Chapter 2190: The Death of the Holy Maiden

"Just a small injury, no big deal." The yellow-haired man laughed heartily, then weighed his own arm. "Look at my arm—once it was shattered into seven or eight pieces, and it recovered in less than a month. Your little injury, don't put such a heavy psychological burden on yourself."

Seeing him downplay the severity, Xu Huo smiled and said, "There's no need for cooperation, but I can give you some advice."

The yellow-haired man clapped his hands. "With your word, that's enough!"

Then he got up to help Ahai take photos.

Two hours later, they entered the third satellite city.

Unlike the leisurely atmosphere of the previous two satellite cities, this city was filled with patrol teams composed of players and believers. Apart from public places, many high-rise buildings had hidden sentries, monitoring every person in the city from various angles.

When Xu Huo and the other two arrived at the temple, a considerable conflict was taking place outside the temple gates. Players from the outer zone were confronting the temple's players—one side wanted to enter, the other refused entry. It seemed they had already exchanged blows, and the situation was escalating.

"Move aside!" A long-haired player pointed his prop at the people in front of the temple gate. "Closing the temple and blocking people—you're deliberately preventing us outer zone players from clearing the instance!"

The temple players' faces were equally grim. The leader said, "I've explained several times already. The temple has important matters to handle today and is temporarily not receiving believers. Even believers can't enter, so of course you can't either!"

"Yesterday it was the same excuse. What exactly are you trying to do?" The long-haired player questioned coldly. "Whatever business your temple has, it has nothing to do with us clearance players. Open the door, we'll get our stamp and leave. If you don't, more and more players will gather here, and we'll see how you handle it!"

The temple side naturally felt the pressure. Even if they didn't care much about the threats, they had to consider the opinions of other believers. The repeated provocations from this group had already begun to sow doubt among some believers.

After a brief silence, the leader finally said, "I will inform the Divine Envoy of your request. Once the Divine Envoy consults the Goddess, I will return to tell you the result."

As soon as he finished speaking, he entered through a gap in the gate. The outer zone players, unwilling to give up, tried to rush in while the gate was open, but in the next second, several of them uncontrollably collapsed to the ground, unable even to hold their props.

"Damn it!" The long-haired player gritted his teeth in frustration.

Clearly, they had tried more than once. If it weren't impossible to enter, they wouldn't have resorted to direct confrontation to force the temple doors open.

The square outside the temple fell silent again.

"What happened?" Ahai looked worriedly toward the temple.

At that moment, the yellow-haired man squeezed through the crowd and lowered his voice. "Let's talk somewhere else."

Only after moving away from the crowded square did the yellow-haired man share the information he had gathered.

The cause was the night before last. The temple, which was usually never closed, suddenly shut its doors and asked the believers who were worshipping inside at night to leave. At the time, they said the Goddess had given a divine oracle to the Divine Envoy and that some preparations were needed.

The believers naturally had no objections and left happily, spreading the news to their friends and family. So the next morning—yesterday morning—a large number of believers gathered in front of the temple, saying they wanted to hear the divine oracle.

However, the Divine Envoy did not appear—the Divine Envoy was real, not some random non-human entity, and some had seen him before. With such a commotion at night, the believers naturally felt this oracle must be very important, and the Divine Envoy should announce it. But the Divine Envoy didn't come out, and the temple remained closed, which made people suspicious.

The believers were one thing, but the key issue was the outer zone players. Although their numbers weren't large, many had been stuck in the satellite city for a long time because they couldn't get the Divine Envoy's "stamp." Without the stamp, they couldn't enter the Holy Land Temple, and without entering the Holy Land Temple, how could they talk about clearing the instance?

No one knew how long the temple doors would stay closed, so the players grew impatient.

Yesterday, they could still endure, but today the doors remained shut. The temple's perfunctory excuses couldn't make the outer zone players wait obediently, leading to the earlier conflict—when the temple was closed, the patterns inside and outside were especially powerful. Whether trying to break through the gate or climb the walls, they would be attacked. Comparatively, confronting the temple personnel directly was the easier method.

"I also heard some rumors," the yellow-haired man said. "Someone said that the night before last, a team of local zone players arrived from elsewhere, seemingly searching for someone, and then the temple closed."

"Some say the Holy Land Temple's sacred relic was lost, others say the Holy Maiden defected, and still others say the Goddess suddenly lost contact, leaving the Divine Envoy frantic... There are many stories, all quite vivid, and many believers are spreading them privately."

"But I suspect it's mostly those players stirring things up."

The yellow-haired man crossed his arms. "Even if local zone players really did come in, the news wouldn't leak out. The believers are tight-lipped. They're probably using these stories to incite believers to enter the temple."

Only when believers began to suspect something was wrong inside the temple would the temple have to give a reasonable explanation.

Xu Huo agreed with his assessment. At least the claim about the Goddess losing contact was problematic—yesterday, a suspected Goddess entity had come to find him.

But something was definitely wrong in this district.

Looking around, the square was filled with believers as worried as Ahai. They gathered together, some praying, some discussing, always circling around the Goddess and the temple. They showed little interest in rumors about lost sacred relics or defecting Holy Maidens, mostly worrying about the Goddess's mood and the Divine Envoy's health. As for other matters, they hadn't thought that far.

Believers seemed unlikely to cause problems, so the source of the issue should be the temple itself.

They waited until evening before the temple gates finally reopened. A middle-aged man in a cloak with a hood covering his face stepped out. The light was poor at night, and the upper half of his face was hidden in shadow, making it hard to read his expression.

"Divine Envoy!" Someone recognized the man.

"Divine Envoy!"

...

The two words echoed through the square like a wave, as if everyone had to shout them once. It took a while before it finally quieted down.

The corners of the Divine Envoy's mouth curved slightly, as if he were smiling. After a moment, he spoke, "Don't worry. The Goddess is well."

Just eight words swept away the oppressive atmosphere in the square. All the believers relaxed, and no one pressed further about why the temple had been closed.

The believers didn't ask, but the Divine Envoy voluntarily explained, "A Holy Maiden was killed."