Chapter 128

Chapter 128

No matter how loudly Lin called out in his mind, the ward on the top floor of the medical department remained quiet, with only the steady hum of the central air conditioning breaking the silence.

Lin, who had covered his blushing cheeks, pulled the blanket tighter around him, burying himself deeper until only his messy black hair was visible on the pillow.

In the narrow darkness created by the blanket, Lin's hands slowly moved down from his face, fingertips pressing against his lips.

His fingertips lingered on his lips for seven or eight seconds, and the heat from his cheeks spread to his fingers, warming them as well. The pale lips that Lin usually disliked now turned a rare shade of pink due to the rush of blood.

Hidden under the blanket, Lin couldn't see this change, but he let out a second inner scream when he realized his lips were also burning hot. He quickly pulled the blanket over himself, turning into a cocoon.

At that moment, Lin heard Moses' cold chuckle.

"..." Lin didn't want to acknowledge him.

Mainly because he didn't want to recall what had happened just moments ago when he woke up and found Hui Cui sitting by his bed, instinctively retreating into the divine realm to avoid being discovered in his awakened state...

Only to be caught by Moses, who had been waiting in the divine realm for who knows how long.

Moses didn't know what had happened after Lin returned to reality yesterday.

But Lin's reaction upon waking was far too unusual. The real Moses—having experienced the first stirrings of love—recognized the signs, even if it wasn't the real Moses. The Holy Mermaid had seen many times in dreams, young or middle-aged or already white-haired men, showing shy expressions before their beloved ones.

When light shone in their eyes, their moist eyes began to sparkle.

Coupled with the flush on their cheeks and behind their ears... Moses looked at his young god and confirmed, yes, everything was there.

"What did Hui Cui Dover do?" The Holy Mermaid asked calmly, "Did he confess to you?"

"W-What?!" Lin was taken aback, not understanding how Moses could use the word "confess."

A second later, the young god reacted, jumping up from the ground and demanding, "You knew...

"...knew."

The question was cut off mid-sentence, transitioning into a stammering statement. Lin looked at Moses, finally recalling the several hints the Holy Mermaid had given before.

And Moses, who had been worried about this issue for a long time, now burst out, unable to maintain his composure as a teacher, feeling a sense of resignation and amusement.

"Better than I imagined," he said sarcastically, "Your emotional intelligence is still lacking, and your IQ might drop because of that boy. You'd be better off declaring your identity in some church and offering yourself up for execution."

Lin: "..."

Lin raised his hand and silently covered his face.

"So what did he do?" Moses repeated.

With his face buried in his hands, Lin's lips moved slightly, but the words were completely inaudible.

"If you don't tell me," Moses glanced at the pale golden pearl, threatening, "I'll go into his dream and ask."

Ah? Lin turned his head, following Moses' gaze, and in the multiple reflections of the mirrors, he saw a golden pearl shimmering.

The judge was asleep...

Realizing this, Lin instinctively moved to a position where he could protect the golden pearl.

Seeing this, Moses clicked his tongue in annoyance but asked, "Don't you want to see what he's dreaming about?"

"No." Lin answered immediately.

What? Not planning to look?

Moses narrowed his eyes, suddenly realizing something.

As the Master of Minds, Lin was extremely restrained in using his abilities to listen to heartbeats or detect thoughts. Even with enemies, he wouldn't constantly monitor them; with his own believers and teachers, he would only listen at critical moments.

But this also meant that Lin would listen to heartbeats at critical moments to assist in judgment.

Except for Hui Cui Dover, Lin almost never listened to Hui Cui Dover's heartbeats.

Just once? Or twice?

Despite not having much interaction and being on opposing sides, Lin avoided listening to Hui Cui Dover's heartbeats, just as he now resisted entering Hui Cui Dover's dreams. What kind of special treatment was this?

Moses, who had intended to watch the show, suddenly felt even more annoyed.

At that moment, the golden pearl in the divine realm slowly faded.

In reality, the judge of Spire City, who had only taken a brief nap, woke up.

Lin and Moses watched as he gently held Lin's wrist, checking his temperature, then got up and tucked the blanket around Lin's body before leaving.

Moses turned to Lin, ready to say something sharp.

Predicting Moses' reaction, Lin didn't want to hear it and directly left the divine realm, returning to his body.

As soon as he returned to his body, Lin knew that fleeing into the divine realm earlier had been the right decision. Now, as his consciousness connected with his nerves, he felt like a shrimp placed in a steamer, turning red all over. If Hui Cui had still been by his bed, Lin truly wouldn't have known how to hide his embarrassing reaction or what to say to Hui Cui.

The young ritualist, curled up in his cocoon of blankets, desperately needed some space to sort out his feelings and chaotic thoughts.

Unfortunately, Moses wouldn't give him that chance.

As a teacher and advisor, Moses needed to know Lin's true thoughts.

"Alright, I won't ask what he did anymore," in the ward where all reflective objects had been confiscated and even the IV drip was covered with paper, the Holy Mermaid asked through the IV tube, "But what are your plans? Accept his affection? Become a couple of evil gods and Pillar God apostles, like the Moles from that classic novel in this world?"

The Moles were a pair of mole people from a classic novel in this world, akin to the Smiths in another world.

After all, they were legally married.

Lin's head suddenly popped out from under the covers, loudly protesting in their telepathic communication, "Wait! That’s too fast!"

"Too fast to form a bond?" Moses rolled his eyes and asked, "So, it’s okay to accept affection?"

Lin opened his mouth as if to say something.

Slowly, he retreated back under the covers.

Fortunately, the voice in their telepathic communication didn’t become muffled by the blanket, and Moses clearly heard him say:

"I don’t think so… right."

Ah.

Moses disliked Hui Cui Dover even more.

Love was not a necessary thing for either human or divine life. Lin’s future was already predictably difficult; why should that detestable bird-man make things harder for Lin?

Though, when they first came into sudden contact with the contamination, he did owe him…

Suppressing the urge to stab the annoying bird-man with a steel trident, Moses reined in the sharpness of his words, softened his tone, and asked the most important question.

"Your Highness, do you like him?"

The head under the covers remained silent for a long time.

Moses waited patiently, and finally, the head moved slightly.

"…I don’t know," the Mind Sovereign said, "He is… the Judge."

***

How could there be an answer? The old Lin had never considered such a thing.

But it wasn’t entirely without an answer. Recalling the light kiss before he fell unconscious, Lin couldn’t feel any anger or disgust.

No, not no disgust.

More than the light kiss, what made Lin’s heart tremble was the scalding tears that fell on his lips. When he regained consciousness and realized why Hui Cui was crying, Lin momentarily despised himself.

I haven’t been cursed.

The Blood Purification Ritual is very dangerous for the ritualist, but when I sent you out of the dream, I knew you would arrive in time.

So don’t be like this.

Don’t cry anymore.

The words spoken during the first battle with the Silver Moon Maiden’s projection, Hui Cui’s response; the words of the Silver Moon Maiden’s moon shadow and clone, leading to Hui Cui’s outburst; and finally, the hint left behind when the real Moses chose to follow the Conch Blower away…

Comparing these to what Lin had done and the lies he had told, he almost wanted to shake Hui Cui by the shoulders and tell him, "I’m not worth it."

But in reality, what Lin did was sink deeper into that world, touching the beam of light that vibrated with roaring contamination. A beam of light that could no longer be described as warm, but rather as scorching hot. The edge of the beam felt icy cold, but compared to its intense heat, that cold was negligible.

Lin gently touched it and then withdrew his hand, feeling the urge to cover his face when he recalled his previous judgment of the beam as "hate."

Oh great traveler, this world has no place for you to survive. When will you take me home?

Speaking of going home…

After waking up and ending his conversation with Moses, Lin, who had been in a daze for over an hour, remembered something.

He got up and called out to the mirror on Moses’ side, asking, "Teacher, how long have I been asleep? What day is it today?"

"You finally remember there’s work to be done?" Moses, who had already left the divine realm over an hour ago, said bluntly, "You passed out from blood loss for more than a day. It’s 6 AM on Saturday, yes, our ship—"

The Holy Mermaid paused and said, "has already docked in Sapphire City."

The ship carrying forty-eight escaped slaves had arrived at the port of Sapphire City.

***

However, the escaped slaves were not allowed to disembark.

The hatch on the top deck was open, and the anxious escaped slaves could hear people walking around near the hatch.

The indistinct sounds of conversation caused them to tremble. If not for Panlu maintaining order and Moses being present, some might have vomited from nervousness or fainted.

Moses was also a bit nervous, but not about the upcoming encounter with the Sapphire City court. He was nervous about the young man in front of him, who spoke hesitantly.

Qianxin Perselou, the severely injured patient used as the first subject for the Mirror Eye domain ritual.

His injuries had healed very quickly thanks to the combined effects of the Mother’s Tears and the Mirror Reflection rituals. Perhaps moved by this miracle, he became one of the most devout among the more than forty escaped slaves and the most proactive among the devout.

Born to parents who were slaves in the Dark Sea Cave, he had been completely illiterate. However, when Moses selected priest apprentices, he sensed something and sought out everyone to ask about the doctrines of the Mirror Eye. During Moses’ examination, he recited all the jumbled words he had heard.

—Thanks to the residual magic from the Mother’s Tears ritual, which enhanced his physical strength.

This was how Moses recorded it, as normally, someone who had just recovered from severe injuries and had little food would lack the mental capacity.

But even with that bit of residual magic, Qianxin Perselou’s spirit was commendable. After two days of observation on the ship, Moses began teaching him basic mystical knowledge.

What? Qianxin wanted to understand the deeper doctrines of the Mirror Eye?

Moses hadn’t finished creating them yet, so he would have to wait.

Now, Moses nervously tested Qianxin’s recitation to ensure that the young man could be a competent priest apprentice after he left, helping to share his workload.

If he could take on some of the work, Moses would have more time to keep an eye on Hui Cui Dover.

But Qianxin was stuck on a certain keyword for a minute.

A minute later, Moses couldn't remain tense any longer, patted the young man's shoulder, and asked him to move to the back.

The footsteps pacing back and forth by the cabin door stopped.

Two new sets of footsteps approached, then their owners jumped down from the cabin door.

Two figures appeared in the submarine's corridor: one was a mermaid woman with long, straight purple hair, dark eyes, and bright yellow ear fins, looking around thirty years old, dressed in a black windbreaker uniform of a judge; the other was a man, wearing a black robe and a black veil over his face.

Of course, they were clerics of the Bellringing Frost Crow Church.

As soon as this cleric entered, he looked at Snow Claws.

His gaze fixed intently on the dagger in Snow Claws' hand, and the tiny sword aura that danced on the blade.