Chapter 180: Mutation
“Hmm? Is something wrong, Holy Maiden?”
Yu Cheng averted her gaze, her eyes flickering. She wasn't very good at lying.
Xia Lian just stared at her adorable little apprentice with a strange expression, as if she had been choked by two pounds of steamed buns personally made by Ji Xiaoge, feeling like she might pass away at any moment.
“Holy Maiden?” Yu Cheng cautiously glanced at Xia Lian, but was startled by the latter's expression, which was a mix of helplessness, confusion, awkwardness, exasperation, and gossip. She immediately dared not speak.
After a long while…
Xia Lian, whose gaze had been flitting between Yu Cheng and Mo Tan (in a collapsed state), finally cleared her throat to break the silence. With no one else around, she abruptly lowered her voice and asked, “He's… weak, isn't he?”
Yu Cheng, who was studying at the Medical School in reality, immediately subconsciously reasoned and verified it in her mind, concluding that ‘it seems to be roughly the same as the lie I told.’ So, she nodded seriously, “It seems one could say that.”
“It seems I really need to find a couple of Alchemists for him when I get back to the Holy Sanctuary. After all, divine spells aren't omnipotent.” Xia Lian looked at Mo Tan, who was collapsed not far away, with great sympathy, and tugged at her ear in distress, “Sigh, this kid is pretty good. It’s not a bad deal for you to be with him… But any issues still need to be dealt with early. Being so weak all the time won't do.”
Yu Cheng: “Huh?”
Xia Lian patted the girl's shoulder and said earnestly, “You're both humans, and you're both around the right age. If this continues, having children later will be a problem.”
!?
Yu Cheng froze in place as if struck by lightning, her small face turning crimson at a visible speed.
Although she was a bit naive, she wasn't an idiot. By now, she had figured out what was going on…
One must know that Xia Lian had immediately witnessed the extremely explosive scene of the two of them getting dressed. Then, Mo Tan had ‘fainted’ in the game due to needing to go offline urgently, and she had explained it as ‘excessive consumption.’ Although her original intention was to convey that ‘Mo Tan was exhausted from helping maintain the magic circle,’ the meaning of her words had completely changed once they reached the Holy Maiden’s ears.
Then she even asked if Mo Tan was weak…
And her answer was ‘one could say that’!
This ‘weak’ was not that ‘weak’!!
【I’m doomed! Holy Maiden has completely misunderstood! Goddess, Mo Tan Tong Xue, what should I do now?!】
Yu Cheng cried out helplessly in her heart.
Xia Lian, however, put her arm around her shoulder and continued to ‘comfort’ her, “But don't worry too much. Actually, there's nothing shameful about this. Tsk tsk, I knew I had keen insight. You two insisted on saying you were just old acquaintances when you're clearly old lovers. If I hadn't caught you red-handed today, would you still not admit it? By the way, why didn't he come to find you last night? Was it because he was afraid of getting caught by me? Or was it because… he was weak?”
“I swear by the Goddess’s name!” Yu Cheng, on the verge of collapse, gritted her teeth, stomped her foot, and then raised her hands high, speaking rapidly and loudly, “Black Vatican and I are absolutely innocent!”
A seven-layered lotus-like shield suddenly appeared above Yu Cheng's head. Immediately after, Xia Lian pulled Yu Cheng behind her, holding up her cross and vigilantly looking at the clear blue sky of Hofur City, muttering, “Goddess, please overlook this child's unintentional mistake…”
Half a minute passed, and the divine punishment the Elf Holy Maiden had imagined still showed no sign of descending.
“Although I'm very grateful to Holy Maiden for protecting me like this…”
Yu Cheng, between laughter and tears, took Xia Lian's hand and shook her head, “But I really wasn't lying.”
The latter blinked twice, then stumbled and sat on the ground. After a long pause, she finally sighed, “The Goddess is really good to you…”
Yu Cheng: “…”
Twenty minutes later, in front of the Holy Church United Chapel in Hofur City.
“So, he suddenly fainted not because of… that, but because he expended too much energy helping you when your power went out of control?” Xia Lian looked at Yu Cheng beside her with suspicion, her eyes full of doubt.
The latter nodded vigorously, “That's exactly what happened! Not long after the resonance began, I felt a chilling cold, and large areas of strange darkness appeared around me. If Mo… Black Vatican hadn't helped, I definitely wouldn't have made it through on my own. He used divine spells to assist me through the most difficult period.”
The first part of this explanation was fabricated by the Dawn Goddess after she defeated the Darkness Goddess. She seemed not to want Mo Tan and Yu Cheng's ‘Otherworlder’ identities to be widely known. The latter half was made up by Yu Cheng herself, but the general meaning was actually not too different, simply omitting the ‘God Descent’ part.
“Alright, it seems I wasn't wrong. The problem really did come from your side.” Xia Lian sighed, then asked Yu Cheng with a strange expression, “Then why were you two getting dressed when I arrived?”
“That's because… well, in short, it's definitely not what Holy Maiden thinks!” Yu Cheng couldn't find a reasonable explanation for a moment and could only very awkwardly change the subject, “By the way, Holy Maiden, is it really appropriate for you to carry him like this?”
Xia Lian looked back at Mo Tan, who was fluttering in the wind at the end of her cross, and chuckled, “It’s easier to carry him this way~”
That's right, the unconscious Mo Tan was ‘carried’ back by Xia Lian in this manner. In short, the Holy Maiden carried the cross, and he hung from the cross. From a distance, it looked like Xia Lian was holding a large flag.
By now, the two had finished the stairs and arrived at the entrance of the Holy Church United Chapel. However, before Xia Lian could put Mo Tan down, a thin young man ran out from inside, panting, and after a hasty bow to the two, immediately said, “Wen Qiu is in trouble.”
“Wen Qiu?” Xia Lian quickly and frantically put down Mo Tan, then asked Gareths in a deep voice, “What's wrong?”
Yu Cheng also clutched her small hands uneasily.
“I don't know why exactly.” Gareths shook his head with a bitter expression, explaining to the two, “After you left, Wen Qiu seemed to feel unwell. Her face was very pale, and she said dozens of places on her body hurt. After I carried her back to her room, I originally wanted to find other Reverend Adults to help look at her, but Wen Qiu said she was used to it and would be fine after some rest…”
Xia Lian narrowed her eyes slightly, “Take us to see her. Tell us as we go.”
Gareths nodded, then led the two towards Wen Qiu's room while continuing, “She absolutely didn't want me to leave. As a result, she fell into a coma less than ten minutes after lying down. After that, I went to find Reverend Carter and the others, but they were also at a loss about Wen Qiu's condition. I wonder if it might be due to the Plague…”
“It's not the Plague.” Xia Lian shook her head, “The Purification and Blessing have already been completed. Hofur City should theoretically no longer have any Plague. Is Carter inside?”
At this moment, the three had arrived at the entrance of Wen Qiu's room.
“Yes.” Gareths bowed slightly, “Sister Bouma and Reverend Jitta are also there.”
Xia Lian nodded slightly. She patted Gareths's shoulder, “You've worked hard. Leave the rest to us.”
“Um, could you please help send Black Vatican back to his room?” Yu Cheng smiled gently at Gareths, then pointed to a certain person collapsed at the entrance of the chapel, “He's quite exhausted.”
Gareths nodded respectfully, “Of course. Please don't worry.”
“Thank you. I'll trouble you then.”
“Your willingness to exceptionally accept me, an unworthy follower, is already enough.”
Gareths smiled simply.
Yu Cheng shook her head shyly, then followed Xia Lian into Wen Qiu's room.
...
The room was a bit messy, a few small clothes were casually tossed on the carpet, and on the table were several books with a few pages haphazardly turned, as well as half a loaf of bread. Three grim-faced clerics were huddled together, whispering something, and on the small bed beside them, pale-faced Wen Qiu lay in the quilt like a delicate doll. The girl's chest rose and fell slightly, and a hint of pain occasionally flickered across her bloodless little face.
“Holy Maiden Xia Lian, Holy Maiden Wang Yu.” The leading middle-aged Reverend immediately walked over upon seeing the two, and after a simple bow, hastily asked, “We previously sensed an indescribable evil force. The Purification ritual…”
“The Purification ritual was very successful, and the Goddess also bestowed blessings upon this land.” Xia Lian raised a hand to interrupt his question, then looked at Wen Qiu in the corner of the room, “What's wrong with that girl's body?”
Another young nun shook her head, “We don't know. We've already tried three types of divine spells—healing, blessing, and dispel—but this little sister shows no sign of waking up. Jitta examined her body with the Dawn Eye, but found no abnormalities.”
“Yes, Holy Maiden.” The Dwarf Reverend named Jitta, standing at the very back, said seriously, “We initially thought it was the Plague, but it seems that guess is no longer valid.”
After all, Xia Lian had personally stated that the Purification ritual was very successful, and the few of them could vaguely feel the omnipresent Dawn divine power that had begun not long ago, so the possibility of Wen Qiu collapsing due to Plague infection no longer existed.
“Normal body temperature, stable breathing, and no issues with her pulse.” Yu Cheng had already run to Wen Qiu's side. While gently stroking the girl's small face, she shook her head at Xia Lian, “It doesn't feel like an ordinary illness.”
Xia Lian casually placed the cross against the wall and waved her hand at the three in front of her, “You all go busy yourselves outside first. I'll take care of the rest.”
Carter, Bouma, and Jitta, who belonged to the Sun and Dawn Sects respectively, nodded and then quickly left. They were among the few remaining Mid-Tier clerics in Hofur City, and there were mountains of things to do after Xia Lian completed the divine spell, so they didn't have much free time to stay here.
Soon, only Yu Cheng, Xia Lian, and the unconscious Wen Qiu remained in the room.
“This girl was fine just now, how did she suddenly…”
Xia Lian wearily patted her cheeks, then golden light gradually filled her eyes, focusing her gaze on Wen Qiu.
It was also the Dawn Eye, but the First Holy Maiden's skill was far superior to that of Reverend Jitta and Mo Tan.
There were no hazy outlines, no bizarre sights. Everything in Xia Lian's eyes seemed unchanged, but when she focused her attention on a certain spot, she could vaguely ‘see’ a large amount of its most essential information.
As if possessing the sight of a god…
“Just as you said, this little girl's body seems very normal.” Xia Lian gently stroked Wen Qiu's forehead, the light in her eyes gradually receding, but then her figure swayed unnaturally.
Yu Cheng immediately supported her with quick hands and eyes, “Holy Maiden?”
“It's nothing, just over-exhaustion.” Xia Lian showed a somewhat haggard smile, slowly pushed away Yu Cheng's hands, and said in a deep voice, “Little Wen Qiu's vitality is very weak, extremely weak.”
Yu Cheng sat by the bed and gently held Wen Qiu's small hand, “Vitality?”
The girl's hand was warm and soft. Yu Cheng couldn't feel the abstract concept of ‘weak vitality’ from it at all.
“She is very healthy.” The light in Xia Lian's eyes gradually receded. She smiled bitterly and spread her hands at Yu Cheng, “But her vitality is abnormally weak. I don't know how to explain it to you, but at least one thing is certain…”
Yu Cheng looked at her Holy Maiden with some nervousness. Although she knew Innocent World was just a game, and Wen Qiu was also a player, she still felt an inexplicable worry.
“She could die at any moment.”
Xia Lian snapped her fingers casually, and the cross in the corner, which had already cracked the ground slightly, flew into her hand mid-air.
“Can she be cured?” Yu Cheng subconsciously tightened her grip on Wen Qiu.
“I don't know, but we have to try.” Xia Lian laboriously raised the cross in her hand, her voice suddenly becoming ethereal and distant, “God says…”
...
【You have unlocked the talent: Mutation】
This was the first sound Wen Qiu heard after waking up.
She subconsciously raised her hand to block the not-too-dazzling light in her vision, then opened her character panel…
【Mutation】
Growable Passive Talent
Current Proficiency: 0/500
Effect: Every 300 minutes, units affected by your Plague-type skills have a 0% - 15% chance to transform into 【Plague Mutants】. The specific time depends on the unit's comprehensive resistance and physical condition. 【Plague Mutants】 will lose all consciousness and indiscriminately attack any target other than 【Plague Mutants】 until death. The average attributes of 【Plague Mutants】 are three times that of before transformation. This effect is permanently irreversible. When a player is transformed, they will be directly defined as dead. When any unit not of the 【chaotic evil】 alignment is transformed, you will gain 3 sin points.
【Note: If pain cannot be erased, then get used to pain; if death is unavoidable, then embrace death; the foundation of companionship is mutual understanding, and the premise of understanding is empathy. Go and spread madness, let them know that your will has long transcended death…】
Chapter 177: End