Chapter 2192: Issues Within the Temple
Xu Huo did not rest for a long time. Instead, he sat by the window, watching the ever-changing lights outside through the gap in the curtains. The light and shadow split his face, causing the parts of his body hidden in the darkness to seem to merge with the gloom, like a beast lurking in a corner.
He was thinking about what the Divine Envoy had said.
From start to finish, the other party had only provided one useful piece of information: that a Holy Maiden had been killed. But who was this person, and which Holy Maiden was it? Under normal circumstances, people would default to assuming it was a Holy Maiden from this region, since the temple here was the one being closed. But this was just one possibility, and it was based on the premise that a Holy Maiden had actually died.
That's right—Xu Huo didn't quite believe the only piece of information the Divine Envoy had given.
The thinking patterns of the local believers might differ from those in other districts, but human instinct is to seek advantage and avoid harm. Under normal circumstances, after a Holy Maiden was killed, the temple should not have announced it without first identifying the murderer, unless they were forced to.
In fact, the public opinion environment in this district made it very difficult for confidential information to leak. Even if it did, it wouldn't spread widely enough to reach the point where the temple had to be closed and the Divine Envoy had to come out to clarify things. Moreover, the temple itself was the source of the news about the Holy Maiden's death, which felt like a deliberately released message.
There was no specific name or identity, and no one outside the temple personnel had ever seen the murderer. In the eerie environment of the temple, it was very difficult for an outer zone player to sneak in. Even if they did manage to get in, killing a Holy Maiden and escaping under the triple siege of the Goddess's power, the Divine Envoy, and the players would have caused a significant commotion. But there was no word of it from the outside, which was very telling.
The problem lay with the internal personnel of the temple.
It was hard to say whether a Holy Maiden had actually been killed. The temple publicly declared they were hunting for the murderer, ostensibly pointing the finger at outer zone players, but it was unclear who they were really looking for.
The interesting part of this matter wasn't the process of the event, but the fact that it happened at all.
According to the Goddess's control over the district, no incidents should occur where her statue was enshrined. If one did, it could only be for two reasons: either the Goddess tacitly allowed it, or the Goddess's grip on the district was not as strong as outer zone players imagined.
Regardless of the reason, it indicated that this district was not as peaceful on the surface as it seemed. At least the believers of the Goddess Cult had not reached a state of complete unity.
Xu Huo tilted his head slightly, one of his eyes appearing in the gap of light. Immediately, a small area inside and outside the hotel fell into a state of time freeze.
The three players who had arrived were equipped with temporal items, so the time freeze didn't completely immobilize them. Xu Huo chose to kill the only one among the three who could still move. As he moved into the corridor, he also brought the other two over.
One of them regained consciousness as his position shifted. Turning back to see that one of his companions was already dead and the other was frozen in place, his face changed drastically, and he turned to flee.
"Don't be in such a hurry," Xu Huo called out to him. "If you don't want to be frozen again, don't rush off."
Although the player didn't leave, he still jumped to the end of the corridor, confirmed the positions of the doors and windows, and then asked, "What do you want to know?"
"Has any player been to the temple?" Xu Huo asked.
"Not that I know of," the other replied. "You must have seen the power of the temple's patterns."
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "In that case, it's likely that something has happened within the temple, and the Divine Envoy is using the Holy Maiden's death to divert attention."
This player wasn't stupid. He immediately said, "If it's an internal matter of their cult, they can handle it internally. Whose attention are they trying to divert?"
"What do you think?" Xu Huo countered. If it were an internal matter that couldn't be resolved internally, it meant they couldn't handle it themselves. "Was a Holy Maiden really killed?"
"Didn't you people near the temple yesterday or the day before notice anything?"
"If we had noticed anything, would we still be at a loss?" the other player retorted bluntly. "Besides, if it's an internal temple matter, what does it have to do with us clearing the instance?"
Xu Huo couldn't be bothered to waste more words. "Whether it's related or not, go ask the other clearance players. Take your two companions and leave. Don't come again. Next time, I won't be so easygoing."
With that, he returned to the guest room. The player hesitated for a moment, then didn't come back to collect the bodies or call the other person. He simply jumped out the window and left.
His cowardice was a bit excessive.
A moment later, the other player recovered from the time freeze. Seeing the corpse at his feet, he turned and fled without a second thought, not bothering with his companion.
Xu Huo had no choice but to call the hotel staff to come up and clean up.
The Yellow Hair hadn't slept yet. Noticing the commotion outside, he couldn't help but sit up and ask, "Did you do that on purpose? Trying to draw the clearance players' attention to the temple?"
"Isn't that a good thing?" Xu Huo said calmly. "The temple isn't monolithic, and the Goddess isn't as strong as imagined. Isn't that an opportunity for clearance players? Whether it's finding a way to clear the instance or destroying the dungeon, at least it rules out the option of being stranded."
The Yellow Hair was a bit puzzled. "You don't need to clear the instance, so why bother with the temple? If things escalate and you become a target, wouldn't that be a loss?"
Xu Huo didn't explain further. Without the seal of the satellite city's temple, he might not even be able to enter the Holy Land's temple. Since he couldn't get in, the more people who could go in for him, the better.
"We'll talk in the morning."
Apparently, the player he had let go had successfully spread the news. Players who had initially thought it was an internal matter of the Goddess Cult were now a bit tempted. After all, the more information they had, the better their chances of clearing the instance. Who knew, maybe the temple and the Goddess had weaknesses?
Many hands make light work, and information circulated faster. The players exchanged intelligence, and finally, someone found a useful clue: on the night the local player team entered the city, another car from a different satellite city had also entered.
Transportation between satellite cities was much better than in the small town where Ahai lived, but traffic wasn't heavy. So a car entering the city at night was a bit conspicuous, especially since a team of players had followed it, seemingly chasing someone.
Since they came by car, it was highly unlikely they were players. So the temple players were actually looking for an ordinary person—this speculation was more convincing than the earlier theory of an outer zone player committing murder. After all, it was very difficult for an outsider to enter the temple, and it was very convenient for a player to kill and dispose of the body. Only an ordinary person would leave such a big loophole.
So the temple was actually hunting for a local believer.
The composition of the temple personnel was very simple. Apart from the Divine Envoy and the players, the rest were Holy Maidens and believers responsible for daily affairs.
Among them, the believers were the most numerous. They not only maintained daily order, maintained the buildings, and cleaned, but also cooked and purchased daily necessities. There were many of them, with high turnover, and they liked to wear the same clothes. It wasn't hard to understand if one or two of them had run away. (End of Chapter)