Chapter 196-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
A few months ago, she had been put on trial for what happened in West District. To leverage Wen Jian into speaking on her behalf, she had sent people to find his secret laboratory in the outskirts of the upper district.
That place held five Dragon-Bodied Humans captive, along with other bizarre monsters so deformed their original forms were unrecognizable—humans, animals, plants, and even creatures from the Demonic Domain were all his experimental subjects.
After Wen Jian's death, her people took over the laboratory. Once Wen Jian died, many of the monsters in the laboratory also died without warning. Now only a few scattered monsters remained, along with five Dragon-Bodied Humans.
Ye Zheng changed into casual clothes and put on a hat. Only Wen De accompanied her, and the two traveled discreetly.
Wen De had now been promoted to captain of the Sei Curia's Knight Order. She was the most senior knight serving the current Pope, and it was only natural for her to occupy that position, commanding forces on behalf of the Pope.
Of course, some in the Sei Curia raised objections—granting a woman the honor of knighthood was already an immense privilege, let alone the fact that thirty years old was too young for the captain's position, and she lacked the experience to shoulder such responsibility, and so on.
But when Ye Zheng, seated at the head of the meeting, swept her gaze over, that person immediately fell silent.
A woman, too young, lacking experience... The expressions of those listening to his speech became subtle. That senior member of the Knight Order also realized something from Ye Zheng's gaze and sat down, cold sweat dripping.
There was no shortage of astute people within the Sei Curia. On the day the previous Pope Wen Jian died and Saintess Ye Zheng officially became his successor, there had been some commotion at the Papal Palace. Ye Zheng left the reception room, the Knight Order captain led people through the Papal Palace seemingly searching for someone suspicious, then Pope Wen Jian died, and inexplicably a commoner boy accused of assassinating the Pope was wanted.
That Knight Order captain had already voluntarily resigned from his position. These small anomalies all indicated that Ye Zheng had most likely become Pope through unconventional means.
But no one had evidence—perhaps that fleeing commoner boy knew something, but even the fourteen archbishops led by old Colonna had no objections on the surface, and public sentiment had long since turned toward Ye Zheng. Who would dare raise objections?
When the only dissenting voice at the meeting also choked and sat down resentfully, Wen De naturally became the captain of the Sei Curia's Knight Order.
"Captain Wen De, how does it feel taking office these past two days?"
The two walked through an empty alley as Ye Zheng teased softly.
Wen De laughed and shook her head, her broad shoulders straightening even more. "It felt good on the day I was appointed. The captain's medal and sash are quite impressive. I like such ornaments."
"Having just taken office, aside from the people from the Holy Journey Knights Order, I'm not very familiar with anyone. It will probably take some time... quite a bit of time."
"No need to rush. Take it slow. What's meant to be ours will come."
Ye Zheng looked up at the narrow strip of sky above the alley. The low eaves seemed to cut the sky into a small piece, but the boundless blue sky remained above the eaves.
Including the knights stationed in various regions, the Sei Curia's Knight Order numbered nearly fifteen thousand. Wen De had parachuted into the commanding position. Although the Knight Order's upper echelon appeared cooperative for now, they were surely unconvinced in private, and it would be easy for them to trip Wen De up in official matters.
Taking a position was difficult; holding it was even harder.
Ye Zheng's brow furrowed unconsciously. When she walked out of the alley and saw the bright sky, the slight ripple between her brows was smoothed away by the sunlight.
It didn't matter. They were already walking on an increasingly bright path.
Before long, the two arrived at the edge of the upper district.
This area was mostly inhabited by people from other districts who served the upper district, along with some down-and-out locals from the upper district itself.
Though it was a fringe area, the residences were somewhat crowded but not dirty or chaotic. Ye Zheng looked up at the house before her. This entire area had once been Wen Jian's property. To conceal his secrets, the surrounding houses had few inhabitants.
Wen De pushed open the door. The interior furnishings were ordinary, looking like a typical residence. She led Ye Zheng deep into the house, down a spiral staircase, and into the basement.
The basement was a very spacious circular space. Semi-transparent barriers isolated five Dragon-Bodied Humans. Atop their massive black dragon bodies were tiny human torsos. Ye Zheng couldn't see their distant faces clearly, but she could sense the listless, lethargic aura they emanated.
Wen De handed her a document—the specific identities of these Dragon-Bodied Humans that they had uncovered.
Under the guise of preaching and charity, Wen Jian had come into contact with many women. He was cautious, selecting experimental subjects who mostly had simple social connections—women whose disappearance wouldn't cause any ripples.
For example, young women like Zoya who worked in remote factories, middle-aged women cast out by their husbands, or even young people studying at ability academies in other regions.
Ye Zheng looked up to observe. They had rings around their necks—she had seen these at Hope Base in West District, specifically designed to restrain their powers.
"Can you open this outer barrier?"
"Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it. They're very aggressive, even with the restraints."
Ye Zheng thought for a moment, recalling something. She had Wen De retreat to the staircase first, to assist her activities from a distance.
From her observations in West District, Dragon-Bodied Humans had a strong sense of companionship. They liked to move in groups, chasing the scent of Dragon Bone, and showed significantly less aggression toward their own kind.
Ye Zheng wasn't certain how they specifically identified their own kind, but clearly, their aggression toward women was far less than toward men. Women who also carried the scent of Dragon Bone should fall within their category of kin.
Ye Zheng turned and made a gesture. Seeing this, Wen De at the staircase exit turned and left to control the switch from another location.
After a while, the transparent barrier dissipated. The five listless Dragon-Bodied Humans began flapping their wings in place. Their massive pitch-black bodies briefly took flight, then quickly fell back down weakly. Their claws, larger than a person, scraped against the ground with sharp, resentful sounds.
The smallest among them stood about three meters tall—the height of a single-story room. The largest was at least twenty meters tall. Their black scales gleamed coldly under the lights, exuding an overwhelming presence.
They paced about blindly until the shortest Dragon-Bodied Human noticed the small creature standing at the perimeter and swayed toward it.
When she moved, the other four turned their heads in unison and walked toward Ye Zheng together. The approaching shadows nearly engulfed the tiny human.
The ground rumbled. Ye Zheng felt the tremors beneath her feet. Today was her first time observing them at such close range, and she couldn't help but marvel at their enormity and power.
The thick, smooth scales, the sharp claws and fangs, the sky-blotting black wings... all were extremely dangerous weapons.
This was perhaps why Hope Base and Wen Jian had kept these "Fallen Breed"—they feared yet craved such power. Unable to obtain it themselves, they could only possess this mighty force indirectly through various means.
The sky-blotting shadows had completely covered Ye Zheng's vision. She tilted her head back and saw several expressionless human faces, cheeks covered in black scales, eyes entirely black, showing no emotion.
The smallest Dragon-Bodied Human was already very close—one flap of her wings could send Ye Zheng flying. But Ye Zheng stood motionless, only her gaze intensely focused on observing them.
Suddenly, the Dragon-Bodied Human right before her moved and let out a piercing shriek at her. A dangerous gust of air rushed toward her face.
Ye Zheng still didn't retreat. She simply closed her eyes gently and instinctively touched her smooth forehead.
Not bad—her bangs had all been blown back, giving her a slicked-back hairstyle.
Hearing the somewhat urgent sounds from the distant staircase, Ye Zheng quickly raised her right hand, signaling Wen De not to move yet.
Five massive black shadows leaned down, their bodies lowering until they nearly surrounded her. The cold aura seeped into her skin, chilling her to the bone, as if she had been thrown into a pitch-black, freezing night.
Ye Zheng lowered her gaze and adjusted her scarf. When she looked up again, she unexpectedly met a pair of pitch-black eyes without whites—
A Dragon-Bodied Human had already brought her human body close to Ye Zheng's face.
She seemed to be studying her.
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