Chapter 395

"I buried it near where the children live, probably right around there." In the darkness, Ang, Du Luo, and Ji Li quietly approached the outskirts of Desert Town, pointing to the approximate location.

Nagelis asked curiously: "Didn't you say this was given to you by one of your former suitors? Just some lickspittle dog-headed man—why not just hand the item over to thieves? Why risk your life to keep it?"

Ji Li suddenly said: "Ah, when I was young and naive, I thought he was my first suitor, and there would be better ones later. But as I grew up, I realized he was my only suitor—no one else ever pursued me. This is his relic; I can't just give it away."

Nagelis empathized: "I understand. If it were Nai Ai Li's things, I wouldn't want to hand them over either—they were one of my… suitors too."

Du Luo added: "Only one."

Ji Li didn't know the speaker was the little yellow book; she wondered why a holy skeleton even had suitors.

"What do we do now? There's firelight coming from where the children live—someone must be inside." Ji Li asked.

The homeless children lived in a series of clean, interconnected caves—windproof and well-ventilated, very comfortable. If the town couldn't hold them, the thieves might well have stationed their men here.

"I'll go take a look." Du Luo said, tapping his Golden Rod against his body—and before their eyes, he turned transparent.

Once the Golden Rod was tucked away, he vanished completely from Ji Li's sight—but Ang's soul could still see him.

Sneaking over, Du Luo returned and said: "Not thieves. They're former residents of Desert Town—driven out, now crammed into the caves, barely alive. Many haven't eaten in days."

Ji Li's face darkened: "It's my fault. I ruined them."

Nagelis asked curiously: "Isn't there any government or organization here? Can't we get someone to rescue them and drive off the thieves?"

"The Undead Empire is the largest organization. They used to maintain order across all regions—these thieves wouldn't dare openly raid a village or town. Now that the Undead King is trapped in the Heat Death Infinite Domain, the Undead Empire's greatest flaw has been exposed."

Du Luo asked: "What flaw?"

"There are too few intelligent undead. Only undead above Silver rank possess intelligence. Later, for reasons unknown, the Undead King somehow granted intelligence to Gray Bone Skeletons—but their intelligence is very low."

"Only Gold Skeletons or Iron-Hide Zombies and above have administrative capability. So across the Undead Empire, humans are needed to manage many areas—but humans can't command force. That's why many dark forces have emerged. I told you before: your Church of Light should start acting—now is the perfect opportunity."

All three of Ang's minds simultaneously thought of one term: "Enlightenment Halo?"

"Of course it is! Damn it! I knew my Enlightenment Halo wasn't working right—it must've been stolen by that immortal bastard! He stole my innate skill, so he could steal my divine skill too!" Nagelis raged inside his soul.

Since learning it had the Enlightenment Halo, Ang had placed it among the skeletons—but the effect was barely noticeable, or rather, nonexistent. It had begun to doubt whether it had even lost its enlightenment ability.

Now it was confirmed: the Undead King had stolen its Enlightenment Halo too—otherwise, how could Gray Bone Skeletons have intelligence?

"Alright, alright, don't be angry. At least this proves one thing: your divine skill still works in this world." Du Luo comforted.

"You're terrible at comforting people… Wait—do you hear any sounds?" Nagelis had just finished speaking when he heard strange noises.

Du Luo and Ang listened carefully, then shook their heads.

"Really? It sounds like someone's saying: 'Please, I'm so hungry, give me food. I'll study hard from now on. Please, Knowledge of… Damn it! Prayer? Why can I hear prayer?'"

Nagelis was stunned. Someone was praying to the God of Knowledge—and it had heard the prayer? How? Did it have a believer again?

Poor Nagelis had gone too long without believers—it had forgotten what prayer felt like, and mistook it for mere noise.

"You have believers? But didn't you say your last believer abandoned you? Who got tricked by you? And even if someone prayed to you now, you shouldn't be able to sense it—you're not on your home plane. Unless… this world has your…" Du Luo trailed off, staring in shock at the little yellow book.

Nagelis was equally stunned by the guess, and turned to Ji Li: "Have you ever heard of the God of Knowledge?"

Ji Li looked at it strangely and said: "Of course. The Temple of Truth, the God of Knowledge—the largest religion in the world, far bigger than your Church of Light."

"Ssshh—largest religion?" Nagelis asked, stunned. "How big?"

Ji Li spread her hands: "I don't know exactly. But the Temple of Truth is everywhere. Wherever there's a school, they worship the God of Knowledge. Even though we sorcerers are atheists, we still pay homage to the God of Knowledge—because they say it brings luck in exams."

"Your Church of Light, on the other hand, has been suppressed by the Undead Empire. Its scale is nothing compared to the Temple of Truth."

Nagelis suddenly felt like he'd discovered a hidden vault full of gold in his own den. He thought for a moment and asked: "Have you ever seen the God of Knowledge?"

Ji Li said: "How could there be gods? If gods existed, our Supreme Sorcerer, the Sorcerer of Annihilation, would be a god. All these religions worship are merely powerful beings—no need to deify them."

"We sorcerers revere the God of Knowledge not as some vague deity, but as the rules governing truth."

This conversation was impossible. Stupid mortals.

Nagelis turned to Ang and Du Luo through soul-link: "This prayer keeps expressing hunger, begging me to save him. I couldn't hear prayers before, but now I can. The most likely reason is my reception range—otherwise, I should hear all believers across the entire plane. So this praying person must be nearby."

Ang and Du Luo simultaneously turned their gaze toward the caves.

"I'll mutter softly to lure him out. If anyone comes out, Ang, throw a fairy bean at him." Nagelis said.

Ang nodded. Soon enough, a child of eleven or twelve emerged, kneeling devoutly with forehead pressed to the ground, palms upturned.

Ang flicked a fairy bean, landing precisely in the child's palm.

The child felt something, looked up, saw the bean—but couldn't see who had thrown it.

Hesitantly, he put the bean in his mouth, chewed, swallowed, then his eyes widened in shock. He prostrated himself in fervent worship: "Truth is invincible! Thank you, God of Knowledge, for granting me food!"

A thick, invisible soul-flame drifted over and settled onto Ang.

"Damn it! My faith—why did it go to you?!" Nagelis cried.

Du Luo shrugged: "You're the avatar."

Nagelis wasn't angry at all—he was rich.

PS: Didn't feel like working, spent the whole day reading news. Big Mao really is one of the top three permanent members.