Valo shook her hand, panting heavily as she stared at Anqi before her.
The force of that slap just now was so strong it had stung her own hand.
But… she couldn’t have hesitated to deliver that “Friendship Slap” to Anqi’s delicate, beautiful face.
Because: If she had been even a sentence or two later, her saintess daughter would have given up on herself!
Valo, having narrowly averted disaster, gently patted her own chest.
As a member of the Skywing Race, Saintess Anqi, who could fly with her wings, had flown off and hidden. Under normal circumstances, how could a mere player find her right away?
So, it was all Emma’s fault, that unreliable teammate, forcing Valo to use meta-knowledge to win—by filtering and judging the locations Anqi would hide at after being infected with the Blood Source Curse in the game’s storyline, she was able to head straight to this secluded beach behind the cliff.
She had found her, and that full-force slap had temporarily shocked the muttering Saintess back to her senses.
But the state Anqi was in now… was more troublesome than Valo had anticipated.
Let’s state the conclusion first: In the [Nurturing Panel], Anqi’s [Justice Value] was now only 5%.
As a professional mom, Valo could even judge: if she hadn’t slapped her, her daughter’s Justice Value would definitely have hit zero by now.
And in the game’s Anqi Route, once her daughter Anqi’s Justice Value dropped to zero due to the Blood Source Curse, she would enter the [Inverted Route], also known among players as the [Fallen Angel Route].
Anqi, fallen and becoming a Vampire Kin from the protagonist’s perspective… was troublesome in every sense, no less than the infamous Demon Pill Spirit Pearl.
More pessimistic, more clingy.
More willful, more… lewd and rebellious.
Unrestrainedly demanding pleasure from the protagonist, openly enjoying the sweet relationship with the protagonist after her fall.
Ashen-white hair, crimson eyes, wings as black as night seeming to seep with blood.
In the [Fallen Angel Route], Anqi as a daughter possessed cheat-level combat power.
Strategies, plans, and coordination became irrelevant before absolute strength.
To dominate the world, the protagonist just needed to consider how to satisfy her good daughter.
Daughter Anqi in the [Fallen Angel Route] was a perfect work born from despair.
This daughter had strength!
But Valo currently had no interest in this route whatsoever!
Because once Anqi was completely corrupted by the Blood Source Curse into a Vampire Kin, there was absolutely no possibility of her ever becoming the [Hidden Sea Church Saintess] again!
Valo couldn’t just watch the door to the [Magneto Ending] close and lock itself right before her eyes!
She secretly clenched her fist: From now on, she wasn’t just racing against the girl’s [Justice Value], but also against time—the moment the Sister Superior returned to her residence, she would discover Anqi was missing.
With that invisible ghost’s methods, it was only a matter of time before she sniffed out the trail and found Valo and Anqi here.
On top of that, she had to silently pray in her heart that her saintess daughter would give her some face and not give up on herself.
Good daughter, Mommy begs you, please spare me.
However, while her heart was soft, her words couldn’t show weakness.
The next moment, Valo took a deep breath to calm her breathing and sharply questioned Anqi before her!
“Anqi, as the Saintess, what were you just trying to do!?”
The erosion of the Blood Source Curse was nearing completion.
Her saintess daughter’s originally pure, flawless, noble wings were now stained black and tinged with red.
The black and red feathers swirling on the beach with the wind spoke of the struggle and resistance the girl had just endured.
Her pale golden hair had turned ashen-white; her fair skin, due to the curse, had begun to look unhealthily pale; those bewildered, vacant eyes… at this moment, were completely tinged with the crimson hue unique to the Blood Tribe.
They turned to look at Valo.
“Mommy, didn’t you come to bestow upon me the honor of becoming your kin?”
Holiness was long gone, soon replaced by a bewitching smile.
“You don’t need to test me, I won’t resist. Let me become your most intimate daughter, Mommy~”
Valo’s already clenched little fist became even harder.
At this moment, she finally understood the feeling of “a parent seeing their good girl return from studying abroad turned into some kind of trash,” that kind of pent-up anger with nowhere to vent.
In her past life, separated by a screen, watching Anqi enter the [Fallen Angel Route], Valo would only feel excited: Yes! She always wanted to get frisky with Fallen Angel Anqi, then ride her daughter’s cheat-powered vehicle to dominate the world.
But when the game became reality, Valo now genuinely only felt heartache.
Time didn’t allow her to lecture Anqi with grand principles—the girl’s [Justice Value] could drop to zero at any moment, causing her to be completely corrupted by the Blood Source Curse and voluntarily abandon her identity as the Saintess.
She had to use the most direct method to make Anqi reignite her hope!
Valo spoke coldly, trying hard to keep her emotions calm.
“Anqi, Emma is indeed of the Blood Tribe, but what if I told you: all of Emma’s actions tonight were of her own accord?”
Of course, she couldn’t afford to be coy about her own purpose in having Emma approach Anqi; she had to clarify.
“I only wanted Emma to ask about your feelings, your thoughts, why you were hiding from Mommy. I had no intention of using the Blood Source Curse to control you.”
As she spoke, she reached out and grasped the necklace on her chest—the Holy Relic, the Eye of the Goddess—and pointed it at herself.
She activated the “lie detection” ability the Eye of the Goddess had granted her only once before.
“After what happened tonight, Mommy doesn’t ask you to believe me actively. But… Mommy also has a way to prove I’m not lying.”
Fortunately… the timing of its use didn’t seem to displease the Eye of the Goddess.
In an instant!
A dazzling golden light erupted! The answer given by the Eye of the Goddess violently tore through the void and despair shrouding Anqi!
In the [Nurturing Panel], the girl’s [Justice Value] finally escaped the death line, rising to 10%!
“Mommy? You really didn’t intend to… … ……..”
Seeing Anqi’s stunned, incredulous reaction, Valo had just begun to rejoice inwardly: Great, doctor! Her daughter could still be saved!
But she was immediately alarmed by Anqi’s pained expression and rushed over in a single stride to embrace her!
She saw: The girl had curled into a ball within her small embrace, desperately trying not to let out sounds of pain. Those wings, already dyed black and red, now bore an even more crimson hue!
Yet even so, the girl who had finally grasped a sliver of faith amidst despair and corruption still mustered all her strength to offer Valo a strained, ugly smile.
“Mommy, thank you for telling me the truth in the end…”
“Then… then please let me fall asleep carrying this curse…”
Valo immediately covered Anqi’s crow-like mouth with her hand.
It wasn’t time to say goodnight yet, good daughter.
“The Blood Source Curse, Anqi, you will soon completely turn into a member of the Blood Tribe. If you cannot quickly receive the bestowal of a high-ranking demon to become a kin, and you do not feed, you will slowly wither and die.”
Looking into the eyes of Anqi in her arms, Valo directly preempted the question in the girl’s heart.
“My identity indeed qualifies me to become your master, but Mommy can’t bring herself to do something so inappropriate right now.”
Actually, it was more because if Anqi lost her identity as the Saintess, Valo wouldn’t be able to enter her longed-for [Magneto Ending].
Of course, such an unromantic secret could stay buried in her heart.
A mother is judged by her actions, not her thoughts, right?
“My appearance is to help you conceal this, Anqi. I… have a way to temporarily suppress your Blood Source Curse, to restore you to a state no different from usual.”
Anqi, enduring the agony of the Blood Source Curse’s erosion, gritted her teeth and said bitterly, “Conceal? But… but Mommy, this curse… even I cannot resist it. How on earth can…”
Never mind how difficult and despairing the girl’s words sounded. The fact that Anqi’s [Justice Value] in Valo’s vision had risen again to 15% was enough to explain her daughter’s inner state.
Anqi saw hope. Anqi wanted to seize that hope. Anqi still wanted to continue being the pure, unblemished Saintess!
It was just that her saintess daughter was still shrouded in despair, afraid that this illusory hope was merely a mirage that would vanish upon touch, making her fall even harder.
Then Valo had even less reason to hesitate: Good daughter, when has Mommy ever lied to you?
“Bite someone and suck their blood, that’s all.”
Valo snapped her fingers. “Normally, when the Blood Source Curse acts up, a Vampire Kin biting someone can only relieve the thirst but cannot change the curse itself.”
“To put it bluntly, the bloodline of the person being bitten isn’t strong enough. If one can suck the blood of a high-ranking demon, it can temporarily suppress the erosive characteristics of the Blood Source Curse.”
This method was extremely rare. After all, which high-ranking demon would let a mere maggot of a Vampire Kin suck their blood? Most of the time, it was the high-ranking demon bestowing blood upon the Vampire Kin.
That is: What I give you is yours. What I don’t give, you cannot take.
But now, this rare method had a miraculous effect for Valo.
“Anqi, guess if Mommy’s identity and bloodline are sufficient to suppress your Blood Source Curse?”
Valo flashed a triumphant smile at the girl before her, who was staring at her dumbfounded.
The girl’s [Justice Value] rose to 20%.
‘Cool Valo is cool—as expected of her.’
“Listen carefully, Anqi. What comes next is not Mommy bestowing blood upon you, but you actively biting Mommy. This way, we can suppress your Blood Source Curse and restore you to normal without you becoming my Vampire Kin.”
“Of course, this normalcy is only temporary. But Mommy currently doesn’t have a permanent solution, so I can only ask you to bear with it and come find me when you need it in the future.”
The response Valo received was silence from the Saintess.
Even while enduring the erosion of the Blood Source Curse, Anqi still hadn’t moved. Watching this, Valo directly transformed into the King of Impatience and urged,
“Anqi? What are you waiting for? You can’t possibly be unaware of our current situation and the extent of the Blood Source Curse’s erosion on you, right?”
Your mommy has already tilted her head over for you, what more do you want?
Do I have to slam my neck onto your teeth for it to count as active?
The girl’s [Justice Value] was rising, but the girl herself was still hesitating!
“B-but Mommy… doing something like biting you like a beast…”
“Anqi, don’t you want to continue being the Saintess anymore?”
Valo frowned tightly, somewhat with a “frustrated by her lack of progress” feeling, adding the final critical blow.
“What’s wrong with biting? What’s wrong with sucking blood? Do you think you’re still holy? With the Blood Source Curse, you’re already a beast.”
“But can’t a beast be a Saintess? A Demon King can be a mommy too.”
“So… show your wicked desires openly. Mommy will help you keep this secret, just like you helped keep Mommy’s…”
Before she could finish speaking…
Valo was already pounced to the ground by the Saintess before her.