Chapter 93

Wu Chang stepped aside and let the woman outside enter the room.

The woman outside bore eight-tenths resemblance to Mo Leina, but her appearance better matched Wu Chang's taste—calling her a high-end version of Mo Leina wasn't an exaggeration.

Not only did her demeanor resemble Mo Leina's, but her speech and mannerisms were identical; even twins couldn't be this alike.

"Who are you?" Wu Chang asked, puzzled.

"Does it matter?" the woman asked.

Wu Chang said, "It matters to me."

"Call me Mo Leina. After all, to you, I'm no different from her." The woman took off her coat, revealing pajamas identical to Mo Leina's.

Wu Chang clicked his tongue, thinking this woman was playing some wild game—he had no idea what she was after.

Was this sister-style rice cover, or NTR?

But no matter how you play it, using Mo Leina's name outright—isn't that going too far?

The woman slowly approached Wu Chang, wrapping her arms around his neck, her movements natural, the atmosphere utterly unawkward, as if seamlessly continuing the scene that should have unfolded moments ago.

The fake Mo Leina felt no embarrassment, but Wu Chang found it hard to accept.

This was Mo Leina's home—how could he do such a thing with someone else, in her house?

He was a traditional man; he preferred to do such things in secret, lest he be caught.

"Let's go somewhere else."

"Why? Don't you find it more thrilling here?"

Wu Chang's lips twitched—he really wanted to say, "You're so slutty."

Wearing Mo Leina's pajamas, using Mo Leina's name, even choosing Mo Leina's house as the battlefield—is Mo Leina's nickname really Pinru?

"Come with me."

Wu Chang led the woman out of Mo Leina's house, all the way to the woods near the cathedral.

In the distance, he could see Mo Leina investigating the scene.

"How's this? Isn't it more thrilling now?"

The woman, as if receiving a signal, lunged at him, entangling herself with him.

After a passionate French kiss, the woman suddenly clung to Wu Chang, pressing her lips to his ear and whispering softly: "Will you stay on this island?"

Wu Chang quoted her own earlier reply: "Does it matter?"

The woman said seriously, "It matters—it will determine what happens next."

Wu Chang shrugged. "Of course not."

The woman's face fell with disappointment; then she raised her hand to caress Wu Chang's cheek—but halfway up, her motion froze.

Wu Chang pulled the woman off him and smiled. "Is your body losing control? As a divine emissary, this feeling must be rare, right?"

The woman's face showed utter disbelief. She tried to speak, but found the numbness started at her mouth.

Her tongue was completely numb; she couldn't even swallow saliva, let alone speak.

She stared at Wu Chang, silently asking: How did you know? And what did you do?

Wu Chang opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue—beneath its base, a hollow Kong Dong was visible.

"Ever heard of soul toxin? Surprised? Delighted?"

"Talent Skill: Snake Venom"

"Skill Description: While in Oceanic Kin form, your energy attributes increase by 50%. You can convert energy into soul toxin. Targets struck by Snake Venom lose bodily control, gain the poisoned status, and suffer continuous toxic damage. Damage value and duration are determined by the user's energy and inspiration attributes."

"Soul Toxin: A special toxin targeting sentient beings. It reaches the soul directly. Energy beings and non-flesh lifeforms cannot resist it."

Wu Chang's true form's sea serpent transformation, while not as bluntly powerful as his True Self's whale form, and lacking the infinite attribute stacking potential,

was no less effective in practice.

Especially when ambushing those who believed themselves special and let their guard down around him—it was devastatingly effective.

Like the divine emissary before him: to others, she was nearly immortal—but against Wu Chang's soul toxin, one bite was enough to paralyze her.

Seeing fear flash in the woman's eyes as she prepared to flee, Wu Chang seized her wrist and pulled out the Proof of Envy.

"Hey, come inside with me!"

He yanked hard, dragging her into the teleportation gate leading to the Cathedral of Envy.

It was like sleepwalking into a pillow—he'd been worried about where to find the last three inner worlds, and Lust had just walked right in.

Even crazier: she arrived carrying fresh resentment.

The resentment of the Bald Man from the Iron Armor Gang.

This was too courteous—not only did she deliver herself like a gift, but she even included the guide, afraid he couldn't handle the head.

The situation was so perfect, refusing it would've been rude.

He'd always wondered: what happens when a divine emissary enters another emissary's inner world?

Now he knew the answer.

They lose their emissary permissions and become ordinary beings.

Thinking about it, it made sense: seven inner worlds, each corresponding to an event that occurred in reality—or the townspeople's sins.

The sinners chosen by the emissaries were only those who violated the sins under their jurisdiction.

For example, Mati approached the former mailman because the mailman had committed the sin of sloth.

The Lust emissary targeted the Bald Man because he planned to assault the hamster, committing the sin of lust.

Emissaries couldn't enforce justice beyond their own sin domain.

Just as he found this logical, he, wielding the Proof of Envy and holding emissary authority, suddenly saw a sin value on the Lust emissary.

Sin value: -100.

Wait, what? Did the Lust emissary commit the sin of envy?

He used the Permission of the Envy Apostle to condemn the Lust Apostle as guilty.

In the instant the guilty verdict was rendered, he did nothing—flames erupted from the Lust Apostle, who screamed in agony before being burned to ash by envy's fire.

Pushing aside the ashes, Wu Chang found a chess piece within, carved with a tiny figure being scorched by flames.

"Item Name: Proof of Lust"

"Item Type: Special"

"Item Description: Holding the Proof of Lust grants free access to a special space—the Chamber of Restraint. Within the Chamber of Restraint, you are regarded as an Apostle and have the authority to judge the guilt of targets. If the target's Good-Evil value is below 5, they are deemed guilty."

Looking at the Proof of Lust in his hand, Wu Chang frowned—he had not only successfully judged the Lust Apostle, but had instantly killed the Apostle.

This development exceeded his expectations.

Was the event corresponding to Lust's Sin in reality the one that violated Envy's Sin?

Or was there some special connection between the two?

The event recorded in Envy's Sin was that the townspeople, driven by envy, turned against heaven, condemned the Saintess as a heretic, and executed her by fire.

If Lust's Sin was linked to Envy's Sin, did it represent the townspeople's lust for the Saintess?

Did lust give rise to envy?

Though it seemed plausible, could envy sparked merely by lust truly reach a Good-Evil value of -100?

No—his inspiration activated at this moment; a flash of insight struck his mind, and fragments of information surfaced before him, spontaneously assembling into a coherent whole.

Using the link between Lust and Envy as a thread, he seemed to glimpse the truth.

Mati had said the Fisherman's Wharf Inner World represented their past as pirates—why "past"? As descendants of pirates, why would the townspeople regard what they once considered natural as original sin? And why did Mati hold such deep respect for the Saintess, choosing self-destruction rather than reveal her secrets?

The Augre State Religion publicly sought the Saintess, but cared more about the so-called Holy Mark than her survival.

When they burned the Saintess as a heretic, the emotion rising in the bishop and townspeople was not hatred, disgust, or lust—it was envy.

In the Bishop's Mind Resonance, burning the Saintess was his most dreaded moment, his greatest inner flaw.

The passage to the Envy Inner World was not within the Great Mother Statue, but in the bishop's sewn-shut eyes.

The Saintess, from outside the island, bore scales only produced by consuming Golden Flying Fish—those who ate them became addicted and could not escape.

Before the Lust Apostle attacked the Bald One and him, he had asked one question: "Will you stay on this island?"

As an Apostle within the Envy Inner World, the Lust Apostle carried sin nearly at its maximum level.

The final clue that surfaced before Wu Chang was his discussion with the Spirit Fox about Lust.

Lust does not necessarily mean sexual desire in its literal sense.

!

In religion, disregarding another's feelings while using them solely to satisfy one's own desires can be called Lust.

The Lust Apostle's obsession with staying on the island—was it directed at those who committed the Sin of Lust?

Probably not.

A famous detective once said: eliminate all impossibilities, and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

A bold hypothesis took shape in his mind.

He entered meditation, attempting to fit the clues into this outline, assembling a coherent truth.

Ten clues became ten fragments of memory, swirling around Wu Chang.

Wu Chang observed all ten fragments simultaneously, constantly rearranging their order, aligning and combining them—when a certain image appeared, he would extract one clue and link it to a corresponding one from another fragment.

When he had pieced together every fragment extended from the ten memories, forming the final image—

A figure emerged within the image: a figure that ran through all clues, at the core of every question.

The flawless girl, the very embodiment of perfection.

The Saintess.

Wu Chang took a deep breath, preparing to organize his thoughts and reveal his hypothesis later.

But instinctively, his inspiration sensed a danger from beyond—the weight of countless disapproving gazes fixed upon him—and he immediately organized his thoughts, beginning to reconstruct the truth he had deduced.

In short, the Saintess's death was not due to her faith, but because she was too exceptional—her personal charisma overshadowed Baron Jemaine's tyrannical rule, ultimately leading to her demise.

Moreover, the Saintess's arrival was the origin and catalyst for the Seven Sins Inner Worlds on Briver Island.

Before the Saintess came, the islanders, under Jemaine's orders, lived as pirates, plundering royal merchant ships, enjoying an easy and carefree life.

Compared to the ill-gotten wealth from plundering, earning money through hard work seemed too arduous.

But with the Saintess's arrival, everything changed.

She either did not know the townspeople worshipped the Ganzhi Sect Sect, or, knowing, chose to forgive them and spread the true Augre State Religion among them.

Under the Saintess's preaching, the townspeople, once entirely controlled by Jemaine, gradually shattered their cognitive barriers.

They began to understand right from wrong, truly grasping virtue and goodness.

As the saying goes: I could have endured the darkness, had I never seen the sun.

Without the Saintess, the townspeople could have continued living under Jemaine's manipulation, maintaining their old ways.

But after the Saintess appeared, they gained true faith—and wished to escape their shameful past.

They wished to no longer be pirates, but to earn wealth through labor, like people in the outside world.

But this change was the first thing Jemaine refused to accept.

Though the Saintess's charisma was powerful, Jemaine knew the townspeople too well and had too many methods of control.

A single sentence could drag those seeking the light back into darkness.

"The Saintess will leave eventually."

The Saintess's personal charisma could overshadow Jemaine's iron-fisted rule—and could also overshadow the doctrine she preached.

For the Briver townspeople, the doctrine was not their light—the Saintess was.

Hence the Lust Apostle's question.

"Will you stay on this island?"

Unfortunately, the Holy Maiden was destined not to stay on this island.

So Count Germain graciously offered his help, letting the Holy Maiden eat the Golden Flying Fish.

The Holy Maiden, having eaten the Golden Flying Fish, became addicted and could no longer turn back, falling completely under Count Germain's control.

Perhaps from the very beginning, the Holy Maiden had been Count Germain's target, the reason being the Holy Stigmata she carried on her body.

Although it is not yet clear what the Holy Stigmata represents, the fact that recovering the Holy Stigmata and searching for the missing Holy Maiden can serve as parallel conditions for completing the side quest already indicates that the Holy Stigmata takes priority over the Holy Maiden.

Because this means that as long as the Holy Stigmata is recovered, the religion will not investigate too deeply whether the Holy Maiden lives or dies.

Having obtained the Holy Stigmata, Count Germain, in order to completely conceal the secret, used his understanding and control of the townsfolk to once again stir up their desires.

This time, it was envy.

Perhaps it means the Holy Maiden broke free of control and prepared to flee Brifu; perhaps it means that once the incident of the Ganzhi Sect Sect was exposed, the Holy Maiden would regard the townsfolk as heretics and no longer hold any mercy or compassion...

There were many methods; Wu Chang only needed to think casually, and he could come up with seven or eight different ones.

In short, Count Germain successfully provoked the townsfolk's envy, which included the Bishop.

As the opinion leader in the hearts of the townsfolk, the Bishop's verdict completely ignited the townsfolk's flames of jealousy.

They envied the place the Holy Maiden was about to go, envied that others would share this ray of light.

Adhering to the principle of destroying what they could not obtain, the townsfolk's jealousy burned the Holy Maiden to death, and also burned to death the selves within them that had once felt the light.

This scene corresponded to the picture Wu Chang had seen in the Bishop's Mind Echo.

The townsfolk lit the pyre, and at the same time, they lit themselves.

When everything calmed down, the townsfolk suddenly repented, but it was already too late.

The Bishop, having calmed down, fell into endless self-reproach; that day's verdict, filled with envy, became the greatest flaw in his heart.

He sewed his eyes shut for this reason, yet remained forever trapped in that day, unable to emerge; this caused him, as an ascetic, to possess both inspiration and will inferior to Professor Ebert.

It was not only the Bishop who felt self-reproach, but all the townsfolk as well.

Having learned virtue through the Holy Maiden, they had experienced going from darkness to light, and then falling from light back into darkness, clearly seeing their own original sin and the ugliness brought by that original sin.

The experiences related to the Holy Maiden were extracted by them, becoming the seven Inner Worlds on the island that represented the Seven Deadly Sins.

The townsfolk, whose inner morality and conscience had already been burned away, could only simulate the life under the light that the Holy Maiden had once depicted for them, by formulating strict rules and using extreme measures to enforce those rules.

Wu Chang let out a long breath, and his attention shifted away from reviewing the truth.

He already had a rough guess about the truth of what had once happened on Brifu Island, but as the truth was gradually revealed, many questions followed.

If Count Germain had set his sights on the Holy Maiden with the goal of seizing the Holy Stigmata, what was his plan?

After the trial of the Holy Maiden, why did Count Germain also disappear? And what was the giant Faceless Nun left on the main house of the Earl's Manor?

What do the greed and wrath he has not yet discovered correspond to?

The main storyline had basically been fully explored; next, he needed to speed up the clearing of the dungeon.

At the same time, as if sensing Wu Chang's decision, the Holy Maiden he had brought out from the Bishop's Mind Echo opened her eyes from unconsciousness.

To ensure the completeness of the plot, two chapters have been merged into one for release; today is a three-update beast, it cannot be said to be short

(End of this chapter)