Chapter 146: Chapter 145: Disorder (16)_1
 

“With the ice and snow burying everything in sight, it seems like there’s no place left to try this key.”

The Baroness looked around as she sighed.

“Indeed.”

Most likely more than ninety percent of the old city was buried, and on their way down, they had hardly seen any place where the key might be used.

Fu Qian nodded and pulled out the Key of Starlight from his pocket.

Even in the darkness, it was still crystal clear and sparkling, but it did not exhibit any unusual anomalies.

“Hmm, you’d better keep it safe,”

The Baroness glanced at it, but her face showed little disappointment.

“The problem we’re facing now is much more severe than the Discoloration Curse, we can’t be concerned with this for the time being.”

Hmm!

Fu Qian discreetly put the key away.

In truth, Fu Qian had no intention of using it to unlock anything.

Having witnessed the entire creation of the “Key of Starlight,” he was pretty certain that it was not made for unlocking.

According to Fu Qian’s judgment, the Witch had probably used it as a vessel, leaving only a trace of her breath on it.

He had checked earlier and was sure there was no change to the key; otherwise, he wouldn’t have shown it to the Baroness.

Of course, there was one thing he didn’t tell the Baroness—right at this moment, not far from the top of the church, a colored window was gleaming, emitting a quiet and far-reaching light.

There was no light source inside the church; such a phenomenon should not occur.

And judging by the Baroness’s reaction, she obviously couldn’t see it.

He had experienced this before.

Back when he first encountered Su Gao during that mission, there was a section of special cipher text in the Ritual Notes that others could not see, visible only to him.

Now that a similar situation had arisen, Fu Qian roughly guessed it had something to do with his Inspiration.

…

After a short rest, the two made their way back along the same path.

The Baroness obviously couldn’t wait to get back, leading the way in silence.

Only when they were out of the blizzard’s reach, and the lights of the Seven Lights Church shone in the sky again, did she relax a little.

It was clear that the consecutive battles had taken a toll on her.

The town was still peaceful and serene, but after today’s experiences, Fu Qian was well aware of the twisted reality behind this tranquility.

Especially for ordinary people.

He had intended to go straight back to rest, but the Baroness was not ready to let Fu Qian go and dragged him directly to the Seven Lights Church.

When they reached the Priest’s quarters, they were told it was too late and that he had already gone to bed, but the Baroness unceremoniously had someone wake the Priest up.

“Why have you come so late, is there an emergency?”

It took a while for the Priest to open the door from the inside, looking at the two with some confusion.

“Let’s talk inside.”

The Baroness pushed her way in without hesitation, sat down, and pointed to Fu Qian, speaking bluntly.

“We went to the old city.”

“What!”

The color drained from the Priest’s face.

“Don’t panic, I know it’s against the prohibition.”

The Baroness’s face was stern, her tone unwavering.

“But we’ve discovered something far more terrifying than the prohibition.”

“Those monsters… they’ve come.”

“What are you saying? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!”

After a brief pause to grasp the Baroness’s meaning, the Priest’s voice started to tremble unusually, and his eyes began to redden.

“You need to calm down first.”

The Baroness reminded him coldly, the Priest’s Spire Sequence came with the cost of uncontrollable emotional impulses that had to be suppressed at all times.

Clearly, this news was too shocking, causing him to become somewhat emotionally uncontrolled.

The Priest also realized his own state was off and immediately closed his eyes to focus.

After a long while, his complexion slowly returned to normal, the first thing he did was look at the Baroness.

“What exactly did you see there?”

“Severely contaminated corpses, self-aware Armor, and… the black fluid inside the Armor.”

The Baroness stared at the Priest, spitting out these terms one by one.

Even though she had left that place, her tone still could hardly conceal the shock.

“I’ve read about this in some notes, these are very typical manifestations of certain monsters outside.”

“Moreover, the old town is almost entirely buried in ice and snow.”

“How could this… How could this happen…”

After hearing this information, the Priest’s reaction was just like the Baroness’s at the time, looking as if he couldn’t accept the reality.

“This place is absolutely safe, it’s impossible for them to find us here…”

“Fretting over this now is pointless.”

“And that’s not the main issue.”

“This isn’t the main issue?”

“The main issue is that we had discovered Pustule Stone in the town before; I think there’s likely a connection between the two.”

“You mean…”

The Priest caught on instantly.

“That’s right, the contamination may have already spread to the town, only we haven’t realized it.”

“So we came to find you first thing after we returned, we need to start responding as soon as possible.”

The Baroness took a deep breath and laid out her plan.

“We have to check everyone, including members of the Sequence, and also get ready to leave this place… to relocate somewhere far from the contamination.”

…

“Absolutely not!”

After the Baroness finished speaking, the Priest was silent for a long while but ultimately shook his head firmly.

“That would cause unnecessary panic. The order is barely being maintained as it is due to the Discoloration Curse, and if the Awakeners start to cause chaos…”

“Then do you want this place to become the next old town?”

“It’s not urgent right now, and where could we possibly move to?”

“Think about it, a catastrophe could happen at any moment, and even though you might be immune to the Discoloration Curse, you can’t be immune to the contamination that those monsters bring…”

“Anyway, I disagree! I think we should start with a secret investigation…”

The two argued uncompromisingly while Fu Qian stood idly by, observing his surroundings with detached interest.

It was apparent that the Priest had lived here for a long time. Although not ostentatiously decorated, the place had everything one could need.

“In any case, you must keep this a complete secret, we cannot afford the consequences of this news leaking out.”

In the end, the Priest showed a rare firmness, looking sternly at the two of them.

The others’ years of prestige were still in force, and this time the Baroness huffed and turned her head away, not objecting any further.

…

“You go back and rest for now, you’ve had a hard day,” said the Baroness, clearly in a bad mood, to Fu Qian as they left the church.

Regardless, his performance had been quite good today.

Not to mention the repeated dangers, when she was somewhat distracted in the old town, had it not been for his warning, she might not have avoided a second ambush.

“Alright.”

On his way back to the living quarters, Fu Qian’s mind was still on the scene he’d just witnessed.

The Priest’s room was extremely tidy, everything arranged with meticulous order—it made him wonder if it was done intentionally to suppress emotions.

Among the neatly arranged items were a series of clean suits.

Where there are suits, there could also be a possibility of pins.