Mystery: The Last Shepherd

Chapter 1 Crossing the Sacrifice Site
Li Ran vaguely remembered that she was already dead.

The last thing he saw in his past life was an oncoming truck and a clear blue sky. His body and soul floated up together, as if merging with the thin clouds in the sky, and gradually dissipated.

So what's going on now? Have I time-traveled?

Turn your eyes, and the surrounding scenery will come into view.

He seemed to be in a dimly lit room, with the doors and windows tightly closed, the curtains heavy, and only a few candles barely providing any light.

And what the candlelight illuminates is—

Li Ran's pupils suddenly contracted.

The carved candlesticks, the large cauldron burning with herbs, and the large amount of flesh and blood piled up around the cauldron.

He was lying right in this pile of flesh and blood.

The pungent smell of herbs and the strong stench of blood intensely irritated his nasal cavity.

What the hell is this? An altar? Am I going to be a sacrifice?
He realized this belatedly.

A strange and frenzied chanting reached Li Ran's ears. He looked in the direction of the sound and a fanatical, distorted face immediately came into view.

The owner of the face was an elderly man with sparse hair, messy eyebrows, and a sinister glint in his gray-blue eyes. He was wildly waving a bloodstained dagger in his hand, clearly in an extremely abnormal state.

Li Ran looked at this face and, for some reason, felt it was somewhat familiar.

Sirius Arepis.

The name of this person automatically popped into his mind.

what happened?

How do I know his name when I've never met him before?

A mix of familiarity and unfamiliarity welled up in Li Ran's mind at the same time, leaving him bewildered by this strange sense of disorientation.

The old man was so engrossed in his own world that he didn't even notice Li Ran observing him. He prayed loudly, swaying his body back and forth, and calling out incomprehensible things in a language that Li Ran couldn't understand at all.

Looking over his shoulder, Li Ran saw what lay deep inside the room.

Further down the floor lay a beautiful, pitiful-looking young girl. Her hands and feet were bound with rope, her mouth was gagged, her eyes were closed, and her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, as if she had fallen into a coma.

Looking at the girl's haggard face, Li Ran felt a surge of pity and anger. Instinctively, he called out her name.

Cecilia

boom!
A sudden loud noise rang in his mind, and the girl's face was like a key, unlocking memories locked deep within his brain, with countless images flooding in.

"elder brother!"

The little girl smiled and took his hand, walking with him down the street;
"elder brother."

At the funeral, the girl threw herself into his arms and wept uncontrollably, her thin, slender shoulders trembling.

"elder brother."

At his bedside, the young girl gently wiped his cheeks as he wore a straitjacket.
The overwhelming amount of memories gave Li Ran a splitting headache, but it also made him aware of his predicament.

First of all, he had indeed transmigrated. The world he had transmigrated to was roughly equivalent to 18th-century Europe, with multiple countries on the continent, coexisting and opposing each other. As for the Kingdom of Rune where he was currently located, it was similar to the Great Ying Empire during the Victorian era.

Luze Rondor was the name of the original owner of this body. He had just turned eighteen today and lived in Tingen City, Kingdom of Rune.

Luze Rondor is a little different from ordinary citizens.

What's the difference?

He is sick.

Yes, Lu Ze suffers from a severe mental illness.

From childhood, Luze frequently experienced terrifying hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, seeing upside-down giants and hearing insane ramblings. He was constantly tormented by these hallucinations, and suffered several mental breakdowns.

Fortunately, his family didn't abandon him; instead, they kept him by their side and took meticulous care of him. Sadly, two years ago, Luze's father, a low-level employee, died in a company accident. His mother, overwhelmed with grief, became haggard and passed away a few months later, leaving him and his younger sister, two years his junior, to depend on each other. —This is the girl lying on the ground right now, Cecilia Rondor.

So, what's the situation now?

After their parents passed away, the younger sister cared for Luze alone, and the siblings barely survived for a while on the meager compensation from the company. Just when their savings were exhausted and life was becoming increasingly difficult, Sirius Arepis came knocking on their door.

—That is, the old man who is going crazy in front of him.

Sirius claimed to be an old friend of their father and wanted to repay his past kindness, offering to provide them with a livelihood. However, for their convenience, he requested that the Rondor siblings move to his place and live with him.

This is absolutely suspicious!

Li Ran thought to himself.

But the two siblings were in such dire straits that they had no choice but to agree.

Sure enough, after living there for a while, the eccentric old man Sirius revealed his true colors. On Luze's eighteenth birthday, he suddenly attacked the brother and sister, tied up the sister, placed Luze Rondor on the altar, and stabbed him in the heart with a dagger.
Recalling this point, Li Ran finally felt the strange sensation in his chest.

Looking down, he saw that the collar of his shirt had been roughly ripped open, revealing a horrific wound across his chest. Through the wound, he could even see his damaged heart deep inside.

Am I going to die again?
The moment this thought crossed Li Ran's mind, he witnessed an unbelievable scene.

At the site of the heart injury, muscle fibers began to move, spontaneously connecting and fusing. In the blink of an eye, his heart was fully repaired and began to pump powerfully again. Meanwhile, the shallower wounds were also healing rapidly, with muscles reconnecting, tissues adhering, and skin tightening, eventually becoming smooth and even.

The fatal injury was healed just like that!
Li Ran was utterly shocked, but when she thought that even something like time travel could happen, healing wounds didn't seem so incredible after all.

As he was lost in thought, he suddenly felt the light dimming in front of him. It turned out that Sirius had suddenly moved closer to the altar!

He was startled and immediately held his breath.

Fortunately, Sirius was merely changing his prayer posture; his attention was entirely focused on the void behind Li Ran, and he didn't notice anything amiss. Li Ran breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he became more alert.

Forget about all that other stuff. The most important thing right now is to subdue this strange old man. If we don't take him down, we'll be in big trouble!
In my chest, my heart was beating strongly, pumping blood to every part of my body, and my previously weak body gradually regained consciousness.

Li Ran knew that he had to take action.

He took a deep breath, reached out and grabbed the metal candlestick in front of him.

Sirius Arepius was still praying fervently, invoking his unknown gods. Suddenly, he heard a fierce wind, and then saw the base of a metal candlestick magnified infinitely before him!
"clang!"

A crisp clanging sound echoed through the room, the vibration traveling through the candlestick to Li Ran's hand, nearly causing him to drop it. Having struck its mark, he quickly scrambled to his feet from the altar, gripping the candlestick tightly and watching Sirius warily.

"Uh"

Sirius Arepius looked somewhat bewildered, seemingly not quite understanding what was happening. He swayed slightly but didn't fall. Li Ran gritted his teeth, jumped down, and continued waving the candlestick, then smacked Sirius's head several more times!
"clang!"

"clang!"

His arm was numb from the impact, and blood stained the edge of the candlestick. Sirius, struck repeatedly, finally fell backward.

Li Ran cautiously approached and kicked the dagger out of his hand. After observing for a dozen seconds and confirming that Sirius was no longer moving, he picked up the dagger, walked to Cecilia's side, bent down, cut the ropes binding the girl, and removed the gag from her mouth.

"Cecilia, Cecilia!"

He shook the beautiful girl's slender shoulders and called out to her.

He shook the girl awake, and she opened her eyes in confusion, her pupils slowly focusing on him.

She suddenly became terrified.

"careful!"

Cecilia called out, staring behind Li Ran.

Almost at the same time, Li Ran heard heavy footsteps behind him!

　This is a fanfiction about Lord of Mysteries, updated regularly. Feel free to add it to your collection. One of the main characters is based on Li Huowang.

　　This is a heavy and crazy story about a shepherd.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)