Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

Saturday, December 25th.

On the outskirts of Backlund, an inconspicuous little church.

The cold wind blew, and a crow with a chill under its wings flew into the church door, bringing in a few blades of grass. It fell on the back of the prayer bench in the front row, shaking off the gray-green grass clippings dotted with black feathers. , preening his feathers.

Several small reptiles clung to it covertly. As the grass blades fell to the ground, they quickly crawled under the chairs and disappeared into unknown corners of the church.

"It seems that something did happen between you and Zoya that I don't know about."

As these words appeared, a white-robed priest appeared on the bench, holding a cross and lowering his head devoutly.

He does not appear out of thin air, but is always here. When He does not want to appear in front of anyone, no one can see Him.

The black crow raised its head. There was a ring of white hair on its right eye, as if it was wearing glasses:

"The backdoor of the abyss was destroyed, and the main body was searching for clues about the characteristics of the 'Secret Attendant' in a mysterious place, so he gave me the authority to recognize 'Zoya' and sent me here after sharing the corresponding memory. Backlund.”

The priest opened his eyes and looked at the cross erected in front of the church. His eyes were as clear as a baby's, without any emotion or emotion exposed:

"Zoya was forced to use the 'Stealer' trait. She has your unique projection and the Worm of Time on her body, which makes it difficult for her to exert her own power."

"she?"

The black crow suddenly jumped up, and when it landed again, sitting one meter away from the priest was a young man in a black wizard robe and a black pointed hat.

The shadow of the brim of the hat casts on his thin face, and the black curly hair hangs down by his ears. When the young man tilts his head, it will hang just in front of the monocle crystal glasses on his right eye, making his eyes through the lenses particularly dark.

"Why did you say 'she'?"

The priest's hand held the cross tightly, and his fingertips rubbed the olive branch. A gentle smile of reminiscence appeared on the corner of his mouth. Although it was not obvious because of his beard, his originally compassionate face suddenly became alive. Although there was still no wavering in his eyes:

"Father's vision was successful. Zoya fulfilled his father's expectations for 'her' in a way we had no way of knowing when we didn't know it."

The young man adjusted his monocle and raised the corner of his mouth: "How is it possible? Without the help of her father, how could Zoya hope to break through to the 'humanity' step? I caught him in the land abandoned by the gods more than a hundred years ago. Once upon a time, Zoya at that time was still just a 'shell', with no change at all."

The young man even looked at the priest suspiciously: "You haven't been promoted either. I don't think anyone can give Zoya 'humanity'."

The priest's expression returned to calm: "In fact, I am not sure even if I am promoted to a 'visionary'. You know Zoya's special characteristics, unless my father is resurrected and regains control of the Sea of ​​Chaos."

"Then what are you talking about?" The young man crossed his legs. Facing the cross in front of him, he was not respectful, but just stared at its edge calmly.

"I just marveled at such a miracle."

"A miracle...can this also be considered?"

The young man seemed to despise such a statement. He drew a circle with his fingers on his knees and slowly pointed at the center of the circle, as if he was thinking about something.

"If you have nothing else, I will go to Backlund to find Him. I have to bring Zoya back to the main body as soon as possible to avoid being preempted by others."

But the priest stopped the young man: "There will be big events happening in Backlund in the near future. There is no need to be so anxious."

"If you find Zoya earlier, you can squeeze out his good luck in everything. How can you not be anxious?" The young man's smile deepened, "If he really became 'her' as you said, maybe I can directly parasitize him." Zoya, this is what I’m looking forward to.”

"There is a clone of you beside her, a clone that is isolated from your body."

The young man's footsteps turned back, and a stream of light flashed across his monocle. The dark eyes below stared at the priest's profile attentively: "No wonder you found out about Him before I did. He actually found a way to bypass it." The main body..."

"It really surprised me."

The young man laughed twice, then turned his head and turned his gaze to the door of the church: "You have an appointment with someone?"

"I'll leave it to you as the informant who can help you track down Zoya."

The young man half-squinted his eyes and smiled happily: "In other words, it doesn't matter if you kill him or parasitize him, right?"

The priest did not answer, but lowered his head and resumed his original prayer posture.

This is the default "yes".

——

Calvin entered the chapel in a daze.

It seems to have never been here. No residents of any nearby villages come here to pray. No one realizes that there is a church here. It does not even belong to any Orthodox church. It is just a landmark that never existed here. Splatter painting on blank paper.

But this small church seems to have stayed here quietly for a long time, like a stone pillar in the wind and waves, maintaining the peace of its own world without being disturbed or affected by the outside world.

Galvin remembered that he had an appointment with someone, but he couldn't remember when or who he met. He only knew that he should come.

A fly flew behind Galvin, seeming to feel the hotter temperature of the human body, and quietly landed on the back of his windbreaker, rubbing his front feet leisurely.

Calvin walked into the chapel with a dazed and peaceful expression. He walked straight to the first row and naturally sat down a few seats away from the black-haired young man, as if he had reserved his seat here early.

"Hi." The black-haired young man greeted cheerfully.

Calvin was awakened by the sound and subconsciously stood up from his chair. Only then did he realize where he had gone. He looked around in confusion, then quickly regained his alienated calmness and looked silently at the young man who greeted him. .

"You are an 'audience' too. Do you mind sitting down and chatting? Don't worry, I won't be violent to you. I'm not that barbaric."

The black-haired young man's right hand casually grabbed it, and Calvin felt the light in front of his eyes brighten. His sunglasses disappeared from the bridge of his nose, and he was being played with by the young man.

The young man glanced at Galvin's peculiar amber eyes and casually hung the pair of sunglasses on the front of his robe: "So is he a member of the Alchemy Society or the Hermit Society? Forget it, it has nothing to do with me."

Galvin knew that the priest who had given him the "invisibility" charm was also here.

But he didn't show up again, which sent chills all over Galvin.

The young man stared at Galvin for a few seconds, then suddenly frowned: "Has he been influenced by Zoya?"

"They had contact and even fought, but I don't know what impact Zoya had on him. Because Zoya has a special way, you should be able to detect this better than me."

After the sound rang, Calvin saw the priest suddenly appear on the bench. He was sitting very close to the young man in black robe, bending over in a prayer gesture.

"Just in time, let me take a closer look at you." The young man stood up and walked leisurely in the direction of Galvin. "I don't know what chaotic tracks the canary left."

Even as an "audience", Calvin, who only had a low sequence, could not be completely free from fear. Out of instinct, he wanted to retreat, but found that his body was no longer in control.

The smile on the young man's face was very pleasant, but there was not much smile in his black eyes, but full of malicious ridicule: "Don't worry, I won't make you feel pain."

Galvin suddenly remembered where he had seen a similar look.

That demonic crow.

——

Calvin stumbled out of the church, but he forgot why he was so frightened. He just ran wildly with instinctive fear, like a frightened beast that briefly lost the ability to think.

The priest raised his eyes and glanced at the black-haired young man. The young man's face was not very good-looking, and the smile that always hung on his lips disappeared:

"He doesn't even have a destiny to take away. I don't want this to come back to me. He can't escape from superficial parasitism anyway."

"Now you know." The priest closed his eyes and smiled.

The black-haired young man pushed up his monocle: "'Luna', that sounds really weird. Why doesn't He honestly use the name given by his father?"

"Of course it's because I don't want to have anything to do with the 'gods'."

The black-haired young man pondered for a moment, then smiled again: "Do you really want to escape from his own destiny..."

"She is now a 'thief.'" The priest said this in a very calm tone, but there was something else in his words.

The black-haired young man did not reply to this sentence, but stood up decisively.

The black crow with white circles fluttered its wings and flew out of the church. The priest did not raise his head and looked down at the ground:

"You did tamper with Zoya."

An ant slowly crawled past the priest's feet, its movements stiff because it was not used to the cold winter temperature, and it did not pay attention to the priest's gaze behind it.

——

Esther was sitting in the hotel room. The charcoal in the fireplace was burning brightly, allowing her to stay indoors and enjoy the warmth.

The showers falling from the sky were as fine as hair, slowly wrapping around Backlund's shadow, knocking on every glass window he passed.

This kind of weather was not suitable for going out, so she huddled lazily on the sofa, flipping through a few magazines bought from the front desk. The new book of writer Forsi Wall was being planned. The writer of the report seemed to like Buddha very much. Ms. Ersi's previous book is "Stormy Heights", and she is full of expectations for the new book that will be released in the near future.

The Loen Kingdom Soot Emissions Reduction Association once again issued a statement calling on residents to take practical actions to reduce the harm of smog, urging the House of Representatives to pass the Anti-Pollution Bill and the Smoke Emissions Reduction Bill as soon as possible to adopt further controls.

There have been a few strikes in the East End and Dockside. The poor working conditions of the workers are completely out of proportion to the hours and meager wages. There are voices constantly calling for improvement. However, because the House of Lords is still under the influence of the death of Duke Negan. In the turmoil of division, these things were ignored.

Esther turned the pen in her hand, looking past the black and white report and landing on Xiao Qi.

Xiao Qi tilted his head and looked back at her: "What are you thinking about?"

"I always feel that the weather is very bad." Esther said.

The "rustling" sound of rain washed against the wall outside the window, and the sound became smaller and smaller.

The rain has stopped, but the sun still doesn't shine here.