Chapter 709: Gloomy and Cold

Chapter 709 Chilling Cold

Qianmei had swallowed until its belly was bloated and round, its originally slender, six-winged seraphic form now ruined, resembling a fat pig grown wings and taking to the sky.

In truth, as it gorged itself, Qianmei had already sensed that something was amiss.

In the past, Karen had often ordered it to clear the table, to rapidly empty the platters; it would first bolt everything down whole, then find a quiet corner to sleep and digest, but those had been things capable of normal digestion.

Yet now... Qianmei discovered that the substances this time were not so easily dissolved.

Before, they were cooked dishes; now, its belly was stuffed full of dirt—not enough to kill it with poison instantly, but destined to cause indigestion.

Even so, it knew with absolute certainty that it could not stop now; it had to sweep every remaining morsel into its mouth, leaving as little residue as possible;

Because Karen in this state was simply too terrifying to it.

If it dared to be a picky eater at a time like this, then Karen would pick it as food.

Finally, everything was swallowed completely clean.

Plop...

A flying pig crashed to the earth, and though it was a form of spiritual consciousness, it somehow managed to create a sensation of actual, heavy weight.

The threshold had been reached; if it swallowed any more, it would likely burst from being overstuffed.

A sudden wave of dread washed over Qianmei; it had no idea how many more viral strains of pollution like this existed here, so how could it ever finish swallowing them all!

Could it be... could it really be destined to gorge itself to death in this place?

At the thought of this horrifying prospect, Qianmei's body began to tremble, looking like a bloated cockroach with its wings pinned open.

Neo was saved, but as the one rescued, he possessed not a shred of the relief or joy that should accompany salvation; staring at his savior before him, his eyes held only a distant coldness;

Karen had saved a life, but as the savior, he felt none of that heartfelt accomplishment or satisfaction; staring at the two small mounds of earth before him, greed swirled within his eyes.

After a long moment, the first whose gaze softened was Neo.

He was not the sort of person to cry, "I want to die, what right do you have to stop me, who do you think you are?"

A veteran hound could never learn that emotional, petulant coaxing of a pampered pet, let alone throw an unreasonable tantrum by severing the preamble from the present; he could only bring himself to admit: to save him, Karen had not hesitated to actively trigger his own greatest dread... the hunger addiction.

Most importantly, since he hadn't managed to die... life had to go on.

He walked up to Karen, knowing that Karen was still resisting the onset of the hunger addiction, so he said nothing; otherwise, according to his usual habits, he would likely point at those two mounds representing light and bloodlust respectively, and tease:

"Which one caught your eye? Take it and play with it as you please."

Now, he did not even dare to let the two mounds reveal themselves entirely, fearing it would stimulate Karen.

Finally, Karen took a deep breath, and emotion returned to his gaze.

Neo then let out a sigh of relief and said to Karen, "Thank you for saving me."

Karen replied, "Don't mention it."

"Ah, how wonderful, to breathe fresh air again, to have fine wine, good food, and stocks."

"Don't forget the breeze on the rooftop."

With that, Karen's spiritual consciousness withdrew, departing from Neo's body.

Meanwhile, Neo's originally withered and aging body began to recover its vitality at a speed visible to the naked eye, new flesh instantly sprouting where the rotten flesh had sloughed away, the terrifying self-healing capability of a bloodthirsty aberrant demon perfectly displayed in this moment.

Neo opened his eyes and reached up to rub his somewhat tight face: "Heh, almost became history there. Forgive me, Elisa, you see, I've always lived my life very seriously."

Karen could not be bothered to pay attention to him; he turned around and looked toward the artifact for reception.

Neo walked over of his own accord, reaching out to pat Karen on the shoulder, and said, "You were too impulsive. Besides, I never realized you were so tyrannical before."

"Learned it from you."

This answer brought an involuntary smile to the corners of Neo's mouth: "An excellent response."

"I don't want to argue with you about the meaning of life and death, nor do I care to dissect your personal perception of your current life; those complex, abstract, distorted matters are things I have no desire to heed;

I only know that I am the captain of this volunteer team, and within the scope of my ability, I will strive to bring as many people back alive as possible."

"And outside the mission?"

"You are my old superior and an acquaintance; no matter what, I will not watch you die."

Neo asked, "Not even friends anymore?"

Karen shook his head: "Friends require understanding, and I don't wish to understand."

"Heh, you understand all too damn well."

"It matters not; after all, you can't wake a friend who is pretending to be asleep."

The setup work for the receiving artifact was finally completely finished, and Nicole and Anlans began to formally undertake the reception;

Soon, the two principle notebooks that had originally floated above descended, and as they neared Nicole and Anlans, the light upon the notebooks faded away, and structures resembling bookboxes appeared around them, sealing them inside.

"It's done!"

"It's done!"

Nicole and Anlans looked toward Karen together, reporting to him.

Meanwhile, Queto and Marina looked up at the chessboard of the God of Infatuation; they wanted it, but they knew they would not receive permission.

Furthermore, upon seeing the people from the Principle Church reclaim these two divine artifacts—the true objectives of this volunteer mission—the two of them also breathed a long sigh of relief in their hearts.

This ghostly place was truly too torturous; they had no desire to stay either, to the point that a rebellious sentiment arose in their minds: any additional tasks, they wouldn't do them!

Karen did not hesitate on his part, issuing a direct command: "Retreat!"

There was no need to pack up the equipment, nor to gather back the unused materials brought out earlier; it was no pity to leave these things behind here, and it was estimated that no one would come to this place for the next hundred years anyway.

In short, at this very moment, everyone turned around and began a mad dash toward the exit.

Praiseworthily, even under these circumstances, everyone still maintained a basic formation, because everyone knew that in a place like this, chaos meant surrender and death.

Get out, get out, get out!

The mental pressure was instead doubling and increasing at this moment, everything directed solely toward achieving true release when they could get out.

The crowd rushed out of the laboratory, rushed out of the tunnel, arrived outside, and then ran together toward the seal; outside, the stationed clergymen could already be seen raising their hands and cheering!

Up ahead, a teleportation array appeared; no one hesitated as they entered the array area, Karen being no exception.

Many people were panting heavily, an unreal sensation swirling in their hearts: they had successfully run out just like that?

Hum!

The array's teleportation activated.

Finally, everyone arrived outside the seal, and a large crowd of clergymen clad in robes of Order came running toward them with cheers.

Not a few people in the volunteer team shed tears, while others began to shout and scream; they had come out, they had become heroes, and living heroes at that!

Surrounded by the clergymen of Order, everyone walked forward, where a communication array had long been set up; further ahead stood a crowd of Cardinals and other dignitaries, the atmosphere of a victory banquet already drifting through the air.

As Karen walked, he reached his hand out toward the front, as if wishing to touch something; everything around him was so real, yet for some unknown reason, he felt a very hurried sensation.

Instinctive suspicion told him that breaking out shouldn't have been this smooth, yet he had no way to question anything before his eyes.

So, was it too smooth, which made it bad instead?

Cullen walked forward, turning his gaze toward Neo. Neo had been constantly scanning their surroundings; now his eyes met Cullen’s, and he gave a slight shrug.

"Come on, cheer up a bit."

Evidently, he harbored the same doubts as Cullen. A hound's instinct meant they would never trust a piece of meat obtained too easily, yet their noses could sniff out nothing amiss.

Or perhaps, it could only be said that the Blighted Land was still gathering its strength, choosing not to use Cullen and his companions as the breakthrough point for a forced rupture.

Of course, there was another possibility...

Cullen and Neo turned back simultaneously to look at the other volunteers emerging behind them: could it be that among their own ranks, a representative already existed?

Within the team, had one more person been added, or had someone been replaced?

When the two turned their heads back, their eyes met once more. Clearly, they had arrived at the exact same thought again.

However, if they themselves were dwelling on these anxieties, the Church would undoubtedly be doing the same.

In truth, even though they had made it out alive, they would still face a period of quarantine and examination to ensure no residual blight remained on them. In such a process, how could any hidden identity remain concealed?

"Grandpa!" Richard ran headlong toward Delon.

"Cullen!"

Bishop Delon stepped past Richard straight to Cullen, drawing him into a firm embrace.

Richard: "..."

The warmth, the touch, and that unmistakable grandfatherly care and affection were so vivid.

Cullen was not familiar with Delon’s embrace, but seeing that the elder wished to express his emotions at this moment, Cullen was willing to cooperate. After all, his grandfather was factoring his mother's share into this embrace as well.

The grandparents’ partiality toward him was, on one hand, unavoidably due to his own excellence; on the other hand, it was because they felt no guilt toward Richard, but they did toward his mother.

"May the God of Order bless you, you have returned safely." Delon looked at Cullen, letting out a long sigh of relief. "Truly, the God of Order has blessed us."

"Hahaha! I knew it, Cullen, you would definitely make it out alive! You are the genius student I set my eyes on!" Piro strode over, a pipe clamped in his teeth, and grabbed Cullen's hand. "I’ve already discussed it with Bishop Delon. After this mission, you will surely get a relatively long period for recovery and examination. We will use this time to take you along and research some array schemes together. Bishop Delon also thinks highly of your talent in arrays. We absolutely cannot let it go to waste, you hear?"

"Understood, Teacher."

Delon then went to embrace Richard. However, because his primary emotions had already been spent on Cullen, the embrace he gave Richard... seemed somewhat perfunctory.

After all, the man was a master of arrays, not a master of acting.

Memphis stood to the side, watching the scene of the grandfather and grandsons embracing, a smile playing on his face. He had not expected things to go so smoothly, but now, this was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.

Others were celebrating as well; everyone was filled with joy.

"Young Master." Alfred walked over. "We shall open a new chapter."

Clearly, the dutiful Alfred was already planning for the career development that would follow this event.

He even felt that Director Gauspor, with whom they could originally have cooperated, had now instead become a stumbling block. Since his young master's future had been cleansed of all obstacles by this incident, causing Gauspor to be promoted or demoted early would best serve his master's upcoming interests.

Ventura walked toward the communication array, taking his stance in front of it. The priest responsible for controlling the communication array cooperatively panned the lens over to him.

This made Ventura feel somewhat self-conscious instead, and he subconsciously raised a hand to scratch his hair.

He felt that at this moment he ought to say something to his grandparents through the lens, perhaps that their grandson had grown up and so forth, but in the end, those words remained unspoken.

Muri walked over and said to Ventura, "Say whatever you want to say. Your grandparents should be watching the communication array from the administrative hall right now."

The families of the volunteers would certainly be the first to receive news regarding this mission.

"Why don't you speak first?" Ventura said to Muri.

Muri declined, "I have nothing to say."

"How can that be? You were rather agitated when you were cursing your grandfather earlier."

"That was an emotional outburst caused by the external influence."

"Hey, Muri, I may be young, but I'm not a fool. There's no need to lie to me."

Muri sighed and did not reply further. He had many things he wanted to say to his family and his grandfather, but he had never considered using the communication array to directly denounce his Benda family for lacking human warmth and affection.

He merely wanted to use the achievements he attained to prove that the family's coldness toward him back then—their decision to abandon him in exchange for that Lord of the Reincarnation Gate—was short-sighted and wrong!

Leon knelt on the ground in prayer, looking up at the sky, his mouth murmuring softly. His loved ones had departed, far away from him, yet they could still hear his whispered words.

Vik stood nearby, yawning. He did not particularly care for scenes like this. Although he possessed a high desire for position and prospects, most of his drive for struggle was born from the sense of disparity left after his teacher's disappearance.

He had seen the world and enjoyed high status, so he preferred to see practical results.

Philomena stood there entirely alone, appearing somewhat out of place amidst the lively, bustling surroundings. Fortunately, after concluding an embrace with his own grandfather that was none too intimate, Richard proactively walked over to her side.

"Cullen knows how to cook—oh wait, we have to go into quarantine and observation first."

"Mm," Philomena murmured in response.

"Why do you seem a bit downcast?"

"It was too smooth, when we came out."

"Isn't it good that it was smooth?"

Philomena lifted the bag in her hand, which contained rows of syringes. "Before the injections could even be finished, it was over."

"Regarding that, my Little Jerry didn't sense any abnormality."

"I know, because..." Philomena looked at Cullen, then at Neo. "They didn't notice anything amiss either. It seems we really have returned safely, with only one life lost."

"Haha, is that what you're worried about? There's really no need. Just being able to go in is already a massive achievement."

Philomena closed her eyes, attempting to enter a dream. She successfully entered her own dreamscape, and immediately afterward, she left the dream and returned to reality.

Being able to enter and leave dreams freely meant they truly had emerged safely.

Quito and Nicole came before their respective teachers, delivering low-voiced reports. Subsequently, their teachers, without exception, began to comfort them—likely regarding their failure to bring out the Chessboard of the Goddess of Infatuation.

In truth, their teachers had no right to reproach them, for the students had taken on the risks in their stead.

As for the other volunteers, some had already taken liquor from some priest and begun drinking heavily, while others indeed went before the communication array to speak to their families.

In the distance, carriages belonging to the Church of Order were already rolling in, ready to transport the volunteers to the church hospital for physical examinations.

"Cullen."

"Chief Bourne, didn't you say you wouldn't come to the scene?"

Bourne smiled. "I just came to see the situation. I didn't expect you all to complete the mission so quickly either."

"Actually, Bourne arrived not long after you entered." Kumut smiled as he stepped forward. He was the head of the handling group for this incident, and even a Chief Bishop could only sit below him in his presence. "Minister Cullen, I can see that our Chief Bourne holds you in very high regard."

"Thank you."

"Are you thanking me or thanking him?" Kumut asked.

Bourne immediately said, "Of course he is thanking you, my Lord."

"Then it cannot be a thank-you for nothing." Kumut motioned for Cullen to follow him. "Come, let me introduce these lords to you."

Cullen could call out the names of all these lords. It could be said that they all knew each other, but the acquaintance of the past was different from the acquaintance of the present.

After this introduction, Richard could help Cullen send gifts during holidays and festivals.

"This is Lord Sysoncaro..."

"This is Lord Henchel..."

With every introduction Kumte made, Karen offered his greetings, and each person returned the courtesy.

"This is Lord Dis..."

"Lord Dis..." Karen abruptly raised his head, discovering that the lord before him was, in truth, Dis.

Yet, when Karen blinked and looked once more, he found the figure had shifted into the likeness of another man, not Dis at all.

In an instant, Karen's body felt as though it had plummeted into an ice cellar.

He immediately scanned his surroundings again, finding everything quite normal, while over there, Nicole and Arlans were handing the boxes containing the two divine artifacts to their respective teachers.

"Minister Karen, it is a pleasure to meet you," this lord said, wearing a benevolent smile.

"Buzz!"

With a sweep of his hand, the Sword of Diamans on Karen's back flew into his grip, and without a shred of hesitation, he thrust it straight into the chest of the lord before him.

Either I have gone mad, or this world has gone mad.

Karen believed he was the one who had gone mad, which was precisely why, in this fleeting second, he chose the most absolute, resolute method to test this world!

It was entirely real, real to a degree that surpassed the highest illusions of his own understanding.

Since you are real, surely you must bleed?

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

Fresh blood flowed along the length of the greatsword; he was truly bleeding.

But just at that moment, Karen suddenly felt a terrible, isolated chill and alienation.

The real world before his eyes abruptly drained into shades of ash and white,

And as he surveyed his surroundings once more, he discovered that the believers, family members, teachers, and lords who had just been celebrating with the volunteers...

Were all the physically mutilated Order Inquisitors who had originally died, kneeling outside the cavern.