"I'll take you to find him right now!"
Turadin looked excited. The plan hadn't even started yet, but she seed to already envision the day Corruption would descend upon the world.
But Cheng Shi wasn't about to let her take that risk personally. As things stood, whether man-made or heaven-sent, the child in her belly very much looked like it could be the life that should never have been born. If anything happened to Turadin, an entire day's effort would be wasted.
So Cheng Shi shook his head and refused Turadin's suggestion. He peered through the window at the situation outside and spoke gravely:
"Setting aside the fact that all Church personnel are gathering in the main hall and we can't approach easily — the importance of the child in your belly alone ans you cannot show your face in public for these next few days.
Before the plan is complete, the highest priority isn't spreading His na — it's protecting the Holy Infant!
Once the Holy Infant is born, even if we leave Dolgod we can still use what happened here to spread His will elsewhere. But if the Holy Infant dies, everything starts over from scratch."
Turadin stiffened at those words, then looked at him with confusion. "My brother, you said we needed to create a Holy Infant — that's precisely why I conceived this idea of carrying one myself. As much as I want this child to be that Holy Infant, I must remind you: the child in my belly was not truly chosen by Him."
"No. From this mont forward, he is our Holy Infant. The true, divinely chosen child of destiny." Cheng Shi turned around, smiling brightly.
"Is this also part of your plan?" Turadin reflected on the entire course of her pregnancy, her expression turning peculiar.
"Of course not — this was obviously an accident. I never imagined you'd be so... devout. But that doesn't stop an accident from becoming part of the plan.
Think about it: if even we don't believe this child is the Holy Infant, how can we deceive — I an, how can we convince others to believe?
A lack of conviction leads to cracks everywhere. So from this mont on, the child in your belly can only be — and must be — our Holy Infant."
Turadin looked down at her belly, her gaze inscrutable.
Honestly, she didn't resist the idea. She was even eager for this kind of "recognition." Yet under the weight of years of traditional faith, she still instinctively felt that fabricating divine authority was blasphemous.
But every ti that thought arose, she recalled what Cheng Shi had told her:
Embracing desire is the greatest offering to Him.
So if she were a little greedy right now — if she claid this hollow title — wouldn't that, too, draw His gaze?
"Lis Field is a cautious old fox. Without
there, he won't believe any of you."
'Old fox?'
'What a coincidence — I've been itching to see if I can fool an old fox.'
"You're already dead. Rember — Turadin is dead. Killed by his magnanimous, selfless, Head of Church father. When you think about it, Lis Field is the one who got you killed.
He got you killed, and now you — back from the dead — want to go find him? That doesn't make sense.
I have a more reasonable way to get him on board with our plan. What you need to do is find a safe place and deliver the Holy Infant. From the looks of it...
he seems rather eager to arrive."
As he spoke, Cheng Shi glanced at Turadin's belly.
Since the Descent Technique could compress months of gestation into re days, Turadin's belly was growing by the minute.
"Very well. You are His most devout follower. I'll follow your arrangents."
"..."
'That's a pretty terrifying title you just slapped on , sis.'
Cheng Shi gave a nervous laugh and hunched his shoulders, then turned to address his teammates behind him:
"The night's deep. Let's find sowhere to rest first. After we dodge the Church's sweep tonight, Scorpio and I will go see this Lis Field. As for you, Lady Soloist — once Old Zhang returns, you'd better stick close to him and protect the mother of our Holy Infant.
Otherwise, the Hunter lurking outside won't be nearly as reasonable as I am."
Turadin seed about to say sothing, but a look from Cheng Shi silenced her.
Gao Ya's expression shifted several tis. She fixed Cheng Shi with a hard stare and spoke in a low voice: "Why not go under cover of darkness? If you wait until tomorrow morning, can you guarantee you'll be back before noon?"
"I can't."
"You—!!"
"But don't forget — Old Zhang is here. As long as you stick close to him, I don't think the pastry chef out there will be able to kill you. Old Zhang doesn't strike
as the cold-blooded type."
Gao Ya snorted. "Followers of Death don't even have blood. What's there to be hot or cold about?"
"Death, as a deity, has a form and divine essence that mortals cannot comprehend. But His followers aren't all bloodless skeletons.
Warm blood flows through my veins — of that I have no doubt. A follower of Folly shouldn't make such mistakes."
Just then, Zhang Jizu appeared at the window from outside.
The mont he showed his face, he rebutted Gao Ya's words, then rapped on the glass twice, signaling for them to let him in. Scorpio rushed forward and opened the window. Zhang Jizu vaulted through, landed inside, and smiled at everyone in the room.
But the instant he noticed the pregnant, vaguely familiar young woman, his smile froze.
"Turadin?"
Turadin greeted him with a gentle smile. "Turadin is the past. My na is Aph Ros now."
?
Zhang Jizu's eyes narrowed to slits. He nodded pensively, then turned to Cheng Shi, clearly expecting an explanation. But Cheng Shi shot back a question of his own, slightly taken aback: "You ca alone?"
"There are two of us. He's keeping watch outside. When we arrived, we saw the Church personnel assembling, so we left one person outside as backup — just in case."
Cheng Shi raised his eyebrows, pleased. 'Classic Zhang Steady.'
"Sounds like you and the Chieftain hit it off? You trust him that much?"
Zhang Jizu smiled through narrowed eyes. "Not really. But it's fine — I drugged him."
"..."
'Steady!'
'Steady as a rock!'
Cheng Shi clapped his hands in admiration. He grabbed Turadin with one hand and Zhang Jizu with the other, and right there in front of everyone, he placed their hands together.
"You heard everything. I'm entrusting Aph Ros to you now, Old Zhang."
Watching what looked like a teary-eyed father giving away his daughter, Zhang Jizu's freshly opened eyes imdiately narrowed back to slits.
"It took
a long ti to pinpoint your location. On the way here, I only heard the voice of the Folly follower. Don't you think you owe
an explanation of the current situation, and..."
His gaze dropped to Turadin's still-swelling belly, and he frowned.
"...and what exactly is going on with this 'Aph Ros'?"
"I'll explain on the road. Let's find shelter first. Once we're there, I'll tell you a little bedti story. Trust
— after hearing it, you'll sleep like a baby."
"..." Zhang Jizu had his doubts, but Cheng Shi was already pushing the two of them toward the exit.
"Old Zhang — keep her safe. That's the one thing. Keep her safe and we win."
Turadin was bewildered by it all, but her focus wasn't on the tangled relationships among these Corruption followers. Right now, only one thought occupied her mind: protect her child — the Holy Infant of Corruption, as declared by Cheng Shi himself.
Zhang Jizu's pragmatism far outweighed his curiosity, so he heeded the advice and moved first. Scorpio latched on without hesitation and followed close behind.
It was Gao Ya, trailing at the rear, who studied the backs of Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu with a slight frown. She noticed sothing different in their expressions compared to dayti — a certain ease that hadn't been there before. It sparked a suspicion. After a mont of contemplation, she flinched, eyes widening in disbelief as she muttered under her breath:
"Impossible. Is a Chosen One really that easy to deal with?
No — this might be a test. They're testing my allegiance!"
Gao Ya's gaze sharpened. Seeing the group creeping along the courtyard walls toward the exit, she broke into a quick jog to catch up.
"Whether or not they've dealt with the Scavenger, as long as I listen to the Fate Weaver, I'll most likely survive until the end. Hang in there, Gao Ya. Hope is right in front of you — you can't die yet!"
...
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