Three minutes later,
【Phantom Flash】
Two figures of Yu Ying suddenly appeared beside a ‘monster’. Four paint black curved blades simultaneously struck down, accelerating abruptly the moment they made contact with the monster.
【Strength Unleashed】 + 【Heart Gouge】
Murky blood splattered in mid-air. Misled by the afterimages, the monster, with two curved blades piercing its chest, let out a shrill wail and stumbled to the ground.
【Neck Snap】
Overlapping blades, like scissors, pressed against the monster's back neck and snapped shut the next second.
With a crisp ‘crack’, the monster, which Yu Ying had been pressing firmly to the ground with her knee, finally stopped struggling. A shriveled and hideous head rolled to the ground, its eyes, once full of brutality, still wide open but devoid of any vitality.
In fact, from the moment this warm-hearted carpenter ‘transformed’, there had been no such thing as vitality in his eyes.
“Actually, he died a few minutes ago, even if he was still jumping around a second before,” Yu Ying flicked the blood off her blade and turned to the two weeping women, saying softly, “Of course, I don’t mind if you hate me.”
Her words seemed paradoxical, but they were an undeniable fact. After continuously killing two ‘monsters’, Yu Ying was certain that they had died the moment they lost their sanity. After all, no normal living being could fight back and scratch people after suffering more than twenty fatal wounds and bleeding out, and besides…
“I believe in Marcus; I believe that even if he had a shred of consciousness left, he wouldn’t attack his wife and child.” Yu Ying put her curved blades back into her satchel, then pulled out two daggers. While staying alert to her surroundings, she motioned for the mother and daughter in front of her to stand up and said seriously, “I hope you believe in him too.”
The older woman tremblingly helped her daughter up and nodded to Yu Ying, choking out, “I know, thank you.”
“Thank Marcus,” the girl glanced at the headless corpse at her feet, then looked back at another small corpse not far behind her, and whispered, “I couldn’t have dealt with three at once by myself. If he hadn’t held back Molly just now, who knows how many more people would have died.”
The girl, nestled in her mother’s arms, pursed her lips and asked in a small voice, “Then Uncle Marcus, he…”
“He’s dead,” Yu Ying shrugged, then slowly walked back the way she came, saying without looking back, “You two go find the others now and tell everyone to gather here and wait for me. If anyone goes crazy, immediately shout for help.”
The woman, still reeling from the grief of losing her husband, simply nodded. Her strong and precocious daughter, however, asked loudly, “Big Sister, where are you going?”
“I’m going to complete my mission and reunite the Marcus family.”
Yu Ying replied briefly.
Yes, complete the mission…
The system prompt sounded in Yu Ying’s ear thirty seconds ago.
【Important character has died. Side Quest: Protect Marcus and his group from B尼斯镇 to Hofur City, Failed】
【Side Quest triggered: Escort survivors to the destination and inform the Dawn Sect Holy Maiden: Xia Lian Zhuye / Chen Wangyu about the ‘Mutants’. Minimum number of survivors: 50. Current number of survivors: 96. Quest Reward: 1800 Assassin Experience, Dawn Sect Reputation +100, all Neutral Organization Reputation (except Tian Zhu Mountain) +50】
【Hidden Quest triggered: Kill ‘Mutant’ Molly Makus, reunite the Marcus family. Quest Reward: Optional Experience 1】
“I am a female killer without emotions,” Yu Ying murmured, tightening her grip on the dagger in her hand. “I’m only coming back to cause trouble for the quest reward, not because of overflowing sympathy or anything. Yes, 1 point of experience is very important. The Dog once said, ‘Accumulate earth into mountains, and wind and rain will rise; accumulate water into abysses, and dragons will be born.’ Ugh, how did the next line go again…”
As she self-hypnotized herself with ‘1 point of experience is also very important’, she rushed towards Molly Makus, who had completely torn her husband apart.
…
Two hours ago
Game Time AM07:45
【You have been disconnected urgently. Please choose whether to reconnect】
“Yes.”
【Reconnection initiated, loading character information】
【Welcome back, Absolute Neutral Black Vatican. Loading Innocent World. Good night】
Misha County, Hofur City Holy Church United Chapel
Mo Tan’s first action after logging in was to send Yu Cheng a message, mainly asking if Xia Lian’s misunderstanding of them both yesterday had been resolved…
Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have the face to go out.
‘I’ve already explained to Holy Maiden! She believed about thirty percent, I think it’s fine! (* / ω ＼ *)’
Yu Cheng replied quickly.
‘Oh, and also, Mo Tan Tong Xue, if you’re free now, could you come to the meeting room? I symbolically left you a note, it’s on the table~ (= ω ＜ =)’
Then another message followed immediately.
“Only believed thirty percent, huh.” Mo Tan rolled his eyes, not at all thinking this would be ‘fine’, but he didn’t dwell on the matter for too long. He simply got out of bed and looked at the table, where there was a note pressed under the scripture.
On it were several paragraphs of genuine concern and a request for him to go to the meeting room on the first floor of the chapel after he ‘woke up’. The signature was Chen Wangyu.
“What beautiful handwriting~”
Mo Tan casually sighed, then, not knowing why, casually stuffed the note into his satchel and quickly left the room.
A moment later, he gently knocked on the golden-red door of the meeting room, and then heard a lazy: “Who is it?”
“Black Vatican,” Mo Tan replied succinctly, “I saw Wang Yu’s note.”
Then the door opened amidst a hazy glow…
Inside was a spacious area. There were several rows of neat chairs on both sides, and in the middle was a long rectangular golden olive wood table. Xia Lian was lazily sprawled in the very center, with Holy Knight Tairo, whom Mo Tan had met before, and Yu Cheng on her left and right sides respectively. Beside Tairo sat a burly Beastman Priest.
“Come in and sit down. A brief introduction: This is High Priest Furman of the Justice Church.” Xia Lian glanced at Mo Tan, then pointed to the Black-Skin Beastman sitting next to Tairo: “He’s been in Mida City next door. He came over this time to ask us for help.”
Black Vatican walked to Yu Cheng’s side and sat down, then nodded kindly to the Beastman High Priest in front of him: “Hello, High Priest. I am…”
“This is our Dawn Sect Holy Maiden Wang Yu’s old flame, low-ranking priest Black Vatican.” Xia Lian interrupted him and ‘introduced’ him to Furman: “Very promising.”
“Hello, old flame.” Furman immediately looked at him with respect.
Yu Cheng lightly nudged Mo Tan’s shoulder and whispered helplessly, “I struggled…”
Mo Tan gave a dry laugh and simply shut up.
However, Xia Lian immediately winked at him and asked, “Are you still weak? Wang Yu said this is an old problem of yours.”
Holy Knight Tairo and High Priest Furman’s eyes immediately went wide.
Mo Tan’s eyes also went wide, then he stiffly glanced at Yu Cheng, his eyes probably asking, ‘What on earth did you tell her yesterday!?’
The latter quickly pulled Xia Lian’s sleeve hard, her face flushed as she whispered, “I’m not, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense!”
“Ahem, forgive my presumption, Xia Lian, I think we should first discuss the next arrangements.” Fortunately, High Priest Furman saved the day in time, otherwise, if someone had said two more words, Mo Tan and Yu Cheng would probably have to start looking for a hole to crawl into soon.
Xia Lian, whose gossip had been interrupted, slumped back onto the table listlessly: “Alright, you continue.”
“As I just said, the situation in Mida City is very bad.” High Priest Furman sighed and took out a crumpled letter: “Although the initial situation was not as serious as Hofur City, and the administrative agencies are still operating, the number of civilians infected by the Plague has reached nearly five thousand. To protect the healthy, we had to isolate the infected outside the city. Although temporary shelters have been built and food supply is not an issue, this is not a long-term solution…”
Holy Knight Tairo frowned and said in a deep voice, “This is not good. I think those people, even if infected by the Plague, are still believers of God. We shouldn’t isolate them outside the high walls.”
High Priest Furman’s expression immediately became awkward.
“Nonsense.” Xia Lian glared at Tairo and said irritably, “They can’t save people on a large scale. If they didn’t take isolation measures, the whole city would have been infected long ago. There’s no difference between having food and shelter outside the city and being piled up inside.”
Tairo immediately lowered his head in reflection: “Holy Maiden is right.”
This is the good thing about religious people; if they feel that your understanding of God and doctrine is superior to theirs, they usually won’t refute anything you say.
【And Xia Lian is indeed right; there is nothing wrong with this handling. However…】
Mo Tan slightly furrowed his brows.
“However, it’s fine for a short time, but if it’s prolonged, something bad is likely to happen.” Xia Lian changed the subject and shrugged at Furman: “Am I right?”
The latter nodded, excitedly saying, “Yes, that’s why I rushed here immediately yesterday after feeling the great miracle here in Hofur City. You truly are a God-blessed one, to be able to transform an entire city into a God-blessed land, and even cure all the infected here.”
“You flatter me, though what you said is true.” Xia Lian laughed heartily, then said seriously, “So you plan for me to go to Mida City and do it again?”
High Priest Furman immediately nodded vigorously: “Yes, after all, this place has already become a God-blessed land and will not be plagued by the Plague again, so I would like to ask you to go to Mida City to recreate the great miracle. There is also a Dawn Church there, and…”
“You don’t need to say more, our next destination was Mida City anyway.” Xia Lian raised her hand to interrupt Furman, then, while the latter breathed a sigh of relief, she said with a wry smile, “But I won’t be able to use a great divine spell again for a while.”
High Priest Furman was stunned for a moment, then quickly asked, “You mean you can’t use it again?”
“To be precise, it’s ‘temporarily’ unable to.” Xia Lian tugged at her ear and spread her hands, asking, “Can’t you tell I’m particularly weak right now?”
“No.” Furman honestly shook his head and said blankly, “Although I am not a believer of the Dawn Goddess, I can still feel your surging power of light.”
Xia Lian rolled her eyes: “High Priest Furman, I think even if I only had one breath left, in your eyes I’d still have surging power of light. To be honest, perhaps you’re stronger, but in terms of perception and divine magic, you’re really a bit…”
Furman subconsciously looked down at his unusually developed muscles, then smiled somewhat awkwardly: “Actually, my strength isn’t that great either.”
“I’m not complimenting you…” Xia Lian pulled hard at her ear and said loudly, “Simply put, when I used divine magic here before, I suffered a strong divine power backlash due to some interference, so I won’t be able to preside over a purification divine magic array of the same scale again for a short time, otherwise, I might just die on the spot, understood?”
“Understood.” Furman sighed and scratched his buzz cut: “I also thought it wouldn’t be easy for you to preside over such a large divine spell before I came, but there really isn’t any other way. The highest-ranking cleric in Mida City now is me, but Xia Lian, you also know that we Justice Priests and Courage Priests are really a bit… in terms of healing divine magic.”
Xia Lian nodded: “Quite terrible.”
Furman was immediately choked.
“Don’t worry too much,” Xia Lian casually comforted him, then looked at the Holy Knight beside her: “Mr. Tairo.”
“Yes!” Tairo, clad in heavy armor, immediately stood up with a clatter.
“Have the Holy Knights assemble in front of the chapel within twenty minutes,” Xia Lian said seriously. “Then pick out the twenty worst in skill and leave them here to blockade the city gates. If more civilians arrive, arrange for them to go to Mida City. For larger groups, make sure to send people to escort them, understood?”
Tairo nodded vigorously: “Understood.”
“Very good, we will depart for Mida City today.” Xia Lian stretched, then slammed the table: “We leave in half an hour.”
Furman almost cried with emotion: “Xia Lian~”
“I’m sorry, you’re a good person but we’re not compatible.” Xia Lian smoothly gave him a rejection, then smiled and said, “Although I can’t purify everyone at once, nor can I turn Mida City into a God-blessed land with divine magic in a short time, I can still help a little. Those Holy Knights are also excellent at calming people’s hearts, and most of them have reliable, square faces.”
Furman was stunned by Xia Lian’s words. After a long reaction, he finally stammered out, “I’m already married…”
“Although home flowers are not as fragrant as wild ones and I am so cute and charming, I am still very sorry,” Xia Lian said righteously, “I am a person with principles.”
Mo Tan turned to Yu Cheng and winked: “I think I know why the Dawn Goddess chose her as a God-blessed one.”
“Huh?”
Chapter 180: End
