On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

"Lord Liao Ji." After Irene left, Maria subtly changed her form of address, her fiery eyes fixed on the young man opposite her.

at last

We've finally waited for this moment.

Dangerous monsters surround Ash, and the only one who can stay by her side and protect her to the end is her!

This is the reunion scene that Sthiuthia has carefully prepared.

She believed that Lord Ash must have been utterly disappointed in the female scavenger, and that the hug and conversation they had just shared were merely Lord Ash's final act of "gentleness."

After all, those who are useless should be discarded. That female scavenger is no longer able to cope with the current combat environment, so her contract should be terminated, and she should give up her resources and have her equipment removed!

This was the absolute creed of Lord Ash from five hundred years ago.

As for her, from the moment Irene hesitated to protect Lord Ash for the sake of her mother, the other party had already lost and lost the right to be by Lord Ash's side.

After all, she

She's willing to give up everything, anything, for Lord Ash!

So far, every step has been unfolding exactly as she envisioned in her script.

Liao Ji did not try to stop the girl.

He took the initiative to let Irene leave.

However, the only thing that surprised Styutia was...

"Lord Liao Ji, what are we going to do next?"

"Let's head towards the 'relics' first."

After Liao Ji finished speaking, he prepared to leave and continue on his way, but at this moment...

Maria flashed to the young man's side.

“But you just said that you have two things here that you want to retrieve.”

Maria doesn't understand.

"Besides that 'relic,' could you tell me what the other important thing here is to you?"

The nun crossed her arms in front of her, looking up at the young man with a curious and concerned expression.

Although her expression and tone remained delicate and weak, Liao Ji glanced at her and realized that his path was completely blocked by Maria, with the nun standing in the middle of the passage.

Maria didn't say anything more after that, nor did she move aside. She just kept staring at him, waiting for his answer.

"It's not really about things; what I really want to get back is a person."

"Huh!? A person?"

Maria was completely taken aback by Liao Ji's answer.

people?

Could it be that besides that female scavenger, there's someone else here that Lord Ash cares about?

still is

The person who can be "retrieved"! ? ?

The smile that had been on the nun's lips after seeing Irene off vanished quickly, replaced by a faint red glow that began to appear in her eyes.

However, the young man opposite Maria seemed completely unaware of the "terrifying" change in the nun.

Liao Ji raised his head slightly, revealing a look of reminiscence.

He seemed to be speaking to the nun, but also to himself.

"Yes, he was someone very important to me, and well, I'm not afraid you'll laugh at me for saying this, he was my first love."

“I invested a lot of feelings in her, and she accompanied me and helped me through the most difficult and darkest period. Maybe she herself doesn’t know, after all, we are from different dimensions. But at that time, I always stayed at home and didn’t want to go out even one step, let alone communicate with others. I felt that the world was wrong and that there was only hypocrisy and malice between people, so I chose to escape and live only in my own world.”

"However, all of that changed after I met her. She showed me what true kindness is, and let me know that there really are fools who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others. She's like the white moonlight in my heart, gradually dispelling all the gloom in me, making me willing to step out of my house, continue to believe in the beauty of this world, giving me the courage to communicate with strangers, and making me more cheerful and sunny."

His words trailed off as Liao Ji turned his gaze back to Smaria. He stared into those unfamiliar eyes and that unfamiliar face, sighed softly, and shook his head, saying:

"Unfortunately, for some reason, I was separated from her for a long time. When I finally came back, I found that she seemed to have changed and become a stranger to me."

"But after all, I was in the wrong first. I was the one who 'abandoned' her first, so I have no right to blame her. But I still want to try to see if I can get her back, to get back the girl I used to know."

So, will you help me, Maria?

Liao Ji, who was speaking last, had already arrived in front of the nun.

The nun who had just been staring intently at the young man and blocking Liao Ji's path, and who had almost lost control when Liao Ji mentioned that the second important item was a "person," was now a sight to behold.

At this moment, however, it seemed as if the two poles had reversed. She dared not look Liao Ji in the eye, and dared not show the red light in her eyes anymore. Instead, she lowered her head and stared at her toes, covering the upper half of her face with her bangs, so that no one could see her expression at this moment.

The nun opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found that her throat seemed to be out of her control. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make a sound. For a moment, she even thought of turning around and running away.

Until, she felt a warm touch on her head.

"Okay, okay, I know I was a bit greedy, wanting you to do such a big favor all at once."

Liao Ji reached out and touched the nun's lowered head.

"To be honest, this is indeed a little bit difficult. If she were a little weaker, it wouldn't be so bad. I could just grab her, give her a few spankings, and she'd be fine. But what's most infuriating is that I can't beat her right now, not even by a hair's breadth. I feel like I could never win, no matter how hard I try. I even have to worry about her grabbing me instead."

"Ugh, I'm not going to talk about it anymore, the more I talk about it, the scarier I get."

"In short, the first step."

"Give me your hand first, Maria."

Before anyone could reply, the young man took the nun's hand, and the next second, the nun's small hand quickly intertwined with his, tightly gripping his hand.

And so, the two, walking side by side, continued their exploration deeper underground.

Uh

Actually, "exploration" isn't quite the right word; it's more like taking a walk.

Back when Irene was there, they would be blocked in front of the passage or attacked by ghoul monsters at corners and forks in the road after only a few steps. But now, as if by prior arrangement, they all managed to avoid the two of them.

Even more outrageous, in some sewers with only one passage, the hordes of filthy corpses that they couldn't avoid were only a few steps away from them, yet they ignored the two of them and continued to wander aimlessly.

Liao Ji and the nun seemed to tacitly accept this strange phenomenon, and neither of them dared to break the spell or disturb the beautiful atmosphere. After all, sometimes romance doesn't care about the background, does it?

The two people's relaxed conversation, which they were chatting away, was jarringly out of place in this eerie and terrifying abandoned sewer filled with monsters.

"Maria, what if I secretly drugged her and made her unconscious?"

"That's not a good idea."

"So, do you think it would work if I tried to appeal to her emotions?"

"I don't know."

"Maria, have you ever heard of the term 'yandere'?"

"No, no, what does that mean?"

"You don't need to worry about the meaning, but it's a really bad word, so please don't learn it."

"Uh-huh."

Happy times are always fleeting.

Every play must have a climax at the end.

Unbeknownst to them, the two had already wandered to the deepest part of this underground space.

Here, in the center is a large gray altar, surrounded by a thick red mist, and above the altar are two floating, rotating heraldic branding marks.

As for below the altar...

It was the priest who had been waiting for a long time.

He kept craning his neck, clearly a little anxious, until he finally saw Liao Ji's figure emerge from the entrance.

Gron opened his arms with a sigh of relief.

Finally, a voice that fits the current context has emerged.

It was an arrogant and smug, sinister laugh that echoed within the underground altar shrouded in red mist.

"Hehehehehe!"

Chapter 53 You guys... won't do!

“Mr. Liao Ji, I must commend your courage and strength for being able to cross the layers of corpses to get here.”

"I know that after so many battles with the filthy corpses, you must be exhausted, both physically and mentally, and close to collapse! My God, you've even lost a comrade!"

When the priest saw that there were only Liao Ji and the nun, and that Irene had disappeared, he immediately pretended to be sad, showing great sympathy on his face, and even lowered his voice.

Because it was obvious that the young man's female companion had undoubtedly died on the way there, at the hands of the filthy corpse, and become a corpse in the gutter.

As a priest in the church, Grun is best at praying for people.

He enjoyed the feeling of being high above others, and he relished the process of "comforting" those devout people.

"Please allow me to offer you my sincerest apologies, and to pay tribute to your unwavering determination to carry on your companions' legacy even after losing them, to grit your teeth and overcome numerous difficulties to reach the finish line."

"I know you may have many questions right now, such as who I am, why I am here, and how I know your name."

At this point, the priest could no longer hide his smile.

His expression began to contort, and he became increasingly deranged.

Because the thought of how he would ruthlessly reveal the truth to Liao Ji and see the young man's despairing expression filled him with trembling excitement.

"Rest assured, as a reward for your arrival here, I will tell you everything, such as my name, Gron Andu, the leader of the Black Hole Church, and soon to be remembered by the entire Holy Kingdom—no, by the entire world! And all of this is thanks to you, Mr. Liao Ji, and..."

The priest deliberately kept everyone in suspense, drawing out his words, because this was the climax of the whole play, the last straw that broke the camel's back!

"You should thank the Lightbringer beside you, the one who lured you here!"

"Hahaha, yes, that's right. The seemingly delicate and weak nun beside you, your teammate who has always fought alongside you, is actually the strongest fighting force of our church. She is a battle nun who only obeys orders from the goddess Sthiuthia, and is the noble and exalted Lightbearer!"

After the burst of laughter, the priest immediately looked towards Liao Ji. He couldn't wait to see the shock and terror on the young man's face, the fury and despair after being betrayed, the...