Chapter 353: Open the Door, Freedom of Faith!

Wu Chang and his two companions were dressed in ordinary attire, but the cut and fit of their clothes were impeccable, and the fabric was fine; at a glance, they looked completely out of place in the slums.

Especially Ailin; just looking at her appearance, one could tell she must be a person of great importance.

That holy and compassionate demeanor made her seem like a saint who had walked out of a mural in St. George’s Cathedral; even Queen Olivia would be eclipsed in her presence.

A person of importance coming to the slums was a rare event, and for this person of importance to take the initiative to treat Thomas’s sister’s illness was even rarer still.

And so, Wu Chang and his two companions followed the little boy named Thomas, with the people of the slums trailing behind them, marching in a grand procession toward Thomas’s home.

Thomas’s home was in a dilapidated row of red-brick houses; the entire dwelling was just over ten square meters, with only a small window on the side, leaving the interior dim and the air stagnant.

Upon entering the room, one could smell a mixture of damp mold, rotting food, excrement, and vomit.

The stench was quite unpleasant, causing Wu Chang and Lei Wendun to involuntarily knit their brows and take shallower breaths.

Ailin’s expression, however, did not change; the moment she entered the room, her gaze fell upon the young girl lying on the bed.

"Thomas, I feel like my body is getting better; you don't need to find a doctor for me anymore," a slurred voice rose from the bed.

Accompanied by slow, writhing movements, a "skeleton" so thin it was skin and bone, with cheeks sunken from dehydration, sat up from the bed.

Thomas was right; his sister was indeed gravely ill.

It was not just the high fever and diarrhea brought on by malaria; her chin had receded, giving her an underbite, her cheeks were swollen, and her appearance had become extremely grotesque.

The facial deformity had nearly disfigured Thomas’s sister, and it also made it very difficult for her to speak.

What was even more startling was that when she thought Thomas had returned and wanted to use a smile to put her brother at ease, her exposed teeth shimmered with a greenish-white light in the dim room.

Wu Chang looked at the scene before him and nearly pulled the Soul-Cleansing Banner directly from his portable space.

"Evil spirit possession?" he whispered.

Only by being haunted by a malicious ghost could a person be tortured into such a state; fortunately, he and Ailin were professionals, and if an evil spirit ran into them, it could be considered its lucky day.

However, the evil spirits in this dungeon plane were somewhat stealthy; he couldn't identify the entity at a glance and had to look forward carefully.

Before Wu Chang could take further action, Lei Wendun said from the side:

"This isn't evil spirit possession; this is an occupational disease."

Wu Chang slowly formed a question mark; he looked at Lei Wendun in confusion—what kind of profession could cause such a severe occupational disease?

A necromancer?

Lei Wendun whispered: "Phosphorus-induced jaw necrosis; his sister is most likely a matchstick worker."

"When matchstick factories manufacture matches, they need to dip the wooden sticks into a phosphorus paste containing white phosphorus; white phosphorus releases toxic vapors at room temperature."

"White phosphorus is osteophilic; the white phosphorus vapor mixes with saliva, corroding the teeth and subsequently eroding the jawbone along the teeth."

"At the same time, the mandible is rich in blood vessels; when white phosphorus enters the body and flows with the blood, it is very easy for it to deposit there. Between the internal and external factors, it is very easy for a matchstick worker's mandible to suffer from necrosis."

In the reality plane where Wu Chang lived, matches were already rare; it was his first time hearing that producing matches was so dangerous.

He asked in a low voice: "The mandible has already suffered from necrosis; how should that be treated?"

Lei Wendun shook his head slightly: "It cannot be treated. For mild symptoms, perhaps cutting off the chin and changing jobs might allow one to live. For severe symptoms, the toxicity has already spread to the brain, and it is very difficult to survive."

Wu Chang fell silent after hearing this; no wonder he had seen several strange people without chins among the crowd that followed them earlier. At the time, he had wondered why they would have such symptoms when Stilane didn't even have betel nuts.

Now that he thought about it, those people must all have been matchstick workers.

He whispered to Lei Wendun: "I didn't expect you to know medicine."

Ailin’s doctor persona was a facade, but he hadn't expected Lei Wendun’s knowledge to be real.

Lei Wendun replied softly: "The truth is hidden in the details; I haven't studied medicine, I just pay more attention to details than others."

While the two were talking in low voices, Ailin had already followed Thomas to the window.

Thomas first introduced the three of them, saying the girl lying on the bed was named Gelei, his sister.

Then he told Gelei that Ailin was a doctor who had come to treat her.

Gelei had just been woken up and hadn't opened her eyes, so she hadn't seen the people following Thomas.

At this moment, seeing Ailin, her groggy head instantly cleared a little; she shook her head and said:

"Thomas, I am already much better; I don't need a doctor, especially such a high-class doctor lady."

The doctor lady before her looked more like a noble than the nobles themselves; how much would it cost to hire her for a consultation?

Even if they sold the two of them, they couldn't afford such an exorbitant fee; how could Thomas have possibly hired her?

She recalled a terrifying rumor: it was said that in the slums, many strangers claiming to be doctors would use medical treatment as a reward to get patients to cooperate with their drug trials.

Of all the people approached by those doctors, not one had ever returned.

Thinking of this, Ailin seemed to turn into a demon in her eyes; she was already finished, and she absolutely could not let her brother fall into the clutches of the devil because of this.

She pushed Thomas’s shoulder and said urgently:

"Make her leave quickly; I don't need treatment."

Ailin didn't have mind-reading powers, but she saw the tension and panic in Gelei’s eyes; she grabbed Gelei’s hand and said softly:

"Relax, I will not accept payment in any form."

Ailin’s voice possessed a magical power that brought peace; Gelei’s emotions stabilized, but she remained guarded.

"Then who are you? There are no doctors in Stilane who treat patients for free."

Ailin paused for a moment and said: "I am a member of the clergy."

Hearing this, the wariness on Gelei’s face lessened; if she were a priest, that would make sense.

Before the church was converted into a poorhouse, the priests there did indeed occasionally provide free treatment to the surrounding believers, but ever since the Holy Church was changed to the Holy Revelation Church, everything had changed.

"Praise the Lord, merciful lady, are you a priest of the Holy Church?"

Judging by Gelei’s reaction, she was likely a devout believer of the Holy Church. To make her lower her guard, Ailin had intended to say yes, but Wu Chang spoke first:

"No, we come from the New World. The sect we belong to is called the Eternal Light Sect, and the deity we worship is the Light of Eternal Purity. The relationship between the Eternal Light Sect and the Holy Church is the same as the relationship between the Holy Revelation Church and the Holy Church."

"You can understand it as a sister sect with different operational philosophies."

Wu Chang’s voice was loud, loud enough for the slum residents watching outside the door to hear.

He wouldn't stop Ailin from helping Gelei or anyone else in the slums, but he couldn't accept doing it for nothing.

Stilane was a religious country, but following the Holy Church’s forced conversion to the Holy Revelation Church, although customs and interests hadn't changed significantly, the deity worshipped had changed from the Holy Lord—whose identity was unknown—to the deity of the Book of Revelation.

The Holy Revelation Church’s forced association, combined with the coerced change in faith, left the residents of Stilane in a period of confusion.

Now was the perfect time to take advantage of the situation. If the Holy Revelation Church could force an association with the Holy Church as a brother church, why couldn't their Eternal Light Sect force an association with the Holy Revelation Church as a sister church?

Since they had already taken action, they might as well go all the way and simply raise the banner of the Eternal Light Church to recruit believers.

Ailin understood Wu Chang’s meaning and looked back at him with some helplessness.

Wu Chang said: "This is also for their own good."

Believe in the Holy Church, and the Holy Lord doesn't exist; believe in the Holy Revelation Church, and the Queen and Prime Minister will only send them to the poorhouse.

Only by believing in the Eternal Light Sect would someone provide them with salvation and treatment.

Ailin turned to look at Gelei and said:

"The deity has felt your despair and pain, so I have come to lead you out of suffering."

There was no radiant light, nor were there golden wings of a deity’s true form; Ailin simply held Gelei’s hand, and Gelei’s body began to improve rapidly.

Her distorted jaw began to correct itself, her ulcerated skin began to heal, and her eyes, which had been dull from the torture of malnutrition and malaria, regained their luster.

The humanoid skeleton that had seemed possessed by an evil spirit just moments ago recovered the appearance of a teenage girl in just over ten seconds.

This scene could no longer be described as merely "a miraculous cure."

"A miracle! It’s a miracle!"

The slum residents who had witnessed everything with their own eyes were already kneeling on the ground, shouting aloud.

The onlookers exclaimed "miracle," but Gelei, the person involved, felt it less tangibly.

She only felt a warmth coming from Ailin’s hand, filling her body; wherever the warmth passed, her body, which had been gnawed by white phosphorus and malaria, no longer felt pain.

Although she hadn't been in the sun for several years, she remembered that when she had once bathed in the sunlight, she had felt a similar warmth.

She felt as if she were in a dream, everything becoming surreal; when she came to her senses, the illness that had plagued her was gone.

"I, I, thank you, truly, thank the deity." Gelei gripped Ailin’s hand; she wanted to say something, but she couldn't express gratitude deeper than "thank you."

Ailin stroked the girl’s forehead and said softly:

"Everything is in the past now; you will get better."

Under Ailin’s soothing, the girl’s body gradually stopped trembling. After her body recovered, a clear sound of protest came from the girl’s stomach.

Rumble~

The light magic Ailin used could treat the diseases on the girl’s body, but it couldn't directly replenish the girl’s nutrition.

Seeing this, Wu Chang took out a few silver coins and stuffed them into the hands of Thomas, who was watching while kneeling.

"Why are you joining in the excitement? Your sister’s body has just recovered; go buy something suitable for a patient to eat."

Thomas stood up in a daze; he looked at the coins in his hand and said: "Sir, I cannot..."

Wu Chang couldn't be bothered to waste words with him and only said two words: "Go quickly!"

Thomas: "Oh."

Watching Thomas squeeze through the crowd and run into the distance, Lei Wendun said:

"Leader, your lady’s magic is truly a miracle; I couldn't understand it."

Wu Chang said: "It’s normal that you don't understand."

Lei Wendun rolled his eyes and said: "Remember what I said just now? Grimland does not welcome foreign sects; this kind of miracle-like magic will likely bring trouble."

Wu Chang said with a calm expression: "It doesn't matter; I have connections at the top."

He had come to Steam Phantom under the commission of Christine to help her save people in an S-rank dungeon; she couldn't possibly be unwilling to spare even the faith power of a single city.

With Christine there, the Holy Revelation Church wouldn't make a fuss.

If they really did make a fuss, then there would be no other way.

With Prime Minister Luo En leading the way, Stilane promotes free trade from top to bottom; there is no reason for them to be so closed-minded regarding faith.

If the Saint Enlightenment Sect is unwilling to share their faith, he does not mind letting Ailin reveal her true divine form and use the Light of Firmness to smash open the closed gates of Grimland.

Open the gates, freedom of belief!

Although Lei Wendun's voice was soft, Ailin heard it very clearly.

Before coming out, she had promised Wu Chang that she only wanted to see the source of everything and would not interfere with Wu Chang's actions.

But when she felt Ge Lei's desperate prayer through Thomas, she still could not help but intervene.

She whispered, "Sorry, I failed to keep my promise."

Wu Chang shook his head and said, "No need to apologize, you did very well, there is no problem at all."

Look at the other gods: Laiman likes to toy with human hearts and use living sacrifices; the Great Holy Mother stops at nothing to harvest faith and has launched several holy wars; the Mother Goddess of Desire follows desire and even needs to hold an orgy to descend.

Compared to these gods, Ailin's hobby of saving people is simply normal; if she had to be timid just to save a person, that would be too aggrieved.

If they had gone to the Reason Realm, given their current strength, they might have had to exercise some restraint.

But this is the Wild Realm!

Even if Joy came, he would have to take two slaps; if Laiman dared to come, he would have to leave behind two eyeballs; even if the Lord of the Deep Sea built a Divine Kingdom, he could chisel right through it.

Is there a suspected Child of the Plane in the Steam Phantom dungeon? He is exactly the type to beat up a Child of the Plane!

Seeing Wu Chang's firm attitude, Lei Wendun said no more.

A few minutes later, Thomas returned with a portion of broth, a portion of oatmeal, and two loaves of bread.

Seeing Thomas return, Ailin stopped lingering, stood up, and prepared to leave.

Wu Chang knew what Ailin wanted to do, and he said:

"Whatever you want to do, go ahead and do it, but watch the time; we still have things to do tonight."

Tonight, they still have to go with Lei Wendun to investigate the explosion at the Pine Tree Mine.

There will be plenty of time for saving people later; don't delay the main business.

Ailin said softly, "I will."

She walked out of Thomas's house and said to the slum residents kneeling outside:

"If you have patients in your homes who need treatment, please bring them here. If it is inconvenient to move them, you can tell me, and I will find time to visit and treat them."

The people kneeling outside were waiting for these very words. Hearing that Ailin was truly willing to help them, the crowd immediately began shouting praises to the Eternal Pure Light while rushing home to bring their patients here.

In the slums, everything is in short supply, except for two things.

Poverty and illness.

Especially during the Great Malaria epidemic, nearly sixty percent of the residents in the slums had suffered from malaria, and nearly 15% of them would, like Ge Lei, die from malaria and its complications.

These people who should have been waiting for death have now ushered in a glimmer of hope.

One tells ten, ten tell a hundred.

The rumor of a saint with miracle-like healing abilities who is willing to treat the poor for free soon spread throughout the entire slum.

At first, people were skeptical, but once they witnessed Ailin healing a patient, they would become spreaders of this rumor.

In the struggle for faith, nothing is more persuasive than a living saint walking in the world.

Even the most devout believers of the Holy Lord Sect and the Saint Enlightenment Sect would have their faith shaken after receiving treatment from Ailin.

Indeed, rumors in the streets say the Pope of the Holy See can communicate with gods and that the indulgences he produces can allow believers to ascend to the Heavenly Kingdom after death.

The Archbishop of the Saint Enlightenment Sect is known as a person near to the gods; she receives rewards from the gods and possesses extraordinary power.

No one doubted that the Pope and the Archbishop possessed supernatural powers, but the problem was that these big figures were unwilling to enter the slums, or even spare them a second glance.

In an instant, the faith of the entire slum converged toward Ailin.

In the open space in front of Thomas's house, Wu Chang even saw a small sapling growing out of the ground.

That is a sign that the accumulation of faith in the current plane has reached a certain level and is beginning to condense a Pillar of the Divine Kingdom.

He was a bit curious: if he built a Divine Kingdom in a dungeon plane, would the plane's rules within the coverage of the Divine Kingdom still be affected by the root power of the Child of the Plane?

Ailin's rumors grew wings and spread through the slums in a very short time, and naturally, they could quickly reach the ears of the Saint Enlightenment Sect.

Three hours after she began treatment, Wu Chang sensed a large number of secret police and religious knights converging on the slums.

He took out the Holy Sword of Lake Light, hung it at his waist, and moved toward the arrivals. To his surprise, the leader was Zhu Li herself.

Before the secret police and religious knights could enter the slums, the slum residents who had been treated by Ailin and whose conditions had improved spontaneously blocked the entrance to the slums.

They did not speak, just watched the secret police and religious knights quietly, but the air was thick with the smell of gunpowder.

A slight carelessness would trigger a large-scale bloody conflict.

Seeing the rows of gaunt human walls blocking the front of the slums, Zhu Li showed a look of surprise. She ordered her subordinates to withdraw from the slum area first and wait for orders.

Afterward, she used her extraordinary abilities to enter the slums through a small path, arrived in front of Thomas's house, and witnessed Ailin's actions with her own eyes.

Having seen Ailin's actions, Zhu Li's expression became complicated. She turned her head to look at Wu Chang, who had appeared beside her at some point, and asked in a slightly confused tone:

"Does this have any meaning?"

Wu Chang asked in return: "What do you think?"

"I think this can only change things for a moment," Zhu Li said.

Wu Chang nodded and said: "I think so too, but this is the greatest degree of change she can achieve for these people."

"You cannot choose to stop moving forward just because you cannot find the most perfect, most thorough solution. The smallest change is better than standing still."

Zhu Li seemed to realize something and said: "Is this the solution you chose?"

Wu Chang nodded and said: "Yes."

Zhu Li said: "I understand. If you keep your actions to the outside of Grimland and don't enter the core area, I can help you find a way with the Queen."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow. He had thought he would have to bring up Christine to peacefully resolve today's "religious dispute," but he hadn't expected Zhu Li to be much easier to talk to than he had imagined.

Seeing that Zhu Li was preparing to leave, he called out to her and asked:

"What about you? Have you found the solution you want?"

Zhu Li paused for a moment, then said expressionlessly: "I need to think about it some more."

With Zhu Li's permission, the subsequent treatment session went exceptionally smoothly.

As the sky gradually darkened, Lei Wendun sought out Wu Chang and said:

"We should go; there is still some distance from here to the Pine Tree Mine, and it will be too late if we go any later."

Just as Wu Chang was about to call Ailin, Thomas suddenly interjected:

"Sir, I heard you say just now that you are going to the Pine Tree Mine, right?"

"I am a miner there; I am familiar with every mine tunnel in the pit, and I know quite a few inside stories about the mine. If you are going to do business near the Pine Tree Mine, perhaps I can help."

(End of chapter)