Chapter 81 The Final Feast of Carnival (Part 1) The figures formed by colorful musical notes...

[Upgrade conditions detected. Should we invest six Twilight-level elemental cores... and other materials to upgrade the special building [Temple]? After the upgrade, the [Basic Temple] will be changed to [Temple of Twilight]?]

Du Yu glanced at the list of materials and clicked "confirm".

She had already collected most of the materials needed for the temple upgrade, and the missing core elements had been gathered thanks to Bian Shaoyan's generosity. With more and more mysteries remaining, she needed to upgrade the temple and gain greater power to face the shrouded future.

[Ding-dong~ Upgrade successful! The special building [Temple of Dusk] is under construction, and will take another 39 hours and 59 minutes to complete... Stay tuned!]

As expected, a success notification popped up. Du Yu glanced at the increasingly long progress bar, closed the [Building] interface, and opened an interface that he rarely used before.

【Task】:

Main Quest: A Spark Can Start a Fire

【Task Requirements: Divine Name Spread (6201/10000), Possess the special building [Altar·Candle] (incomplete), Number of Followers (25/100), Bishop (1/1), Special Item [Six-Star Holy Grail] (44/99)】

Although I haven't paid much attention to this main quest since it was triggered, Bian Shaoyan not only generously gave me forty-six elemental cores, but his death also pushed the main quest forward by a lot.

I snatched ten fragments from him, and the upgrade progress of the six-star Holy Grail has increased to "44". Putting that aside for now, the "divine spread" stat has skyrocketed from just over one hundred to over six thousand. Although the growth rate has slowed down, it is still increasing.

Besides, although Du Yu didn't do much proselytizing, the number of believers quietly rose to "25," including several whose names Du Yu had never seen before. According to 166, becoming a believer isn't just about reciting prayers; when believers sincerely worship God's name and come into contact with things imbued with God's aura, there's a certain chance they'll automatically connect with the divine.

The seemingly unattainable task has actually been partially accomplished. According to Du Yu's understanding of "divine spread," there's no need for deliberate promotion; as long as the number of believers reaches "100," this column should fill up quickly.

Believers, the spread of the god's name, altars... these are all relatively easy to deal with, but the most difficult one is the last one—the [Six-Star Holy Grail].

According to the information obtained from Bian Shaoyan, the [Six-Star Holy Grail] can temporarily contain another trait and is a key item in the so-called "Project Sun Chaser". However, due to an internal traitor, several groups of cultists broke into the laboratory and shattered the Holy Grail. The fragments flew everywhere, and Yu pieced them together, creating a total of 44 pieces.

The game system divides the Holy Grail into 99 pieces. She only needs to collect more than half of the pieces, that is, collect 50 pieces, to use the altar to synthesize the complete Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail fragments stored with Quark have now been obtained, and those from the Bald Man's Guild have been delivered to him by the lunatic You Shi. The fragments lost in the gray fog have also inexplicably ended up in his hands. Yu has obtained all the fragments whose whereabouts he knew. He currently does not know where the remaining fragments are.

but……

Du Yu closed the mission interface, brought up the electronic map from the computer, zoomed in and projected it in front of him. On the edge of the city, an inconspicuous icon lay quietly in the eternal gray fog.

The former Fulensa Wharf, now a mine transformed by the Bald Heads—a place that has stirred again after a period of silence, the center of a vortex where all the undercurrents converge, and perhaps also the end of the Holy Grail's loss.

Recalling the information Qin Xinhong had sent earlier, Du Yu's eyes darkened slightly. Outside the wall, Tian Yinuo was directing Xiao Yi to use shadows to move supplies and decorate the temple.

For safety reasons, Du Yu placed Cat Beard and his group, as well as the Kou Qingyi and Kou Qingman sisters, in the Redwood Church, and did not plan to open the passage to the Kingdom of God to them for the time being, but Du Yu had no intention of imprisoning them.

The Redwood Church is situated in a cramped space, surrounded by nothing but "invisible walls" like in a game, except for the village and mountains. While the villagers, whose minds are still in a state of confusion, are fine, for Mist Hunters like Catwhisker, who are accustomed to the dangers of the battlefield, the Redwood Church is no different from a prison.

Moreover, it would be a waste to make these high-combat-power ability users do work that ordinary people can do, so Du Yu simply put the [Any Space Gate] and a bunch of daily necessities into the exchange section of the forum's [Tasks - Exchanges] section.

As Du Yu expected, after settling down, Cat Beard and the others set their sights on the spatial portal. Using the points they had received from previous missions, they pooled their resources with Kou Qingyi and the others to buy a spatial portal leading to the gray fog. In the past few days, Du Yu had already received the mutated creatures they had hunted, which were used to exchange for points.

Once they figure out the fog outside the portal, Du Yu might be able to collect enough elemental cores without even having to hunt.

With them, Tian Yinuo no longer needs Du Yu's protection. She can use her points to hire Cat Beard and the others to take orders. After obtaining Du Yu's consent, she added a lot of things to the temple, making the house, which was originally like a showroom, much more lived-in.

"Miss, is it alright to put this potted plant here?"

Du Yu looked up, ignoring the man-eating flower that had been attacked with its mouth wide open and whose buds had been knocked askew by the black cat Xiao Jiu, and squinted at the proportion of the flowerpot to the windowsill. "A little to the left... yes, right here, just put it here."

"Alright, Miss, do you need any other flowers... Xiao Yi! How many times have I told you, these flowers are poisonous and can't be eaten! Spit them out!"

As Tian Yinuo exclaimed in surprise, the noise faded away. Du Yu's eyes curved into a smile as she opened the window. Although there was no sun or moon turning or wind churning in the gray fog, Du Yu had nothing better to do, so she installed windows in every room. She had gotten used to opening the windows at a set time every day.

The man-eating flower was dug up by Shen Xijing while hunting, and she gave it to Tian Yinuo when she returned. They seemed to become friends very quickly. The flower, which had been so arrogant outside, withered and died after entering the temple. Now, after being punched by Xiao Hei, the flower stem was half dead and drooping to the side.

Just as Du Yu was about to reach out to help, a shadow flashed before his eyes, and an even larger six-winged pigeon came crashing down from the sky, landing squarely in the flowerpot. Its fluffy, dense down completely submerged the dark green flower stem.

Du Yu:......

Before she could even speak to save the poor carnivorous plant, 166, who had been busy with something lately and was often nowhere to be seen for most of the day, raised its head. Its scarlet ruby ​​eyes reflected the perpetually swirling gray mist in the air, and it spoke in a remarkably serious and deep voice:

"[Destiny] is approaching."

...

Night had fallen, but for the residents still reveling, it was far from time to sleep. The city lights were as numerous as stars, and the sounds of people were as dense as brocade. A plain black car drove out of this city that never sleeps, heading straight ahead until the gray fog completely swallowed the increasingly dim lights behind the car. The black car then stopped in front of a building.

Volensa Marina.

It was just an ordinary car, with nothing special about its appearance, and even looked a bit old. There were still gray and white rain stains left on the windows. But as this ordinary car drove through the layers of checkpoints at the dock at a steady speed, no one noticed that this obviously strange black car was not there.

"We can't go any further."

A soft, magnetic voice suddenly appeared in the car, so enchanting as to be like a lover whispering in your ear. It was as if countless insects crawled along the outer edge of your ear and burrowed deep into your ear canal. The sound had long since dissipated, but the echo still caressed your brain, bringing waves of itch.

Even after hearing it countless times, the woman in the driver's seat was momentarily dazed, her foot involuntarily slamming on the brakes. The seven-stringed zither floating above the passenger seat had an ancient design; its seven trembling strings seemed to have been submerged in a sea of ​​blood for a long time, swirling with an ominous dark brown hue.

The strings continued to vibrate, and the beautiful human voice actually came from the seven-stringed zither: "This position is sufficient. Bring the listener up."

"yes."

The woman snapped out of her daze, nodded in agreement, and pulled down the sun visor of the car window. The back row of the car had been converted into two rows of seats facing each other. All five passengers wore delicate smoky eye makeup, with a small musical note drawn at the corner of their eyes. They were of different genders, all wearing fitted white silk evening gowns, red stiletto heels, and their long hair was tied up. They wore exquisite brooches made up of several musical notes on their chests.

Among the five, a man with an exceptionally ornate and luxurious hairstyle nodded slightly, raised his hand and placed it on his firm, slightly protruding belly. His nails were neatly trimmed and rounded. He gently twitched his fingers as if stroking a musical string, and his five fingers dug hard into the flesh.

The man seemed oblivious to the pain; his watery, hazy eyes narrowed slightly, and his fingers churned inside his abdomen, producing a beautiful, violin-like melody.

Along with the sound, colorful musical notes of all sizes floated out, swirling around the man's flushed face several times before jumping to the empty seat opposite him, gradually forming the shape of a woman.

The figure formed by the colorful musical notes moved, looked down at its "hands" with a curious expression.

The seven-stringed zither moved automatically without wind, soaring higher and higher. Even though they were all inside the cramped car, they somehow managed to pose as if looking down from above at the same height.

"Are you Dong Shiwu? The final feast of revelry is approaching. The Lord has sent me to guide the lost listeners. Tell me the information you have heard for the Lord, and the Lord will remember your contribution."

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Author's Note: I'm back! I finished one exam at the beginning of the month and rested for two days before coming back to update. I was so touched by all the nutrient solutions you guys sent me QAQ. I really wish I didn't have to take this stupid exam and could come back to writing, but reality is cruel... I have another exam on the 28th, and after that I'll be temporarily free. I'll see if I can squeeze out some time to write more in January. Sorry to keep you all waiting, lol.