Chapter 78
The wooden door creaked open, and at that moment, Ji Di felt a flicker of doubt in her mind.
Had the red of this carpet always been so deep?
Before Ji Di could sort through her thoughts, the door swung wide, and she had no choice but to cast aside her confusion and drag the sack inside.
The kerosene lamp cast a long shadow as Ji Di moved forward, half-kneeling beneath that silhouette.
“Your Excellency, I’ve brought the person you requested.”
Ji Di steadied her heavy breathing, took a deep breath, and continued, “I’m sorry, Your Excellency, for not keeping my promise and arriving late. I have let down the Mother Goddess’s expectations.”
She hurriedly confessed her fault, hoping to earn the bishop’s forgiveness.
“Yulisi.”
The bishop stood under the flickering light, speaking slowly.
“Inside the sack.”
Ji Di quickly reached out, loosening the sack’s opening, and flipped it over, dumping its contents onto the floor.
Yulisi, once a figure of grace, tumbled out, her body now a broken mess.
Her legs were clearly twisted at unnatural angles. Struggling, Yulisi pushed herself up with her hands, dragging her body backward until her back hit the iron bars behind her.
“Heretic…”
Yulisi’s pupils were a dull gray, staring blankly into the empty space ahead, gasping as she cursed.
“Where you can speak…”
Ji Di was about to say something when she caught a glimpse of the bishop raising his right hand out of the corner of her eye. She immediately fell silent.
Though she knew the proceedings no longer concerned her, she still wanted to retort and show her loyalty.
Xia Er walked slowly to Yulisi, crouching down.
While she felt deep sympathy for Yulisi’s plight, there was nothing she could do. This was a simulation, and Xia Er was merely fulfilling her ritual to gain power for self-preservation.
In this simulation, Yulisi would have to endure a little.
Next time, she would take her revenge.
“Heretic, I can give you a chance to defend yourself,” Xia Er said, looking at Yulisi. “You can use this opportunity to explain why you refused to worship the Mother Goddess and chose to oppose her.”
“...A bunch of lunatics, I have nothing to say to you.”
Yulisi turned her face toward Xia Er, her expression filled with indignation.
For a moment, Xia Er felt as if this scene was like a cutscene triggered after a female priest’s defeat, and according to the rhythm of the game, the next part would lead directly into the humiliation segment.
“You’re too arrogant… child.”
Xia Er reached out, gently lifting Yulisi’s chin, and chuckled, “Your sister is much more obedient than you.”
Yulisi’s face, once defiant, crumbled at the mention of “sister,” her expression shifting to one of shock.
“Don’t you dare touch my sister!”
Yulisi spat through gritted teeth at the bishop before her.
“Adele.”
Xia Er released her grip and snapped her fingers lightly. “Recite the prayer of the Holy Assembly for me.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
Adele’s voice was hoarse as she lowered her head, passing by Xia Er to kneel beside Yulisi.
“A… Adele?”
Yulisi reached out tremblingly, unable to believe she was reaching toward the source of Adele’s voice, until her fingers brushed against the scarred face.
“Adele… is that you? How could you…”
The strong facade Yulisi had maintained shattered in an instant, tears streaming down her face as she caressed her sister’s cheek, murmuring, “No… no, no…”
And Adele, with an expressionless face, began, “In the endless darkness, I call upon you… Sadana…”
“In the rifts of time and space, your existence transcends all…”
“Adele…”
Yulisi’s emotions were on the brink of collapse.
She couldn’t believe that her sister, who had always followed her closely, had been captured by the Holy Assembly.
She didn’t even understand why the Holy Assembly dared to directly seize a high priest of the Savior Goddess Church and a physician of the Redemption Society.
It was tantamount to declaring war on Boren City.
“Turn from darkness to light, Yulisi.”
Xia Er spoke slowly, “In the embrace of the Mother Goddess, you can still reunite with your sister.”
“You’re dreaming…”
Yulisi gasped, looking up at Xia Er. “You think you can use Adele to threaten me? If Adele still has her senses, she’d rather let me kill her than recite these filthy prayers here!”
“Don’t push your luck, heretic!”
Ji Di stepped forward, rebuking Yulisi’s words.
“Your sins are too deep…”
Xia Er shook her head, reaching for her pistol from its holster.
“Profaning the Mother Goddess’s hymns, that’s one.”
Click—
Xia Er aimed the gun at her own temple and pulled the trigger, the cylinder spinning.
“Reversing the heavenly order and calling us heretics, that’s two.”
Click—
“Refusing to repent despite the pleas of your own kin, betraying your family, that’s three.”
Click—
The silver revolver in Xia Er’s hand began to emit a faint blue glow.
The absurd charges flowed from Xia Er’s lips, sounding ridiculous, yet from the perspective of the Holy Assembly, they were all too valid.
At least Ji Di was enjoying the show.
By the time Xia Er recited the fifth charge, the cylinder of her revolver began to swirl with storm clouds.
“I declare you guilty, Yulisi.”
Xia Er slowly raised the gun, aiming it at Yulisi, and asked, “Do you know your crimes?”
Feeling the electric charge in the air that made her hair stand on end, Yulisi’s heart had already turned to ash.
She no longer cared about what the person before her was saying, simply stating flatly, “I am guilty… just kill me.”
As long as she died, the Savior Goddess Church would thoroughly investigate Boren City… this was the most likely way to save her sister.
If she survived and was brainwashed into becoming a cultist, there would be no hope left.
Xia Er’s hand holding the gun paused slightly, then she thought for a moment and asked, “High Priest Yulisi, does this count as completing the heretic trial process in the ‘Judgment’ potion?”
For a moment, the entire room fell into a dead silence.
Yulisi: “?”
Ji Di: “?”
“Your Excellency… what are you talking about…”
Boom—!
Xia Er raised her hand, pointing the gun at Ji Di, the bullet roaring like thunder, flashing with electric light and sparks as it shot toward Ji Di’s head.
Ji Di, exhausted from her struggle with Yulisi, barely had time to turn her face; the bullet shattered half of her face.
The overwhelming instinct to survive left Ji Di unable to even scream. She stumbled back, crashing into the wooden door, and as she burst through it, she staggered down the corridor toward the private prayer room at the end.
That bishop… something was off!
She had to… survive… to leave a message for… the next bishop…
That private prayer room had once been Ji Di’s dedicated space, containing a special array of residual information. As long as she left her blood in the array, the members of the Holy Assembly could directly see all the scenes she had witnessed in her life!
“Adele, take her to meet the Mother Goddess.”
Xia Er turned to Adele, speaking softly, “Priest Ji Di has betrayed the Holy Assembly; I am the bishop… you should know whom to trust.”
Becoming a cultist didn’t seem to have made Adele any smarter. After a moment’s thought, she nodded and dashed out.
When Adele reached the end of the corridor, she saw Ji Di kneeling before the door of the private prayer room, her face a mask of disbelief, despair, and terror.
Before her lay a mountain of corpses, blood soaking the carpet beneath her feet. With each step, she could feel the viscous blood being squeezed out of the wool carpet, making a “sizzle” sound.
Before her was a hell on earth.
She heard the sizzling footsteps approaching, and Ji Di swayed, turning to see Adele charging at her, wielding a black-silver hook that was the length of her forearm.
That was the very instrument of torture Ji Di had given to Adele.
No… that bishop is a traitor! She’s the traitor! No way! You can’t harbor hostility toward me! Impossible!
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