Chapter 144 A Branch in the Nest Forest (7)
He struggled slightly, but then realized that the strength of the person behind him was far beyond what he could contend with, and his hair stood on end.
"Who are you?!" he asked instinctively.
The more he struggled, the tighter the grip became. Allen quieted down and asked with difficulty, "You want to go into the church?"
Shu Ningmiao remained silent. He paused, licked his lips, and tried to explain, "Didn't you see the notice? How can I get you in if the church is closed?"
Seeing that the other party had no intention of answering his questions, he gradually found it difficult to breathe and could only give in repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I'll take you in. Let me go first and then I'll take you there. It's so tight, I'm about to die."
Unexpectedly, the other party didn't make things difficult for him anymore and simply let go of his hand.
He slowly loosened his neck, then suddenly there were a few loud bangs, and then he tumbled and crawled forward.
Only a fool wouldn't run!
After the church district was placed under a Ramadan lockdown, there wasn't a soul in sight, and he couldn't find anyone to help him.
He stumbled forward, searching around, when his gaze suddenly fell on a figure some distance away. The man was backlit, so his face was obscured, and he stood motionless in the distance.
Alan saw that the man's upright posture and graceful demeanor were like bamboo, and sensed an innate sense of righteousness. He didn't seem to be with the people behind him. Without thinking much of it, he ran a few steps towards the man and shouted, "Brother, help me out! There's a lunatic trying to strangle me!"
The man remained motionless, and Allen assumed he hadn't heard him clearly until he got closer and saw the man's clear blue eyes, patiently watching him.
The other party clearly heard him perfectly.
Alan's head buzzed, and before he could see what was happening, he heard a muffled thud, felt a sharp pain in his knee, and fell to the ground, unable to get up.
He was kneeling on the ground with half his body upright when everything went black.
The black patent leather boots gently stepped on the back of his knees, pressing down so hard that he could hardly breathe. The movement happened in an instant, and the man leaned down slightly to look at him.
Allen propped up one eyelid, thinking how unlucky he was. The man was wearing a mask, with deep-set eyes, clear blue eyes set under his brow bone, and a gentle luster in his eyes. The corners of his eyes drooped gently, but he was indifferent to this unlucky fellow.
He will never judge people by their appearance again!
He heard a gentle male voice coming from above: "You two know each other?"
Allen gripped the ground, his fingers trembling slightly. He screamed in his heart, "How could we possibly know each other?" But with his head on the ground and a mouthful of mud, he couldn't utter a single word.
But soon he realized that the other person wasn't talking to him.
The familiar voice that had just threatened him appeared silently behind him; he didn't even hear the footsteps.
"Mmm." Shu Ningmiao half-squatted down beside the man, but the last part of her sentence was directed at him: "Can we go now?"
The pressure on his knees finally eased, and Allen struggled to turn over, finally getting a clear look at the person who had just threatened him.
A strange person, completely covered up and wearing goggles, carrying a long baseball bag, looked like he was about to do something illegal or disorderly.
He looked up, his gaze unfocused, glancing to the left and then to the right. Finally realizing that the two were in cahoots, he grabbed his hair in despair, slowly lying back down on the ground, yelling, "It's closed! It's closed! I told you the church was closed! Do you know what a lockdown means? Why did you have to go in? There's no one there anyway; they're basically all on holiday."
She truly did not sense the presence of any living people in the church.
But out of concern for Wei Shengqianheng, she had to confirm it no matter what.
She wasn't surprised by Allen's attitude, but one thing in particular caught her attention.
His focus was on explaining that "there was nothing wrong" in the church, rather than venting his fear of being suddenly and inexplicably grabbed.
The way he tried to dissuade her was very unusual.
That shouldn't be the case.
He was nervous.
He didn't want her to go in now, but Shu Ningmiao quickly sensed his thoughts and immediately displayed a threatening attitude, easily eliciting his true reaction.
Shu Ningmiao grabbed his collar and lifted him up: "Why do you keep loitering around the church? Does this church district need you as a vigilante?"
"Can't I take a vacation?!" Allen retorted instinctively, only realizing his mistake after blurting it out: "How do you know I'm a member of the Self-Defense Forces?"
He squinted, carefully discerning her features beneath her impenetrable disguise, his mind racing. After a moment, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he suddenly shouted, "It's you!"
When he mentioned the Church of Praise, he recalled the unfortunate events of the past two months and actually remembered a villain with a similar style.
What an arrogant attitude! What a rude tone! She's clearly the woman who knocked him unconscious, stripped him naked, and threw him into the bushes back then!
Shu Ningmiao ignored what he remembered, dragged him back to the garden like a dead fish, and since ordinary people could hardly pose a threat to her, she was much more indifferent.
Allen craned his neck, his face flushed, and cursed at her a few times. He then secretly glanced at her expression out of the corner of his eye and, realizing that she didn't care what he was saying at all, he shut his mouth in frustration.
As soon as she let go, Allen sprang to his feet, but the man behind him stared at him coldly. He didn't dare to run away and could only tremble and remain in a position like a telephone pole, not daring to move.
Shu Ningmiao crossed her arms and looked at him, asking, "Who are you waiting for by parking your car here?"
"No, I was just passing by and took a break from the heat." He was still being stubborn, afraid that his expression would give him away, and he spat out each word from between his lips.
"The engine is hot." Shu Ningmiao touched the front of the three-wheeled motorcycle, her fingertips brushing across the dashboard. She had "borrowed" the motorcycle before and had some understanding of its condition: "The engine is still running and hasn't completely shut off."
"I……"
Shu Ningmiao took a step closer to him, took off her goggles, and her pupils reflected his face, revealing even the most subtle emotions.
"You're here waiting for someone to come out. Who is it?"
Allen took several steps back, staring at her in horror. His lips moved as if he wanted to argue, but she had already looked away.
She glanced sideways at the closed Yangsong Church next to the garden. Since Allen was parked nearby, he must have entered the church: "That person went in."
Allen pursed his lips, and after a long pause, he hesitated before saying, "You have to tell me what you're planning to do first, in case you're going to vandalize the church..."
"I didn't ask you to negotiate." Shu Ningmiao picked up a branch from the ground, patted his face, and interrupted him.
Her cold, sharp eyes stared at him as she lowered her voice and said, "Speak, or I'll kill you first and then burn this place down."
Allen crouched down, holding his head, and confessed in one breath: "Okay, the Church of the Reverence is closed to the outside world, but there are still many clergy working inside. There is no problem. It's just for receiving patients."
“The patient…” Shu Ningmiao repeated softly.
“Yes, yes, yes.” His eyes lit up as if he had found a solution: “Only the Church of Praise accepts those Manla patients. Have you ever seen a Manla patient? They’re covered in blood and gooey mucus. You’d better not go in, you’ll get infected.”
"Shouldn't the patient be in a shelter?" she frowned.
“How can I explain this to you?” Allen scratched his forehead. “The shelter is like a morgue to them. The people who come to the church are the ones who don’t want to die. The church will provide them with free painkillers and anesthetics. If the church closes down completely these days, the patients will not be able to continue working without painkillers. Without labor at home, without work, people will die.”
As he spoke, his body floated slightly outwards.
Whether by design or not, the only escape route was blocked by the blue-eyed man.
Shu Changyan glanced at him sideways, then floated back, limping as he led the way.
The two men walked casually beside him, keeping a certain distance, and he couldn't find any opportunity to take advantage of them. Allen could only circle around the church several times before resignedly stopping at a corner of the bushes. He grabbed the dense branches on both sides and parted them to reveal a tunnel that could only be passed through by one person at a time. The entrance was very well hidden and would be difficult for an ordinary person to find.
But once you step inside, you'll find that it's a well-established road with bright oil lamps underneath and severe burn marks on the walls, indicating that it's been used for many years.
The tunnel narrowed as they entered, eventually turning into a normal staircase after a few steps. Alan's shoulders slumped, and his voice was weak: "Go down the stairs here, then go up the other side, and you'll be able to get in."
Following his words, Shu Ningmiao took a few steps down the path, then stopped and turned back to look at him, still remembering what had just happened: "Who are you waiting for outside?"
“My brother,” he said, resigned to his fate.
Shu Ningmiao thought for a moment: "You said you have no family."
Allen was momentarily at a loss, unsure whether to resent her for having such a good memory or to resent his own loose tongue for saying everything.
After struggling for a while, he finally confessed: "This is a kid from the neighborhood. His parents ran away, so I usually take care of him. Two years ago, he went to work near the garbage dump and somehow contracted Manla disease. I can only take him to the Yangsong Church for treatment. On the way there and back, I also help to give other people a ride."
They were both children without parents, so it wouldn't be wrong to call them his younger brothers. They had no other family members, which explains why he seemed all alone but bought a rather comical-looking three-wheeled motorcycle.
Shu Ningmiao put her hands in her pockets and continued walking downstairs, straightening up and patting the dust off her knees.
The child he described was young, and the large dose of anesthetic drugs was dangerous and unethical, but it was similar to Yelüqi's condition before his death. It was fortunate that it could alleviate the suffering of the dying man, and no one else had the right to say anything.
Emerging from the underground staircase, she found herself in the courtyard of the Church of Reverence. She climbed the stairs, emerging from the garden of calla lilies behind the pond, and was momentarily stunned by the sight of the long corridor above the steps.
The church doors were wide open, offering a complete view, and the white stone railings of the long corridor were dazzling.
The clergy, dressed in white robes, walked silently through the corridor with their hands folded in their sleeves. Everything was orderly, as if it were a different world from the deathly silence outside.
A gentle breeze rippled across the pond in the courtyard. She caught a whiff of the delicate scent of calla lilies, yet felt a chill run through her body.
The pristine white, towering domed columns loomed over her like skeletons.
The church was full of people, each walking silently on their own path, not a single person making a sound; she could not detect any trace of the living.
She turned around abruptly, exchanged a glance with Shu Changyan, who was holding Allen up with one hand, and briefly communicated: "Keep an eye on him."
"Hey! Hey." Allen instinctively reached out to grab her: "What exactly do you want?"
The girl rushed into the church, and Allen inexplicably tripped and fell face-first to the ground. When he looked up, the blue-eyed man was standing behind him, staring at him with a strong and cold gaze that made Allen's spine bend.
He shook his head with a look of surprise and uncertainty, then added with a hint of ingratiation, "Aren't you going in with her? It's too dangerous for her to go in alone. Take me with you, I won't cause any trouble."
Shu Changyan stood still, showing no intention of speaking to him.
Shu Ningmiao was able to handle the situation inside, and his presence inside actually left the church exit open.
He understood her thoughts, but didn't want to explain them to outsiders.
Allen was held captive by him, and seeing no possibility of escape, he slumped his shoulders in despair.
Ignoring the clergy lingering outside the church, the girl rushed straight inside. Allen sat on the ground and stared at the group of white-robed saints for a while, increasingly feeling that their movements were rigid and uniform, like a shadow play. At this moment, he also gradually realized that something was wrong.
Allen moved his lips, the words on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't dare to ask the question he suspected. Instead, he changed the subject and asked, "Aren't you worried about your girlfriend at all?"
This time, Shu Changyan actually looked at him properly: "She is my sister."
"What kind of siblings are like this?" He hugged his knees, a smile creeping onto his lips, which he barely managed to suppress.
"Besides, don't you already have no family?" He returned the girl's earlier sarcastic remark to her, then turned to look directly at Shu Changyan, his expression much calmer than before.
Shu Changyan pinched the bridge of his nose, his eye sockets sinking into shadow.
Allen crossed his arms and said, "Blame it on your eyes. I've only ever seen you once in my life. But it's been ten years since we last saw each other after you left New World."
He recalled how this person had been so aloof and distant in his childhood, yet so strong as to be like a monster. He was rarely seen at home, but his clothes were always the neatest among the group of children. It was because of his distinctive eyes that he could recognize him instantly.
After being adopted by the people of Pines, he naturally changed his name. He couldn't recall the names of his former playmates, and a sense of melancholy arose within him.
People's abilities are as vast as the ocean, and their paths diverge even further. They may meet by chance, only to become complete strangers who never cross paths again.
A thousand words welled up in his mouth, but he couldn't say them. He asked, "...What's your name now?"
Under the sunlight, Shu Changyan's eyes were like a shimmering ocean. After a long while, he gently shook his head and remained silent.
A gentle breeze in the courtyard ruffled his tied-up hair slightly. When Alan saw his cold pupils, his heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly couldn't say anything.
He had a premonition.
...This childhood friend seems to have made a shocking decision.
——
The doors inside the church were wide open, and Shu Ningmiao barged through them without being stopped by anyone.
The group of saints dressed in white were like a bunch of puppets, showing no reaction to the outside world. She decided not to waste any more time on them and ran deeper into the church.
When a person is closest to danger, their intuition will guide them without any logic. She hardly thought, yet her mind was racing, and she had never thought as clearly as she did now.
When she first entered the interior of the Yangsong Cathedral, after passing through the chapel, there were no more windows letting in light. On the windowsills were rows of white pewter candlesticks, all half-burnt, and the stench and smell of medicinal wax grew stronger, revealing a lingering, suffocating deathly aura.
The white-robed saints who walked by cast long, slanted, and ethereal shadows, while hymns, seemingly from nowhere, echoed around the empty roof beams.
She gradually slowed down, stopped, and looked up. This was the innermost chapel of the church, in the flickering light, a place that was originally where icons were enshrined in a typical church.
Inside the church of the Church of Reverence, only a mottled brick altar stands alone, its base irregularly uneven and carved with countless chilling hand-shaped patterns.
A person knelt on the platform, holding a thin child in their arms. Long, black hair fell from their shoulders, flowing freely, obscuring their face. The faint candlelight cast a soft bluish glow on the ends of their hair, making them appear serene and compassionate.
Unlike usual, his head and face were covered with a white veil, which hung down from the altar and trailed to the ground, just like the other saints here who seemed to have been copied and pasted.
She couldn't hear any heartbeats or breathing sounds in this vast space except for her own. She hadn't sensed Wei Sheng Qianheng's presence since their first meeting, so she was absolutely certain she hadn't mistaken him.
“—Wei Sheng Qian Heng!” She stared at his figure, her fingers suddenly pressing against her chest, as if the organs inside her body were spasming.
In an instant, all the suppressed anger and resentment began to surface, and she realized that she knew him better than she had imagined.
The figure on the stage, as still as a statue, trembled almost imperceptibly in the back and slowly raised its head.
The candlelight flickered, illuminating Wei Shengqianheng's unreal, pale face. His long hair clung to his cheeks, and his dark eyes stared silently at her.
The frail child he was holding had his head twisted in the opposite direction in a position that no living person could possibly accomplish. The boy was only slightly larger than a monkey, with bulging eyes that stared at her listlessly, his neck drooping limply.
The child is already dead; no matter how fast she rushes, it's too late.
From the very beginning, she knew there was no sign of life in the church.
Wei Shengqianheng stared at her without moving, displaying a numb demeanor, his voice soft and indifferent: "Ah."
He responded softly, his mind seemingly clearing up. He raised his hand to brush the child's eyes, held the body close to his chest, gently wiped the blood from the child's mouth and nose, and tilted his head back again. A crystal tear rolled down his cheek, sparkling like a diamond.
In the blink of an eye, Shu Ningmiao had already used the Xi Jin sword she had drawn from behind her back to flip over and get close.
The sword tip that fell from the sky pierced straight into his eyeball. Wei Shengqianheng leaned back, and the edge of the sword passed through his hair, severing several strands of long hair.
At the same instant, several deafening bangs rang out behind her, almost tearing her eardrums. The impact shook her arms, and Shu Ningmiao tumbled backward through the air, landing on the ground after leaping over the air currents.
The white-robed saints, who were walking in perfect unison, were all swept up by the air currents that appeared out of nowhere, and countless white cloths swirled and flew around the dome with the pale blue light.
She looked up and finally saw the true face under the tightly wrapped white cloth, but there was no one under the countless white cloths, only countless grains of sand and gravel.
There really wasn't a single living person here.
Countless black wisps of mud enveloped her, forming a natural barrier that eroded her senses, as if it wanted to tear her to pieces.
Shu Ningmiao raised her hand and slashed the white cloth in front of her in half. She instinctively threw the weapon in her hand towards Wei Shengqianheng. At the same time, a golden, semi-transparent chain caught on the sword hilt. She used [Jealousy] to steal the power of the 'Golden Chain'. The 'Golden Chain', which had no set 'lock' or 'unlock' conditions, could be used as an extended rope chain. She grabbed the other end of the chain and used the momentum to fly in that direction.
The sword sank halfway into the platform, and they instantly closed the distance. Wei Sheng Qianheng, holding the boy's body in one hand, stood on the altar where the statue was enshrined, looking down at her.
The ground was glowing, and the domain of 'forgiveness' silently formed. The chains in her hand vanished in an instant, and she swiftly lunged forward to grab the sword hilt, her arm stretched so taut that even her knuckles made a slight cracking sound.
Using the sword for support, she finally steadied herself on the platform, her eyes flashing with malice: "Wei Sheng Qian Heng, what exactly do you want to do? Slaughtering the Council can be considered profitable, but what benefit is there in targeting the Manra patients? If you just want to kill, weren't you done killing enough during your years as an executor before you died?"
Wei Shengqianheng remained unmoved by her mockery, showing no emotion whatsoever. He looked down at the corpse in his arms, as if looking at her: "I didn't kill him, nor did I kill them."
He held the child in his arms, his pale hands trying to soothe the bloodless face.
“I... ended their suffering.”
Wei Shengqianheng smiled slightly: "In three days, his skin will swell up, feeling like it's being pricked by needles or burned. He will be unable to sleep at night due to the severe pain spreading from the inside out. In thirty days, his skin will begin to crack naturally, and black pus will ooze from the cracks. Not only will it not heal, but it will also gradually expand until all the skin and flesh rot away from the bone, at which point he will truly die. Every day will be more painful than the day before."
"You think I killed them, but how do you know if they wanted to live with such suffering?" He knelt on the table, leaned down, as if trying to touch her, but could not reach her: "People are confused and seek only a moment of joy and happiness."
“I have been running the Church of Praise for so long.” A heavy white veil covered his hair, obscuring most of his face. His long hair fell from his ears. He murmured, “Medical clinics, orphanages, shelters, providing pain-relieving anesthetics to all Manra patients, giving them a place to stay, increasing restrictions on mining in Pandora… Haven’t I done enough?”
Shu Ningmiao took a step back and suddenly remembered the information she had casually looked up on the terminal earlier. The rise of the Church of Praise seemed to have occurred shortly after the Parliament's purge.
The identity of the Holy Son was merely a smokescreen for him to get close to her; all the white-robed saints responsible for the core of the Church of Reverence were puppets that Wei Sheng Qian Heng had molded from clay.
What exactly was his purpose that led him to painstakingly build this business for over a hundred years?
As if sensing her wary thoughts, Wei Shengqianheng slowly uttered, "You will understand soon enough."
"You'll die before that day comes." Shu Ningmiao's eyes were dark, her sword pointing at him with only an inch remaining: "Your 'forgiveness' can't stop me."
If she had to rely on Shi Yu to interfere with his body to barely win at the Shi family banquet before, now she is fearless in fighting even within his range of supernatural abilities. She will not remain stagnant forever.
“But I will not die.” He suddenly raised the lower half of his face, revealing a pair of beautiful, cold eyes: “I will live forever in your nightmares.”
Suddenly, the pale, beautiful skin bulged with bluish-black blood vessels, the skin tore open, and thick, black pus oozed out continuously. It rotted and turned white, exposing the withered, white bones.
Without hesitation, Shu Ningmiao raised her hand, and with a swift movement, her sword fell, creating a sharp, whistling sound. The hideous head flew off heavily and rolled across the ground.
Not a drop of blood.
The chilling face seemed like an illusion; the head fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, revealing a clay puppet.
His hobby really is sculpting clay figures. Shu Ningmiao gritted her teeth. Wei Shengqianheng looked similar to the one in the photo. She had thought that this body might have some connection with him, but she didn't expect that he wasn't even a human.
Indeed, given that Wei Shengqianheng died so young, aside from the blood samples that were preserved beforehand, his bones must have rotted to dust.
A churning black current surged outwards, countless particles of mud mixed with streams of light swirling past. She forced out a cold shout through clenched teeth: "Shu Changyan, stop these things!"
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