Chapter 298: “virtual” And “real”
Prometheus at this moment was still maintaining an extremely respectful demeanor.
He stepped forward and said respectfully: “Your Majesty, you once said that the bull sacrificed to you must be divided into two parts. You receive the sacrifice from humans, and the other part serves as the divine gift to humans.”
“Now, the bull has been slaughtered, and strictly following your instructions, it has been equally divided into two portions.”
“You are the supreme Master. Please choose personally how it should be distributed?”
The smile on Zeus’s face disappeared inch by inch.
The God King without a smile had such a cold and stern expression, his profound golden eyes instantly becoming like eternal profound ice, without the slightest warmth.
The originally lighthearted atmosphere seemed to be instantly frozen by this gaze.
The smiles on the faces of the Gods also solidified and quickly vanished.
The temperature in the High Heavens dropped sharply by several degrees.
Prometheus deliberately made the cowhide wrapping the flesh so bloodstained and filthy.
The Gods are innately pure and pristine—how could they possibly choose such a filthy thing?
Not to mention in this sacred occasion, having the most radiant and holy God King make the selection.
It seemed like letting the God King choose, but in reality, what other choice was there?
This seemingly deferential request was actually coercion.
Humble on the surface, calculating in secret.
This little cleverness was all used on “concealing the real with the false”!
It was before, and it still is now!
This trick of concealing the real with the false was truly brilliant.
But no matter how brilliant, it could not hide the arrogance and lack of virtue.
He did not realize, however, that false is false; real is real.
Concealing the real with the false is deception.
And deception will certainly be discovered.
Let alone deceiving the God King!
Everything obtained through deception will surely be repaid with doubled pain and loss!
And this “deception” in the sacred covenant ritual was itself the greatest calamity!
At this moment, the originally lighthearted and enthusiastic cloud had completely stagnated, becoming so silent that a needle’s fall could be heard, as all the Gods looked at Prometheus with unfriendly expressions.
This clumsy little trick could not fool any God.
Clymene, who had originally been in a joyful and relaxed mood and even proud of her son, had instantly turned ghastly pale.
Her heart was in turmoil, feeling suffocated in her chest, her divinity turning pitch black; if not for Metis quietly supporting her unnoticed from the side, she would probably have collapsed on the spot.
She knew Prometheus might have some calculation in mind.
But she absolutely, absolutely never imagined that Prometheus could really do something as hopelessly stupid as his foolish brother Menoetius!
No! Even more stupid than his father Iapetus!
Playing stupid schemes in front of the Gods, attempting to calculate and deceive the omniscient and omnipotent God King and Olympus Gods!
Stupid, too stupid!
Is there anything more stupid in the entire Universe?
You might as well rebel outright!
That would still be far better than this humiliation!
In this instant, she truly began to suspect if there was something wrong with her.
How could all four of her sons have no normal brains?!
Prometheus’s actions had offended every God present!
He loved his “child” humans—that was fine.
He wanted to help humans more—that was also fine.
But his method was utterly wrong!
Fatally wrong!
He actually dared to use such deceptive and filthy means in the sacred covenant ritual, in front of nearly all the Gods, to openly calculate against the God King!
Concealing the “real” with the “false,” using that dirty deceptive performance to attempt to leave all the benefits to humans!
This was not mercy—it was overstepping! This was defiance!
If today, this offering to the God King became the precedent.
Then, in the endless years to come, all offerings the Gods receive would follow this!
This was no longer about “who eats more,” but about “who can be trusted.”
The Gods do not care about this bit of offering.
What is beef or fat to the Gods?
What the Gods care about is sincerity!
After presenting the offerings and completing the ritual, you could suggest to the Gods to return this crude and inferior food to humans.
Anyway, the Gods do not need these mortal things; feeling humans’ piety and reverence is enough.
On this joyous day today, everyone is happy—if you sincerely ask, could His Majesty really refuse?
Gods can bestow, mortal spirits can pray.
But you should not deceive directly!
This is a matter of attitude! A matter of principle!
The “attitude” this incident represents and the terrible impact it brings are intolerable to any God!
This means that from now on, interactions between humans and Gods will replace “truth” with “hypocrisy”!
This means Prometheus is openly and brazenly encouraging humans to deceive and calculate against the Gods!
Instead of treating each other with sincerity and integrity!
This means that just as His Majesty the God King has established the Divine-Mortal Covenant, he, as the “middleman,” is personally destroying the foundation of trust in this “covenant”!
Faith, faith—without trust, what else is there to talk about?
This is simply the greatest, most shameless, and most unforgivable provocation against the God King’s majesty!
Bluntly put, Prometheus has practically betrayed the camp of the Gods!
He has completely stood on the side of humans!
His love for humans has pathologically exceeded his awe for order and the God King!
He has even lost loyalty to His Majesty the God King!
He is spoiling those humans!
No, this is obsessive love!
He is even forcibly imposing his own selfishness and calculations on those originally simple and ignorant newborn humans!
Newborn humans could not think of such deceptive tricks, and even if they did, they would never dare to be so brazen in front of the Gods!
All Gods could see that His Majesty the God King’s mood today was extremely pleasant.
Even if there was a true wish, speaking it directly—with His Majesty’s generous and merciful nature—would likely be granted.
But now… everything has changed.
His current method itself is the greatest and worst offense against the God King’s majesty!
The sacred Goddess Queen Rhea Mother Goddess, whose delicate face was always smiling and tender, now had no expression at all.
For someone as gentle and loving as her, this expression was already her angriest state.
Mother Goddess of All Things Gaia looked at Prometheus with an expression of extreme shock.
She exclaimed inwardly: ‘Iapetus’s son, who is so dull, actually produced sons all so bold and reckless! Each bolder than the last!’
‘Too brave!’
‘No disgrace!’
‘I, Gaia, name you the bravest God among the Second Generation Titans!’
Of course, she only thought this—begging for Prometheus would be absolutely out of the question.
Today, whoever dares to beg for mercy is courting death.
In fact, she herself could not understand Prometheus’s actions.
As for the Goddess of Night, on her cold and noble face, her beautiful eyebrows were raised, and the corners of her lips curled into a smile as cold as could be.
Humiliating her most beloved God King was humiliating her!
Tartarus! He must be thrown into Tartarus!
Let this audacious bastard accompany his equally bold brother!
The number of Goddesses with this thought could be counted on two hands.
The sacred Justice Order Goddess Themis now had her sword-like eyebrows inverted in fury.
The order sword at her waist that judges all things had quietly unsheathed three inches, golden order radiance flickering uncertainly on the blade.
Calculating, deceiving, filthy humiliation against the Master of order—this was the greatest destruction of sacred justice order!
Her gaze was sharp as a cold blade.
Hera’s small fists were clenched with a creaking sound.
Her golden eyes were filled with undisguised ferocity.
As soon as Zeus gave the order, she would not mind personally delivering a divine punch to smash Prometheus’s divine body to smithereens!
Even the warmest Hestia now felt extreme speechlessness and disappointment.
Even a great God as merciful and generous as her could not understand the peculiar thinking of the few Gods from the Iapetus Family.
If you want something, just say it nicely!
We are all fellow Gods, and His Majesty is after all your “Father God”—it’s not a big deal, the God King never hesitates to bestow.
And whether to grant or not is another matter.
But starting off with deception—how can that be justified?!
From beginning to end, has Zeus done anything wrong in dealing with humans?
On the contrary, he has already been extremely generous and loving!
Is that not enough?!
How greedily insatiable are you exactly!
Truly… excessively outrageous!
At this time, in the High Heavens, the originally joyful and relaxed atmosphere was gripped by an invisible hand and completely solidified.
The sky-filling floral rain and pure rain had quietly ceased at some point.
The endless auspicious clouds filling the sky were rapidly being swallowed by gloomy and heavy dark clouds, spreading visibly to all directions until covering the entire mortal world’s sky.
Blinding lightning silently flashed amid the roiling cloud scales; the radiance did not erupt but leaped back and forth across the sky like the God King’s cold gaze.
Dull thunder began to rumble faintly deep within the clouds.
It was no longer a joyful melody but had become a muffled “echo” like a death knell.
It was just unknown whose death knell this would be.
The God King Zeus, seated high on the divine throne, had his waist straight like a heavenly pillar, majestic and solemn in all directions; his fingertips resting on the armrest were already faintly flickering with heart-palpitating electric light.
Countless Gods sighed inwardly: a fine gathering of the Gods was about to end perfectly, yet Prometheus had to stir up this utterly stupid major incident.
The faint goodwill the Gods had newly felt toward humans due to their simple and sincere performance instantly vanished under Prometheus’s blasphemous operation.
Of course, now no God was paying attention to those insignificant humans anymore.
