Chapter 100
The person in the church is a demon—this was a phrase Qiya kept repeating.
The moment her aged body was exposed, Qiya seemed to have lost all her former spirit, collapsing to the ground in a state of despair.
No matter how Jiang Liu questioned her, she kept repeating this sentence, as if she had lost her mind and could no longer think of anything else.
Seeing her pale face as she lay on the ground, Zhao Ziming couldn’t help but frown. An emotion welled up from the bottom of his heart, and he couldn’t tell if it was pity or lamentation. He was speechless for a long time.
The church could only grant a youthful and beautiful appearance, but it couldn’t save a soul on the verge of decay.
Jiang Liu closed her eyes and stopped asking other questions. Instead, she changed the subject. “Do you know what this cross is?”
Qiya’s eyes were cloudy. She looked at the cross for a moment, then sighed faintly and spoke, but it was a warning. “You don’t need a doctor here anymore. You should go. Take this thing and go far away.”
“Don’t, don’t let anyone find you.” Her tone was extremely heavy. She struggled to utter these last words, then silently got up from the ground and left the clinic without looking at Jiang Liu again.
Zhao Ziming subconsciously took a step forward to stop her, but seeing that Jiang Liu had no intention of moving, he awkwardly stopped and scratched his head. “Aren’t you going to chase her?”
Jiang Liu shook her head. “There’s no need.”
She hadn’t guessed wrong. This cross itself was something from the church.
Tang Ruo had said that someone was trying to use them to threaten the mayor into handing something over. Perhaps it was an item similar to the cross.
And from the news brought back by Tang Rui and Jiang He, it also indirectly confirmed that the mayor’s words were highly credible.
In the Safe House, Tang Rui’s face was red from the cold. He panted as he and Jiang He lit the fireplace together. Only then did he feel like he had come back to life, constantly rubbing his hands for warmth.
Jiang He stomped his feet to clean the snow off his shoes, then impatiently approached Jiang Liu. “I’ve seen Qiaose. He said there are only a few dozen healthy people in town right now.”
This clearly didn’t match their speculation, but Jiang He quickly continued, “But I secretly followed him out a couple of times and found a place with very concentrated footprints. Although it looked like an abandoned house, the snow in the yard had been cleared.”
Not only that, but he also secretly found places like farms and fields that should have been abandoned. Although there were no people in sight, the fields and livestock were well taken care of, and there was always dry fodder even in this cold winter.
Based on the scale there, he roughly estimated that there were over two hundred healthy people.
In addition, Jiang He had also run a large circle around the town. There were only so many houses here, and it was impossible for them to accommodate more than four hundred people.
Jiang Liu nodded, a glimmer of light finally appearing in her eyes—
There were a total of two hundred and seventeen patients in the clinic. The numbers matched.
If these patients were the former residents the mayor spoke of, then those who were hiding in the dark and didn’t often go out were all outsiders who had come through the Holy Wall.
Tang Rui had also finally warmed up and raised his hand to speak. “I went to the residents’ homes to investigate today and found a very strange phenomenon.”
Those people were just as Jiang Liu had described, very wary of the church’s existence. At first, he speculated it was because of fear, but later he realized that things were the complete opposite of what he had guessed.
“I went to about a dozen homes, and their attitude towards me was quite normal. Most of them were families of two or three living together, but the strange thing is that there were no old people in any of the dozen or so homes.”
It was as if the entire town was full of young, strong people, and old age did not exist in this town. And during the conversation, Tang Rui also found a loophole.
He recalled the conversation just now and tried his best to repeat it to Jiang Liu. “They were all concerned about the patients in the clinic, as if their relatives and friends were inside. But when I asked for the patients’ names, they all stammered and tried their best to avoid the topic.”
“Among them was a young man. I heard a woman next door call his name, ‘Joseph’.”
Tang Rui’s expression became strange. He still remembered the mayor’s notes, which had mentioned this name. That person seemed to have gotten a new, healthy right hand for himself.
“I paid special attention and observed him. His right hand looked very strong and sturdy, and there were some calluses from years of labor on it, but the skin color was very different from that of his wrist. I only got a glimpse when he was pouring tea, so I’m a bit unsure.”
He pursed his lips and thought for a long time, then turned to look at Jiang Liu. “Sis, do you think he could be the person the mayor mentioned?”
During the time they were reporting, Jiang Liu had remained silent, just leaning quietly against the wall, her eyes half-closed, it was unclear what she was thinking.
Instead, it was Zhao Ziming who had been listening for a long time, stroking his chin and speculating, “I think it’s very likely.”
Tang Rui nodded in agreement. “I think so too. Also, I tried to say that I was going to the church to investigate the curse, and they started threatening me that I would definitely not be able to come out if I went in. It wasn’t like they were afraid of the church itself, but rather like…”
At this point, he fell silent for a moment, as if trying hard to organize his words. After a moment, he continued, “It was more like they were afraid I would discover something in the church.”
Jiang Liu still didn’t speak, her fingers unconsciously turning the ring, a thought suddenly rising in her heart.
It wasn’t fear of something, but fear of the person inside.
To be more specific, it should be fear that someone would harm the nun inside.
If the mayor and the patients were one faction, then these residents seen on the surface belonged to another faction. One side wanted to kill everyone in the church, so the other side’s mission—was to protect.
Qiaose and these people were afraid that someone would harm Yang Caisi, which was why they prevented players like them from approaching the church.
The Holy Wall and Yang Caisi, including the sect worshipped inside, must be inextricably linked.
And all of this, did Yang Caisi, as an NPC, really know nothing about it?
Just as this thought popped up, a gentle voice suddenly came from Jiang Liu’s ear.
“What are you doing?”
—It was Yang Caisi.
She subconsciously blinked, a light smile returning to her lips, her tone peaceful. “Just finished investigating. Does Sister Nun have any instructions?”
Yang Caisi’s reply came quickly, sounding in a good mood. “I’ve made lunch. Do you want to come and eat?”
On her end, she could hear the crackling of firewood burning. Just by listening, Jiang Liu could almost imagine her sitting in the kitchen, cooking while communicating with her.
A warmth gradually rose in Jiang Liu’s heart, and she whispered a “yes” to her hand.
She stood up and stretched her muscles, yawning tiredly.
After all, she hadn’t slept all night, and even a body of iron couldn’t take it.
“Let’s stop the discussion here for now. We’ll go to the church to eat.”
Since they no longer needed to report to the clinic, the afternoon was a good time to rest. Tonight… there might be a tough battle to fight.
***
Jiang Liu slept very soundly this time. Perhaps it was because there was a familiar warmth always by her side, so she fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, without even having a single dream.
When she woke up, the sky outside was gradually getting dark. Yang Caisi was leaning next to her, looking at her phone, as if communicating with someone. Sensing her waking up, she turned off the screen.
“Did you sleep well?” She leaned down to look at Jiang Liu, her face somewhat blurry in the darkness, making it hard to see clearly. She could only vaguely feel the ends of her medium-length hair brushing against her neck, which tickled a little.
“Not bad.” Jiang Liu stretched, turned to look at Yang Caisi, and naturally wrapped her arms around the other’s waist, leaning against Yang Caisi’s chest and yawning, her tone still sleepy.
“When did you wake up?”
Yang Caisi thought for a moment. “In the afternoon.”
Her schedule was more normal than a player’s; she didn’t need much rest during the day.
Jiang Liu hummed in agreement, reaching out in the dark to grab her hair. After gesturing a bit, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Your hair has grown.”
When she first met Yang Caisi, the girl had short hair that just reached her shoulders.
Yang Caisi touched her hair, her tone soft. “Don’t you like long hair?”
Jiang Liu didn’t speak, just laughed softly for a long time, then hugged her and lay back down on the bed. “I’ve been to this instance before.”
“I know,” Yang Caisi replied, burying her face in her shoulder, her voice sounding a bit muffled.
“When did you know?” Jiang Liu felt a bit itchy and couldn’t help but move her neck.
The person next to her was silent for a moment.
She understood that Jiang Liu wasn’t asking about the church instance, but rather—
When did she know about the story between Jiang Liu and the system.
After a long while, Yang Caisi tightened her arms, holding Jiang Liu tightly in her embrace. In a daze, she returned to her childhood, when she had just started living with Jiang Liu and was very afraid of having nightmares at night.
It was Jiang Liu who came to her bed every night, holding her like this, repeating that unknown little tune, so that she could fall asleep peacefully.
She was like a ten-year-younger version of herself, clinging to Jiang Liu and unwilling to let go, her voice soft and thin, as if she were acting spoiled.
“So many years have passed, I’ve grown up, but you haven’t changed.”
Yang Caisi spoke very slowly, as if lost in memories.
In fact, in terms of appearance, Jiang Liu didn’t look much older than Yang Caisi. Her unchanging appearance over the years could be excused as good maintenance. Apart from surprising people for a moment, it wouldn’t arouse any suspicion.
But at other times, other traits of Jiang Liu were still unabashedly displayed, from being inadvertently discovered by Yang Caisi at the beginning, to finally not even trying to hide it.
For example, after she was injured, the wound would heal and disappear overnight.
And for another example, Jiang Liu’s knowledge and experience far exceeded her apparent age.
Yang Caisi went from initial ignorance to realizing the strangeness, but she never dared to ask what was going on.
At an age of budding love, she was full of admiration for Jiang Liu’s existence, afraid that a single slip of the tongue would shatter this peaceful life and scare her away.
Just like that, one didn’t ask, and the other didn’t hide, pretending that this strangeness didn’t exist, and their life together was able to continue.
—Until that car accident.
Not only Yang Caisi, but perhaps even Jiang Liu herself had never thought that her long life would also have an end one day.