Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Mo Fan thought he was lying on his own bed when he woke up. He had not fallen fully unconscious since he started cultivating magic. Normally, he would retain consciousness while he was meditating or resting, to make sure he did not get hit by a meteorite, ambushed by dark magic, or have his throat slit by the Black Vatican…
Surprisingly, the place he had the best sleep at was not at home, but a bed that the people of the Black Vatican had arranged for him…
“You’re awake?” a woman asked gently.
Mo Fan opened his eyes and immediately felt great pain. His eyes still had the injuries left by the pecks of the condors that almost ate them. The wounds were clearly still recovering, as he was unable to fully open his eyes. He could only squint, and in the little gap, see a beautiful and mature woman who was most likely less than thirty. Her faint smile was friendly and warm.
Mo Fan immediately recognized the woman as the female Blue Deacon when he heard her voice. He did not expect the woman to look so harmless. He wondered how many innocent people had died to this woman and her kind, innocent face to get her promoted to a Blue Deacon.
“Thanks, you saved my life,” Mo Fan rasped.
“Don’t worry about it, we are in this together. My partner has already left. I’m on standby here. There’s nothing much to do for now, why don’t we take a walk around? It might help with your recovery,” the Blue Deacon said.
Mo Fan rose to his feet. He still could not open his eyes. He touched his face and found it was full of scars. They did not wrap his face in bandages. He must be very ugly now.
“Your face was destroyed by the condors’ poisonous saliva. Normal Healing spells won’t repair your face. After we are done here, you can switch to a different identity and visit the Parthenon Temple. You can regain your face there. That being said, you have to be extremely careful. Another Candidate is now in charge of the Parthenon Temple. She hates us to the guts,” the woman told him patiently.
“It’s good to know that my face can be recovered. Speaking of which, I didn’t have a chance to report back to the Chief Extraditor…” Mo Fan blurted out.
“The Chief Extraditor has asked us to clean the mess up. Anyone left alive will be allocated to us. You’re quite lucky that you’re still alive. By the way, who exactly was the person from the Enforcement Union that you stumbled into? So many Blue Deacons and Black Clergy were killed. The Shepherd was an expert among the Extraditors!” the female Blue Deacon asked.
“We didn’t stumble into someone from the Enforcement Union. It was a young man. He seemed to have been following the Shepherd for some time. He attacked us when the Shepherd was Summoning the second and third Underworld Monarch Frogs. He was very strong. I thought I was dead for sure…” Mo Fan said.
“You’re really lucky. The lightning bolt that went through your body didn’t hit any of your organs. I bet the guy assumed you were dead. If we arrived just a bit late, you would have ended up being eaten by the condors too! I bet it felt terrible back then,” the woman said.
Mo Fan chuckled and said, “I couldn’t really feel anything. I only knew there were lots of things on me…”
“I’m surprised you can still laugh after all that.” The woman was amused too. How cheerful was he?
“What’s your name?” Mo Fan asked.
“Blue Bat,” the woman said.
“Oh, I wasn’t asking for your codename,” Mo Fan said.
The woman was startled. She slightly moved her gaze away when she saw the man staring at her. She said softly, “That’s very sudden of you. You know that we aren’t allowed to ask each other’s names.”
“I’m Northdeer, my true name is Fan Mo,” Mo Fan said.
“I’m Blue Bat, true name… my true name…” the woman could see the sincere look in the man’s half-open eyes. She hesitated for a moment and said, “Just call me Blue Bat.”
“How many have you killed?” Mo Fan added.
The woman was stunned. She was struggling to keep up with Mo Fan’s thoughts. She said after some time, “One.”
“One? How did you become a Blue Deacon?” Mo Fan was surprised. The woman did not sound like she was lying.
“Many lives were cheap, a thousand lives might even be less valuable than one. The person I killed was the general in charge of an important shoreline fortress at the Mediterranean Sea,” Blue Bat said.
“The Red Sea Ceremony?” Mo Fan asked. He knew that the Black Vatican referred to their gory achievements as ceremonies.
“Mm,” Blue Bat nodded.
“I didn’t take part in it. How did you do it?” Mo Fan asked.
“The general was my husband,” Blue Bat stated.
Mo Fan was slightly surprised. He glanced at the beautiful mature woman and grinned after some time, “So, does that mean you’re single now?”
Blue Bat opened her mouth and stared at Mo Fan like he was a weirdo. She eventually giggled, displaying the charm of a mature-looking yet inexperienced woman.
“Let’s go for a walk. Didn’t you say I should be walking more?” Mo Fan said.
“Alright,” Blue Bat helped Mo Fan up. As they headed toward the exit, she suddenly stared at Mo Fan sternly as a thought crossed her mind.
Mo Fan’s heart shuddered. He immediately had a bad feeling.
Since he was a fake, he had been asking the woman a lot of questions preemptively to prevent the woman from asking him some tricky questions.
“How many have you killed?” Blue Bat asked.
Mo Fan did not show it, even though he was relieved on the inside. He grinned again, “So many that I can no longer keep count of them. Most of them were my associates. It’s the quickest way to climb the ranks.”
“Oh, then we are one of a kind,” Blue Bat said.
Mo Fan understood what she was referring to. He kept smiling.
The woman was not suspicious of his identity at all. As he thought, after losing his handsome and righteous face, he looked more like an unforgivable crook!
“Where are we?” Mo Fan asked.
Mo Fan found himself in an ordinary-looking village when he came outside.
Many villages in the north were located in rather remote places because of the fortress. The main threat to the villages were the Beijiang Desolate Beasts. Since the fortress kept the Beijiang Desolate Beasts outside the Great Wall, these villagers remained outside the safe zone to make a living. They mainly focused on planting fruits, herbs, and plants that would only grow in certain soils.
There were lots of villages, towns, and small cities warded by the Northguard Fortress. The people were swiftly evacuated to the south as soon as they received the evacuation order.
Feihuang City was located further south. It was the defensive centerpoint of the military, magic, and economy in the north. It also had underground bunkers that could hold the residents of the cities protected by the Northguard Fortress. If the Northguard Fortress was overrun, the underground bunkers were the safest option for the people in the North Valley.
“Liyan Village,” Blue Bat said.
“Are you here to open the Underworld Gate to summon the Underworld Monarch Frog?” Mo Fan asked.
“It’s none of your concern,” Blue Bat replied.
“Oh, I will take that as a yes,” Mo Fan said.
“Didn’t the Chief Extraditor teach you not to ask about your associates’ jobs?” Blue Bat snapped.
“It doesn’t really matter. I’ll get rid of the rule when I become the Chief Extraditor in the future. We are all working for the Church. We should be united and helping one another out. If we keep splitting up into smaller groups, it’s easier for the enemy to take us out one at a time. It’s also very difficult to find out if anyone from the Enforcement Union or those that are against us has infiltrated the Church. Let’s hope they haven’t gotten access to our superiors,” Mo Fan said indifferently.
“You’re pretty bold, aren’t you? You would lose your head if the Chief Extraditor heard what you just said. Why do I feel like you’re more like a spy instead? You aren’t following the rules, and you keep talking nonsense too!” Blue Bat said.
“I’m only being honest. I do hope the Church can grow and become stronger, but our system is a little too conservative,” Mo Fan replied, as if he had great insight into the big picture.
Blue Bat was left speechless by Mo Fan’s words. She continued bringing Mo Fan around and seeing if the people in the village had been evacuated.
—
After some time, Blue Bat discovered that some of the villages were only being evacuated tonight. Many older folks were unwilling to leave, as they did not want to give up their land. To them, giving up on the crops that they had invested so much in to make a living was no different than taking their lives.
Fortunately, the officials had forcibly dragged those old folks away. However, it also meant it would take them more time to evacuate the villages.
Mo Fan did some observing, too. By the looks of it, he was afraid it would take five days before the people behind the Northguard Fortress were evacuated to Feihuang City…
Mo Fan began to panic. The Northguard Fortress was clearly short on numbers. If a second Underworld Monarch Frog showed up, it would surely trample the fortress to the ground. The Yoked would reap human lives across the land like crops!
“Ah, there’s a kid here,” Blue Bat saw a kid around the age of seven sleeping in a pile of straw in the village.
The kid was most likely an orphan. No one had noticed he was not with the people that were being evacuated.
“Since he’s going to die eventually, I’ll send him on his way instead to save him the pain,” Mo Fan smiled, and approached the kid that was fast asleep.
“Don’t, it will expose our identities. How the hell did you even become a Blue Deacon?” Blue Bat advised him.
“Hehe,” Mo Fan let out a hollow laugh. He glanced further north and saw the ghostly light flickering in the night sky.
Mo Fan frowned. It seemed like the other Blue Deacon was already Summoning the Underworld Gate…
He had to find a way to stop him. Otherwise, everyone in this village, which was being evacuated at the speed of a donkey, was going to die!
