At nightfall, on the edge of the Bastis Oasis, inside the camp where the Church mission was stationed, Vanya stood in her spacious tent, looking at the translucent ethereal Sister Evi before her, listening to her words just now, and couldn't help but slightly open her mouth.
"Change places? This... I don't think that's good. I've only been here for a short time and haven't saved many people yet. Leaving like this doesn't feel right..."
Looking at the Awei in front of her, Vanya replied after a moment of thought, and Sister Evi continued to speak.
"Are you sure you can solve the problem here? The root of the Buserite problem is a product created by the southern cultists. Even those otherworld who have been operating here for many years couldn't do anything about it. Are you sure you can handle it? In the current situation, you can't complete your promotion ritual without solving this plague. Are you sure you want to waste time here? If you change places earlier, you might also complete your promotion earlier."
With a slight smile, Sister Evi said this to Vanya, her tone seemingly containing a hint of persuasion. Listening to Sister Evi's words, Vanya paused slightly, then her expression turned serious as she spoke.
"Sister Evi, what you said... does make some sense. If I want to be promoted smoothly, perhaps I shouldn't waste time entangled with this difficult plague here. Changing places might be better... But I wonder, did I come to Buserite for promotion or for Save the World?" Vanya said with a hint of confusion. Listening to her words, Sister Evi's eyebrows raised slightly, and then she spoke.
"That's a good question, but from the initial task, you came here to bestow Save the World to complete your promotion ritual."
"Yes... On the surface, my Save the World trip to Buserite this time is for promotion, but what is my promotion for? Isn't it to bear greater responsibility and bear broader Save the World after gaining greater strength? Save the World is for promotion, and promotion is for Save the World, so in the final analysis, what I need is actually Save the World. Promotion is just a means. I cannot easily give up the purpose because of the means... That would be putting the cart before the horse..."
Vanya said this, and listening to her words, Sister Evi couldn't help but smile and nod, a strange light appearing in her eyes.
"So I think, Sister Evi, I cannot give up on Buserite so quickly. I still want to spend time trying some things. Not necessarily to solve this plague, but at least I need to do my best..."
With a solemn gaze, Vanya looked at the Sister Evi in front of her and said. Listening to her words, Sister Evi slowly replied after hearing them.
"Do your best... Is that what you're thinking? Since that's what you're thinking, then try it here. If you want to give up in the end, then tell me..." Sister Evi said to Vanya, and then her figure suddenly became slightly distorted and disappeared directly. Seeing Sister Evi disappear before her eyes, Vanya couldn't help but remain silent for a long time, finally thinking in her heart.
'Sister Evi... is she also starting to test me? I wonder if my answer just now satisfied her?'
Not long after Vanya and Sister Evi finished their conversation, outside Vanya's large tent, in a corner of the camp, a pair of eyes was quietly staring at the large tent.
The owner of these eyes was the Church's secret agent Sister in Buserite, a woman named Faith. At this moment, she was sitting on a patch of grass, her gaze calmly fixed on the distant large tent, her heart filled with unknown thoughts.
...
'This Sister Evi... what is she testing by saying this?'
Inside another smaller tent in the mission camp, Dorothy was sitting there. She had just finished collecting intelligence from Alima not long ago and then learned about Vanya and Sister Evi's conversation in the large tent, after which she couldn't help but fall into thought.
'My previous guess was indeed correct. The Redemption Faction has indeed noticed something... This conversation between Sister Evi and Vanya contains a lot of testing. However, whether it's testing Vanya herself or the power behind Vanya is unknown. It could be one of them, or it could be both...'
Dorothy pondered like this, and then she began to wonder if she should take the initiative to contact the other party now that they had started testing her to this extent.
'Given this level of testing... it's better not to make any extra moves for now. Looking at the Redemption Faction, they don't seem to be in a hurry. If they're not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry either. So let's leave it for now and talk about it when there's a real need.
'Right now, the most urgent matter for me is still in that city...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart, then she stood up, gently lifted the curtain of her tent, and looked towards the distance outside. What she saw was the faint silhouette of the ancient city looming in the darkness.
...
The moon set, the sun rose, and the night gradually receded.
Soon, after a night had passed quickly, the Bastis Oasis welcomed the dawn of a new day. On the distant desert horizon, the rising sun cast the morning Light upon the oasis and the ancient city. The mission camp by the oasis lake awoke in this Light, wisps of smoke rose from various parts of the interconnected tents, and various sounds of morning prayers were endless.
Opposite the mission camp, the ancient city of Bastis also welcomed a new day. The tired guards on the city walls were still focused on monitoring the distant camp, while in the urban area behind the city walls, countless residents of Bastis had already begun their day's activities.
In the gray-yellow urban area, flat-roofed houses of various heights were scattered about. On the uneven streets, countless citizens wearing long robes were walking forward in queues. This scene was the same on almost every main road. They were all heading in the same direction, which was the central area of this ancient city.
Here, there is an open square. Several slender tall towers stand on the edge of the square, and on the north side of the square, a tall Church stands. Although this Church looks somewhat similar to the Hui Guang Church, its style is quite different. It lacks various sharp spire-like parts, replaced by many smoother rounded arch shapes, which are more characteristic of North Wu.
This is a Church established by the Savior Descends Faction in the areas under their control, specifically to worship the Radiant Savior. It is generally called the "Light Save Temple" and provides religious services such as prayer or confession for people who believe in the Savior Descends Faction. However, the Light Save Temple in Bastis at this time is somewhat different from before. All the Radiant Savior markings on it have been destroyed, replaced by a strange ring symbol. This symbol looks like a ring formed by intertwining worms. The Savior Sect clergy who originally wore long robes have also disappeared, replaced by many black warriors wearing small pieces of leather armor and some masked acolytes wearing brightly colored long robes.
In this early morning, countless citizens from all over Bastis were constantly pouring into the square in front of the Church. Here, looking weak and light-footed, they were arranged into several phalanxes and guided by acolytes to kneel and pray in front of the wide-open gate of the Light Save Temple. After the short prayer ended, they all stood up and returned, then were replaced by the next phalanx to continue kneeling and praying here. Those who finished praying were noticeably much more energetic, their spirit and energy much more vigorous.
Inside the wide-open gate of the Light Save Temple was its original sanctuary. In the sanctuary, the Radiant Savior altar that should have been placed there was now gone, replaced by a massive primitive "idol."
This idol is not similar to the divine statues in other places on the Main Continent. It is not an exquisite work of art, but a totem purely woven from coarse ropes intertwined with each other. Its overall appearance is that of a bird with outstretched wings. Although the overall totem is bird-shaped, the ropes that construct it are too thick. At first glance, it looks like countless tangled long maggots, making the entire bird look as if it is constructed of countless long worms.
'The main form of the bird... means that the plague can spread as quickly as a bird, meaning the swiftness of the plague. The essence of the worm means the dirtiness and filth of the plague... I wonder if this interpretation of this totem is correct?'
Dorothy, using the Corpse Puppet hidden in the crowd, gazed at the totem inside the Church, thinking this in her heart. She knew that it was the totem of one of the three Placenta gods, the Plague Vulture.
'Lord of Rot, Eternal God of Filth, Plague Vulture... It feels like this god has more 'worm' characteristics than 'bird' characteristics... Compared to His other two brothers, the influence of this one's power on society seems to be much stronger... In a sense, it's more troublesome.'
While observing the scene in the surrounding square using various perspectives, Dorothy thought this with a sigh in her heart. After initially observing the religious activities in Bastis under the control of the Order of Rot, she controlled her Corpse Puppet to leave the crowded square and go to other places.
Dorothy's Corpse Puppet walked on the deserted streets in the remote parts of Bastis. Mosquitoes and flies were everywhere before her eyes, with dense buzzing sounds rising and falling. Various animal and even human corpses were scattered everywhere. Due to being left uncollected, these corpses were all highly decomposed and emitted a strong stench.
Various insects were writhing in the decaying flesh, and carrion birds descending from the sky were greedily pecking. Around every discarded corpse, there was a circle of thick ropes, seemingly forming a small ritual site. No one in the city managed these decaying corpses scattered everywhere.
Directly blocking the sense of smell transmitted back by the Corpse Puppet, Dorothy controlled the Corpse Puppet to move forward through Bastis city, heading north. Along the way, Dorothy observed through her Spirituality vision that among the mosquitoes and flies throughout the city, there were many high-Spirituality flying mosquitoes. Dorothy avoided these flying mosquitoes as she moved forward, thus bypassing the Order of Rot's surveillance in the city.
The Order of Rot in Bastis city was temporarily not overseen by Scarlet, so Dorothy easily broke through their surveillance and controlled her Corpse Puppet to reach her destination, a large blackened building in the northern part of the city.
This was a large building that had clearly suffered a fire, completely blackened, with hardly any intact walls. Some areas showed signs of collapse. As it was clearly a dangerous building, no one lived inside.
Looking at the blackened dangerous building before her, Dorothy paused slightly, then controlled her Corpse Puppet to quickly walk in unnoticed, letting it move through the messy and empty ruins until it found a staircase leading downwards, seemingly towards a dark basement.
Seeing this staircase, Dorothy didn't think much and let the Corpse Puppet go down. She then arrived in a dark, narrow basement with obvious signs of collapse. Dorothy had the Corpse Puppet carry a gas lamp and continue to explore here, finally finding a discarded heavy bookshelf leaning against the wall in a hidden corner. Dorothy had the Corpse Puppet push the bookshelf aside, and what appeared before her was a passage and stairs continuing downwards on the wall behind the bookshelf.
Seeing this secret passage, Dorothy immediately had the Corpse Puppet walk in. After turning around and putting the bookshelf back in place, she went straight down the stairs. After walking for a while, she finally arrived in a spacious, dark underground space.
Here, Dorothy had the Corpse Puppet light one oil lamp after another that were installed on the walls of the underground space. As the brightness of the space increased, Dorothy gradually saw the full view of the entire space.
This was a large basement supported by several Stone pillars. The edges of the basement were countless bookshelves directly carved into the Stone walls. On these Stone bookshelves, countless parchment scrolls, books, and stacks of paper were placed. In the center of the basement was a long Stone table, with many dusty wooden chairs beside it. On the Stone table, not only were there many books piled up, but in the corresponding positions on the wood, there were also many scattered paper drafts. These paper drafts were all covered with dense writing.
'Found it...'
Here, the underground library of Bastis, was originally part of the Bastis Library, but when the Santo Dynasty was overthrown, the fires of war that burned Bastis completely destroyed the upper part of the library. Although the main building of the library was burned into a dangerous building by the fire, the underground library part was fortunately preserved. This was where Santis, the founder of the Santo Dynasty, ordered the compilation of Buserite's history. The marks on the Stone table seem to show the busy work that was done here back then.
After the Savior Descends Faction took over Bastis, Jemarr, one of its main members, found this place and used it as a base for her various secret researches. Dorothy learned of its existence from her close subordinate Alima, and therefore specifically sent a Corpse Puppet to find this place today.
Dorothy had the Corpse Puppet slowly walk around the underground library while observing the surrounding scene. Finally, in one of the countless subsidiary rooms with storage functions in the underground library, she found a relatively special one. Unlike the dusty areas of the rest of the underground library, the chairs in this room were very clean, with hardly any dust accumulated.
On the large table in this room, there were a large number of bottles and jars. These bottles and jars contained liquids of various colors. Some liquids also contained various strangely shaped small animals, limbs, and even organs. In addition to these bottles and jars, there were also many test tubes, beakers, petri dishes, and other chemical and biological laboratory equipment on the table. A large crucible was also placed beside the table, with obvious black charcoal underneath.
It was clear that this was Jemarr's laboratory, where she buried herself in research. In one corner of this large table, there were some books and densely written papers. This seemed to be Jemarr's research notes.
After seeing those papers, Dorothy controlled the Corpse Puppet to walk over, pick them up, and read them.