Chapter 246: The Truth Exposed
A moment later, Mo Tan broke the silence first. He looked up and met Xia Lian’s eyes: “Come to my room.”
“Huh?!” The Dawn Sect’s First Holy Maiden almost jumped up, then cautiously retreated two steps, pointing at Mo Tan and exclaiming, “What, what, what, what are you going to do?! I’m a proper elf! And Wang Yu’s mentor! Even if I haven’t had a boyfriend for hundreds of years… ”
“Stop!” Mo Tan’s mouth twitched as he interrupted her nonsense, his face dark as he said in a low voice, “What kind of nonsense is that? I’m just taking you to see something! Yu Cheng, you too.”
Yu Cheng, giggling behind Mo Tan, quickly nodded.
Xia Lian still looked terrified: “What are you going to show me?! Ah, could it be that Yu Cheng, you don’t mind either… ”
“Alright, I’m not going.” Mo Tan sighed, spreading his hands in exhaustion, “You find a place to hang me up and beat me.”
“Tsk, just kidding.” Xia Lian’s expression, a mix of terror, confusion, wariness, and fear, immediately subsided. She narrowed her eyes and pouted, “Let’s go, let’s get this sorted out quickly.”
Mo Tan nodded with a bitter face, then gave Yu Cheng a ‘I’m so tired’ look.
Yu Cheng covered her mouth and chuckled, then blinked her bright eyes, indicating, ‘Relax, Holy Maiden is probably just stressed and a little stimulated, so she’s making a joke to lighten the mood~’
Mo Tan thought for a long time, but still couldn’t figure out what she was trying to express, so he dejectedly took the lead and walked in the opposite direction of the Holy Church United Chapel.
Yu Cheng, with a sly smile, pulled him back: “Until you memorize the city map, I’ll walk in front~”
Mo Tan: “…”
Xia Lian sighed to the heavens: “I just said I’ve been single for hundreds of years, you two, enough already!”
…
Twenty minutes later
Holy Church United Chapel, Mo Tan’s room
“This is?”
Xia Lian looked with some surprise at the Misha County map in front of her, which was half a circle larger than the tabletop, covered with numerous lines and annotations, with various chess pieces arranged on both sides, and detailed records. She couldn’t help but be stunned: “A battle map?”
“That’s right, Holy Maiden.” Yu Cheng nodded obediently, carefully placing the two quills that were lying on the table as she replied, “It’s Mo Tan’s exclusive battle map~”
Xia Lian blinked, then leaned over to the northern part of the map and looked at it for a long time. After a good while, she nodded slightly: “Hmm, I don’t understand it.”
Mo Tan gave a dry laugh: “If you don’t understand it, why are you nodding?”
“To look professional.” Xia Lian chuckled, then casually picked up a white horse-shaped chess piece: “What’s this for?”
“It represents a knight squad in a safe situation.” Mo Tan shrugged, then pointed a finger at another chess piece, which immediately turned light red in a hazy glow: “This is a low-level threat, the kind that takes some time to deal with.”
The moment the chess piece lit up, Xia Lian felt a ripple of magic. She poked the ‘knight squad’ in her hand with interest, causing it to turn crimson: “What about this?”
“This is a severe threat.” Yu Cheng explained in a low voice, “The combat power gap is too large, and a frontal resistance would result in heavy casualties. They must immediately relocate and rendezvous with other teams.”
Xia Lian clicked her tongue, then increased her magic output again. Soon, faint cracks appeared on the horse-shaped chess piece, and the outer layer of light completely extinguished. The Holy Maiden’s expression became serious: “So this is the state of total annihilation?”
“Uh, not quite.” Mo Tan calmly shook his head, and said just as seriously, “This is the state where the chess piece is broken due to magical overload. Um, this item costs 10 silver coins per piece, so… ”
Xia Lian laughed heartily, patting Mo Tan’s shoulder forcefully: “Good! I’m truly impressed with you. I suppose you solve problems using these things, right?”
Mo Tan nodded: “Yes, but these chess pieces were made by Miss Luna at my personal expense, so…”
“Hahahaha, that’s really great! I’ll definitely praise you highly to His Holiness the Pope when I get back~”
“Thank you, but my recent financial situation has already…”
“You don’t have to worry about Tairo. I’ll go educate him later, I guarantee he won’t dare to have any opinions about your little tricks!”
“That’s wonderful, but those 10 silver coins…”
“Oh, you must introduce me to that little Alchemist sometime. A ‘novice’ level couldn’t make something like this. I’ll take her to the Alchemist Association in Light Capital for another assessment.”
“Luna doesn’t seem to care much about those things. More importantly, when will you reimburse me for the 10 silver coins you just broke… ”
“Damn it!” Xia Lian’s eyebrows shot up, her eyes widened, and she bared her teeth, furiously exclaiming, “Do you have any common sense, kid?! Can’t you tell what I’ve been chattering with you for so long about? Where’s the main point?!?!?!”
【Sigh, as expected, it’s not that easy to fool her.】
Mo Tan slowly got up from the ground, subtly exchanged a glance with Yu Cheng, then looked up at Xia Lian: “What main point are you referring to?”
Xia Lian glanced at him, smiling without warmth, and said, “Do you really want me to spell it out? Fine, then let’s talk about how you two managed to issue temporary commands to those teams after arranging their routes and plans.”
Yu Cheng timidly opened her mouth, “That is…”
“Good girl, you two better think carefully before you speak~” Xia Lian gently stroked Yu Cheng’s soft hair with a benevolent expression, and said leisurely, “If you try to explain it by saying, ‘the Holy Maiden obtained divine power crystals capable of long-distance communication by communicating with the Goddess,’ Black Vatican will be hung up and beaten until he cries~”
Yu Cheng: “…”
She had indeed seemed to be about to try that explanation.
Actually, from a player’s perspective, this matter isn’t difficult to explain at all. Yu Ying, as the temporary deputy officer for temporary command, temporarily added a batch of friends, then arranged those people into various knight squads based on their online time and configuration needs. At Mo Tan’s request, those players mixed among the NPCs would contact Yu Ying immediately no matter what happened. Yu Ying would then relay it to Mo Tan, who would then send back specific instructions, which those players would then use to mobilize and command under the pretense of ‘Tairo’s secret arrangements.’
Because Mo Tan’s average online rate wasn’t very high, he always arranged two sets of tasks: the regular patrol and low-danger rescue missions when he was offline, and the pioneering missions that required a lot of changes. The former involved searching and clearing in areas that were already generally safe, excelling in safety and stability. The latter mostly required Mo Tan himself to be online for dispatch, and each time yielded considerable rewards.
Of course, occasionally a third situation would arise, which was Mo Tan suddenly going offline while several teams were engaged in pioneering work. However, because he had the ‘Premonition’ talent that could give him several more seconds, Mo Tan would quickly tell Yu Cheng and Yu Ying how to handle the aftermath before he was about to go offline. Although the effect was limited, no accidents had occurred over such a long period.
All in all, their series of operations during this period were actually not complicated at all…
From a player’s perspective, that is.
But NPCs are different!
【Sure enough, I still haven’t come up with a suitable explanation before Xia Lian returned, but is it really okay to just tell her directly? Not to mention me, Yu Cheng, as an ‘Otherworlder,’ actually became the Holy Maiden of the Dawn Sect. From a divine perspective, there’s no problem (confirmed), but can the secular church accept such a thing? Xia Lian isn’t Cole. Should I tell the truth while ensuring Yu Cheng’s safety, or lie without being exposed? How much does she know about what happened during this time on her way back? Damn it, I’m really not good at this…】
Mo Tan frowned hesitantly. Xia Lian’s early return had thrown him into a bit of a panic. If he could, he really wished he could become his ‘chaotic neutral’ personality right now; things would be much easier then, but…
【Eh?】
Mo Tan’s eyes suddenly lit up, then narrowed dangerously, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He suddenly looked up at Xia Lian, his face composed, and chuckled: “This is a long story, and honestly, it’s really hard to talk about~”
A sense of sudden clarity inexplicably excited him. At the same time, the 【Reflection】 in the talent section of the ‘Black Vatican’ character panel had quietly become active.
And his alignment was…
“Hard to talk about?” Xia Lian, however, suddenly interjected, a meaningful curve to her lips: “If it’s really hard to talk about, then don’t say anything.”
“Huh?”
“Uh?”
Both Yu Cheng and Mo Tan were stunned. The former’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at her Holy Maiden, while the latter’s faint hint of madness instantly dissipated into nothingness. The 【Reflection】 talent silently deactivated, and the ‘Black Vatican’ character’s alignment reverted to ‘Absolute Neutral.’
Both of them were a little bewildered.
“Surprised?” Xia Lian took a sip of the hot water Yu Cheng had just boiled. She leaned against the table, cradling her substantial crucifix, her demeanor calm and detached as if she had been soul-transmigrated. Only after the two had finally recovered did she leisurely say, “You two, you didn’t think I hadn’t noticed anything, did you?”
Yu Cheng shivered instantly.
Mo Tan, however, forced himself to remain calm and asked, “Are you referring to an old flame or something else?”
Xia Lian clicked her tongue, turning her head to look at him steadily: “I said, Mo Tan…”
“Hm?” The latter subconsciously responded, then his eyes suddenly widened: “What did you just call me?!”
“Mo Tan.” Xia Lian smiled slyly, wagging her slender, pale index finger: “Wang Yu often calls you that, doesn’t she? The most recent time should have been just now, ‘This is Mo Tan’s exclusive battle map~’ She was clearly talking about you, right?”
Mo Tan lowered his head in silence. In the half-month Xia Lian was away, he and Yu Cheng had been calling each other by their real names for some time, so much so that he hadn’t reacted at all when Yu Cheng called him by his real-world name. And from what Xia Lian just said, what had been exposed was not just that…
Yu Cheng was also stunned. She, too, had only just realized how problematic her previous statement was.
“Don’t be nervous, I’ve noticed far more anomalies than just these, I just haven’t said anything.” Xia Lian’s eyes sparkled with wisdom, looking for a moment like a typical Holy Maiden. She gently tugged at her pointed ear and smiled sweetly: “Whether it was Black Vatican, or rather, Mo Tan, the first time you appeared before me, or when I first met little Wang Yu, I could feel some inexplicable sense of incongruity. Although as faint as a hallucination, it was undeniably present. Your way of speaking, your lack of many common knowledge, many words you usually say, are not like a… hmm, how should I put it, at least in my concept, not like a normal person.”
Mo Tan / Yu Cheng: “…”
“I am a Holy Maiden who has lived for hundreds of years, after all.”
Xia Lian raised an eyebrow, winking playfully at the two of them: “Do you really think I’m as simple-minded as those stupid knights whose brains are all muscle~?”
Chapter 243: The End