Lan Yu Heng’s expression changed abruptly. She was standing close enough to understand exactly what had happened.
She heard faint murmurs flowing into her ears from every direction, strand after strand. Pure, sacred, and beautiful, they glittered within snow-colored sunlight as they tried to wash clean the filth in her soul.
But how could sound have color? She was blind. She should not have been able to experience the radiance of sunlight so vividly.
Realizing something was wrong, Lan Yu Heng’s entire body tensed. She clenched the intentionally blunted fork in her hand and drove it viciously into Lin Xing’s thick arm.
She showed no hesitation whatsoever and used all her strength. The fork sank deep into his flesh, nearly scraping against the hard bone of his upper arm. The moment she pulled it free, blood began pouring out.
Lan Yu Heng kicked him, raised the fork again, and stabbed hard and precisely into the exact same wound.
Hiss…
Focus finally returned to Lin Xing’s dazed, unfocused eyes.
His lips turned pale from the pain, yet there was still a hint of a smile on his face. Without hesitation, he clenched his fist and smashed the glass in Sister Pudu’s hand, then overturned the milk beside his own plate as well.
The entire sequence was smooth and uninterrupted. Sister Pudu had no time to stop him. She could only tremble all over and stare helplessly as the two lunatics carried out their almost feral exchange.
“My lady, you really are a little wildcat.” Lin Xing then chuckled and deliberately lowered his voice into an oily, affected rumble.
Lan Yu Heng breathed a sigh of relief, abruptly turned her head, and fixed her empty eyes directly on Sister Pudu’s position. “You want to kill me because you’re trying to steal my man. Who gave you the nerve? Did the Lord give you permission to steal another woman’s man?”
The moment she finished speaking, the dining hall fell completely silent. The nuns stared wide-eyed at one another without saying a word.
Even the insane patients who had been obediently eating under the orderlies’ supervision looked at Lan Yu Heng strangely. Some even seemed eager to cheer her on.
Her accusation sounded like nothing more than a shrew screaming in the street, but in truth, it was extremely serious.
Members of the clergy were forbidden to marry, forbidden to date, forbidden to form any kind of worldly romantic relationship. Those who violated the rule could even be sent directly to the gallows.
If anyone of higher rank than Sister Pudu had been present, then regardless of whether Lan Yu Heng had been making a baseless accusation, Sister Pudu would have been taken away for a serious and thorough investigation into her personal relationships.
But there was no such person here. Apart from the director, who rarely showed himself, Sister Pudu was the highest-ranking supervisor. Up to this point, her authority remained untouchable.
So she ignored Lan Yu Heng’s accusation and did not notice the thoughtful look in Sister Rachel’s eyes. Instead, she stared incredulously at Lin Xing, who had returned to normal. Her body swayed, as though some fundamental belief had collapsed inside her.
“How is that possible? Why… why didn’t the Lord help me? I did nothing wrong.”
The confusion lasted only an instant. In less than half a minute, Sister Pudu forced herself to calm down.
She took one step back, gripped the golden cross against her chest, and said coldly, “Solitary confinement is clearly too mild a punishment for you. Those whose minds have been seduced by Lucifer will not easily reflect on the grave sins they have committed before God.
“Charlie, take them downstairs.”
Downstairs? Where?
Lin Xing narrowed his eyes slightly and protectively pulled Lan Yu Heng into his arms.
A red-haired orderly with a limp came weaving through the crowd.
He had a gun in his hands: a Winchester hunting rifle, though an exceptionally ornate and ostentatious version. Rose-and-chain patterns were engraved across its brass barrel, while self-turning platinum gears were embedded on either side of the wooden receiver.
Just how many bizarre elements has this world mashed together? Song Zang craned his neck to watch the show and was beginning to lose track himself.
Click. The rifle chambered a round.
The limping orderly raised the weapon and aimed at Lin Xing’s blood-soaked arm wound. Smiling, he licked his dry lips. “Kid, I’ve killed ten black bears.”
Lin Xing raised his hands and placed Lan Yu Heng behind him.
And Lan Yu Heng, hidden behind her “lover,” continued hysterically insulting Sister Pudu, claiming that she and that red-haired old bastard must be having an illicit affair.
A vicious killing intent surfaced in Charlie’s eyes, but the smile on his face only grew wider, carrying a faint, indescribable anticipation.
Riding the momentum and deliberately courting death to infuriate the NPCs, the two finally got themselves dragged together into the mysterious underground prison.
Yin Chen did not intervene from beginning to end. He remained seated on the raised platform, observing the actions of the “madmen” with cold, detached eyes, like a truly rational, respectable, high-ranking Church physician.
His aloof composure made the emotionally unstable Sister Pudu look all the more disheveled.
But strictly speaking, both of those people were patients he had personally taken charge of only today… So when he left the dining hall, Yin Chen lowered the brim of his hat, gripped his cane, and quietly apologized to Sister Pudu.
His cold phoenix eyes held careless indifference, along with a trace of condescending contempt.
He pretended he had believed Lan Yu Heng’s slander while maintaining surface propriety out of good breeding, continuing to apply pressure to the woman hiding madness beneath her skin.
Ideally, he could force her into another episode of devouring human flesh alive.
“Croak, croak, croak!”
The woman who had imitated a monkey that morning now started imitating a frog instead, pointing at Sister Pudu and laughing wildly before an orderly hurriedly dragged her away.
Sister Pudu’s expression did not change. The hands concealed beneath her black robes trembled faintly. She clenched her palms hard to suppress the surging emotion, then weakly relaxed them again.
“Sister Pudu, are you all right?”
Li Ming looked at the varied expressions on the other nuns’ faces and deliberately put on an innocent, bewildered look. As though she had worked up enormous courage, she cautiously spoke in a flattering tone.
“I’m fine.”
Looking at this naïve and guileless young woman, Sister Pudu’s expression softened slightly. “I’m feeling unwell. You will lead the afternoon prayers and hymns.”
Li Ming froze, looking both flattered and panic-stricken. “Yes, Sister!”
She understood what this meant. Power had been temporarily redistributed at this very moment, and the way the other nuns looked at her changed immediately. Some were suspicious; others openly unfriendly…
Fight. Make a mess. That would suit her perfectly.
“She doesn’t seem to pay any attention to me at all. Then why is she still trying to poison me?”
On the way back, Song Zang tilted his head and whispered with Xu Wei Ran.
Xu Wei Ran thought about it. “The one who actually wants you poisoned might be Lady Medisa. Sister Pudu could just be carrying out her orders.”
Song Zang nodded in agreement. “I’m already locked in an asylum and she still won’t leave me alone… How evil.”
“It’s fine. I have a day off in a couple of days. I’ll go to the Duchy of Fran and beat her up for you.”
Song Zang laughed. “Don’t beat her to death. I’m supposed to take revenge personally.”
“Fine, then I’ll beat up her son!” Xu Wei Ran rubbed his fists together, growing even more enthusiastic.
“That works. Better break his legs too.”
At that moment, Yin Chen’s sinister voice sounded behind them. “There’s no need for you to do anything.”
Xu Wei Ran jolted in fright and hurriedly tried to clear himself of suspicion. “Bro, I’m straight! I absolutely don’t mean anything else!”
“Straight?” Yin Chen glanced at him in confusion. “What does that mean?”
Suppressing a tidal wave of things he wanted to complain about, Xu Wei Ran answered obediently, “It means I like women. I only like girls. Actually, Li Ming is my girlfriend… We teamed up and came in together.”
Yin Chen seemed to understand a little, but he remained extremely displeased and took over Song Zang’s wheelchair. “If you have a girlfriend, stop being so attentive to other people.”
“You’re absolutely right, Bro!”
Xu Wei Ran agreed aloud while secretly giving Song Zang a sympathetic look.
He had figured it out. Yin Chen was like a block of wood. In certain matters, he had absolutely no common sense.
Song Zang, noticing Xu Wei Ran’s strange stare, only blinked in confusion and failed to understand what he meant.
Xu Wei Ran: …
So there were two blocks of wood.
After delivering Song Zang to Yin Chen’s room, Xu Wei Ran set down the milk he had secretly taken from the dining hall and did not linger around as an eyesore. Song Zang was far from the only patient he had to look after.
For the next three hours, Xu Wei Ran still had to patrol the entire floor. In a Church hospital, being an orderly was not much different from being cheap livestock.
Once Xu Wei Ran tactfully left on his own, Yin Chen’s expression improved considerably.
He closed the door behind them. The wheelchair rolled over the soft carpet and stopped in the center of the receiving room.
Yin Chen knelt on one knee in front of Song Zang, his right hand closing around the slender ankle bound with a leather strap. When he lifted Song Zang’s trouser leg, his fingers happened to brush against the cool golden chain there.
His expression improved even further. Xu Wei Ran vanished completely from his mind, while another thought quietly began to form.
Looking at Song Zang tied to the wheelchair, both hands pitifully bundled inside the straitjacket, wearing the obedient expression of someone already accustomed to being waited upon, Yin Chen’s movements inexplicably paused as he undid the restraints. He looked thoughtful.
“You’re very cute right now.”
Song Zang lowered his eyes in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. Very cute.”
Yin Chen’s warm hand slipped beneath the trouser leg and pressed against Song Zang’s soft, cool calf, like a dangerous venomous snake silently winding around his body.
Song Zang jolted and tensed. “Let go!”
“No.”
“I’m going to get angry, Yin Chen.”
Yin Chen remained half-kneeling, resting his chin against Song Zang’s taut leg and exposing his gently moving throat in an almost vulnerable gesture, yet his words remained entirely self-assured. “You clearly don’t hate it when I touch you.”
Song Zang stared at the nearly perfect lines of his profile and bit his lip, reminding himself not to soften.
“Even if I don’t hate it, you still have to ask me first before touching me. I thought we had already reached an understanding, but you’re still doing whatever you want and don’t know how to restrain your own desires at all.”
“But why should I restrain myself?” Yin Chen suddenly curved his lips. “No one can control me. You can control me only because I choose to let you. If I tied you up for the rest of your life, you wouldn’t be able to control me either.”
Pervert.
Super-pervert behavior!
Song Zang’s face grew a little hot, but he controlled himself and showed no intense reaction.
He merely looked away with an almost numb expression and said very softly, “Then tie me up. Whatever.”
The force of Yin Chen’s grip around his calf unconsciously tightened.
“If. I only said if.” Receiving no response, Yin Chen spoke in a low voice that somehow sounded rather aggrieved. “I know I couldn’t keep you tied up anyway. Otherwise, why would I hide your photograph?”
Song Zang lowered his head and glanced at the leather buckles still restraining him. “At least right now, you’re still willing to let me control you, aren’t you?”
“Mm.” Yin Chen reluctantly withdrew his hand and loosened one side.
Since he had yielded, Song Zang’s voice naturally softened as well. He taught him carefully, “You can touch my face. You can touch my hands. Hugging me over my clothes is fine too.
“But places covered by my clothes aren’t yours to touch whenever you want. You have to ask me first. Touching without asking is being a creep.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, and then?” Song Zang blinked.
Yin Chen remained silent for a moment, then raised his hands and undid the strap across Song Zang’s chest and the white buckle securing his arms behind him. “I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you.” Song Zang stood from the wheelchair and curved his lips faintly.
Good thing Yin Chen latched onto me instead of going off to torment some genuinely innocent ordinary person.
Yin Chen did seem to be getting increasingly clingy, but at least he was not recklessly causing trouble. And what was wrong with being clingy? As long as he did not cross the line.
The two went into the study. The enormous box of painting supplies Li Ming had delivered on Wales’s behalf was already sitting on the desk.
Song Zang opened the lid with great interest and was immediately stunned by Sister Pudu’s extravagance and generosity.
Cinnabar, finely ground pearl powder, lapis lazuli more expensive than gold, arsenic-containing Paris green, and an entire bottle of Tyrian purple extracted from sea snails.
Most of the pigments contained heavy metals, potent carcinogens, or involved extraordinarily disgusting production processes. Yet painting remained an amusement only the super-rich could afford.
Apparently, the families of the patients housed here really had poured mountains of gold and silver into the asylum. A filthy place despised by outsiders was secretly making an enormous fortune…
“Don’t touch them. None of that is good for you.”
Yin Chen had also immediately noticed that something was wrong and frowned as he stopped Song Zang from handling them casually.
“It’s fine. I can just bleed it out. I even drank poisoned milk this morning, and nothing happened after I let some blood.” Song Zang did not care in the slightest and eagerly put on his gloves.
“Wait.”
Yin Chen rummaged through the wardrobe for a moment, then casually tossed Song Zang a black bird-beak mask.
Its long black beak resembled a crow’s. The exterior was thick goatskin coated in wax and embroidered with elaborate rose patterns.
Beneath the goatskin was a rigid material of nearly pure silver, fitted with two clear glass lenses. It was obviously very expensive.
Slices of fragrant lemon and dried mint had been placed inside the beak to freshen the air, presumably Yin Chen’s handiwork.
“This is so cool. This world is really interesting.” Song Zang stroked it again and again, unable to put it down.
“You like it? I’ll buy several more. I’m rich.”
“No, no. One is enough.”
Song Zang eagerly put on the mask and gloves, armed himself from head to toe, laid out the canvas, and picked up his quill.
Yin Chen still did not want him touching those heavy metals, so he simply helped from the side, moistening the cinnabar and mixing it with the fine pearl powder until the color was right.
Song Zang carefully recalled what he had read that morning, sketched the general structure of the Lance Empire’s coat of arms, then used a fine weasel-hair brush to apply the colors with great care.
After practicing several times, Song Zang discovered he had already become remarkably proficient. As long as he perfectly controlled the strength in his wrist, there was virtually no risk of coloring outside the intended areas.
Before long, a lifelike rose bloomed in magnificent, romantic crimson amid the flames on the canvas.
“You’re very talented,” Yin Chen commented.
Song Zang lifted his chin proudly. “Obviously. I finished the homework you assigned me this morning. Quiz me whenever you want.”
He did not dare touch the newly created emblem casually. Instead, he moved the still-wet canvas beside the window to let the bright daylight dry it more quickly.
“Do you feel weak or drained?” Yin Chen touched Song Zang’s cool hand. Dissatisfied with his slightly low body temperature, he simply took Song Zang by the wrist, pulled him closer, and stuffed his hand into his own pocket to warm it.
Song Zang did not resist. His fingers brushed Yin Chen’s warm palm as he quietly thought back. “A little, but it’s barely noticeable. Maybe because the drawing isn’t accurate enough?”
“No. It’s very accurate. Perhaps you weren’t in good condition this morning. That milk…”
Before he could finish, a tremendous bang rang out.
A black shadow came hurtling through the window, smashing a huge hole through the beautiful glass.
Yin Chen reacted instantly and pulled Song Zang behind him, though his face darkened like storm water once again.
It was the butler. By sheer coincidence, his entire body landed directly on the freshly painted, still-wet canvas.
He hit face-first in a rather undignified position, as though someone had violently knocked him flying.
Then another accident followed. Song Zang peeked around Yin Chen and looked outside, his pupils abruptly contracting.
An enormous sphere of milky-white light, almost bright enough to blind anyone who looked at it, was aimed directly at the butler’s head and came roaring toward them at an unimaginable speed.
“Did you hear that?”
Song Zang only had time to ask the question before dazzling white light completely overwhelmed his vision, as though he had been blinded in an instant.
He wanted to ask Yin Chen whether he could hear those waves of sacred, distant murmuring trying to burrow into his eyeballs, seep into his pores, and forcibly wash the thick filth from his soul…
But those strange voices disappeared almost immediately, so quickly that they seemed no more than an illusion, a sacred and beautiful dream.
Boom!
The white light vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, transforming in an instant into a ring of roaring fire that burned fiercely in midair for several seconds… before disappearing completely.
Only the three of them remained, practically unharmed, standing amid the wreckage of the study and staring at one another.
Well, not entirely unharmed. The back of the butler’s clothing had been torn open as well, exposing a shoulder blade streaming with blood. He looked somewhat miserable.
“Um… are you okay?” Song Zang asked softly.
The butler paid no attention to his ruined suit. He slowly stood and touched the remaining cinnabar powder on his face.
Then he smiled politely. “Mr. Song, your coat of arms appears to have saved my life.”
“Huh?”
“Thank you for your righteous assistance. I have no way to repay you except to offer myself.”
Yin Chen immediately spoke in a cold voice. “Offer yourself? Who gave you that confidence?”
“Master, you may rest assured. I mean three years of complimentary butler service.”
The butler continued smiling. Even beneath the invisible pressure, he remained completely unmoved and cheerfully launched into his sales pitch. “Given the special relationship between you and Mr. Song, you will receive the same treatment: three years of complimentary service. If the two of you are satisfied afterward, renewal will be offered at a twelve-percent discount, with my standard pre-tax annual fee of five million. Reserve now and you may enjoy the conscientious friendship rate of four and a half million.”
Yin Chen: …
Suppressing his laughter, Song Zang soothed the stiff-faced Yin Chen. “Darling, I suggest you don’t compete with him. He genuinely doesn’t care about anything else. His entire heart is devoted to the butler profession.”
“Darling?” Yin Chen’s attention shifted instantly. His phoenix eyes locked onto Song Zang without blinking.
Song Zang tilted his head. “I just suddenly felt like calling you that. What’s wrong?”
“…You’re very bad.”
Yin Chen froze for a moment, slowly looked away, and abruptly muttered the inexplicably aggrieved accusation.
But the strange little emotion came and went quickly. Remembering what mattered, he released the arm around Song Zang’s waist and went to inspect the fallen canvas.
Sure enough, the originally wet canvas had become completely dry, its edges ringed with black scorch marks.
Apart from the cinnabar now smeared across the butler’s face, every trace of red pigment had disappeared into thin air, as though it had never existed.
The painting itself now resembled an unfinished draft. The flames were reduced to nothing but ink outlines, while the rose had faded into a weak pink. It was extremely strange.
“You really can use magic. And you’re very good at it.” Yin Chen curved his lips, pleased that Song Zang possessed this new “self-protection ability.”
Song Zang was still distracted by that aggrieved comment. Hearing this, he quickly collected himself.
Looking at his strangely faded painting and then at the injured butler, Song Zang could not help asking, “Mr. Butler, who was trying to kill you?”
The butler smiled. “An extraordinarily handsome middle-aged priest. He did not resemble a living person. His body was insubstantial and translucent, with no shadow.”
“…Blue eyes?”
“Correct.”
Song Zang and Yin Chen exchanged a look, understanding one another immediately.
He was the corpse in the confessional, the strange visitor who had knocked outside the room, and the phantom now hunting the butler.
They had probably attracted a formidable enemy.
According to the butler, after meeting Sister Pudu and carrying the painting supplies back, the priest had silently begun following him.
Not only had the butler been unable to shake his pursuer, he had discovered that this enemy was genuinely difficult to handle.
The priest’s attacks could strike him, while none of his own attacks landed. In other words, physical attacks were completely ineffective.
They had tangled around the potato fields behind the asylum. The priest smiled while calling him a “lost lamb.” The butler did not answer at all and simply ran circles as fast as he could. The two chased and fled like that for quite some time.
Fortunately, the formidable enemy had one lame leg and moved with a strangely sluggish delay. Otherwise, the butler had no idea how much longer he would have been forced to fight him.
He had finally managed to return for reinforcements, only for the priest to stubbornly raise his staff and hurl a white “holy-light cannon” from afar before disappearing…
By sheer dumb luck, the coat of arms Song Zang had just finished painting somehow happened to counter the strange holy light. Judging from the symbolism behind the emblem, it was possible that it possessed an effect resembling 【protect people in mortal danger】.
Song Zang was puzzled. “None of the orderlies or nuns passing by noticed the two of you fighting?”
“If I do not wish to be noticed, people who are not deliberately paying attention cannot see me. Naturally, they cannot see the inhuman priest either,” the butler explained gently.
Song Zang suddenly understood, then discovered to his horror that the butler had somehow changed into an entirely new suit without him noticing. His disordered hair had been restored to perfect neatness, all traces of blood had been cleaned away, and there was no indication at all that he had just been through a violent battle.
What a terrifyingly unfathomable person…
Yin Chen hooked Song Zang’s hand with some displeasure, refusing to let him continue staring at the butler. “He stopped pursuing you, but definitely not because he gave up. It can only mean he cannot defeat all three of us together.”
“Master is wise.” The butler inclined his head, then continued his deduction. “He does not wish to kill only me. He wants to kill every lost lamb.”
Who in Lipton Asylum would be judged a lost lamb?
Song Zang’s expression changed. “Sister Lan and the others are in danger.”
Lan Yu Heng truly was in danger, though not from ghosts or spirits.
She had been separated from Lin Xing, bound hand and foot, and thrown into a cellar filled with rats.
Pairs of blood-red eyes glowed faintly in the darkness.
Even more horrifyingly, every rat here was grotesquely fat, each one roughly the size of a piglet two months after weaning.
What had they been eating?