Chapter 93: Truth Deduction (4k-character chapter, two-in-one)

Wu Chang stepped aside, letting the woman outside the door enter the room.

The woman outside had a demeanor eighty percent similar to Mo Leina, but her appearance was more to Wu Chang’s taste; calling her a high-spec Mo Leina would not be an exaggeration.

The woman was not only similar in demeanor but also in speech and mannerisms; even twins might not resemble each other to this degree.

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

"Does that matter?" the woman asked.

Wu Chang said: "To me, it matters a lot."

"You can just call me Mo Leina; anyway, to you, there is no difference between her and me." The woman took off her coat, revealing the same style of pajamas Mo Leina wore underneath.

Wu Chang clicked his tongue, thinking to himself that this woman was playing a wild game; he didn't know what kind of act she was putting on.

Was it a sister-sandwich, or NTR?

But no matter how she played, wasn't it a bit much to use Mo Leina’s name directly?

The woman slowly approached Wu Chang, wrapping her arms around his neck with natural movements and an atmosphere devoid of awkwardness, as if seamlessly continuing the scene that should have been happening just now.

The fake Mo Leina felt no awkwardness, but Wu Chang found it somewhat unacceptable.

This was Mo Leina’s home; how could he do this kind of thing with someone else in her house?

He was a traditional person; when doing such things, one should hide from others—how bad would it be if they were caught?

"Let's go somewhere else."

"Why? Don't you think it's more exciting here?"

Wu Chang’s mouth twitched; he really wanted to say, "You are so slutty."

Wearing Mo Leina’s pajamas, using Mo Leina’s name, and even choosing Mo Leina’s home as the battlefield—was Mo Leina’s nickname Pinru?

"Come with me."

Wu Chang took the woman away from Mo Leina’s home and traveled all the way to the woods near the cathedral.

Looking into the distance, he could see Mo Leina investigating the scene.

"How about it, isn't this more exciting?"

As if receiving a signal, the woman lunged at him, entangling herself with him.

After a bout of French kissing, the woman suddenly held onto Wu Chang and stopped, leaning into his ear to whisper: "Will you stay on this island?"

Wu Chang quoted the woman’s previous answer: "Does that matter?"

The woman said earnestly: "It matters a lot; it will determine what happens next."

Wu Chang shrugged, "Of course, no."

The woman showed a look of disappointment, and then she raised her hand to stroke Wu Chang’s cheek, but halfway through, her movements froze.

Wu Chang pulled the woman off himself and asked with a smile: "Is your body losing control? As a God’s Envoy, this feeling is quite rare, isn't it?"

A look of disbelief appeared on the woman’s face; she wanted to speak but found that the numbness had started from her mouth.

Her tongue was completely numb; at this moment, she couldn't even swallow saliva, let alone make a sound.

She looked at Wu Chang, seemingly asking how he knew, and what he had done.

Wu Chang opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue; at the base of his tongue, a hollow hole could be seen.

"Ever heard of Soul Poison? Surprised? Unexpected?"

"Innate Skill: Snake Venom"

"Skill Description: In the Ocean Kin state, your energy attributes increase by 50%. You can convert energy into Soul Poison. Targets hit by the snake venom will lose body control, gain the Poisoned status, and receive continuous poison damage. Damage values and duration are affected by the user’s energy and inspiration attributes respectively."

"Soul Poison: A special poison targeting intelligent life; the poison reaches the soul directly. Energy bodies and non-flesh life forms cannot be immune."

Wu Chang’s sea snake transformation, although not as simple and brutal as his True Self’s giant whale transformation, nor having an ultra-high ceiling for infinitely stacking attributes,

was not at all useless when it came to its effects.

Especially when used to ambush people, it was particularly effective against those who thought they were special and let their guard down against him.

For example, the God’s Envoy before him—facing others, she was an almost immortal existence, but facing Wu Chang’s Soul Poison, one bite was enough to make her lose control.

Seeing the look of terror in the woman’s eyes, as if she were preparing to flee, Wu Chang grabbed the woman’s hand and took out the Proof of Envy with his other hand.

"Move, get in the house with me!"

He pulled hard, dragging the woman into the portal leading to the Church of Envy.

It was like being handed a pillow when sleepy; he had been worrying about where to find the last three Inner Worlds, and Lust had delivered itself to his door.

What was even more absurd was that when it came looking for him, it was still carrying fresh resentment.

The resentment belonging to the bald guy from the Iron Armor Group.

This was too polite; not only did it travel a thousand miles to deliver a head, but it was also afraid he wouldn't be able to take it, so it sent the walkthrough along with it.

With things turning out like this, it wouldn't be appropriate for him not to accept.

He had always been curious about what would happen if a God’s Envoy entered another God’s Envoy’s Inner World.

Now he knew the answer.

They would lose the authority of a God’s Envoy and become an ordinary existence.

Actually, thinking about it, it made sense: the seven Inner Worlds each corresponded to events that had happened in reality, or rather, the sins of the townspeople.

The sinners the God’s Envoys targeted were only those who had violated the authority they governed.

For example, Ma Di targeted the former postman because the postman had committed the sin of Sloth.

The Lust God’s Envoy targeted the bald guy because the bald guy was preparing to make a move on the hamster, committing the sin of Lust.

For original sins outside their own functions, the God’s Envoys could not enforce the law across domains.

Just as he felt it was reasonable, holding the Proof of Envy and possessing the authority of a God’s Envoy, he actually saw a Sin Value on the Lust God’s Envoy.

Sin Value, -100.

No, what was going on? Had the Lust God’s Envoy committed the sin of Envy?

He used the authority of the Envy God’s Envoy to declare the Lust God’s Envoy guilty.

The moment the guilty verdict was passed, he didn't do anything, yet flames erupted from the Lust God’s Envoy, and amidst painful wails, she was burned to ashes by the fire of envy.

Pushing aside the ashes, Wu Chang found a chess piece inside, with a small figure being scorched by flames carved onto it.

"Item Name: Proof of Lust"

"Item Type: Special"

"Item Description: Holding the Proof of Lust allows free entry into the special space—the House of Bondage. In the House of Bondage area, you will be regarded as a God’s Envoy with the authority to judge the target’s sins. If the other party’s Good/Evil value is below 5, they will be judged as a sinner."

Looking at the Proof of Lust in his hand, Wu Chang frowned; he had not only successfully judged the Lust God’s Envoy but had also instantly killed her.

This change exceeded his expectations.

Was it that the event corresponding to the sin of Lust in reality had violated the sin of Envy?

Or was there some special connection between the two?

The event recorded in the sin of Envy was that the townspeople, out of envy, had defied the heavens and declared the Saintess a heretic, executing her by fire.

If the sin of Lust was connected to the sin of Envy, did it represent the townspeople developing lust for the Saintess?

Envy arising because of lust?

Although it seemed reasonable, could envy just because of lust really reach a Good/Evil value of -100?

No, his inspiration triggered at this moment; a flash of insight crossed his mind, and many fragmented pieces of information surfaced before his eyes, spontaneously piecing themselves together.

With the connection between Lust and Envy as a lead, he seemed to see the truth.

Ma Di had said that the Merman Wharf Inner World represented their past experience as pirates—why "past"? And why would the townspeople, as descendants of pirates, view what they originally considered a matter of course as an original sin? At the same time, Ma Di was full of respect for the Saintess, preferring to self-destruct rather than reveal information about her.

The Ogre State Religion was ostensibly looking for the Saintess, but compared to whether the Saintess lived or died, they cared more about the so-called Holy Stigmata.

Burning the Saintess as a heretic—the emotions that arose in the hearts of the Bishop and the townspeople were not hatred, disgust, or lust, but envy.

In the Bishop’s mental imagery, burning the Saintess was his greatest inner flaw, the one he was least willing to face.

The passage to the Inner World representing Envy was not in the Great Mother statue, but in the Bishop’s sewn-shut eyes.

The Saintess from outside the island actually had scales on her body that only appeared after eating golden flying fish; once one ate golden flying fish, they would become addicted and unable to break free.

Before the Lust God’s Envoy made a move on the bald guy and him, she had asked a question: "Will you stay on this island?"

As a God’s Envoy, the Lust God’s Envoy was in an Inner World representing Envy, yet she had nearly maxed-out sin on her.

The final clue that surfaced in Wu Chang’s mind was his discussion with Ling Hu about lust.

Lust is not necessarily limited to the literal meaning of sexual desire.

!

In religion, ignoring the feelings of others when treating them, caring only about using them to satisfy one’s own desires, can be called lust.

The Lust God’s Envoy had such a deep obsession with staying on the island—was her obsession for those who committed the sin of Lust?

I’m afraid not.

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

A bold guess about the truth formed a silhouette in his mind.

He entered a meditative state, attempting to fill the silhouette with clues to piece together a reasonable truth.

Ten clues turned into ten memory fragments, surrounding Wu Chang.

Wu Chang watched the ten memory fragments simultaneously, constantly adjusting, arranging, and combining the sequence of the scenes within them; when a certain scene emerged, he would even extract a clue from it and connect it with corresponding clues in other scenes.

When he had pieced together all the fragments extended from the ten memories like a puzzle, forming the final picture,

a figure emerged in the picture—a figure that ran through all the clues and lay at the core of all the problems.

That pure, flawless girl who seemed to be the synonym for perfection.

The Saintess.

Wu Chang took a deep breath, originally preparing to organize his thoughts and state his guess next time.

Yet in the dark, his intuition sensed a trace of danger from beyond the heavens, as if countless dissatisfied gazes were fixed upon him, so he immediately organized his thoughts and began to review the truth he had deduced.

Simply put, the Saint’s death was not because of her faith, but because she was too outstanding; her personal charisma overshadowed the high-pressure rule of Count Jermaine, ultimately leading to her own death.

Moreover, the appearance of the Saint was the root and the fuse for the Seven Deadly Sins inner worlds appearing on Briff Island.

Before the Saint arrived, the islanders, under the direction of Count Jermaine, worked as pirates, plundering merchant ships of the kingdom, and lived their days in ease and comfort.

Compared to the ill-gotten gains from plundering, working hard to earn money seemed far too arduous.

But with the arrival of the Saint, everything changed.

She did not know that the townspeople worshipped the Perception Sect, or even if she did, she chose to forgive them and spread the true Ogre State Religion to the townspeople.

Under the Saint’s preaching, the cognitive barriers in the hearts of the islanders, who were completely controlled by Count Jermaine, gradually shattered.

They began to understand what was right and what was wrong, and truly understood virtue and goodness.

Just as the saying goes, I could have endured the darkness if I had not seen the sun.

If not for the Saint, the townspeople could have continued living under the manipulation of Count Jermaine, passing their days as they always had.

But after the Saint appeared, they had a true faith and wanted to cast off the wretchedness of the past.

They wanted to stop being pirates and instead, like people in the outside world, trade labor and work for wealth.

But Count Jermaine was the first to disagree with this change.

The Saint’s influence was indeed powerful, but Count Jermaine knew the townspeople too well, and he had too many ways to control them.

A single sentence was all it took to make the townspeople, who wanted to walk into the light, fall back into the darkness.

"The Saint will leave sooner or later."

The Saint’s personal charisma was enough to overshadow Count Jermaine’s iron-fisted rule, and likewise enough to overshadow the doctrines she preached.

For the townspeople of Briff, the doctrine was not their light; the Saint was.

Thus came the question from the Envoy of Lust.

"Will you stay on this island?"

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

So Count Jermaine sympathetically offered his help, letting the Saint eat the Golden Flying Fish.

Having eaten the Golden Flying Fish, the Saint became addicted to the fish, completely unable to turn back, and fell into the control of Count Jermaine.

Perhaps from the very beginning, the Saint was Count Jermaine’s target, the reason being the Holy Mark the Saint carried.

Although it is not yet known what the Holy Mark represents, the fact that retrieving the Holy Mark and finding the missing Saint can be used as parallel conditions for completing the side quest already indicates that the priority of the Holy Mark is higher than that of the Saint.

Because this means that as long as the Holy Mark is retrieved, the religion will not delve too deeply into whether the Saint is dead or alive.

Having obtained the Holy Mark, Count Jermaine, in order to completely cover up the secret, used his understanding and control of the townspeople to incite their desires once again.

This time, it was envy.

Perhaps it was said that the Saint had broken free of control and was preparing to flee Briff; perhaps it was said that once the incident with the Perception Sect was exposed, the Saint would view the townspeople as heretics and no longer show any mercy or compassion...

There were many methods; Wu Chang could think of seven or eight different ways just by thinking about it casually.

In short, Count Jermaine successfully provoked the envy of the townspeople, which included the Bishop.

As the opinion leader in the hearts of the townspeople, the Bishop’s verdict completely ignited the flames of jealousy among them.

They were jealous of the place the Saint was about to go, jealous that others would share in this glimmer of light.

Holding to the idea that if they couldn't have it, they would destroy it, the townspeople’s envy burned the Saint to death, and also burned the versions of themselves that had felt the light in their hearts.

This scene corresponded to the image Wu Chang saw in the Bishop’s mental echo.

As the townspeople lit the pyre, they also lit themselves.

By the time everything calmed down and the townspeople repented, it was already too late.

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

For this, he sewed his eyes shut, yet he remained trapped in that day, unable to emerge, causing his inspiration and will as an Ascetic to be lower than Professor Ebet.

It was not only the Bishop who felt self-reproach, but all the townspeople.

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

The experiences related to the Saint were extracted by them, becoming the seven inner worlds on the island representing the Seven Deadly Sins.

The townspeople, having burned away their inner morality and conscience, could only simulate the life under the light that the Saint had once depicted for them by establishing harsh rules and maintaining them through extreme measures.

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

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

If Count Jermaine had his eyes on the Saint with the goal of seizing the Holy Mark, what was his plan?

After the trial of the Saint, why did Count Jermaine also disappear? And what was the giant Faceless Nun left on the main house of the Count’s manor?

What did the Greed and Wrath he had yet to discover correspond to?

The plot had been basically explored; next, he would speed up clearing the dungeon.

At the same time, as if sensing Wu Chang’s decision, the Saint he had brought out from the Bishop’s mental echo opened her eyes from her coma.

To ensure the integrity of the plot, two chapters were combined into one; today is a three-update beast, can't say it's short.

(End of chapter)