Lillian whispered, her eyelashes lowered. Her voice was so soft and quick that even Artemisia, standing in the same hall, couldn't hear what she was saying.
Artemisia's gaze fell on the pendant in Lillian's hand.
As Lillian whispered, the pendant in her hand shone brighter. At first, only the city below and the cup-shaped pattern above glowed, but as time passed, the rainbow below the cup-shaped pattern was also tinged with a faint radiance.
The pendant slowly floated up and hovered above Lillian's palm.
Lillian kept her eyes closed.
The pendant emitted a dazzling light, which then quickly dimmed. It quietly fell back into Lillian's hand, where she gently held it.
Lillian said softly, "All the souls are here."
She pursed her lips, about to say something more, but was choked by her still-unclear voice and coughed several times. Ai Cao and Helen rushed over to Lillian's left and right, patting her back to help her catch her breath.
Helen glanced at Ai Cao and asked Lillian, "Is there anything else that needs to be done here?" Her bloodshot eyes narrowed, and she snorted coldly, "There are no more vengeful spirits here."
Lillian coughed twice more. She hung the pendant back around her neck, then gently slapped their hands away. Lillian shook her head and said, "I've brought them here, and they're staying here for now."
Lillian looked down at the pendant. Her expression softened when her gaze fell upon it, as if she were looking at a young child.
Even to her, those who died here were still children. Thinking of this, Lillian wanted to pull the old pope's soul out again and let him experience the pain of life and death.
But the old pope's soul was torn to shreds. Lillian lifted her eyelashes, smiling as she gently stroked her pendant.
She tilted her head and asked, "Should we go back now, or kill a few more?"
Artemisia and Helen looked at each other.
Helen said first, "Kill a few more, so that the little kid can raise a big flag."
Ai Cao nodded, then looked at Pandora. Pandora was one of only two people among the four who appeared to be adults, and she was also the one who had the closest relationship with the bishop and had known him the longest.
With her around, Ai Cao wasn't worried at all that they would do anything that would be detrimental to the bishop's chances of becoming pope.
If Pandora also believes they can kill more people, then they can certainly go ahead and do it.
Pandora frowned at them. She said coldly, "We just killed someone." She sighed deeply and asked, "Don't you feel anything about killing?"
“We just saw two…corpses,” Pandora said in a low voice, “but now…you’re still discussing whether or not to kill someone else?”
As she spoke, her confidence faltered. She was clearly the oldest of the four, and she was confident in her past experiences and her understanding of the world. But before her stood Artemisia, recognized by the bishop; Lillian, who had become a witch; and Helen, a half-vampire who had just been resurrected.
From this perspective, she is actually the most ordinary and unremarkable of the four.
But... even so, she still wanted to express her thoughts.
Murder is wrong, Pandora thought. And she said it too.
Ai Cao tilted her head. A gesture that would be endearing to children, cats, and dogs, it also possessed a subtle innocence in her.
Ai Cao said, "That's right, we just saw two corpses. Or to be more precise... we saw one corpse, and then we killed the Pope, who was our target."
She counted on her fingers and asked Helen, "Right?"
Helen stared calmly at Pandora: "Yes." A slight smile played on her lips as she took two steps forward, forcefully demanding, "Don't just focus on accusing us—haven't you killed anyone?" A bloodshot glint flashed in her eyes. "You've had quite a few around you too..."
“Impossible. I only killed vampires.” Pandora interrupted Helen abruptly.
Helen chuckled softly, her smile gradually fading. "Aren't vampires human?" she said, then added, "Fine. Do you know how many people died yesterday in those towns you passed through today?"
Pandora was speechless. Her lips were taut, but she couldn't utter a single word of explanation.
Helen walked slowly to her, staring coldly into Pandora's eyes: "Some people resent you, Pandora. You didn't kill them with your own hands, but they think you did—that's how humans are."
“…I don’t hold a grudge,” Pandora said through gritted teeth.
Helen laughed again: "You, hated by many dead, and us, who killed people but were praised by many dead—you don't need to deceive yourself. Even that little bishop girl agreed to the plan to assassinate the Pope."
Pandora pursed her lips.
“But you have no reaction to the killing of people!” she said sternly.
Ai Cao shrugged. "Lillian has one." She gently ruffled Lillian's hair. Lillian, whose name had just been mentioned, smiled slightly and reached out to grasp the pendant.
Lillian nodded and said, "I was affected by his...emotions about staying here." She touched her nose. "Although I did the work for him afterwards, he did most of the cutting himself."
Pandora pursed her lips. She didn't ask for more details about Lillian's words, but turned to ask Artemisia, "...Artemisia, what about you?"
“Me?” Ai Cao pointed to herself and smiled sheepishly, “I killed too many.”
Pandora looked at the suddenly shy Artemisia and didn't know where to vent her anger.
Ai Cao thought for a moment and continued, "The first time I killed someone was when I was very young... My mother went to forage for food, leaving me alone in the nest. Someone broke in—intending to kill me and eat me."
Ai Cao licked her lips: "I killed him. That night, my mother and I had a delicious meal."
Pandora's brow was so furrowed it could kill a swarm of mosquitoes.
Ai Cao shrugged: "I haven't eaten it in a long time. That was back when I was... uh, anyway, a long, long time ago. Now I eat a lot of other delicious food, and I don't eat people anymore, so don't look at me like that."
Helen scoffed, "As expected of vulgar humans, they actually eat the flesh of their own kind." She said seriously, "Although vampires keep humans as pets, they only drink blood and do not eat human flesh."
Lillian laughed and smoothed things over: "It's alright. Everyone will die eventually, becoming nutrients for plants and then being eaten by people."
Pandora opened her mouth, but swallowed back the words she was about to say.
She now feels that possessing a human conscience is the most special thing about this group of people.
And... she sadly discovered that she had been persuaded by this group of people.
"...I know several of the Pope's loyal followers."
Pandora sighed and said.
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