Chapter 70: Plague, Calamity, Misfortune

At the words "church relatives," Ebart's cheek twitched visibly.

He quickly lowered his head, feigning to examine the letter, so Wu Chang wouldn't see more of his expression.

Seeing Ebart unsettled, Wu Chang gave him no time to recover and immediately pressed: "Professor Ebart, I urgently need your help."

The word "church" was Ebart's nightmare; now, raised face-to-face by Wu Chang, it was like being caught cheating on the spot.

If he had still been calm, he could have simply asked what Wu Chang's relative was named and how they knew him—easily uncovering the inconsistency.

But now, all his focus was on hiding his flaws; he had no mental bandwidth to assess the truth in Wu Chang's words.

Of course, if Ebart had been that calm, Wu Chang's questioning method would have shifted from psychology to physics.

"Beware the Divine Messenger," Ebart blurted under pressure.

Seeing Ebart crack, Wu Chang launched a barrage of rapid-fire questions.

"Divine Messenger? What is a Divine Messenger?"

"Is it connected to the church?"

"Why should I be wary of it? Will it harm me? Why would it harm me?"

"How should I avoid it?"

Overwhelmed by Wu Chang's questions, Ebart stammered: "Brifer is a land protected by the Divine. The Divine sends Divine Messengers to punish wicked violators of the rules. Never become a sinner."

"What if I encounter one?"

"Then pray your sins aren't grave enough. Sinners face the Divine Messenger with no strength to resist, no strength to struggle, even no strength to flee."

Wu Chang: "Can I escape the Divine Messenger?"

"Not unless…" Ebart started to say something, then realized his slip and clapped his hand over his mouth.

"I'm tired. That's enough for today."

Ebart turned and fled into the house as if escaping, terrified Wu Chang would corner him again and force out more forbidden words.

Watching Ebart's retreating back, Wu Chang narrowed his eyes.

This old bastard definitely has something wrong.

The Divine Messenger Ebart just mentioned must refer to the transformation Mati underwent when he killed the former mail carrier.

The former mail carrier's battle in the resentment also matched Ebart's description: if sins are grave, one is powerless to resist, powerless to struggle before the Divine Messenger.

Combined with Ebart's qualifier that "Brifer is a land protected by the Divine," it follows that everyone on Brifer Island possesses a hidden attribute similar to a "good-evil value."

Obeying the island's rules and working diligently increases the good-evil value, gaining villagers' favor and easing integration into the town.

Violating the island's rules, slacking off, or even striking lowers the good-evil value, making one more susceptible to being drawn into the Inner World.

If the good-evil value drops below a certain threshold, one will be targeted by the Divine Messenger, just like the former mail carrier.

From the information seen in the resentment, the Divine Messenger has no physical form—it must possess a villager to manifest.

But from Ebart's tone, if the good-evil value hasn't fallen low enough, one still has a chance to escape the Divine Messenger and even break its lock.

But that method is too secret—he cannot reveal it.

This is enough.

Sometimes, revealing a secret doesn't mean exposing its solution.

Simply showing you know the solution already exposes much.

The existence of the Divine Messenger is information even veterans haven't uncovered, yet Ebart spoke of it with unnatural ease.

This means he not only knows the island's secrets but is entangled in them—even deeply involved.

With the Holy Maiden missing, the church thought to ask him for help; his ties to the church must be close, perhaps even making him a high-ranking member. His hesitation instead of outright refusal suggests he hasn't yet broken with the church.

This old bastard is likely in a period of wavering about defecting—or perhaps he's been blackmailed and forced to participate.

But whichever it is, he must know about the Holy Maiden's disappearance around Brifer! Otherwise, he wouldn't have sought out the church's plea for help, nor would he have shown relief upon seeing no letter.

With a man like this, he had no time for soft persuasion, for love and justice to sway him.

He must strike swiftly and decisively!

As an elderly scholar, Ebart's physique wasn't as robust as the natives', and now he had psychological vulnerabilities.

So Wu Chang prepared to intensify both Ebart's mental and physical suffering.

When a person's body and mind are tortured, nearing death, their mental cracks expand infinitely—no one else needs to intervene; their conscience will beat them mercilessly.

By the time the "dying man speaks truthfully" phase arrives, he'll say everything he should and shouldn't.

Wu Chang dragged his cart to a hidden corner and activated his innate skill.

Misfortune.

"Skill Name: Misfortune."

"Skill Description: Upon activation, enter the Misfortune state. In this state, the user becomes a spirit and directly attacks the target's soul. If the target's Spirit + Will is less than 80% of the user's Spirit + Will, one of 'Plague,' 'Calamity,' or 'Misfortune' triggers randomly; if less than 50%, two trigger randomly; if less than 20%, all three trigger, plus an additional special state."

As Misfortune activated, he entered a soul-out-of-body state, his consciousness becoming a spirit that entered Ebart's house.

He saw Ebart, trying to calm himself, arranging a small altar to worship the Divine.

As a dual Ph. D. in archaeology and theology, Ebart's home held many occult artifacts, offering some protection against occult harm.

But before Wu Chang, whose Spirit reached 90, those talismans and figurines were no different from ordinary crafts.

In the Misfortune state, he saw a white flame of life burning within Ebart.

He reached out into the void and tapped the flame once; a wisp of black mist surged from his fingertip and sank into Ebart's body.

Whoosh—the candles around the altar all snuffed out. Ebart turned to relight them, but dizziness overwhelmed him; his vision blacked, and he collapsed to the floor.

Ebart failed the Misfortune attribute check.

"Target's Spirit + Will is less than 50% of user's Spirit + Will. Effects triggered: 'Plague,' 'Misfortune.'"

Wu Chang was surprised—he'd expected all three effects to trigger, but Ebart had more resilience than he thought.

Then again, in a world of occultism, archaeology and theology rank among the top T1 professions for courting death; for Ebart to have survived this long, his Spirit value must be high indeed.

Plaguebringer: When a target is affected by Plaguebringer, they randomly gain 1 to 5 major illnesses; the lower their current HP, the worse the illness grows worse; the greater the difference between the target's and user's Inspiration attribute, the more types of illness they acquire.

Wicked Curse: When a target is affected by Wicked Curse, they experience hallucinations and suffer mental shock, the effect determined by the difference in Inspiration attribute between target and user.

Wu Chang could not control which specific effects Plaguebringer or Wicked Curse triggered, but once the effects randomly manifested, he could control their intensity.

He feared killing Ebert outright before he had time for self-interrogation, so he drastically weakened both effects.

The weakened Plaguebringer only caused Ebert to suffer violent diarrhea, persistent high fever, and blurred vision.

The weakened Wicked Curse caused Ebert to have endless nightmares about the Church and the Holy Maiden, leaving him mentally exhausted upon waking, unable to concentrate, and prone to visual and auditory hallucinations.

To treat an enemy with such caution—he truly is overly virtuous, excessively respectful of the old and tender toward the young.

He dispelled his spirit form, dragging his empty cart back toward the post office.

On the way, passing a shipyard, he saw five or six workers inside bustling with activity; under the shade outside the yard, a familiar figure lay on the ground, legs crossed, slacking off.

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow—just earlier he'd been worrying how to verify the gathered intelligence, and now here was his guinea pig.

(End of Chapter)