With Kama Zuozi’s rich dungeon experience, the setup of the Virgin Mary statue doesn’t seem like a typical boss in the regular completion route. It’s more like a special boss that appears under specific conditions, requiring the right timing, location, and actions to unlock, potentially leading to hidden outcomes if successfully cleared.
The hidden danger is right in front of them, and Kama Zuozi is eager to confront the Virgin Mary statue directly. However, Third Flora, hearing her impulsive and unplanned attack plan, quietly advises caution, noting that there might be a problem in the church.
As soon as its butterflies enter the church, they are disturbed by an inexplicable force. The slight desire for feeding turns into a fanatical obsession to the point of sacrificing everything. Third Flora was deeply immersed in that emotion at the time, stepping into the trap of death without realizing it. Only later did it feel scared when recalling the situation, shedding tears once again.
To deal with the parasitized butterflies, she experienced a significant loss of vitality. After Third Flora was patiently comforted by its mother, it regained its spirit. However, instead of recklessly trying to be strong, it focused on thinking about how to improve the quality of the cocoon cultivated from the seemingly parasitized butterflies. Third Flora felt a bit lost about where to start.
Instinctively, Third Flora ensured the safety of the special cocoon away from Xu Yintang’s shadow to protect the main nest. It also allocated a small portion of the remaining butterflies, hiding them in Xu Yintang’s shadow to guard the mother nest. Only a part of the butterflies was sent to participate in the cocoon development.
For now, let’s try purifying the energy.
Little Darling, with his consciousness, comforted Third Flora by encircling it and rubbing against it, trying to provide strategic advice to its brother with its overly clever brain.
Eat more! Grow stronger!
The advice given by Little Darling, who had become stronger by eating, was at this level.
After Third Flora responded with a few nudges, indicating its approval, it turned its attention to the remaining Second Treasure. Under its brother’s invitation, Second Treasure willingly leaned in, making a face, and reluctantly rubbed against Third Flora and Little Darling.
The brothers, who secretly disliked each other, maintained a somewhat harmonious appearance in front of their mother and Little Darling. Although Little Darling, the elder brother with a relatively matching mental age, was considered authoritative, the willingness of Second Treasure and Third Flora to listen made Little Darling appear quite dignified.
It could only be said that the natural-born full-term delivered Little Darling still had extraordinary status.
Xu Yintang squinted and surveyed the silent church in the night, conveying the information provided by Third Flora to the team.
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.
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“But fighting on the opponent’s home turf is still disadvantageous for us,” Xiao Qing bit his lip, leaning towards avoiding the risks of an away game. “If we can lure the entity out of the church, tactical maneuvers within the town would be more flexible, and the statues can assist us.”
“We can currently eliminate parasitism using Sugar’s skills, but there’s a risk of backlash when using it,” Xiao Qing added.
Kama Zuozi, without refuting Xiao Qing’s opinion, simply said, “If we want to lure out what’s inside, we need a sufficiently tempting bait.”
Parasitic monsters are most unable to resist the allure of a vigorous host, and Kama Zuozi believes that the three of them, no matter which one, would be a delicious and tempting bait, especially Xu Yintang, who can give birth to a healthy offspring. It’s practically a dream host for parasitic monsters.
But they’ve been here for so long, and there’s been no sound from the church, which fully indicates that the three of them together are not enough to make the Virgin Mary statue react.
Xiao Qing and Kama Zuozi hadn’t considered this option. When Xu Yintang didn’t mention it, they began tactical discussions in an extremely imposing manner, seemingly ready to dismantle the church. However, they hesitated when Xu Yintang spoke.
“Mayor…” Xu Yintang looked at the mayor’s corpse thoughtfully. His eyes, half-open and half-closed after being pried open by him, still retained the lingering image of the Virgin Mary statue. When he looked at it, he felt a slight sourness in his eyes, and there seemed to be a faint red light covering his field of vision.
He didn’t use any skills, but his eyes automatically entered a state similar to the Blood Moon Gaze when there was an attempt to invade with a foreign object. Xu Yintang resisted the suspicion of whether the Blood Moon Gaze was a skill or a manifestation of a skill-wrapped transformation.
The spider silk that connected from the “womb” to the depths of the soul was extremely subtle and tangible. It had a strong presence, causing a slight warmth and discomfort in his lower abdomen, which was quite unpleasant. Instead, there was a comfortable feeling of being nourished.
Xu Yintang, using the revealed part of his clothes, could imagine that the intricate and vibrant patterns emanating from the “womb” had become more complex and vivid than before, gradually resembling the blood-red patterns he had seen in the sacrificial room.
Seeing Xu Yintang pause halfway through, Xiao Qing asked, “What’s wrong with the mayor?”
Xu Yintang came back to his senses and said, “I was just thinking about why the mayor was killed and why it happened now.”
He slowly continued his narrative following his thoughts, “It’s possible that they planned to deal with the mayor, so they struck first. It’s also possible that the mayor used the exorcism ritual to do evil and profit in the town— the former is just a plan that hasn’t been formally executed, and the latter has already done evil for several generations, and it was bound to come to light sooner or later.”
With the information they had about the Virgin Mary statue and the crisis lurking in the church, charging in directly to investigate its true form would be like provoking it with words. They might be able to stimulate some clues by standing in front of it and using certain words, just like a group of police officers analyzing a case in front of a murderer. The psychological qualities of the murderer might not show any fluctuations even if they were very good, unless it was really just a lifeless statue.
Kama Zuozi asked Silence, “Did the mayor have any abnormalities these days?”
After asking, she paused for a moment. Silence answered, “No abnormalities.”
She changed the question, “Think about who the mayor met in these days, what he said on the phone, and the whereabouts of the mayor’s family in these days. Is there anything unusual compared to usual?”
“For example, suddenly starting to tidy up the warehouse, adjusting the schedules of the servants, having trucks come in and out for housing construction… things like that.”
“No…” Silence thought hard following Kama Zuozi’s direction. The demon statue changed its posture to a thoughtful one like a thinker in the blink of an eye, revealing the hard and solid contours of its abdominal muscles.
After thinking for quite a while, Silence finally spoke, “There’s something a bit strange. His grandson took sick leave from school these days, but that child is usually lively and even climbs on me when I come, and today he was excited to go to the festival with his friends. He looks healthy like he’s not sick enough to stay at home.”
Xiao Qing listened to her say this and felt a little uneasy. “The mayor wants to escape, and it’s these few days.”
“Children are easy to control with their mouths and actions. It’s safest to lock them at home in advance.”
“So, the mayor was killed?” Kama Zuozi frowned in contemplation, took out her phone, and dialed a number to call Qiao Ou. She inquired about whether people usually leave the town and also asked if Qiao Ou knew of any cases where someone suddenly died while preparing to leave the town.
Qiao Ou was familiar with the entire town’s situation, and he did mention that he had two friends who died just before leaving the town. One ran to the mountains, shouting and going mad, eventually falling to his death, while the other died from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. They were both planning to sell their shops and houses in the town, moving their whole family to another place.
As for other people leaving the town, there were many for various reasons like work or education, but Qiao Ou hadn’t heard of anyone leaving with ill intentions. On the contrary, those who left for legitimate reasons seemed to be blessed and went on smoothly without any trouble.
Xu Yintang quickly thought of the difference between the two cases, “One will come back, and the other won’t.”
The latter died tragically before leaving.
This was a common setting for such peculiar existences, just like hospital attendants having responsibilities such as taking care of patients, capturing those trying to escape, and administering punishment.
“Yes…” Silence was moved by the memories of her past life. “The priest said… the gods would punish betrayers and protect our town, making Ceylons our eternal home.”
“I can understand it as…” Xiao Qing keenly seized the key point, “it would target the people of the town.”
Xu Yintang nodded, “In Qiao Ou’s case, I’m sure. The locals, born and raised here, are definitely within its attack range. Their local beliefs are firm, and it’s hard to convince them to stand on our side.”
Even if this scene of them and Silence standing next to the mayor’s body was witnessed by any townsperson, they would immediately change from beloved celebrities to street rats bewitched by demons. The people of the whole town would go crazy and hunt them down out of fear of the demon. They would either be killed or tied up and thrown into the Purification Ground to expel the demon.
Silence let out a low sigh.
Speaking of the townspeople, even she, a demon, was affected by the strong atmosphere of devout faith in the town, making it difficult to harbor hostility when aware of the existence of the Virgin Mary statue. It was as if she was being protected by it.
But then she thought of her deceased companions, the humanoid statues twisted in despair that had to be released— the merciful Virgin Mary statue remained silent, once showing them a little favor.
The wavering heart of Silence once again solidified.
“Then it seems we have no choice but to use the ultimate method, defeating faith with faith.” Kama Zuozi looked around and then grinned, her eyes shining with a mischievous light.
“I have a very interesting idea. How about you listen to it?”
Thanks for the update! Can’t wait to find out how they solve this one.
Thanks for the chapter!! 💖
defeating faith with faith? my first thought was having Xu Yintang summon the children’s father
I like this idea (♡ω♡ ) ~♪
Fun little idea? This should be interesting … Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣❤️
I love this demonic woman
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚