Chapter 179-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
"Ye Zheng?" Percy's voice suddenly pitched high, his pupils dilating.
The person Wen Jian sent to meet him could not possibly be Ye Zheng!
At the innermost part of the hall, heavy red curtains covered the vaguely visible wide stage. Below the stage were rows of seats. Ye Zheng was in the middle aisle. Sunlight spilled onto her through the stained glass windows, dappled light and shadow falling on her face. Half of her face was submerged in shadow, making her smile unfathomable.
Percy looked around. The layout and decoration were undoubtedly an auditorium, but why was Ye Zheng here? She must have known something, such as the reason Wen Jian needed him, so she came to stop them.
He calmed down and stared at Ye Zheng somewhat warily, saying, "Lady Saintess, I have an agreement with Wen Jian, but I am not here to help Wen Jian. I just want to beat him at his own game and probe the situation."
"If you have any plans, I can assist you. Wen Jian is our common enemy."
Ye Zheng tilted her head, looking at him leisurely, and did not speak.
"You have used me to do many things, always showing a false face... But when we met in the cemetery at the beginning, we mourned the relatives lost in the 'Blood Flower' Incident together. I think that was your most sincere moment."
Percy's blue eyes gazed tightly at Ye Zheng, guarding against her movements, even his tone carrying tentative caution.
Hearing these words, Ye Zheng walked towards him and stood in front of him. A gaze of seemingly nonexistent pity fell on the young man. She shook her head and said, "You are wrong. My sincerity exists in every moment, in front of everyone."
"Do you remember that I once promised you? As long as you hide that matter, I owe you a favor."
Percy reacted for a while and finally remembered what it was.
On the day of the Holy Judgment, Ye Zheng used his blood to pass the test of Divine Blood.
He still remembered Ye Zheng's tone to this day, a soft-spoken threat.
—"Swallow this matter into your stomach, and I owe you a favor. If you reveal it... I'm sorry."
Percy smiled absurdly. He only remembered the threat in the second half. Ye Zheng actually remembered the promise in the first half?
"I don't need Lady Saintess to repay the favor now."
"Really? If you don't need it, you will die today—aren't you curious about Wen Jian's purpose in finding you?"
Percy's gaze sank. "You mean he wants to kill me? What value do I have that is worth the Pope doing it himself? I am just a..."
"Just a rare dual ability user, a miraculous life created by the Hope Project with hundreds of years of effort, an ordinary student inextricably linked to the God of Hope?"
Ye Zheng took over his words with a smile.
Percy was speechless for a moment. He wasn't too stupid and quickly reacted, "Does he need this body of mine?"
Ye Zheng nodded, "Maybe."
Percy stared at Ye Zheng hesitantly. She didn't give a definite reply.
"I am not an omniscient god. How could I know all of Wen Jian's conspiracies and tricks?"
"Wen Jian is our common enemy. He wants to kill you to achieve a certain purpose. I won't let Wen Jian succeed in doing anything, so I came."
Ye Zheng's words could solve some of his doubts. Percy fell into thought. Today was the day to announce the new Pope. It was rumored that Wen Jian's ability had the power to bring the dead back to life. Maybe he tricked him into coming over to occupy his body or something, and then live on as the new Pope.
Or maybe his body, which was connected to Divine Blood, could cure Wen Jian's illness or something. Things related to the God of Hope always had miraculous effects.
Saintess Ye Zheng and Pope Wen Jian had an old feud from the Blood Flower Incident, and were enemies in power conflict. So Ye Zheng came to stop Wen Jian. Everything made sense.
But Percy's heart remained suspended. He asked, "Has the person sent by Wen Jian to pick me up been dealt with by you?"
Ye Zheng laughed and asked a strange question, "Percy, where do you think you are?"
Percy looked at her strangely, "The auditorium of the Pope's Palace. Is there any problem?"
Ye Zheng turned to look at the gate and signaled him to push it.
Percy turned around and pushed the gate, but found that the gate remained motionless. His expression changed. His metalized right hand pierced through the gate, smashing out a black hole, but the gate healed quickly. The black hole disappeared and returned to its original state.
Ye Zheng also walked to the door and sighed, "We can't get out. This is an ability domain."
"This auditorium is actually a trap?" Percy murmured in disbelief.
He looked up at the ceiling. The dome was painted with the story of the God of Hope saving the people from the sea of fire, which was very similar to what he saw in the auditorium in the lower city... No, it was exactly the same.
He touched the white dove statue in his pocket, always feeling that there was something strange about this place. Just as he wanted to take it out again to have a look, Ye Zheng's voice rang in his ear.
"I was sent here by an ability user. You were tricked into coming here. No matter what the reason is, the urgent task is to leave here."
"...You're right. Wen Jian wants to use this place to trap us. We must get out as soon as possible."
Percy scanned the huge auditorium and judged based on experience, "This kind of spatial domain ability will definitely have a breach point inside the space."
His right hand transformed into a heavy metal sword. Percy looked grave. One way was to find the weakness inside the space to break it, but the most common way was violent destruction.
The huge auditorium was quiet and solemn. The next moment, the clanging sound of a heavy object hitting the ground echoed throughout the auditorium. The neat gray floor cracked abruptly. Percy pulled out the heavy sword that had sunk deep into the floor and was about to strike again when Ye Zheng stopped him.
"It's useless, Percy."
"I just started trying. How can you be sure it's useless?"
Ye Zheng didn't speak. She first looked down at the fragmented ground, then moved her gaze up to look at the ancient altar that was already leaning to one side. The rubble of the broken relief was still falling down rustlingly, constantly making noise like dripping water, mixing with Percy's voice, making people inexplicably irritable.
Percy saw the auditorium; she saw the altar.
Before Percy entered, she had already tried a violent breakthrough.
This was Riley's ability. She named it [Fantasy Land]. The first rule of this place—what you think is what you see.
Percy entered this place on the way to the auditorium, so he took it for granted that this was the auditorium. While she had been thinking about the Succession Ritual at the altar, so after being teleported by The Magician, she opened her eyes and saw the altar.
She and Percy were in the same space, but saw completely different scenes. It was truly magical.
Ye Zheng's shoes ground the gravel on the ground. Under Percy's puzzled gaze, she looked up and said slowly, "Because I have already discovered the weakness of this place."
"I need you to cooperate with me."
Percy looked at her in surprise. After thinking for a moment, he simply withdrew the heavy metal sword and nodded in agreement.
Now both of their goals were to leave here. There was no need to suspect Ye Zheng. Moreover, Ye Zheng entered earlier than him, so she might have discovered something earlier.
"Tell me, I'll cooperate with you."
"Okay, now go to the... stage at the very front and stand on it."
Percy looked puzzled. Following Ye Zheng's command, he walked from the doorway to the stage at the innermost part of the auditorium and jumped onto the stage.
Ye Zheng watched Percy stand on the altar and asked, "What do you see on the stage?"
"Curtains, a piano, flower petals, a choir stand."
Percy answered, doubts growing in his heart. He looked at Ye Zheng standing at the gate. Why ask such an obvious question? If she stood too far away to see clearly, she could completely come closer...
Suddenly, a look of realization crossed Percy's face. Ye Zheng's position might also be part of breaking the situation.
In any case, Percy had to admit that Ye Zheng was smarter and more resourceful than him. During the time she stayed in the Lingyun Squad as Zhao Mei, it was their most secure time, as if everything was taken care of by Zhao Mei, a intelligent teammate who was also good at healing.
"The curtains are on both sides, the piano is three meters to my right, the choir stand is at the very back, and flower petals are everywhere on the stage." Percy volunteered more detailed information.
Percy glanced offstage. There were even some offstage. Could it be that a performance had just ended here not long ago?
"I see. Percy, grab a handful of flower petals."
Percy was still puzzled. Considering the urgency of time, he didn't ask Ye Zheng the reason and obediently did as told.
"Very good."
Ye Zheng's voice echoed in the empty auditorium hall, appearing somewhat unreal and ethereal.
"Now, eat the flower petals."
Percy was so astonished that he opened his mouth, staring at Ye Zheng in the distance incredulously.
"What did you say?"
"I said, eat them."
Ye Zheng walked through the aisle to the front of the stage, looked up at Percy on the stage, and looked at the handful of... gravel he was holding.
Percy looked at the flower petals in his hand, then looked at Ye Zheng, his eyes full of questions and refusal.
How could the breakthrough point of this spatial domain rely on eating flower petals?
These flower petals used for stage performances, who knew how many people had stepped on them? Percy's hand subconsciously weighed them, feeling that these light flower petals were inexplicably heavy.
"Ye Zheng, are you sure..."
"Percy, I'm not sure, but I guarantee you won't die if you eat them, and we might have a chance to leave."
Ye Zheng's eyes flickered. Under the dim light of the auditorium, Percy saw the gentle encouragement in her eyes.
He took a deep breath, clenched the flower petals held in his right hand, tilted his head back, his neck muscles tensing, and slowly fed the flower petals into his mouth.
"It's best to eat them all in one go."
Ye Zheng prompted. She stared intently at the young man on the altar, watching his hand pause, and then pour the gravel into his mouth in one vigorous effort!
Bright sunlight poured down. Ye Zheng narrowed her eyes. Under the warm yellow light, Percy, who had eaten the foreign objects, suddenly strangled his own neck with both hands.
The soft flower petals poured into his mouth should have been easily swallowed down the throat. However, Percy felt a sharp pain vaguely coming from inside his mouth, as if his throat was burning. He strangled his throat and vomited, but vomited nothing.
Clearly, it hurt like foreign objects scratching his throat, but he didn't even cough up a trace of blood!
Percy's body swayed as he wanted to walk off the stage. He wanted to ask Ye Zheng what was going on. One careless step and he stepped on empty air at the edge. Ye Zheng caught him with [Stream] from below the stage and placed him on the ground.
"Ye, Ye..."
Percy wanted to speak. The severe pain was repetitive and unpredictable like lightning. One moment he choked as if gravel filled his throat, and the next moment it seemed as if he had only swallowed ordinary flower petals with only a slight sensation of foreign objects.
"Don't look at me; look at your surroundings."
In his blurred vision, the Saintess with indistinct features reminded him. Percy lay on the ground and turned his head with difficulty, looking at the ceiling. He didn't see the painted God of Hope, but the azure sky and tall shrubs.
He touched the ground; it was a stone paved road.
Realizing that the auditorium had disappeared, Percy sat up in disbelief, then slowly stood up.
He touched his throat in surprise. The dying pain disappeared without a trace, as if the experience just now was just a nightmare, and his body had no abnormalities.
"Ye Zheng, what exactly happened just now! And where is this place?"
"This place is reality. We should have entered a fantasy space forged by an ability just now."
"Don't look at me like that, Percy. I was also inexplicably sent to this place, and only now learned the true face of this place."
Ye Zheng revealed a helpless smile, "As for how I found the way to break it, let's talk about it after the matter is resolved. Wen Jian might have already received news from here and will send people to attack us again soon."
Listening to Ye Zheng's words, Percy only felt his chaotic brain buzzing. From some point, he seemed to have stepped into an illusion, but had he really broken away from the illusion?
Percy stood in place falling into deep thought, but then heard Ye Zheng's serious voice asking:
"Percy, do you have something like a white statue on you?"
Percy looked up in astonishment, "—How do you know?"
"Because I touched a white carrier pigeon statue and was then teleported to this place."
Percy took out the white statue. No wonder he always felt it was strange for the other party to ask him to bring this small statue. It turned out to be a trap, a teleportation medium!
Wen Jian and the Colonna family had been plotting against him from the start, yet he was full of confidence that he had the ability to deal with them!
If not for Ye Zheng, he might have been trapped in this place forever until they squeezed all the value out of him.
The statue in his hand was suddenly snatched away. Ye Zheng threw the white statue into the bushes and said with a grave expression, "We must leave here as soon as possible. I hear someone coming."
Percy composed himself and kept up with Ye Zheng's pace. He was now full of anger towards Wen Jian and the Colonna family, his steps becoming more and more urgent.
The two quickly walked out of the decorative bush maze. Percy saw that this was exactly the small garden he had passed not long ago.
"Lady Saintess, where are we going now? The real auditorium?"
"I got news that Wen Jian is at the altar on the east side."
The two looked at each other and decided to go to the altar where Wen Jian was right now.
Ye Zheng stared at Percy's back and turned her head inadvertently to glance at the bush maze that was gradually fading into the distance. No one would discover that she had discarded a white carrier pigeon statue there.
And Percy would never know that the letter asking him to bring the white carrier pigeon statue was written by her.
—[Fantasy Land] Rule 2: The "White Letter" is the key to entering [Fantasy Land].
[Fantasy Land] was used to trap her. Wen Jian needed Percy to participate in the Succession Ritual, so it was impossible for Percy to also fall into Riley's ability.
However, Ye Zheng had studied it. The method to break [Fantasy Land] required at least two people to exist.
[Fantasy Land] Rule 1: What you think is what you see—but what if two people think of different things?
Two people being in the same space and seeing different scenes might not affect the operation of [Fantasy Land], but the causality of Riley's ability was too powerful. For anything that happened in [Fantasy Land], it would strive to make people believe it truly existed.
For example, Ye Zheng bought nonexistent gloves at the nonexistent White Letter Tool Shop. Even after leaving, [Fantasy Land] was still interfering with her cognition, making her think the gloves were real.
[Fantasy Land] would automatically fill in the logic of anything that happened in the domain. This powerful sense of reality and cognitive manipulation was the strength of this ability, but also its weakness.
She saw the altar, and Percy saw the auditorium. These two things could coexist harmoniously. But Percy eating flower petals and Percy eating gravel—these two things could not reasonably exist at the same time!
Eating flower petals would leave one safe and sound, but eating gravel would cause severe damage to the human body.
It was impossible to have a situation where Percy died in her cognition but remained safe and sound in Percy's cognition, because of [Fantasy Land] Rule 4: The people inside [Fantasy Land] are real!
At this point, [Fantasy Land] could not continue to operate reasonably. It could not create a Percy who was both alive and dead.
Ye Zheng had prepared many plans for today's action. This was just a method used by coincidence. After receiving the news that the Succession Ritual required Divine Blood, new guesses and plans popped up in Ye Zheng's head.
Percy, walking in front, slowed down at some point. The two moved behind the wall of a building to hide.
The altar was close at hand. Outside, hundreds of knights were lining up and waiting.
At the open-air magnificent altar, Riley paced back and forth slightly anxiously. Their ritual only waited for Percy's arrival to begin. Why hadn't Percy come yet?
He had specifically met Percy face-to-face and had a good impression of him. Although the Succession Ritual required his blood, it shouldn't be fatal. He heard that even the Emperor valued Percy very much. Riley already regarded him as his future subordinate. As the new Pope, he needed fresh blood to support and follow him.
He glanced at Wen Jian, who was resting with his eyes closed, walked to the door, and sent someone to check the situation.
"You go to the auditorium and bring that Per..." He suddenly paused, holding his forehead in astonishment.
His ability was broken!
"No, you go send people to find traces of Saintess Ye Zheng first!"
In case Ye Zheng detected Percy's utility and intercepted Percy in advance, this ritual would be out of their control!
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