Don't follow the rules

Chapter 569 The Church of the Cross (Part 32)
Ning Yao followed Chunyu Kong, seemingly understanding but not quite, flipping through the tourist guide booklet in his hand.

"The main altar, which is recommended as a five-star tourist attraction, is just ahead. Don't tell me you need to look at a map even though it's less than 50 meters in a straight line from the entrance." Chunyu Kong rarely joked.

"Of course not!" Ning Yao snapped the booklet shut and shoved it roughly into his pocket. "I just feel something's off... but I can't quite put my finger on it. Something's definitely not right."

Chunyu Kong chuckled lightly and casually mocked, "I think all your fancy skills and the magical artifacts you've collected are just junk. Now, in this entire bizarre church that Du Jingxiu has created, only 'something' feels off to you?"

Ning Yao twisted the corner of her clothes in grievance: "You're complaining about me again! You're actually nitpicking with me. Did I just become this uncultured today? You know I'm illiterate! Sigh, thinking about it, I've been with you for so long without any status or recognition, working hard to take care of the household, with no time to dress up and no knowledge of how to be charming. It's no wonder you're getting tired of me, since I can't compare to the novelty and excitement of those strange tales outside..."

Chunyu Kong shut his mouth, somewhat regretting that his momentary slip of the tongue had allowed this guy to take advantage of the situation.

He had no choice but to quicken his pace and head straight for the brightest part of the church.

Passing through two rows of oak benches carved with grapevines, the main altar suddenly came into view—

Three gilded candlesticks stood on the white marble table, with stained glass windows casting dappled light and shadow behind them. But the most striking feature was directly above the altar: an inverted boat-shaped dome hung ten meters above the ground, with dark brown scorch marks remaining on its bottom, which seemed to be related to the "story" the nun had just mentioned.

The wooden boat dome extends from the entrance hall all the way to the main altar, occupying most of the visitor's field of vision. Although it lacks the majestic and holy aura of other church dome murals, it has a particularly authentic and simple sense of history.

Although it was dark outside, bright light and shadow shone through the stained-glass windows inside, casting colorful patterns on the only statue on the altar through the coffin of the prophet, making the pure white interior look like a kaleidoscope.

As expected of a five-star attraction recommended by the tourist guide, the visual effects are truly stunning; even just admiring it from afar is enough to leave you breathless.

Ning Yao rubbed his eyes vigorously, as if stimulated by the dazzling light and shadow.

"This is too flashy and gaudy. It's easy to get visual fatigue if you look at it for too long."

"Okay, okay, be careful with your eyes." Chunyu Kong gave a very perfunctory and lukewarm sarcastic remark.

According to the visitor guide, the most prized possession of the Church of the Cross is the statue of Bastet inside the Coffin of the Pre-God, which can be viewed by visitors regardless of their religious affiliation.

Ning Yao was still rubbing his blurry eyes when Chunyu Kong stepped onto the white marble steps of the main altar. Even though he was in tourist mode, his eyes still carefully scanned every corner, not daring to miss anything.

Suddenly, he paused for a moment, then quickened his pace, bent down and picked up a finger of dark gray powder from the crack in the stone steps, then carefully rubbed it between his fingertips.

"Hey! The ashes aren't swept clean? How can these priests and nuns do their job like this? They're not sincere at all~" Ning Yao leaned over and poked at the ashes in Chunyu Kong's palm with her finger, but the other party quickly withdrew his hand and dodged it. "What's the big deal? I'm not eating it."

Chunyu Kong ignored him and continued to look at the Coffin of the Prophet at the core of the altar. Inside the completely transparent glass coffin, the standing golden statue of a cat-headed, human-bodied goddess reflected flowing light in the stained-glass windows. The statue was about forty centimeters tall, with a proud expression, upright posture, and beautifully flowing muscle lines. Its crystal-inlaid cat eyes faintly projected a majestic gaze.

“Wow! This is the cat god they worship? No, the messenger of the gods,” Ning Yao’s face was almost pressed against the glass coffin. “Pure gold? Tsk tsk tsk, isn’t Du Jingxiu afraid of being stolen from? Uh, but indeed no one would dare to steal from him—except me.”

Even as he was still talking, Ning Yao had already nimbly stepped across the yellow line that kept tourists at a distance. He placed his hands on the crystal coffin, pressing his face very close, as if preparing to forcefully lift the coffin lid. But then he narrowed his eyes: "Why does your cat chin look like it's drooling? Eek~ This appearance is so undignified!" "...Don't talk nonsense, it's just light and shadow seeping in from outside." Chunyu Kong pointed to the stained glass window, where the candle flames danced on the coffin surface, merging with the red light to create water droplet-like reflections.

Ning Yao smiled and said, "I thought you would stop me from doing such uncivilized things."

Chunyu Kong: "At most, I'll just find you embarrassing and walk away."

Ning Yao pursed his lips, about to mutter some vulgar words again, when Chunyu Kong quickly crossed the yellow line, interrupting his next spellcasting attempt.

From the outside, the Coffin of the Prophet appeared to be a very solid and heavy crystal coffin, but when you pushed it, you realized that it was frighteningly light. Not only were there no mortise and tenon joints holding the lid in place, but there wasn't even anything like coffin nails. This divine artifact, hailed as a treasure of the hall, was loosely closed, sliding smoothly with a gentle push. If Ning Yao hadn't reacted quickly and caught it, the sliding coffin lid would have flown all the way to the rows of benches.

"That was close, I almost lost money," Ning Yao said, wiping non-existent sweat from his forehead. "I was just fired from my job, and I don't have a penny to my name right now."

Chunyu Kong awkwardly withdrew his hand: "...What's with all the fuss? Even if you really fell, this is still considered extortion, and you don't have to pay for it."

"I know, I know, hehe~" Ning Yao casually put the coffin lid aside. "Do I look like someone who would honestly pay the fine? I'm being very civilized today by not taking this pure gold kitten."

"...So, were you well-mannered today?" Chunyu Kong asked.

"What bad luck, I'm behaving badly today." Ning Yao grinned, scooping up the gleaming golden cat statue.

But soon, the expected unexpected event occurred.

The golden cat statue, which had been firmly held in Ning Yao's hand, seemed to dissolve like water as it left the edge of the Coffin of the Prophet. It merged into the shimmering light and shadow of the stained glass windows. Through the crystal coffin wall, it looked as if Ning Yao had stirred the surface of the water. Once his hand left, the surface quickly returned to calm, and the golden cat statue sat back in the center of the Coffin of the Prophet.

Chunyu Kong clapped his hands with a hint of schadenfreude: "Congratulations on retaining the title of [Civilized Tourist]."

Ning Yao grumbled unhappily, "Don't use the system's voice announcement to insult me."

He brushed off non-existent dust from his hands and spat at the Coffin of the Prophet: "You scoundrel."

Thank you BLINDA for the donation! Thank you Baozi for your support!
This chapter was indeed more difficult, and I even feel that the quality is somewhat hard to guarantee.

On the one hand, I have labor disputes with the company in reality. We take turns arguing, negotiating, and making things difficult for each other, and we are still fighting each other to this day. On the other hand, my writing process is frequently interrupted. I hardly have any uninterrupted time to sit down and work through the plot. Every time I open the writer's assistant during my spare time, I finally manage to pick up the story in my mind, but then I have to deal with work and the company again.

I apologize for being a bit long-winded, but I'm not rambling on to gain sympathy or to complain. I just want to explain that I don't want my first book to have a bad ending, so even if it's difficult to update later, I will keep writing. I just feel very sorry for my readers.

Thank you all for your understanding all this time (deep bow)