Lord of Prayer

Chapter 233: Chapter 170: The Artwork (2)

“Uh… I’m heading out for a bit.”

The husky seemed to understand, barking once in reply. Its eyes were glued to the screen as it executed a flawless series of moves to get a penta kill, howling with excitement.

Zhou Chen closed the door, unable to stop himself from scratching his head.

’This is so weird.’

·

「Hong City Star Gathering.」

Li Xiye wore a white short-sleeved shirt under a baseball jacket, paired with slim-fit jeans. Her ear-length hair gave her a spirited, tomboyish air. She sat in a room that resembled a training classroom, facing a large blue screen on the front wall.

Before long, a tall woman in a professional suit walked in, holding a laptop. She seemed to be the person Li Xiye had spoken to on the phone earlier.

“Ms. Li Xiye, after our analysis and comparison, we’ve confirmed the identities of all the discovered Corrupters… Hmm, yes, even the Corrupter who was beaten to a pulp by that passing Ascender. We’ve managed to confirm his true identity through certain means.”

The woman connected her laptop to the large screen, which soon displayed a series of portrait photos.

There were men and women, old and young. The oldest appeared to be in their forties, while the youngest was likely not even twenty.

Li Xiye’s expression suddenly changed. She pointed to a photo in the corner. “Wait, this person… Li Defei. He’s a cousin of mine…”

No sooner had she spoken than she spotted another somewhat familiar face. “Wang Xiang… How is he also…”

Wang Xiang had been her high school classmate, the kind of person who was practically invisible in class. He was introverted and hadn’t made many friends during their two years of high school. Once, he accidentally provoked some troublemakers from another class and came to school the next day with a bruised and swollen face. In the end, it was she who had brought some people to teach those thugs a lesson and resolve the issue.

As for her cousin, Li Defei, she wasn’t very familiar with him. The Li Clan was large and influential, and she had far too many cousins. She only knew Li Defei from seeing him at family gatherings during holidays and had no idea he had been missing for several days.

“Among these twenty-one victims, the one who was a Corrupter the longest had been one for two months. The ones with the shortest time were your cousin, Li Defei, and your classmate, Wang Xiang. They were victimized less than a day apart, and it happened just in the last few days.”

The woman looked at Li Xiye. “We found Wang Xiang’s diary at his home. In it, he wrote that he developed a secret crush on you after a certain incident. But because he had such low self-esteem and felt he was too ordinary, he didn’t even dare to make eye contact or speak with you.

So he started studying Mysticism, hoping to share a common hobby with you, catch your attention, and get closer to you as a friend.

In his final diary entry, he mentioned finding a way to become brave. He wanted to use this method to change himself so he could approach you after school started. But then he disappeared.”

Li Xiye frowned. “What kind of method? A Mysticism ritual?”

The woman nodded. “We used certain methods to extract fragments of Wang Xiang’s shattered memories. He learned about this ritual from a local netizen. It’s called the ’Trial of Achilles’s Courage,’ and it’s supposed to completely transform the timid and introverted, making them eloquent and popular.”

Achilles.

A hero from Ancient Greek Mythology. Legend has it that Achilles’s mother, the goddess Thetis, wished for her child to be immortal like her. After Achilles was born, Thetis held him by his ankle and dipped him into the Styx River, a river of the underworld. This made his entire body invulnerable to all forms of physical attack, except for the ankle she held, which was not touched by the river’s water and thus remained his fatal weakness.

Besides his invulnerable body, he also possessed an optimistic spirit and extraordinary courage.

The “Trial of Achilles’s Courage” is a very famous ritual. Anyone who passes the trial is said to gain the power of invulnerability, along with an optimistic and indomitable courage that never admits defeat.

But this is a ritual of extremely high Status. Even an Ascender might not be able to complete it; it’s practically a demonic trial with a one-in-ten chance of survival. For an ordinary student like Wang Xiang to participate was simply suicidal. No… he couldn’t have participated at all, because the real ritual requires at least a Sage Level Alchemist to officiate.

Wang Xiang was clearly deceived.

“Besides Wang Xiang, all the other victims, including your cousin Li Defei, met a netizen who was well-versed in Mysticism and Extraordinary Studies. They were all individually lured out and then disappeared.”

“Did you track down that netizen?” Li Xiye asked with a solemn expression.

“We did, but he committed suicide in his home.”

At this, the woman’s expression became complicated.

“He strangled himself to death in his sleep. Right before he died, it seems he saw something terrifying—something that made death the only escape from his Fear.”

’He strangled himself to death…’ Li Xiye couldn’t help but gasp. The very thought was horrifying.

“Most importantly, we found a strange drawing by his bed. This is the real reason we contacted you.”

The woman typed on her keyboard, displaying the twisted drawing.

The lines were crooked, like a crude doodle from a three-year-old. It depicted a small figure with short hair surrounded by more than a dozen messy tangles of chaotic black lines, like a pack of wolves that had found its prey.

“What is this supposed to be?” Li Xiye asked, confused.

“That’s a drawing of you,” the woman said.

“That’s me?” Li Xiye was incredulous.

“Yes, it’s you.” The woman tapped a key, showing her the back of the drawing.

Crooked words were written on it.

“L… X… Y?”

Li Xiye read the letters aloud and realized it was the pinyin initials of her name. She asked urgently,

“Who was that guy? Do I know him?”

“A delivery man in his thirties who was secretly a follower of the Abyss Church. He was the one ’raising’ those Corrupters. We found an experiment log in his home that detailed his methods, timeline, and the victims’ corruption process. He was conducting a very evil corruption experiment.

However, his Soul was completely annihilated after his suicide, so we don’t know why he left behind a drawing like this.”

The woman said, “Under normal circumstances, there’s no way your paths would have crossed. Perhaps he learned of you through Wang Xiang.”

“Then what does this drawing mean? Wait, these pinyin initials don’t necessarily have to be referring to me…”

“That’s true, but you were the first candidate we thought of, so we have an obligation to inform you.” The woman typed on the keyboard and pulled up an image. A massive halo was shown expanding, sweeping over Hong City, with all sorts of data values displayed beside it.

“A few days ago, a powerful surge of Energy erupted in Hong City. This energy wave destabilized the magnetic field, tearing rifts in time, space, and reality. Some people with special constitutions or heightened spiritual perception might have seen strange things because of it. A few of the unlucky ones who saw things beyond their capacity to comprehend had their sanity depleted, leading them to take their own lives in a fit of madness.”

“This culprit was clearly one of the unlucky ones. Those tangled lines were likely Corrupters, or something even more twisted, which caused his sanity to evaporate and led him to strangle himself. As for the drawing’s content… after analysis, it’s highly likely that he peered through a rift in reality and inadvertently glimpsed a corner of the future—something that is about to happen.”

’Something that is about to happen…’ Li Xiye’s heart skipped a beat, and her expression turned serious. “How does the Star Association need me to cooperate?”

“Wear this 24/7 monitoring bracelet. Of course, it would be even better if you could stay at the Star Association temporarily.”

“I… I should probably discuss it with my family first.”