Helen stood in the white-gray snow. Her short hair rose and fell with the wind, her beautiful face obscured by the scattered snowflakes, only her red eyes shone brightly. Lillian stood before her, her pale blue eyes equally sparkling.
Helen said, "Okay."
Her reply was soft and flat, but it clearly reached Lillian's ears.
"It's because I trusted you that I got into that guy's body." Helen caught Lillian, who rushed over to hug her, and turned to look at Artemisia.
Noticing Helen looking at her, Ai Cao paused in her stroking of the white ash. She casually released her grip, letting the ash drift away. She had also overheard Lillian's words and had been thinking about them.
Both she and Helen knew that Lillian's wish was too grand.
If they want to set certain individuals free, that's something they can do now. But if they want all souls to be free—that's the realm of God.
Unfortunately, the gods in this world are of no use whatsoever.
Helen patted Lillian's head and stared at Artemisia, asking, "And you?"
Ai Cao touched her chin and smiled.
“Me?” Ai Cao said, “I quite like Lillian’s wish, and I feel like it can come true.”
Helen's eyes curved slightly. She patted Lillian's head again, helping her to stand up straight. Then, she walked briskly to Artemisia and continued, "What will you bring to this world?"
Although not tall, Helen's presence was in no way inferior to that of Artemisia when she stood in front of Artemisia.
Ai Cao thought for a moment, then answered the question seriously: "A new pope, or rather... a new god?"
Ai Cao shrugged and said casually, "If changing a pope isn't enough, then let's change a god. Let's restore order to this world, and then all souls can be freed, right?"
Helen lowered her head and scoffed, "You want to kill a god?"
“It’s just changing Him, it’s not like we’re really killing Him…” Ai Cao muttered, “And maybe that bishop is even willing to help God out…”
Helen laughed.
The pale gray snow had all fallen. A layer of snow accumulated on the ground, and curious children tentatively stepped on it. The ashes of bats were trampled into small footprints. They sank softly into the soil, finally returning the energy that they had once taken from the land to the earth.
Pandora stood at a distance.
She wasn't covered in a speck of white-gray snow. She simply stood by the carriage, watching them stand amidst the white-gray expanse.
Pandora's face remained expressionless; she simply asked calmly, "Are you done talking?"
Artemisia chuckled mischievously. She bent down, scooped up a handful of snow ash from the ground, and threw it at Pandora. Pandora instinctively swung her whip, but a loose clump of snow ash still landed on her.
Pandora turned aside and brushed the dust off herself. She stared coldly at the artemisia for two seconds, but her icy expression melted at Lillian's smile. Lillian, beaming, moved closer to Pandora and said, "Let's go back to the church together!"
They exchanged a brief discussion, then boarded the carriage together. This time, all four squeezed into the front of the carriage, none of them wanting to go into the dimly lit interior. With Helen there, there was no need to worry about encountering low-ranking vampires—Pandora reluctantly allowed this.
On the way back, it was still bright outside, and the people in the town were still the same people: the living, the half-dead, and the living dead.
Helen brought them a fresh snowfall.
Countless low-ranking vampires, responding to her call, turned into white-gray snowflakes in the sky. The living fled into houses in shock, while the living dead reached out to touch the falling snow.
They remained silent the entire way.
The bishop greeted them at the church entrance. A layer of greyish-white snow had settled on her shoulders, and when she saw them return, she gently brushed the snow off her shoulders, greeted Helen warmly, and then led them into the church.
The church was empty, except for the huge statue of God radiating a soft glow.
“I’ve closed the chapel temporarily today,” the bishop said. “I’ve also asked the nuns to go shopping in town, so you can relax a bit today.”
Pandora handed the bag containing the male protagonist to the bishop.
The bishop untied the cloth bag, glanced inside, then tied it back up and handed it back to Pandora.
She smiled and said, "I will offer it to my Lord first. Please make yourselves at home."
The bishop smiled and nodded to Ai Cao: "We'll discuss your plan to assassinate the current pope later."
The bishop and Pandora walked to the small altar in front of the statue. Pandora respectfully placed the cloth bag on the altar and stepped back behind the bishop. The bishop knelt down peacefully and closed his eyes with a gentle expression.
Ai Cao stared at the bishop's retreating figure for a while, then turned to Lillian and asked, "Did I tell her that I wanted to... assassinate the current pope?"
If others found out about this, how could she possibly assassinate the current Pope? If the Pope was on guard, she'd have to ask the bishops for more bullets.
Lillian winked with a grin: "She didn't say that. Maybe her master told her?"
Ai Cao sighed, "I really don't understand how you communicate with those beings I can't see... Wait, Lillian, besides those who were there at the time, did the others also know about this?"
Lillian laughed: "Yes, they all really like this plan."
She winked playfully, pulled Helen over, and said with a grin, "If you could see, wouldn't you be able to communicate with them too? You can communicate with Helen now."
Helen laughed and said, "I was once one of them, so it doesn't matter if you talk to me or not."
Ai Cao looked at Helen and Lillian, who were smiling, and muttered, "The difference is quite big... I thought they would be some kind of strange shape with three heads and six arms. If they look like humans, then they can communicate with people."
"Their appearance..." Lillian thought for a moment and said, "They change their form according to your perception. So in Sister Artemisia's eyes, they should just be ordinary human beings."
Artemisia sighed again.
The system in her mind acted cute and boastful: "You want to see weird shapes? What kind do you want to see? I'll conjure them up for you!"
Artemisia gritted its teeth and forcefully blocked the system.
As darkness fell, the statues in the church slowly began to glow. The statues, originally carved from marble, seemed to possess a life of their own, filling the church with a soft, warm light.
Then, the bishop's body slowly began to glow.
The towering statues and the tiny people, their radiance reflecting each other.
The bishop remained kneeling there in prayer, seemingly oblivious to the changes within her, or perhaps she was aware but chose not to.
As the soft moonlight bathed the church, the bishop finally opened his eyes peacefully.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
