Chapter 50-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
Hearing Wen Xin's solemn words, Ye Zheng couldn't help but press her fingers to her lips and let out a light laugh.
No wonder Wen De and Wen Xin's relationship seems to have improved a lot. Wen Xin has decided to walk the same path as Wen De.
Ye Zheng blinked, a strange feeling in her heart. Because of her, many people had embarked on a path with an unknown yet promising future.
"Then I'll be counting on you, Wen Xin."
A slight movement came from beside her. Ye Zheng turned her head and saw that the unconscious woman was showing signs of waking up.
Seeing this, Wen De stood up from his chair, pulled the still somewhat excited Wen Xin out of the room, and thoughtfully left a private space for the Saintess.
The young woman sat up from the bed. Seeing the concerned girl looking at her, she was suddenly startled.
"How strange. Why are you so afraid every time you see me?"
Ye Zheng tilted her head. She was genuinely a bit puzzled. She was clearly a very kind and gentle-looking person.
"Are you this afraid when you see the Pope?"
Hearing the girl's casual question, the young woman shrank back, muttering, "The P-Pope? You're the Saintess Ye Zheng, the Pope's person..."
Ye Zheng leaned over and grabbed the woman's trembling hand. The young woman was stunned by the young person's forceful action and looked up at the Saintess's approaching face.
"I am not the Pope's person. I am the only one who can help you escape from the Pope's grasp."
"I risked exposing myself to personally save you. Now, it's your turn to tell me who you are."
The young woman was stunned for a long time before slowly exhaling a breath of air. Her voice was still a bit unsteady. "My name is Zoya, and I live on Hucheng Street in the west district of the lower district."
Zoya poured out her entire life story in almost one breath. Her words were a bit jumbled, but Ye Zheng didn't interrupt her, listening with great patience.
"After graduating from school, I went to work at a factory near my home, processing protective gear, the kind you ability users wear. Then my right hand accidentally got caught in a machine, and I lost half of my arm."
Zoya's face twitched, as if the heart-wrenching pain of that day was still fresh in her memory.
"The factory said it was all due to my carelessness and didn't give me any compensation. For such a serious injury, ordinary doctors and low-rank healing ability users couldn't treat it, and I couldn't afford a high-rank one. I couldn't work, and no one would want to marry me."
"Luckily... no, I don't know if it was lucky, but someone treated me."
Ye Zheng looked down at Zoya's smooth right arm. Not only were there no scars, but it was also exceptionally fair and delicate, not like the hand of a laborer from the lower district, but more like that of a noble lady from the upper district.
For this level of healing, Ye Zheng could only think of one person.
"That person was the Pope. He saved you with his ability, [Hand of Spring]."
"It was a year ago, when the Pope held a public event in the lower district, you attended."
Ye Zheng immediately recalled that a year ago, the Pope had held a grand event in the lower district. To demonstrate the mercy and love of the God of Hope, he led other clergy members to personally provide free medical treatment for the people of the lower district, causing the whole city to be empty.
Compared to the royal family, the people didn't have much resentment towards the Sei Curia, even though the Sei Curia collected land and taxes every year under various ridiculous pretexts.
Ye Zheng was also there that day. She was so busy with the free clinic that she didn't have the mind to pay attention to what the Pope was doing. It was just another superficial event to stabilize public opinion and assert their presence. Ye Zheng was used to the Pope's tactics.
Zoya nodded, her expression extremely complicated as she recalled that day.
"I thought I had witnessed a miracle from God. His hand didn't hesitate to touch my ugly stump, and then, my hand grew out like a sprouting branch!"
Ye Zheng had seen the legendary [Hand of Spring], said to be able to bring the dead back to life and regenerate flesh on white bones, many times. She had to admit that the Pope's healing ability was far superior to hers, truly worthy of an S-rank healer.
"Since this was a year ago, why is he looking for you now?" And with something as top-secret as a dragon bone inside her.
Zoya lowered her head, her fair right hand clutching the bedsheet tightly. "Because I begged him to take me with him at the time. To repay his kindness, I would do anything for him."
She could still recall how, after she blurted out those presumptuous words, the gentle and lofty man had shown a strange smile. His dark brown pupils darkened, making her flinch for a moment.
Ye Zheng knew the main point was coming. She leaned forward, waiting for Zoya to continue.
"He had me do some cleaning at his private residence. It was much easier than working in the factory. The others were very nice to me because I was brought by the Pope. It's just that the Pope would occasionally have me help him practice his ability."
"Practice his ability?"
"He used his ability to heal all my old injuries, big and small. I was so happy and grateful, my body felt reborn. Then he asked me if I wanted to become an ability user."
"I was flattered at the time. Most people awaken their abilities at the age of 12. At my age, how could I possibly be an ability user? I've also never heard of a way to turn an ordinary person into an ability user."
Connecting this to the object on Zoya, Ye Zheng almost immediately guessed how the Pope had done it.
That guy, Wen Jian, had embedded a dragon bone fragment from who knows where into Zoya's body. He possessed a dragon bone, so he must know that it could enhance an ability user's power. To further experiment, he even used an ordinary person as a test subject.
"Did you agree?" Ye Zheng asked.
"I was a little scared, but as the high and mighty Pope, he had personally helped me so much. I didn't want to refuse him."
"Was the experiment successful?" Ye Zheng continued to ask.
"...It probably failed. I fell asleep during the experiment, and when I woke up, my body seemed unchanged. He didn't ask about me for several days."
Ye Zheng recalled that Zoya seemed to have an unusual regenerative ability. Perhaps the experiment didn't fail; her ability was just too subtle.
"I thought I had disappointed him, so I went to him to apologize, but I overheard something."
"So I ran away."
Zoya suddenly started to be vague about certain things. Ye Zheng narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Zoya, I am not your enemy. Even if you hide the truth, the Pope won't let you go because of it."
The young woman looked as if a sore spot had been hit. She turned her head away, but Ye Zheng had already sensed something from her state and frowned.
The Pope clearly wanted to take her life, yet Zoya's tone when describing the Pope carried a hint of fear, but not much resentment, and even a faint trace of nostalgia.
Zoya gritted her teeth. "I can't say. Do you know about the Oath-Binder by the Pope's side? I was discovered eavesdropping. He said that as long as I swore to the Oath-Binder not to tell, he would treat me as he always had."
Ye Zheng knew of the Oath-Binder, a man by the Pope's side with a peculiar binding power. It was said that if anyone spoke while his ability was active, they would immediately suffocate and die if they ever went against those words, no matter when or where.
Apart from the Pope, no one had ever seen the Oath-Binder's face or knew his specific identity. Therefore, those who knew of the Oath-Binder's existence were extremely careful in front of the Pope. It was said he had used this method to control many people.
However, he had never used the Oath-Binder to control her. Perhaps in his eyes, she wasn't even worth the effort of controlling.
"But he also broke his promise, didn't he?"
Ye Zheng watched Zoya's dazed face.
"Perhaps he thought about it for a few days and finally decided to eliminate the threat completely. I wasn't worthy of his trust..."
Ye Zheng lowered her eyelids, a trace of indifference in her eyes. Wen Jian was gentle on the surface but ruthless and suspicious in reality. He must have had the intention to kill Zoya the moment he discovered she had overheard his secret. He only let her live for a few more days for the sake of the experiment, for observation.
Her mentioning that the Pope broke his promise wasn't to emphasize his heartlessness to Zoya. According to Zoya's description, the Pope had also sworn an oath in front of the Oath-Binder, yet he could break his own word at will. Perhaps there was a mechanism to break this ability.
The girl's dark eyes stared straight at the woman in front of her, making Zoya shrink back instinctively.
More troublesome than the Oath-Binder's deathly bond was the mark and imprisonment the Pope had left in Zoya's heart. Ye Zheng couldn't even judge which parts of Zoya's words were credible. She seemed to still hold out hope for the Pope.
Ye Zheng stood up from the bedside and said no more, leaving the room under Zoya's wistful gaze.
Wen De, who was waiting outside the door, walked over and asked, "Did you get what you wanted?"
"It's a bit troublesome. Let's go for now."
After bidding farewell to Wen Xin, Ye Zheng took her umbrella and left, once again stepping into the narrow and chaotic streets.
The black umbrella opened like a suddenly blooming rose in the fine rain. Ye Zheng unconsciously twirled the umbrella, her gaze vacant as she stared at the flowing water on the ground.
"Wen Jian is really... always so disgusting. I'm starting to feel a little sick."
She lifted the umbrella, revealing an expressionless face.
"His men are here again. Kill them all, Wen De."
Since she had already started, she might as well be thorough and not leave any threat to Wen Xin and that woman.
"Yes, my lord."
Pale, slender bone spurs shuttled through a strange, counter-flowing stream of water, like a white python lurking in the dark, capable of a single, fatal strike.
*
The black-haired, blue-eyed youth walked through the empty streets in the fine rain, his expression somewhat blank.
Percy clenched his fists. He couldn't ignore it, couldn't ignore that blood-colored Demonic Domain that was identical to the one in his nightmares.
I'll just go take a look. Even though he couldn't do anything. The several powerful ability users sent by the higher-ups in the past few days had all disappeared without a trace. With his current ability, he could probably only watch helplessly, just like when he was a child.
In his numb state, Percy suddenly looked up. His nostrils flared. He smelled a faint scent of blood. Was it from the Demonic Domain nearby, or somewhere else?
Noticing something was wrong, his pace quickened. He accidentally bumped into someone emerging from the intersection on the left, knocking their umbrella out of their hand.
"I'm sorry... Ye... Lady Saintess?"
Percy's expression froze for a moment before he dared to confirm that the person in front of him was Ye Zheng, the Saintess who was always in a pure white dress with a gentle demeanor.
The girl in front of him was dressed in sleek black clothes, her ankle-length black hair tied in a high ponytail. It seemed that, like him, she hadn't yet registered the situation, and her expression was unusually cold.
It was the first time he had seen her like this, like a black blade tinged with the scent of blood, a completely different aura from the usual Saintess.
The scent of blood? Percy looked at Ye Zheng sharply.
Ye Zheng picked up the fallen umbrella. Seeing this, a trace of apology crossed Percy's face. When Ye Zheng's lips curled into a helpless smile as she looked at him, it was as if the most familiar Saintess had returned.
"Can you keep this a secret for me?"
"Neither the Sei Curia nor my family knows I'm out here. But, I can't help but care about that..."
Ye Zheng's gaze, filled with a sorrowful emotion, looked towards the blood-colored Demonic Domain in the distance. This was the direction Percy was heading. He really was going to that place. She had guessed correctly.
Percy's heart skipped a beat. So, she was the same as him.
Just like their meeting in the cemetery last time, this time, a magical fate had brought them together again.
He stared at Ye Zheng, speechless for a moment, then nodded very solemnly. Both today's different Saintess and her secretly coming to observe this Demonic Domain that resembled a blood flower were a secret that belonged only to the two of them.
"Do you... want to go with me?" Percy asked slowly, a hint of nervousness on his face.
"No need. I just came from there. You should head back early too. It's dangerous here."
The men sent by the Pope had been completely killed by her. If Percy wandered around so conspicuously, he could easily be identified as a suspect.
Ye Zheng advised him with good intentions.
Percy's expression relaxed a little. No wonder there was a scent of blood on Ye Zheng; she had already been there.
"No, like you, I have to go there."
He bid farewell to Ye Zheng with regret.
Ye Zheng watched the boy's figure disappear, then turned to Wen De, who was hidden in the shadows. "Let's wait. We'll go there after he has completely left."
Confirming Percy's departing back, Wen De nodded and retracted the bone spurs that had been ready to strike from the shadows.
Comments
Post a Comment