Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 887 Blessing
He…is dead.

Standing before the branding interface, Xin Lailai stared at the prompts before her, her consciousness momentarily becoming hazy.

Wait, if he's dead, what about Zero?!
After a brief moment of distraction, Xin Lailai seemed to realize something and suddenly snapped back to reality. And the next second—

'Hmm... Lai Lai, where is this... Hmm... It's so crowded... Why is there so much gray stuff in our soul space?'

The girl's familiar murmur made Xin Lailai breathe a sigh of relief, and a sense of peace welled up in her heart.

Thankfully, Zero was alright... no, I should say he was 'resurrected' here with him.

'As you can see, we've now entered the macrophage world colony, and the situation is rather dire.'

In fact, it's not just bad; the game starts with the player inexplicably finding themselves dead, without even a single memory of their death.

The effectiveness of the branding notarization has been severely diminished, and storage space, equipment slots, team skills, information panels... even the semi-digitalized individuals themselves have been seriously affected.

And their physical condition—judging from what we just saw, they seem to be in a state of extreme weakness… perhaps even worse than extreme weakness itself.

'So this is the anomalous world cluster that has devoured thousands of worlds...'

This kind of start is not just a simple show of force; it can be described as a complete collapse.

but--

'At least all the key messages we wanted to convey before we died have been preserved.'

Xin Lailai murmured to herself, her gaze shifting slightly as she looked at the notification screen that displayed no more historical information after their death notification.

There are no historical records.

With their minds, a little thought would be enough for them to instantly understand that this was a hint they left for themselves before they died.

Only they themselves could manipulate the branding interface; in other words, they were the ones who voluntarily deleted all the historical information from the brand. Xin Lailai could only think of one way to force them to do this—

'Even just knowing about it is a deadly piece of information that could immediately subject one to some kind of contamination...'

Xin Lailai pondered, a deep glint in her eyes, as she suddenly thought of many things.

Judging from the fact that all their equipment, including the Eye of Truth, was stored intact in their storage space, their deaths and amnesia were likely intentional, done in order to get rid of something.

Judging from the fact that they deleted all the prompts at once, the situation at the time was probably so urgent that they did not have time to perform detailed operations, and could only roughly delete all the historical prompt records in the entire imprint.

'If that's the case... Lingyuzi! Check our storage space to see if there's anything new!'

"It's so crowded... Hmm, let me see, I found it! Lai Lai, look at this! We don't think we set a Do Not Disturb message before!"

Messages in Do Not Disturb mode?!
Upon hearing this, Xin Lailai's eyes flickered, and she immediately looked towards her communication channel. The next second, a line of light blue text jumped into her eyes:
[Auto-message setting: Beware of fire, but do not resist it, for only fire can burn firewood.]

This is... the last message they left for themselves before they died?

Beware of the flames... but do not resist them, for only the flames... can burn the firewood.

Hmm... I feel like I can think of something, but at the same time, I can't think of anything at all...

'It seems we need to gain a deeper understanding of the macrophage world colony before we can find a suitable candidate...'

"Hey, right, speaking of which, this pretty lady who looks like a nun has been gently patting your head, Lai Lai, and she's also the one who woke you up. Could she have been placed here before you died?"

"I don't know, let's ask first."

Xin Lailai communicated in her mind, then steadied herself and looked at the blindfolded woman dressed as a nun in front of her. Despite the intense weakness that surged through her body, she moved her lips with difficulty and spoke in a hoarse, zombie-like voice:

"Were you... someone I arranged to be here?"

"Eh?"

Upon hearing this, the blindfolded woman dressed as a nun paused slightly, then shook her head, her thin lips parted slightly, and she said regretfully:
"I'm sorry, Lord Ash, I only found you by following the guidance of the Kingfire, and I know nothing about your past."

"And the blessing is ready. Please do not resist, Lord Ash. You are too weak right now. I must personally touch you to receive the blessing."

"Ok?"

As she spoke, the blindfolded woman lowered her head, gently lifted Xin Lailai, who was resting on her lap, and, to his slightly surprised look, took his hand and pulled him into her arms.

"Hey! It's face wash! Lai Lai, let me try it! I want to try it too!!"

'Stop fooling around! This isn't the time for this. Something seems off about this guy!'

Within the soul space, Ling Yuzi, who had shared Xin Lailai's perception, widened his eyes and protested with extreme dissatisfaction. Xin Lailai's gaze shifted slightly as she watched the tiny sparks rapidly rising in her field of vision. Just as she was about to shove the nun in front of her aside—

"May the flames protect your soul, Lord Ash."

Om-! !

As soon as she finished speaking, an orange-red flame burst forth in Xin Lailai's vision. Clusters of flames ignited from the blindfolded woman's chest, spreading rapidly around her and Xin Lailai without igniting any of her clothing.

As the flames spread, Xin Lailai, who was about to push the other person away, suddenly froze, as if she had suddenly fallen into some kind of warm bed, and her whole gaze became blank and relaxed.

So warm...

Why do I feel a sense of both strangeness and familiarity...?

Even though I've never experienced it before, it's as if this warmth has been etched into the depths of my soul, as if I can just keep embracing it forever...

No, that's not right!

How could they possibly have such an idea?!
As a warm current surged forth, an invisible sense of longing spread through Xin Lailai's mind. Just as it was about to fill her entire consciousness, she suddenly jolted awake from the feeling of longing.

"What exactly are you... huh?!"

In the cemetery, Xin Lailai, now awake, looked ahead with icy eyes. Just as she was about to question the blindfolded woman about her intentions, she froze upon seeing the scene before her.

"That's wonderful, Ash... My Lord, you really... haven't lost your way after all."

A gentle voice filled with heartfelt relief fell, and a blindfolded woman, whose appearance was not stunning but inexplicably unforgettable, parted her thin lips slightly, revealing a gentle smile on her pale face. Little by little, she became illusory in Xin Lailai's vision.

"I'm sorry, Lord Ash, I need to sleep for a while before you arrive at the Fire Seed."

"Please... go along the cliff to... the sacrificial site, where... the fire... exists."

"But...be careful, you are weak now, therefore...once you reach...the sacrifice...you must...die, otherwise..."

"I...I believe it. If it's you, then..."

Crash——!!

A damp, fishy wind carrying a slightly putrid stench swept by, abruptly silencing the intermittent conversation. The blindfolded woman dressed as a nun disintegrated like a flame blown away, leaving only a few sparks that struck Xin Lailai's face, leaving her stunned.

'Oh no, what's going on? This girl wouldn't...'

'I don't know, but my gut feeling tells me she probably doesn't mean us any harm.'

Xin Lailai whispered, then looked down at the object in her hand that emitted a faint warmth and resembled a flame, her gaze shifting slightly.

Ashes, embers, royal fire...

Although the other party had only mentioned these words sporadically, his intuition told him that these words were likely the key to deciphering the message they left before their deaths. And what about the blessing they spoke of and the things they held…?!
"Uh... what is this?!"

In the now much quieter, dimly lit cemetery, Xin Lailai stared thoughtfully at the object in her hands. Suddenly, a burning pain shot through her eyes, causing her to instinctively cover her right eye. Then, as if seeing something unbelievable, she abruptly opened her eyes wide:
……

[Black Sword]

Level: LV.1
Oath: (None)

Soul Points: 0
Health: 50/50 (100%)

Mana: 50/50 (100%)

Power: 5
Constitution: 5
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 5
Temperament: 5
Soul: 5
……

This is... a branding panel?!

As the burning sensation in her eyes subsided, Xin Lailai stared at the golden-red panel that appeared on the other side of her vision, which was remarkably similar to the personal interface of the Paradise Mark. Her pupils contracted sharply.

so similar.

If this is the blessing the blindfolded woman spoke of, then what exactly is going on...?

"Is this blessing... a coincidence, or...?"

What exactly happened within the Macrophage world cluster?!

Standing before her golden-red personal panel, Xin Lailai gazed at the familiar personal information, her expression shifting several times. After a long while, she finally let out a long sigh, a serious look flashing in her eyes as she calmed down.

Calm down, now is not the time to dwell on these things.

One must take things one step at a time. The most important thing now is to understand their own situation before investigating their worldview.

"However... although it's very similar to the branding interface, it only displays one attribute and doesn't have features like an equipment slot?"

"Moreover, this physical attribute... so what I felt before wasn't an illusion after all?"

Under the hazy gray sky, Xin Lailai, having calmed down, stared at the newly appeared panel before her. After examining it and herself for a while, she came to a puddle, looked down at the murky reflection in the water, and fell silent.

Thin, withered, and weak.

Although they do look like the real people, their bodies are so thin that they look like they've been dried up and turned into mummies. They look so weak that you feel like a gust of wind could blow them over.

Most importantly... they can now clearly sense that they are in their 'healthiest' state.

That's right. After calming down, Xin Lailai finally remembered that the feeling of powerlessness he had felt before was more like the feeling he had when his stamina attribute was only 2 points when he was in the Demon Slayer world, compared to the severe weakness he felt when he was seriously injured or on the verge of death!
In other words, this means...

—Right now, they really only have this level of strength left, which is probably even inferior to that of ordinary people!

"Is this the price of 'resurrection'...?"

Although it is unclear what exactly happened, judging from the fact that their soul space and spiritual world were occupied by a kind of completely unshakable gray mist, to the point that even Lingyuzi could not rest properly, their decline in strength was more like being 'eroded'.

As for methods to recover from this 'erosion'...

"Beware of the flames... but don't resist them."

Xin Lailai murmured to herself, her gaze falling on the golden-red interface on the other side of her vision, her eyes flickering slightly.

Blessings...

His intuition told him that if there really was a way to restore their full strength, it was very likely related to the blessing that the blindfolded woman was referring to.

'But I don't see anything like a plus sign with dots?'

'It's possible that certain conditions are required to unlock it, such as the Soul Points displayed at the top. This should be the key to making this thing stronger.'

'Hmm, is it something like amusement park points? I just don't know how to get them, hopefully it will be easy...'

'Take it slow. Right now, we should focus on finding the shrine this guy told us about; it's our only clue.'

Xin Lailai thought to herself, looking down at the flame-shaped object in her hand. A series of item information popped up on the gold-red interface at the edge of her vision:

……

The Soul of the Unknown Nun

Category: Valuable Items

Durability: (None)

Synopsis: The soul of an exiled nun, blinded and filled with the power of royal fire, cannot be truly destroyed. Placing it near a flame can resurrect the "Nameless Nun," whose thoughts are filled with trust in a certain person.

……

Item information...

For him, who belonged to the Paradise faction, this was not an unfamiliar thing, but seeing it in this way in this world gave Xin Lailai an indescribable sense of unease.

"The source of this information..."

The information used for branding authentication in Paradise comes from the notary system itself. This means that as long as they are within a notary area, they can use the brand as a medium and leverage the power of the notary system to obtain the corresponding authentication results. Even if they are in an unnotary area, they can still obtain a lot of valid information by relying on the notary validity of the brand and the database built into the brand.

But these are all principles of identification based on the Paradise Mark; as for the blessing before them…

"Is it related to the 'King Fire' she mentioned, or is the whole world surrounded by some kind of notary system-like rule?"

Xin Lailai pondered, a strong look of doubt and curiosity flashing in her eyes, but in the end she shook her head slightly and put these things aside for the time being.

There are just too many questions to answer right now, so let's tackle the most immediate one first.

"Walking along the cliff to the sacrificial site, I'm being told to be careful... does that mean I'll encounter enemies along the way?"

Xin Lailai pondered, looking at the branded interface at the edge of her vision. After a moment of contemplation, she opened her storage space and took out a round shield and a pistol.

Given their current physical attributes, even if they were to take out equipment like the Abyss Ink, they wouldn't be able to use it effectively. Moreover, considering the remaining effectiveness of the brand's notarization, it's best not to use equipment that consumes a lot of notarization power...

"Um?!!"

Before her thoughts could settle, in the next instant, as the weapon appeared in Xin Lailai's hand, a large amount of gray mist suddenly surged out of thin air, rushing towards the item in her hand like sharks smelling blood.

This is……!
Upon seeing this, Xin Lailai's expression changed slightly, and she threw away the round shield and pistol in her hand without hesitation.

Sizzle—!

As it did this, the gray mist, exuding a thick, ominous aura, swept over like locusts, and after a series of corrosive events, it suddenly dissipated, leaving only two pieces of things that had corroded to the point of resembling iron slag falling from mid-air and landing with a thud in front of Xin Lailai.

This time, however, Xin Lailai's previously calm expression turned quite unpleasant.

The good news is that they seem to understand why they had deliberately died once before.

Bad news is worse than no news at all.

……

(End of this chapter)