Chapter 44

Chapter 44: The False Person and the Oracle (First Update)

A knock?

The sudden sound caused Xia’er to lift her spirits slightly. Shaking her body, she opened the door, glancing back one last time at the room she once knew so well.

Everything before her eyes seemed to be doubled, as if multiple visions were overlapping simultaneously.

Under this layered vision, the originally chaotic claw marks stained with blood on the walls combined into words when overlapped, blending with the bloody ground to transform the entire room into what looked like an evil cult scene.

I can’t look anymore…

Xia’er forcibly averted her gaze, stumbling down the stairs in a daze. Intense headaches and buzzing echoed in her mind, while a wave of severe nausea surged up her chest.

“Ugh—”

A mouthful of black blood was expelled from her mouth, flowing downward along the stairs like black water.

At this moment, the person outside the door seemed to notice something and stopped knocking.

In Xia’er’s blurred vision, a pale yellow figure passed through the wooden door, looking in her direction, then slowly walking toward Xia’er.

She only felt a dazzling yellow-white light, which momentarily alleviated her dizziness and nausea, though the murmurs in her mind persisted.

This voice urged Xia’er to take out the paper in her pocket and return to the room she had just left.

A shadow emerged from behind Xia’er. It too was unstable, its grayish flames flaring high. Supporting Xia’er by the shoulder, it helped her walk to the door. Xia’er reached out and opened it.

Beyond the door stood a figure cloaked entirely in white robes adorned with intricate golden patterns. On their face rested a white mask without any openings, save for several golden lines that divided the facial regions.

“Are you Xia’er?” came a faint hum from beneath the mask. However, this voice did not originate directly from the person’s mouth but instead resonated within Xia’er’s mind. She only managed to comprehend the first part of the message; the rest sounded like the squelching noise of flesh grinding together.

The additional voices in her head lessened some of the other murmurs. Raising her head, Xia’er looked at the “person” before her.

As the overlapping images converged, Xia’er’s pupils contracted sharply, and she stumbled back several steps. If it weren’t for the shadow supporting her from behind, she might have fallen.

That was no human!

Underneath the white robes lay a repulsive white worm, its head crowned with dense golden dots forming compound eyes. As it raised its sleeves, revealing limbs entangled with tentacles, they began inching toward Xia’er.

The shadow!

Upon receiving Xia’er’s mental command, the shadow instantly released its hold on her and charged at the elegantly dressed worm. But in the next instant, a yellow-white worm rushed forward even faster, using its own tentacles to seize control of Xia’er’s shadow within the blink of an eye.

Then, the fine compound eyes on the head of the robed worm lit up with yellow-white light. Its back swelled, and pairs of sticky insect-like wings burst forth from beneath its robes.

Six pairs of insect wings fully unfurled behind it, each adorned with glowing round eyes that turned their gaze toward Xia’er after completely opening.

At the very moment those brown round eyes fixed upon her, Xia’er’s heartbeat accelerated drastically. Her vision seemed obscured by a veil, and all the double-vision, murmurs, and dizziness vanished instantly.

With the help of this veil, Xia’er finally discerned the figure before her.

In a haze, there indeed stood a normal-looking person. They quietly stood outside the door, their masked face watching Xia’er’s direction. Their extended hand wore a gem-encrusted white glove, and behind them, six…

A streak resembling light wings, ethereal and strip-like.

“Do you feel better now?”

Xia’er’s mind once again echoed with a voice—hollow, light, devoid of emotion, and indistinguishable in gender.

This wasn’t the calm tone one could detect slight emotions from, like Aivana’s; rather, it was more akin to a machine, devoid of emotional fluctuations throughout.

“Yes…a little better…” Xia’er slowly rose from the ground, raising her hand to support her forehead, but she didn’t feel anything in front of her eyes.

“Are you Xia’er that High Priest Yulis mentioned?” The robed figure with the white mask continued the inquiry started when the door opened.

“I am…” Xia’er fumbled through her clothes and quickly found a church emblem from another pocket, handing it over to the other party.

The emblem was stained with Xia’er’s blood, but the other party showed no disgust. After gripping the emblem for a while, they placed it into their pocket.

“Where is Yulis?” Xia’er asked, although the notes had said she committed suicide not long ago, without specifying the reason.

“She martyred herself.” The robed person responded mechanically, “As a ‘Missionary,’ after witnessing the deaths of many believers, her potion was on the brink of losing control. To prevent complete loss of control, she chose to visit the Goddess while still lucid.”

“Are you…the Bishop sent by the Salvation Goddess Religion?” Xia’er questioned.

“Yes,” the robed person replied, “When I arrived, I was blocked from this area by overwhelming pain. It wasn’t until the pain dissipated significantly that I managed to enter.”

Had the Bishop arrived as the infection began to spread? Unable to enter due to the pain, only managing to do so when the pain subsided—which was also when most people had already died?

This was clearly a massacre exploiting the weakness of the path specific to the Salvation Goddess Religion.

“High Priest Yulis mentioned in confidential reports that you have access to some special intelligence. Could my recent stabilization of your spiritual rationality exchange for some of that intelligence?” the robed person politely inquired.

Despite the impeccable politeness in all aspects of the robed person’s demeanor, something about the strange bugs Xia’er had seen earlier, or perhaps the lack of emotional fluctuation in their voice, made her skin crawl.

It was as if the person standing before her wasn’t human at all, but an unnameable monster masquerading as one.

“There are spies within the Church or the Redemption Society,” Xia’er tried not to focus too much on the robed person and continued, “The original outbreak was supposed to happen on July 4th, but after I reported the news early to the Church, the infection occurred sooner…”

“Remarkable,” the robed Bishop stated mechanically, “You haven’t lied.”

“Though it may seem impolite to inquire further, I must know why you knew the original plan for the outbreak was set for July 4th.”

After taking a moment to steady her breathing, Xia’er looked back at the robed person.

Recalling her first encounter with Yulis, Xia’er told the robed person, “Yulis told me this was what the Goddess wanted me to see—she wanted to take me to the Church for baptism, but I refused.”

Xia’er’s words did not elicit any reaction from the robed person.

The robed Bishop seemed frozen, like a robot stuck in a program loop. After a long pause, the Bishop slowly bowed to Xia’er and said:

“I understand. If ‘Missionary’ Yulis could perform a baptism for the prospective Holy Maiden, her potion would be fully digested immediately—that was her reason for wanting to take you to the Church.”

“Since it cannot be undone, Miss Xia’er, would you come back with me to the Church? Listening to the Oracle has destabilized your spiritual rationality, requiring some treatment and intervention.”