Chapter 14
"Such a beautiful little girl..." The masked figure smiled, lifting the hood trimmed with white silver threads, allowing a cascade of silvery, slightly curled hair to spill out.
She withdrew her hands, placing them on her mask, and deftly removed it, revealing a face as exquisitely carved as a statue. However, her eyes remained tightly shut, never opening even after the mask was taken off, giving her an air of purity that was both holy and endearing.
Upon reflection, it seemed the mask had no openings for the eyes.
"Let me introduce myself. I am Yulisi, Yulisi Mora, the High Priestess of the Goddess of Salvation."
It really is High Priestess Yulisi... Shaer pondered as she gazed at the beautiful face.
According to the descriptions in the research notes by Du Wen, Shaer had always imagined the High Priestess as an older, stern woman, rigid in her dogma yet lacking in pretension. She never expected to see a girl who looked to be around seventeen, full of youthful vigor.
"My name is Shaer." Shaer slightly bowed her head in respect.
At first, she thought the person might be some kind of pervert, coming up to her and hugging her directly, even touching her face. But once the mask was removed, Shaer felt relieved.
It turned out the person was blind, not a pervert at all.
"Pastor Mei'er, could you take us to the small chapel in the side aisle? I have some questions for this girl," Yulisi said, turning her gaze toward Pastor Mei'er.
"At your service."
Mei'er led Yulisi toward the side aisle, with Shaer nervously following behind. As for her revolver, it remained on the prayer bench outside.
As they passed through the side aisle, Mei'er opened one of the doors, revealing a small chapel.
This was typically a place for important figures to offer private prayers, used for personal supplications and small ceremonies. The room was carpeted, with a small altar and a statue of the goddess at its center, creating a rather intimate space.
Once Yulisi and Shaer entered, Mei'er closed the door behind them, and instantly, the small chapel fell silent, leaving only the sound of their breathing.
"Could you take me to the bench over there?" Yulisi smiled and extended her hand toward Shaer.
"Sure." Shaer nodded, taking Yulisi's hand and guiding her to the prayer bench in front of the altar, watching her sit down.
"Come, sit beside me." Yulisi tugged at Shaer, indicating for her to sit next to her.
Once Shaer was settled, Yulisi suddenly spoke, "Let me take a good look at you."
Shaer: "?"
In that moment, she overturned her earlier impression of "she's not a pervert."
"You've already seen me," Shaer replied lightly.
"Through touch, I can sense what lies within your heart, feel your pain..." Yulisi lowered her head slightly, her expression dimming. "I'm sorry, it's just that I can't see..."
"Alright..." Seeing Yulisi's demeanor, a flicker of guilt rose within Shaer.
It wasn't that Shaer discriminated against the disabled or sought to expose her scars; it was just that she found it hard to associate an extraordinary being with someone who was blind. She instinctively thought of Yulisi as someone with powers beyond the ordinary, rather than a typical disabled person.
Shaer took Yulisi's slender wrist and placed her hands on her own cheeks.
Then she watched as Yulisi placed her hands there, using her fingers and thumbs to gently pinch the soft flesh of Shaer's cheeks, squeezing them playfully.
This was quite the game.
Shaer: "..."
"High Priestess, what do you want to ask me?" Shaer spoke lightly, already labeling Yulisi as a bit eccentric in her mind.
"Ah, quite a few things." Yulisi continued to knead Shaer's face as she spoke. "Why did you bring a gun to the church? Why do I sense a pain in you as if you've died several times? And how do you know my name?"
"The gun is just for my own protection. As for the last part, I can't really explain it," Shaer gently shook her head, then glanced at her canvas bag before continuing, "As for the other question, you'll understand once you see this."
Shaer reached into her bag and pulled out the two notebooks, handing them to Yulisi.
"Mm-hmm..." Yulisi released her right hand, using her left to continue pinching Shaer's cheeks while her right hand reached for the notebooks.
When she touched Thomas's diary, her expression was neutral, but when she felt Du Wen's research notes, her previously smiling face suddenly froze.
Yulisi finally released her grip on Shaer's cheeks and took the research notebook, carefully caressing its leather cover and tracing the gilded letters on it.
"Could you read it to me, Miss Shaer?" Yulisi held the research notebook with both hands, solemnly presenting it to Shaer, her expression serious, no longer playful.
### Chapter 13: The Path of Survival That Won't Be Exposed
Having already read through it once, Shaer only picked out some important parts to share.
Yulisi listened in silence, and by the end, she let out a soft sigh.
"If I hadn't been reassigned, he wouldn't have gone so far astray..." Yulisi's voice was slightly hoarse as she placed her right hand over her heart and bowed her head, as if in prayer.
Shaer didn't interrupt her, simply waiting for her to speak.
After a long moment, Yulisi lifted her face toward Shaer and asked, "Is that the end of the notes?"
"Yes," Shaer nodded.
"Did he switch diaries?" Remembering that Shaer had another notebook, Yulisi continued to inquire, "What does the other notebook say?"
"No, he didn't continue recording himself. The other notebook belongs to someone else," Shaer replied.
"Someone else?" Yulisi's expression showed a hint of confusion.
"His name is Thomas..."
Shaer succinctly summarized the contents of the diary. As she spoke, Yulisi's brow furrowed tightly, not relaxing even once.
When Shaer finished recounting the key points, Yulisi finally spoke: "Du Wen was killed, but the things he left behind continue to inflict pain on others... How did you get these two notebooks?"
At first, Yulisi was speaking to herself, but as the conversation progressed, her focus shifted to Shaer.
"The spiritual notes are the most important things for extraordinary beings. Although Thomas was just a half-baked practitioner, he clearly wouldn't have given you this evidence of his crimes." Yulisi paused before continuing, "On the way to the side chapel, I sensed your murderous intent toward me."
Shaer remained silent. She wasn't surprised that Yulisi would suspect her, as she had no way to explain how she obtained the two notebooks that were copied by the system.
Since a clumsy lie would likely not fool her, Shaer had planned from the start to tell the truth.
Just a half-truth, anyway; once the simulation was over, no one would remember what she had said.
"I saw the future," Shaer said, looking seriously at Yulisi. "In the future, High Priestess Yulisi, you told my corpse about this, and when I woke from the dream, I found these two notebooks by my bedside."
Yulisi: "..."
Yulisi: "?"
She slowly reached out her hand to touch the girl's forehead.
No fever, huh?
A little girl without any extraordinary abilities claims she can see the future?
Moreover, Yulisi didn't sense any deceit in the girl before her.
Either she was a madwoman, or everything she said was true.
"How can you prove you can see the future?" Yulisi withdrew her right hand.
Shaer: "At 4:45 AM today, Thomas will meet with the leader of the Blackwater Party at the Hammer Tavern. There, Thomas will perform the final re-enactment ritual of the 'Instigator,' and I will die there."
Yulisi: "You're the sacrifice?"
Shaer: "Yes."
Yulisi: "How did I find out? I just arrived in Boren City, and my investigation won't officially start until tomorrow. Besides, how can I tell you what I said if you're dead?"
Shaer: "I wasn't completely dead yet. You arrived just in time at the end of the ritual, killed them, and after discovering their notes, you felt so guilty that you decided to leave a hundred thousand pounds as compensation for my sister."
As Yulisi listened to Shaer, her heart raced more and more, for she sensed no lies from the girl across from her.
It was as if every event the beautiful girl named Shaer described had been experienced firsthand. If it weren't for that last sentence, which hinted at a lie, Yulisi would have doubted her own perception.
This girl... seems to really be able to see the future...
The shock of this revelation far exceeded the incident she was currently investigating.
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