Chapter 199: Anduin

When you see an Amon on a street, don't overthink it — the air around you is surely full of Amons.

Even microbes and bacteria can wear a monocle.

Su Lin cursed inwardly at his bad luck, running into so many Amons first thing in the morning.

This batch of Amons must have come from other cities, their purpose being to investigate what happened on Saturday.

The original batch of Amons in Backlund had already merged into an angel-level entity, taken Mr. "Toy" to the Land of the Forsaken, and returned to the main body.

"Nothing much. Please get me a copy of the latest newspaper," Su Lin said calmly.

As everyone knows, news is a time-sensitive thing — yesterday's old newspaper isn't worth anything, and can even be obtained free through certain channels.

Su Lin picked up the pour-over cup and took a sip of black tea, silently noting down the debt of one penny that the newspaper-vending Amon had swindled from him.

After a while, the waitress Amon brought a newspaper from inside the shop and placed it on the square table in front of Su Lin.

"One penny, sir."

"..." I thought it was free!

Su Lin could only silently pull one penny out of his coat.

"Thank you, have a wonderful day," she said with a beaming smile.

Su Lin smiled and nodded. Meeting you lot today has already been far from wonderful.

Su Lin didn't plan to do anything extra — after all, these people were only shallowly parasitized, and once the Amon left they would return to normal, at most retaining a fondness for monocles.

Today was the appointed day to go to Doll's Workshop to pick up his order. The life-sized figures he had custom-ordered had been worked on for nearly a month and were now finished.

After picking up the order, he would head back to the Down Mansion and watch the livestream atop the gray fog with Zhongli.

After stuffing a few bites of bread into his mouth and washing down the lump in his throat with black tea, Su Lin boarded a public carriage driven by coachman Amon and headed for his destination.

Mr. Luke gave Su Lin a warm welcome, adjusted his monocle, and said:

"You're finally here. According to your requirements, we..."

Su Lin could no longer hear what craftsman Amon was saying — every one of those handsome dolls custom-made to his likeness was wearing a monocle, even the flat-paper lolita-style artworks he had commissioned came with monocles.

【Today is suitable for: staying home, sleeping, lurking in group chats, cultivating, playing games.

Avoid: Amon.】

"What do you think?" craftsman Amon asked respectfully. "Is there anything that needs adjusting?"

Su Lin was silent for a moment, then took a monocle from his pocket, placed it over his right eye socket, and replied: "No, it's quite nice as it is."

Now it was craftsman Amon's turn to fall silent. He and the dolls all turned their gaze toward Su Lin, confirming that they had not parasitized the person in front of them.

The corner of His mouth curved into a smile. He pinched the monocle over his right eye socket and said:

"Honestly, this is quite amusing."

The corner of Su Lin's mouth curved into a smile. He pinched the monocle over his right eye socket and said: "Honestly, this is quite amusing."

Amon scoffed.

Su Lin scoffed as well.

"Are you mimicking me?" Amon's smile didn't change. Tiny specks of rice-grain-sized light gathered continuously toward His body, and quickly, this avatar of His reached the demigod level.

Amon tried to steal — the theft failed.

Amon tried to leave the shop, but was bounced back by an invisible force.

"I see." Amon reverted to his original appearance. "Looks like I've found my target directly. Not bad luck."

"Are you connected to the Abyss?"

"Guess?" Su Lin smiled. Since he'd poked the Amon nest, he might as well poke it properly.

"No need to guess — I already know the answer." Amon unhurriedly found a seat and sat down, his tone carrying a hint of pleasure:

"The nature of your power is very unique. What happened in the Abyss is also connected to you. Unfortunately, the arrangements I left behind were destroyed by the Church of Storm, otherwise I'd really want to go play in the Abyss right now."

"Maybe it should be called Heaven now? The scenery isn't bad."

"Oh? That certain?" Su Lin pulled a chair out of his historical projection and sat down.

Amon took out a Beyonder characteristic from his body — that Beyonder characteristic actually carried a thick aura of holy light.

"This Beyonder characteristic comes from a worshipper of a Demon King. I was using his identity at the time to attend a gathering of the Bai Xue Sect."

"I've seen many kinds of corruption — some distort the way one thinks, some come with certain traits — but a corruption that alters the very nature of a Beyonder characteristic like this is my first time seeing it."

"I exploited a loophole in Beyonder characteristic aggregation to slightly amplify the power on it."

"Look." Amon was like a patient commentator, narrating as he went. The Beyonder characteristic in his hand radiated an even thicker glow.

The density of that holy light gave the entire room a layer of golden radiance.

The holy light became noticeably more active as it passed by Su Lin, and the Beyonder characteristic uncontrollably drifted slowly toward him.

Su Lin understood — this was something Fabuti had done.

This current Light Messenger, Holy Light Great Lord, had used his high-sequence traits to exert influence over his Bai Xue Sect worshippers.

At the same time, if those worshippers shared his pathway, the influence they received after accepting the holy light infusion would alter the nature of their Beyonder characteristics.

"Interesting." Su Lin caught that Beyonder characteristic. The Blaze of Light burned off the little Amon on it, and an illusory insect-like figure dropped from it like stardust.

"What a pity." Amon pinched his own monocle and sighed with a smile: "If only I could parasitize you."

"This kind of power is very novel — I haven't experienced it yet."

Su Lin's eyes bulged at those words, fury surging from within them. A sword of light appeared in his hand and he slashed at Amon.

Amon stood in place, neither dodging nor evading, letting the longsword of light pierce into his own chest.

"Hm?" The slow upward curve of Amon's mouth froze for a moment, and a few spells appeared in his mind.

【Healing, Slow Recovery, Purify, Hymn of Light...】

Su Lin raised an eyebrow and said to Amon: "A greeting gift from uncle — take it."

Amon's parasitization was only the first layer; letting Su Lin kill him was the second layer. Of course, there was definitely a third and fifth layer too — perhaps wanting to measure Su Lin's moral standards, behavioral patterns, and the like. But no matter what Amon wanted to do, Su Lin planned to deliver a dimensionality-reduction strike from the stratosphere.

In short, just mess around and it'll be fine.

The long sword in Su Lin's hand transformed into a phantom, transparent chain, binding a shadow along with those dolls before vanishing from the room.

After a while, the craftsman Mr. Luke slowly rose from the ground, gazing around in confusion.

In White Cliff Town, a young man with black hair, black eyes, a gaunt face, and a monocle strolled calmly beneath a tree two meters thick, spreading a checkered cloth over the grass.

With a clear smile, he took out a sandwich from the picnic box, about to eat, when his peripheral vision caught an envelope inside the box.

He adjusted his monocle, chuckled, and knew only he himself could have done this.

The young man wasn't in a hurry; after finishing his sandwich, he slowly opened the anonymous letter:

【"Life on the South Continent is so dull. Fortunately, after voting, we secured the mission to investigate 'Day of Divine Descent.'"】

【"We left a drop of blood mixed into the sandwich you made yesterday. If you can't sense us through this blood, it's likely we've found the extra 'god.'"】

【"Following the unique power on the Exceptional Trait, we can easily locate him. If we stay too long in Beckland without coming to you, we're probably contaminated or trapped."】

The White Cliff Town's Amon sensed the blood's location—it was on the South Continent? Back so fast? No problem.

He reached into the picnic box, only to find one item missing.

At the same moment, he happened to see the final line.

【"One last question: why did you develop a habit of eating mustard?"】

Far away, on the South Continent.

The Silver Hand's secret base.

Amon glanced at his current state—his entire body was sealed, unable to actively contact any other avatar or his original self.

Aside from the power called Holy Light, most of his Exceptional Trait had been stripped away; the remaining power was completely sealed, rendering his Thief Path abilities unusable.

His obsessive brother had actually taken part in this.

"Interesting," Amon adjusted his monocle on the right eye socket.

"Anduin! Come practice your spells!"

Amon's expression flickered slightly—he always felt this name was odd.

The one who dumped him here had left him under the watch of a demigod and departed.

Amon had no intention of escaping; learning new things was also a form of life. With this thought, his smile remained as he walked toward the training ground ahead.

Inside the grand, majestic palace, beside an ancient, weathered table.

"Su Lin, what are you holding?" Zhongli saw Su Lin using the Gray Mist, tapping something with a tinkling sound, occasional flashes of light appearing.

"Exceptional Trait of the Thief Path, Rank 4," Su Lin wrapped the Exceptional Trait in radiant energy, compressing and forging it into the shape of a card.

"I'm collecting twenty-two unique Path cards. Later, I'll pair them with a belt."

Su Lin admired the low-tech Exceptional Trait card in his hand, then looked downward, where Keiyn was locked in final combat with Amon's original self.

"Didn't Lu Mingfei come?" Su Lin frowned: "Has he already entered the Catastrophe City?"

They really had a way to break the seal of the former Weird Master and enter the Catastrophe City.

Aside from helping Zhongli treat the injured and manage charity work in Beckland, one main reason Su Lin didn't go to the Catastrophe City was that he felt creeped out.

He wasn't afraid of ghosts—just uncomfortable. He'd already seen the Fallen Mother Goddess and the Tree of Desire; he had no reason to fear ghosts.

"He asked me to livestream the group chat to see what's happening," Zhongli gazed downward at the red star, where Keiyn was summoning storms and lightning within the lifeless city:

"Did you implant some strange things into Keiyn's mind?"

"..." Su Lin hesitated, then grinned:

"Hehe!"

Zhongli said that because he had just witnessed this scene:

At the edge of the lamplight, Keiyn, guided by Amon, passed through the center of the abandoned city, deep into the church.

Keiyn had tried escaping once—unfortunately, it failed.

But he wasn't discouraged. As time passed, he realized his mind had gained new knowledge—or rather, memories.

After repeated probing and analysis, he confirmed these were his own memories, not implanted by Amon through any method.

He suddenly understood why he'd felt that odd discomfort before.

【"Probably a backup I set for myself—to prevent being captured by Amon and having no way to escape—or to end myself."】

【"It's unlikely I deliberately let Amon catch me. Heh, I don't have that kind of courage."】

【"But these—"】

Keiyn stared blankly ahead, then lowered his head, diverting his attention as he walked forward with Amon.

Soon, they reached a desolate wasteland.

At this moment, Amon stroked his chin and smiled with interest: "In another half day, we should reach our final destination."

"Are you surprised? I said 'no more than three days'—that doesn't mean exactly three."

"Guess whether I'm surprised," Keiyn replied with a forced smile, echoing Amon's own style.

No sooner had he spoken than Keiyn suddenly reached out, grabbing at the empty air beside him—he wanted to retrieve the "Solar Flame" talisman from history, but the talisman's target wasn't Amon—it was himself.

Amon merely smiled. Keiyn suddenly forgot what he intended to do.

His thought had been stolen—but it didn't matter. Keiyn reached out again, grabbing at the void ahead. His entire arm suddenly grew heavy.

But when he pulled his arm back from the void, he grasped nothing.

Amon reached forward lightly and stole the historical aperture image Keiyn had prepared to summon!

It was a black dragon?

An immense body, wings large enough to blot out the sky, golden pupils, scales as dark as the surrounding night!

The moment the dragon appeared, a strange, indescribable language surfaced in Amon's ears—not the dragon tongue he knew!

The earth trembled. Dark clouds filled the sky. A black tide, appearing from nowhere, surged beneath Amon's feet.

Amon, wearing the monocle and with the eye that wasn't wearing the monocle, narrowed both at once, seeing lightning flashing frequently around him, a soul-freezing chill striking straight at His spirit body through the tide.

He uncommonly showed a certain sluggishness, raising his hand to reach toward the black giant dragon, wanting to interrupt its chanting.

"The World!" Miss Kelaien roared. He seized the chance, spoke the incantation in his mouth, and the next moment, he felt some kind of switch being triggered.

Everything in his mind slowed down, almost equal to time stopping; he had entered the "bullet time" he had seen in movies in the past!

He pressed his fingers together into a sword, raised them above his head, and chanted: "Nine Heavens Mysterious Temple, transform into divine thunder. Blazing heavenly might, guided by the sword!"

A purplish-red spherical lightning, not something that could normally be seen on this planet, descended from the sky trailing a tail of calamity.

The corner of Miss Kelaien's mouth lifted; his target was not Amon, but himself.

But strangely, why did he feel that he had released these abilities before he spoke the incantation? An illusion?

Miss Kelaien restrained the impulse to flee, stood in place, and waited for destruction to fall.

Just at this moment, a distant, illusory bell toll sounded from all around, as if it had come through a long stretch of history.

Amon, who along with the giant dragon had fallen into a nearly static state, suddenly moved.

An ancient, mottled, enormous wall clock composed of twelve weathered "Time Worms" struck.

As the second hand ticked, the bell toll sounded once again.

"Have you forgotten, I am called—" Amon curved his lips and said with a hint of mockery: "the Angel of Time."

End of this chapter.