Deity Investigation Report

Chapter 346 Second-Order Equation of the Abyss

When they returned to Zero City, Han Su and Li Manman did not use any special abilities or anything. Instead, they honestly found a truck from the Church of Rest.

After removing the signs related to the Church of the Repose, Han Su drove the car, and Li Manman sat in the passenger seat.

The dolls she had summoned had disappeared, their whereabouts unknown. In the back of the truck sat the oddball squad of the Church of Rest, their legs hunched over and necks hunched. These were specially left behind by Han Su when he was cleaning up the temporary church of the Church of Rest. They had already been modified, and perhaps they would be useful when the time came to take action.

The mysterious source of the Church of the Repose is in his own hands, but he is not good at wielding these powers, so he needs a vessel.

The truck drove through ruins and entered the territory of Zero City. However, the Zero City council must have given the order, as the various checkpoints did not stop them. At most, they would just glance at Han Su and the crooked squad in the truck bed before letting them pass. Of course, their eyes and the dark muzzles of guns were always pointed at them, and they dared not relax their vigilance.

They continued their journey deeper and deeper until they entered Zero City, where a special squad led them to a building.

"You all wait here."

The staff member who received them had a cold expression and pointed at Han Su and the Wai Gua Squad, giving them instructions.

He then looked at Li Manman: "You need to be at the reception at 7 p.m. sharp. The adults in the council chamber will be seeing you. Also..."

He glanced at Li Manman's clothes, his gaze slightly disdainful: "Empress Liya's personal team will come to prepare your dress; you need to accept their makeup and styling."

"It is polite to present your best self to others."

"..."

Li Manman did not react in any particular way to the staff member's attitude, as if she had long been used to it.

After the man finished speaking, he glanced at Han Su and said, "He will be attending your party with me."

“I know that when those people see me, they might ask some questions. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to explain the whole story to them.”

"..."

"he?"

The staff member looked at Han Su with surprise, then nodded and said, "Then I will apply to my superiors."

"However, there's no time to prepare a specific suit for him, so I can only arrange for someone to send him a ready-made outfit."

"But only the two of you can go at most; these people can't."

He glanced at the crooked squad beside him, some with limping legs, tilted heads, and even drooling, and said firmly, "Let them all stay here and wait obediently. If people like these enter the party, they'll frighten our distinguished guests from Zero City..."

Li Manman turned to Han Su for his opinion, and Han Su simply smiled and said, "Okay."

"But surely food and drinks will be provided, right?"

"..."

The staff member agreed and hurriedly left. There was heavy security outside the door, so they could only wait there.

Han Su looked around and smiled at Li Manman, saying, "Have those nobles always been this pretentious?"

Li Manman became slightly curious and lowered her voice, saying, "If you come from another world, haven't you ever seen these nobles before?"

"I've known about it, seen it, and even killed people, but I've never had contact with them like this."

Han Su thought for a moment and explained to her, "In the world I am familiar with, the situation is much more stable than this, so the status of those nobles is also higher."

"I'm not qualified to interact with people at their level in a normal environment. Like the staff member who just greeted us, in my familiar world, he would only be carrying a suitcase to handle unusual events in the city, not coming over like a lackey to tell us what clothes to wear and how to behave so as not to offend those important figures..."

"War has brought different social classes closer together; at least these nobles have come into contact with the lower classes in the city."

"..."

These words startled Li Manman for a moment, and then she asked Han Su, "So, do we really have to change into the clothes they gave us?"

"Change it, of course we should change it."

Han Su laughed and said, "After all, although I don't like their affectation, I have to trust their aesthetic sense."

"The key is……"

He suddenly looked at Li Manman with a smile and said, "I also want to see what you should have looked like."

Li Manman was taken aback: "Originally?"

"You were supposed to be a little princess who had no worries about food and clothing and enjoyed your parents' love and wealth."

Han Su nodded slightly and said, "However, you have never had the opportunity to enjoy these things on any of the life paths. Now this life path is the one you are most free on, but even on this life path, you still look like a dirty little girl."

These words left Li Manman somewhat stunned, and she listened to Han Su's words in a daze.

But after a while, she shook her head and said, "It's not dirty."

"I will wear those clothes, but those clothes are not suitable for fighting!"

"..."

Han Su listened to her words and just smiled.

Twenty minutes later, a very professional-looking makeup team walked in. They were in a hurry but in an orderly manner. After entering, they immediately pushed Li Manman to a chair. Someone carefully measured her figure with a ruler, tested her skin tone brightness with a blue light pen, and then selected a color from hundreds of cosmetic products.

Makeup, hairstyle, dress, jewelry, shoes...

Each aspect has a dedicated team.

It must be said that, as the team of the regional queens of the Northern Continent, they did perform very professionally.

As for Han Su, it was much simpler. Someone tossed him a suit and shoes, and he went to change into them.

Surrounded by these people, Li Manman subconsciously felt a little resistant, but for some reason, she remembered what Han Su had just said, so she endured it.

It seemed she also wanted to see what she should look like on the life path Han Su had described.

About half an hour later, Li Manman's makeup was done, and these people even tidied Han Su's clothes and rubbed his hair a couple of times.

He glanced at Han Su and Li Manman from a distance, clicked his tongue a few times, and then packed his things and left with satisfaction.

In the empty room, Li Manman stood up somewhat awkwardly, and then saw Han Su, who had changed into a black suit, leaning against the table and looking at her.

Both of them seemed to have a hint of surprise in their eyes.

In Han Su's eyes, Li Manman had indeed grown into a young woman.

Moreover, unlike when she first appeared wearing a hood and with her hands in her pockets, she now wore a warm-colored long dress, showing off her beauty.

As for Han Su, he was wearing a black suit and shiny leather shoes, and he was still carrying that old suitcase.

This is already the limit for men's dressing up.

"Clap clap..."

A round of applause erupted from the crooked team that had stuffed their mouths full of roast chicken and apple pie.

Although they're silly, they still know what's pleasing to the eye.

"It's time to go!"

Han Su glanced at the time, smiled and spoke. Li Manman then looked away, still feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

She tried to put her hands in her pockets, but the dress didn't have any pockets.

The welcome party in Zero City started promptly at 6:30 p.m., while Han Su and Li Manman were scheduled to arrive at 7 p.m.

So when they entered the banquet hall, they found it was already packed with people.

The important figures in Zero City, dressed in elegant formal attire, chatted in small groups, creating a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, quite different from the war-torn world outside.

The party was a diverse scene. Some were showcasing their piano skills, others wore comical clown masks and chatted amiably with three women simultaneously, some exuded arrogance while receiving flattery from officials, and still others sat by the buffet tables, napkins around their necks, eating heartily as if no one else was around. Some carried plates, their backs ramrod straight. The moment Han Su and Li Manman entered, the entire party fell silent.

All eyes were on them.

A wealthy woman who was working for an official in the Executive Yuan noticed the two men and instinctively lit up. She wanted to greet them as if they were acquainted, but the official pulled her aside and gave her a sharp look. The woman immediately realized what was happening, her face turned pale, and she looked the two men up and down, deliberately making a disgusted expression.

On the second floor of the banquet hall, a woman in a long, floor-length dress straightened up slightly and looked down at the two of them from the second floor.

"Please wait here until you are summoned, and do not wander off!"

The staff member approached the two of them, pointed to a set of sofas in the corner, and then frowned at Han Su: "Give me the box."

Han Su refused, laughing, "Don't touch my box, or something might happen."

The staff member paused, then frowned.

"Don't touch his box."

Li Manman then spoke up from the side, frowning, "Besides, I have already arrived as agreed to meet you. Please tell the person in charge of the mission that I have no obligation to sit here and wait for him."

"I'm just here to get back my mission reward, and... at least give me a clear answer to what you promised."

"you……"

The staff were taken aback by the two people's lack of cooperation and were at a loss.

Just then, a laugh was heard from the other end of the banquet hall.

His laughter carried the hearty cadence of someone wealthy and influential, as if he were born to be the center of attention, instantly drawing everyone's gaze.

Everyone in the banquet hall immediately turned to look.

At the other end of the banquet hall, doors opened one after another, layer upon layer, like passageways leading to another world.

Two people were walking gracefully down the passageway.

One was dressed in a deep purple, cool-toned tuxedo, and the other in a pure white suit; both wore smiles on their faces.

Behind them was Zero City Secretary No. 5, who had to jog to keep up with them, and Queen Lia, who deliberately lagged behind to avoid stealing their thunder.

Their manners weren't deliberately elegant; they strode with long strides and looked around with ease, yet their every move naturally made others feel inferior.

When they were still ten or twenty meters away, they all stepped back to make way for them.

The two men walked straight toward Li Manman, laughing as they asked, "You're the kids who escaped from the castle?"

"So, you could say I've been to the bottom of the abyss..."

"..."

"An old castle?"

Han Su's heart skipped a beat when he heard their first words.

In the previous life storyline, the castle was part of a lie, because the kidnapping case was not openly believed, so the castle obviously did not exist.

Even if they believed the kidnapping story, they still didn't know what the castle actually was due to a lack of understanding.

And along this life's path, has the castle become an open secret?

Is it possible to extract more secrets from these high-ranking nobles?
In addition to the reward for this mission, Li Manman seems to be communicating with the Guardians of the World about another condition. What is it?
Li Manman took a step away from Han Su, subtly hiding the cloth bag she was carrying behind her back. Just as Han Su was carrying an old suitcase that didn't match the environment, Li Manman was also carrying a cloth bag. Han Su knew that inside this cloth bag were the canvas shoes she had worn before. She seemed to be worried that high heels would be inconvenient if they started fighting.

Facing the two people walking directly towards her, Li Manman said softly, "My identity was already explained when I was hired by Zero City, so there's no need to ask again."

"The person who contacted me told me that if I was willing to come to the party, they would agree to the conditions we had previously proposed..."

"Excuse me, did you instruct them to say that?"

"..."

Because the conditions that Chao Xiaobei proposed during the negotiations with Shou Shiren were very important, and even Shou Shiren had not agreed to them, Linghe City was even less qualified.

So, since they suddenly agreed to this condition and that there was room for negotiation, it could only be at the behest of these two outsiders, which is easy to deduce.

"Yes!"

Of the two, the man in the white suit looked Li Manman up and down, then smiled and nodded: "It's just the second-order equation of the Abyss. This is something we learn in the third lesson of our mysterious power training. I can give it to you myself, but I can't just give this formula away for free. I need to find out more beforehand..."

"Did you eliminate the threat posed to Zero City by the eight parishes of the Church of the Second Quarter?"

"..."

Han Su raised his head slightly, preparing to step forward.

Having arrived in Zero City and observed its situation along the way, that's enough for me. I don't mind stepping forward now.

Unexpectedly, Li Manman suddenly nodded before he took a step and said, "It is related to me, but we have an agreement, so I don't need to tell you the details."

"Is there such an agreement?"

The man in the white suit turned to look at Secretary Number 5, who was hurrying up. She seemed flustered and quickly nodded, explaining:

"If you want them to help, you have to agree to these conditions. At the time, the Church of the Repose was pressuring me, so I had no choice..."

"..."

"No defense!"

The man in the white suit waved his hand and smiled, "Once the rules are set, they must be followed. This is the premise for communication between people."

"Just as I promised to give you the second-order equation of the Abyss, I can also give it to you."

"only……"

He suddenly changed the subject: "But we also have rules agreed upon by our ancient families. There are certain kinds of knowledge that can only be accessed by those who hold titles or servants who have signed contracts with those who hold titles. Otherwise, they will be hunted down by all the traveling knights, the ancient nobles, and the guardians of the world. So, do you think you meet these conditions?"

Li Manman fell silent.

She disliked what this person said and the way he spoke, but she wasn't good at dealing with people like that.

Faced with this situation, the only way she is good at breaking the deadlock is to change into shoes and compete with the other party, but it doesn't seem that we've reached that point yet.

The man in the white suit smiled and continued, "Or perhaps, could you perhaps change your identities?"

"I know that you are all very capable."

"But mysterious powers can sometimes be curses that can annihilate you."

"If you want to maintain your individuality, the only way is to obtain the second-order equation of the Abyss, which I happen to have."

"You have no chance of becoming nobles."

"Then, if I'm willing to give you a chance, sign the Crimson Pact, serve me, and in exchange for eternal consciousness..."

"What do you think?"

"..."

A sudden silence fell over the surroundings; everyone held their breath, their hearts pounding wildly.

What a great opportunity! This is how nobles recruit commoners.

Why can't I get such an opportunity?

(End of this chapter)