Chapter 326 - Three Hundred Twenty-Three:

Chapter 326: Chapter Three Hundred Twenty-Three: "Don’t Wait for Me Anymore

The same system notification repeated in Su Ming’an’s ear as his sword struck the Pope.

The blade fell upon the Pope’s body, and then, surprisingly, it cut through the opponent’s torso without any resistance; the sword sliced from the chest to the waist, and blood sprayed out.

With his face covered in blood, Su Ming’an prepared to quickly strike again with his sword, only to see the Pope in front of him fall backwards.

Su Ming’an blinked.

The warm trace of blood slid down his cheek. His strike had been too sudden, meant only as a last-ditch attempt before death.

But what he hadn’t expected was,

The opponent didn’t fight back at all, merely looking at him.

As the Pope fell, the voice of "Instant Death Resistance" in his ear also ceased, and the dark golden eyes of the opponent were now completely closed.

He had killed the Pulaya Pope, possessed by a deity.

Staring at the interface that popped up, Su Ming’an was stunned.

...He seemed to have encountered a bug.

If it wasn’t for the Instant Death Resistance effect he had equipped, he should be dead by now, with no chance to take down the Pope in front of him.

But because of the presence of Instant Death Resistance,

He seemed to have entered some bizarre alternate storyline.

"Ding-dong!"

Looking at the particularly brutal line prompt, Su Ming’an was momentarily dumbfounded.

The blood from his sword dripped steadily onto the ground as he gazed at the Pope’s corpse lying on the ground, at a loss.

With a loud "bang," the door to the room was kicked open.

"Captain, are you alright..." Sherrod, who heard the noise, upon seeing the scene inside, showed a look of shock.

Su Ming’an turned around.

Blood flowed down his face; behind him was the Pope with a massive sword wound. Given the scene, there was no way for Su Ming’an to deny it.

Who would have thought the Pope would make the first move against him.

Sherrod paused for a moment, then turned and ran.

By the time Su Ming’an left the room, it had already been surrounded by the Soul Hunting Pack, alerted to the scene.

They were dressed in uniform black, holding guns and swords, aiming their weapons at him.

The moment they saw him, the group did not hesitate to open fire.

"Boom——!"

The effects of gravity suppression occurred, accompanied by a dense series of "ting, ting" sounds as bullets fell to the ground.

Su Ming’an glanced into the distance and saw more and more people gathering; he even spotted a man in a white robe with an S-Class Soul Hunter Medal.

He turned and ran into the room, teleporting through the secret door the Pope had just entered.

Once inside the secret door, he felt the chasing sounds halt behind him. When he looked back, he saw the soul hunters had stopped at the doorway, none daring to follow him in.

"What should we do, this guy has entered here..."

"We have to ask the Archbishop for instructions first, we need orders to pursue..."

They discussed among themselves.

Su Ming’an looked at this group of people.

They glared at him with rage, hurling insults like "traitor" and "you’re a disgrace to your grandfather," yet no one dared to come in after him.

It seemed that this was a place these people couldn’t enter.

He ignored them, pressing his hand against the wall as he walked deeper into the narrow corridor of the secret door, ready to turn on the flashlight he had in his backpack, when suddenly he saw a light beam sparkle to life.

The light source came from his wrist; the AI wristwatch had finally finished initializing.

A resplendent blue panel appeared above his wrist and then a somewhat juvenile voice sounded.

"Reporting to you, my master. This is the world game’s evolvable Generation One smart wristwatch..."

The voice rang in his mind, not echoing in his ears. It appeared to indeed incorporate system technology.

Guided by the light of the wristwatch, Su Ming’an descended, spotting a spiral staircase winding downward. The halo of light swayed at the top of the staircase, while below lay darkness like a black hole, an abyss that light failed to reveal.

"Given the personalized customization requirements of the manufacturer, I’ve loaded an entertainment module for you. Whether it’s playing word puzzles, Snake, singing karaoke, or linking up idioms, I can provide entertainment services anywhere, anytime..."

The wristwatch kept chattering on while Su Ming’an’s hand brushed against the railing, feeling patches of rust.

"Or, when you find yourself bored, I can also play music for you. I have included over ninety thousand songs of various styles from the original Zhai Xing, complete with a song recognition system, sure to give you the best music experience..."

"Clang, clang, clang."

Su Ming’an continued to descend the metallic staircase, each step ringing crisp and clear.

Below, the dark spiral staircase resembled a massive serpent, its body sinking and slithering forward as if enticing those above to descend.

Even the air seemed to have shifted slightly, the inhaled gases dry and biting, and the temperature rising.

As he descended, he looked up.

The long, ascending staircase twisted above him like a giant snake, suspended over his head, with the faint glow originally from the door of the secret passage now completely vanished.

... Had the Pope just come up from this staircase?

He continued downward and finally reached the bottom.

This place was like an underground office, furnished with a table and a floating crystal ball. It was very clean, devoid of dust, suggesting it was frequently occupied.

Meanwhile, the wristwatch still nattered in his ear:

"These are the temporary personalized services; if you have any further needs, you can also let me know..."

"Shut up for now."

Su Ming’an spoke out.

The wristwatch fell silent instantly, though the light remained on, providing illumination for the area.

Su Ming’an began to search.

He placed his hand on the crystal ball, which showed no response. He leaned in to listen and then heard a human call from within the crystal ball.

Following the call, the crystal ball began to emit light on its own and then, two screens resembling those of a surveillance room appeared.

Su Ming’an recognized them — these screens were showing the "Messenger" rooms.

One display showed the room where local residents received messages, with a resident still sitting there waiting.

The other showed the room he had just left, where soul hunters still gathered at the secret door, with the Pope’s body lying on the floor.

These two screens acted like surveillance, presenting the situations of both rooms above the crystal ball.

He heard a voice coming from the first image.

"Gerald..." the resident placed his hand on the Crystal Ball, calling out the name as if waiting to receive a message.

Su Ming’an watched the scene, waiting.

After a moment, the resident in the image finished his prayer, sighed, and said, "It seems there’s no news again this year," before leaving the Messenger Room.

Then, the next resident walked in, his hand placed on the Crystal Ball, also waiting to receive a message.

"Larte." The resident called the name.

Watching this, Su Ming’an suddenly realized something.

His gaze shifted to the Feather Pen on the table, and the thin booklet beside it.

He quickly flipped through the booklet, finding the name "Larte" on the third page. Following the name was a sentence: "Time will make me wait to meet you again."

He picked up the Feather Pen and wrote this sentence on the Crystal Ball in front of him.

After waiting a moment, in the first image, on the Crystal Ball in the Messenger Room, there appeared a line of blood-red text: "Time will make me wait to meet you again."

The resident looked at this line of text, and suddenly tears streamed down his face.

"Finally, there’s news..." the resident murmured to himself before leaving the Messenger Room.

Su Ming’an flipped through the booklet in his hands.

The booklet was very thin, with only three pages, and it contained fewer than thirty names.

He now understood what the Pope was doing.

The Crystal Ball in front of him clearly served as a control center; whatever he wrote on this Crystal Ball would be transmitted to the Crystal Ball in the Messenger Room, making these residents think that it was their relatives in Cloud City who were sending messages through the Crystal Ball.

But in fact, it was the Pope who was writing these words. S~eaʀᴄh the Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

...Su Ming’an guessed that the so-called Cloud City God had collected these replies from Cloud City relatives and put them into this booklet, letting the Pope, who had the ability to transmit messages, write these words.

He flipped through the booklet and indeed found his own name.

"Su Rin."

But clearly, unlike the others, behind his name was a string of text that was incomprehensible.

He continued to flip through the booklet, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from the Crystal Ball.

That person was calling out a name, "Gerald."

He looked up and saw an old lady with graying hair sitting in the chair of the Messenger Room, her eyes tightly closed, one hand with skin stretched thin placed on the Crystal Ball, looking extremely anxious.

Su Ming’an recognized her.

It was the old lady from the neighbor’s house.

She did say in the morning that she was going to go pick up a letter in the afternoon.

Su Ming’an remembered what the old lady had said during the day.

Her smile at the time was brilliant, and Su Ming’an still remembered the woman lying in that room, the sounds of her labored breathing, as though she was in great suffering.

The old lady and her granddaughter, striving to maintain a difficult household, were waiting for their relative who had ascended to Cloud City to return, to cure her daughter’s serious illness.

The household seemed on the verge of collapse, held together by a single hope.

Su Ming’an flipped through the booklet in his hand and suddenly saw the reply letter from her husband.

The reply was brief, just a short line of text yet exuding a sense of despair.

He closed the booklet.

In the Crystal Ball’s image, the old lady’s face was filled with anxiety.

Her hand was slightly sweaty, her lips, tinged with a hint of purple, trembled gently. Her lips moved slowly as if she were praying under her breath, hoping to hear some good news.

Su Ming’an set down the feather pen in his hand, refraining from writing down that line of despair.

He watched the old lady until she slowly opened her eyes.

Staring at the Crystal Ball in front of her, which remained still, the old lady sighed.

"Why is there no news this year..."

She withdrew her hand and then, walking slowly, left the messenger room.

The next resident walked in.

Su Ming’an didn’t look any longer; he lifted his head.

He began searching for other clues in the area.

The Clue Insight Skill started to take effect. While he was searching, he noticed a glowing red circle in the corner, exceptionally well-hidden.

He walked over to it and pressed it with his hand, and suddenly he heard a "click."

It turned out there was a secret door here.

Had it not been for the Clue Insight Skill, relying solely on himself, he truly would have been unable to find such a mechanism.

He watched as the wall beside him began to tremble, and then, a cerulean vortex, thin as a membrane, appeared before his eyes.

The vortex twirled gently, as if beckoning him inside.

Su Ming’an had originally thought there was no exit in this place, only to discover now that there was a teleportation portal here.

It made sense, otherwise, the Pope would have to climb back up each time he descended here with great effort.

His hand touched the vortex, and the next moment, his surroundings lit up with a snow-white glow.

"Whoosh—"

A chilling breeze brushed his cheek, and he opened his eyes amid the white light, staring in astonishment at the scene before him.

The deep blue sky stretched above him like a vast cauldron, clear and jade-like.

The pristine clouds, velvety as silk, floated around him, and looking down, he saw a smooth platform. Turning his head, he saw a castle as white and flawless as snow standing at the end of the platform.

The cold wind at high altitude blew through his hair, and he felt a bone-chilling coldness.

...Cloud City.

So this teleportation vortex led to Cloud City... It seemed the Pope hadn’t lied; he was indeed transmitting information about Yun Shang City.

So there truly were cities where deities resided in the heavens.

He was just about to take a step when his vision suddenly skewed.

"Thump!"

He fell to the ground, his body suddenly as heavy as steel, a taste of blood rising in his throat.

...Cloud City Poison Gas?

He coughed once, quickly bracing himself with his hand, struggling to turn his body to return to the original vortex.

But in his somewhat blurry vision, a pair of white boots embroidered with golden sacred patterns appeared in front of him.

"...Finally waited for you to make it up here," said the voice.

What did that mean?

Su Ming’an didn’t understand what this Cloud City god was talking about.

He was about to speak when in the next moment, an immense, invisible force suddenly bore down on him.