Chapter 78: Checking the Body (Second update, seeking monthly votes)

"Now?" Lu Mian was startled.

Although he was also very anxious about exploring the church underground, he wasn't anxious to this extent!

As thoughts raced, he asked back:

"Can't we wait until night?"

At that time, the night would be deep and the village quiet, and the church would only have two or three servants left. Wouldn't it be easy for Beyonders like them to sneak in?

Ryan said gently but firmly:

"Now is the best time.

"Think about it, we can think that the church at night has few people and lacks protection, but can't the assistant parish priest and the others think of that?

"I suspect they will send the strong members of their team to take turns guarding, or set up sufficiently hidden traps. Once triggered, there will be an alarm.

"But now, approaching noon, all the villagers have gone home, and no one will come to the church to pray at this time. Plus, it's daytime, so the traps won't be activated to avoid accidental triggering. The two priests and the servants are all in the church, which easily makes people lose their vigilance. In other words, the strong members of that team will be very at ease eating at home, and we only need to face the assistant parish priest, the deputy assistant parish priest, and three servants."

Lu Mian nodded thoughtfully and helped Ryan say the following words:

"And before April 3rd, the assistant parish priest is still an ordinary person and hasn't obtained supernatural power."

Today is April 1st.

"Besides, although the deputy assistant parish priest has abnormalities, he is clearly not a core member of the assistant parish priest's team, and the three servants are the same." Franca added with a smile, "Can't we four Beyonders deal with five ordinary people without a sound?"

Lu Mian thought for a moment and said:

"But will this prevent us from waiting for the twelfth night?"

This is roughly equivalent to triggering the abnormality on the assistant parish priest's side, and "history" must have corresponding changes.

"You said it yourself, compared to us, the assistant parish priest and the others want to endure until the Festival of Offerings more, and want to welcome the arrival of the twelfth night more. As long as we don't kill him, when he wakes up and finds someone has entered the basement, he will only pretend he didn't notice anything and speed up his own progress in obtaining supernatural power." Franca laughed, "Once the prayer for the 'gift' is successful, he might lead people to hunt us down, but Cordu village isn't small, and our strength isn't weak either. Hiding and dragging it out will also allow us to wait for the Festival of Offerings."

Lu Mian acknowledged this reason:

"Good, let's do it now."

He then reminded:

"But at this time, Aurora's eyes haven't fully recovered, so I'm afraid she can't help us."

Before visiting Madame Pualis at the castle, Lu Mian had returned home, communicated with Aurora for a while, and confirmed her condition. Her eyes might not become normal until evening.

"It doesn't matter. Don't we have Madame Pualis as a backup?" Franca said half-jokingly, the bells on her head ringing slightly.

Lu Mian no longer had any objections, just cautiously proposed a suggestion:

"Before going to the church, let's walk around the village to confirm that dangerous guys like the shepherd Pierre Bery are all in their own homes."

To avoid any accidents, like bumping into people like Pierre who have already obtained the "gift" as soon as we enter the basement.

Ryan nodded in approval and agreed.

After they communicated the details, Valentine looked at Lu Mian and asked with a cold expression:

"Do you need purification?"

Franca busily helped her companion explain:

"You entered the castle and had contact with Madame Pualis, so you might have suffered a certain amount of pollution again."

"No, I believe Madame Pualis won't do that this time. It has no meaning." Lu Mian was very certain.

He had to be certain; he didn't dare let Valentine purify him again. Compared to yesterday, he was now a "Dancer," and the evil aura had already come from the seal to the surface of his body. Accepting holy water purification would likely cause big problems immediately.

According to Aurora's analysis, he now belonged to the type that needed to be purified.

Seeing that Lu Mian himself felt it didn't matter, Valentine, who was just being kind-hearted, naturally wouldn't say anything more.

Next, while they were wandering around Cordu village, Lu Mian returned home and told his sister about their actions.

Aurora was somewhat annoyed that she couldn't participate and couldn't provide her share of strength, so she could only volunteer to go to the edge of the village and take on the responsibility of triggering the cycle if anything went wrong.

This didn't have any requirements for vision, as long as she could see the road vaguely.

After agreeing that if no one came to find her by 12:30, she would restart the cycle, Lu Mian bid farewell to Aurora and met up with Franca and the others.

At this time, the three official Beyonders had already confirmed where core members of the assistant parish priest's team like the shepherd Pierre Bery were.

After circling half a circle, they arrived at the side of the church along a small path, which was the door they walked through when they bumped into the assistant parish priest and Madame Pualis's affair in the cycle before last.

Lu Mian was about to volunteer to open that door, which wasn't usually opened, with a small piece of wire he carried, but Franca had already walked over, fiddled with the keyhole twice, and pushed open the dark brown wooden door.

Seeing Lu Mian looking at her with slight astonishment, she said with a smile:

"This is a necessary skill for investigation."

Don't make picking locks sound so noble... The reason Lu Mian didn't speak his inner mutterings was because Franca had already walked two steps into the church.

The small silver bells on her veil and boots were motionless, making no sound.

Lu Mian tried to interpret:

"Entering the church is very safe, not dangerous?"

Franca turned her head to look at him and said:

"Please add the prefix 'purely just entering the church to deal with the people inside'."

Meaning, the danger in the basement is still in an unknown state? Lu Mian roughly understood Franca's meaning and also had a certain understanding of divination. However, even with the improvement in spirituality brought by being a "Dancer," he still didn't have any divination ability.

At this moment, Ryan passed him and walked into the church with Franca.

After a few steps, a servant came over from the side.

In the blink of an eye, Ryan rushed to the servant's side, raised his right hand, and chopped behind the other party's ear.

The servant didn't even hum and fainted. Ryan took the opportunity to catch him and dragged him to the nearest room.

Franca hurried over, took out a glass bottle containing colorless liquid from somewhere, unscrewed the cap, and poured a mouthful into the servant.

"What is this?" Lu Mian asked curiously.

Franca maintained her original smile and said:

"Sedative."

Well-prepared... Lu Mian sighed secretly.

Just like that, they controlled the three servants without alarming the assistant parish priest at all.

Then, Franca followed the shadows on the edge, carefully sneaking toward the room where the assistant parish priest was resting.

She turned the handle silently, pushed the wooden door open a crack, and saw the man with the most real power in Cordu village wearing a white robe with gold threads, lying on a simple wooden bed, breathing smoothly and long.

Near the door, a plate with lunch and silver cutlery were placed on the table.

Franca looked for two seconds, darted in like a cat, and chopped behind Assistant Parish Priest Guillaume Binet's ear with her palm as a knife.

Immediately after, she poured most of the remaining sedative into Guillaume Binet's mouth.

"That's it?" Lu Mian poked his head out beside Franca.

This is too easy, right?

"Otherwise? What do you want to do to an ordinary person?" Franca asked back with amusement.

Lu Mian said "Mm," took the initiative, and started lifting the assistant parish priest's robe.

"What are you doing?" Franca was both surprised and suspicious, but her smile didn't fade.

Lu Mian answered without turning his head:

"Checking his body."

He wanted to see if the assistant parish priest had that black thorn symbol on his chest now.

Soon, Assistant Parish Priest Guillaume Binet's upper body was exposed. Except for relatively obvious tufts of black hair, there was nothing.

No black thorn symbol, and no black mark representing a special contract.

Lu Mian nodded imperceptibly and muttered to himself in his heart:

"It seems it's only obtained when accepting the 'gift,' or it's there now but needs meditation to be stimulated?

"How did mine come about, on the twelfth night?"

Thinking that Assistant Parish Priest Guillaume Binet might not have that black thorn symbol at present, Lu Mian couldn't help but generate some evil thoughts:

"Will killing him now not trigger the cycle?

"What kind of changes will killing this guy in the cradle early bring?"

Considering the assistant parish priest's importance in subsequent events, Lu Mian, who still wanted to wait for the twelfth night, finally overcame himself.

After leaving the assistant parish priest's room, Ryan said to him and Franca:

"Can't find the deputy assistant parish priest."

"Ah?" Lu Mian was stunned for a moment, then understood why, "Maybe he went home. He isn't allowed to live in the church, and no one sends him food."

"This servant of the devil is truly overbearing." Valentine looked at the assistant parish priest in the room and cursed.

The four people didn't delay and walked in the direction opposite to the altar.

The corner there was the stairwell. The stone steps were very narrow, only allowing one person to pass, and were very high and steep.

Where it spiraled upward was the top of the church, and downward was the underground.

It was still Franca in front. After she walked down a few steps toward the bottom, the four small silver bells on her veil and boots rang at the same time.

Ding-ding-dang-dang, the sound wasn't loud, only echoing in a very small range, sometimes urgent, sometimes slow.

"What does this represent?" Lu Mian found it hard to interpret based on previous experience.

Franca turned her body and smiled:

"It represents a certain degree of danger, but I can't divine the degree of danger."

"You could even divine it at the castle..." Lu Mian muttered in astonishment, "Doesn't this mean the underground is more dangerous?"

"Not necessarily. Maybe something is causing strong interference." Franca comforted him, "At the castle, wasn't Madame Pualis not there?"

Having reached this point, facing such a small episode, they couldn't retreat anymore and entered the stairs one by one, circling down layer by layer.

Not long after, the four saw the old brown wooden door of the basement.

Franca raised her hand to pinch her brow, opened her "Spirit Vision," and then arrived in front of the wooden door.

Although Lu Mian hadn't mastered the simple action of opening "Spirit Vision," with the strengthening of spirituality from being a "Dancer," it didn't take long for him to open "Spirit Vision," seeing that everyone was red, very healthy.

After the companions were all prepared, Franca opened the basement door.

In the creaking sound, Lu Mian twitched his nose and smelled a familiar scent, elegant and sweet.

He instantly had an association and busily told Ryan and the others:

"There's the smell of gray amber."

This is the material used to sacrifice to that hidden existence known as Inevitability!

PS: Second update, seeking monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 79 =====