Cheng Shi's group carefully skirted the Church personnel's line of sight, scaled the inner courtyard wall, and slipped out. They hadn't gone far when they spotted Gou Feng keeping watch in the bushes outside the Church.
The burly, imposing Chieftain looked utterly diminished now — hunched over, face ashen, all traces of his earlier bravado gone.
But he still loved to smile. The mont he saw Cheng Shi, that bloodless mouth split into a grin.
"Cheng Shi, thank you."
"?" Cheng Shi blinked, then realized Zhang Jizu must have said sothing to Gou Feng that led to this misunderstanding. But it was too trivial to correct, so he simply nodded along. "We're teammates. Of course."
Gou Feng's smile grew even brighter, and a hint of color actually returned to his face.
"No — nothing in this world is a matter of 'of course.' You've earned my gratitude, and I'll rember you.
I was right to like you."
"..."
'Bro, ease up — you're scaring .'
'Rembering
or not doesn't matter. Just don't repay
with your life when the ti cos, and I'll thank the heavens.'
"Save the pleasantries for later. Let's find a place to hide first. Aph Ros — is there anywhere that could slip past the Church's sweep?"
Turadin furrowed her brow in thought and was about to speak, but Zhang Jizu beat her to it.
"I happen to know a place."
"Where?"
"The Evil Infant Inquisition!"
Cheng Shi froze. "The Inquisition?"
He mulled it over for a mont and found the idea quite risky.
"The Inquisition was just burned down. You must have run into Church personnel going in to investigate when you left, right?
If I were them, I'd never inspect a site of that kind of anomaly only once. We can probably slip past the search parties, but it's better not to take the risk."
But to his surprise, Zhang Jizu shook his head.
"I also assud the Church personnel outside the Inquisition would take a burned-down Church facility seriously. But after I revived the Chieftain, I noticed they barely reached the outer courtyard before refusing to go any further.
They just gave a cursory glance around, checked the second floor from a distance, and then — terrified of being associated with the dead Uma Sinners in any way — fled as fast as they could.
The laughable part is that after they left, there wasn't a single person anywhere near the Inquisition's front door.
That's why I thought the Inquisition might make a good hiding spot."
Was that so?
Cheng Shi's expression shifted. He frowned and turned to Turadin, only to find equal shock written on her face.
But what shocked her wasn't the Church personnel's attitude — it was the fact that Squinty Eyes had been up to sothing inside the Inquisition.
"That fire was your doing? You burned all the Uma Sinners to death?"
"No, no, no — the fire truly fell from the sky. We just happened to be there and rescued a friend while we were at it."
"Happened to be there..." Turadin's expression turned utterly exasperated. "Was that accident also part of the plan?"
Cheng Shi gave an awkward laugh. "If you'd like to think so, that works too. But never mind that — do you think hiding in the Inquisition is viable?"
"It should be viable. That place was the previous Head of Church's personal territory. Even my father didn't want to get too involved with it. After the Uma Sinners began their path of atonent, their temperants turned bizarre. Aside from the Uda, who considered themselves children of Birth, nobody wanted anything to do with them."
"Then let's go!"
With Cheng Shi's decision made, the group hurried back to the Inquisition.
The route was the sa familiar path. Zhang Jizu took point, leading everyone along the walls, dodging every Church mber still rushing about on the streets. His practiced movents left Cheng Shi deeply impressed.
"Old Zhang, your sense of direction is sothing else."
"Walk an old road enough and your feet know the way."
"..."
'Damn, he out-cooled
with that one.'
Cheng Shi pursed his lips in disdain and dropped the conversation.
Before long, the group had vaulted the high wall again and slipped into the burned-out second floor of the Inquisition. Staring at the scattered piles of Uma ash, Cheng Shi frowned and asked:
"So these Uma people — how exactly did they atone?"
Turadin murmured sothing under her breath to the ashes, then raised her head with a sigh.
"Rember the history I just told you? In the ancient tribes' understanding, the fetus was the existence closest to Him. So these people reverted themselves to a fetal state to earn Birth's sympathy — to make Him look upon them once more.
Once the Umbilical Shackles are put on, they cannot be removed by the wearer alone. Only external intervention can free them.
And this act of being helped by another — in the eyes of the Uma Sinners — represents His forgiveness!
When a defenseless, helpless infant is rescued by an outsider, it ans that Uma Sinner has been cleansed of their sin — transford into a free soul, unburdened by guilt.
But the Uma people's predatory nature is etched into their bones and isn't easily discarded. So when they're reborn into new life, the very first thing they do is find a physically suitable 'container' and use the blasphemous Descent Technique on her once more.
In their manic worldview, the sin of this new descent falls upon the newborn. When that child grows up, it will pick up the sa unlocked Umbilical Shackles, revert itself to a fetus, and await His forgiveness — continuing the cycle.
It's only through this that the Uma people, shunned and despised by all, have managed to barely survive until today.
But the poor soul who's forced to beco an Uma breeding vessel doesn't see it that way. She can only live in the terror of blasphemy, slowly driven mad by her own fear — or die in helpless anguish.
That's why I warned you — don't provoke these lunatics.
Although now... I suppose we'll never face that risk again."
Sothing nagged at Cheng Shi after hearing this "absolution story" of the Uma Sinners. He frowned in thought for a mont, then asked:
"I recall that the Uda Rioters' God Reproduction technique makes the next generation believe they carry Uda blood. Does the Descent Technique have a similar effect?
Does the newborn retain any of the caster's mories?"
"No. The newborn inherits only the previous generation's superior bloodline and constitution. They still need soone to raise them and teach them about the world."
"I see." Cheng Shi nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly turned to Gou Feng. "You... as His follower, you knew all this, didn't you?"
Gou Feng nodded, his face pale, still apparently enduring trendous pain.
"That's right. I'd read about these accounts in old Life Era records. That's how I used this thod to escape death."
Cheng Shi nodded without pressing further, then turned to Squinty Eyes. "Go rest, everyone. I'll take the night watch. After we survive tonight's sweep, Scorpio and I will head out to find Lis Field first thing in the morning."
Everyone nodded and cleared patches of ground amid the ruins to rest. Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes and cast a calming spell on the entire group.
"You should rest too. I'll take the watch." Zhang Jizu walked over to Cheng Shi and spoke in a low voice.
Cheng Shi tilted his head with a grin. "That line sounds awfully rehearsed. Did you pull the graveyard shift every night back at the cetery?"
"Mm. My colleagues all hated the night shift, but I didn't mind it. So when they made the schedule, they always put
on nights."
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "They were marginalizing you. Soone as sharp as you must have noticed."
Zhang Jizu smiled through those narrow slits of eyes. "So what if I noticed? It's not like I could quit. Besides, the night shift has its perks — compared to the quiet dayti, the cetery is much livelier at night."
"..."
'Livelier?'
'That "lively" had better be the mortal-realm kind of lively.'
"So that's why you chose Death? You like those chattering little skulls?"
At Cheng Shi's teasing, Zhang Jizu laughed and shook his head.
"Before I set foot on the path of Death, I had no idea they were so noisy. But it's nice, actually — a world of nothing but skulls is far more straightforward than the hearts of the living."
Cheng Shi studied Squinty Eyes with fresh interest. "Mind if I ask what happened to those colleagues of yours?"
"Them?" Zhang Jizu's eyes narrowed to absolute slits, and his tone turned wistful. "I imagine they've all gone to serve that great one."
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly.
He understood perfectly. The "serving" that Squinty Eyes spoke of didn't an walking the path of Death as he did. It ant becoming like those chattering little skulls — laid beneath the white bone steps leading up to the Bone Throne.
'Indeed — the one who survives to the end is the ultimate winner. That axiom held true before the ga descended, and it holds true after.'
'As for how to survive until the end...'
'So chose to slay every rival. Others chose to endure in silence.'
Squinty Eyes might be the latter — but that didn't an he couldn't be the forr.
'This Gravekeeper is truly fascinating.'
"Oh right, one more thing — why didn't you give our Chieftain teammate a healing spell? He's looking rather rough."
The words were barely a whisper — so quiet that if not for Zhang Jizu's exceptional hearing, he wouldn't have caught them at all.
Zhang Jizu glanced pensively at the Chieftain resting alone in a corner, then answered just as softly:
"He refused. He said he needed the pain to keep his nerves taut and his mind alert."
"And you believed that?" Cheng Shi asked, taken aback.
"Not really. But since he refused, why would I insist on healing him?"
"..." 'Fair. Completely fair.'
'Drop the healer complex. Respect your teammate's fate.'
Cheng Shi smacked his lips and glanced once more toward Gou Feng's direction, but said nothing more.
...
Reviews
All reviews (0)