Chapter 82: Joint Investigation Team (First update, seeking monthly votes)

Franca also noticed Michel's abnormality, turned her head to look at Ryan, and asked with her eyes whether to knock him out directly.

At this moment, Lu Mian spoke, and he said to Michel:

"Is the assistant parish priest not here?"

Michel's eyes were suddenly enthusiastic:

"The assistant parish priest is resting. You can find me to pray."

His face was full of pleading.

Lu Mian "hesitated" for a few seconds and said reluctantly:

"Alright."

Seeing Michel's excitement and happiness, he turned to Franca and the others and said:

"What's wrong with you guys? Coming to the church to pray is something every believer should do. What's there to be afraid of?"

His implication was, we all came out of the basement and weren't caught in the act, what's there to worry about?

As a believer of the "Eternal Blazing Sun," coming to the church to pray is a very normal thing. As for taking a shortcut through the side door, that's a problem that can be ignored. And what does the assistant parish priest and a few servants taking a long lunch break have to do with us?

Lu Mian knew such an excuse could only fool ordinary people and absolutely couldn't fool the assistant parish priest. But before the assistant parish priest obtained the "gift," he would definitely pretend to be confused and couldn't possibly expose them, unless Ryan and the others put on a posture of wanting to report to the higher-ups immediately and end all abnormalities in Cordu village.

As long as Franca and the others continued to maintain their style of strolling around the village and chatting with people everywhere, looking like they hadn't harvested enough information in the church underground, the assistant parish priest would definitely be very happy to maintain the status quo.

Plus, with the underground altar destroyed by Ryan, Lu Mian estimated that the group would have to spend some time to repair it, and the assistant parish priest probably wouldn't have any hope of obtaining the "gift" in the next two days, at the earliest until the day before the Festival of Offerings.

Once the Festival of Offerings began and the abnormality erupted, it wouldn't matter if they were suspected or not. "Normal" would be the biggest problem.

Hearing Lu Mian's words, the deputy assistant parish priest Michel Galigou nodded frequently in agreement:

"Yes, yes, yes! No matter what you have done in the past, as long as you pray sincerely and are willing to repent, God will forgive you."

Is that so? If the assistant parish priest repents to the "Eternal Blazing Sun" now, saying I went astray some time ago, believed in an evil god, and now want to return to the right path, what will happen? Lu Mian didn't believe it in his heart, but on the surface, he was very devout, walking toward the altar.

Michel's steps were very light as he led the way in front, looking like he was about to fly.

Franca saw such a fanatical and devout clergyman and couldn't help but turn her head to look at Valentine, only to see that this companion's expression was quite complicated.

This should have been a state that Valentine highly approved of, but he also knew very well that the deputy assistant parish priest was clearly abnormal.

Withdrawing her gaze from Valentine, Franca hurried to Lu Mian's side, leaned to his ear, and pressed her voice:

"Did you consider that half the people present aren't believers of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun' when you said those words just now?"

"You aren't?" Lu Mian was quite astonished.

This wasn't him being sharp and understanding Franca's hint, but in the five people present, removing the abnormal deputy assistant parish priest, of the remaining four, Valentine definitely was, and Lu Mian himself was barely considered one, so it was already half.

Franca nodded gently, causing the bells to ring crisply.

She whispered with a smile:

"Pretending to be a believer of another church when performing a mission is something the gods won't blame. If you don't believe me, look..."

She pointed with her mouth to the other side of herself.

Ryan, who was from the "Mechanical Heart," also crossed his arms on his chest, very devout.

So, one can have a flexible moral bottom line when performing a mission... Lu Mian originally wanted to mock Franca and Ryan like this, but everyone started praying, so he couldn't fall behind.

After he also set up his posture and closed his eyes, the deputy assistant parish priest Michel Galigou flipped through the holy scripture and chanted solemnly:

"God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light in this world..."

Being in the church he often came to, listening to the familiar sermon, Lu Mian suddenly felt some emotion.

Before, when he came to pray, he just followed the crowd, never focused, and many times would look left and right, whispering. But now, how much he hoped everything was still as it was, even if he needed to do the most devout prayer.

The activity he didn't like much in the past now actually made him miss it incomparably.

When Lu Mian and the others left the "Eternal Blazing Sun" church, the assistant parish priest and those few servants still hadn't woken up.

Ryan looked in the direction of the castle and sighed sincerely:

"That lady is much stronger than I imagined."

"How strong?" Lu Mian asked curiously.

Ryan deliberated for a while and said:

"Seems to have touched the gate of divinity and seems not to have."

You seem to have said something and seem not to have... If it weren't for relying on Ryan and them recently, Lu Mian would have already spoken his inner thoughts.

However, not lacking in high-end occult knowledge, he could roughly guess what the gate of divinity Ryan mentioned referred to:

Sequence 4! The beginning of demigod!

He thought for a while and said:

"I feel that when Pualis appeared in the image of 'Lady Night,' her state was a bit strange."

He had already told Franca and the others about the Other Shore World and the legend of "Lady Night" when recounting the action of exploring the castle yesterday afternoon.

"I have this feeling too." Franca said with a smile, "Like a stitched monster, and one that hasn't been stitched successfully yet."

Ryan nodded along:

"We actually have a certain understanding of 'Lady Night.' In this area between Intis and the Feysac Kingdom, many similar things have appeared in the past few years. Some are called 'Lady Night,' some are called 'Lady Helter,' some call themselves 'Benevolent Lord,' some call themselves 'Evil Lord,' but up to now, we haven't caught any 'Lady' and still lack a systematic understanding of them.

"Hmm, 'Other Shore World' is the first time I've heard of it."

Franca walked toward the edge of the village square while ding-ding-dang-dang:

"I actually associated some things from the description of the 'Other Shore World'."

"What?" Lu Mian never felt that asking was a shameful thing.

Franca looked toward the south:

"In the 'Mother Earth' church of Feysac, there is such a sentence:

"The soul returns to the earth."

The soul returns to the earth... In Lu Mian's mind, that wilderness and the ghosts wandering on the wilderness appeared.

He had to admit that the association Franca made indeed had a certain reason.

Arriving under the elm tree at the entrance of the village, Ryan scanned the surroundings and said:

"Let's not provoke that lady again. On the matter of breaking the cycle, even if she isn't a help, she won't become an enemy. We just need to pay attention to her movements and see if we can use that specific time node she mentioned."

Isn't not provoking because it's clearly impossible to beat her? Lu Mian suppressed his restless mouth.

He turned to ask Valentine:

"How many minutes are left?"

He was worried about missing the time, causing his sister to trigger the cycle and let everything restart.

Valentine took out a pocket watch with a gold shell, pressed it open, and took a look:

"Ten minutes left."

"That's fine..." Lu Mian exhaled and waved to Ryan and the others, "I'm going to find Aurora. If you guys are free, help find the whereabouts of Sybil's husband Jean Mori, investigate who is spreading the rumor that the constellations are about to change and everyone will have good luck. If you have any harvest, you can go directly to my house to find me. Goodbye, my cabbages!"

This was originally what Franca and they intended to do, so naturally, no one had any objections.

…………

After bidding farewell to the joint investigation team, while walking toward the edge of the village they agreed on, Lu Mian fell into deep thought.

After completing the exploration of the church underground, he had a complete speculation about the abnormality of Cordu village:

The one that caused the cycle must be the assistant parish priest's group. They had secretly worshipped evil gods for at least half a year, secretly sacrificing many outsiders and foreigners in the church underground, and exchanged for many "gifts."

Before the Festival of Offerings, relying on the three Beyonders brought back by the shepherd Pierre Bery, or one of them, the assistant parish priest and Pons Bery and others obtained the "gift." The former even turned into a quite powerful Beyonder. Thus, with the Festival of Offerings as the start, they began a grand ritual.

By the twelfth night, in the final stage of the ritual, that hidden existence known as Inevitability accepted a large-scale sacrifice, preparing to complete something the assistant parish priest and others prayed for. But at this time, a change occurred, the ritual failed to complete, and the power involving the past, present, and future dissipated, bringing about the time cycle.

As for why a change occurred, Lu Mian thought of a paragraph that mysterious lady once said:

"You originally belonged to those about to be heavily polluted. Fortunately, the mark left by that great existence was stimulated, and the corresponding power descended upon you, sealing the pollution source and forming a balance..."

PS: First update, seeking monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 83 =====

He was worried about missing the time, causing his sister to trigger the cycle and reset everything.

Valentine took out a pocket watch with a gold-cast casing, clicked it open, and glanced at it:

"Ten more minutes."

"That's a relief..." Lu Mian let out a sigh of relief and waved at Ryan and the others. "I'm going to find Aurore. If you have nothing else to do, help me find the whereabouts of Jean-Morin, the husband of Sybil, and investigate who is spreading the rumors that the constellations are about to change and that everyone is about to have good luck. If you find anything, you can come directly to my house to find me. Goodbye, my cabbages!"

This was something Lyra and the others had intended to do anyway, so naturally, no one had any objections.

…………

After bidding farewell to the joint investigation team and walking toward the agreed-upon edge of the village, Lu Mian fell into deep thought.

After completing the exploration of the church basement, he had a complete hypothesis regarding the anomalies in Cordu Village:

The ones who caused the cycle must be the priest and his group. They had been secretly worshiping an evil god for at least half a year, secretly sacrificing many foreigners and outsiders in the church basement in exchange for quite a few "gifts."

Before the Lent festival, relying on the three Beyonders brought back by the shepherd Pierre Berry, or perhaps one of them, the priest and Pons Bene and the others obtained "gifts." The former even transformed into a quite powerful Beyonder in an instant. Thus, using the Lent festival as a starting point, they began a grand ritual.

By the twelfth night, the final stage of the ritual, that hidden existence known as Inevitability accepted the large-scale sacrifice, preparing to complete a certain matter that the priest and the others had prayed for. But just at this moment, an accident occurred, and the ritual could not be completed. The power involving the past, present, and future dissipated, bringing about the time cycle.

As for why the accident occurred, Lu Mian thought of a passage that the mysterious lady had once said:

"You originally belonged to those about to be heavily corrupted. Fortunately, the mark left by that great existence was triggered, and the corresponding power descended upon you, sealing the source of the corruption and forming a balance..."

PS: First update, asking for monthly votes~

(End of chapter)