Chapter 37
Xia Er politely closed the door and walked straight towards You Li Si. With his left hand, he pulled out two notebooks from his bag and handed them to the silver-haired girl standing behind You Li Si. At the same time, he took You Li Si's hand with his right and pressed it against his face.
"Read it out loud," Xia Er said in a tone that was almost commanding, addressing the silver-haired girl behind You Li Si.
Hiding behind You Li Si, the silver-haired girl seemed to have gained a bit more courage, no longer appearing as timid as before. She suddenly reached out, snatched the notebooks, and retreated, saying fiercely, "Fine, I’ll read it!"
At first, You Li Si looked a bit confused, but as the silver-haired girl began to read the notes aloud, her expression grew serious.
Once the silver-haired girl finished reading, Xia Er spoke first: "I killed Thomas. I found this on him. Thomas was my enemy, and I drank the 'Avenger' potion."
Xia Er's rapid-fire explanation left You Li Si, who had been preparing to ask questions, momentarily speechless, her mouth hanging open for a while before she finally closed it.
Xia Er was like a player skipping through the plot in a second playthrough, wrapping up the situation in just a few sentences.
"Any more questions?" Xia Er asked, looking at You Li Si.
"Yes," You Li Si nodded. "Why are you holding my hand against your face?"
Xia Er: "?"
"Aren't you supposed to touch someone to sense their emotions and the truth of their words?" Xia Er asked.
"You don’t need to," You Li Si shook her head in confusion. "Just being close is enough."
Then why did you pinch my face for so long!?
Realizing he had been played, Xia Er released You Li Si's hand.
"Thank you, Your Excellency. You've helped the Church of the Savior Goddess avoid an embarrassing situation, and you've also completed a task I was supposed to handle," You Li Si said as she stood up, her expression turning serious. "May I ask what you need? I can offer a reasonable reward."
"I want to know," Xia Er said, "what exactly happened in the Bell Tower District, and whether the dehydration is caused by extraordinary powers."
"And also, what’s the deal with the collaboration between the Goddess Church and the Redemption Society?"
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Chapter 39: The Plague Bearer and the Source of Cholera (Part Three)
"You told her about the collaboration?" A white shadow emerged behind You Li Si, standing next to the silver-haired girl.
"She was choking me... Ah! I was wrong, sis!"
The white shadow's fist landed on the silver-haired girl's head, spinning it around a few times, causing her to yelp in pain.
After a while, the white shadow withdrew her fist, and You Li Si sat back down on the sofa, saying to Xia Er, "Let’s sit down and talk."
She could sense that the girl in front of her meant no harm, and the questions she wanted to ask were all related to this unknown epidemic.
"Let me introduce myself. I’m You Li Si, the High Priestess of the Church of the Savior Goddess. May I know your name?" You Li Si asked, looking at Xia Er.
"My name is Xia Er, an assistant in the investigation department of the Berun City Police, but I'm not here on behalf of the department; I'm here for myself," Xia Er introduced herself again.
"Xia Er... nice name," You Li Si said, recalling whether she had heard that name before, but no matter how hard she thought, she had no impression of it.
However, this girl named Xia Er seemed to know a bit too much about her.
She had only recently become an extraordinary being and was still clumsy in using her powers, yet she knew her name and even some of her habits and quirks...
It was as if they had met before.
"Have we met somewhere?" You Li Si couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
"Yes, in a dream," Xia Er replied directly. "You said I was a saint of another path and pulled me to the church."
"Miss Xia Er, you’re joking," You Li Si smiled and shook her head, but inside, she felt a chill.
She... wasn’t lying?
She really had that dream?
"Now, can I ask You Li Si the High Priestess to answer my questions?" Xia Er inquired, as she didn’t have much time to waste in this simulation.
"Sure," You Li Si nodded.
The "Avenger" in front of her was so concerned about this mysterious large-scale dehydration illness that You Li Si guessed it was likely because she had friends or family who had died from it, and she was preparing to seek revenge.
That fit the code of conduct for "Avengers."
After pondering her words, You Li Si began, "At first... no one realized what was happening. Twenty days ago, the church hospital admitted a dehydrated patient, but they couldn’t save him; the cause of death was acute renal failure."
"By the time I arrived at the Bell Tower Church, five people had already died in the hospital, most of them from complications caused by dehydration... such as seizures, renal failure, and shock. The hospital still didn’t realize anything was wrong."
"Fifteen days ago, when four people died from dehydration at once, they reported it, and I started contacting the church to send someone to investigate."
"But soon, investigating this matter was like opening a Pandora's box; the dehydration began to spread rapidly. The High Priestess sent to investigate was forced to halt the inquiry and report to the church, requesting external assistance..."
Hearing this, Xia Er interrupted, asking the question that had been on her mind: "Why was the investigation halted? Aren't you the temporary head of the Bell Tower Church? Aren't you in the Bell Tower District?"
Upon hearing this, You Li Si shook her head, a hint of helplessness in her brow.
"Miss Xia Er, did you come from the Bell Tower District? Did you feel anything special while you were there?" You Li Si countered.
Special feeling?
Xia Er thought for a moment and realized there was indeed something.
At home, she had felt a strong ringing in her ears, and her mind had become more agitated.
This feeling only began to fade after she left the Bell Tower District.
"Yes, I had ringing in my ears and an inexplicable excitement," Xia Er replied honestly.
"That's a side effect of the potion," You Li Si sighed and continued, "The first-tier 'Ascetic' and 'Avenger' are fine; they don’t have a strong perception of pain."
"But for higher tiers, our sensitivity to pain increases, and the current Bell Tower District is a place where all suffering converges. As long as I’m present, I can sense almost everyone’s pain. If I don’t leave soon, I’ll be driven mad by this suffering."
"On the contrary, when 'Avengers' encounter pain, they tend to enjoy it more and are more likely to lose their sanity. If they can’t resist the whispers in their ears, they will become butchers under the endless torment."
So that’s why I had ringing in my ears...
"This illness... was it created by an extraordinary being?" Xia Er asked.
"Very likely," You Li Si nodded. "We suspect this is a meticulously planned resurrection ritual, specifically chosen to take place in the Church of the Savior Goddess's territory, preventing us from intervening... We can only ask the Redemption Society to investigate."
The silver-haired girl behind You Li Si leaned forward and interjected, "It’s very likely the 'Plague Bearer' is ascending to become the 'Source of Cholera'! Many people are going to die!"
Plague Bearer? Ascending to become the Source of Cholera?
What tier is that? Speaking of which, how many tiers are there for extraordinary beings?
These questions were completely beyond Xia Er's knowledge. She hadn’t had the chance to ask Ai Wei Na about this before; her previous inquiries had all been about her own safety.
Perhaps sensing the confusion in Xia Er's heart, You Li Si directly asked, "Miss Xia Er, you performed the ritual with the potion you drank yourself, right? Your understanding of the extraordinary comes solely from these two notebooks?"
"Pretty much," Xia Er nodded.
"Below the Transcendent, there are five tiers. The ritual that Adele mentioned is the ceremony for ascending from the second tier to the third tier," You Li Si explained.
"Second tier... how powerful is that?" Xia Er had no concept of the hierarchy of extraordinary powers. She only knew that after her ascension, no matter how strong an ordinary person was, they wouldn’t stand a chance in hand-to-hand combat against her, yet she could still die from a gunshot.
Adele seized every opportunity to jab at Xia Er: "Strong enough to take on ten of you!"
"In a situation where both sides are well-prepared, a first-tier against a second-tier truly has no chance," You Li Si acknowledged what Adele said, just phrasing it more delicately.
"I’ve told you everything you wanted to know, Miss Xia Er... By the way, are you interested in the Church of the Savior Goddess? I can offer you a baptism." You Li Si looked at Xia Er, her expression softening.
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