Chapter 222: All Willingly
Chapter 222: All Willingly
“Meow?”
To Wilde’s surprise, the sound wasn’t from Lin Jie who looked up, but the cat he was holding in his arms.
“Is this a new pet of yours?” he asked.
With a slight smile, Lin Jie nodded. “Yes. It was a gift from Vincent, he’s the pope of the Sun’s Faith. You might have heard of him, Old Wil, he’s another customer of mine.”
Still meowing softly, the chubby white cat placed its paws on the counter and stared at Wilde and the large hound at his side.
Its gaze lingered on Wilder for quite a while before shifting to Grady.
Being stared at by the cat made Wilde tense up instinctively. His wariness skyrocketed as goosebumps appeared on whichever part of his body was being observed.
His body was screaming at him that this creature which resembled a cat wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
It definitely wasn’t…
Behind the mask, Wilde’s acid green snake eyes had narrowed to a slit. Then, as if the fog of confusion before him was lifted, he was suddenly well aware of the abnormalities of this ‘cat.’
The two fur-covered paws weren’t actually adorable paw pads; rather, curled up within them were long and sharp claws.
Strands of fur covering its body were clearly countless fine tentacles. If one were to take a closer look, it was possible to spot tiny eyeballs between the spaces of those dancing tentacles.
Furthermore, there weren’t any eyelids covering those yellow eyes that were constantly swirling and changing which made for a terrifying sight.
And when gazing into the eyeballs for a prolonged period of time, the writhing fleshy lumps covered by red and black capillaries at the back of the eye would become noticeable…
Wilde was mildly shocked. All this proved that the ‘cat’ creature before him was in fact similar to Grady—a ‘mimic.’
“Grr…”
Grady, who was next to him, had its body slightly lowered, growling softly and at full alert as it stared at Whitey.
The cat and the dog stared daggers at each other in a precarious deadlock.
The party behind Wilde were also aware of this chilly atmosphere, causing them to turn pale and shiver.
Gall, who was the closest to Grady, had to bear the most of the brunt. His instincts told him to flee, but sadly, his legs had both turned into jelly, preventing him from moving an inch.
As Pandemonium-ranks, they were able to accurately determine the level of aura the two creatures were displaying.
Needless to say, it was a fact that Grady was a Destructive-rank Sky Wolf.
After all, they had personally experienced it for themselves.
Therefore, an existence which could rival Grady was at the very least Destructive-rank as well.
Which also meant that… At this moment, there were three Destructive-ranks gathered in this tiny bookstore, including Wilde!
What kind of joke was this?
If a powerful organization like the Church of the Dome had three Destructive-ranks and one Supreme-rank, this meant that in terms of combat strength, this ordinary-looking bookstore was nearly on level terms as the Church of the Dome.
This wasn’t the most frightening aspect either.
Even more alarming was the fact that this ‘cat’ behaved like a pet in the arms of the bookstore owner!
Night Falcon gulped. Although Grady had the form of a large pet dog and was also a mimic of a Sky Wolf, he was more like Wilde’s companion rather than his pet.
This made Night Falcon’s blood race. Everything he had learned from Wilde about ‘Mr. Lin’ came flooding back into his mind.
This was a truly omniscient and all-powerful existence!
The others were also having similar thoughts. This show of ‘intimidation’ had immediately won them over. All of them were gazing at Lin Jie like how a believer of any faith would behave seeing their respective god descend from the heavens above and appear before them.
Of course, they truly believed deep down.
Oh… Lin Jie maintained his smile, feeling a bit weirded out by the slightly fanatical manner this bunch of youngsters tagging along with Old Wil was viewing him.
How could he put this; they were like those diehard fans about to scream their hearts out when coming face to face with their idols.
Boss Lin was skeptical at first, but Old Wil’s explanation quickly quelled his doubts.
“I have made some progress regarding the mission you asked of me.”
Wilde gave an introduction of these people before elaborating, “They were originally members of Blood Feast, youngsters who had strayed from their path. However, they were all inspired ever since I passed down your ideologies and book to them and willingly became followers of your books. They fully believe you are their life mentor!”
The few of them nodded their heads. “Yes, we are all willing.”
“I brought them here today to give them a chance to hear your teachings and hope you are satisfied with them.”
Lin Jie had a moment of realization. He stroked Whitey a few times, whose fur was all bristled up from this encounter with the dog, then lifted the chubby cat back onto his lap.
Indeed.
He could recall the only two instances in which he had made what seemed like a request for Old Wil…
The first time had been when he had passed Old Wil the book Ceremonies and Customs and told him he ‘hoped that it could be recommended to others.’
The second instance had taken place on his previous visit to Wilde. Old Wil had mentioned he had a plan to change those wayward members of Blood Feast.
Which meant to say, this bunch were the results of Old Wil’s efforts!
Lin Jie was elated and chuckled happily. “This is great news! You have done well, Old Wil, performing way beyond my expectations.
“Never would I’ve expected there would be so many people in this world… uh, in this area that would be interested in my books.
“You’ve got to understand, these topics are not well received anywhere. Even my previous students had been complaining about how these topics were too difficult and profound for their liking.
“Often, they acted as if it was torture when I asked them to read more, often fussing and crying, saying that reading too much would blunt their senses and break their minds.”
You are way too humble…
Night Falcon and the others couldn’t help being in disbelief. After all, they had seen and even experienced the power contained within the book.
Had they failed to withstand it, they would have ended up just like Doyle—going insane and having their heads blown up.
Even now, they could only withstand just a few pages. Any more would result in splitting headaches, as if something within their brains was trying to force its way out.
Wilde, however, had noticed the words “in this world.” Piecing together with past clues made for a startling revelation. Could Boss Lin be talking about the world behind the Wall of Fog?
Or perhaps the dream realm?
Moreover… Boss Lin’s new pet seems to have a faint aura of the moon.
It was common knowledge that the Church of the Dome had been destroyed by the newly-formed Sun’s Faith and Secret Rite Tower. However, those who were more aware of this situation would know that the entire incident had been closely tied to the bookstore.
Including Vincent’s rise, the death of the Waning Crescent Apostle, etc.
The Church of the Dome had only recently fallen and Boss Lin was already in possession of an unknown creature that had the moon’s aura.
This in itself was very thought-provoking.
And judging from Boss Lin’s character, Wilde was 90% certain that Lin Jie might have wanted a pet on a whim after seeing Grady previously.
And after the series of events occurred, dominoes toppled in succession and the Church of the Dome no longer existed.
And now, the pet Boss Lin wanted was now in front of Wilde.
While Wilde was drowning in his admiration for Boss Lin, Lin Jie smiled at the young man standing at the very front. “You are called Night Falcon? What are some of your thoughts regarding my book?”