"A Wood Elf who refuses to command plants—what else can he do?"
"Eat, drink, pee, and poop. Plenty of things. Problem?"
"...No."
The two exchanged a peculiar glance and, by unspoken agreent, dropped the probing. Each began surveying their surroundings instead.
From outside the walls, Cheng Shi had thought this was a reasonably well-maintained religious institution. But once inside, he realized the so-called Evil Infant Inquisition seed to have gone unattended for a very long ti.
The outer courtyard's lawn was overrun with weeds. The water in the central pool had long since dried up. Even the two deity statues—a pregnant man and woman—flanking the main hall's entrance had chipped and faded to the point where they no longer looked sacred.
At first glance, you'd think this place had been seized by [Decay]'s followers.
"Judging by these weeds' growth, this place has been abandoned for quite so ti." Zhang Jizu frowned with so confusion: "Where did you learn about this place's history? Did the records ntion Dolgod shutting down the Inquisition?"
Cheng Shi pursed his lips, thinking: 'If I'd known it was shut down, why would I have brought you here?'
He shook his head: "Let's search for clues first. If the Evil Infant Inquisition truly doesn't exist anymore, our trial is in serious trouble!"
Indeed—if this era's Dolgod had already eliminated the concept of evil infants, where would they find this "life that should not have been born"?
Cheng Shi was about to stride toward the inner hall when his feet halted mid-step.
"Strange—our three teammates have been too fast. Where'd they go?"
Zhang Jizu, trailing behind, narrowed his eyes: "They've been silent since earlier. The footprints lead to the inner hall, but there's only one set—Gou Feng's."
"Stay alert. Sothing in here might be off."
Cheng Shi furrowed his brow and pressed onward in silence.
Before long, he spotted so clues. On the main path outside the great hall, certain gaps between paving stones had noticeably fewer weeds. Connecting these sparse patches revealed a trail—worn by years of foot traffic. On the opposite side stood the Inquisition's sealed main doors.
So people did still co regularly—just not many. But that also ant sothing had gone wrong with the Evil Infant Inquisition.
He raised an eyebrow, then turned toward the hall's interior.
Still no sign of their three teammates. Cheng Shi cautiously entered and imdiately spotted an enormous round conference table.
The table was thick with dust, the surrounding chairs either cracked or shattered. Only the chair at the head—facing the entrance—remained intact, its section of the table polished to a gleam. Soone clearly sat there regularly.
Behind the round table lood a massive stone relief mural depicting countless nude n and won gathered before an enormous deity statue, devoutly sharing [Birth]'s Authority.
Neither newcor batted an eye at this fertility-worship art. After a brief examination of the roundtable area, they circled behind the stone wall to see what lay beyond.
Behind the massive relief stood several sparse bookshelves. This was probably the cleanest area in the entire Inquisition—every shelf wiped spotless, packed tight with identically bound volus. From the symbols marked on each shelf, Cheng Shi guessed these were chronologically arranged case files.
The information he needed might be right here.
He approached and randomly pulled out a volu, flipping it open. Zhang Jizu noticed his absorbed reading and stepped closer with surprise:
"You can read Life Era script?"
Cheng Shi curved his lips. "More or less," he said aloud, while secretly laughing inside.
'I can't read squat. But I've got Brother Mouth.'
Squinty-eyes was genuinely astonished this ti. Plenty of people understood Civilization Era languages—especially among the veteran mages who loved researching the ga's lore, where true scholars existed. That was also partly because the vast majority of trials took place during the Civilization Era.
But Life Era trials were exceedingly rare. Research in that direction was the most niche of niche—only marginally more popular than studying the Underworld.
So being able to read this era's language and script was genuinely impressive in the Faith Ga. Zhang Jizu wasn't even sure how many independent players outside the History School could decipher Dol Empire text.
No wonder this "honest" player had caught [Deceit]'s eye. Experts truly had their unique strengths.
This appeared to be an erudite liar.
'I just wonder what his other personality—the Fate Weaver who's Zhen Yi's new fla—is like.'
Now genuinely intrigued, Zhang Jizu edged closer to Cheng Shi and asked with a touch of admiration:
"What does it say?"
On the surface, Cheng Shi looked calm and composed. Internally, he was panicking. From the mont he'd picked up the book, he'd been desperately begging—not a person, but a mouth.
Yet Brother Mouth, usually so eager to "help," had gone completely unresponsive today. Cheng Shi was so anxious his shoes were about to get shredded from fidgeting.
But even without the Fool's Lips' help, this little scene was child's play for a con artist. Cheng Shi humd thoughtfully, waited a few more seconds to confirm Brother Mouth wasn't cooperating, then made a show of flipping two pages before furrowing his brow slightly:
"These appear to be records of the Inquisition's past handling of evil infants."
Zhang Jizu noticed nothing amiss and nodded: "Oh? Just as expected. What does it say specifically?"
"..."
Cheng Shi's toes curled. He gave a light cough and continued:
"These pages describe how the Inquisition staff dealt with a certain evil infant. After locating the citizen carrying the evil infant, they used a Palace Saw to cut her open, splitting both mother and evil infant in half. Then they burned everything to ashes."
"That's... brutally simple? No purification ritual? No ceremony begging for His forgiveness?"
Cheng Shi shook his head stiffly: "Doesn't say."
Zhang Jizu's eyes narrowed with so doubt: "I saw you turn four or five pages. That's all it recorded?"
"Well... it's a work report, you know how it is—they're always excessively long. There's all sorts of baffling rhetorical flourishes in here padding the word count. Nothing worth reading."
"Fair point. But what year did this happen?"
"..."
'Can you stop with the endless questions?'
'You're asking —who am I supposed to ask?'
Cheng Shi's face darkened. He slapped the book back onto the shelf.
"Old news from decades ago. I don't see any recent records here. Let's look elsewhere for clues."
With that, Cheng Shi turned and walked away. Squinty-eyes cast a puzzled glance at the bookshelf, but despite his confusion, he followed.
The two continued deeper into the inner hall. Before long, they ca upon a long spiral staircase. Like everywhere else, the steps were coated in dust—but several fresh footprints marked the surface.
Judging by the footprint contours, they belonged to...
"Gou Feng." Zhang Jizu identified the print imdiately, then furrowed his brow: "The edges are blurred, and the ball of the foot is pressed harder than the heel. He was climbing fast. As if..."
"Soone was chasing him."
Cheng Shi's gaze sharpened. A scalpel slid from his sleeve into his hand.
At the sa instant, Zhang Jizu also produced a scalpel from his sleeve.
Both looked at the blade in the other's hand and froze—then simultaneously let out knowing smiles.
"Oh? Wood Elves like scalpels too?"
"For trimming overgrown hair. But I'm curious—since when do Gravekeepers use scalpels?"
"The cetery always has vagrants trying to scavenge. Holding a knife helps with the nerves."
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow: "Cetery Managent. So it really is you."
"And you, Cheng Shi—should I keep calling you Wood Elf? Or would you prefer Master of Trickery? Or perhaps... Fate Weaver?"
?
Cheng Shi blanked. 'Master of Trickery? What the hell?'
'He thinks I'm actually a mage?'
'Interesting. Whose friend is this guy?'
Cheng Shi had a mountain of questions, but he didn't dwell on them. He quickly responded: "I don't know what you're talking about. After all, I'm rely a Wood Elf who joined the Plant Protection Association."
"..."
"Fine. You seem like a good person. I don't know how you learned about
or through whom, but a friend's friend is still a friend. I'll co clean."
"That's right—I really am a Master of Trickery. On behalf of that Lord's goodwill, can I trust you?"
"..."
Zhang Jizu had genuinely believed the Cheng Shi before him was a Master of Trickery. But the instant the man "confessed," it threw his confidence into disarray. He studied the liar before him for a mont, then said irritably: "Shouldn't I be the one asking that? Follower of [Deceit]."
"Of course you can trust . Because I never lie."
Zhang Jizu's eye twitched. 'If I hadn't watched him lie through the entire session, I might have actually believed that.'
Just as the two were locked in an identity tug-of-war, a horrifying scream suddenly echoed from above.
"AAAAHHH!!!"
The sound was deafening. In the emptiness of the building, eerie echoes ricocheted between floors.
Both their expressions darkened simultaneously at the scream. They exchanged a glance—and decisively chose to...
...retreat.
In this mont, Cheng the Steady had finally t another player on his wavelength: Zhang the Steady.
"That's Gou Feng's voice!"
"Heard it. Let's pull back and wait until he's cald down before going in. He is a teammate, after all—can't just leave him. Recovering the body and all... oh wait, you're probably better at that than ."
Zhang the Steady glanced sidelong at Cheng the Steady, narrowed his eyes, and nodded in approval.
...
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