The night is deep, and the shadows of the mountains and forests undulate in the darkness, resembling a hungry beast with a growling stomach. Occasionally, bird songs echo in the woods, and the wailing sounds like ghostly cries, mixed with the joyful laughter and songs coming from the square, giving an indescribable sense of absurdity and gloom.
Qiao Ou can’t sleep.
He has just learned the answer to a problem that has troubled two generations of his family. He obtained a massive secret that could completely bring down the mayor, preventing him from rising again. He also enlisted allies who could provide significant help for his dream town blueprint.
However, he can’t feel any joy. He only feels overwhelmed by the myriad of tasks ahead, more perplexing than when he unexpectedly took over the family business after his father’s untimely death.
—Blaming everything on the mayor, dealing with the mess after he steps down.
He doesn’t know that the mayor has already transferred most of his assets, planning to leave with his people later. He also knows that the mayor spent a long time in the church, praying for God’s protection to emerge unscathed from this turmoil.
Of course, he knows even more that the mayor left the church and never returned.
Soon, he’s about to find out. As he stared blankly out the window, the phone rang.
…
In the central square, a tall stack of firewood was set up. Xu Yintang, surrounded by the townspeople, lit the bonfire. Then they sang loudly the hymns praising the gods and seeking their blessings, while passionately moving their bodies to express reverence for the gods.
This lively celebration would continue until dawn. The bright and warm flames illuminated everyone’s faces, turning them red, and the joyful smiles, accompanied by the flickering firelight, revealed some distorted shadows. The echoing cheerful songs were catchy, and even the audience watching the live broadcast could hum along and unconsciously sway to the beat.
Oh, great gods, watching over everything…
We are willing to offer our souls and beliefs…
Please bless the peace of Sirence…
Please bless the fertility of the land and the growth of all things…
Oh, great gods, we beseech you, we beseech you…
…
This song is said to be the work of the first priest of the town of Ceylons. This priest was exceptionally talented in the arts, excelling in sculpture, painting, and music. At the same time, he was a kind and generous person, often saying, “God is watching over everything,” teaching the believers to devoutly do good. Even now, when the townspeople mention him, they do so with great respect.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Djrfv bc ws fzqfglfcmf—” Wljb Hlcu obecv jc bqqbgaeclas ab ygfjx jkjs ogbw atf rlculcu jcv vjcmlcu mgbkv, jqqgbjmtfv We Tlcajcu, ktb tjv yffc rlaalcu jrlvf gfralcu, jcv rtjgfv atf cfk lcobgwjalbc tf tjv byajlcfv.
Aera jr tf kjr tjiokjs atgbeut, tf ofia j tjcv bc tlr rtbeivfg. Cr obg ktb la kjr, Wljb Hlcu mbeiv jigfjvs uefrr ktfc tf aegcfv jgbecv. Lf qjerfv jcv mbcalcefv, “Djrfv bc ws fzqfglfcmf, ufcfgjiis, qfbqif ktb fnfgsbcf qgjlrfr jgf ubbv qfbqif.”
Xu Yintang nodded, “I think so too.”
“Right, and we’ve basically not explored much on the priest’s line…” Xiao Qing was about to continue when he suddenly saw Xu Yintang making a quiet gesture. Tilting his head, he seemed to be attentively listening to something. Xiao Qing also faintly heard a faint buzzing, like the fluttering wings of a butterfly, difficult to discern in the light of the fire and the chaotic crowd.
It was Third Flora.
A few seconds later, Xu Yintang said, “The mayor was attacked, and Third Flora helped him delay for a while so he could escape… Oh, he’s dead now.”
“Dead?” Xiao Qing widened his eyes in surprise, then quickly lowered his voice to inquire about the situation, “Silence?”
Xu Yintang shook his head, “It’s not her. The attacker came from the church. Sirens and the others couldn’t go there.”
Demons couldn’t enter the church. If they had sided with the mayor initially and were chased by Silence’s statues, then the church would be their most reliable refuge.
Xiao Qing frowned, momentarily figuring out who it could be, and feeling a headache coming on. Just last night, they had just negotiated with Silence on how to deal with the mayor, the biggest troublemaker, to satisfy Silence. Now, the mayor is dead, disrupting the original plan. They need to explain to Silence, and in case it comes to a fight, it’s not like they can bully the victim…
Kama Zuozi put his arm around Xiao Qing’s shoulder and ruffled his hair, then thought for a moment before asking Xu Yintang, “Was it the statues that killed her?”
“Yeah,” Xu Yintang nodded, “But there are too many statues in this town. Third Flora couldn’t distinguish which one.”
Third Flora and Little Darling both lacked eyes as organs. And third Flora relied on the antennae of butterflies to sense the surroundings. In scenes where numerous statues were copied and pasted in rows, it was easy to suffer from face blindness. Additionally, Silence’s relatives had all seen them, making it difficult for the butterflies to discern the killer after a long time of investigation. Xu Yintang could only tell that the statue’s aura was somewhat peculiar. It was clean with no lingering resentment, and it had a faint scent of faith.
The scent of faith…
The words Old Duolin once said flashed in Xu Yintang’s mind like lightning. “It’s the statues in the church,” he said, “The statues in the church are also the work of a priest.”
Kama Zuozi’s expression became serious. “If it’s the statues, then there’s trouble… it’s the external manifestation of the divine form. In theory, they shouldn’t have the ability and consciousness to act.”
All things derive their power from their form. If Silence was carved into a demon, over the years, it would actually become a demon. So, if the statues of the gods were devoutly worshipped by believers every day, without any restraints, wouldn’t all the god and Buddha statues in the world come to life and represent divine authority?
There is no way Gods would allow that to happen.
Having seen and experienced a lot, even someone like Kama Zuozi has never encountered a situation where a deity generates consciousness on its own. At most, she has witnessed gods briefly manifesting through divine statues.
As they spoke, they had quietly withdrawn from the crowd, led by Xu Yintang towards the location where the town mayor was attacked. Xu Yintang said while running, “So, it’s a true divine statue, something related to Silence.
Since a priest could cover Silence’s bones with a demonic shell, why couldnt he stuff something else inside the divine statue?
To be cautious, Xiao Qing took out Little Darling and held him in his arms while turning on the live broadcast. Anna, who had been thoroughly shaken, had already proven the effectiveness of the live audience restraining the statue. Although it was late at night with not many viewers, with the fan base of ‘Sugar’ and the current popularity of the live broadcast topic, attracting several hundred thousand night owls was easy.
Indeed, as expected, as soon as the live broadcast started, a considerable number of viewers poured in.
[Front row! I’m here, wife!!!]
[Late-night benefits hshshshs, it seems that children who stay up late have wives to watch wwww]
[Am I the only one scared here… clutching my little blanket tightly? This eerie atmosphere is shaking, like a horror movie…]
[Scared +1+1+1, can we broadcast such dark stuff so late QAQ]
[If scared, just turn off the screen and enjoy the sound of my wife’s running breath [nosebleed]]
The number of live viewers quickly exceeded ten thousand and rushed towards the two hundred thousand mark. Xiao Qing looked at the rapidly increasing audience numbers and felt like he was holding a magical device in his hand that could save his life during a battle.
“By the way,” Xiao Qing looked at the crime scene that appeared around the corner and suddenly thought of something, “Have you noticed that when people in the town pray, they say ‘Gods’ bless and ‘Gods’ watches over everything rather than ‘God’ or ‘Lord’?”
“I felt this was strange before, um… it doesn’t feel like the atmosphere of a regular church.”
The prefix titles during prayer can be casually used, mispronouncing a god’s name is like dialing the wrong phone number; no matter how devout the prayer is, it won’t reach the right deity. Phrases like ‘Gods bless’ are like random dialing in sales, catching whichever is closest.
According to information Xiao Qing heard from a friend in the National Special Science Department, this kind of ‘random dialing’ follows the principle of proximity, assuming the closest one is the right one.
Therefore, regardless of what the priest did to the divine statue, they at least gained some divine power. As for why the statue suddenly killed the mayor, and why Silence didn’t mention the statue’s special nature to them, they would find out when they saw the statue with their own eyes.
Currently, Xu Yintang could tell that the statue was hidden deeper than Silence. The butterflies could taste some resentment and pain from the demonic statue, confirming its essence. Up until now, there was no feedback from the butterflies in the church statue, even if it killed someone outside the church, in the perception of the butterflies, it was still a lifeless marble sculpture.
Kama Zuozi seemed somewhat regretful as she sighed, “So, in the end, it’s about escaping during the final battle…”
She said it, how could there be a C-level instance that can avoid the final battle round.
Hehe.
Xiao Qing turned his face away, instructing Little Darling in his arms, “Don’t imitate that sister.”
Little Darling mumbled confusedly, although he didn’t understand, he obediently agreed.
Little Darling doesn’t want to learn from that sister…
But as for what he shouldn’t learn…
Ask little brother later… little brother is smart and knows everything…
…
The town mayor died on the street outside the church, lying on his back in the middle of the road, limbs spread out, eyes tightly closed. Xu Yintang walked to the side of the body, and crouched down to inspect.
The expression of fear and astonishment still lingered on the face of the corpse, as if he had seen something unbelievable before death. Besides the bruises and scratches from his own stumbling, there were no obvious external injuries on his body. Even his complexion was rosy with a hint of warmth, looking like a drunkard asleep.
—Tonight, most of the people in the town had a little too much to drink. Even if they saw the body, they would probably mistake it for another drunkard who had had too much and returned home. It would probably take until tomorrow morning, after the hangovers, to realize that it was a corpse.
The empty street had nothing but the mayor’s body. Third Flora’s butterflies scattered and carefully searched the street several times, but found no abnormalities.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and the tightly closed door of the church creaked open a crack.
Author’s Note –
Didn’t expect it, right? The statues are not just limited to Silence’s group.
Wow, 2 sets of statues
That the priest
Ahem! That the priests asked them not to film the statues in the church already made it obvious to me that they were also monstrous. You failed on surprising me, author!
They got me – I’ve been to real life places where specific holy items can’t be filmed or captured via camera, such as the heart of shrines in Japan. I wrote it off as something like that
Thanks for the update ❤️
Thank goodness I’m not reading this was the lights off 😰
I thought it was word they couldn’t film the status lol
I wonder if they’re working with Silence at all or just for the priest?
Thank youuuu 🧡❤️
Yes Author you are super clever… I’m just clinging on for the ride
Wow, I’m scared as in this Doctor Who episode
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
Oooooh my heart is thrumming with excitement and anticipation. I forgot to think more when the priest had said to not record the statues.
I remember now that even in real life there are things like demonic dolls that are not to be documented or talked about. Like demonic spirits and shit.
Whoooo there are different camps of the statues :0
Also Xiao Qing is the caring protective uncle who loves the children so much QaQ