Becoming a God Starts with Acting
Chapter 147: [The Corpse Collector] (23)

Chapter 147: [The Corpse Collector] (23)

In just one night, the village had become entirely a memory—so devastated there wasn’t even a place to set foot. The scene was unimaginably hopeless. Yet, no one wept over this sight, not a single villager entered Silvanus’s line of vision.

Silvanus walked quickly, his brows tightly furrowed.

He tried to recall what had happened the previous night, but everything in his mind was hazy and chaotic—more chaotic than a ridiculous dream. It felt like countless scenes were swirling and merging into each other, making it impossible to distinguish reality from illusion.

All he could remember was a lot of fire fireworks... yet everything felt so cold. And then, Silas pulled him up onto the shore.

The shore?

Silvanus’s steps slowed instinctively, and by now, he had already approached the lake.

The lake’s surface had turned completely pitch-black. Rather than looking like a body of water, it resembled a filthy, stinking black swamp. Silvanus even wondered if it was sticky to the touch.

But his attention wasn’t entirely on the lake water—because what was floating on the surface was far more striking.

Countless corpses drifted across the eerily still lake. All of them were grotesquely swollen—their bellies bloated as if they were seven or eight months pregnant. Their bodies were puffed up and seemed to be decomposing, even though only a single night had passed.

Silvanus spotted Ciel’s body nearby. His corpse had bloated so severely that his clothes had split open, revealing purplish-blue, bruised flesh beneath. His face was distorted and twisted in agony, eyes rolled back to show only the whites as if frozen in torment.

His body was even more grotesquely swollen than the one Silvanus had seen earlier during Silas’s corpse retrieval mission. What stood out, however, was that Ciel’s mouth was wide open—stuffed full of black hair.

Not just him—many of the others were in similar states. But Ciel’s case seemed far worse. Coiled black hair strands floated across his massive body, almost concealing his face. On closer look, the strands were wriggling, constantly shifting—like hair-shaped worms—squirming and struggling to escape the corpses they were birthed from. Their movement caused small ripples to spread across the lake’s surface.

Ciel’s belly heaved slightly, bulging and twisting as if something inside was trying to get out.

"BOOM!"

Suddenly, Ciel’s massive stomach burst open. Chunks of flesh, shattered organs, black slime, and unidentifiable matter sprayed violently, splattering across the lake’s surface. The stench was so foul that even from a distance, Silvanus could smell it.

The odor was a horrifying blend of rotting trash, spoiled meat, rotten eggs, and metallic blood—suffocating, sour, sickly sweet, and so nauseating that a single whiff would haunt you forever.

For the first time, Silvanus realized that even the monsters had smelled better than this.

[...This is utterly disgusting...]

[Ugh, I did throw up. How am I supposed to eat dinner after this? This isn’t very pleasant. I’d rather look at a pile of mangled flesh mixed with brain matter than witness this scene!]

[Give me back the peace of mind I had five minutes ago—please!]

Silvanus couldn’t help but frown slightly at the scene before him. The wriggling strands of hair crawling around made him wonder if the lake had turned black because of them—because these strands were slithering all across the surface.

The thought alone made Silvanus seriously consider abandoning the mission. He’d never willingly dive into that water with those things squirming around.

"If I hadn’t pulled you back last night, you would’ve ended up just like them."

Silas’s calm voice came from beside him.

Silas had regained his usual cold composure by now, speaking slowly and evenly.

Silvanus glanced at Silas, then asked, "Did you see my friends? The red-haired and blond guys—you’ve met them before."

He referred to the night Ryan and Lucian had come looking for Silas.

But Silas furrowed his brows and replied, "I’ve never met them. I didn’t see them at all last night. Maybe they were dragged down into the lake along with the others."

Silas’s expression didn’t look like he was lying. Was it possible that not only the viewers were denied the scene of Silas meeting Ryan and Lucian, but even Silas himself retained no memory of it?

Silvanus suddenly regretted not asking Ryan for details about that encounter, though he figured Ryan probably wouldn’t have given him any helpful answers anyway.

But... Silas didn’t see Ryan or Lucian last night? Then where did they go?

It was almost instinctual—Silvanus didn’t believe those two would be killed so easily, especially since they hadn’t eaten any of Aboli’s meat.

Based on Silvanus’s suspicions, Aboli’s meat might have triggered everyone to this gruesome end.

He couldn’t help but glance at the comments.

[If Silvanus hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t have noticed—has anyone seen Ryan or Lucian’s bodies?]

[Probably dead in some ditch, maybe sunk to the bottom of the lake, haha.]

[You think those two would die that easily? They didn’t even eat the meat...]

[If I’m not mistaken, they disappeared right when everything went to hell—like they just vanished into thin air.]

[They abandoned Silvanus. He should be crying right now, haha.]

[Ooh, now this is interesting, haha.]

[Someone’s crying for Captain Silvanus already. Brutal stuff. I even feel bad for Julie now, haha.]

[If you felt bad for her, you wouldn’t laugh that hard...]

[This is so weird. I’d lose my mind if Silvanus got treated like that, but I get weirdly excited when it happens to other characters.]

[Alright, alright, that’s our instincts at work. Let’s say Silvanus is the exception—but the truth is, I am waiting for the scene where he gets his stomach cut open.]

[Only twisted people enjoy scenes like that, okay? I’m not into it.]

[Come on, I don’t even know what category I fall into, but I’m not human, so don’t talk to me about humanity here.]

The comment section was noisy, but Silvanus caught onto a key piece of information.

Julie?

He had almost completely forgotten about her after waking up. Last night, she’d been locked in a room by the others, but now... it seemed she was somewhere entirely different—and being tortured.

There was no need to guess who her tormentor was. It had to be Bryan.

Outside, Silvanus suddenly turned his head toward Silas, looking somewhat startled. He quickly asked, "Right—where’s Julie? Is she still safe?"

[Oh my god, Silvanus remembered Julie! She’s officially the female lead now!]

[The female lead? Looking like that? Lol]

[Too bad, the "female lead" is currently locked in the underground basement of the village chief’s house. Silvanus will never see her again—unless he lets Bryan catch him.]

[I wonder... if Silvanus went up against Bryan, who’d win?]

[Silvanus has Silas on his side, but Bryan’s got his "parents." It’d be hard to say who has the upper hand.]

[No point comparing humans to monsters—that’s just reality.]

Before Silas could even answer, the information Silvanus wanted had already revealed itself.

Of course, he’d never truly cared whether Julie lived or died. To him, she was just another NPC. But Bryan—Bryan was a lead worth pursuing. Catching him might reveal something about the two missing bodies. And it seemed he wouldn’t have to waste time searching after all because the two bodies were likely already with Bryan.

Silvanus curled his lips into a faint smirk that disappeared so quickly. Those who managed to catch it weren’t sure if they’d imagined it.

Suddenly, Silvanus shoved Silas aside and said, "Alright. I don’t need you anymore."

And with that, he walked off on his own.

Behind him, Silas furrowed his brows slightly. "You plan to go without my help?"

Silvanus turned his head. His jewel-like eyes were devoid of emotion as he asked, "How much do you know?"

Silas raised an eyebrow. The two stared at each other for a long moment. Just before Silvanus could lose his patience and leave, Silas spoke slowly:

"Until recently, I thought I knew everything. I saw through this life so thoroughly that nothing had meaning anymore. It was easy to read the minds and motives of these petty humans. But ever since you appeared... I’ve realized there’s something I can’t see through. So I’ll ask you again—what are you, exactly?"

Silas’s eyes narrowed slightly as if trying to pierce through Silvanus’s soul, searching for whatever secrets lay hidden within.

"You should be asking yourself that question," Silvanus replied mockingly.

Now he could confirm it—Silas wasn’t human. At the very least, he wasn’t normal.

Silas stared at him, then finally said, "Let’s go. I truly can’t wait for the moment I rip your infuriating eyes out."

He turned and led the way, leaving the corpse-filled lake behind them.

Silvanus didn’t notice Silas casually flick his wrist—at that motion, the bloated corpses floating across the lake were suddenly dragged downward, stretched like noodles into the powerful whirlpools that appeared out of nowhere.

In no time, the corpses had vanished as if they were never there. But the lake remained pitch black—no longer the body of water that once nourished the village and watched over countless births and deaths.