time, “Thank you for your comfort. Thanks to you, I was able to wake up again. Now I have some urgent matters to confirm, so I’m afraid I’ll have to leave for a while.”

“What? You’re leaving already? I haven’t even figured out the abilities of the contract yet,” Zhanyue had been very excited, thinking that with Xixuan protecting him, he might be the safest person in this world. But Xixuan was going to leave?

“As a contract object, I have my own consciousness and thoughts, which seems a bit unfair to you. But I must clarify some issues, so I have to leave. As for the contract abilities, it’s simple. You have the same power as me, but due to your low realm, you can’t use much of it. At least as a beginner contractor, you should have the strength I had when I was a beginner contractor. As your realm increases, you’ll be able to borrow more of my power. Back then, I was invincible in the same realm. As long as you don’t deliberately seek death, your life should be safe,” Xixuan explained.

“Even if you’re not by my side, I can still borrow your power?” Zhanyue finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“I know what you’re afraid of. Actually, I’m more afraid than you are. After all, if you die, I’ll just be a corpse again. Take this gemstone. In critical moments, it can protect you,” Xixuan removed the red gemstone from her golden crown. Zhanyue felt a scorching energy from this gemstone. This gemstone was called the Sun God Stone, the most important treasure of the illumination Goddess.

“I’m leaving now. Take care of yourself and don’t take unnecessary risks. You don’t want me to become a cold corpse again, do you?” Xixuan finally smiled at Zhanyue. Zhanyue had never imagined the illumination Goddess could be so playful. Xixuan’s smile seemed to be the most beautiful thing in the world. “Actually, you don’t need to be too dejected. If you really encounter danger, I still have some methods.”

“You… you be careful too. I don’t want to become a dead contractor,” Zhanyue said, somewhat reluctantly. The powerful supporter he had just found was leaving again.

Xixuan was no shy young girl. She had experienced many storms and had long since become quite transcendent. In an instant, she turned into a stream of light and flew out the window, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

If not for the scorching heat of the red gemstone in his hand, Zhanyue might have thought it was all a dream again. According to the books, was he a spirit contractor? Beast contractor? Weapon contractor or miscellaneous contractor? It seemed he was none of these. If he were to tell others that his contract object was the corpse of the illumination Goddess, he would probably be immediately charged with insulting the goddess and thrown into prison.

“Can I use her power too?” Zhanyue looked at his right hand, seeming to grasp a beam of light, then threw a punch. His entire fist burst into scorching light, like a small sun. “The illumination Goddess was a light contractor, which means I now have similar abilities?”

“Train hard. Wait for my return,” the illumination Goddess transmitted her final words.

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