"Could it be that my Substitute was suddenly enlightened by the Book of Gospel and ran off to work on its own?"
In a room at the Farewell Hotel, Yaxiu sat on the bed, scrutinizing the Substitute sorcery spirit resting in his palm. Thanks to vigorous development (using it every day) and proper nourishment (priority supply of essence materials), the Substitute sorcery spirit had advanced to Two Wings, gaining an extra little wing. Although it still looked like a human toddler, the texture of its pajamas and nightcap had improved noticeably, and it even had a tiny pillow now.
Yaxiu had no doubt that a Four-Wing Substitute would carry an entire bed around with it.
Faced with Yaxiu's inquiry, the Substitute sorcery spirit rubbed its eyes, yawned, and turned around to aim its little butt right at him.
"'If Yaxiu wants you dead by morning, who dares keep you alive till nightfall?'" Igola sat upright in his chair, tilting his head back as he flipped through his Book of Gospel. "The underground forums are completely flooded with talk about you, you idiot. Everyone is guessing what sorcery faction you belong to: Prophecy, Mind, Fate, Ritual, Necromancy, Chaos... Pfft, someone even guessed you belong to the Justice faction."
"What's so funny about that? Don't I look righteous enough?!" Yaxiu retorted indignantly.
"If you can represent justice, then I'm loyalty, Banjie is maturity, the eldest miss is innocence, Lisi is a bunny, and Harvey is grass on a grave."
Lisi, who had her arms wrapped around Yaxiu's neck from behind, piped up, "How come when it's Lisi's turn, it's an animal?"
Harvey, dangling a cigarette from his lips by the window, said, "I don't really get it, but I feel like that was a compliment."
Igola continued, "In the forum's descriptions, Yaxiu is an expert who's at least a Sanctuary. The reason he murders Echoers according to the Future Board is that it's part of a miracle ritual. With every future he fulfills, his strength skyrockets, and once he fulfills all the futures, he will become the Lord of Calamity who extinguishes the Gospel... The logic is sound and the reasoning is solid. Even I'm starting to believe it."
"Huh?!" Lisi exclaimed. "Then is Papa going to sleep with Auntie Qinna and Auntie Nona?!"
Yaxiu hastily ruffled Lisi's dog head of hair to dodge Annan's death glare. Beside them, Banjie poured six cups of warm tea for everyone, sat down, and said, "It's my first time seeing a prophecy fulfilled so quickly, too."
"It's too rushed," Annan said in a deep voice, touching her amethyst earring. "Just like a mismanaged company flaunting its wealth to reassure employees and customers."
"Exactly," Igola agreed. "Even we can tell there's a problem with the Weaving Ceremony. Other sorcerers, consortiums, and families must be quite uneasy as well. And unlike us, we don't actually rely much on the Gospel, but those large organizations rely on it for almost everything—personnel arrangements, tech development, distributing benefits... They're the true base of the Gospel. Once the seed of 'the Gospel is unreliable' is planted in their minds, it will be like a bank run; they'll rush to convert their Gospel points into tangible benefits.
"Therefore, the Gospel not only has to use Yaxiu to wipe its ass, it has to wipe it clean, beautifully, and comfortably, making sure everyone sees that only Yaxiu is filthy, while the Gospel remains eternally pure.
"To them, Yaxiu murdering Rog is sufficient proof that the Gospel is still functioning normally. It's equivalent to a major boon."
"Then who on earth pretended to be Yaxiu and killed Rog?" Harvey kept flicking his lighter, yet hadn't lit his cigarette. "And did it in the exact same way as on the Evil Arts Board..."
"In this matter, whoever benefits the most from maintaining the Gospel's credibility is the mastermind," Igola said. "And the Gospel's credibility is intimately tied to urban development, social stability, and consortium support. Therefore—"
"The Isu royal family," Annan said. "I wondered why they suddenly revoked Yaxiu's wanted warrant... Now, they might actually be afraid of catching him, because then the Isu royal family wouldn't be able to fulfill futures in Yaxiu's name."
She walked over and sat down beside Yaxiu. "If it's the Isu royal family, it's not surprising they could pull this off. As you know, the more Gospel points you have, the higher the access privileges granted by the Gospel. As far as I know, the royal family likely possesses the Gospel's highest authority. Forget miracles—they can even pray for divine miracles..."
As Annan spoke, she reached out and stroked Yaxiu's arm.
While Yaxiu looked at her in confusion, Lisi suddenly launched a sneak attack and gave his cheek a loud, smacking kiss.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Yaxiu felt something was off. "Do you think I'm ice cream or a plushie? Why are you using both hands and mouths on me? Igola, are you pulling something? ...Igola?"
Yaxiu looked up, only for the Swindler to immediately avert his gaze. He wouldn't even spare Yaxiu a glance out of the corner of his eye, his body trembling slightly. Yaxiu turned to Banjie, only to see the young butler abruptly pull out a notebook and start scribbling furiously, as though he had suddenly turned into a word-churning sow.
The cult leader looked toward Harvey and noticed something very strange: "Harvey, why haven't you lit your cigarette this whole time?"
The necromancer stared at the lighter in his hand. Whenever he struck a flame and brought it near the cat grass smoke, his thumb pressing the ignition button would subconsciously let go; whenever the lighter was aimed at the cigarette, his thumb refused to press down no matter what. Yaxiu had thought he was refraining out of consideration for Lisi and Annan, but this clearly looked like symptoms of Alzheimer's!
"Are you being controlled?!" Yaxiu grabbed Annan's lovely shoulders and shook them forcefully. Annan looked at him in confusion, but quickly came back to her senses. Holding his arm, she said, "This is a normal phenomenon. Don't panic, no one is attacking us."
"A normal phenomenon?"
"This is what makes Nabistin unique," Annan said. "The imperial capital is a land of Gospel boons, the Abode of Heavenly Music, a Sanctuary from Worries. Although the bottom tier is merely the old city of Nabistin, it still rests within the capital's embrace and enjoys the Gospel's favor. That is why so many people flock here, preferring to live in the underground city just to stay in Nabistin..."
"So what exactly is the unique part?!"
"Don't be so impatient." Annan was still speaking in an unhurried, gentle manner, as if enjoying Yaxiu's flustered expression. "To put it simply, all of us are under the Gospel's 'Revelation.' Although the Gospel doesn't directly give us hints, it allows us to draw upon its computing resources to produce the sharpest intuition, letting us know what we should do right now.
"What we are doing now are the most reasonable actions to satisfy our surface desires."
Annan looked at Harvey. "Harvey has always wanted to quit smoking but couldn't, so under 'Revelation,' he is unable to light his cat grass cigarette. Lisi wanted to get closer to you but was a bit shy, so only under 'Revelation' did she dare kiss you. And Igola is probably using sheer willpower to resist the intuition brought on by 'Revelation.'"
"Wait!" Yaxiu said in alarm. "Doesn't that mean you're being controlled by 'Revelation'?!"
"No, what controls us isn't 'Revelation,' but a 'self' that sees further, is more rational, and possesses greater initiative," Annan explained. "Any human being is bound to possess negative traits like hesitation, laziness, and fear. Even when they know what the right thing to do is, they don't want to do it, don't dare do it, or are unwilling to do it—and sorcerers are no exception. Often, the greatest difference between a genius and a mediocre person is simply the degree of negative traits they carry.
"The essence of the Book of Gospel isn't to look up information, but to help you take the 'next step.' When you don't know how to move forward, the Gospel can guide you in everything—life, relationships, sorcery, work, scientific research... Even if it's murder, the Gospel can provide you with target information.
"However, querying the Gospel costs points, so the vast majority of citizens cannot enjoy the privilege of such life counseling. So, do you understand the greatness of 'Revelation' now? Even though you haven't queried the Gospel, by tapping into its computing resources and massive database, you can still make the most correct choices through intuition.
"When I think about my next step, various courses of action naturally spring to mind, along with an analysis of which plan is most feasible and most advantageous, and then I act immediately." Annan blinked at Yaxiu. "That is why Nabistin is called a Sanctuary from Worries—it's as if merely by following intuition, one can journey all the way to a happy ending."
Chapter 443