[Three-City World] Divine Son

The towering city gates stood open, and small convoys streamed out, spreading in all directions across the wilderness surrounding the city.

None of the groups were large, usually consisting of a dozen or so people, but their vehicles came in all kinds.

Some rode horses, while others drove cars or motorcycles. Ren Yi even spotted a dusty gray tour bus.

Ren Yi also keenly noticed that the members of nearly every group heading out held a sheaf of papers. They gathered around, pointing and passing them back and forth.

What are they doing? A large-scale search and rescue? Clearing mutated beasts from a particular area? Or have they found some important resource site? Ren Yi wondered.

He walked down the hillside. Not far ahead and to one side, an old jeep with chipped paint drove along a dirt road, kicking up dust.

The man in the passenger seat glanced at Ren Yi as he walked alone.

The man visibly froze. He jerked his head down, quickly looked at the paper in his hand again, then raised his head and stared fixedly at Ren Yi.

The astonishment on his face was instantly replaced by wild joy.

He whipped around and, heedless of the jolting vehicle, shouted excitedly to the people in the driver's seat and back seat, pointing in Ren Yi's direction.

Without warning, the jeep swerved sharply, its tires screeching against the dirt road. At full throttle, it raced madly toward Ren Yi.

"..." Ren Yi stopped, the corner of his mouth twitching almost imperceptibly.

Well, mystery solved.

The target the Holy City had mobilized so many groups to search for...

Was none other than him.

Apparently, the identity of "Mo Ming" had attracted far more attention in the livestream than he had expected.

The jeep screeched to a stop not far in front of Ren Yi. The man in the passenger seat jumped out, jogged over, and called out respectfully:

"Divine Son! Our god above, we... we finally found you!"

Ren Yi was genuinely taken aback.

Divine Son? What Divine Son?

The persona he had prepared—that of a cold, formidable wilderness hunter—was instantly lodged in his throat by that fervent cry of "Divine Son," leaving him caught halfway.

No, Ren Yi thought, slowly frowning inwardly.

Mo Ming's camouflage clothes, washed pale with wear, and his battered backpack made him look like nothing more than an ordinary survivor struggling to stay alive.

The only slightly unusual thing, the little sword, was cheap too, the sort of amulet an ordinary person would wear. It couldn't possibly be a symbol of any exalted status.

His thoughts raced, and Ren Yi decided to stick with his original judgment.

He furrowed his brow and deliberately put just the right hint of confusion into his voice. "What are you yelling about? You've got the wrong person, haven't you?"

"No, no, no, Divine Son, we've finally found you." The man hurriedly showed Ren Yi the top sheet of paper in his hand.

Ren Yi looked up. Though the drawing was somewhat abstract, it was unmistakably a portrait of Mo Ming.

Before Ren Yi could ask, the man began explaining at breakneck speed, too excited to speak coherently.

"Lord Mo Ming, you were the only envoy in this Divine Selection Trial to receive a divine revelation and successfully clear it."

"His Holiness the Pope received a revelation before the divine statue and has formally proclaimed it to all three cities, conferring upon you the title of this generation's 'Divine Son'! We were sent by papal decree to welcome you back to the Holy City!"

His voice grew more excited as he spoke, until he was almost choking up. "The God of Azure has blessed us, granting our team the honor of finding you first!"

"Huh?" Ren Yi froze for a moment, then realized what had happened.

This invasion had been rather unusual, a freebie round for the eerie Younglings.

And because it had been opened at short notice, a group of "eerie parents" who shouldn't have come to this world had been brought in with their levels suppressed.

As a result, the parents had gone straight into smurfing mode, sending the Instance's difficulty and concentration of the eerie soaring.

Although Aunt Lu Qing had obediently followed the rules in the end, judging by how effortlessly she had handled things, she probably had some other backup plan to keep the participants there.

And he couldn't forget that outside Aunt Lu Qing's little Instance was a larger one belonging to her father, Lu Zihan.

Seen that way, it made perfect sense that he, with his connections, had become the sole survivor to clear it.

He just hadn't expected the religious powers of the Holy City to twist it into a "divine revelation."

The man stared fixedly at Ren Yi, hesitating for a long time before finally asking a question:

"Divine Son! Having returned from the trial, you must... you must know the 'ultimate method' to save us all and cleanse this filthy world, don't you?"

Ren Yi: "..."

What 'method of salvation'? Where did this come from? I'm clearly here to destroy the world...

The Alliance hadn't mentioned it, and Aunt Lu Qing certainly hadn't told him anything about it. How was he supposed to know how to save the world?

But he showed no sign of panic. Instead, he slowly composed his expression and put on an air of complete confidence.

"The divine will is profound, and it has indeed been revealed. Yet this method concerns matters of great importance and is no ordinary matter. I must meet the Pope in person and explain it in detail before the sacred statue."

Whatever it was, he would acknowledge it first and sort out the rest later.

The moment the words left his mouth, he distinctly sensed an immense surge of positive emotion coming from the man before him.

"Yes, yes, of course! Only you and His Holiness the Pope can bear such a sacred decree!"

His voice choking, the man hurriedly invited Ren Yi into the car. "His Holiness and the lords from the other two cities have been waiting for you."

Ren Yi's heart stirred. The man's words had revealed an important piece of information.

Lords from the other two cities? It seemed that although the three cities were far apart, they weren't entirely out of contact.

The jeep sped all the way back to the city. Along the way, the others in the car rolled down the windows, calling out to the other search parties they encountered and showing off without restraint.

The single vehicle soon grew into a vast welcoming convoy, its presence growing ever more imposing.

After seeing Ren Yi, several guards in church robes at the city gate quickly let the convoy through.

As the convoy entered the Holy City, the sights along the way gave Ren Yi an increasingly clear sense of the city's religious atmosphere.

The buildings lining the streets were covered in religious symbols. Many believers stopped when they saw Ren Yi in the convoy, kneeling and bowing with devout expressions as they whispered prayers.

Dense positive emotions enveloped him like air, growing stronger the closer they got to the city center.

Judging by this alone, he had made the right choice entering the city as "Mo Ming."

As he quietly converted the positive emotions into points of light on the back of his hand for storage, he also discreetly used up quite a bit of "ammunition," planting Seeds of Illusion in the people around him.

It never hurt to have an extra precaution.

"Don't underestimate humans." Aunt Lu Qing's warning still echoed in his ears.

If anything unexpected happened later, the Seeds he had planted could help him cause chaos and buy him a chance to escape.

Surrounded by the crowd and watched eagerly by believers along the way, Ren Yi passed through the Holy City's layers of streets and its heavily guarded inner gates, finally arriving at a magnificent hall beneath the sacred statue atop the mountain.

The lengthy, solemn welcoming ceremony was deliberately shortened, and he was soon led into a solemn chamber.

By making discreet inquiries along the way, Ren Yi had gained a general understanding of the Holy City's social structure.

It was a city ruled entirely by religion. Its supreme ruler was the Pope of the Divine Church, with several bishops serving under him and controlling all power in the city.

The people of the Holy City firmly believed in the deity called "Azure," regarding Him as the creator and protector of their world, which they called the Azure World.

What left Ren Yi even more torn between laughter and tears was that, in their understanding, eerie Instances were "Divine Selection Trials" set for humanity by the God of Azure.

And he, having successfully cleared the "final stage," must know how to resist the coming apocalypse and save the world.

To this, Ren Yi could only say: I don't have a method of salvation, but I do have a few ideas about how to hand every one of you over to the Calamity's rules... I wonder if you'd like to hear them?