Chapter 89: Mental Echo (Fourth update, 10k words reached, please subscribe!)

According to the zones previously marked on the map, the area where the small pier is located should also contain a section of the Inner World.

While taking the opportunity to collect mail, Wu Chang observed the surroundings of the small pier, looking for anything suspicious.

Compared to the Briver Port on the other end of the island, the small pier was much more deserted.

This place used to be where islanders went out to sea to fish; according to the restaurant owner, a special type of yellow croaker used to live near the small pier, with delicious meat that was deeply loved by the locals.

But with the arrival of steamships, the yellow croakers, fearing the noise, migrated collectively and left Briver Island far behind.

The area around the small pier is covered in reefs; only experienced old fishermen can navigate small wooden boats through the pier area, and its convenience for entry and exit is far inferior to Briver Port.

After losing the only specialty, the yellow croaker, it almost lost its utility and gradually fell into disuse.

Today, the small pier has turned into a fishing spot for retired grandpas.

Elderly townspeople who like quiet occasionally bring fishing rods to the small pier, trying to catch a stray yellow croaker or two to find the taste of their childhood.

However, most of the time they come up empty-handed, often sitting by their fishing rods for half a day without catching even a single common sea fish, eventually having to pick up some oysters and sea snails along the pier to throw into their buckets, comforting themselves that they still have something to show for it.

How does Wu Chang, who has only been in the instance for two or three days, know this? Heh, the oysters and sea snails in the town restaurant all come from there.

Wu Chang walked along the coastline for a while, but found nothing suspicious on the way.

Not to mention the iconic statues of the Inner World, even decent, intact buildings were hard to see.

He didn't find any special existence, but he did see a special person.

Just as he was preparing to head back to find the town elders to ask around, he saw a melancholic, artistic man painting facing the sea on a reef not far away.

This guy really didn't die.

When everyone first entered the instance, their attention was focused on the Ironclad Trio and Jianxing; only the melancholic, artistic man didn't pay attention to them, instead pestering Wu Chang's True Self the whole time.

The melancholic, artistic man was just like Wu Chang's True Self; he disappeared after the instance began, and Wu Chang and the others had never seen him in town.

Not just them, even the townspeople rarely mentioned him.

Ling Hu and the others speculated that, like Han Shi, he had disappeared into some corner of the instance, but Wu Chang always felt he wasn't that simple.

The facts proved this to be true.

Even Jianxing had been put through the wringer to clear the instance, and had even been taken to the station for gathering intelligence.

Looking at the melancholic, artistic man, not only did he not look disheveled, he even had the leisure to paint facing the sea, which showed he was indeed extraordinary.

Wu Chang arrived at the reef where the artistic man was sitting and observed his painting from behind.

The artistic man lived up to his temperament; the ocean under his brush almost perfectly replicated the sea surface before him onto the paper, but with more dreamy and bold details and color usage.

It was like applying a beauty filter to nature, forcefully painting a plain, desolate coastline into the feeling of a viral check-in spot.

The melancholic, artistic man asked while applying the final touches to the painting, "What do you think?"

"Very strong. If you went to Pipa Pipa to open an account, you could have at least fifty thousand followers," Wu Chang praised.

The artistic man shook his head, "I've tried. The barrage teachers and comment teachers are too strict. My level on the Pi site is at most 'needs more practice'."

Wu Chang smiled; he didn't expect the artistic man to be quite humorous.

The artistic man applied the final stroke to the blue sky. Wu Chang thought the painting was finished, but who knew the artistic man would turn around and mix a dim color tone.

He dipped his brush in paint and roughly added a few more strokes to the canvas.

In the time it took Wu Chang to blink, the clear, sunny sea surface instantly became gloomy and eerie.

The difference before and after was so great that it was like two completely different paintings.

"Is this more appropriate?"

Wu Chang shook his head, "I prefer your previous style."

The artistic man said noncommittally, "Things have two sides. Where there is sun, there is shadow. As an artist, one must see all sides of the model at the same time, display all its internal conflicts on a single sheet of paper, and then add a little bit of one's own creation on top of it."

Wu Chang curled his lip and didn't respond.

The artistic man put down his brush and asked pointedly, "Councilor Xiao En, do you have another side?"

Wu Chang said without changing his expression, "I have always been consistent inside and out."

The artistic man smiled slightly, "I do, and more than one side, just like the sea surface, sometimes cloudy and sometimes sunny. But all of me exists to pursue the most dazzling art."

"This town is a good place. Please work hard, you all. I want to see some more exciting scenes."

After saying this, the artistic man ignored the painting on the easel and the brushes and paints scattered on the ground, turned around, and left.

Wu Chang frowned and took a deep breath. Are the riddle-mongers never-ending? Just keep acting like this for now; when I get the chance, I will definitely make you fly.

Returning to the town, he took the opportunity of delivering mail to confirm the status of the players.

Another person had gone missing.

When he went to the restaurant for lunch, he learned from the restaurant owner that the assistant from Dongyang City had died.

According to the restaurant owner's description, the person died a natural death; the cause of death was a stomach upset, with a perforated stomach leading to excessive bleeding.

A perforated stomach leading to excessive bleeding—this was the first time he had heard of such a way to die.

However, with the former postman and the former reporter as precedents, the "natural death" by perforated stomach on Briver Island definitely wouldn't be a pretty sight.

It looked like the unlucky guy who entered the Inner World last night was him.

He only mourned for the assistant from Dongyang City for a brief second before focusing his attention on the upcoming prayer.

Ling Hu had said before that the evening prayer at the cathedral would be presided over by the Bishop himself.

The Bishop is an ascetic monk; they increase their spiritual cultivation by abandoning their own desires and closing off their own senses, using this to communicate with the gods.

The Bishop sewing his eyes shut with iron wire was precisely to abandon his physical eyes and observe the gods with his mind's eye.

The Bishop has very low desire for material things and lives in seclusion all year round; even on the Day of Divine Grace when the Golden Flying Fish appears, he does not leave the cathedral.

Only when major events occur does he preside over prayers to pray for the townspeople.

During the time they had been in Briver Town, only Ling Hu among the players had seen the Bishop from afar.

Taking this opportunity, Wu Chang planned to probe the Bishop's background to see if this Bishop, like Ma Di, was also a vessel possessed by a divine messenger.

At 6:30 PM, Wu Chang controlled his True Self, transformed the superhero's spandex into a cloak, and mingled into the crowd to enter the cathedral.

The True Self inherited the alignment of Wu Chang's main body; the surrounding townspeople felt his presence very naturally and didn't think it was strange that a strange man in a black robe had suddenly appeared in the crowd.

In the cathedral's prayer hall, facing the crowd was a huge stained-glass mural.

The Great Mother painted in the mural opened her arms, like a loving mother embracing her children returning home.

The twilight light passed through the stained-glass mural, and the heavy light and shadow made the kind and gentle Great Mother appear somewhat sad.

He didn't know if she was grieving for herself or for the mortals at her feet.

As the sun set completely, oil lamps and torches were lit inside the church, and the Bishop, wearing white bishop's robes, slowly appeared.

The Bishop's build was gaunt; his restraint of appetite gave him a very low body fat percentage, and the sparse muscle hanging on his wide frame made his body appear even thinner.

He should only be forty-seven years old this year, but his wrinkled face and almost completely white hair made him look like he was seventy-four.

Black iron wires like thorns passed through his upper and lower eyelids, sewing his eyes completely shut; he could only walk inside the church with the help of a nun guiding his way.

The Bishop stood before the crowd and began tonight's prayer.

His voice was old, thick, and full of narrative quality, with the rhythm and breathing well-distributed, making it very easy for people to immerse themselves in it.

The hour-and-a-half prayer passed in a flash; as the prayer ended, the townspeople left the cathedral with peaceful faces, as if they had received the forgiveness of the gods and reconciled with their own inner anxieties.

Except for Wu Chang.

He transformed into his spirit form and followed behind the Bishop, all the way to the room where the Bishop rested.

He could feel that during the confession part of the prayer, the Bishop's sense of repentance was more intense than all the townspeople.

That feeling wasn't faked; only by having done something truly terrible could one repent so sincerely.

He wanted to know what the Bishop was repenting for.

Therefore, he planned to treat the Bishop like he treated Professor Ebet, by applying some intensity to the Bishop's spirit and letting the Bishop reflect on himself.

His spirit form pointed at the Bishop, and Calamity-Bringer was activated.

"The sum of the target's Inspiration and Will attributes is lower than 20% of the user's two-attribute sum; triggering effects: 'Plague', 'Calamity', 'Curse'."

"Due to the target's sum of Inspiration and Will attributes being too low, a special state is triggered: Mental Echo."

Accompanied by the prompt, the Bishop twitched all over; his face was terrified, as if he had sensed a great danger and wanted to open his eyes to see clearly what was in front of him.

He disregarded the iron wires sewing his eyelids shut, not hesitating to tear his eyelids, and used all his strength to open his eyes, revealing two hollow eye sockets filled with blood and tears inside.

The two eye sockets were like two bottomless whirlpools; Wu Chang's spirit form was sucked into them after just one glance.

Fourth update completed, totaling 11,000+, thanks to all the brothers for their tips, monthly tickets, and first-subscription support. (End of chapter)