Outside the window, the chilly autumn moonlight washed over ancient stone walls, while the warm firelight inside kept the freezing gloom at bay.
No matter how the bleak mountain wind howled beyond Lichtenstein Castle, or how deeply the night settled, the warm bedroom remained as sturdy and tranquil as ever.
Silence lingered in the room for a moment.
"..."
Having heard Priestess Sticela's intelligence, Lanqi rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
Arriving in the next couple of days...
And capable of staging an "accident" on campus...
Why did this timing sound so remarkably precise?
"This dangerous character you mentioned—they wouldn't happen to be mixed in with the academic exchange delegation from the Aloran Kingdom, would they?" Lanqi asked Sticela.
Didn't that coincide perfectly with the arrival of the Aloran Kingdom's exchange group?
A suspicious outsider trying to cause trouble in Ikerite Academy—a place teeming with powerhouses and guarded by tight security—would be spotted in minutes. They would need a dazzling, prestigious cover to orchestrate a flawless murder!
Lanqi felt as though Sticela had just handed him a massive piece of intelligence.
Using cultists hidden among the local commoners to infiltrate Ikerite Academy—where Great Priest Loren resided—and carry out an assassination was exceptionally risky. If an investigation was triggered, an entire operational network could easily be uprooted.
Visiting delegates from the Aloran Kingdom, however, were another matter entirely. If trouble arose among the visiting students, the Aloran Kingdom would take the blame first. It might never be linked to the Resurrection Church, and it could even shatter the trust and relations between the two nations!
If the Hutton Kingdom pushed for an in-depth inquiry, it would inevitably ignite an international incident.
Either way, friction was bound to erupt.
Ever since Duke Micah Aransal, the holder of the [Original Slate - Darkness], went missing, the Hutton Kingdom had relied on Great Priest Loren, wielder of the [Original Slate - Wind], to guard against Ivanos, the Bishop of Destruction who held the [Original Slate - Fire].
Meanwhile, the Aloran Kingdom relied on Juliana, the Undying Sword Emperor and wielder of the [Original Slate - Regeneration], to hold off Farmer, the Decay Cardinal who held the [Original Slate - Corrosion].
If Hyperion's death served as the spark, the Resurrection Church could fan the flames from the shadows. They had countless ways to worsen the already strained relationship between Great Priest Loren and the commander of the Aloran Royal Knights, the Undying Sword Emperor.
When that time came, the two cardinals of the Southern Continent might launch a new joint offensive!
Extracting intelligence that concerned the turmoil and conspiracies of the entire Southern Continent meant that even if Lanqi simply reported it to Dean Loren, it would be an extraordinary merit!
"Most likely..." Sticela admitted with a grave expression. In revealing this information, she was wagering her very life on Lanqi.
If Lanqi sold her out, she was dead without question.
In return, however, the value of this intelligence was more than enough to repay Lanqi for sparing her life.
Everything now rested on Lanqi's conscience and ability.
Immediately after, a magic card that had been stored within her soul space appeared in Sticela's hand, and she gestured that Lanqi could take it.
[Proof of Resurrection - Destruction]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Rarity: Purple Rare]
[Tier: 0]
[Effect: Identification token of the Resurrection Church. Can be modified or upgraded using a Bishop's Token. If the bearer kills a cardinal, it will upgrade to a Bishop's Token, unlocking cardinal privileges.]
[Remarks: Bearer: -, Serial Number: ±, Encrypted.]
"So this is the Resurrection Church's identity seal?"
Lanqi took the magic card from her hand.
Because it cost 0 mana, it hadn't been detected when they confiscated her cards earlier.
Elite cultists like Sticela, who had secret missions and maintained deep cover in the mortal world, possessed strictly confidential identities. Aside from their partners or direct cardinal overseers, not even other cardinals had access to their records.
If Lanqi captured an elite sleeper agent like Sticela, stole and assumed an authentic, clandestine Southern Continent cultist identity, and then used it to infiltrate other cardinal branches in the Northern Continent, then with communication magic cut off between the northern and southern continents, unless a cardinal from the North crossed the sea to convene an ecumenical council, there would be no way to verify any flaw in his credentials!
"As for the person inside your academy who passed along the Shadow World matching schedules, I have no idea who they are either. But anyone capable of using communication magic must be at least Tier 6. I can provide the exact times we received the information for both Shadow Worlds; the deduction and screening will be up to you," Sticela added timidly.
"Rest assured. I won't let the Resurrection Church suspect you were the leak," Lanqi promised, his tone turning serious as he nodded at Sticela.
Once he returned to the mortal world, he would have an important duty at Ikerite Academy—
To catch that lawless Resurrection Church cultist hiding within the Aloran Kingdom's academic exchange delegation!
The sheer audacity of that fellow! How dare they come right under his nose to commit murder!
Lanqi would certainly protect his campus. All evil would be brought to justice!
Beside them, Hyperion kept her head bowed. She felt the atmosphere around Lanqi growing heavy, and finally, in a voice so faint it seemed ready to evaporate into the air, she whispered beside him:
"I'm sorry, Lanqi... I always bring you trouble..."
Her voice was steeped in boundless guilt. She didn't know how many more times she would drag Lanqi into mortal peril like this.
If she was destined to die, her only wish was that she die alone, without dragging Lanqi down with her.
However...
Hearing her words, Lanqi looked at her in utter bewilderment.
"Trouble? Haven't you delivered charcoal every single time I needed a fire?"
Lanqi could only marvel at Hyperion's aggro-pulling skills. Every single time, she managed to pull high-value, golden loot monsters right to his doorstep!
And by now,
after this Shadow World encounter,
his conversation with Princess Alexia,
and the intelligence gathered from Sticela,
Lanqi had developed a strong premonition.
The more certain he became that someone urgently and resolutely wanted Hyperion dead, the more convinced he grew of a single hypothesis—
The Creti Empire's Blood Clan, the Resurrection Church, the mystery of Duke Micah's disappearance, and the future Wilfort Tragedy were bound by countless intertwined, unspoken threads.
The timing of the Blood Clan seizing full control of the Creti Empire, the timing of Duke Micah's demise, and the massacre of the Wilfort Chamber of Commerce all coincided perfectly.
And the Wilfort Chamber of Commerce was precisely the crucial transnational trade and transport artery bridging the Hutton Kingdom and the Creti Empire!
At this point, claiming these events were unrelated was practically impossible!
In the original game's plot, had Lanqi died without interfering in the Ikerite Academy entrance exam, Hyperion might have perished right after failing it. Even if she had managed to enroll, the Resurrection Church would have used increasingly aggressive measures to assassinate her. In short, there was no way she could have survived until the main story began.
Yet Hyperion was a linchpin figure—a duke's daughter who tied together clues regarding the demon race, the Blood Clan, and the Resurrection Church.
Whoever wanted her dead was bound to be a mastermind lurking in the shadows.
This also indicated that eighteen months later, when the Blood Clan took over the Creti Empire, Duke Micah died, and the Wilfort Chamber of Commerce was wiped out, Hyperion's death was very likely the pivotal turning point!
If all these deductions held true,
then Lanqi could be certain: long before the story even began, the foolish young master destined for clan extinction and the hunted duke's daughter were already bound by fate.
Helping her had been helping himself all along!
Virtue truly brought its own reward!
"Hyperion, we have to catch that scoundrel who dares threaten our campus and our fellow students' safety—and give them a proper moral reformation!"
Lanqi once again embodied the paragon of an earnest student council officer, his words brimming with inescapable civic duty.
Where no one could see, he would carry out a clandestine and glorious mission: silently guarding the campus, protecting the kingdom, thwarting the Resurrection Church's conspiracy, and resolving the crisis of trust between the Hutton Kingdom and the Aloran Kingdom!
*When the deed is done, brush off the dust and vanish into the crowd, hiding both fame and merit!*
"Huh?"
Hyperion stared blankly at Lanqi's clear, righteous gaze, completely unsure whether there was something wrong with him or something wrong with her.
She was certain Lanqi wasn't offering empty polite platitudes right now. He genuinely looked forward to her luring a few more big fish his way next time.
Hyperion gradually realized something.
Could it be...
That whenever disaster befell her and got dragged onto Lanqi, it miraculously turned into pure fortune for him?
Setting aside whether this guy's motives were actually righteous or not, he was definitely eager to rob the wicked blind and devour them whole!
Chapter 159