Chapter 145 A Branch in the Nest Forest (8)
Countless white cloths, along with fragments, swept past her with a roar. Shu Ningmiao immediately rushed towards the door, only to hear a muffled thud, a gust of wind whistling past her, and a dark shadow flying towards her with a cold glint in its eyes.
A murderous aura suddenly arose, but instead of dodging, she stood still.
With a tearing sound, something in front of her was ripped apart. The cold sword light grazed her body, drawing a straight arc from top to bottom. Countless grains of sand in front of her were stirred up by this sword and suddenly scattered.
Light, like a sharp sword, cleaved through the barrier of shadows.
Although he didn't know what was happening inside, the moment he heard her voice, Shu Changyan made his move without the slightest hesitation.
In the blink of an eye, Shu Changyan was already in front of her.
A cold light, faster than sound, rapidly approached, sharp and menacing.
She looked up, pinpointed the location of the swaying white cloths, clasped her hands together, and countless semi-transparent golden chains flew out from her hands, piercing through the swirling white cloths and locking them all together.
Shu Changyan cooperated with her, leaping into the air without looking back, his sword and all, and gracefully floating upwards on the chaotic, scattered white cloth, spinning around and shattering everything in his path.
The sound of the shattering was terrifying. Shu Ningmiao suddenly twisted her wrist inward, pulling the chain to tighten. The surrounding flying sand was also affected and collapsed one after another. The two of them did not say a word, but their cooperation was extremely tacit.
Mud and sand poured down from the sky, splashing up clouds of dust.
A terrifying cloud of black sand swirled in the air, falling one after another, instantly accumulating a thick layer of mud and sand on her shoulders.
A straight, slender black shadow landed on the ground, blurred into a dark mass by the wind and sand, and chased after the direction of the wind and sand.
Shu Ningmiao wiped her face and called out to him, "Don't chase after him."
She could no longer sense the presence of String and Pandora, and the 'Forgiveness' domain in the arena also silently disappeared.
If Wei Sheng Qian Heng were still alive, he wouldn't be here anymore.
She began to explain, her voice clearer and slightly higher than usual, but it wasn't for Shu Changyan's ears.
The child died in Wei Shengqianheng's arms, but Wei Shengqianheng disappeared.
She had no intention of making enemies with the Self-Defense Forces of Shinchi, and she didn't want to take the blame for Wei Shengqianheng's actions. She explained simply: "Wei Shengqianheng killed that child. The so-called people in the church are all made of clay. There are no living people here."
Alan crawled out of the mud, still not understanding what had happened, and upon hearing her words, he immediately dug through the surrounding mud with his hands and feet and rushed into the church like lightning.
The microscopic Thousand Balance had long since turned to dust and collapsed, disappearing completely. Only the corpse of a child, knees bent and huddled in front of his chest, remained on the platform.
Allen unconsciously reached out a hand to support the corpse's shoulder, slowly turning it to face the child. The child's thin neck seemed to hang down only by a layer of skin. The round-faced, clever young man, upon seeing the child's body, seemed to lose the ability to think and froze in shock.
He didn't cry, nor did he show any sign of shock or pain; he just stared blankly, without any reaction.
Blood rushed to his head. He remained silent for a long while, then blinked hard, his voice hoarse: "Why?"
This child wasn't going to live long anyway. Who would kill him? What would they do with him? What good would it do them?
He really couldn't understand it, and could only ask, "Why?", but he didn't know who to ask or who could answer.
Shu Changyan didn't answer either. He knelt down beside him, one hand on his knee, to examine the child's huddled corpse: "There's something in his hand."
The child's hand was clenched so tightly that it looked bulging, clearly indicating that he was holding something inside.
Allen seemed not to hear, lost in thought.
Shu Ning gently flicked the child's fingertips with her fingertips. The corpse lost its strength and opened its mouth to reveal what was inside: a grayish-white round-handled cross pendant. She was very familiar with this pendant; it was Prometheus's "Symbolic Symbol of Life," a magical item with the ability to paralyze pain. She hadn't seen this thing for a long time since Achini's death.
She picked up the pendant and slapped Allen awake: "Have you seen this before?"
Allen glanced at it twice, not looking very surprised: "Hmm... the church gave it to them. This stuff can relieve pain, but I don't know how it works."
Shu Ningmiao was even more puzzled by his indifferent demeanor: "Do you know what the symbol of Prometheus looks like? This thing looks exactly like the symbol of Prometheus, doesn't anyone find that strange?"
When asked by her, Allen looked like he was seriously thinking. As a member of the New Territories' self-defense force, he did know about Prometheus, but only a little more than the average person: "They're all distributed privately, no one cares too much, right... I remember this pendant is quite old. Even if it's the same, it was Prometheus who imitated it later. Isn't it normal for such a shady organization to give itself a big name? Or is there some connection?"
"It's not a matter of order." Shu Ningmiao raised her hand and pinched the bridge of her nose hard, but Shu Changyan grabbed her hand and pressed it down.
The first person to tell her that this thing was called the "symbol of life" said that as long as she used it, she would not feel pain. Prometheus's members took this as proof, abandoned pain, and futilely rebelled against the Pine government like moths to a flame under Achini.
She initially thought the device was made by Achini, but now she thinks the real inventor was probably Chihaya Miki.
Alan told her that the Church of Yangsong would distribute prohibited anesthetic and analgesic drugs to these Manla patients free of charge, but most drugs would develop into tolerance after continuous use and would not last long, so the Church of Yangsong must have prepared something beyond the current medical means for these people.
For example, the life symbol can indeed "relieve suffering".
Achini hid in the church of the Church of Praise, and Wei Shengqianheng used the church's power to conceal his whereabouts, which made the whole thing seamless.
And what Achini told her was indeed the truth; he was merely one of the puppets controlled by Wei Shengqianheng.
She guessed that Wei Shengqianheng initially created the Life Symbol out of good intentions to help Manla patients alleviate their suffering, but why did that intention become so distorted and unrecognizable?
Allen held the child and looked at the body for a while longer. He composed himself, wrapped the body in his coat, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and strode out.
There was no one else alive in the church, so Shu Ningmiao had no choice but to leave. She suspected that Wei Shengqianheng had left this clay doll behind on purpose, waiting for her to come looking for it, wanting to annoy her and make her unhappy. What infuriated her was that, based on her understanding of Shi Yu, this suspicion was probably correct. Although she was certain she could distinguish between Shi Yu and Wei Shengqianheng, the two were so similar, whether due to confusion during possession or something else.
To be honest, Wei Shengqianheng started controlling Shi Yu's body when he was just a few years old, and given Shi Yu's mental health issues, it's not surprising that he was affected.
She loathed Wei Sheng Qianheng, and even more loathed knowing him.
Allen hoisted the body onto the tricycle and slowly tied it to the back seat with an elastic rope.
His expression had returned to normal. He had been very talkative before, but now he showed no intention of asking any more questions. The momentary shock he had felt upon witnessing the corpse had dissipated like ripples on the water, turning into a deathly silence.
Shu Ningmiao walked down the steps. Alan looked up at her. She had lost her goggles and pulled her mask down a little while cleaning the mud. Her brows and eyes were filled with melancholy, revealing evidence that she was not very old.
Before he could take a closer look, Shu Ningmiao noticed his gaze was fixed on her: "Aren't you going to ask me what's going on?"
He witnessed the saints walking around in a church that was actually empty, the countless white cloths fluttering eerily in the storm, and the child who was inexplicably strangled to death, yet he had no intention of asking about any of them.
“Death is death.” Allen paused for a moment, then looked away from her overly sharp gaze. “He wasn’t going to live for more than a few days anyway, so less suffering is better.”
“I’ll take him home and burn him clean so he can be reborn into a better life. Nothing else matters, since he can’t be brought back to life.”
Even so, he leaned on the handlebars, head bowed, and remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, "I don't care what you're investigating, just don't involve the church."
Although he was young, he knew the implications. The child was dead, but without the medicine and supplies provided by the church, the child might not have survived until now. Regardless of whether it was related to the church or not, he couldn't argue with the largest church in Pinhène and the new land over this matter. If he made a scene, he would only harm the interests of many more people.
If the church were to cut off its support for the patients of Manla, what chaos would ensue in the New Land? Even if he were to atone with his death, he could not fill that void.
He patted the handlebars and waved to them: "Get on, I'll take you out, really."
Shu Ningmiao sat quietly on the car platform, her knees drawn up to her chest. The child's body was tied to the car frame, and it was being jolted and bounced by the road, making a clattering sound, as if it were jumping. Alan said that he often drove the child between the church and the new place, and he wondered what the child was thinking at this moment.
Shu Changyan sat down beside her with his legs bent, quietly watching the child.
Apart from the occasional bumpy noise, no one spoke on the bus.
Allen drove out of the church district before turning back to look at them: "See you again someday."
He seemed to be turning a blind eye and letting them leave. Shu Ningmiao noticed that his initial wariness had lessened considerably. After a moment's thought, she realized it couldn't be because of her, who had stripped him of his clothes and stolen his car; it could only be Shu Changyan. Alan had mentioned to her before that his childhood playmate had been adopted by the Phine people, and that person might be Shu Changyan.
She got out of the car, and Alan glanced at Shu Changyan, asking her if she wanted to exchange contact information.
She said, "It already is."
The number he tricked her out of last time by pretending to be a nun is still in her terminal, and he still occasionally shows concern for her. This guy is probably the type who has no defenses against women.
Allen paused for a moment, then scratched his head.
Upon hearing this, Shu Changyan turned his head and paused for a moment. He put one arm around her shoulder, as if he wanted to hug her, but then simply straightened her clothes.
Watching Alan leave, she turned back to look at Shu Changyan, then at the disappearing outline of the car: "You don't want to have anything to do with him?"
She had already pieced together the general story by observing their expressions.
Shu Changyan encircled her, his black hair falling down, his sharp-knuckled hand gently touching her head, accustomed to her keenness: "No need."
“Since the Church of Praise is now the property of Wei Sheng Qian Heng.” He lowered his gaze slightly, his cold eyes falling on her cheek, and suddenly softened his tone, bringing up an unrelated matter: “If they continue to control the Church… you may one day disagree with Pine.”
"Now that we've come this far," Shu Ningmiao felt his palm press against her cheek, its warmth carrying a familiar scent. "What are you planning to do?"
“I will betray Pinheus.” Shu Changyan stared at her intently, without any hesitation: “I will take all the blame first, and I will not let you face all of this alone.”
“That’s why I said, there’s no need.” His hands, which were cupping her cheeks, were steady without trembling at all. His gaze was clear and calm, unlike someone who would say such a thing: “There’s no need to involve irrelevant people.”
Shu Ningmiao unconsciously took a step back. She didn't know when Shu Changyan had made this plan. Perhaps it was after hearing her confession about Wei Shengqianheng, or perhaps it was even earlier. The more calmly he spoke, the more she felt that he was crazy and reckless.
Completely abandoning identity, status, and power, no matter how many possibilities the future holds, Shu Changyan seems destined for the same ending for her.
She turned her face away, but Shu Changyan turned her back to face his clear blue eyes. She took a deep breath, grabbed his arm, and said firmly, "Shu Changyan, I don't need you to do this."
He abandoned everything and lived a life of wandering; once was enough.
"What do you mean by 'like this'?" Shu Changyan's gaze remained fixed, a faint, teasing smile playing on his lips.
She paused, as if unsure how to express herself, and blinked gently: "You are not my tool."
"But your brother originally belonged to you."
Shu Changyan was charmed by her cuteness. He pinched her cheek and gave her a light peck. Not wanting her to push him away, he held her tightly and said, "...something that will always belong to you."
“You can use your things however you like.” He raised his other hand to brush the strands of hair from her forehead, lowered his head to touch her forehead, and whispered, “It would be even better if I were in your future.”
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