Chapter 323

Wu Chang stared at Mo Leina with a blank expression, unsure whether the woman had done it on purpose or by accident.

He spoke to her to remind her he was a town councilor—or was it the councilor she herself had recommended? Who made her think of that?

Anyway, nothing had happened between him and Mo Leina, which gave him full confidence; he wasn't afraid of this topic and explained naturally.

"Seeing me appear alongside the Holy Maiden today, I'm sure everyone has already guessed something."

"My true reason for coming to Briver wasn't assigned by the Ograe Post Office, but to rescue the Holy Maiden and bring her back to life. Due to Count Jemaine's presence, I couldn't be certain of your trustworthiness, so I concealed the truth—I hope you understand."

"Not long after arriving on the island, I discovered the key to reviving the Holy Maiden lay in the Seven Sins that Count Jemaine had planted here. The Seven Original Sins were formed from each of you, controlled by Jemaine."

Here, Wu Chang looked at Mo Leina, his gaze calm yet slightly apologetic.

"To reach the Seven Sins, I had to interact with each of you, using you as conduits to reach the core of Original Sin. For example, that night near Mo Leina's police station residence, I sensed one of the Original Sins."

"I wasn't alone. The accident that distracted you was carried out by my companion. He saw the proof of envy's Original Sin within the bishop; eliminating that envy triggered the bishop's self-immolation."

After listening, Mo Leina fell into brief thought, then suddenly exclaimed:

"So that's it—so all the anomalies in town during that time were actually done by you and your companion?"

It all adds up!

Seeing Mo Leina now believed everything was his careful arrangement, Wu Chang exhaled deeply and said:

"Not just us—Professor Ebert too. With his help, we successfully entered the Count's estate, sabotaged Count Jemaine's scheme, and fully revived Ailin."

Because of Mo Leina's startling opening remarks, Ailin instinctively observed the dynamic between Mo Leina and Wu Chang.

She noticed their manner of interaction was no different from ordinary people's, and with Wu Chang's explanation, she realized she had misunderstood earlier.

She set aside her inexplicable emotions and followed Wu Chang's lead:

"Thanks to Xiao En's courage and wit, I was reborn from ashes and seized this chance to become a deity."

Before everyone's eyes, she fixed her gaze tightly on Wu Chang.

Only she knew how much Wu Chang had done for her during that time.

Wu Chang shattered seven Original Sin spaces for her, defeated Count Jemaine, who was one step away from godhood, and rescued her from the Grand Mother's control, restoring her complete soul.

Those deeds were far from as simple as Wu Chang's few words suggested.

She couldn't tell everyone everything Wu Chang had done, but she wanted him to earn their respect—not to be seen as her appendage.

"He gave me new life, which is profoundly important to me. His words represent my will."

The islanders, having heard Wu Chang's words, had already begun to view him differently.

No matter his original motive for coming to the island or what he did here, merely by reviving the Holy Maiden and giving them a chance at redemption, everything he did was right.

Now, with the Holy Maiden valuing him so highly and treating him as her earthly representative, the islanders' attitude toward him grew even more respectful.

Wu Chang smiled at Ailin, sensing her feelings; if he could, he would embrace her right now—but to preserve Ailin's image as a goddess, he forced himself to hold back.

Seeing the crisis brought by Mo Leina resolved, he smoothly steered the topic back on track and continued to Mo Leina:

"The situation was extremely urgent. After the Holy Maiden's revival, we needed to immediately travel to a higher plane to stabilize her divinity, so we left without notice. We never expected so many changes to occur on the island during our absence."

"Mo Leina, Chief of Police, could you tell me what happened on the island during that time?"

Mentioning the events on the island, Mo Leina became serious, transforming into a capable female chief, recounting to Wu Chang and Ailin what had transpired after their departure.

Meanwhile, Wu Chang summoned the surrendered Ernst and inquired about the Fishfolk's movements during that time.

Through the combined accounts of the islanders and the Fishfolk, the events on Briver Island slowly unfolded before him.

When Wu Chang and Ailin returned to Briver Town, the threat to the island came from the Fishfolk—but the root cause originated from the Ograe State Church.

Three days after the Quiet Town scenario ended, while the islanders were still reeling from the upheaval, the Ograe Kingdom's steam fleet stormed into Briver Island with overwhelming force.

The fleet was massive and arranged as if preparing for war: part consisted of the kingdom's elite navy, the other part led by Archbishop Gilman's Church Knight Order.

Soldiers outnumbering the entire island population flooded ashore and easily seized control of the town.

The soldiers detained all islanders and conducted widespread searches for traces of Ailin and Wu Chang.

Hearing this, Wu Chang could infer the Ograe Kingdom's motive.

It must have been because he fused the Grand Mother into the Saint's Relic Mask and used the Grand Mother to revive Ailin—something so blasphemous that the Grand Mother, enraged, ordered the Ograe State Church to launch an attack on Briver.

Wu Chang knew Archbishop Gilman well—he was the most powerful archbishop in the Church, highly likely to become the next Renjiao Sect leader, and behind every evil act in the Quiet Town scenario stood his shadow.

Including but not limited to branding Ebert as a heretic, coercing and bribing him into joining the Artificial Deity Project, and repeatedly attempting to forcibly merge the Grand Mother with Ailin during the project.

Even the hidden side-quest item—the letter Wu Chang triggered—was written by Archbishop Gilman, meant to confirm Count Jemaine's progress and to reap the fruits via the "Blessing of the Grand Mother" necklace.

For Gilman to personally lead this operation, the Grand Mother's projection likely participated as well.

To deal with Wu Chang and the revived Ailin, the Ograe State Church had prepared thoroughly—but Wu Chang had already left the plane with Ailin; even if the Grand Mother's projection arrived, she couldn't find them.

What he hadn't expected was that although Gilman failed to find him and Ailin, they discovered something far greater at the lighthouse and the Count's estate ruins.

Mo Leina wasn't sure exactly what they found, but while eavesdropping on Church Knight members, she faintly heard mentions of an underground alchemical laboratory, and the archbishop ordering everything emptied out.

What exactly lay inside the alchemical laboratory, Mo Leina and others didn't know—only that the moment those hidden facilities were exposed, the entire Briver Island and surrounding seas were completely sealed off.

Moreover, all islanders were ordered to evacuate immediately.

Archbishop Gilman gave everyone one night to prepare; by dawn the next day, all islanders had to fully evacuate under naval control and relocate to designated sites—or be branded heretics and imprisoned for transport to the mainland.

Faced with Gilman's overwhelming power, the islanders had no means to resist and could only reluctantly prepare to leave.

They reluctantly surrendered the island—but someone refused.

On the very night the Church allowed everyone to pack their belongings, Cliff, who supplied fresh fish to the townsfolk, attempted to flee the island under cover of darkness and was spotted by Church Knight members stationed around the island.

In the ensuing fight, Cliff transformed into a Fishfolk, using his thick hide to break through the knights' blockade and leapt into the sea, vanishing instantly.

Less than half an hour after Cliff escaped, Briver Island experienced a tide surge.

A large wave of Fishfolk surged onto the island and clashed violently with the Church Knights.

The battlefield wasn't confined to land—it extended into the sea as well.

Old sailors who sailed the seas had all heard a legend: if you saw a fish-headed, human-bodied monster on deck at night, you'd better immediately prepare your life jacket and lifeboat, for it signaled an impending shipwreck.

This legend, passed down from the age of sailing ships to today's steamships, endured because destroying ships was the Fishfolk's innate talent.

They always found the weakest point of a ship, and with minimal cost, could sink a large vessel.

Even steel-hulled steamships were no exception.

That night, Dagang led the Merfolk in an attack on the Kingdom of Orgre's fleet.

More than ten massive steel warships sank in the surrounding waters; every sailor who fell into the sea became an offering to the Merfolk, none survived.

The battle was extraordinarily brutal, but when Wu Chang asked Ernst why the Merfolk attacked the Orgre Kingdom's fleet, Ernst replied he did not know.

Dagang had not told them the reason, only that it was the Master's command.

Yet Ernst and the others did not care about the reason—just as when they received orders tonight to attack Briver Island, he had not asked why.

He did not care about the reason, nor about right or wrong; he only knew he must slaughter without mercy.

The battle lasted until four in the morning, ending in total defeat for the Orgre Kingdom.

Had Archbishop Gilman not used his special ability to temporarily drive back Dagang, granting the Kingdom's Knights and remaining navy time to retreat, everyone from the Orgre Kingdom would have died that night.

After driving away Archbishop Gilman and his party, the Merfolk did not slaughter the islanders; they triggered the Merfolk Curse within the islanders' bodies and then left Briver.

Before leaving, Dagang even sent Cliff as an emissary to soothe them, telling them not to fear threats from Gilman.

Cliff left behind a Book of the Ocean Scriptures and told them the time was near—the Master would soon awaken, and the world would return to the Sea Folk.

From that night on, the waters around Briver Island often rang with the roar of artillery fire.

It was the sound of the Merfolk fighting against the navy and the Church Knights.

Yet no matter how fiercely the Orgre Kingdom retaliated, they could not break through the Merfolk's line, held fast at sea, unable to advance an inch.

Later, Cliff would return to the island every few days to preach, telling them how great the Master was, how insignificant the land was compared to the ocean, and how magnificent the underwater city was.

In between preaching, he proudly mentioned more than once that the Merfolk God, Dagang, had single-handedly rendered the Orgre Kingdom powerless.

Dagang even stormed the Orgre Kingdom's mainland, summoning massive waves that drowned three coastal cities.

The Merfolk regarded the Briver Islanders as half-kin, believing only Merfolk could accept the Merfolk, so at first they did not press too hard.

Until recently, during an attack on the Orgre Kingdom, Dagang accidentally overturned a steamship—and the Orgre King's most beloved son, returning from studying abroad, happened to be aboard.

This drove the Orgre King mad; he exerted immense pressure on the Church, and to uphold their faith, the Church had no choice but to deploy its true strength.

According to Ernst, it was the Great Mother who intervened through the Divine Realm on Earth.

Both sides suffered heavy losses: Dagang tore apart the Great Mother's temporary avatar, but also sustained serious injuries.

With his divine power severely depleted and in urgent need of rest, Dagang had intended to come to Briver to replenish his faith energy—but upon entering the island, he discovered that after so long preaching, not a single ounce of faith energy had been cultivated here.

When Dagang arrived at Mayor Harrison's house and found the Deep Sea Scriptures being used to prop up Elin's statue, he flew into a rage.

From that day on, Briver fell under Dagang's harsh control; he forced the islanders to complete their faith conversion within a set time, or face no further mercy.

As the sinner who desecrated the Deep Sea Scriptures, Harrison was chosen first.

Dagang sewed the Deep Sea Scriptures onto Harrison's skin and demanded Harrison smash the Elin statue outside the cathedral himself—or die.

Harrison's response was to tear the scriptures off his skin despite the pain, then shred them into pieces, and spit on them.

After killing Harrison, Mo Leina, the highest-ranking person in town, became acting mayor; Dagang extended Harrison's demand to Mo Leina.

Smash the statue, or die.

Later came the scene Wu Chang and Elin witnessed upon entering Briver Town.

After hearing Mo Leina's account, Elin's face softened with pity; she used holy light to lift Harrison's corpse from the church and buried it beneath the Tree of Miracles.

Compared to Elin, Wu Chang focused more on the information itself.

Dagang had not previously focused on Briver Island because he had been occupied with blocking the Orgre Kingdom—more precisely, preventing the Church from seizing Briver Island.

Only when he discovered the Master of the Deep Sea was being neglected did he turn ruthless toward the Briver Islanders, even, when controlled by Wu Chang, willing to exterminate every islander to force Wu Chang to stop.

This shows Briver Island's importance lies in the island itself, not its people.

This is corroborated by the fact that after Archbishop Gilman sealed off Briver Island, his first action was to expel every single islander.

In other words, Briver Island hides some secret that has stirred both the Master of the Deep Sea and the Great Mother, driving them to wage war to claim it.

Regarding the secret of Briver Island, the Master of the Deep Sea likely learned of it long ago; the Great Mother's side, as Mo Leina said, discovered it through the Earl's Manor, the seaside lighthouse, and Ebert's Cottage.

These places all coincidentally relate to Earl Jemaine and his Artificial God project.

This reminded Wu Chang of the intelligence on Earl Jemaine: Jemaine was the first to recognize that sea routes were the kingdom's future, and the first to invest in maritime ventures.

His regard for the sea far exceeded that of any noble in the Orgre Kingdom.

Yet in combat, he did not join the navy; in trade, when granted a fief, he did not choose a more popular port, but selected Briver Island.

Perhaps he had long been secretly cooperating with forces beneath the sea.

Earl Jemaine previously used Golden Flying Fish to infect the islanders with the Merfolk Curse and controlled them through fish addiction.

When Wu Chang consumed the Golden Flying Fish and gained the Ocean Kin transformation, the Sea God told him his oceanic bloodline shared origin with the Demigod's Remains; at the time, he had wondered how Earl Jemaine obtained the Golden Flying Fish, which carried the bloodline aura of the Demigod's Remains.

If the two had been cooperating all along, everything made sense.

Earl Jemaine collaborated with the Deep Sea forces, yet Ebert, who helped Jemaine complete his Artificial God project, knew almost nothing of it—he never informed the Church, nor did it manifest in his resentment.

This suggests Earl Jemaine's ambition was immense; perhaps the Artificial God was not his true plan, but merely its starting point.

Deeper preparations required action only after achieving godhood.

Unfortunately, such a magnificent plan never reached its crucial first step—he was killed by Wu Chang.

Wu Chang looked at Harrison's corpse being buried, and the Tree of Miracles behind him.

The Tree of Miracles taking root here meant Briver Island had become part of Elin's large Divine Realm.

Wu Chang had not only destroyed Earl Jemaine's plan, but used Jemaine's own plan to make Elin an Artificial God; now even Jemaine's cherished land and its people had become his possession.

Is this not a form of NTR?

Having sorted out the causes and consequences of events on Briver Island, Wu Chang shifted his thoughts from the past to the present.

Based on existing intelligence, two questions needed resolution.

The first: what secret does Briver Island conceal, such that the moment the Great Mother discovered it, she sealed the place off completely, and such that the Merfolk, who had long hidden beneath the sea, revealed themselves to wage war against the Orgre Kingdom for Briver Island?

When he had first entered Bluff Island, he had searched the Earl's manor along the way and found that nothing of value was left inside. He had assumed at the time that the islanders had done it, but now it seemed that everything had been packed up and taken away by Archbishop Gilman.

If he wanted to know the island's secrets, he would probably have to ask the Lord of the Sea, or Archbishop Gilman.

The second question came from the Fishmen clan.

From the Fishman Ernst's description, it could be known that the Fishmen clan existed to compensate for the Deep Sea Lord's weakness; they were born with the innate talent to destroy ships.

It was precisely by relying on this talent that they had held the Ogri Kingdom's fleet at bay outside the Bluff sea area, preventing it from advancing a single inch.

But now, due to Dagan's request, the Fishmen clan that had been facing off against the Ogri fleet all came to Bluff Island, and were wiped out in one fell swoop by him.

Then next, the Ogri fleet, which had gone mad over the prince's death, upon discovering that the Fishmen clan had vanished, would arrive at Bluff before long.

He had been worrying about where to borrow a ship to ram the Evil God Remains, and here one was delivered right to him.

(End of chapter)