Cheng Shi squeezed out a stiff smile, retreated half a step, and tilted his head toward the Head of Church behind him.
"Head of Church, please don't tell
this is the 'patient' you were talking about?"
"It is."
Berios's tone was as frosty as ever, but Cheng Shi could hear that the cold undertone wasn't as flat and emotionless as it had been atop the tower. Sothing complex and unreadable had been woven into it.
With the patient's identity confird by the family, Cheng Shi's heart sank.
'Things have gone sideways. The creatures I've been treating keep getting more bizarre. If this keeps up, who knows what kind of monstrosity I'll have to heal next.'
Scorpio had also recovered from his initial shock. He took several deep breaths and, struggling to contain his unease, whispered:
"Who is... she?"
Berios stepped forward. The staff he leaned on touched the ground with deliberate care, not producing even the faintest sound. His icy tone softened, barely perceptibly.
"Go Lis. The Dol Federation's greatest god-worshipper. Birth's most devout follower. Dolgod's guardian 'deity.' And...
my beloved wife."
"???"
"..."
Both players went slack-jawed.
What?
Whose wife?
Cheng Shi blinked furiously, staring at Big Beard and the tentacles engaging in tender intimacy at the lake's edge. His ntal processor emitted a sharp whine and started smoking.
He desperately wanted to ask:
'Head of Church, your wife and your partner are being intimate and tender right over there. How can you be so calm?'
'The three of you...'
Just as he was wondering whether the scenarios his imagination was constructing were perhaps a bit too conservative, Lis Field spoke up from the lake's edge, his voice seething with fury.
"You don't deserve her!
You're the reason Go Lis beca what she is! You dare say you love her?
The one who loves her most in this world is !
You manipulated her with your filthy, sordid faith into marrying you. She should have been mine! My wife!
Berios, you led her astray, you used her, you tortured her — your sickening pretense of affection is revolting!
Go Lis should hang you up — just like those Uma mongrels — suspend you from the top of the Church tower and wait for your even more revolting Benefactor to co rescue you!"
Lis Field unleashed his tirade in a frenzy, and every sentence made the gleam in Cheng Shi's eyes burn three shades brighter.
'Well, well, well. Who'd have guessed — beneath what seed like a straightforward dical transaction lay a scandal of this magnitude!'
'A bombshell involving the absolute upper echelon of Dolgod!'
Cheng Shi was thrilled. After all, a world without gossip was a world without joy. He silently shut his mouth, stood obediently to the side, and perked up his ears to listen with rapt attention, determined not to miss a single word.
Scorpio did the sa — but as the designated alarm system, he kept half his attention on surveillance and escape routes rather than investing everything into eavesdropping.
Today's deduction opportunity was already spent. Without that fallback, the little assassin valued his life dearly.
Berios showed not the slightest trace of guilt at Big Beard's verbal assault. He walked to the mass of tentacles with his staff, mimicked Lis Field's movents, and gently stroked the sticky, uneven skin of the tentacle's surface.
"You don't understand her. This was her choice. I rely respected it."
"Bullshit!
Delusional fantasies should be stopped, not enabled!
You never loved her! You're killing her!
This is all your fault, Berios! If Go Lis dies, you are her murderer!"
An unreadable emotion flickered through Berios's eyes at those words. He looked at his wife and, for a rare instant, allowed a faint smile to cross his face — before the cold mask of the Head of Church settled back into place.
"How long are you two going to stand there watching? The treatnt can begin."
Cheng Shi snapped out of gossip-mode with a start and rubbed his hands together with an awkward grin.
"My apologies. Doctor-patient relations are tense these days. If you family mbers don't vent a little first, it's hard for us physicians to start work."
The other two obviously couldn't make sense of this nonsense. Big Beard didn't bother trying. He turned a vicious glare on Cheng Shi and growled:
"Now that you've been brought here, you've lost the right to refuse, boy. Cure her and you get everything you want. Fail — I don't need to spell out what happens."
Cheng Shi twitched the corner of his mouth. "That's not what you said before we ca down here."
"Too late for regrets. The lake floor is littered with false-god followers just like you. No one escapes this place.
Of course, I'd much prefer you heal her. Then we can all walk out of here together.
I hate this place too — this dark, damp, nauseating hellhole!"
Cheng Shi wasn't actually intimidated by Big Beard's threats. With a die in hand, he could leave anyti he pleased; empty naces wouldn't faze him.
But he still went ahead and dutifully examined Go Lis's "body," because his mindset had already shifted. He'd transford from a player chasing cooperation for a speed-run into a gossip-hungry bystander dying to dig up historical dirt.
He was burning to know what had happened among these three people. And if Go Lis was Berios's wife, was she Turadin's mother?
'What a family. The father — a corrupt, scheming Head of Church. The mother — an eight-limbed octopus. The child — pregnant with herself. Truly, birds of a feather flock together.'
But the instant Cheng Shi tentatively placed his hand on one of Go Lis's tentacles, his pupils contracted sharply. He froze on the spot.
Big Beard noticed the change imdiately. He lunged forward, his voice urgent: "What is it? Can you heal her or not?!"
Could he?
That was genuinely hard to say. Because her condition...
'Hiss—'
Looked awfully familiar.
Cheng Shi narrowed his eyes, suddenly reminded of a certain "person" he'd dealt with not long ago.
The Barren Walker!
Right now, Go Lis gave him the exact sa impression as the Barren Walker — a massive shell brimming with divine power, yet stripped of a soul to command it!
It was a vague sensation. Had he not clashed with the Barren Walker before, Cheng Shi would never have detected this state — flesh and blood that had once nurtured divine force.
But how had she cultivated divinity within her own flesh?
Had she fused with a fragnt of divinity?
How?
Cheng Shi frowned slightly. He ignored Big Beard's impatient badgering and examined several more tentacles before confirming — it was no illusion. Residual traces of Birth's power genuinely lingered within her flesh.
But the power was strange — fragnted, feeble, and entirely concealed. That explained why he hadn't sensed anything unusual when he'd watched the enormous tentacle strike last night.
'Damn. Preliminary diagnosis failed. He really did need to bring Squinty Eyes in for a consultation.'
But Cheng Shi was never one to worry about saving face. He cleared his throat twice, turned to Scorpio, and said:
"Ahem — so, about that, could you go fetch the specialist for a joint consultation? The situation's more complicated than expected. We'll probably need a combined procedure — I can't handle it alone."
"..." Scorpio had half expected this, yet he still couldn't help but admire Cheng Shi's brazenness.
He nodded and looked at Berios and Lis Field, indicating he needed to leave.
Berios's gaze sharpened. He glanced at Big Beard.
Big Beard clearly didn't want to leave his beloved Go Lis, but for the sake of her treatnt, he held back.
"You'd better not be tricking . Otherwise, I'll rip you out of Dolgod root and stem!
Hurry — lead the way. Bring the person back quickly. Move!"
With that, he grabbed Scorpio and headed for the surface.
After they left, Berios fixed his cold gaze on Cheng Shi and spoke.
"You can ask what you want to ask now."
...
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