Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1477 Qi Song
In the tense silence, Lu Ning completed the spell and then filled in the name of the person being summoned.

When "Touch the Stars" was cast, there was no sound, not even a perceptible magical glow. Lu Ning did not ask Hetofel for power; she already knew what kind of power Hetofel shared. However, she could directly guide the power of the moment the extraterrestrial beings descended.

A gem.

In a place almost unnoticed, a small hole was pierced through space. Heitofil delivered a gem and a greeting. He did not try to interfere with this world as Lu Ning had expected, but only responded with a single sentence.

How have you been?

In an instant, a flood of questions arose in Lu Ning's mind: the world that Bai Tianzi and Heitofilko lived in, the world they were willing to go to even if it meant alienation, the materialized forms of power and knowledge in that world, just how many magnificent things were there...

wrong.

Magnificent? Why would she suddenly use that word to describe that terrifying void?

"Master Pharmacist!"

Someone shook Lu Ning, pulling her out of her reverie. She almost immediately realized that she had been daydreaming in this environment. Was it pollution from that world? She had actually developed a longing for it?
The one shaking her was Roman. At this moment, there was a clear hole about one meter in radius in the above-ground part of the underground arena. The gem easily pierced through the surface structure, but from this angle, it was impossible to see what had happened in the underground area.

But Lu Ning knew that it was all over. After the gem pierced the ground, it immediately began to twist and rapidly annihilate itself. The underground area was now just an empty cavity. Everything had turned into the most basic particles along with the gem, and the energy was perfectly harmonized without any leakage. Not even a change in temperature could be seen from the outside.

When everyone looked down through the hole in the ground, even the Knight of Roman had to admit that the beacon couldn't possibly still exist under these circumstances. The spherical cavity was filled with radially distributed crystalline threads, which blended seamlessly with the rock. And among these densely packed crystalline threads, there was clearly nothing else. The beacon that might have existed underground, as well as the servants guarding this place, had all vanished.

Even the servants outside have become dull-witted, and some of them have even started to crystallize on their skin.

"That's... a really powerful attack."

The knights marveled at the effectiveness of the attack, but Lu Ning mentally crossed out the spell. She wondered what kind of paradise the so-called outer realms were, and that Hetofel was clearly a monster she couldn't handle now.

Calling them was far too dangerous. At least this time it was just a greeting, but what about next time? She had no other targets to choose from.

"Now that the beacon has been dealt with, you shouldn't need me here anymore, right? I wonder if I could take a look at the contents of 'The Skin I'm Trapped'? I think since it involves the Plague Lord, it must be related to the plague."

“That’s not difficult.” Knight Roman took out a few sheets of paper from his storage bag. “Most team leaders carry a few sheets. Unless it’s the whole book, it won’t be of much use.”

"The important thing is the content." Lu Ning took the papers and quickly glanced through the contents.

This thing is not a prototype of a plague. Lu Ning suspects that she may have seen a new type of plague, whose way of spreading and who is infected will be different from those famous plagues in history.

"Thank you. When you report back to the Grand Knight, please let me know that I believe this is still a plague, not something like filth. After capturing Lugo, we need to find evidence on him. If I am not mistaken, Lugo should be infected with the plague."

"Please allow me to confirm whether what you're saying implies an attempt to exonerate Lugo?" the Knight Roman asked seriously.

"Of course not. Regardless of whether Lugo was infected or not, his crimes have been established."

Knight Roman breathed a sigh of relief: "I will repay you. However, it is getting late, and you probably don't have much cash left, so I think..."

“This is precisely the time when we need to race against time.” Lu Ning smiled. “Please make an exception for me and let me proceed to the next area.”

The target is not here.

Even if Lu Ning doesn't participate, the church is fully capable of handling this crisis according to its progress. What can be resolved is not enough to truly plunge Violet City into annihilation.

She needs to find a crisis that's spiraling out of control.

=
Inside the castle, the lights were dim.

The area where the banquet was still being held was one of the few places still relatively brightly lit, while the rest of the area was filled with rustling sounds. The guards who tried to deliver the message didn't have much of a chance against the swarming insect soldiers; the pheromones in the air had already transformed into commands to attack.

The Queen is leaving her nest. Surrounded by soldiers and Zerg, she is now the de facto ruler of the castle. The worker Zerg have already rebuilt the corridors for her, the magnificent and splendid pinnacle she saw in her dreams.

No one can escape from here.

The Queen of Insects thought this way, and even towards her father, she no longer held any reverence. If she could conquer the banquet hall, she could personally devour the brains of her chosen heir, and even turn him into one of her own alien insects.

—No, I'd rather become a worker insect; I really don't want to see that annoying face.

Amidst the queen's agitation, an even stronger wave of aggressive pheromones spread out. As the doors to the banquet hall were pushed open, the invited nobles screamed and roared, but soon their cries turned into screams of agony.

However, the Queen of Insects remained sullen. She could not smell the scent of blood similar to her own. Neither her brother nor her father exuded that alluring pheromone before death. They were just mediocre people who were eager to make a living. Although many of them had mocked her, they were worthless!
Discovered?

The Queen of Insects finally realized this problem in her chaotic mind.

She may have always looked down on her brother, but she had always held a certain awe for the Grand Duke of Toril's authority. She had heard the legendary tales of the Grand Duke's conquests almost since childhood, so had the Grand Duke noticed this change in her?

It's impossible that they wouldn't have noticed.

"Where have you been!" the Queen of Insects roared through the mouth of a different insect.

"Ah... Tia, Tia."

A gray-haired man emerged from the chaotic banquet hall. "Uncle?"

"Ah……"

Ed Wilder, disguised, emerged from the banquet hall. He held a book in his hand and was inserting bookmarks into its pages.

The queen insect tilted her head and looked at him, her countless sharp teeth protruding from her mouth and clashing together as if she wanted to devour this uncle as well.

"When will your stupidity improve even a little? Toril has been gone for a long time. Before you acted, didn't you send the worker worms to check the castle? To see how many people are in it, who is really in power... Alas, what good is power if you don't become wiser?"

"Shut up! Don't call me stupid! Of course...of course I paid attention! As long as Father isn't here, no one can stop me! I've released my pheromones, and everyone, no, all the insects will become my subordinates! My...kingdom!"

"You've given a very superficial interpretation of 'The Queen's March,' though that's enough for you to expand your army to this extent. But, hahaha, don't make me laugh, Kingdom?" Edwid put the book in his pocket and sneered. "A kingdom with only about a thousand people? You think it's some kind of local tyrant in an ancient, isolated village? Poor Tia, even as the Queen, your vision remains so narrow."

The Queen of Insects stared at Edwild, feeling anger, but even more so, emptiness. The book embedded itself deeper into her chest, tearing at her reason and drawing her further into this selfless realm.

A torrent of pheromones erupted from the insect limbs that sprouted from her body. Unfortunately, Edwild was unaffected. Instead, those hiding in various corners of the castle, spurred on by the pheromones, began to act completely out of control. Fear, courage, malice, hatred—all emotions crossed the line. The queen of the insects reveled in the alluring scent of the blood, feeling an unparalleled sense of satisfaction.

"We've finally entered the peak period."

Edwid heard a sound of teeth chattering. The queen's eyeballs split into countless tiny pupils that filled her eye sockets. Her slender limbs supported her as she stood upright, and her hands began to transform into sickle-shaped forelimbs. Several pairs of transparent wings also tore through the skin on her back and grew out.

Seeing this, Ed Wilder finally smiled with satisfaction, then walked straight to a hidden door, reached out and broke the lock, and pulled the door open.

Inside were several court musicians. The slightly more astute ones noticed something was amiss and hid early on. However, driven by the high concentration of pheromones, they would probably soon start fighting each other.

Edward asked with a smile, "You lot, do you want to live?"

They nodded quickly.

"Then follow me. Remember, you can only look, not ask questions, and you can't make any noise, understand?"

The men readily agreed. Edward then led them past the Queen of Insects and headed out of the city. Along the way, the insects tore at corpses and transformed their own kind, but not a single one turned its gaze toward them.

Only after leaving the castle did Edgar wave the court musicians away, then he took out a cigarette and lit it.

“You and I have already caused so much chaos, why aren’t the younger generation ready yet? Do I really have to watch Pan De’ang use his boring plague? Please don’t do that.” Ed Wilder didn’t smoke, but instead put it into the air next to him. Then, the cigarette seemed to have been inhaled, and its brightness flickered.

"Thank you."

The figure of the Soul Master appeared and disappeared in the air, as if the smoke had given him some substance.

"Any news? Whether it's about that lucky kid you rescued, or those other capable juniors?"

"Listen." The Soul Master took another drag of his cigarette, maintaining his form. "You should be able to hear the sounds inside the city. You've arranged quite a few false identities."

"Oh?" Edwid raised an eyebrow, then began contacting his various false identities. However, the church's presence disrupted this communication, making it intermittent and preventing smooth information exchange.

"With things like this in the city, can you even hear clearly? And with the church blocking things like this, it's impossible to hold any ceremonies, and even prayers can't get out."

"...I think they should know, so I'm also very curious about what the younger generation has prepared."

The two looked into the city together. Thanks to the difference in elevation between the mountains, they could still see Violet City, but the chaos in the city had been filtered out, and it was still a peaceful and tranquil scene.

“A self-deceiving act.” Ed Wilder shook his head.

But at that moment, he heard some sounds. These sounds were chaotic, but they all happened to occur at the same time.

People in the chaotic areas are fleeing, those in the locked-down areas are praying, some are worried about whether they will receive relief porridge tomorrow, some are worried about whether their shops can still open, fathers and mothers are teaching their children a trade, young men and women are comforting each other in their anxiety, and mischievous children are still laughing and playing loudly, unaware of what is happening outside...

The "noise" suddenly became clear to his ears.

“This is… no, this is just the basics, the basic method of writing plague. What is this? A plague that can’t harm people? It just makes people’s voices synchronized at the same time? It doesn’t even have a way to kill people, what kind of plague is this? Even the worst apostle wouldn’t be able to do this…” Ed Wilder frowned and commented, but the next moment, he suddenly looked up at the air.

"Excluding them as the worst apostles..." the Soul Master said slowly, "then they can only be the best apostles in history, ah, for our sake, let's add them as one of them."

Different voices arose in the city, none of them sharing any common ground, all simultaneously triggered by a non-lethal plague.

Rosemerada stood on the balcony, gesturing towards the distant Violet City, and smiled at her companions inside.

"A harmless plague with an infinite incubation period, and its transmission through the most ordinary airborne means—all of this makes it seem quite ordinary—"

The letter's lips trembled slightly.

"Only when the words of the infected, unintentionally—yes, by coincidence, by chance, by an almost impossible probability—form a specific prayer that directly points to a deity that may or may not exist—"

The sky was distorted. It was clearly night, yet the sudden appearance of daylight and darkness spiraled together, with sunlight and stars juxtaposed in the sky. The light could not reach the ground, but only twisted in mid-air, blending with the night, yet like oil and water, they were incompatible.

"—That is, deus ex machina."