NOVPUBChapter 155: Chapter 154: The Shock of Paradise is Everywhere
Chapter 155 -154: The Shock of Paradise is Everywhere
…
About half an hour later, Shandela finally led the city guards to the eastern outskirts of the city.
Seeing the billowing smoke rising from the camp, her heart skipped a beat, and her first thought was, who would dare make a move on Black Steel?
In her mind, only the Heretical Cult acted without reason.
But what was the point of the Heretical Cult attacking the Black Steel corporation? If they desired fear and blood, the slumbering civilians in Magnificent Castle were obviously more suitable targets.
Of course, no matter which force was behind the attack, anyone who could turn the Black Steel camp upside down was not going to be an easy adversary to deal with.
“Spread out and search, be ready to encounter the enemy!”
Shandela dismounted and issued the order to her subordinates.
“Commander, something seems amiss…” Suddenly, a scout cavalry rider rushed towards her.
“Just tell me what it is!”
The man, however, showed an expression of dilemma, “I don’t know how to say this… you might have to see it for yourself.”
Shandela was puzzled by her subordinate’s reaction; they were on the battlefield, yet her own soldiers couldn’t even provide a simple report? But this was not the time to judge their capabilities, so she could only follow her subordinate off the road, coming to a charred piece of land.
In the midst of a few clusters of dying flames, a figure stood silently.
At just a glance, Shandela recognized who it was— the silver cross on her back was too conspicuous, even her silhouette left a deep impression.
“Why is she here?” Deputy Commander Woody also recognized the figure.
“I don’t know,” Shandela frowned slightly. Since the mission to clear out the rebellious miners in the Misty Zone, Ge Wei hadn’t been following her closely. However, she hadn’t returned to the church either; she still stayed temporarily in the barracks and often spent the whole night out, returning only in the early morning of the next day. Since she was not part of the city guards, the military discipline officer couldn’t manage her and had to let her move freely. Over the past half a month, most of the soldiers had formed an impression of this strange woman.
“I found her standing there motionless, completely ignoring my questions. Since she is a priest of the Mechanical Sect, I didn’t dare to act rashly and could only report to you,” said the scout cavalry in a low voice.
So that was it.
Her identity was special and she might be related to the battle that had occurred in front of the Black Steel camp. It was indeed inconvenient to let too many people know before the matter was clarified.
“Have the main troops halt and switch to defensive positions,” Shandela ordered.
Then she approached Ge Wei alone.
Before she got close, she heard a soft, low chant. When Shandela reached her side, she realized that Ge Wei’s hands were clasped and her lips murmured softly, as if she were praying for someone.
At her feet was uneven ground, as if it had been bombarded by something like cannon fire, with a few pieces of charred flesh scattered nearby. In addition, Shandela noticed several strange straps. They were flat and smooth, painted black yet reflected the surrounding firelight, making it difficult to determine what material they were made of at first glance.
“When did you arrive? What exactly happened here? And who attacked the camp?” Shandela fired off her questions in succession.
It was only then that Ge Wei slowly opened her eyes and lowered her hands, “Don’t worry, it’s safe here now.”
“Safe?” Shandela tilted her head, glancing at the still-burning camp, “Then why don’t we see any of Heigang Company’s mercenaries coming out to put out the fire?”
“Because they’ve been defeated, and even those still alive wouldn’t dare take a step in this direction.”
“Who defeated them?”
Ge Wei paused for a moment before looking at Shandela, “The saviors of this city.”
“What?” The latter doubted her ears; what was this all about? Her previous dealings with this Priest had led her to find her a bit eccentric, but still reliable when it came to handling matters. But now, Shandela felt as if she were dealing with a different person altogether, not only were the responses enigmatic, but there was also a hint of brightness in the somber shadow of her eyes.
In fact, the shock in Ge Wei’s heart was extremely intense, she had yet to recover from such emotions even at this moment.
The reason she no longer followed the Commander of the city guards was that she had realized these people lacked the ability to find heretics and were unprepared to deal with them.
When the Lord applied pressure, miners who had not collaborated with the heretics were still hanged as the main culprits; Shandela had closed the case and presented a notice to the public to calm them—such political considerations truly didn’t concern Ge Wei, nor did she care about the hanged miners, for these were the inevitable prices to pay in eradicating the Heretical Cult. What truly disappointed her was Shandela’s reaction; knowing full well the rebellious miners had nothing to do with the cult, she ceased further investigation after carrying out the Lord’s orders, rather than turning the city upside down, showing that there were too many interests within Magnificent Castle that took precedence over the heretics.
She was, after all, fighting a solitary battle.
In the absence of reliable clues, Ge Wei adjusted her routine to hide by day and move by night—because the group previously investigated by the city guards mostly acted at night. Moreover, she noticed something odd about the suspects while studying the archives: they created quite a bit of noise each time, managed to escape unscathed afterward, leaving not a single captive. Additionally, they seldom harmed civilians, targeting either police stations or companies, hence her patrolling route at night wandered among the major companies, hoping to stumble upon their next move.
Her perseverance finally paid off, the long-awaited moment materialized at last.
When an explosion resounded from the eastern suburbs, Ge Wei was passing by the north watchtower; she immediately used the Commander’s name to ascend the tower for observation and noticed intermittent flashes of fire at the Black Steel camp, vaguely accompanied by the sound of volley fire. This discovery filled her with joy, and she set off for the camp on her horse at once.
What further exhilarated Ge Wei was that the moment she entered the rural fields of the suburbs, she felt a reaction from the mystical “Ouroboros” artifact she carried on her back. The cross trembled slightly, its surface turning warm—these were signs of encountering a mortal enemy. And an enemy strong enough to be sensed by the mystical artifact had to be a genuine evil—such as a cultist wielding the power of an Evil God or some malevolent entity from another world.
However, Ge Wei never expected to witness such a scene.
Someone stepped forward as if they could not sense the fear brought on by the evil entity at all, charging at the enemy with a resolve to face death, eventually igniting themselves; all to destroy the target.
And there was more than one such person.
She wanted to stop the last one, for the Ouroboros had ceased trembling, indicating that the evil entity had lost its vitality, yet the man went forward regardless. More than that, he even turned his head to smile and nod to her before his death.
Even Ge Wei felt a hint of madness!
But as she said, madness was the best weapon against heretics—such people definitely deserved to be the adversaries that evil fears the most.
At the same time, Ge Wei also sensed the presence of another force. She had smelt this aura on Central Street before, thinking it was a figment of her imagination, but now it seemed her senses had not misled her. She could not see the figure in the quiet night, but Ge Wei knew someone was watching over her in the darkness.
She could now be certain that new divinities had entered the realm of mortals and were currently within Magnificent Castle!
