They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 178 The Man in the Black Smoke

Yes, kill him.

Once he kills everyone, he won't have to worry about anything or waste time and effort thinking.

He's going to die anyway, so since he's suffering so much every day, he might as well have everyone come and keep him company, so that everyone will be free from pain.

The best ending in this world is when no one survives...

"Where did this idiotic idea come from?"

"boom!"

Lia casually smashed a brick on the factory owner's head; he didn't die, but just passed out.

Lia threw down the brick: "That's settled. Let's leave quickly while no one's watching, because the others will be here soon."

If he's lucky, he'll suffer intermittent amnesia from the impact, his memory of us will gradually fade, and he'll be pleasantly surprised when we come again.

“You…” Ivand looked incredulously at the fallen factory owner, then at the blood-stained bricks that Ria had thrown aside.

He was clearly surprised that Ria actually dared to make a move, and immediately began to admire him from the bottom of his heart.

"Compared to you, I lack courage."

"How could that be? I think you are very brave. A normal person wouldn't dare to confront a capitalist in this physical condition."

Lia said casually, then patted the dust off her palms and temporarily hid a short distance away with Ivand to observe the situation.

As he walked through the woods, he wondered why he had that thought—why would he suddenly want to kill someone?

Lia speculated that this might be because the mind, which had been suppressed for too long, needed to relax. Everyone has destructive thoughts, and often the body will unconsciously do things that please the subconscious without the need for the brain to react.

For example, suddenly kicking a stone aside, inexplicably kicking a trash can, or wanting to smash someone's head in the face, letting their brains splatter all over your face...

Okay, the last one isn't normal.

Another possibility is that the impulsive act just now was a negative effect of the namelessness.

He is an old god, and His existence is chaos. People will gradually lose their rationality and become extreme and out of control under His unconscious influence.

Back in Grani, the townspeople were influenced by the abyss and began to reproduce with one another. With such examples, it's not hard for Ria to understand why her thinking had become so extreme.

However, wanting to kill indiscriminately is not a good idea.

For Ria, to act recklessly without reason before becoming powerful was pure idiocy. He had reason to believe that he would be beaten to death by the Order Association before he could even run two blocks.

This is just a metaphor. Those people may not be able to beat him to death with sticks, but they will always have other ways to deal with him. Going crazy indiscriminately comes at a price, and Lia believes that such a price is not worth it.

His primary motivation is being a black marketeer; his mind and reason are his bottom line, and this must never be crossed, otherwise the consequences are unpredictable.

"I need to calm down. I can't become like those faceless idiots."

He took a deep breath and, together with Ivand, found a place to lie in wait.

As Lia had predicted, the enraged workers' families arrived, marching in large groups with banners reading "Protest," "Give Us Compensation," and "Stop the Oppression." It seemed they had contacted many of their own people along the way.

This is a bit of a hassle, but who would complain about the trouble of asking for money?

That sum of money was no small amount. Ria and Ivand watched as the unconscious factory owner on the ground was shaken awake by being grabbed by the collar. A group of people surrounded him, questioning why he hadn't paid compensation and demanding payment for absenteeism.

“If you can’t give us a satisfactory answer today, we’ll take you to the church right now—our car is still parked nearby.”

"what are you guys saying?"

The factory owner had clearly just woken up and was still somewhat dazed, but gradually he came to his senses and looked at the group of people in front of him, his anger rising.

But he was smart; he knew he couldn't go head-to-head with so many people.

"Please wait a moment, I'll go back to the factory to get the list and check it against the records. I'll definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

What if you run away after I tell you to go back like this?

“How could I possibly run away? My factory is still here.”

The man smiled a few times at the crowd, then turned and ran into the factory. To prevent him from escaping, the people who came to demand money surrounded the room.

One minute, two minutes, ten minutes passed.

“Ha…” Ivand couldn’t help but yawn.

He looked at Ria: "That person probably won't dare to come out."

Ria looked up at the chimney billowing black smoke, and silently opened one eye under her eye to stare at the thin, endless plume of black smoke.

Gradually, the black smoke seemed to change. Its shape twisted, somewhat resembling an elongated old man, thin and bony, half skin and half a complete skeleton.

However, that was just a vague image; its true form was still black smoke, with a darker color gamut resembling its face.

The figure had its mouth wide open and its eyes wide open, reminding Ria of Edvard Munch's "The Scream," except that the figure's expression was even more exaggerated than in the painting.

It seemed to be screaming, its face gradually stretching longer, and with each stretch, it screamed even more desperately.

The sound was like a swarm of mosquitoes gathered in front of a megaphone, buzzing incessantly with their wings. Ivand and Ria immediately felt a headache coming on, and they covered their heads and gritted their teeth. Those who were closer to the black smoke were obviously in worse shape.

They collapsed to the ground, groaning in agony. The factory owner came out and stood at the doorway, admiring their miserable state. The thin, elongated figure in the chimney was clearly his doing.

"So what if we don't offer compensation? You lowly scoundrels actually dare to sue us? What a joke."

"By the way, since 'it' is hungry anyway, and you've come all this way, why don't you just come work at my factory instead of going back!"

The man whistled, and the sound from the chimney immediately disappeared. He then called for helpers from the factory to drag the crowd outside into the factory.

It seems that if Ria hadn't swung the bricks so quickly earlier, they would have been unable to escape this fate as well.

"This seems different from what you said."

Ivand pressed his scalp with a look of excruciating pain, while Ria was in much better condition, probably because he had developed resistance to the pollution.

"People make mistakes in judgment. Should we continue with that plan, or do you have something better?"

Ria's expression remained unchanged, and Ivand had no idea what he was thinking.

In fact, since the factory is related to the supernatural, its development could not possibly be as smooth as Ria said. If he hadn't said that, Ivand wouldn't have been able to bring the workers' families here.

(End of this chapter)