Ice Age Apocalypse: I Hoard Billions of Supplies Chapter 1260: You Must Atone

The High Lama’s voice drifted down, low and steady, to the ears of the gathering below.

Many among the destitute believers were already suffering from the biting frost, their minds drifting into a stupor. Yet, the moment they heard the High Lama preach of an afterlife, a spark of desperate hope ignited within their hollow eyes.

Ah, that was it.

Life was so excruciatingly painful now only because it was a form of necessary ascetic practice. As long as they endured these trials, they would be granted entry into the Pure Land to revel in eternal bliss after death.

With this thought, their hearts grew strangely settled. They even felt a wave of smug satisfaction, believing that their current misery served a higher purpose.

An old woman, skin like parched parchment, grinned to reveal only two remaining teeth, letting out a rhythmic, raspy giggle.

She was mentally mocking the privileged masters who loomed over her. Those overseers, who spent their days lashing leather whips against her back with harsh curses, were the objects of her derision. Those people might prance about with arrogance and live in comfort now, but she was certain they would be barred from the Western Pure Land when they finally faced their end.

So, whenever the whip fell, she would simply retreat into her mind to sneer at them. After crossing the threshold of death, she reasoned, those oppressors would watch from the depths of hell, green with envy, as she basked in divine joy.

Let them suffer the regret then! The mere prospect of such cosmic justice made the old woman feel a sense of fulfillment that surpassed any feast.

The High Lama lifted a small drum and tapped it softly with his rhythmic touch.

"You must atone for your sins!"

The crowd responded in unison, "I must atone for my sins."

"You must repent!"

"I must repent."

...

"You must endure!"

"I must endure."

...

Observing this spectacle, Zhang Yi and his companions felt a chilling sense of déjà vu. It was hauntingly reminiscent of the Bai Xue Jiao that had once operated in Tianhai City.

Religion, in every corner of the world, seemed to spread its influence by stripping away independent thought and forcing people to adopt a rigid set of doctrines. Suddenly, the believers turned their hollow, frigid faces toward Zhang Yi’s group, flashing eerie, terrifying smiles in unison.

Zhang Yi simply shook his head; these people were beyond rescue, their minds shattered.

He shot a glance at Lhobu standing nearby and asked with a sharp, curious glint in his eyes:

"Using this method, you must find it very easy to keep the people below entirely obedient, right?"

Lhobu bowed his head and clasped his hands: "Amitabha, esteemed guest, that is a misunderstanding. They are merely engaging in profound asceticism."

Liang Yue, standing within earshot, cut in with a biting, sarcastic tone: "Then why don’t you and the leaders of the Pagyi Family practice some of this asceticism yourselves?"

Lhobu’s gaze flickered before he offered a thin smile. "It is precisely because we endured harsh asceticism in our past lives that we are permitted to enjoy prosperity and honor in this existence."

Liang Yue rolled her eyes, utterly baffled by Lhobu’s masterful grasp of sophistry.

Zhang Yi chuckled, gesturing at Lhobu as he spoke to Liang Yue: "You are trying to boast of your skills before a master, aren't you? Since they have been refining this game for thousands of years, they naturally have every excuse mapped out to justify their status."

Even though Liang Yue tried to remain reserved, sparks of indignation seemed to dance in her eyes. Having traveled with Zhang Yi, she had learned to hold her tongue, but a fire of pure outrage still raged within her chest.

She had assumed the outside world was already a chaotic mess, but she had never dared to imagine a place that felt so much like a literal demon realm. Keeping her temper in check was agonizing, as her natural instinct would have been to strike down these abusers and set the serfs free with her own blade.

Her face betrayed her true thoughts completely. Recognizing this, Zhang Yi chose to remain silent. However, Lhobu watched Liang Yue with a growing sense of alarm.

"The mercenaries hired by the family head shouldn't include such a volatile, judgmental person. What is really going on with this woman?"

Lhobu remained perplexed but held his tongue, deciding only to monitor these strangers carefully before giving a report to Pagyi Gesang.

Zhang Yi and his team spent the better part of the day scouting the borders of the Pagyi Family’s territory. They were, however, restricted from entering the inner sanctum of Lhasa City—the religious and political heart known as the Sangha Monastery.

The political climate there was currently far too intricate. While technically governed by the four great families, the fact that both the Lord of the Charnel Ground and the Khenpo belonged to the Yasha Langtai Family made it an unwise destination for mercenaries tied to the Pagyi clan.

Zhang Yi was unbothered by this limitation. He had already settled on his plan—daytime scouting was cumbersome. Once the darkness of night settled, he would conduct his own thorough investigation.

After wandering for a while, the group returned to their quarters to await Pagyi Gesang’s return. The moment the door clicked shut, Liang Yue slammed her Dragon’s Roar saber against the table with a deafening thud.

"This place is an absolute hellscape!" she spat, her face pale with fury as she turned to Zhang Yi. "We never should have come here! A place like this deserves to be torn to the ground!"

With no one watching, Yang Xinxin and the others emerged from the Shadow Space. Zhou Haimei and Yang Siya appeared noticeably shaken, their faces deathly white from the horrors they had witnessed inside the void.

Such naked cruelty was beyond anything they had ever encountered; their minds struggled to process it. Zhou Ke’er, perhaps hardened by her experience as a surgeon dealing with anatomy, remained the most composed, though she was clearly unsettled.

Before Zhang Yi could interject, Yang Xinxin addressed the room with cold, clinical logic.

"Do you truly think things are objectively better elsewhere?"

"Even if the Pagyi Family were wiped off the map, the rule of the esoteric sect would persist. The common folk here would simply be enslaved by another master, forever treated like livestock."

"Furthermore," she added, meeting Liang Yue’s heated gaze with chilling detachment, "the root cause of these atrocities isn't just human depravity; it is tied to the environment."

"The extreme scarcity of resources forces such outcomes. Here, they are just more shameless and blatant about their control."

Liang Yue opened her mouth to argue, but found no retort. Reality in the ruins of Tianhai City had often been equally grim; it was only Zhang Yi’s shelter, with its abundance of supplies, that had given her the illusion of returning to a stable, civilized society.

The grim truth was that the chaos of the Apocalypse hadn't receded; the competition for survival simply grew more brutal with every passing day.

Taking a stabilizing breath, Liang Yue countered, "But what they are doing feels like mindless, senseless slaughter! It is fundamentally inhuman."

"And if the surface level is this depraved, I shudder to think what unspeakable horrors are occurring in the shadows."

Zhou Ke’er stepped forward, aligning herself with Liang Yue’s perspective.

"While chaos is a side effect of the end, the situation in Lhasa is extreme, even by these standards."

"This is supposed to be the center of the Southwest, an area with the most abundant resources. Even places like Shengjing City haven't devolved into such nightmarish displays of madness."

She frowned deeply. "I have felt an undercurrent of something deeply strange about this place from the moment we arrived."

As she spoke, the entire group exchanged uneasy glances. Even Zhang Yi’s expression tightened into one of grim recognition.

"You felt it too, then?"

Zhou Ke’er scanned the group. "We all felt it. Everyone here, without exception, carries an air of profound abnormality."

Author’s Note