LWDC Chapter 168

Chapter 168: They Are Different

Chapter 168: They Are Different

Chapter 168: They Are Different

Ever since casting a curse—no, a hint of light magic—on Prince Fiennes, Ning Fei seemed to have lost interest in everything, completely lying flat.

Literally, lying down.

Duan Yunhong thought he was thinking about something, or waiting for something. After all, the way he dealt with Prince Fiennes had suddenly changed, so surely some new ideas had emerged, right? After implementation, he should wait to see the effect, right? But soon, Duan Yunhong realized he seemed to be wrong.

Ning Fei didn’t bother to confirm Prince Fiennes’ subsequent behavior, didn’t look to see whose name had appeared in the square again, and didn’t plan how to deal with the next noble. He barely even left his room at the casino hotel, spending his days eating, reading, and sleeping. Occasionally, he’d wander around the casino, but he didn’t really gamble, casually tossing a small handful of chips before returning to his room. Sometimes, he’d lean by the window, staring blankly at the alley below. If he got too dazed, he’d even doze off right there in the chair.

“…Huh?!”

Ning Fei woke up with a start from his nap, and when he realized it was just Duan Yunhong approaching with a blanket, his guarded expression immediately relaxed: “I don’t need a blanket.”

Duan Yunhong tossed the blanket at him: “You sleep after breakfast, and you sleep after dinner, never leaving the room. Did you suddenly develop a ‘mushroom setting’?”

Ning Fei said he didn’t want the blanket, but after it was thrown at him, he snuggled into it: “What’s there to do outside? It’s not very interesting.”

Duan Yunhong said abruptly: “The troops in Central Square have been withdrawn.”

“…” Ning Fei didn’t seem fully awake, or perhaps he had expected it, and slowly replied with a sound, “…Hmm.”

“The people rushed in and wrote a lot of names, and some were even shouting slogans. Anyway, the army doesn’t care anymore. The board downstairs for writing names has also been removed. It’s estimated that the next prediction of who will be killed will also be removed, and the board with the dates of when we two will die should be removed as well.” Duan Yunhong stood beside the single sofa, looking down at Ning Fei, “Aren’t you going to take a look?”

“Look at what, to see how those people are shouting slogans and cursing me? I’m not like you, I don’t enjoy being abused.” Ning Fei closed his eyes and said lazily, “Alright, the ‘news flash’ is over, so go play on your own. Aren’t you here to see this world? Go look at it, don’t stare at me.”

Duan Yunhong didn’t say anything, silently holding the back of the sofa, slowly leaning down.

When he was still 20 centimeters away from Ning Fei’s face, Ning Fei suddenly opened his eyes: “…What are you doing?”

Duan Yunhong stopped at that close distance: “Why are you so listless? Did you have too much luck deducted?”

“Why are you bringing that up again? Don’t think I’ll follow your joke and say, ‘Yeah, are you going to compensate me?'” Ning Fei looked at him and chuckled softly, “It’s none of your business, go play on your own.”

Since he deliberately used such an irritating tone, Duan Yunhong knew that he wasn’t really in the mood, and said: “If you think it’s boring here, why don’t we leave?”

“Leave? Leave to where?”

“I mean, leave this world. You don’t seem to have anything to do anyway.”

“Haha, did you forget that I’m here on ‘vacation’, not to work? Isn’t the point of a vacation to do nothing, eat and sleep?” Ning Fei raised his eyebrows slightly, “I was doing this before I started playing the killing game. If you think it’s boring, you can leave yourself, don’t bother me.”

“Vacation? I see.” Duan Yunhong slowly approached again, “Then let’s do something vacation-like…”

Ning Fei finally reached out from the blanket and covered his mouth: “After all that talk, you just want this, huh? Director Duan, you’re all about setup, climax, and then ‘jiaohe’–the ‘he’ in jiaohe, right?” (jiaohe refers to mating).

Duan Yunhong’s voice was muffled by his hand: “You haven’t been interested in this for a long time now, and you still say you’re not listless?”

“Five or six days is a ‘long time’? Fine, fine, I’m listless, okay?” Ning Fei was speechless, and replied, “I’m not a sex monster. No matter how good a plowing ox is, the land needs a rest too.”

Duan Yunhong was silent for two seconds: “…How about giving me a light magic buff?”

“Huh?” Ning Fei was stunned for a moment before he realized what he really meant, and burst out laughing, “Damn, that’s not what I meant! If I wanted to play that kind of game, would I be so roundabout? I would definitely just pin you down and go for it, okay?”

After a pause, he closed his eyes again and said jokingly, “If you really want to, then come on, don’t mind that I’m a ‘corpse’.”

“…Tsk, I’m not interested in necrophilia.” Duan Yunhong finally got up, casually picked up the blanket, and threw it over Ning Fei’s head, “Go to sleep.”

Ning Fei pulled down the blanket, looking at his back: “Where are you going?”

Duan Yunhong stopped and turned his head to look at him: “You don’t like to respond when I pay attention to you, but when I leave, you have to ask, right?”

Ning Fei “tsked” again. He just pulled down the blanket and saw him leaving, so he asked subconsciously. Now that Duan Yunhong made it sound like he was acting like a slut, Ning Fei immediately put the blanket back over his head.

“I’m going to the church… oh, now I should say the ruins of the church manor to take a look.”

The man’s voice came through the blanket: “After knowing about your past, I haven’t had a good look at the church manor. I want to see the place where you grew up, even if you don’t like it, it’s still where you came from. That’s my purpose for coming to this world.”

After saying that, the door opened and closed, and the room became completely quiet.

*

It was said that the church manor was only partially burned, but in fact, most of the main building was destroyed. Even before entering the manor gate, one could see the scorched and blackened buildings, some of which had even collapsed.

No one stopped Duan Yunhong from entering. The place was basically unguarded. Most of the survivors had been transferred to other church strongholds. Those who still lived here were some guards, believers tidying up the ruins, and people who voluntarily stayed for various reasons.

After the death of the Pope, the internal power struggles within the church were severe, and the management was chaotic. There was no plan to renovate the manor at all, and the material support for the remaining personnel was very limited. In Duan Yunhong’s view, this place had basically become a self-sufficient state. No one would care about how others lived. When Duan Yunhong, an outsider, brushed past them, they wouldn’t even take a second look.

Duan Yunhong silently walked around the building. Even the burned areas, as long as there was a place to step, he stepped in to take a look. He had seen many fire scenes, and many of them were very tragic. But thinking that the place where Ning Fei grew up was destroyed like this, he felt a little bit moved.

Of course, Duan Yunhong would not tell Ning Fei these things. If he did, Ning Fei would probably say “I only regret that it wasn’t burned clean enough.” Duan Yunhong would not invite trouble for himself.

However, even though many places had been damaged, some remains still showed the exquisite splendor of the building in the past. For example, on a wall that was mostly blackened, the huge stained glass was surprisingly well-preserved, with only traces of blackening on the corners. The sunlight shone through here, and the colorful shadows were projected on the burnt ground. The combination of colorful and extreme black looked a bit divine.

A person was kneeling under this stained glass, seemingly praying attentively.

Duan Yunhong approached without much concern and found that it was a young man of about seventeen or eighteen years old. He had delicate features and wore a simple light-colored robe. There was a small woven blanket under his knees. Well, wearing light-colored clothes and kneeling in the ruins, without a pad, the clothes would be completely ruined.

“Praying to the glass?”

Duan Yunhong stood next to the young man and asked directly: “This is at least a church. Can’t you find a statue of a god?”

“The statues of gods that haven’t been damaged have mostly been moved away.” The young man kept his eyes closed and replied faintly, “For heartfelt prayers, you can pray anywhere.”

Duan Yunhong: “Oh, so you didn’t bring a pad specifically to kneel under this stained glass?”

Young man: “…”

Duan Yunhong’s mouth was still as powerful as ever.

“You should be one of those so-called ‘candidate holy sons’, right?” Duan Yunhong didn’t care if the atmosphere was awkward and continued, “The church shouldn’t abandon someone like you. Why didn’t you move with them?”

“This is the old site of the church. I voluntarily stay here to pray for everyone.” The young man finally replied again, “Here are my dead mentors, friends, and brothers. I am willing to be with their holy spirits.”

“If you want to pray, where can’t you pray?” Duan Yunhong sneered at this kind of “performance behavior” and directly pointed out, “A ‘candidate holy son’ of the church, but doesn’t go with the church. There’s only one reason–”

“You’re afraid of the church.”

The young man opened his eyes and looked up at him: “Sir, I don’t understand what you are talking about. I am a member of the church, how can I be afraid of the church?”

“You know why you’re afraid.” Duan Yunhong sneered, “You’d rather be with the dead than stay with the current church. But you are willing to pray for everyone, which shows that you know that the church is not a place to pray at all.”

“Sir, you probably have some misunderstanding.” The young man looked at Duan Yunhong and replied, “But I can’t criticize what you think. Please don’t take it as my idea.”

Duan Yunhong dared to speak frankly and decisively in front of Ning Fei, so this little kid was nothing. Moreover, Duan Yunhong just wanted to expose his true face.

The man squatted down and looked directly into the young man’s eyes: “You’d rather stay in the ruins than go to other outposts to live a life where others take care of you, huh? You are obviously a candidate holy son, and you know that if you don’t follow the church, you won’t have the opportunity to be promoted to holy son, but you still don’t go, huh? You just hate the church, fear the church, but you don’t even dare to admit it, you are really a coward.”

“You don’t understand how many relatives and friends I lost here, you don’t understand the sadness in my heart, it’s normal, but please don’t rudely accuse me like this.” The young man retorted, “I don’t know who you are, or where you come from, but it’s not a kind deed to rub salt in people’s wounds. The church was burned down and is struggling to rebuild. If you don’t like its current appearance, please leave.”

“What right do you have to ‘ask’ me to leave? Are you the person in charge here?” Duan Yunhong sneered, “If it is being rebuilt now, why don’t you help? Wearing white clothes and sitting on a white blanket to pray, is that helping? I didn’t see anyone else being so idle along the way. You are just relying on a false identity to bluff on these ruins. If you go back to those people in the church, what use will your ‘candidate holy son’ status be? It will only turn you back into–”

The man lowered his voice a little and said coldly and mockingly: “Male prostitute.”

“You…!” The young man frowned, with anger on his face, “What exactly do you want to do?!”

“Nothing, I just think it’s really ironic that there are people like you.” Duan Yunhong stood up and said sarcastically, “You don’t want to follow the church, and now the church can’t control you, why don’t you escape? Are you reluctant to give up this meaningless identity, or do you simply not have the ability to survive after going out? The Pope is dead, why don’t you people who hate suffering take the opportunity to fight for your own lives? You just blindly avoid it, and you don’t even know to hide further away. It’s really ridiculous.”

“You’re simply inexplicable!” The young man frowned and said, “What are you talking about? Are you a devil sent to bewitch people?”

“I’m not here to bewitch you, nor do I want to persuade you.” Duan Yunhong looked down at him, his eyes slightly drooping, his thoughts already drifting away a bit, “I just saw some different things.”

The young man subconsciously asked, “What…?”

“Some are different, those who seize every opportunity to change their fate and never give in easily.”

Duan Yunhong said these words, regardless of whether the young man understood or had any reaction, and turned to leave.

When he raised his eyes, his gaze focused on a broken pillar not far away.

He met Ning Fei’s gaze.