Chapter 33: Visual Pollution Crime (Revised)

Ying Duo walks on the wide street unique to the Church Jurisdiction, paved with massive white stone.

The surrounding buildings tower solemnly, their spires piercing the clouds, walls carved with intricate religious reliefs, exuding a silent pressure.

Yet the street is sparsely populated; those who are present hurry along, heads down, believers or clergy.

He stands alone at an unfamiliar corner, slightly turning his head, out of place with the surroundings, forming his own world.

【Auto Navigation activated, destination: Mitra Theological Academy.】

Without hesitation, Ying Duo lifts his foot and walks, following the arrow in his view, slowly heading toward Mitra Academy.

I don't know how long he walked; gradually figures appeared in the surroundings, and after an unknown time, upon turning a corner, the figures grew sparse again.

A pitch-black luxury sedan with sleek lines slowed beside Ying Duo, its speed perfectly matching his walking pace, as if it were his shadow.

The driver's window silently lowered, revealing Bai Mu Yun's highly recognizable face.

He still wears that seemingly casual yet finely tailored high‑neck knit; the pair of spiral goat horns hidden in his white curls have vanished, concealed.

His eyes remain gold, the unsettling horizontal pupils now normal, yet he looks at Ying Duo with great impatience.

I thought he'd take a cab back to Mitra Academy himself, but instead he intends to walk all the way back on his own two feet?

Could it be that when he went to District 7 to meet up earlier, he also walked there?

Bai Mu Yun rests one hand casually on the steering wheel, the other elbow propped on the window frame, fingertips tapping intermittently.

"Hey." His voice isn't loud, but it reaches Ying Duo's ears clearly.

"How does it feel to be invited for tea? Do you know why the Heresy Tribunal's mad dogs are after you?"

He expected to see confusion on Ying Duo, or at least some lingering unease after being summoned by an authority.

Yet all he got was Ying Duo's utter indifference.

Ying Duo doesn't even spare him a glance from the corner of his eye; his focus stays fixed on the empty navigation line, as if Bai Mu Yun and his car were just a meaningless breeze by the roadside.

Sure enough, he's a sick‑headed kid.

The black sedan continues to maintain its irritatingly low speed in sync.

Bai Mu Yun's slender fingers on the steering wheel unconsciously tighten a bit, his knuckles whitening slightly.

That irritation in his heart, risen from his plans being disrupted, begins to surge again.

Ying Duo was suddenly taken by the Heresy Tribunal's people; logically the Academy should notify the "family" per procedure, but Ying Duo's identity lists him as an orphan, so it naturally contacted the orphanage where his record resides.

"Morning Light House"…… appears to be a charity, but is actually a secret outpost of the Dome on Church territory, where Ying Duo's identity information was forged.

The news went around and eventually came back to him naturally.

The Church's intelligence network is sharper than they imagined; it not only sensed the so‑called Undead of the Old World but, in this short time, devised a countermeasure and dispatched the Heresy Tribunal to make arrests.

And before today, they had received no intelligence at all about the Heresy Tribunal's operations.

In this floating city tightly controlled by the Church, the Dome's power is restricted everywhere, usable clean personnel are few and far between, and they could be exposed at any moment.

This sudden urgent task at hand has a tight deadline, extremely high risk, and unfortunately falls right at this critical juncture...

Are we really supposed to rely on this "defective product" that can't even manage basic communication?

Looking at Ying Duo's glaringly bright green hair, Bai Mu Yun almost wants to hit the accelerator and drive off.

But reason tells him that this "defective product" is currently the only usable person under his command.

After all, though the Dome has sent plenty of spies here, only Ying Duo has awakened Aberrant Arts and possesses any real ability.

He forcibly suppresses the surging emotions in his chest, speaks again, this time with a heavier tone, laden with command.

"Get in the car."

Ying Duo acts as if he didn't hear, continuing to walk forward.

A flash of severity crosses Bai Mu Yun's eyes; he clicks his tongue impatiently, the fingers on the steering wheel giving a slight twitch.

A strand of near‑transparent black, fluffy energy seeps from his fingertips, spreading swiftly along the ground, precisely wrapping around Ying Duo's ankle.

Now we're in the Church Jurisdiction; Bai Mu Yun doesn't dare cause a big commotion, so he can only trip him up a little to make this clueless guy stop on his own.

But as soon as that black energy touches Ying Duo's ankle, his whole body freezes in place, his lifted foot hanging in mid‑air—not tripped as Bai Mu Yun expected, merely halted.

【Auto Navigation has been interrupted.】

Bai Mu Yun raises his brows slightly, surprised, as if he hadn't expected Ying Duo to be so sensitive to energy.

Seeing Ying Duo suddenly stop, Bai Mu Yun can feel that his energy indeed made contact and interfered, but this reaction……

…is a bit strange.

Clearly his ability hasn't been triggered, yet Ying Duo's expression is no different from the hollow shells of those hit by his Aberrant Arts.

If the location weren't unsuitable, he'd love to try pulling Ying Duo into an illusion realm to see how his brain is wired.

"Get in the car." Bai Mu Yun repeats, his impatience nearly spilling over.

Ying Duo slowly lowers his suspended foot, turns, his hollow gold eyes fixed silently on Bai Mu Yun inside the car, giving no answer.

The two, separated by the lowered window, fall into a strange standoff.

One waits cold‑eyed inside the car, the other stands motionless outside.

Just then, Yang Yixie wiped his slightly damp hair with a towel and picked up the phone on the desk again.

"Huh? Why did the auto navigation stop? Bugged?" he muttered, eyes on the screen.

On the screen, Ying Duo stands by the roadside, a strange black car with sleek lines parked beside him, inside sits…… looks like that horned NPC Bai Mu Yun?

As for why he ends with a question mark, it's probably because the other's horns are gone.

Could it be he couldn't be bothered to maintain them and just sawed them off?

"Is this triggering some plot?"

Although Yang Yixie was doubtful, he still manually operated Ying Duo to open the passenger door and got in.

In the game, the mutual silent stalemate was finally broken.

Bai Mu Yun watches Ying Duo's mind turn the corner, obediently getting into the car, and lets out a cold snort from his nose.

He rolled up the car window, started the vehicle and drove forward smoothly, while beginning his sarcastic remarks.

In the quiet carriage, a barely audible snort sounded, and the disdain in Bai Mu Yun's tone almost condensed into substance.

"Tsk, I really should propose to the Judgment Court to add a provision for 'Visual Pollution Crime'."

He glanced askance at Ying Duo, the corner of his lips curling into a mocking arc.