Chapter 256: Apricot Leaf Scripture

The book was called "Apricot Leaf Scripture." It looked quite thick, but it was actually just because the paper quality was thick, and there were not many pages of actual content. It was just a short story.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe flipped through it simply, and the story content roughly said:

This world is a dream made by the great

The Apricot Leaf Scripture admonishes believers thus:

One must believe in God, for God created this world and us in His sleep.

One must revere God, for God is omnipotent in His world.

One must offer sacrifices to God, for God's awakening is inevitable.

When God wakes, the entire world will face destruction like a dream; only the most pious believers will be chosen by God, manifested to God's side to become His favorites, while the rest of the common masses who have not received the blessing will return to nothingness along with the destruction of the dream, ceasing to exist.

What counts as piety?

Offering a large number of sacrifices to God is called piety; donating large sums of money to the church is called piety. So says the great prophet who wrote the Apricot Leaf Scripture in the scripture.

"The Apricot Leaf Scripture says that by offering the souls of the unblessed, filthy ones to God, the world can become a better place, and God will then indulge in the beautiful dream, reluctant to wake, and the 'lifespan' of the world will be extended accordingly."

"Conversely, if the world is filled with unblessed, filthy beings, this world is a nightmare to God; God will feel displeased because of the nightmare and therefore wake up sooner."

And the world will be destroyed sooner.

"Hmm..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe closed the scripture, not knowing what he was thinking.

The Apricot Leaf Scripture, as the name implies, was originally written by the great prophet on ginkgo leaves; however, it is well known that the ginkgo tree is native to the Nine Provinces Continent, which means the birthplace of this religion is actually domestic.

But Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had never seen any Apricot Leaf Scripture or the so-called "Sleeping God Creation Theory" faith in the country.

In a sense, could this be considered blooming inside the wall but fragrant outside?

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe tucked the Apricot Leaf Scripture into his bosom, carefully picked up the corpse oil lamp, ignored the lifeless "audience" under the lecture platform, and turned to walk toward the side door of this lecture room.

He was not yet interested in trying what would happen if he were exposed to the light in front of these listeners.

Going out through the side door of the lecture room, there was a fresh path surrounded by flower beds; at the end of the path was a purification hall, or in layman's terms, a large public bathhouse. Believers of the "Sleeping God Creation Theory" needed to first wash their bodies in the purification hall and change into clean clothes before they could walk along this flower-filled path to the lecture room to listen to the lecture.

The already brightly colored rose flower beds appeared particularly enchanting under the illumination of the corpse oil lamp; the fresh, dripping flower stamens were as red as fresh blood newly released from blood vessels, carrying the warmth of a human body.

Amidst the interlacing light and shadow, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe dazedly saw a pale arm trembling as it reached out from the soil beneath the flower bed, but it vanished when the light flickered.

Walking into the purification hall, the interior remained gloomy and dim, with only a little outdoor light projecting through the skylight on the roof, making the bathing pool in the center of the hall shimmer.

The water in the pool was crystal clear; even in such a dim environment, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe could still clearly distinguish the texture of the stone slabs at the bottom of the pool, like a large piece of transparent glass. But as soon as he approached, the clear and transparent water body became turbid under the illumination of the corpse oil lamp, the bottom of the pool was piled with messy daily items, and the floor tiles under his feet also became damp and sticky.

Some tree branches, cabinet doors, broken chairs, and table legs floated on the water surface; a pale human back floated quietly in the middle of this pile of debris, exceptionally conspicuous. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe bent down to pick up a tree branch and poked the floating corpse in the water; bursts of rotten stench drifted out from the water.

A splash of water suddenly sounded; a pale, water-bloated palm suddenly reached out from the water, grabbed the branch poking the floating corpse's back, and pulled it violently toward the bottom of the pool, causing Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe to stumble. He didn't hold on firmly, and the corpse oil lamp fell out of the leather covering.

For a moment, the dim purification hall became exceptionally bright; the floating corpse in the water, the withered palm grabbing Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's foot, and the "audience" who had passed through the flower path to get here at some unknown time all revealed their forms under the light, and Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was instantly surrounded by "people."

"Whoosh—"

At the critical moment, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, who had fallen to the ground, crawled on the floor, picked up the lamp shade, and blew out the corpse oil lamp in one breath; the ghost shadows surrounding him vanished instantly.

"That was close." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, stood up with the lamp, and looked back at the flower path behind him with lingering fear.

There were more and more "things" following him, and the process of exploration allowed for fewer and fewer mistakes; one careless move would lead to a situation of no return.

"Speaking of which, what exactly is that thing?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe reassembled the lamp shade and leather covering, suddenly feeling a bit curious.

The headless corpse on the execution platform, the audience in the lecture room, the floating corpse in the bath—what exactly were these eerie existences that only revealed themselves within the illumination range of the corpse oil lamp? What was the core rule of the eerie events shrouding this castle?

Reinstalling the glass lamp shade and tightening the leather covering, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe took out his lighter and relit the corpse oil lamp.

Lifting the leather covering on the lamp shade slightly to reveal a corner of light, a corpse that had been bloated and whitened by water had climbed from the water to the shore at some unknown time and was lying quietly beside his feet.

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Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe held up the lamp and looked back, only to see three or five tall, thin ghost shadows standing silently behind him, their broad cloth robes obscuring their features; they were the listeners who had been sitting on the benches in the lecture room earlier.

"How did they follow me?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe frowned slightly, thinking of the "Apricot Leaf Scripture" he had tucked into his bosom.

After a moment of hesitation, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe took out the "Apricot Leaf Scripture," placed it on the ground, and retreated slowly while holding the lamp.

This time, the listeners did not continue to follow.

"Took something I shouldn't have..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and left the purification hall through the archway on the other side.

Connected to the purification hall was the laundry room; the dirty clothes changed by believers in the bathhouse would be sent directly here to be washed by the maids of Vanessa Fortress.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe walked into the laundry room with the lamp; the long table in the middle was piled with folded sets of clothes, while the bamboo baskets by the wall were stuffed with unwashed dirty clothes. Besides some water troughs for washing and some cleaning tools, there was nothing else.

"Wait, that is..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe covered the kerosene lamp, confirming that what he saw was not an illusion.

In the corner of the laundry room far away, between two dirty laundry baskets, a petite blonde girl was sitting there motionless, hugging her knees with both hands and burying her face in her arms.

She was completely buried by clothes and made no sound, to the point that even Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had almost overlooked her.

Looking at the corpse oil lamp that had never been lit beside the girl's feet, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe suddenly felt that her appearance looked somewhat familiar.

(End of chapter)