Great! I'm surrounded by villains!-Chapter 429 - 348: Facing Inner Self

The assassins who infiltrated the Holy City Cathedral totaled 32, among whom 20 were believers of the Ashen Church, including a member of the choir, while the remaining 12 were attendants from various consortia, including clerical staff, logistics personnel, and even private security responsible for security work had been infiltrated.

In the subsequent investigation, people found something in common among them.

The mark of the black hexagram, some carved on their weapons, and some simply tattooed directly on their bodies.

It was the evil mark of the Void Demon.

The band conductor, who narrowly escaped assassination, broke out in a cold sweat, having not the slightest clue that followers of the Void Demon had slipped into the church.

This was different from mere parasitic infection, these people hadn’t lost the Scorching Sun Power because of illness, but had become devout followers of the Void Demon.

But at the same time, this was also a bloodless assassination operation.

When these offspring of demons bared their fangs at them, strange things happened.

The dagger with the hexagram mark did not pierce the back of the band conductor, not because the conductor had reacted, but because the heretics suddenly changed their actions.

He dropped the dagger in his hand and, taking advantage of the moment when the band was stunned, grabbed the conductor’s arms and started a passionate social dance in full view of the audience.

Even the well-experienced Long Branch Guard were dumbfounded by this scene.

When these heretics burst into the company executives’ suites, they were prepared for a bloody fight, yet the heretics did not attack them but, just like the people on stage, extended an invitation to dance.

This was probably the most bizarre scene they had ever witnessed in their lives.

So bizarre that it was somewhat hair-raising.

Every heretic’s face was filled with smiles, these offspring of Void Demons had suddenly, for some reason, shed their prejudice and hatred and embraced the believers of the Sun King in friendship.

But upon closer investigation, they found that all the heretics had only one expression left, smiling with their mouths wide like marionettes.

"Why did you start dancing?"

The young man responsible for interrogating the heretics at the church had a catchy nickname—The Whistler.

Even the heretics had heard his notable nickname and retorted instead of answering, "Why do you whistle when you talk?"

The young man was quite irritated.

Recalling the moment he slipped and his front tooth hit the stairs, he felt an unprecedented sense of shame.

It must have been the darkest moment of his life, especially since he was about to take over Yelena’s position when that undignified scene was witnessed by those familiar in the church.

"I’m the one asking the questions now!"

The young man raised his voice, but still couldn’t change the fact that he whistled when he spoke.

"It’s the same principle."

The heretic who attacked the band conductor explained, still smiling joyously, seemingly not worried at all about becoming a prisoner of the Ashen Church, "Just as you can’t stop whistling when you speak, we couldn’t resist our instincts either."

Although this was far from their original plan, when the moment arrived, they understood they had to cast everything aside and heed the call of instinct.

Instinct made them want to waltz, embracing the joys in their lives.

So they laughed, experiencing an unprecedented happiness and relaxation.

The young man was not satisfied with the heretics’ response; clearly, the two matters shouldn’t be conflated.

He whistled when he spoke because he had missed a step going upstairs and took a tumble; these heretics, however, were not in their right minds. Each one of them looked joyful yet also like clowns in an amusement park, their laughter chilling.

And now, this group of mentally disturbed heretics had given an answer that defied any rational explanation.

They heard a voice.

The voice told them it was time to dance.

And so they did.

But in reality, after investigation, the identities of these people and the marks inscribed on their bodies were not so simple.

The young man didn’t think they could really harm the esteemed guests in the private room, as they were no match for the Long Branch Guard. The only reason they were left alive was that they suddenly began to dance wildly like madmen, and the guards wanted to extract some valuable information from them, so they spared their lives.

Although these heretics kept spewing nonsense after being captured, there had been some progress in the investigation of their identities.

Their only commonality was that they had previously made contact with people from the Shanqi Commerce Association.

Before the relationship between Universe Company and the Chamber of Commerce started to tense up, the two sides had quite a bit of business dealings.

The answer was almost within reach.

The Chamber of Commerce had bought these people off and changed their beliefs.

And if one were to follow this line of reasoning further... could it also prove that the Void Demons were the long-standing faith of the Shan Clan People?

While the interrogation was underway, Duan Mingyuan had already returned to the Baptism mansion.

Before this, he had prevented a bloody incident, considering it as his way of expressing gratitude to the band conductor for inviting him to listen to the hymns.

Next, it was time to face some questions head-on.

"...Mr. Mingyuan?"

Jiuyue tensed up nervously, sitting straight in the chair opposite Duan Mingyuan, her tail swaying behind her betraying her current mood.

"Recently, many people have falsely accused me of being one of the Void Demons," he said.

Before this, he had brought Jiuyue up to speed with a summary of prior events.

However, Jiuyue didn’t seem surprised, "It can’t be helped, the identity of an ogre is ultimately hard to hide."

But compared to those accusers, she was far ahead.

She had known Duan Mingyuan was an ogre from the first moment she saw him.

"It’s ’Black Mud’."

Jiuyue lowered her voice, whispering, "Mr. Mingyuan, ’Black Mud’ conflicts with the ogre race; there is no such profession as an ogre in ’Black Mud’."

In her view, while demonic professions could vary widely, races were fixed.

As an ogre scholar, she felt obliged to point out the cognitive errors Duan Mingyuan was making, in the spirit of academic integrity.

And that was why she had always believed in Duan Mingyuan.

When everyone else doubted that Duan Mingyuan was ’Black Mud,’ she alone knew it was impossible.

Because Duan Mingyuan was an ogre and ’Black Mud’ belonged to a different race; the two could never be conflated.

Duan Mingyuan ignored Jiuyue’s comments, having learned to automatically tune out any topic related to the ogre race.

"Assuming their theory is correct, then it’s possible that all memories and identities of my past are fabricated."

Duan Mingyuan thought of a way to verify this, but it required the assistance of someone else.

Someone trustworthy.

"I need someone other than myself to scrutinize this segment of my memory in order to discern its authenticity," he said.

When you are too involved, it’s hard to see the flaws, especially if the cognition was possibly something he fabricated for some reason, which meant no matter how many times he reviewed it, he wouldn’t be able to find the inconsistencies.

Thus, he needed an unbiased and objective third-party perspective.

Duan Mingyuan spoke seriously, "Jiuyue, I need your help."

"I understand," she responded.

Jiuyue tried to put on a stern face, doing her best to show her most trustworthy side.

She was Mr. Mingyuan’s most trusted person, and she would not disappoint that trust.

She was ready to witness the stories of the tribal wars of the ogre race.

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