"Please stop the sacrifice first, Monk Will."
Floey spoke slowly.
Whoosh!
The sound of a whistle rose!
Chen Lun ceased his actions and secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Monk Will, maintaining his raised hand gesture, turned his head to look at Floey with an unfriendly expression.
"I hope you have something more important than the sacrifice, Nun."
Floey looked at Will emotionlessly, shook her head slightly, and said in an ethereal voice:
"The sacrifice is the supreme command, but the priest has said to prioritize the offerings for team four...
This notebook has already consumed too many resources and efforts. Since there are no results, there is no need for further senseless waste."
"Damn it..."
Will angrily threw the bulky item onto the ground.
"Don't you threaten me with that old guy, Biqi."
He walked up to Floey, pinched her face, and looked down intently into her beautiful eyes.
"I know researching that shitty plant secretly transported from the headquarters is his most urgent task, but it's not mine...
This place isn't ruled by him!"
Will pushed Floey away harshly, then turned around.
"Continue!"
Under his command, the man with the mustache blew the whistle again.
Chen Lun reluctantly opened the notebook.
Whoosh—
The title page flipped open, revealing densely packed peculiar handwritten text.
His eyes gradually widened, and his pupils constricted.
"Ah! Ahhh!!"
Chen Lun was seen clutching his head and collapsing to the ground, screaming incessantly.
His body contorted as he struggled, exhibiting the same symptoms as the previously dead sacrifices.
Floey furrowed her brow, pursed her lips, and watched Chen Lun rolling on the ground with a hint of sympathy flashing in her eyes.
On her pale face was a red mark left by Will's rough hand, which evoked pity.
Monk Will clenched his fist in disappointment.
After a moment of silence, he waved his hand, and a few guards immediately stepped forward.
They picked up the ready sacks and started stuffing the corpses into them, preparing to clean up and remove them altogether.
The man with the mustache approached Chen Lun's body, which remained in a twisted pose, motionless.
Just as he was about to lift the body into the sack, he suddenly heard a faint, eerie whisper in his ear.
The mustached man was momentarily startled.
Upon listening closely, he discovered that the source of the voice was the very corpse at his side!
It was talking!
The mustached man jumped back in reflex.
"What's wrong? Did the corpse scare you, you fool?"
Will asked, his face darkening.
"No... not that, Monk Will..."
The mustached man's eyes widened as he pointed at Chen Lun's body.
"It's talking! By Rose above, it's really talking!"
"What!?"
The body is talking?
Will was taken aback, but then a thrilling thought crossed his mind.
Could it be...?
He strode over to Chen Lun's body, squatted beside it, and bent down to listen.
The murmured phrases were coming through faintly.
It indeed was speaking!
Will listened quietly to the content, which seemed to be saying:
"... Long, long ago, an old man was gathering herbs on a mountain and stumbled upon a cave, its entrance hidden and dim, surrounded by bizarre jagged rocks..."
Will's pupils shivered.
His astonished expression turned into ecstasy the next moment.
"Quick! Help this guy up!"
Will's hands trembled in excitement as he pointed at Chen Lun.
"He is the only sacrifice who did not die in the ritual. He understood the notebook's content!
Nun, quickly note down what he's saying!"
The mustached man and the other few guards looked at each other, then forcefully pulled Chen Lun up from the ground.
Chen Lun remained with a foolish expression, sitting atop the altar and murmuring strange words as if possessed by an evil god.
Soon, a guard clad in a leather coat and brimmed hat rushed over with pen and paper, handing them to Floey for her to record in real time.
Floey took the paper and pen, raising her eyes curiously at this man who had not died in the sacrifice.
Only she knew in her heart that Chen Lun had not consumed the apple; he was not being manipulated. This was all an act!
Yet she could not stop the ritual process nor did she know what he had seen in the notebook, nor what state he was in at that moment.
Floey's heart stirred slightly.
"... The old man rescued a pangolin in the cave, and the pangolin told him that it had accidentally dug through Gourd Mountain, releasing snake monsters and scorpion demons.
But it had seven gem-like seeds. After these seeds grew and sprouted, they could foster life as powerful as gods and demons. The pangolin also said..."
Including Priest Will, everyone listened intently to Chen Lun's narration.
"The pangolin also said... also said..."
Will grew increasingly impatient, but Chen Lun just kept repeating those two words.
"What else did the pangolin say? Speak up! Hurry up and speak!"
Will grabbed Chen Lun's lapel in one swift motion, completely forgetting that it was still covered in the latter's drool.
But Chen Lun, as if stuck in a loop, kept repeating just those two words, no more information forthcoming.
"Damn it!"
Will was extremely frantic.
Chen Lun watched his flustered look, barely holding back his laughter, keeping a facade of ignorance as if he only knew how to babble.
Ignoring Will, his attention shifted to the notification that had popped up when he opened the notebook earlier.
[You have uncovered hidden supernatural pathways (complete)!]
[Destiny Faction Sequence Nine Beast Tamer]
[You have met the promotion requirements. Would you like to make this your main occupation?]
Hidden paths!
Chen Lun suppressed his joy, silently choosing yes in his heart.
On his panel, the main occupation column went from blank to suddenly displaying an entry -
Main Occupation: [Sequence Nine Beast Tamer LV1] (Destiny Faction)
The notifications triggered by the notebook weren't just these.
[You have discovered a Mystic Book of the Destiny Faction!]
[Beast Tamer's Handbook (Progress 4%)
[Through careful reading, you gained 40 experience points]
[Through careful reading and comprehension, you have gained the Skill "Beast Speech"!]
[Beast Speech LV1]
Skill Description: Years of beast taming have allowed you to barely understand the language and emotions of animals, enabling you to communicate with them rudimentarily.
But please promise me, don't make them solve calculus problems anymore, okay?
Treating animals kindly is everyone's responsibility; after all, they haven't asked you to eat their excrement, have they?
Chen Lun hadn't paid much attention earlier, but looking at it now made his face darken further.
If someone were to draw a crescent moon on his forehead right now, he could immediately debut as Judge Bao on the spot.
Chen Lun began to reflect on himself.
He had erred, tremendously!
Due to the Red Apple Church's style of operating, their obsession with Mysterious Objects was substantial.
Furthermore, with the continuous deaths of the previous offerings, he had prematurely assumed that the sacrificial object would be a high-level Mysterious Object.
Yet, he had overlooked one fact.
Apart from himself, other NPCs couldn't see the panel.
They couldn't trigger quests, let alone receive quest items.
Thus, in their eyes, [Philip's Diary] was just a book containing Mystic Contamination, a Mysterious Object!
But in front of Chen Lun, it was merely a simple quest item.
Though he wasn't a player, he still retained certain privileges only players have.
Chen Lun let out a long sigh of relief.
Having narrowly escaped one disaster, he resolved to lay low for a while.
Revenge is a dish best served... even ten days is too late.
Once he finished reading the hidden content in the diary, the Beast Tamer's Handbook, and accumulated enough experience points, he was determined to show them a thing or two.
"I understand now."
Will thought for a long while, as if he had realized something.
"He only flipped through the first two pages of the notes, that's why he saw so little..."
His expression became increasingly excited, and his breathing grew more rapid.
"But from the broken phrases he recounted just now, the notes must record lost, valuable mythical history, and they might conceal supernatural knowledge not known to mankind!"
"Great! This is excellent!"
Will, struggling to contain his nearly insane joy, ordered with a flush face for the guards to take Chen Lun away.
At the last moment, he hesitated, then added:
"Give him something good to eat and let him have a bath. I've had enough of his pig-like stench!
We need him to continue deciphering the notes for the church."
"Yes, Priest Will."