The Record of Unusual Creatures

Although Hao Ren was curious about the process of the "soul trial", he did not dare look at the scene in order to protect his heart. Instead, he went to Becky's house to see the elves off and received some information about the Cult of Origination. The interrogation process was just over when he and the others returned to Helcrown.     

With Ophra leading the way, they went straight to the cathedral and met the pope as well as several bishops in a simple but very spacious room. The pope looked slightly tired. The assassination attempt that day was still a shock for him, but despite that, with the support of divine power, he recovered quickly. Both Y'zaks and Y'lisabet were standing in the room. It seemed that their "work" was complete.     

When Y'lisabet saw Hao Ren, she immediately jumped to greet him excitedly. "Uncle Ren! It's done! The Rune of Affliction is very useful!"     

Hao Ren patted the little girl on her exquisite little horns. After a period of getting along, he knew that the little demon liked them to caress her little horns, which meant intimacy—then he looked Y'zaks and asked, "Wang, is it really okay to let your daughter learn these things?"     

Y'zaks also agreed and nodded. "It's a bit late to learn Soul Extraction and Rune of Affliction at this age. But after all, the child's bloodline isn't pure, so she's supposed to learn demon spells later than her peers."     

"…That's not what I meant. Forget it. Did you get an answer?"     

"The monster is an 'Abomination'. The Cult of Origination made it using 'divine power'. This is similar to necromancy, but what it's created are living things that aren't afraid of various sacred forces. So, I suspect that the Cult of Origination has really mastered some of the knowledge related to divine power, but they use it in evil ways."     

Y'zaks sat on a wide back chair as he spoke, "Also, the Cult of Origination didn't know the real situation of the banquet held at the palace today. From the outset, the Disciples of Glory have been keeping us and the First Born a secret. They sent false information to suspicious people, so the Cult of Origination mistakenly thought that today's imperial feast was just an ordinary noble banquet. Their assassination plans have been in the works for more than two months, and they've even infiltrated a portion of the Royal Guard and the higher order monks. They chose to do it today because the King as well as the Pope were here, and some of the soldiers on duty in the palace were under their control. More importantly, they had some sort of 'divine weapon'—the scroll. But they had bad luck. They didn't expect the banquet to actually host a bunch of alien supermen, so their plan failed because of us."     

When Lily heard this, she thought she played a big part in it. She wagged her tail happily and said, "So I'm very powerful, right!"     

"Yes, yes, yes, you're the best," Hao Ren said and pressed down on Lily's head to stop her from jumping.     

Before Lily could say anything, Vivian asked, "You were just taking advantage of the mealtime, right?"     

Ophra looked unusually serious and asked, "They've infiltrated the Royal Guard and the higher order monks? How did they do this?"     

"Because they're good at controlling the mind," answered Y'zaks. "They've obtained many evil spells from an evil god. These heretics were very patient. They didn't wait to be killed while all of you were closing in on them."     

"The evil god should be the Voice of the Master." Hao Ren immediately recalled the information he had learned earlier in the day. "And then? Did you dig out the list of people they've possessed from that monster's soul?"     

A cardinal in white robes shook his head and said, "No list. That monster's just an assassin. He doesn't know anything too detailed. And even if we have a list, it's useless. After the assassination attempt, we went after the guards on duty but found that many of the guards had disappeared. We found the bodies of some guards near the outer wall of the palace. From their posture, we could see that it was suicide, but it's possible that they were forced to commit suicide while they under control. The other missing soldiers should have the same fate. These heretics have the power to control the human mind, making every one of their actions so watertight. Almost none of their men can be caught alive, or leak any secret—except this time. We have successfully tortured the soul of the heretic during interrogation."     

Hao Ren touched his chin and said, "So, this means... all the people they've controlled are dead?"     

The pope sighed and replied, "Yes."     

Lily suddenly interrupted, "But how do you know the rest of the guards aren't controlled by the heretics?"     

Hao Ren did not get it and said, "Didn't all the guards, who were under mind control run away?"     

"They allowed some of the abandoned ones to go out and grab your attention, pretending that everyone's been evacuated after the incident. This is so that we don't suspect the rest of the guards and just roughly check them," Lily said. She then shook her head and continued, "But God knows how many of the rest of the guards are still under their control."     

Vivian immediately looked at the husky in surprise. "Well, Doggie, I didn't expect you to be quite smart."     

Lily hugged her arms as she continued to wag her tail, and said, "Of course. After all, I'm a writer. And you know what the spies did when the country was in a mess? I know! I'll tell you…"     

Hao Ren quickly covered Lily's mouth. "Don't talk about irrelevant things… Don't bite my hand!"     

"In short, all soldiers and church monks will be investigated," Ophra said as she put her hand on the hilt of her sword. "The current situation isn't as good as we thought. But fortunately, the problem has been exposed. Otherwise, I'm afraid it would have developed into a disaster."     

"Have you found the lair of the heretics?" Hao Ren asked while he looked at Y'zaks.     

"They've fled, " Y'zaks shrugged and said. "They're all mentally connected."     

Vivian immediately asked, "What about the scroll? Where did the scroll come from? Who sent them? What was it originally for?"     

 "That is an interesting one," Y'zaks laughed and said. "In the soul memory of the Abominations, the scroll came from a place far, far away. A 'great' creature from the goddess brought it to the Cult of Origination. They call that great creature the voice of what?"     

"The Voice of the Master," Hao Ren reminded.     

Y'zaks patted himself on his big bald head and said, "Oh yes, the Voice of the Master. I've mentioned that it's certainly not Campus Radio… You know it too?"     

"Looks like it's about the same as my guess." Hao Ren laughed and said, "A giant brain has come to this planet, and it has the ability to bring things from its place. But it must not be easy, so the Cult of Origination has only gotten a scroll thus far. What they can do is summon the giant brain."     

He then looked at the pope and Ophra before he said, "I'm going to be frank—can you handle this on your own?"     

"It is our duty," the pope nodded and said, "let us deal with it."     

"Then, I'll have to leave now," Hao Ren said and stood up. "I have to deal with something more troublesome than those heretics—the two steel wire balls that were dug out of your planet."     

After leaving the cathedral, they would go to Tannagost via the teleportation portal in the basement of Becky's house. The whole basement smelled like wine: the elves accidentally knocked down a little wine rack. Becky looked at the wine cellar sadly and said, "I have to get them to dig another wine cellar. It's too unsafe to put my precious wine near the exit."     

"Remember to pay attention to the situation here," Hao Ren reminded Becky before he left. "You are a noble now, so you can directly participate in a lot of things. If there's any progress on the investigation of the heretics, please let me know immediately. Also, Big Beardy will stay here. The both of you can take care of each other. Safety first; if you're no match for them, just run..."     

Becky nodded repeatedly and said, "Don't worry, I'm good at that."     

Hao Ren just looked at her in silence.