Chapter 71: Message

Chapter 71: Message

“If the Dark Demonic Wolf truly is preparing the ritual for Attendant of Mysteries, then His whereabouts are not completely impossible to trace…” Klein slowly nodded, certain blurry ideas already forming in his mind, though he still could not truly organize them into shape.

Instinctively, he wanted to rely on the soil that had been contaminated by that piece of “curtain” and directly divine the item’s location, thereby locking onto the current hiding place of the Dark Demonic Wolf. But considering that the other party was an angel, there was a high probability that doing so would alarm Him, making Him vigilant and prompting Him to avoid detection. Klein rationally gave up on the idea and returned to the real world, bitterly pondering the entire matter’s plan.

The next day, as the frequency of lightning gradually increased, another group of Moon City residents arrived beside Gehrman Sparrow’s campfire under the leadership of a priest named Duke. They came to listen to him preach, enjoy mushrooms, and wait for purification.

After one Moon City resident after another accepted baptism and wept uncontrollably, Klein looked around and asked in a seemingly casual tone, “The Sun God had you guard this place and pay attention to whether anyone walked out from the fog?”

“Yes.” Duke, whose severe swelling had been cured, knew that the High Priest had already mentioned this matter to the god’s envoy before him. He answered quite frankly.

Klein nodded lightly and followed the topic with another question:

“If you truly discovered someone walking out from the fog, what would you do?”

Duke did not hesitate. He answered straightforwardly, “Immediately recite the great Sun God’s honorific name and report this matter to Him…”

As he spoke, his tone became extremely low. By the end, he could almost no longer form words, because that Sun God, that Creator, had stopped giving responses more than two thousand years ago. Even though Moon City had again and again held the most complete rituals and repeatedly recited His honorific name, they had never received the slightest feedback.

“What else?” Klein keenly pressed.

This was both a revelation from his spiritual intuition and, to a certain extent, a result of reasoning. Clearly, the ancient Sun God—the Creator of the City of Silver—would not have failed to consider one possibility: that the person who walked out from the grayish-white fog might be extremely careful and cautious, might dislike being watched or monitored, and after discovering a Moon City patrol team, might tend to use Beyonder powers to affect their minds, making them forget they had seen him and forget to recite the honorific name.

Faced with such a situation, the ancient Sun God should have made certain arrangements.

Of course, this was not absolute. If Amon’s father had been able to accurately foresee that the person walking out from the grayish-white fog would be a novice, then there would have been no need to say much in the oracle.

However, considering that this ancient Sun God, the Creator of the City of Silver, had even predicted incorrectly where he would emerge from the grayish-white fog, Klein remained doubtful of that possibility.

Duke thought for a moment, then hesitated before saying, “Welcome that person, and tell him a word.”

Klein’s spirit immediately stirred. Outwardly, his expression remained completely unchanged.

“What word?”

Duke’s lips moved a few times, seemingly rehearsing the pronunciation. Then, in a strange accent, he said, “Chernobyl.”

…

Klein’s mind froze for one second. Then he gave a soundless sigh.

…

Loen Kingdom, East Chester County, inside a woodland.

Farmers from nearby villages gathered there, picking strange mushrooms that grew all over tree roots, rotten wood, and shrubs.

According to the kingdom’s laws, this woodland and everything growing within it should belong to its owner, Miss Audrey Hall. However, the prolonged war, the grain requisitions, and the crushing taxes had left the farmers no longer able to worry about breaking the law. That was something to consider only if one first survived. Besides, once enough people joined in, courage naturally grew.

They formed small teams and efficiently picked the mushrooms, some covered in golden specks and others marked by fat-like marbling. They divided them into two portions: a small portion kept for their own consumption, and a larger portion to be sold to the grain merchant waiting outside the forest in exchange for gold pounds, with which they could purchase salt, cloth, and other necessities.

These farmers did not go too far. Apart from the mushrooms, they only took a portion of the fruits hanging from the trees, leaving the woodland’s caretakers enough harvest to turn in.

In only two or three hours, the farmers sold large quantities of mushrooms and fruit, tucked away their gold pounds, carried their food, and returned to their villages with smiles across their faces.

To them, everything that had happened today had been exactly what they themselves had wanted to do, and they had achieved their intended goal.

The bearded grain merchant was equally delighted, because this was an unexpected harvest. Under the current circumstances, it would earn him a great profit.

He brought his workers along and had the large amounts of mushrooms and fruit moved to a processing point outside the city. There, they were handled accordingly, then all placed into a warehouse.

As a meticulous merchant, after dismissing his workers, he inspected the warehouse again. Only after confirming there were no mistakes did he personally close and lock the door.

Just then, he saw a thick stack of cash lying on the ground, all in ten-pound denominations.

“When did I drop so much money?” The grain merchant bent down with relief and picked up the stack of banknotes.

As he counted them, he suddenly remembered where the money had come from:

It was the profit from selling the mushroom powder, dried mushrooms, and preserved fruit he had just processed!

“What a rich profit!” the bearded merchant exclaimed in satisfaction, then turned and left the warehouse.

Inside the warehouse, Audrey, wearing a pale-blue long dress, released her Psychological Invisibility and took out a black pouch.

This was the Traveler’s Bag she had rented from Judgment Xio.

Then Audrey, her blond hair simply pinned up, easily poured sacks of grain into the black pouch.

After finishing all this, she took out a hard-shelled copper-green notebook and flipped to the page Recording Teleportation.

This was Leymano’s Travels, borrowed from Magician Forsi.

As for everything that had happened earlier, it had all been secretly Manipulated by Audrey.

First, she had taken the rapidly reproducing mushrooms provided by Madam Hermit and fed them to animals throughout the woodland. With their help, she had “planted” them all in suitable places. Next, she had influenced the farmers in nearby villages on a broad scale, strengthening the desires in their hearts so they could overcome their fear of the law. As for that grain merchant and his workers, they had just “happened” to pass by and discover the matter.

This sort of Manipulation of human hearts could easily become intoxicating, as though one were master of all spirits. Yet Audrey did not smile at all. Instead, she sighed softly.

“It still isn’t enough… still far, far from enough…”

The mushrooms she had obtained were not the type Little Sun had spoken of, ones capable of feeding on monster flesh to grow and reproduce. They required enough nutrients from the environment to grow quickly. Therefore, this woodland could not be planted with another batch of mushrooms in the short term. Otherwise, it might very likely turn into a desert.

Gazing at those sack after sack that had gone empty, Audrey’s emerald eyes flickered, and thoughts she could hardly restrain rose within her:

“Large quantities of grain are concentrated in the hands of the Church, the royal family, the military, the government, the nobles, and major merchants…

“Feysac, Intis, and Feynapotter also have grain, but relying only on the Traveler’s Bag, who knows how many trips I would have to make…

“Manipulating nobles, major merchants, and military personnel is very dangerous. One careless mistake and I could be discovered…

“If the situation had not deteriorated to this point, perhaps I would never have known that some people could have such sides to them…

“Different environments and circumstances cause each person to wear a different persona mask. I must pay attention to that in the future…”

As her thoughts raced, Audrey, lacking experience in handling this kind of matter, decided to ask Mr. World over the next two days and see what suggestions he might have.

Because The World Gehrman Sparrow had long traveled alone through the deserted Forsaken Land of the Gods, surrounded by darkness and despair, Audrey had suggested that he regularly seek psychological consultation with her. It did not necessarily have to treat anything. Simply speaking casually could effectively relieve that repression, loneliness, and distress.

Gehrman Sparrow had followed the doctor’s advice. And through their conversations, Audrey learned that apart from consulting her, this powerful adventurer would also from time to time chat with Mr. Star above the gray fog. His emotional state remained quite good.

Having made her decision, Audrey was about to activate Travel and return to Backlund.

But in the next thought, a little dejection rose in her again.

Because she knew that even if she gathered a large quantity of food, she could only let Backlund’s residents rest easy for a period of time. If the war did not end, the situation would still worsen.

“War…” Audrey closed her eyes briefly, completely unsure how she could possibly stop it.

She had heard Madam Hermit say before that the essence of this war was very likely a war between gods. And the prelude to a war between gods was always the same: spending a certain amount of time and power to shake the opponent’s anchors.

After thinking for a while, Audrey pressed her lips together and decided to begin with what she could do.

As that page of the notebook emitted a hazy glow, her figure swiftly turned transparent and vanished.

…

Beside the quietly burning campfire, after sending off the Moon City “visitors,” Klein could not help recalling certain words once spoken by the Blasphemer, Amon.

He had said that Chernobyl contained the history He wished to seek, as well as many clues to all kinds of matters.

The ancient Sun God had also specifically emphasized “Chernobyl”… As thoughts surged through his mind, Klein suddenly felt an impulse to explore Chernobyl.

It could not truly be called an impulse. It was something he had always wanted to do. He had merely not dared put it into practice because of Amon.

I traveled east for more than half a year. No one could possibly expect me to suddenly descend upon Chernobyl now… Amon has obtained the final Worm of Time Beyonder characteristic and is preparing His ritual. His main body cannot still be holed up in Chernobyl… Mm, He is a King of Angels with tremendous patience. Perhaps He has an avatar waiting at Chernobyl all this time… Klein analyzed the current situation and decided to let a projection from the gaps of history give it a try.

In any case, his true body would absolutely not go there directly!

After making up his mind, Klein first went above the gray fog and performed a divination. Then he returned to the real world, reached forward, and dragged out the version of himself from five minutes ago.

As his true body disappeared, this historical projection gained consciousness. Immediately afterward, he reached into the air several times and took out the black cane inlaid with numerous gemstones.

The Staff of the Stars!

Klein intended to use the Staff of the Stars’ ability to directly “Teleport” to Chernobyl!