Chapter 110-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
"...Hello, I got lost and ended up here by accident. Could you tell me what place this is?"
In the empty hall, the elderly woman stiffly propped up her body in its black robe, staring with slightly cloudy eyes, her downturned mouth twitching faintly as if desperately suppressing fear.
Seeing this, Ye Zheng took a step forward and changed her question: "Then, could you tell me your name?"
The aged nun still kept her lips pursed, saying nothing.
"Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ye Zheng—perhaps you've heard the name."
Ye Zheng raised a gentle smile, her dark eyes unblinking as they roamed the nun's face.
"Ye Zheng... Ye Zheng... Saintess Ye Zheng?"
The old nun muttered the name a few times before suddenly recalling what it signified. The fear on her face receded somewhat, revealing a touch of the kindness belonging to her age.
"Ah, how did you end up here, my lady? This place, this... Did His Holiness the Pope send you?"
Ye Zheng had intended to go along with the old nun's words and use Wen Jian as an excuse once more, but when the reply reached her lips, she switched to another phrasing.
"I accompanied Crown Prince Sykes to investigate the West District situation and was attacked by Zhou Yun midway. She must be the one who sent me here."
"Now, can you tell me what's happened here?"
Before the girl's words had even finished, the old nun staggered back a few steps, shaking her head and shouting, "Zhou Yun, Zhou Yun... It really is her! She's the one who opened the Back Garden Enclosure..."
The old nun turned to leave, her steps hurried yet surprisingly nimble, the thudding footfalls echoing in the empty church like she was rushing off to handle some urgent matter.
A flicker of doubt surfaced in Ye Zheng's eyes. She strode after the nun, speaking warmly at her side.
"Please don't rush. Perhaps I can help you. The Hope Project is our shared achievement, isn't it?"
The old nun halted abruptly, whirling her head to stare at her.
Ye Zheng took in her reaction fully, a faint, imperceptible chill passing through her dark eyes—
This place really was a base for the Hope Project!
Why had Zhou Yun sent her here? She'd said she wanted to talk face-to-face again, yet Zhou Yun had said nothing and just shipped her off to this spot.
Luckily, this outcome wasn't bad either. The Hope Project base had always been one of her targets.
"You, you..." The old woman choked on her words, staring at her in disbelief upon hearing "Hope Project" come from the girl's mouth.
Ye Zheng met the old nun's pair of dull gray eyes. The elder's trembling gaze lingered on her for a long while, until the standoff was broken by a cry of alarm. Both turned toward the end of the corridor, where a white-robed priest came scrambling toward them, tumbling in his haste.
Spotting the two figures standing not far off, the priest shouted as if he'd finally found his lifeline, "Head Nun! They're attacking the nursery! Those monsters from the Back Garden Enclosure are flying back again!"
The old nun was short in stature, but when her face hardened, she exuded a considerable air of authority. She snapped at the man, "They're not monsters! They're just children deceived by Zhou Yun!"
The priest, around thirty, froze in shock before hurriedly bowing his head to correct himself: "Y-yes... Those children are back, and we can't hold them off much longer!"
The nun shot him a glare before softening her expression again. She turned back to the saintess at her side, who towered over her by a head, her eyes rippling with complex emotions. "Since you know about the Hope Project, Saintess, come with us."
Ye Zheng silently followed behind the pair. They hurried through a long, winding corridor, brushing past quite a few panicked men along the way. At first, the old nun scolded a few times, but realizing these fleeing souls wouldn't heed any words, the head nun fell silent, her brow furrows deepening profoundly.
The head nun seemed to be in charge here, but judging from everyone's reactions along the way, her authority in this base wasn't all that strong.
After passing the fifth long hallway, Ye Zheng finally navigated out of the labyrinthine, antiquated building. Stepping through the doors, blinding white light poured in, and to her surprise, there was no white mist shrouding the exterior of this structure.
She stepped onto soft green turf. Gazing out, endless greens swayed with clusters of wildflowers and a few tall trees. A gentle sniff brought the fresh scent of grass and foliage, unwittingly easing the tension in her chest.
Ye Zheng thought that if she were just a five- or six-year-old child, she'd love to roll around on this comfortable lawn—
Of course, provided there wasn't that massive, pitch-black shadow blotting the sky.
The entirely black monster hovered in midair, its razor-sharp claws madly slashing at the transparent barrier blocking it. Its frenzied howls had already pierced the shield, clawing at everyone's ears.
"Let her in! She's one of the children here!"
The old nun turned and seized the middle-aged priest's hand. He wore a comically incredulous expression, blurting in disbelief, "Zhou Yun destroyed the restraint device—it's an uncontrolled monster now; it'll kill us all!"
"Head Nun, look closely—that's just a monster with a woman's upper body—wait, who are you?!"
The man seemed to only now notice Ye Zheng's presence, leaping back and eyeing her in panic.
"Head Nun, don't tell me you've already gone soft and let one in..."
Ye Zheng, who had been silently observing, turned her head, her gaze coolly fixed on the man. A faint, disinterested smile tugged at her lips as she asked, "One what?"
She slowly drew the sword at her side, the dazzling metallic gleam gradually emerging from the dust-sealed black scabbard.
The man stared blankly at the blade until its sharp edge suddenly rested against his neck. His face drained of color in an instant, his knees buckling involuntarily.
The golden longsword, the black hair, the girl—even working in such an isolated place, this girl's name rang like thunder in his ears.
"...Y-you... You're the Saintess, Lady Saintess!"
Ye Zheng's grip on the sword didn't waver, but the man craned his neck, his eyes bulging as he fixated on the blade at his throat. It seemed to be inching deeper, ready to claim his life in the next moment!
"As the head nun said, let her in."
The saintess stated flatly.
The man's lips trembled. "Lady Saintess, this violates protocol..."
Ye Zheng's wrist twitched slightly, pressing the blade fully against his skin.
"O-okay! Okay! We'll open the barrier—please let me go; I'll open it right now!"
Ye Zheng turned to the old nun, her gaze carrying a questioning intent.
The old nun stared at the two in a daze, seemingly never expecting the legendary saintess to have such a style of doing things. Only when she met Ye Zheng's eyes again did she snap back to herself.
She blinked her heavy eyelids slowly, then glanced at the black shadow on the other side of the sky, finally dropping her powerless eyes.
"No need, Saintess. What he said is actually right."
"I'm just old, occasionally muddle-headed."
Hearing this, Ye Zheng blinked and sheathed her sword.
The old nun waved her hand and turned toward the antiquated building nearby, not glancing back at the black shadow once.
"Yowen, notify the guard team to evacuate the children from the nursery to the backup room. I'll activate emergency mode."
The priest named Yowen received the specific orders and bolted away with swift steps, fleeing the scene like his life depended on it.
Ye Zheng followed unhurriedly beside the head nun, saying nothing—as if curious about nothing, or perhaps waiting for her to spill after wrestling with herself.
The aged and the young figures stepped through the doors, and the black-robed nun closed them behind. The dreamlike green turf and the monster's shrill cries were shut out beyond.
"Head Nun, is there anything I can do to help?"
Ye Zheng bent slightly at the waist, her white shirt and gray vest outlining her slender, powerful upper body as she inclined her head in inquiry.
"Just call me Annabella, Saintess."
Annabella turned her gray eyes, their color like dust-covered glass beads, somewhat cold.
"You're not one of us—no need to trouble yourself."
Ye Zheng's expression cooled. She stared quietly at the elderly woman and said, "If you don't believe me, I can show you the dragon bone inside my body."
Just like how she'd misled Kiran—as long as they believed she was one of the test subjects, they naturally wouldn't doubt her stance.
But the old woman shook her head, a raspy laugh squeezing from her throat.
"Your aura is different from those children. I can tell. I've spent my life raising them."
"...I never said I was the same as them, but that doesn't stop me from knowing all this. After all, I'm the Curia's handpicked Saintess."
Ye Zheng blinked. Even if she wasn't a test subject, it wasn't impossible for someone of her status in the Curia to access the Hope Project.
But Annabella laughed even more kindly, the deep lines on her face smoothing out like she was looking at a petulant child.
"A young, promising child like you—if they told you about this willingly, it means you'd become one of them."
Ye Zheng's lips pressed thin. She persisted, "And what about you? You don't seem like one of those dragon-bodied women outside. You seem more like—a shepherd."
The two locked eyes in silence. Annabella looked away, no longer meeting Ye Zheng's gaze. She quickened her pace ahead, leading the girl to a bright room.
"Saintess, please rest here for now. Once I've handled this crisis, we can discuss your purpose."
The old nun tugged at her slack, wrinkled skin, her smile cooling.
The black-haired, dark-eyed youth was mildly surprised but obediently stayed in the room. She stood on the central rug, watching as the old woman closed the door for her. Annabella's aged figure vanished completely from view.
Since Annabella clearly didn't want her poking around outside, Ye Zheng decided to respect her wishes for the time being.
She lowered her head and pulled a yellowed journal from her bosom—this was something she'd found in that lab with the transparent jars after emerging from the black chamber.
There were too many puzzles laid before her; she'd unravel them one by one.
[Year 501 of the Divine Descent, July 18
This is my first time at the base. It's not what I imagined—the buildings look a bit rundown, heavy and somewhat gloomy. But it's a centuries-old place, so that's not surprising.
I'm not here to enjoy myself; I shouldn't focus on food, clothing, and lodging. Everyone's busy, and as the new overseer, I can't slack off.]
[Year 501 of the Divine Descent, July 20
Alright, truth be told, when I saw those things, I realized I'd still need time to adjust. The nausea isn't something I can will away with grit, but I shouldn't be like this—it looks so unprofessional! I'm the overseer!
If an uncontrollable crisis hits, I'll be responsible for coordinating its elimination, and in dire straits, issuing the order to destroy everything—including myself. That's the Hope Project: a grand plan that walks hand-in-hand with despair!]
[Year 501 of the Divine Descent, July 30
Oh, I really shouldn't have brought her here. I should have left her in the upper district, even if she's my wife.
Precisely because she's my wife, I can't let her touch this. Better she thinks I'm just an ordinary guy managing the West District council. She can't know more.]
[Year 501 of the Divine Descent, August 21
Damn that Annabella! How is she so perceptive!
God of Hope above! Don't let her keep prying!]
Ye Zheng's fingertip paused on the page, her gaze fixed on the familiar name—as if peering through the yellowed paper to see a young, vibrant face.
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