WTYTIAAN Chapter 281

Chapter 281

Browsing through memories was instantaneous. Yan Yunqing had just finished digesting the memories of Tobias Dewitt, found the location and unlocking method of the so-called “Audience Tower” from his memories, when he suddenly paused.

He slowly looked towards the temple, at the only other person remaining besides the three of them and the Tobias Dewitt who lay on the ground, his fate unknown after having his soul searched.

That person was the girl who had knelt before the Pope when they entered the temple, only showing her back, like a fragile and boneless maiden.

At some point, the kneeling girl had stood up and faced the Goddess of Light statue, striking a pious pose.

She was quiet and inconspicuous.

Yan Yunqing finally remembered why she looked familiar.

Evelyn.

The Holy Maiden of the Light Church from the Crimson Smoke Squad.

Also, the intermediary in Tobias Dewitt’s memories who contacted Keane on his behalf.

“…Keane?” Yan Yunqing stared at the girl’s back.

The fragile white figure slowly turned around, like a slow-motion scene in a movie. The radiance streamed through the dome of the temple, falling upon the girl, draping her in a layer of misty gauze.

A smile lingered on her lips, holy and beautiful, yet it sent a chill down Yan Yunqing’s spine.

It was exactly the same as Demetrius’ smile when possessed by Keane.

“As expected of you…” Evelyn’s tone was slow, her pronunciation distinct, not like speaking, but like reciting scripture, “Your Majesty the Demon King, we meet again.”

Theodore and Sylph reacted and stood protectively beside Yan Yunqing, watching Evelyn warily.

Yan Yunqing looked at Evelyn, his heart sinking.

As expected, Keane possessed more than one ‘vessel.’

This was not surprising. After Yan Yunqing had skimmed through Tobias Dewitt’s memories, he had discovered that Tobias Dewitt’s method of changing vessels came from a form of alchemy, which in turn evolved from necromancy. It was also what Keane and the Pope had collaborated on – prolonging life.

Keane himself possessing more than one ‘vessel,’ and being able to traverse between them, was based on this secret method.

Keane… was not truly resurrected, but instead extended his life and acted through countless ‘vessels.’

A necromancer who had mastered this secret method was simply terrifying.

Logically, the natural enemy of a necromancer was the Light Church, because Light magic inherently countered necromancy. Yet, Keane had turned Evelyn into one of his ‘vessels.’

In Yan Yunqing’s eyes, the Evelyn before him radiated an abundance of Light elements. It was evident how high her affinity for Light elements was. She was a natural Light magic user, and could never have practiced necromancy.

Yet, she was one of Keane’s ‘vessels.’

“Don’t make such a frightening expression.” Evelyn chuckled, “I didn’t expect you to find this place… Wasn’t the demonic tide outside going berserk? I thought you would be more concerned about that, after all, you used to care a lot about those useless creatures—”

“Oh, should I call them familiars, is that right?”

Evelyn corrected herself, changing her wording, “But you appeared here at this moment? Have you stopped caring about those ants?”

Yan Yunqing stared at Evelyn intently, not refuting her words.

“Hmm… Is it because they betrayed you?” Evelyn tilted her head, her snow-white hair falling down, reflecting a sickly pallor, “So, you abandoned them?”

Yan Yunqing frowned. He didn’t quite understand what Keane was saying. Was he trying to sow discord between him and Theodore and Sylph? But that was too weak. He didn’t think Theodore and Sylph would develop any estrangement towards him because of such a sentence… or defect at the last minute.

At least, the contract between them still existed.

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Don’t be nervous.” Evelyn’s tone rose, “You should have realized that I can’t pose a threat to you. After all, this shell isn’t suitable for necromancy.”

“I’m just curious.”

“Do you really love your people? You’ve abandoned them more than once, you—”

“Swish—”

Evelyn’s expression froze with that shallow smile. A sharp feather had appeared in her throat, piercing through her pharynx, preventing her from making any more sounds.

She was still smiling, even though her body was unconsciously leaning backward. Her last gaze was in Theodore’s direction.

It was filled with boundless mockery, as if saying: Look, you’re also afraid of speaking the truth.

Yan Yunqing abruptly turned his head, looking in disbelief at Theodore, who had killed Evelyn. This was the first time since their reunion that Theodore had defied his wishes. Before he could even react, he had killed Evelyn, and also stopped her last words.

Why?

Yan Yunqing’s heart was heavy. He felt like something was wrong.

What did Evelyn’s words mean? Abandoned them more than once? Was she referring to the time he quit the game? But that could only be counted as once, right?

Why didn’t Theodore want Evelyn to finish that sentence? What did Evelyn’s expression mean?

Countless questions swirled in Yan Yunqing’s mind. He stepped forward. Evelyn had already fallen. As Yan Yunqing approached, fragmented tones were squeezed out from her pierced throat, intermittently.

“You… gave me… I will… all… return it…”

After saying the last sentence, Evelyn completely lost her breath, closing her light-colored eyes. Her white hair spread on the ground like white silk for a death rite. Fresh red blood slowly flowed out from under her, forming a sharp and glaring contrast between white and red.

The faint smile still lingered on the corner of Evelyn’s lips.

Yan Yunqing lowered his eyes. He released the hand that was trying to save Evelyn. He realized that Evelyn had deliberately provoked Theodore, for reasons unknown. But even if he saved Evelyn, he wouldn’t get any more clues.

Forget it.

Yan Yunqing caught sight of Theodore’s robe beside him.

“I…”

Yan Yunqing slightly tilted his head, raising his eyes to look at Theodore. That cold face that rejected people was now filled with a trace of helplessness, like a child who had done something wrong, stammering and unable to speak.

What kind of impact did Evelyn’s words have on Theodore?

Was it a stress reaction caused by his nearly two-thousand-year disappearance?

Or something else?

For Yan Yunqing, this reaction was indeed a bit too strong. After all, only a little over a year had passed in his world.

But Theodore had indeed waited for nearly two thousand years.

Yan Yunqing sighed silently.

He stood up and reached out to pat the non-existent dust on Theodore’s shoulder, “It’s okay.”

Whether Theodore was stimulated by this or not, it was ultimately related to him.

“Let’s go, I found the location of the ‘Audience Tower’. Let’s destroy this blood pool first.”

Yan Yunqing pointed to the still bubbling blood pool. There was still a group of ‘Martyrs’ being blocked by Sylph outside. If they left and those Martyrs ran in to jump into the blood pool and commit suicide, then all their previous efforts would be in vain.

Yan Yunqing didn’t know what the blood in the blood pool was made of. After thinking about it, he had Theodore blast a big hole under the blood pool, letting the blood enter the ground and physically bury it directly.

Whatever messy things were inside, let the earth slowly decompose it. Anyway, the Earth God was still alive, and the Earth’s authority hadn’t dissipated yet. When he found the Earth God, he would let Him get up and work.

*

The “Audience Tower” was located behind the temple. Its appearance was not much different from the other buildings in the temple. As its name suggested, it was a tall, pointed tower, all white, shimmering with a holy radiance.

Along the way, they didn’t see a single member of the Light Church. The priests, holy sons, and holy maidens who were in the Holy Plaza before were also nowhere to be seen. They had probably discovered the unexpected situation that had occurred in the temple and kept a distance from Yan Yunqing and his party.

This made Yan Yunqing a bit uneasy, but after thinking about it, it was normal. After all, the Pope, who was level 142 and considered the strongest human, had died so easily at their hands. The remaining small fry didn’t dare to come and provoke them rashly.

Not everyone liked courting death as much as the Pope.

Yan Yunqing arrived at the “Audience Tower” without any obstacles. He felt a bit unreal, wondering if he was being too easy.

He stood outside the “Audience Tower” hesitantly for a while. Yan Yunqing felt like there was a trap, but he didn’t find any information about the layout of the “Audience Tower” in Tobias Dewitt’s memories.

Speaking of which, although the “Audience Tower” was listed as a forbidden area of the Light Church, a sacred place for believers to communicate with the Goddess of Light, in Tobias Dewitt’s memory, it was basically in a semi-abandoned state.

Tobias Dewitt had never truly communicated with the so-called Goddess of Light.

This absurd and foolish Pope thought until his death that the Goddess of Light was fabricated by the previous Pope.

On the contrary, Yan Yunqing, an outsider, truly believed that the Goddess of Light did exist and was a deity artificially created by the Eternal God Sect.

However, according to Tobias Dewitt’s memory, the “Audience Tower” might really be just an empty shell.

Wouldn’t this trip be in vain? Then how would he find the Earth God?

Yan Yunqing was a bit worried, but since he had come all this way, he had to try.

Just as he stepped into the “Audience Tower,” a buzzing sound was heard. Immediately, a dazzling white light enveloped everything around him, and a huge gravitational force struck, pushing the unsuspecting Yan Yunqing inside.

Yan Yunqing: ???

Yan Yunqing staggered and stood firm, then was dumbfounded.

The surroundings were a vast expanse of white, so white that it was dazzling.

Yan Yunqing closed his eyes, and it took a long time for him to adapt to the white light.

In front of him was a towering staircase of unknown length, winding upwards in circles. The surroundings were empty and white, without any extra objects. This was clearly not a normal building.

He turned around, and Theodore and Sylph, who had been following him, were gone.

Yan Yunqing’s expression was complicated.

So, the “Audience Tower,” which was basically abandoned and just a decoration in Tobias Dewitt’s memory, actually had a special function?

But this special function only seemed to have an effect on him. Theodore and Sylph, who came with him, couldn’t enter.

Yan Yunqing rubbed his forehead. For some reason, he couldn’t feel any panic in his heart. He only felt calm… an absurd calm.

Logically, he should be startled by inexplicably entering a strange new map alone, right? Why did he feel calm instead?

Speaking of which, if Theodore and Sylph found out that he had suddenly disappeared, would they have another stress reaction?

Yan Yunqing thought of Theodore’s somewhat obsessive attachment and hesitated.

It was hard to say…

Yan Yunqing touched his nose. He looked up at the top of the spiraling staircase, hesitated for a moment, and decided to go up anyway.

There was only one path here. Besides going up, he didn’t know how else to go. He should find the Earth God as soon as possible, understand everything, and get out of here.

He was afraid that if he left for too long, before the demons destroyed all of humanity, Theodore would go crazy and destroy the world first.

Yan Yunqing took a step and stepped onto the white staircase.

Step by step, he climbed upwards towards the unknown.

He didn’t know how much time had passed. It felt like only a moment, and it also felt like a long time. Yan Yunqing finally saw the end of the staircase.

An extremely magnificent palace appeared in his field of vision.

A temple.