With cannon fodder, become the best in the world

Zhou Yun followed her footsteps and entered the room. The room was filled with incense. In the center of the hall was a statue of a handsome young man wearing armor and holding a long sword. The statue's head was tilted upward, and his eyes seemed to be high above, looking down at all the people.

Zi Ru took out the steamed bun and placed it on the table in front of the statue with a respectful look on her face and an extremely pious look in her eyes.

There were some other offerings on the table, and incense was burning continuously on the incense table.

Zi Ru knelt down and said to the statue: "Your Highness, God of War, please show up and save Shuofang City. Please save my brother and bless him to get better soon. Please listen to my prayers. I will work like a slave to repay you in the future."

Zhou Yun stared at the statue for a long time, but he did not feel any compassion from the statue's eyes when it looked at all living beings. Instead, it made him feel that the statue was unattainable, like a high and mighty god looking at an ant.

Zhou Yun saw Zi Ru had stood up, so she stepped forward and said, "If your brother is sick, you should go see a doctor. What's the point of praying to God?"

Zi Ru quickly grabbed Zhou Yun's hand, shook her head, and said nervously: "Princess, you must not say anything that belittles and slanders the gods, otherwise you will be punished by the gods."

Zhou Yun glanced at the people who were still blindly praying for the gods' protection. Everyone had a numb look on their faces, but there was still a glimmer of hope in their eyes. Perhaps they didn't know if praying like this would be successful, but if they didn't pray, they were afraid that the gods wouldn't know.

Zhou Yun's heart was suddenly filled with sadness. Even the emperor failed to invite the gods down from the altar. How could the common people invite them down? If they could, they would have come down long ago.

Seeing that Zhou Yun had not moved, and that there was a cold look in Zhou Yun's eyes when he looked at the statue, Zi Ru hurried over to hold Zhou Yun's hand and said, "Princess, you cannot look at the gods like this. You cannot despise or slander the gods, otherwise the gods will bring down a disaster."

The girl spoke in a clear and sharp voice: "Since the gods know that I speak words of contempt and slander, why can't they hear the prayers of the people? Why can't they see the disaster that is happening to the whole world?"

Zi Ru stepped forward and covered Zhou Yun's mouth: "Princess, no! No, the gods will punish you."

Zhou Yun pushed Zi Ru away and walked to the front of the statue. The girl's clear and powerful voice rang out: "Am I wrong? Nowadays, the world is plagued by disasters, and people are suffering. Since the gods enjoy the incense of the world, why don't they show up to do something for the world? Can they only enjoy the offerings but can't hear the people's voices? Can't they see the sufferings of the world? If he really can't hear the people's voices and can't see the sufferings of the world, then why can I see and hear me when I despise him and slander him? Can he only listen to flattery and can't hear the sufferings of the world?"

The people who were lighting incense were stunned and suddenly looked confused. They didn't know what was going on. The rule of this world was that mortals worshipped gods and begged for protection from gods, hoping that gods would bless them with good weather, no diseases, no natural disasters, and no chaos from demons.

In the past, the gods would appear to solve problems as long as they heard them, but in the past hundred years, the gods have not appeared for a long time. In their generation, they have basically never seen the gods, and have only heard of legends.

Zhou Yun raised his fingers slightly and drew a few strokes in the air with his fingertips. An attack symbol flew towards the direction of the statue. The statue suddenly flashed with golden light and hit the attack back.

Zhou Yun dodged hastily, and the huge impact caused the people who were closer to the statue to almost suffer as well.

Outside the temple, thunder rumbled and the sky gradually darkened. The roar of evil spirits could be heard, as if it was going to tear the sky apart.

Zi Ru was so frightened that her face turned pale, her whole body froze in place, and she said in great panic: "The God... is... angry. He... he will definitely punish us. We are doomed."

When the surviving people saw this, they were all horrified. They looked towards Zhou Yun. The punishment from the gods was directed in the direction where Zhou Yun was standing. Zhou Yun avoided it, but innocent people were harmed.

Zhou Yun said in a deep voice: "You say that the gods can save you, but in fact they cannot hear your prayers at all. Instead, they can hear clearly the words that slander them. In their eyes, mortals are nothing but ants. What ants ask for is not worth mentioning. If ants have complaints, they can turn you into ashes with just a wave of their hands."

Some people began to waver. An old man suddenly knelt on the ground, covering his face, and cried loudly: "The gods don't care about us anymore, what should we do? General Zhou has been guarding the city for several years, and the demons have not decreased, but increased. There is no food in the city, and we can only wait to die."

A woman holding a child cried softly, "We really have no way to survive."

The others also started crying, expressing their confusion and despair about the future. They had been begging for many years, and the country was already in tatters, with fewer and fewer people alive. If this continued, all living creatures in the entire wilderness would be doomed to die.

Zhou Yun walked to the corners of the temple and pasted talismans in every corner, then said to the people: "There is no way to survive, why bother to pray to the gods? Anyway, the gods will not care whether we live or die."

The people kneeling on the ground cried more and more desperately.

“In that case, what’s wrong with blowing up this temple? The gods think they are high and mighty, and they receive so much incense and offerings from mortals, but they don’t care about the sufferings of mortals. Then we must let the gods see the power of the Mayfly Tree.” Zhou Yun’s voice was deep, with a hint of cold cruelty.

The people stared at the statue blankly. Their pious eyes gradually cracked and their faces showed hesitation. They still had some hope in their hearts, hoping that the god would really appear. If he could, it would prove that the god could see their prayers. But the tragic situation over the years had extinguished their hope.

Zhou Yun's voice was clear and shallow, with some unquestionable certainty: "We have prayed for so long before, but the God of War didn't respond at all. Now he thinks we have offended him. Anyway, we have already offended him, so why not ask him to show up and have a good talk with everyone? He has accepted so many offerings, but is unwilling to solve the sufferings of the world. Why is that? He must give us an explanation. Now that we all have no way to survive, we must die with understanding!"