Jiali and Miss Yulia were best friends, having been close since elentary school. Since returning from sitting for their exams, Miss Yulia had been very busy and hadn’t seen Jiali during that period.
"What’s going on? Why didn’t anyone tell ?"
"It started last week, miss. She beca listless and lethargic. She’d stare blankly all day long, and sotis she’d make very strange gestures. The day before yesterday, she even jumped down from the third floor and broke her leg."
"At first, the master and I suspected that miss might have been cursed by a Demon, so the master called for the Saintess to exorcise it, but the Saintess said that miss was completely normal. But how could that possibly be normal? She was like soone who had lost her soul."
"Where is Jiali now?"
"She’s at the Holy City Hospital."
"Let’s go, take to see her," Miss Yulia said hastily, suddenly stopping in her tracks to look back at Wang Lan and the others. "Would you like to co with us?"
Wang Lan and his friends, having nothing better to do, imdiately stood up and went along with Miss Yulia.
The butler had co in a car, but Miss Yulia and the four others took a separate car and, after a ten-minute drive, arrived at the Holy City Hospital. The Holy City Hospital was the top hospital in God’s Country, staffed entirely by nuns from the Holy Court, with dical Star Martial Warriors making up fifty percent of the staff.
Although dical Star Martial Technique didn’t work on ordinary people, many variations of Star Martial Skills could be used for dical treatnt. For instance, light burning could be used to stop bleeding in blood vessels, and Pupil Skill could reveal diseases or injuries invisible to the naked eye.
Miss Jiali’s identity seed to be extraordinary; her ward was an independent mobile convalescence building, and Holy Knights guarded the area. It was only after Miss Yulia presented her credentials as a prospective Saintess that they were allowed to enter the convalescence building.
Afterward, Wang Lan and the others were allowed to enter Jiali’s ward, which was spacious, with a young girl with a head of black hair sitting on a snowy white hospital bed. The girl was gazing blankly out the window, a scene that was serene and yet tinged with sadness.
Standing by the girl were two maids, their faces filled with concern. Upon seeing Miss Yulia enter the room, their faces lit up with a joyful smile.
"Jiali—" Miss Yulia called out softly.
But the girl on the bed acted as if she heard nothing, or perhaps she didn’t hear at all, continuing to stare blankly out of the window.
Two pigeons fluttered their wings and landed on the window ledge of the ward, curiously glanced at the people inside, then flapped their wings and flew high into the sky, disappearing from view.
"Jiali!" Miss Yulia ca to Jiali’s side anxiously, only then noticing that there was sothing very wrong with Jiali’s state. She looked out the window with lifeless eyes, as if she were a clay statue.
"Butler Browney, how could Jiali beco like this?"
"I don’t know either. All I know is that last week, Jiali suddenly had a nightmare while she was sleeping and woke up screaming. After that... after that she turned into this."
Miss Yulia raised her hand, and the light from it shone on Jiali. Jiali remained unmoved, with not even a flicker of change in her eyes.
"There’s no sign of a curse... and the soul is not tainted but remains pure and flawless..." Miss Yulia said with a serious expression.
The door to the ward suddenly opened, and a middle-aged man in a gray suit walked in. At the mont the door opened, Jiali’s body couldn’t help but tremble, though the tremor was very slight, and Wang Lan was just barely able to feel it.
"Yulia, you’re here too?"
"Hello, Uncle Murraku," Miss Yulia said formally, greeting the middle-aged man, then turned to Wang Lan and spoke, "This is Murraku, son of the Unparalleled Knight and Jiali’s father, a distinguished businessman from God’s Country."
"I have long been familiar with the great na of Murraku Industrial, yet I never imagined Murraku’s father would be the Unparalleled Knight."
"The na ’Greedy Wolf of Jade Country’ is also frequently ntioned by my father. He often says that the coming twenty years belong to the era of the Four Young Prodigies, with two of them from Jade Country."
"The Unparalleled Knight is too generous with his praise. The world has room for many heroes, and there are as many geniuses as stars in the sky. Even in Jade Country, I am far from the most outstanding, let alone in the entire world."
"You really are modest." Murraku smiled, then turned to Yulia. "Yulia, how is Jiali?"
"It’s strange. Jiali’s soul is pure, and there’s no sign of a curse. Her current state is almost like she’s been... scared senseless?" Yulia could only describe it that way.
"Uncle, although Jiali is timid, she wouldn’t be this frightened by just a nightmare, right? Besides having a nightmare, has she had any other unusual experiences?"
"Nothing! You know she doesn’t like to go out; she’d play the piano, paint, or practice dancing when she had ti off at ho. Moreover, our house’s security is very tight. All I know is that she was frightened that night. Lastly, she fell from upstairs the day before yesterday, but she didn’t hit her head."
"That makes it even stranger..." Yulia said in surprise.
"I have a eting shortly. I hurried back when I heard you were coming to see Jiali. If anything happens with Jiali, please tell imdiately. I need to get back to my eting now."
It seed that Murraku was indeed very busy—arriving in haste and leaving in a hurry. As he left, he glanced at Wang Lan and nodded in a friendly manner before departing.
A contemplative glint flashed in Wang Lan’s eyes as he ca to Yulia’s side and whispered, "Let try."
"Jiali hasn’t awakened the talent of a Star Martial Warrior, so your dical Star Martial Technique should be ineffective on her, right?"
Wang Lan said nothing and raised his hand to release a burst of Holy Light Fire. With a BOOM, fierce flas ignited on Jiali’s body.
"AAAH—" Jiali suddenly let out a scream of terror, but the scream stopped abruptly. She glanced blankly at Wang Lan before turning her head to look out the window again.
This scene gave Yulia and the others a huge fright, with Yulia’s Star Power nearly going out of control. But soon, the Holy Light Fire on Jiali’s body extinguished, and seeing that she was unhard, they relaxed.
"Wang Lan, what are you doing?" Yulia roared angrily.
"This is Holy Light Fire, don’t you know?" Wang Lan asked with an innocent look.
"How could we possibly know? This is a Star Martial Skill from the East," Yulia roared back.
"Well, my apologies for not explaining earlier. Holy Light Fire is a kind of fla that can remove curses, viruses, and negative emotions. This fla won’t harm people, only scorching away negative things."
"But you should have told in advance, right? Jiali had a reaction just now, is it working?"
"The effect lasted only a mont; it seems to have had no effect..." Wang Lan said and looked towards the three people beside Jiali, "Butler Browney, and the two young ladies, could you step out for a mont? I need to discuss the treatnt plan with Miss Yulia."
"This..." Butler Browney hesitated slightly but, seeing Yulia nod, he graciously bowed. "Then, I leave it to you, sir."
With that said, he led the two maids out of the room and closed the door behind them.
"Xiangwen, you go out and keep watch. Don’t let anyone eavesdrop," Wang Lan suddenly said.
"Ah?" Xu Xiangwen, seeing Wang Lan’s serious expression, imdiately understood and nodded his head. Soon, only Wang Lan and four won were left in the room. Wang Lan moved beside Jiali, curiously examining her cheeks, full of collagen.
"Miss Jiali, there are no outsiders now. You can stop pretending," Wang Lan suddenly said.
"What?" Yulia was startled and looked at Jiali in shock. "Jiali, are you all right? Were you pretending?"
"When Murraku walked in just now, Miss Jiali’s body involuntarily shivered, albeit well-concealed, but I still noticed it. This ans Miss Jiali is not soulless as she appears to be; your consciousness is clear. When I scorched you with the Holy Light Fire, you scread in fright, but then you imdiately realized the Holy Light Fire did not scorch you. So... you pretended to be soulless again. Am I correct?"
"Jiali, you’re not soulless, are you? Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you. They are all my friends, and you can trust them..."
"Yulia—" Jiali suddenly hugged Yulia and began to sob painfully. This scene confird Wang Lan’s guess.
"Jiali, tell , what exactly is going on?" Yulia knew that Jiali had to have a reason for pretending to be soulless.
"I... my father is no longer my father. He is a Demon..."
"No... it’s not that. It’s... I sensed that my father’s soul has been possessed by a Demon. His soul is so terrifying... Ever since he ca back last week, I felt sothing was wrong with him. Then, after a few days, more and more people at ho beca possessed by Demons... I knew...
"If I didn’t do sothing, I would be possessed by a Demon soon too. And except for the butler, everyone around is a Demon. My father kept saying the outside world is chaotic and dangerous and wouldn’t let leave the house.
"I couldn’t contact my grandfather... so I had no choice but to pretend to be cursed, fall from upstairs, and then act like I had damaged my brain..."
Hearing Jiali’s explanation, Yulia’s face turned extrely grim. Wang Lan looked at Jiali with curiosity. "You can see people’s souls? Are you a Star Martial Warrior?"
"No, Jiali is not a Star Martial Warrior, but she indeed has extraordinary abilities. She has been able to sense souls for several years, but she never told anyone about this ability, except ," Yulia responded.
"So, Murraku really has been possessed by a Demon’s soul?" Wang Lan finally began to find it unbelievable.
"Mr. Murraku is the son of an Unparalleled Knight!" Xu Xiangwen added, his face full of surprise. "Even the son of an Unparalleled Knight has fallen to the Hell Monarch. Who could be beyond his reach?"
"Has the Papacy’s defense system beco the Hell Monarch’s backyard..."
Yulia’s face showed both anger and sha, and she took a deep breath. "I must report this to the Pope imdiately. This matter is too grave."
"Can the Pope be trusted now?" Xu Xiangwen asked blankly. "It feels like anyone could be working for the Hell Monarch."
"Xiangwen, don’t talk nonsense," Wang Lan rebuked. "Yulia, you cannot tell the Pope about this."
"Why?"
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