CH 128

Chapter 128: The Dream of the Holy Nun (XVIII)

{cw: helminthophobia}

The atmosphere was stagnant in the dark, and the night watchman’s exhaustion and confusion was truly written all over him. His deformed body was bent, seeming as though it was about to be destroyed by the weight of his soul.

The truth of the disaster of the new moon was so heavy that this Holy City, once known as the “hometown of God’s brethren”, had fallen into sin. No soul was left pure white or innocent.

The night watchmen were still struggling in vain for the ignorant residents - they couldn’t tell the truth, which would destroy the Holy City’s last remaining peace and plunge the city into despair and sin, but if they didn’t tell the truth, they couldn’t persuade everyone to stay awake on the night of the new moon, and as long as one person fell asleep… the consequences would be like a hungry wolf getting into the sheepfold, and after dawn, the whole city would be a hell on earth.

Therefore, they could only choose to guard silently, make humble efforts, persist desperately, and try their best to make everyone who woke up forget this nightmare.

Qi Leren took a deep breath and the cold air entered his lungs, suppressing the discomfort in his stomach. A gloomy cold spread from his lungs throughout his whole body, making him feel like he was in a refrigerator.

Su He’s cold and gentle voice sounded: “The disaster of the new moon couldn’t have started suddenly without warning. Please recall, did anything special happen eight years ago?”

The night watchmen shook their heads.

“We’re also exploring the cause of the disaster in the new moon, but there’s been no evidence so far… There is only a suspicious rumor that eight years ago, the Lord’s wife gave birth to a baby girl.”

Qi Leren instantly got an inkling. Eight years ago, a baby girl? The blonde girl who tried to trick the memento brooch out of his hand happened to be seven or eight years old, so…

“About the baby girl, tell us about her,” Ning Zhou suddenly said.

Qi Leren looked at him with puzzlement. Although the night was too deep for him to be able to see Ning Zhou’s expression clearly, there seemed to be a vibrato in his usual cold tone just now. What was he worried about?

The night watchmen looked at each other. Finally, the leading night watchman said, “We’ve never seen the baby girl. This rumor came from the Lord’s castle. It’s said that the Lord’s wife was pregnant eight years ago. At that time, no newborn had been born for 13 years. It was even rumored here that there would be no more human beings born. If one was born, they must be a demon. Therefore, the Lord and his wife concealed this matter and only the closest servants knew of it. The maid who was ordered to take care of the child revealed it to her relatives because she was afraid. Later, the child was born on the new moon. From that day on, the whole city fell into a nightmare, and the maid disappeared with the new moon…”

“Has anyone seen this little girl in these eight years?” Qi Leren asked.

“Occasionally, some people say that they’ve dreamed of a little girl with blue eyes, long golden curly hair tied into two braids, and white roses in her hair. She looks dignified and holy, just like the portrait of the Virgin in the Vatican,” said the night watchman.

Blonde hair and blue eyes, a portrait of the Virgin Mary… Qi Leren’s mind flashed to the figure of Maria in Ning Zhou’s half-field…

Ning Zhou went to the Vatican at the age of thirteen because Maria had died that year, just eight years ago.

Was this really a coincidence?

Qi Leren once again looked at Ning Zhou in the dark. Perhaps at this moment, only he understood his inner worries and fears. This field originally created by Maria to protect the Holy City had now become a hunting ground for demons, and the most terrible thing was… They couldn’t be sure if Maria’s dead soul had returned here, but had been polluted by demons’ energy and become evil.

If it had, it was the most ruthless mockery of fate for a pious holy nun.

“Dream…” Su He muttered to himself.

Dream? Come to think of it, everything that was happening here was related to dreams. Even the little girl would peek into his memory from dreams…

“The Witch of Nightmares? My friend and I have studied the data of the human world’s first demon invasion. At that time, the old Devil King’s most trusted witch was called the Witch of Nightmares, as she was good at manipulating dreams. If she didn’t die in the disaster 22 years ago, she must have fallen asleep then awakened eight years ago. It makes sense,” Su He said slowly. “I’m afraid the cause of the disaster on the new moon is that she’s polluted this dead area created by the Holy Nun and is slowly recovering her strength until she can escape from here, or…”

Su He looked in the direction of the church grounds, eyebrows furrowed.

Dr. Lu suddenly covered his lower abdomen and said with a pale face: “My stomach hurts…”

Qi Leren, whose stomach had also been feeling uncomfortable, was also suffering from stomach pain. Cold sweat dripped down from behind and instantly soaked the clothes on his back. There was something there, as if something was rolling in his stomach!

Dr. Lu spat out a mouthful of blood. In the blood, a blue-black butterfly that had grown from a pupa was hatching from a chrysalis. The soft butterfly wings stained with blood quickly became dry in the wind, and it fluttered its wings and flew.

The Witch of Nightmares? Thinking about it, when she pretended to be Su He in the library, she had poured tea for him and Dr. Lu. At that time, they drank it without worry and the Rain-Day Clothing skill hadn’t been triggered.

Qi Leren, who had no time to dwell on it, took out the holy water Ning Zhou had given him a long time ago and drank it down. The stomach acid and blood fumes in his stomach settled slightly, but it still had him in a cold sweat. He didn’t know when Ning Zhou had rushed to him from the roof and held his shoulder to check the situation. Qi Leren handed him one third of the remaining holy water: “To Dr. Lu.”

The butterfly hatched from Dr. Lu’s stomach flapped its wings in the night. A childish laughter came from the butterfly and said in a sweet voice: “It’s useless, even if the holy water can temporarily suppress it, you two will die in an hour because of the toxins.”

Dr. Lu was in enough pain that he nearly lost consciousness. He used “Doctor’s Orders” once on himself, but his skills had no effect on this strange witch poison-medicine. Qi Leren’s condition was a little better, but he was also shaking and unable to stand. If Ning Zhou hadn’t been holding him, he would have already fallen down.

“Isn’t it painful? This kind of pain will get worse and worse as time goes by, until you can’t even breathe. It’s really pitiful. This feeling of slowly dying may be more painful than being eaten alive.” The Witch of Nightmare’s voice was still innocent and sweet, but her tone was full of grim malice.

The night watchman roared, “Is that you?! The one who made all this!”

The butterfly gradually changed into the outline of a little girl, and she giggled and said, “Oh, I remember you, you really are a poor worm. Whenever I see you trying your best to maintain this false peace, I can’t help but want to laugh. Thanks to you, those ignorant fools have continuously sent me the power of dreams for the past eight years.”

The Witch of Nightmares clapped her hands and praised the night watchman. The crisp applause made the night watchman roar and he went forward to fight with the phantom without thinking, but the witch’s butterfly spread its wings and flew high above the air: “I hate places with lots of people. It seems you can endure for a while. I’ll give you the antidote in exchange for you bringing the field memento you hold to the old site of the Vatican.”

“Sorry, madam, we don’t believe a demon’s promises,” Su He said lightly.

“I have no interest in your lives, but if you need a promise, well, I’ll give you a devil’s contract.” The witch’s butterfly flapped its wings, and the blue spots scattered from its wings and changed into a blank sheet of paper with a contract written on it.

Ning Zhou glanced at it. The contract required that the Holy Nun’s field memento be exchanged for two antidotes, and the witch promised not to harm the contractor on the way to and from.

Su He turned his back to the witch and mouthed: Promise her.

“I’ll bring the memento,” Ning Zhou said coldly.

“I can’t agree to that. I don’t want to be given something by the Holy See,” the witch’s voice became cold and disgusted.

“Then let me bring him,” Ning Zhou said to the witch.

The witch’s butterfly paused for a moment, then slowly flew to Ning Zhou and circled around him: “You remind me of someone… Okay, but this gentleman who controls the field must stay here and must not leave here until the contract is fulfilled.”

“Fine,” Su He said lightly.

After adding the contract amendment, the transaction was established.

Although Qi Leren’s pain was so great that he’d lost the strength to speak, his brain was still awake. Everything was going according to their plan. Although the poisoning exceeded their expectations, they had planned to let the witch take one person away and then wait for her to offer to exchange hostages with the field memento. The poisoning was painful, but taking risks would make the witch let down her guard.

“Come on, follow me.” The witch’s butterfly flapped its wings in the night and the blue butterfly scales gave off faint fluorescence, floating like powder in the night.

Ning Zhou put Qi Leren’s arm around his shoulder and led him forward.

In the heavy night, the pain beat on the body wave by wave, suffocating him from pores to bone marrow. He tried hard to stride forward, but his strength was gradually lost from the pain. He almost fell down from his legs giving out several times as Ning Zhou pulled him along.

“I can carry you,” Ning Zhou’s voice sounded in the dark.

Qi Leren shook his head. At this time, when he didn’t even have the strength to embrace Ning Zhou’s neck, he still wanted to say that he was walking. In fact, it was simply Ningzhou carrying him forward.

As he was holding him Ning Zhou paused, and the pain made this short moment become infinitely long… He hugged him against himself and strode forward.

The world was quiet with only one person’s footsteps. Qi Leren trembled in the severe pain, struggling to keep breathing, and his will became fragile because of pain. Finally, he abandoned rationality and logic, leaving only pure instinct.

In the dark, memories rolled in pain, and Qi Leren remembered the cold and damp hole in the Witchcraft Sacrifice. At that time, he had just been rescued from the lake, so he was cold and in pain as he was held by Ning Zhou and carried forward step by step.

That dark road was full of his innocent sweetness and shy snickering, so warm, so gentle, and so joyful.

When the past and the present overlapped, he suddenly discovered that the mood at that time was no different from that of today.

Pain blurred his line of sight and his thinking was replaced by absurd imagination. He looked intently at the starry sea above his head, the eternal wilderness and the vast expanse. They seemed to be in a long river of time, and there was no future without the past. In only this short island of time, they were pulled by the net woven by the goddess of destiny. The two from different worlds met at that moment, were soaked by joys and sorrows, and sprouted feelings that they dared not admit.