Becoming a God Starts with Acting
Chapter 149: [The Corpse Collector] (25)

Chapter 149: [The Corpse Collector] (25)

There was a flicker of surprise on Bryan’s face when he saw Silvanus and Silas suddenly appear, but a crazed tone and a manic smile quickly replaced that surprise.

He didn’t seem particularly intimidated by either Silvanus or Silas.

Silvanus frowned as he looked at Julie’s corpse lying on the table and said coldly, "Do you even know what you’re doing, Bryan?"

At that, Bryan raised an eyebrow. He slowly circled the table, gently caressing Julie’s blood-soaked body—dead in a most tragic way—while speaking in a voice as slow and tender as a lover’s whisper:

"I know... of course, I know what I’m doing... You’ll never understand what I’ve been through! You’ll never know!"

Suddenly, Bryan roared, and at that exact moment, the two monsters beside him also opened their mouths and let out an ear-piercing, wailing scream so shrill and sorrowful that dust from the basement ceiling began to rain down. It felt like the entire underground chamber could collapse at any second under the weight of the earth above.

The creatures were riled up by Bryan’s emotions, ready to lunge and attack Silvanus and Silas on the spot.

But just then, Bryan suddenly raised a hand. The two monsters turned to look at him. The dissatisfaction in their eyes was evident, but they didn’t act out—they only stared at him intensely.

Silvanus could sense the madness within those two creatures as if they could lose control at any moment and tear Bryan apart.

There was no way Bryan wasn’t aware of the danger—or perhaps he knew all too well, but his stubbornness drove him to keep his "parents" by his side. Even if it meant danger, he wanted to leave this village with his "family."

[The twisted sight before my eyes made my heart tremble—does anyone understand?]

[Next time, please don’t give villains tragic backstories to justify their evil... my fragile heart can’t help but feel sorry for Bryan...]

[But then again, think about what he just did to Julie—a girl who was just a child locked in her home when all of this happened...]

[After reading that last comment, I suddenly don’t feel so sorry for Bryan anymore...]

[Still, I don’t like villains with tragic pasts. Next time, screenwriters, please pick a better plot. It can be unrealistic—I want pure evil, evil from the womb!!!]

[Screw the plot—as long as Silvanus is in it, I’d watch it even if the story’s trash!]

"Come now, Mother, Father... take your time. Before we grant them eternal silence, we can let them know what happened." Bryan spoke slowly, lifting his gaze to stare straight at Silvanus. His eyes were like venomous snakes crawling all over Silvanus’s body, whispering their poison.

"Years ago, my family lost our way and wandered into this village. The village chief welcomed us warmly—but it was all just a setup, a stupid, disgusting trap! Because of the village chief’s stupidity, my whole family ended up buried in this place!"

It turned out that Bryan’s family had been hiking back then and accidentally wandered into the village. They explained they needed shelter and asked for help finding their lost son.

It was summer then, and the village was facing a severe crisis—the lake’s water had been mysteriously receding, and fish were becoming noticeably scarce. The village chief predicted that it was the wrath of the gods. A sacrifice was needed to appease them and bring back water and life.

No one knew where the village chief got the sacrificial manual, but he claimed it was a divine decree—that as long as they followed the instructions written in the book, their lake would return to normal.

But the problem was, they didn’t know which family in the village should be sacrificed. No one knew the full details of the ritual, but they were all sure of one thing: nothing good would come of it.

It was as if fate had handed them a pillow when they needed to sleep. While the villagers hesitated, even plotting to harm one another, Bryan’s family appeared—like rain falling on drought-ridden soil. The village welcomed them with open arms, promising that the next morning, they would help search for their missing son—Bryan.

Bryan’s family was overjoyed. But, of course, things would never unfold so smoothly.

That night, the children were locked inside their homes by their mothers and told not to step outside, not even for a moment. The men, following the village chief’s orders, drugged Bryan’s family into unconsciousness and brought them to the sacrificial altar.

Under the chief’s instructions, the daughter had her eyes gouged out, her belly slit open, and her body thrown into the river—while she was still alive, weakly struggling in unbearable pain.

The father was taken to the middle of the river and thrown in. Even if he awoke from suffocation, he drowned quickly. A few days later, his corpse would swell and eventually burst, becoming nutrients for the fish in the river.

The mother was nailed to a wooden board and tortured using the same methods Bryan later used on Julie. Only when she finally died—when there was no breath left in her—was she thrown into the riverbed.

The entire process didn’t resemble a sacrifice at all. It was more like a brutal torture session—so cruel it led to death by sheer agony. That day, the lakeshore was soaked in blood.

As for Bryan, the lost child, he had followed the glow of firelight and stumbled upon the scene, witnessing everything with his own eyes.

He was terrified and devastated, fleeing in a frenzy. He didn’t even know how he managed to escape the forest. When the sun finally rose, he saw the main road and the sunlight shining toward him—everything felt like a dream, everything except the indelible memory etched in his mind. That memory alone proved that it had all been real—not a dream.

Recalling the gleeful faces of those who tortured his family—those expressions like demons deep in the forest—Bryan could only shiver in horror, consumed by boundless hatred.

He reported it to the police, but they couldn’t find that strange village. It was as if everything he’d seen was just a figment of his imagination.

But Bryan was sure—he hadn’t imagined it. He knew the truth, and he knew that he could only rely on himself.

He grew up. Maybe even the heavens were moved by his all-consuming hatred. He eventually found the children of those who had left the village. The smoldering fire of vengeance within him burst into full flame.

He used everything he could to lure those people back to the village. And this time, with the help of his "parents," he let no one escape. The entire town would pay for what they did to his family!

"Silvanus, I like you. Maybe we could’ve been good friends," Bryan muttered. "Why did you have to be born in this cursed village?"

Silvanus raised an eyebrow. "You like me so much you want to get me?"

Bryan paused for a moment, lifting his gaze. He stared at Silvanus with wide eyes—then suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Ha ha ha! That’s right, that’s right! So interesting! Since you lost your memory, you’ve become much more entertaining! If you already know the truth, please stay still and let me cut you open, alright? Please!"

With a roar, Bryan suddenly lunged at Silvanus with impossible speed.

His skin began to change to the naked eye—growing pale and gray, like it had been soaked in water for too long. His face showed signs of small patches of rot, like a corpse that had been dead for days...

And yet, just moments ago, he was still alive!

[what an insane plot—"I like you so much I wanna kill you," huh, ha ha ha]

[let’s gooo, I also wanna see Silvanus get gutted!]

[pants: off!]

Bryan’s body moved at an unimaginable speed. In the blink of an eye, he was right before Silvanus. He raised his hand, his fingernails elongating, stabbing straight toward Silvanus’s abdomen—his posture suggesting he could tear through Silvanus’s flesh in an instant!

An expression of utter exhilaration flashed through Bryan’s eyes. But just as he was about to reach the climax of his excitement...

"Crack!"

The sound of bones snapping rang out. No one knew exactly when, but Silas had already stepped between him and Silvanus. Before Bryan’s hand could even touch Silvanus, Silas had caught it and snapped it clean in two with one hand.

"Aaaaaaah!"

[Pants: back on]

[That guy above... seriously...]

Bryan screamed in agony, clutching his arm as he leaped backward. "Kill them! Kill them!" he roared.

His face twisted in pain, and his voice thundered through the area. The moment his words fell, the two monsters silently guarding nearby immediately lunged at Silas and Silvanus!

Silas’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest. He faced the two monsters alone, without hesitation.

The vast body of one of the beasts moved swiftly, charging at Silas as though it intended to crush him beneath its weight. But Silas dodged with practiced ease.

At the same time, an arrow-like object suddenly shot toward him! Looking closer—it was a long strip of intestine fired from the body of the mother monster!

Silas’s eyes were icy cold. He raised his hand, precisely caught the strip of intestine mid-air, then pulled hard, wrapping it around the giant monster next to him.

From the looks of it, these two monsters weren’t knowledgeable, and Silas would likely bring them down before long.

With or without Silas, Silvanus assessed that this dungeon was much easier than the ones they had faced before.

Maybe that’s why the viewers often rated dungeons like this dull and simplistic. After all, for those mysterious watchers, what they truly craved was blood and thrill.

Silvanus no longer paid attention to Silas and instead walked toward Bryan.

By this time, Bryan’s broken hand had already healed, but the necrosis on his body had worsened. Pieces of rotting flesh were even falling off his face. Clearly, this was the price he had to pay to become "stronger."