Song Zang firmly rejected Yin Chen’s terrifying request, confiscated the dagger, and hid it beneath his own pillow.
It was not that he could not understand Yin Chen’s peculiar point of excitement, but right now… the time had not yet come.
The sacred spectacle of Jesus’s resurrection was an enormously important event in the Bible, one with far-reaching consequences.
If the two of them secretly cut open a belly and extracted a baby behind everyone’s backs in the middle of the night, without even an audience, it would genuinely turn into some deranged pervert performance.
Song Zang admitted that he was not exactly a proper person in certain respects, but even his tastes had not become quite that bizarre and unconventional.
There were many possible routes they could take next, because the false gods in this instance certainly would not all be gathered in large numbers at the same location.
Barring anything unexpected, the secret treasure being sought by the Saint Roland Cross Society and the Duchy of Fran controlled by Lady Medisa could both become crucial to advancing the main mission.
Opening those two storylines would first depend on Lan Yu Heng’s abilities. Beyond that, they also needed to confirm Sister Pudu’s mental state and her attitude toward these “heretic” players before deciding where to focus their actions going forward.
After all, Lipton Asylum was still the core of the instance, and Sister Pudu was also Jesus’s legitimate birth mother, yet Yin Chen had nearly driven a cane straight through her skull.
As long as the nun was not an idiot, once she thought back on what had happened, she would certainly realize that the players’ hidden identities and intentions were anything but ordinary.
Whether she chose to pretend she had seen and heard nothing, proactively cooperate, or secretly summon her superiors to deal with the heretics would determine how events unfolded next.
Tomorrow’s matters could wait until tomorrow.
As for right now, Yin Chen regretfully expressed his dissatisfaction, then stuffed Song Zang back beneath the covers and wrapped him up tightly into a bundle.
The oil lamp went out. A narrow slit was left between the curtains, and darkness once again swallowed most corners of the bedroom, dividing the room with the milky moonlight.
Yin Chen forcefully lifted Song Zang’s head and settled it into the warm crook of his arm. He urged in a low voice, “Rest properly now. You were badly injured. Internal injuries don’t heal that easily, and your body is actually still weak.
“Go to sleep. You’re not allowed to secretly create worlds behind my back anymore.”
Song Zang looked perfectly obedient. Resting his head on Yin Chen’s hard arm, he studied those serious eyes appearing and disappearing beneath the moonlight and curved his lips slightly. “Why not?”
“Even God can’t beat the Outer Gods. What do you think you are? Reckless enough to challenge Heaven itself, without worrying that some monster might inexplicably swallow you or contaminate you until you turn into a lunatic like Lin Xing?”
Yin Chen spoke without the slightest courtesy, but his words made sense. Song Zang thought about them seriously for a moment and immediately broke into a faint cold sweat.
He now possessed precious supreme knowledge, but he truly could not guarantee that he also possessed the absolute strength required to protect such a treasure… It was no different from a child carrying gold through a crowded marketplace. Anyone coveting it would inevitably keep watching.
And while the so-called Outer Gods were certainly powerful, They genuinely might not know how to create a complete world capable of independently operating and evolving.
Otherwise, why would They bother coming into God’s territory to cause trouble?
Even worse, Song Zang knew very well that he had already exposed himself.
The instant he attempted Creation, he had probably become completely exposed beneath countless distant, ancient, evil, unfamiliar gazes.
Fortunately, his Resistance was high enough. Otherwise, perhaps he would have encountered… something every bit as horrific as what Lin Xing had experienced.
“I was wrong. I definitely won’t mess around anymore. I’ll become an accessory hanging from your waist.”
Song Zang obediently admitted his mistake and learned his lesson. He proactively hugged Yin Chen’s slim, firmly muscled waist and discreetly stole a couple of touches.
Touching him a little every night did wonders for Song Zang’s sleep.
He had not managed to sleep with Yin Chen last night, so he had not slept nearly as soundly. He had even been stared at by the strange old man next door in the middle of the night… Habit really was an incomparably terrifying thing.
And Yin Chen had always been easy to coax. Clearly, Song Zang’s words pleased him.
He carefully rubbed Song Zang’s head, his movements exceptionally gentle.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll always protect you.”
＊
Early the next morning, everyone, including the orderlies and nuns, was so sleepy they felt dizzy and disoriented.
But rules were rules. The asylum maintained an extremely strict schedule, so no matter how sleepy anyone was, they had to get up on time.
When the wake-up bell rang like a death knell, the repeated sliding and slamming of iron doors and the crack of whips slicing through the air simultaneously resounded beneath the sky.
Song Zang lazily opened his eyes and discovered that, somehow, he was still lying in his original single room.
He had no idea when Yin Chen had secretly transferred him back. Even his sleepwear had been replaced with the patient uniform that came with its own restraining function.
He reached toward the bedside cabinet, took two pieces of “medicine” from his little cloth pouch, and tossed them into his mouth.
The next instant, the iron door to his room was yanked open.
An unfamiliar nun whose face was covered in scabs strode inside. She looked down over the room from above, holding a leather whip in her left hand while roughly opening the little cloth pouch with her right.
After impatiently counting the medicine and confirming that the number was correct, she finally gave a disappointed cold snort and pulled the whip slightly behind her.
Song Zang curled up pale-faced against the head of the bed and saw everything clearly. This nun disliked him very much. She was even hoping to find an excuse to give him a vicious beating.
No, it was not only him.
Screams rose one after another from the corridor. The disfigured nuns raised their whips high, their faces covered in itchy, healing rotten flesh as they ferociously chased wailing patients down the hall.
Rules the nuns would normally let slide during morning inspection were being enforced with brutal strictness today.
Yet just last night, Song Zang had clearly seen these same women kneeling devoutly in the snow, making the sign of the cross, reciting scripture, and looking blissfully happy… How had they all turned into horrible villains after a single night’s sleep?
Xu Wei Ran picked him up and placed him in the wheelchair. Without saying anything, he signaled with his eyes for Song Zang to check the group chat first.
【Lin Xing: Bishop Levis of the Diocese of Carlisle has brought a group of nuns and monks to inspect the divine miracle that descended last night.】
【Xu Wei Ran: ? What did you say?】
【Lin Xing: Sister Pudu told me. Once they confirm the miracle came from God, the asylum’s nuns are getting completely replaced. They’ll all be swapped out for Bishop Levis’s trusted followers and students.】
【Lin Xing: I really want egg fried rice.】
【Xu Wei Ran: Huh?】
【Lin Xing: Sister Pudu’s eye is swollen like an egg. Looking at it made me hungry. My trousers have two holes.】
Completely bewildered, Song Zang finished reading and exchanged a confused look with Xu Wei Ran.
Xu Wei Ran pointed to his own temple and made an idiotic expression with crooked eyes and a twisted mouth.
Meaning: Lin Xing’s brain had something wrong with it. He seemed to have become stupid.
Song Zang pressed his lips together to suppress his laughter and strongly agreed.
The wheelchair slowly rolled forward. Just then, with a smack, a pair of old, withered hands grabbed Song Zang’s ankle.
Song Zang shuddered in fright and helplessly lowered his gaze, meeting the murky, smiling dark-gray eyes of the crazy old man from the room next door.
Those inorganic gray eyeballs slowly rotated, meaningfully studying Song Zang’s frightened expression. That slimy gaze overflowed with causeless madness and savage malice.
The nun was clearly beating him hard enough to make him scream again and again, yet several broken, hoarse chuckles still squeezed intermittently from his chest. It was unbelievably eerie.
Trembling, Song Zang turned his head away, tears glistening in his eyes, but he was restrained in the wheelchair and unable to move… until Xu Wei Ran kicked the old man’s hand away with full force, cursed viciously, and hurriedly pushed the wheelchair downstairs.
“Boohoo.”
Song Zang gave two rather perfunctory fake sobs, pretending to have been frightened witless as he curled inward and lowered his head without speaking.
With Xu Wei Ran around, the inexplicably irritable nuns did not come looking for trouble with Song Zang again.
The two reached the first floor in time for breakfast and discovered that, aside from the route leading toward the dining hall, every passage had been sealed off completely. Armed guards controlled the corridors and prohibited anyone from wandering around.
Many unfamiliar people in expensive clothing were surveying and commenting on the asylum’s facilities with an air of superiority.
Bishop Levis was a refined-looking middle-aged man with brown hair and blue-green eyes, his bearing extraordinary. He wore a respectable long black uniform, with gold and purple thread embroidered across his waist sash. A glittering golden cross necklace hung from his half-cape, and a jeweled episcopal ring adorned his hand.
At first glance he seemed understated, but every detail revealed an opulence that set his status far above everyone else’s.
Within the Diocese of Carlisle, his position was no different from that of a king.
Surrounded on all sides, Levis seriously inspected Lipton Asylum for the first time, this palace of madness completely neglected by society, this forgotten place rumored among ordinary people to be haunted by evil spirits.
After all, it might now become the holy site of “God’s descent into the world once more.”
The partially burned library, the rear courtyard where patients could freely move around, the farmland buried beneath snow… As Levis walked along, he pointed out many old buildings that should have been renovated long ago.
The young cleric accompanying him carefully took notes, while the nun responsible for guiding them was Li Ming.
Because she was now the only nun still bursting with energy whose face had not been damaged in the slightest.
Li Ming kept her head lowered, her attitude restrained and respectful. Her voice remained soft, her accent carrying the flavor of the countryside. She appeared somewhat unsophisticated, but that simultaneously made her look entirely harmless.
“I heard you were originally supposed to give birth to the Holy Son?” Levis gradually relaxed and casually asked.
Li Ming smiled bitterly and answered humbly, “Everything that happened was the most reasonable arrangement. It was the Lord’s will… I would never dare harbor such delusions.”
“That is the correct way to think. Remain humble and serve God sincerely. The good fortune meant for you will naturally descend upon you in the future.”
Levis comforted her gently, exceptionally skilled at dangling promises before people.
“You are right.” Li Ming lowered her head even farther, hiding the anticipation in her eyes from everyone.
Without any suspense, she led the bishop and his entourage directly into the chapel.
The soothing incense was thick in the air, and plenty of holy water remained inside the ornately carved font.
Clear holy water rippled gently with the breeze, refracting the dazzling sunlight streaming through the stained glass.
Everything looked so beautiful and peaceful.
“Speaking of which, where is Father Riley? I haven’t seen him in quite some time.”
Levis’s voice rose when he mentioned the man, as though he genuinely missed an old friend of many years. “His sincerity and kindness toward the patients are as sacred and solemn as an angel’s. Truly admirable. I can hardly wait to discuss more of the hidden prophecies within scripture with him.”
Hearing this, Li Ming merely smiled meaningfully. “Father hasn’t left his room in several days. He has remained inside the confessional the entire time. Perhaps he has matters keeping him busy. Please follow me this way.”
As she spoke, she stepped forward and personally pushed open the wooden door leading into the confessional.
The scent of incense suddenly became several times stronger. Inside the little room, the oil lamp burned dimly.
“Julian, what bad things are you hiding in there doing?” Levis called loudly with a faint smile.
“Oh… this is the home of my soul.”
A decayed voice, old and dry as a dead tree, wound its way out of the cramped, dark confessional.
Levis froze. “Oh God, Julian, your voice…”
He hurried forward and yanked open the door. The overwhelming stench of rotting flesh immediately broke him. His legs went limp and he collapsed onto the floor.
“Oh, little lamb. Don’t let my appearance frighten you.”
The emotionless voice drifted out again. Levis’s eyes rolled back, and a foul-smelling wet stain instantly spread beneath his robes. He fainted from sheer terror.
“His Excellency Levis!”
“My God! Where’s the doctor?” The young cleric violently shoved the shrinking Li Ming. “Useless thing, hurry up and get the doctor!”
＊
The only doctor in the entire asylum was currently eating breakfast.
Pork chops with mashed potatoes and gravy. An especially extravagant feast.
At the same time, Sister Pudu appeared calmly inside the dining hall wearing a white eye patch over one eye.
The scattered conversations inside abruptly stopped. Everyone secretly examined her “new look,” yet no one dared comment recklessly.
But Sister Pudu said nothing and ignored everyone. Carrying her vegetarian breakfast, she walked straight over and sat opposite Yin Chen.
Her expression looked calm, but the faint urgency in her voice betrayed her anxiety.
“Where is my child?”
Yin Chen glanced at her and leisurely took a sip of milk before answering with complete composure, “Inside my stomach.”
“Absurd.” Her expression immediately turned livid as she clenched her fists and rebuked him in a low voice.
“No. Please trust your intuition as a mother, Sister.”
Yin Chen wore a faint, ambiguous smile. He picked up his silver knife and fork and slowly began cutting apart the meat on his plate.
The pork chop was rich with fat. As he sliced along the grain, oil and juices seeped out around the knife tip, carrying the faintest thread of blood.
He lifted his fork, parted his lips slightly, and swallowed a piece without even chewing. His beautiful Adam’s apple rolled, making him look like some elegant yet deranged man-eating monster.
“You know very well that he is inside my abdomen right now and requires plenty of nourishment,” Yin Chen added leisurely, satisfaction glimmering in his eyes.
“…What do you want? Lord Capet, I am willing to give you everything I possess.”
Sister Pudu closed her eyes and compromised with the solemnity of someone prepared to die.
“Don’t make yourself sound so aggrieved, Sister. You were the one who provoked me first.”
“When have I ever provoked you?” Sister Pudu’s voice was restrained yet indignant. “Ever since you began working at Lipton, I have always treated you courteously. I allowed you to experiment with those heretical demonic treatments, even tolerated that pair under your command who attacked orderlies and wantonly committed adultery like mad…”
Yin Chen abruptly looked up and interrupted coldly. “A hundred years ago, generations of the Capet family were vassals of the Duchy of Fran. And what did you do right in front of me? You tried to poison the Grand Lord of Fran’s eldest son, the king’s own grandson by blood, the future lord to whom I have sworn my life and loyalty.
“You colluded with the lord’s vicious mistress, helped the powerful oppress his lawful wife, amassed wealth without restraint for decades, threw patients you couldn’t control into the dungeon, and used human flesh to raise enormous swarms of rats… Do you want me to continue?
“Sister, you have provoked more than me. You have wronged tens of thousands of innocent, devout believers. You have betrayed God’s affection for you and the hopes He placed upon you, and even more, you have wronged the child you once nearly died giving birth to.”
Sister Pudu’s face turned deathly pale as she listened. After a long silence, she bitterly closed her eyes. “I can admit to every crime you listed, but my conscience is clear.”
“Your conscience is clear?”
“When I became pregnant, I was not even thirty years old. My parents did not love me. My family loved me even less. They treated me as an object for consolidating power, like livestock waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. And God never once showed mercy toward my miserable fate.
“My only source of comfort, my only refuge, had once been my faith. Day and night, in the convent and the church, I prayed that someone would love me… And then my child came into this world, like the holiest of angels.
“He loved me. He was the only person in this world who loved me without conditions. He loved every part of me. You could never understand that feeling! I am ugly and shameless, greedy and self-loathing, hypocritical beyond measure, but he still loved me. How could I possibly not love him with everything I had?!
“He did nothing wrong, yet he died so miserably inside a basin. From that moment onward, my faith split in two and could never again become pure. If it meant my innocent child could return to life, I was willing to pay any price, to commit any evil…
“Lord Capet, despise my wretchedness as much as you wish. My conscience is clear. I can endure any retaliation. I can die inside the rats’ nest. I only beg you to return my child to me, safe and unharmed.”
Yin Chen silently listened to her blood-soaked story. His expression did not change at all, but without drawing attention, he pressed firmly against his abdomen and forcefully suppressed the ghost baby’s faint restlessness.
Feeling sorry for your mom? Want to come out and comfort her? Don’t even think about it. He threatened silently in his heart.
Meanwhile, Song Zang, who was eavesdropping from far away, could not resist murmuring with emotion, “A mother’s love… is the sincerest and also the maddest kind of emotion. Unfortunately, I don’t have a mother.”
He could even understand some of Sister Pudu’s longing. After all, who would not want another person to favor them unconditionally?
“My mom didn’t love me. Don’t sympathize with her. I actually kind of envy you for not having a mother.” Xu Wei Ran paused while feeding him and abruptly spoke.
“Why would you envy that?” Song Zang looked up at him in surprise.
“My mom was extremely controlling. To get revenge on me for rebelling during puberty, to make sure I regretted it for the rest of my life, she secretly hacked my dad to death while I was at school and then hanged herself from the ceiling fan in my bedroom.”
Song Zang was horrified. “Huh? How could that happen?!”
“Right? Completely insane. She did it on purpose. I went to boarding school, so by the time I came home, it was the hottest part of summer. Not a single window in the house had been opened. The place smelled like a cesspit, and the floor was covered in snow-white fly larvae. When I saw my dad’s bald head sitting on the dining table, I nearly fainted right there…”
As he spoke, Xu Wei Ran’s previously careless eyes turned a little more sincere. He warned, “So actually, you’re pretty lucky not to have parents. Never build fantasies around parent roles inside game instances. Ninety percent of them are deranged lunatics. Massive death traps.”
Song Zang nodded with equal sincerity. Merely imagining such a terrifying scene sent chills through him. He could not help asking, “Xu Wei Ran, are you really okay?”
Xu Wei Ran grinned, revealing white teeth. “Of course. I have a wife now. I’m a bright, cheerful sunshine boy~”
“That’s good… God, that’s horrifying. You’re so pitiful.”
“Having a wife means I’m not pitiful anymore. I recommend you get one too~”
Song Zang froze, then lowered his voice. “If I get a wife, Yin Chen might chop me to death.”
“Then make Yin Chen your wife. Everyone wins.” Xu Wei Ran raised a brow.
“W-wha, what??”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the dining hall.
Yin Chen’s silence continued for a long time, stretching Sister Pudu’s anxiety to its limit.
Only when her face had gone deathly pale and she dejectedly lowered her eyes did Yin Chen finally speak at leisure. “Who told you that committing these atrocities could resurrect your child? Don’t you find that ridiculous yourself?”
Sister Pudu dug her nails into her palm and suddenly looked up. “The priest. Father Riley! He is a Satanist of the Saint Roland Cross Society. He has died and come back to life countless times right in front of me. Do you believe me?”
Well, there was the clue.
That particular combination of names certainly invited speculation. Yin Chen discreetly curved his lips. “Of course I believe you, but there is one thing you may have misunderstood. Father Riley has been dead for a long time.”
“Impossible. He listened to my confession only yesterday…”
Bang!
The dining hall’s rear door was violently kicked open, and two ferocious black-robed monks stormed inside.
Li Ming hurried after them, panting and pale-faced. She quietly exchanged a knowing glance with the players: done.
“Where are Sister Pudu and Doctor Capet?! Bishop Levis is unwell. Hurry up and come with us!” one of the monks shouted while looking around.
The patients craned their necks to watch the excitement, letting out several rustling, strange chuckles.
With such a bandit-like demeanor, it was difficult to imagine these people were actually clergy serving beside the bishop. No matter how irritable the asylum’s own nuns became, they had never acted this arrogantly before. At the very least, they always maintained appearances.
“Here,” Yin Chen answered without looking up, leisurely slicing another piece of meat from his chop. “Noise is prohibited in the dining hall. What exactly happened?”
“Is your ass glued to that chair? Get over here! Bishop Levis accidentally discovered Father Riley’s corpse. If His Excellency suffers any lasting mental harm, everyone in this asylum from top to bottom will answer for it!!”
Sister Pudu’s eyes widened. Her expression turned livid as she shot to her feet, lips trembling. “Th-this is impossible!”
“Heh, impossible? You’re nothing but a pack of useless fools neglecting your duties! Father Riley has been dead for who knows how long. It’s the dead of winter and his corpse has already rotted into sludge!”
“…All right. I want to examine the body myself,” Sister Pudu said. “Come with me as well, Lord Capet. If I truly have been blinded by a demon, then from this point onward, I will cooperate with you in anything you ask.”
“No problem. Once I finish breakfast. Sister, chewing thoroughly and eating slowly is an excellent habit for maintaining good health.”
Yin Chen’s brows and eyes were lazy as his silver knife and fork scraped slowly across the plate, dragging out several sharp, grating sounds.
The monk’s face turned crimson with rage at his arrogant attitude. He snatched the whip from an orderly nearby and strode forward, raising his right hand high as he prepared to viciously lash Yin Chen across the back.
Shhk!
The next instant, the exquisitely crafted silver fork flew from Yin Chen’s hand and plunged with flawless precision into the monk’s bulging right eye.
Blood sprayed everywhere as his shrill screams continued without end.
“Good!” Lin Xing suddenly slammed a fist against the table, sprang to his feet, and applauded. “Why aren’t you people clapping?! Huh?”
The patients stared blankly, then vaguely began getting to their feet. Following their tall and imposing “Boss” Lin Xing, they clapped with all their strength, overturned tables, and smashed plates. For a moment, the dining hall became extraordinarily lively.
The other monk, scared out of his wits, stumbled backward two steps and threatened through trembling lips, “N-no, you devil… Bishop Levis will burn you alive himself…”
“Your companion’s blood contaminated my pork chop.”
A cold sneer entered Yin Chen’s eyes. Completely expressionless, he shamelessly turned the accusation back on them. “Compensate me. Three gold coins. If you don’t pay, I’ll chop your whole family to death.”