# 1613
# Chapter 1613: The Vanished Sixth Patient
Mist.
An exploration vessel cut through the calm waters, heading straight into the depths of the mist. Lin Qiye stood at the bow of the exploration ship, the mist rolling over his form as the bright daylight gradually dimmed, leaving only the vessel's lights piercing through the fog, extending to the distant sea.
Lin Qiye was very familiar with this exploration ship. The last time he went out to search for the [Ark of the Covenant], he had traveled on this very vessel. Later, after they returned from hell, Great Xia had sent people to salvage it.
Memories surged in Lin Qiye's heart. He sighed heavily, about to turn around when a faint glint flashed past above his head.
He looked up, but there was nothing above except the hazy gray mist.
"Could I really be experiencing aftereffects?" Lin Qiye murmured in confusion.
Counting from the day before yesterday, this was already the third time he had experienced these visual hallucinations. It made him wonder if his soul and body hadn't fully adapted, causing sensory disturbances?
Just as Lin Qiye was deep in thought, No. 27 walked over from behind.
"How much longer?" No. 27 asked.
"We've been sailing for a day and a half. We should be arriving soon."
No. 27 nodded. "You mentioned earlier that you had something you wanted to ask Chloe personally. What was it?"
Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment before saying, "I want to know why she appears in Han Dynasty records... also, whether she has any connection to me, or if we've met before."
"The first question, I can answer right now." No. 27 said slowly, "Her appearance in your Han Dynasty records isn't strange at all, because back then she was a missionary for the Western Holy Church, traveling the four seas on behalf of the Holy Sovereign, spreading the faith... Not just the Han Dynasty, she left her footprints all over the world."
"She was代理人在汉代的时候就是耶兰得了?" Lin Qiye asked in surprise.
"That's right."
"But how could she have lived so long?"
"She made a pact with time itself. Time would leave no mark on her, so naturally she wouldn't age."
"Made a pact with time?" Lin Qiye's jaw dropped in shock. "What kind of ability is that?"
"Magical, isn't it?" No. 27 smiled. "When I first met her, I was also shaken. The things she can do are far more than that... Though she never explained her abilities to me, after traveling together for so long, I can more or less guess.
She can make 'pacts' with anything in the world. Once such a 'pact' is established, it must be fulfilled.
She once made a 'pact' with the wind, and the wind became her eternal guardian, surrounding her always. She made a 'pact' with fire, and fire became a weapon to slay her enemies for her. She made a 'pact' with the dying to meet again, and no matter how long their corpses decayed, on the day the 'pact' took effect, the dead would be reborn..."
"She can even resurrect the dead?"
"That's right. That's why I said, as long as she uses her abilities reasonably, she is the embodiment of 'omnipotence.'" No. 27 paused. "Of course, everything comes with a price."
"What's the price?"
"I don't know."
Lin Qiye couldn't help but exclaim, "What a broken ability... Is this what it means to be 001?"
"Although powerful, this ability isn't what makes her truly remarkable." No. 27 said seriously, "She has a very special constitution. She can gradually change the faith of those around her as time passes."
"Change faith? Faith in what?"
"Faith in her."
Upon hearing this answer, Lin Qiye stood frozen.
"Any place where she stays for an extended period—whether plants, animals, or humans—will be drawn to her, becoming her devout Believers, worshipping her as their faith and deity."
Lin Qiye's jaw hung open. It wasn't until a long while later that he came back to his senses. "No wonder she could be a missionary for the Holy Church... With an ability like this, recruiting Believers for the Church would be far too easy."
This ability, combined with that 'ageless pact' with time, made this red-haired girl nothing short of a faith-harvesting machine. Given enough time, she could even turn every living being in the world into her Believers.
Neither the power to change faith nor that mysterious 'pact' force was comparable to any Forbidden Ruins or God's Ruins Lin Qiye had ever known... Perhaps this was why she had become 001.
"Then what exactly is your relationship with her?" After much deliberation, Lin Qiye finally asked carefully.
"It's not the kind of relationship you're thinking." No. 27 shook his head. "About seven or eight years ago, when I was walking through the mist as the God of Assassins, I accidentally encountered her. Her power astonished me greatly. At that time, I thought her power might be the key to saving this world."
"Save the world?" Lin Qiye asked, puzzled. "In what way?"
No. 27 raised his hand, pointing first at the lifeless sea beneath their feet, then at the gray sky above.
Lin Qiye stared for a long moment, understanding No. 27's meaning, and asked in shock, "This... can really be done?"
"I asked her the same thing... but she just smiled and didn't answer." No. 27 sighed. "Later, she invited me to travel with her, saying that sooner or later, she would show me what I wanted to see... So I agreed."
"That sounds rather mystical."
"She's mysterious in every way possible..." No. 27 continued, "Because of this pact, I traveled with her for about three years, until she suddenly disappeared five years ago. After that, I began searching for her all over the world."
Lin Qiye nodded. He already more or less understood the events that followed.
"The things you wanted to know, I've told you all of them." No. 27 turned to look at him. "I have a question too."
"What is it?"
"That asylum." No. 27's gaze gradually grew serious. "What exactly is that asylum that [Chaos] took from you?"
Lin Qiye was slightly taken aback. After hesitating for a long while, he finally gave a simple explanation of the asylum's existence, but omitted many details, including the process of treating other patients and the ability extraction.
After listening, No. 27's brow furrowed slightly. "You're saying that [Chaos] disguised itself as the patient in the sixth ward and had been hiding in your mind all along?"
"That's right."
"You just mentioned that the further back the ward, the weaker the patient's divinity... correct?"
"Mm."
No. 27 paced back and forth for a long while, as if having thought of something. He glanced at Lin Qiye with a complicated expression.
"What's wrong?" Lin Qiye asked, confused.
"Haven't you thought of a problem?" No. 27 said slowly. "Since [Chaos] was disguised and hidden in the sixth ward... what about the original patient in that ward?"
Lin Qiye stood frozen. "The original patient?"
"You said the doorplate on that room originally had a '?' on it, right?" No. 27 spread his hands. "Doesn't that mean there was originally a patient in this ward?"
These words struck Lin Qiye like thunder.
The sixth ward... originally had a patient?
Lin Qiye had never considered this possibility at all. [Chaos]'s existence had directly misled his thoughts, making him assume that the seventh ward had always contained [Chaos]... But in truth, after [Chaos]'s forged doorplate fell off, a pattern was indeed revealed.
Lin Qiye had thought that "?" represented no patient, but on closer thought—if there were no sixth patient, the doorplate should have been blank.
So where had the original sixth patient of this asylum gone?
Had they been killed by [Chaos], who simply took their place?
Lin Qiye's mind went blank. When he slowly came back to his senses, No. 27 had already returned to the cabin.
Lin Qiye rubbed his throbbing temples, sighed heavily, and stepped toward the cabin...
Regardless of the truth, the asylum was now in [Chaos]'s hands. Even if he wanted to investigate the whereabouts of the sixth patient, he didn't have the capability.
Lin Qiye walked into the cabin's washroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed his face with cold water, trying to wash away all those chaotic thoughts.
Just then, something passed over his head again.
Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed sharply. This time he猛地抬起头 but didn't look at the top of his head. Instead, he stared directly at the mirror in front of him.
That wasn't a hallucination. Something had indeed flashed over his head... And this time, Lin Qiye saw clearly what it was.
His pupils dilated violently!
—"Lin Qiye Treatment Progress: 44%"