Chapter 726: The Advent of a Miracle
A wave of ominous foreboding surged through my mind.
"I... I need to go see her," I said, already heading for the door, but the auntie grabbed me firmly.
"Hero! You can't go!" the auntie said. "The 'Divine Maiden' specifically instructed that you and she cannot ascend together. Only one can go today. Be good—if you want to go, wait until tomorrow, and we'll all ascend together then, alright?"
"I... and the 'Divine Maiden' can't ascend together?" I frowned, looking at her in confusion. "What's going on...? What exactly did my sister tell you?!"
"The 'Divine Maiden' just told us about Zhou Zhenglong's conspiracy."
"Zhou Zhenglong's... conspiracy?"
"Exactly." The auntie broke the steamed bun in half and handed one piece to me. "If the Divine Maiden hadn't secretly told us while she was 'healing' us, we'd still be in the dark. It turns out she already knew the way to escape this place long ago. Zhou Zhenglong threatened her to hand it over, but she refused to say a word, no matter what. That's why she was thrown into prison."
After speaking, she looked at me with some suspicion. "What... you didn't know about this?"
I swallowed hard after hearing this. "I knew... I just didn't expect my sister told you all."
"Ah." The auntie shook her head. "No one is to blame but Zhou Zhenglong himself. If the 'Divine Maiden' hadn't contacted us privately, he really would have kept us in the dark for a long time."
I paused, then asked, "But why are you all so certain that my sister is the 'Divine Maiden'? Just because she can heal your injuries?"
"If it were only healing injuries, how would that be any different from an ordinary 'Fragrance Bearer'?" The auntie chuckled. "Hero, you've been very busy these past two days, so you didn't see what happened yesterday. The 'Divine Maiden' performed a 'miracle' for us! She waved her hand right in front of us and personally restored a collapsed building!"
"What...?" I was stunned. Though I had seen countless kinds of 'fragrance' here, I had never witnessed anything like this.
"It was truly like a 'miracle'!" The auntie gesticulated happily. "You didn't see that collapsed building... right before our eyes, with a 'boom,' it was completely restored! It turns out the 'Divine Maiden' had already found the method of ascension from the 'Divine Dragon' long ago—she had already obtained divine power!"
Only then did I finally understand where my earlier sense of dissonance had come from. Those people knew they would die... yet they kept challenging Zhou Zhenglong, wave after wave, as if they feared nothing.
Even knowing that rebellion meant execution, they still feared nothing. So this was what my sister meant when she said... only faith could accomplish such things?
"I have to go find her... I feel like something's wrong..."
I pushed past the auntie and ran out the door. I couldn't figure it out—there were too many inconsistencies!
How had that ruined building been restored?
Why did my sister possess such divine power?
The entire office building was already very empty. The building that had once housed thousands of people now only had a sparse handful—maybe three or five—visible.
"Oh, Hero, where are you going?"
Several people stepped forward to grab me, but I dodged them all with quick movements. What was going on...?
They were trying to stop me?
"Quick, catch him! He's supposed to ascend with us tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow... ascend..." My heart was pounding uneasily. I felt like I was missing something important.
More and more people were gathering around me. I noticed that there were still about twenty people left in the entire building.
Why had these people been left behind?
I scanned their faces and vaguely realized that those who remained fell into only two categories: the people from my room, and those who could create food.
My sense of foreboding grew even stronger. Before they could reach the ground floor to catch me, I grabbed a few wooden sticks as I ran. After getting outside, I turned back quickly and wedged the sticks into the revolving door to jam it, then propped up the doors on both sides. Having done this, I didn't look back and ran straight toward the distant crowd.
But after a few steps, I gradually realized my legs wouldn't obey me.
They felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. I slowly came to a halt, completely unable to move... What was going on?
I watched helplessly as the distant crowd gradually disappeared around the street corner. My heart was burning with anxiety. I reached out and pounded my legs with both hands, but I truly couldn't move...
"Little brother, you need to understand the logic here." A voice sounded not far from me. "Because you didn't rest well last night, you're too tired to take even one step today."
I turned my head in bewilderment. Standing there was a woman I had never seen before. She had long hair and wore black clothes.
What puzzled me was the thick 'fragrance' emanating from her, one that was on the verge of turning rancid. Its name was 'Cause and Effect.'
"'Cause and Effect'... Who are you...?"
"I'm just a friend of Gu Yu." The woman smiled. "Entrusted by someone, I carry out their bidding. I've pretty much understood the situation here."
"A friend...?" She wasn't lying—the scent on her was very faint. "Are you the one making me unable to move...? Let me go!! I have urgent business!"
"I'm sorry... little brother." The woman sighed softly. "Precisely because I know you have urgent business, I have to trap you here."
"What...?"
"Your sister has already made her decision, and this decision is the right one," said the long-haired woman. "If you run over there now... it will disrupt her plan. That's why she specifically asked me to trap you here. It won't be long—just one hour."
I clenched my fists, feeling as though the whole world had abandoned me.
"'Cause and Effect,' what exactly are you and my sister planning to do?" I asked. "What's your scheme?"
"I have no scheme. This is all that young girl's plan." The long-haired woman shook her head. "I just helped her restore a building. That was quite a big project—it really tired me out."
"So it was you..." I blinked. "What was the reason for that? Just to solidify my sister's position as ruler and make her the 'Divine Maiden'?"
"No..." The long-haired woman shook her head. "Little brother, your 'cause and effect' logic is wrong. You think restoring the building was the 'cause' and her becoming the Divine Maiden was the 'effect.' But in reality, becoming the Divine Maiden is the 'cause.'"
I was momentarily stunned. "Then this 'cause'... will bring about what kind of 'effect'?"
"She wants to completely liberate you."
The long-haired woman slowly walked over to me, reached out and patted my shoulder, then pointed into the distance.
"Her purpose in becoming the 'Divine Maiden' is to free you. Right now, she is leading all the survivors of 'Jade City' to the 'Divine Dragon's' game arena to gamble with their lives. All you need to do is wait one hour, and everything will be over."