Mystery: Lucky One

Their fight didn't last long because the Moon City High Priest Nim arrived quickly.

He was wearing brown animal skins, his hair was gray and messy, and the wrinkles on his face were enough to kill a time worm. Behind him were a dozen people from Moon City.

Klein was grilling mushrooms with Alice at the time. When he saw Nim and his group, Klein subconsciously looked at Alice and found that Alice was secretly putting an uncooked mushroom into the pile of cooked mushrooms.

This kind of thing is not the first time that it has happened in the "God-Forsaken Land". Unfortunately, Miss Destiny cannot use illusions to conceal the appearance of mushrooms, so this substitution is ineffective.

But Klein, who had mastered the illusion, did not use this method to retaliate against Alice. It was not because it was useless, but because he was worried that it would be useful - he did not want a group of mushrooms to roll up to him and call him Mr. Fool one day!
The reason why Alice did not disappear is also very simple.

When facing the people of Moon City, Alice had to flee because she could not meet their expectations. But now...

Alice calmly ignored Klein's gaze, put the half-cooked mushroom back on the fire, then picked up a fully roasted mushroom and handed it in the direction of the high priest.

"Want to eat?" she asked.

Nim's expression froze slightly. He quickly recalled the extremely unstable character of the lady of destiny who was still fresh in his memory. He walked forward naturally, saluted with his hands crossed, and said:
"Hello, two distinguished guests.

"I am Nim, the High Priest of Moon City. You may already know me... What is this?"

His expression was asking for advice, but explaining was not something Alice liked to do, so she just waved her hand and said:

"Here's some food. You guys need... uh, it doesn't seem to be enough. Um, go catch some more monsters."

Alice glanced at Klein.

Klein's expression did not change. He did not continue to sit like Alice. Instead, he stood up, returned the greeting, and said with a smile:
"Hello, High Priest.

"I am Merlin Hermes. You should have heard the reason for my visit?"

Tsk, adults’ socializing… Alice curled her lips and sat there chewing on mushrooms.

Nim nodded calmly and said:
"Adar and the others have already reported this to me.

"But I still have a question, Master Hermes... Who is the Lord you believe in?"

Merlin Hermes then replied solemnly:

"Please allow me to introduce you to my Lord, the savior of this land, the Great Fool..."

This is a bit too much, Mr. Fool... Alice glanced at Klein and looked away reluctantly.

Fool... High Priest Nim of Moon City and the others were stunned for a moment, as if they had not expected to hear such a word. Before they could convince themselves and their expressions suddenly became enlightened, Alice quickly opened her mouth and said:

"Are you surprised? Can't believe it? Don't worry, this is normal. The first time I heard a god call me a fool, I also thought it was outrageous."

"..." Klein resisted the urge to kick Alice and just glanced at her coldly.

So, in the slightly shocked eyes of Moon City High Priest Nim, Alice stood up and took a step, saying vigilantly:

"Don't even think about hitting me!"

Klein silently withdrew his gaze and turned to Nim and said:

"This is Miss Destiny, the Angel of Destiny under my Lord's throne, and also my Lord's..."

He paused, but finally uttered the word: "Son of God."

Alice did not refute this statement. She put away her vigilance and stood there with her head down. Nim showed an expression of sudden enlightenment on his face. He seemed to no longer have any doubts about Alice's previous behavior.

Nim's eyes refocused on Merlin Hermes. He paid no attention to the gentleman's strange attire, just as he did not pay attention to Miss Fate's strange clothes - in his opinion, the makeup of both of them was equally strange.

Maybe, this is the custom of the outside world...

With this understanding, Nim said:

"The great Mr. Fool is a god from outside this world, no, from outside this cursed land?"

Klein nodded solemnly and slowly: "Yes."

"Then...what about the great sun god, the creator of everything?" Nim hesitated for a moment, but still asked the question he had asked before.

He had asked this question before, not too distantly, and Alice had only mentioned that he had been betrayed, and when Nim had tried to ask for more detailed information, he had been rebuffed.

Maybe this time...

Under Nim's expectant gaze, Klein said in a charlatan tone:
"The kings betrayed that being, and blood, anger, filth, and shadow began to flow across the land, ushering in a great disaster."

Nim's pupils dilated for a moment, revealing a slight absence of consciousness. Alice could hear his rapid breathing. She glanced at Klein thoughtfully, and after realizing that he was probably going to tell most of the truth, she sighed and said,

"If it was just betrayal, it wouldn't be this serious...

"The angel kings of the past ate the remains of the Creator and ascended to the throne of God...

“The remaining will of the Creator went mad because of this, and after that, it cursed the betrayer day after day for thousands of years... although it was ineffective.

"As for you, as for this land...

"He has gone mad and has devoured most of the authority. He is unable to protect you from the betrayers, and that is why you have suffered this."

Although she was not clear about the details, she chose to reveal this information after confirming that the "real creator" still retained a little clarity and at least would not subjectively harm the believers.

Perhaps this would bring much less faith than stigmatizing the former creator, or directly saying that the creator was dead, but after seeing the unchanged watch of Silver City and Moon City for thousands of years, Alice just wanted to tell them that they were not abandoned, but that the Lord was powerless.

I just want to say sorry to Klein... But anyway, the "True Creator" can't take care of the people in the "God-Forsaken Land". If it really doesn't work, I can consider taking more people out...

As Alice was thinking, tears were already flowing down Nim's face, filling every gully and finally flowing down the river. "So..." he murmured.

His body trembled slightly, and he looked at Alice and finally asked:
“So, the Lord…?”

It's no wonder that he was confused. Alice mentioned the Creator's remains, but at the same time said that the Creator was willing but unable to do anything. Her words were vague about the Creator's life and death.

Alice obviously knew this, and she explained:

“…Although He is not completely dead, even if He comes back, He will not be the same as before.

"At least for you, the Creator back then... is probably no different from falling."

Hearing these words, Moon City High Priest Nim's body shook slightly, and his wrinkled face instantly turned pale.

He probably understood the meaning of this sentence. After all, having grown up in the "God-Forsaken Land", who hasn't seen teammates and relatives who have come back to life from the dead while exploring?
——Those are polluted monsters.

Perhaps the will of the old friend still exists in it, but to him, it only means endless pain.

Of course, the situation of the Creator might be better. He might not be a monster yet. At least he would not kill his former believers. But he was no longer the one they were tracing back to.

Most of the extraordinary people behind him also realized this, and their faces changed, as if they had suffered a very serious blow, and some even showed signs of losing control.

Seeing this, Klein reached out again and dragged out the "Staff of Life" from the void, letting it fly out under the propulsion of the air and accurately touch the target.

The signs of the Extraordinary being losing control disappeared immediately, and sweat dripped from his forehead, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

As Klein lifted the maintenance of the historical projection, the "Staff of Life" faded rapidly, and the Beyonders of Moon City finally broke free from the "bad news" just now. Some were full of doubt and unwilling to believe it, some cried softly, and some cast confused eyes on Merlin Hermes, as if this was the last hope.

High Priest Nim had closed his eyes at some point. After two or three seconds, he opened them again, looked at the two people in front of him and asked:
"Do you two have any other questions?"

Just as Klein was about to speak, Alice asked calmly, "Are you really not going to eat anything?"

As she said this, she replaced the freshly grilled mushrooms with raw ones, and pointed to the darkness in the distance.

In the light of the animal skin lantern, two figures approached, one of them holding a walking stick and the other holding a large bunch of mushrooms in his arms.

——This is the secret doll that Klein sent out to “hunt.”

Nim and the other Moon City people, who had just experienced a huge shock, were at a loss for a moment. They watched Alice run forward, take the pile of mushrooms, then clench her fists, bend her elbows, press down, and speak:

"Come on! My Lord's great cause cannot do without your help!"

“…There are no monsters around here anymore.” Klein couldn’t bear to look at it and reminded them directly.

Alice paused for a moment. She hesitated for a few seconds while holding the mushroom, then asked the two secret dolls:
"Then...why don't you guys eat something together?"

"..." Klein fell completely silent. For a moment, he didn't know how to deal with this problem. It was not like Alice didn't know that these two were secret dolls, and it was also like Alice didn't know that the secret dolls didn't want to eat!
Nim looked at Alice, then at Klein, and realized that something might be wrong. But no one said anything, and he couldn't figure it out, so he could only try to respond to the previous invitation:
"I've always wanted to ask...what's up with these mushrooms?"

Of course he had seen mushrooms before. There were also mushrooms in the “God-Forsaken Land”, but the mushrooms in the “God-Forsaken Land” were not edible and were full of all kinds of strange toxins and dangers.

When he saw Alice chewing mushrooms, he was puzzled by these mushrooms, but angels are different from mortals. They may not be able to eat the food that angels can eat. If Alice had not invited him repeatedly, Nim would not have begun to consider the possibility that this was a food that could be eaten by ordinary people.

——After all, they haven’t found anything edible on this land for thousands of years.

Alice was happy to explain this to them, so she ran to the fire with the pile of mushrooms in her arms, put the raw mushrooms together, and then patted Klein and said,
"Tell them now!"

Klein's eyelids twitched, and he had to serve as Alice's mouthpiece:
"...After returning from this cursed land, the merciful and great Miss Fate, grateful for your perseverance, made a deal with a 'druid' and asked him to cultivate a batch of mushrooms like this.

"These mushrooms can be grown on this land, and the pollution will accumulate on some of the mushrooms. Those cannot be eaten, but can be used to make toxins. As for the others, they can be eaten normally and have a variety of flavors.

"You should praise Miss Fortune, this is her gift."

Just by hearing about it, the Moon City High Priest Nim also realized the value of this batch of mushrooms - eating the flesh and blood of monsters will accumulate a lot of pollution and madness, and their newborns have an increasing number of deformed babies!
Even without this Excellency's treatment, Moon City can hold out for a longer time with just this batch of mushrooms...

Nim was deeply moved. He looked at Alice again with tears in his eyes and said excitedly: "Praise you, great Miss Destiny!"

Others in Yuecheng also shouted: "Praise you, great Miss Destiny!"

Alice fell silent amidst the shouts, for no other reason than she was embarrassed. She resisted the urge to glare at Klein and began to hurt each other:
“…You should be praising Mr. Fool more.

"Kindness is not part of my nature. Before I accepted Mr. Fool's teachings, my attitude towards humans... let's not talk about it.

“Fortunately, Mr. Fool discovered this in time. He corrected my thoughts and made me realize my mistakes… You should thank Mr. Fool, because it is because of Mr. Fool’s teachings that I will try to help mortals.

"Praise the fool!"

Her tone was gentle, her voice full of nostalgia, and her posture was even more pious when she said the last sentence. In order to play the whole role, she even raised her right hand and raised the middle finger, pretending that this was the prayer posture of a fool.

When Klein saw this gesture, his eyelids jumped. Before he could stop it, Moon City High Priest Nim had already led the other people in Moon City to imitate this gesture, and they also shouted devoutly:

"Praise the fool!"

"…This is not the prayer gesture of our Lord," he had to correct it out loud, "In the outside world, the meaning of this gesture…"

“The meaning of this gesture perfectly matches Mr. Fool’s will,” Alice continued. “It is a symbol of perseverance and courage in the face of power!”

The people of Moon City, who did not have the culture of giving the middle finger, believed it and showed expressions of amazement. Klein opened his mouth, wanting to stop this, but he felt powerless and didn't know where to start.

If I had known this, I should have made a prayer gesture...

(End of this chapter)