Chapter 106: Decision (Seeking monthly votes)

Seeing Lu Mi reveal shock and bewilderment that he couldn't hide, the assistant priest Guillaume Bénet straightened his body with satisfaction and said to Pons Bénet:

"Watch him well!"

After speaking, the assistant priest walked toward the altar position.

As he walked away, the surrounding villagers seemed to "come alive," discussing different topics in groups of three or five:

"The constellations are about to change."

"Our good luck is coming!"

"It won't be long before we all get rich!"

"When that happens, I'll drink a bottle of wine every day and eat a pound of meat at every meal!"

"I'm going to find a beautiful woman."

"I'm going to watch a theatrical performance."

"..."

Lu Mi's mind was in a chaotic mess, not paying attention to when Guillaume Bénet had left at all.

That sentence from the assistant priest just now was like throwing a huge rock into a calm lake, stirring up wave after wave:

"How is it possible?"

"In the second-to-last cycle, he was killed by me because he didn't understand my specialty!"

"At that time, even I didn't know what my specialty was, so it was normal for him not to know... After that battle, he didn't have any more conflicts with me in the following two cycles, until Aurora's abnormality was revealed..."

"But he didn't look like he knew about the cycle at all before. His angry cursing when I led people to catch him in the act of adultery, his weakness when Lyra broke into the church and knocked him out directly, his fury when Aurora used 'White Paper' to peek at him—none of those looked fake!"

"If those were all performed by him, then his forbearance is simply terrifying to the extreme..."

"Moreover, he also knew that Madam Pualis possessed memories of the cycle and had a certain degree of understanding of the abnormalities in the castle, yet he still slept with Madam Pualis at the beginning of every cycle, never letting anyone have even the slightest suspicion of him."

"If it were me, after figuring out what Madam Pualis had done, let alone sleeping with her, I wouldn't even have any desire!"

Lu Mi felt the assistant priest was more and more terrifying, and this was completely different from the horror of Madam Pualis.

He then had some questions:

"Why didn't the assistant priest, who retained his memory, sacrifice those three sheep at the very beginning to obtain the corresponding gift and firmly control the entire Cordu Village, completing the twelfth night ritual on the first day?"

"That would have eliminated all accidents!"

"What exactly is he waiting for, holding the sacrifice ritual every time only when the Lenten festival is approaching..."

"Does that ritual have requirements for the date and time?"

"The Lenten festival celebration is a component of the twelfth night ritual, so only after the Lenten festival is completed does the assistant priest have the opportunity to move the subsequent rituals forward?"

"Then he could have controlled everyone from the beginning and waited for the Lenten festival to arrive..."

"Also, they prayed for 'gifts' twice in three cycles. Wouldn't that hidden existence feel strange? Yes, maybe He did something, like helping the assistant priest recover his memory!"

"No, if their sacrifice ritual was truly completed, those three sheep wouldn't have entered the cycle again. Their spirits and Beyonder characteristics should have gone to that hidden existence."

"Could it be like Raymond, whose spirit gathered around the altar and didn't escape the cycle?"

"Then who exactly are the assistant priest and the others praying to, and who 'gifted' them power..."

Lu Mi had just thought of this when he felt intense pain in his lower body.

He couldn't help but curl up, but was pulled by the ropes binding him, unable to truly complete the movement.

Pons Bénet withdrew his right foot that had kicked Lu Mi between his legs, satisfied as he watched this bastard kid's forehead break out in cold sweat the size of soybeans, unable to even let out a scream.

He crouched down, raised his right hand, and slapped Lu Mi:

"Does it feel good? I'm asking you if it feels good!"

Before Lu Mi could answer, he swung his arm and backhanded him across the right cheek, slapping him so hard that Lu Mi's ears buzzed, feeling as if his head was about to be knocked off.

Seeing Lu Mi being beaten fiercely by Pons Bénet, Raymond's father, Pierre Clegg, walked over, crouched down, and sighed:

"Endure it, just endure it and it will pass."

"Our constellations will change soon, and good luck is coming immediately."

"If you leave at a time like this, you'll miss the opportunity!"

He didn't care about Lu Mi's reaction, persuading and comforting him with the same words repeatedly.

Lu Mi didn't listen to what Pierre Clegg was saying at all, and his eyes didn't show any anger toward this person, as if he were looking at air.

He completely ignored this person, ignored the pain and humiliation brought to him by this thug.

All he could think about was one thing:

"The situation is dangerous now!"

"Ryan, Lyra, and Valentine are unlikely to take the initiative to trigger the cycle and let everything restart before confirming what the assistant priest and the others are trying to do. Moreover, they just fought a battle and don't know when they will recover. I'm afraid they won't sneak back into the village until tomorrow or the day after."

"In this way, no one will be able to stop the assistant priest from holding the ritual ahead of schedule tonight..."

Slap, slap, slap, Pons Bénet kept slapping Lu Mi's face and kicking his lower body, returning the pain he had suffered before with interest.

Lu Mi's thoughts were interrupted by pain again and again, but he forcibly gathered them again and again, not wanting to waste even a second on Pons Bénet.

This made Pons Bénet even angrier, and he hit even harder.

"My specialty has been discovered and targeted; there's no chance to destroy the ritual anymore..."

"What to do..."

"What to do?"

Lu Mi endured the pain and pondered ways to get out of the current predicament.

Pons beat him for a while, beating himself until he was a bit tired, and stopped, panting:

"If the assistant priest hadn't forbidden me from killing you, I would have cut your flesh off piece by piece, including that thing below!"

Hearing this sentence, Lu Mi froze, and a light flashed through his mind:

"Kill me?"

"Kill me!"

He raised his head violently, looked at Pons Bénet, and revealed a smile that was both brilliant and twisted by pain:

"Is that all the strength you have? Are you using your tiny louse knife to catch lice for me?"

He entered the state of a Sequence 8 "Provoker."

…………

In the alpine pasture nearest to Cordu Village.

Ryan, guarding the entrance in tattered armor, said to Valentine and Lyra beside him:

"How do you feel?"

"I'm fine," Valentine responded immediately.

Lyra followed up:

"My spirituality has recovered quite a bit too."

Ryan nodded, dissipating the "Dawn Armor," and said:

"After I rest a bit and recover some, we will return to Cordu Village."

"Now?" Lyra was somewhat surprised.

They hadn't escaped Cordu Village for long.

Ryan let out a slow breath and said:

"We must confirm as soon as possible why Guillaume Bénet and his group launched a surprise attack on us tonight instead of when the twelfth night was approaching."

"Moreover, they captured Lu Mi and Aurora but didn't chase us here. My experience tells me there should be some problems here."

Lyra nodded slowly:

"But our states aren't very good."

After all, they had already fought a big battle.

"It's precisely because of this that Guillaume Bénet wouldn't expect us to dare to return to Cordu Village tonight," Ryan explained his thoughts. "Also, we left that item at Lu Mi and Aurora's house. We must retrieve it as soon as possible and not let Guillaume Bénet and the others take it."

Mentioning that item, the expressions of Valentine and Lyra became serious.

They agreed to Ryan's plan.

…………

Slap!

Pons Bénet slapped Lu Mi's face again, causing his bridge of his nose to feel intense pain, and two streams of bright red blood flowed down to his mouth, bringing a fishy and salty taste.

"How about this?" Pons Bénet asked with a face full of smiles.

Lu Mi observed his expression and movements, confirming that the sentence just now hadn't achieved the expected effect.

He sniffed his nose, which was full of the smell of blood, and answered with a smile:

"Any woman would hit harder than you!"

"Is that so?" Pons Bénet's expression turned gloomy.

With a slap, he backhanded Lu Mi across the mouth, knocking two of his teeth out with blood.

Relying on the insight ability brought by "Provoker" and his original experience with pranks, Lu Mi keenly sensed that Pons Bénet's reaction was different from just now.

Being very familiar with the various scandals and rumors in Cordu Village, Lu Mi vaguely thought of something and smiled:

"You don't seem to have a mistress."

His mouth was swollen high from the slap, and he had two fewer teeth, making his speech somewhat slurred.

Hearing the word "mistress," Pons Bénet's expression changed, and he kicked Lu Mi in the crotch.

Lu Mi was in so much pain he nearly fainted, unable to speak for several seconds.

He forced a smile and laughed:

"And the assistant priest's mistresses are all over the village."

"Are you impotent?"

Pons Bénet's expression became extremely gloomy.

Lu Mi knew he had guessed correctly.

He endured the pain and let his eyes quietly become a bit deeper.

He hadn't dared to use the "Provocation" ability earlier, fearing that if he used it too frequently, he would be discovered. Now, it was time!

Lu Mi then laughed out loud:

"Did your wife get slept with by the assistant priest too?"

"Are your children all his?"

Pons Bénet's eyes turned blood-red.

He stretched out his hands, grabbed Lu Mi's neck, and whispered with all his strength:

"Why don't you go die!"

Lu Mi heard his own neck make a cracking sound and felt his breathing start to become difficult.

He didn't feel any fear, but instead curled the corners of his mouth, waiting calmly for the ultimate pain and final death to arrive.

He had tried his best to provoke Pons Bénet just to have him kill himself.

Once he died, the cycle would be triggered, everything would immediately restart, and everything would return to the beginning, leaving room for salvation!

Lu Mi had not only considered inciting Valentine to commit suicide to verify the nature of the cycle, but had also considered using his own life to fill the gap in an emergency!

Compared to the current situation, what was there to be afraid of?

He looked at Pons Bénet, whose expression was twisted to the extreme, and his purple lips moved twice, as if saying "please kill me quickly."

ps: Seeking monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 107 =====