Imitation

A day later, Bai Wei and Wei Ke entered a new town.

Compared to Yad, a town with only a few hundred people that was more like a village than a town, this new town already has some of the characteristics of a city.

Of course, that's not entirely accurate. If Bai Wei remembers correctly, this place was originally a city... during the Shinra period.

After the Senro God passed away, night fell, and the population of this land dwindled. So the city became a town, the town became a village, and the village became the few dilapidated houses they had passed by yesterday.

Upon entering the town, Bai Wei skillfully led Wei Ke to a small hotel, which was also the only hotel in the town.

The innkeeper was a young girl with a ponytail. She glanced at Bai Wei, who was clearly not a local, and then at Wei Ke, who was standing behind Bai Wei and completely covered up. She raised her eyebrows and asked with interest, "Outsider, where are you from?"

"What?" Bai Wei said with a smile, "Do I need identification to stay here? Or are outsiders not allowed to stay?"

"Of course...no need." The girl shrugged and said, "We don't even have a church here, so who would care about outsiders? I'm just curious, because it's rare for outsiders to come to this place. I'm just curious. If you're willing to satisfy my curiosity, I can waive half the room fee."

"Really?" Bai Wei asked with a smile, "Do you keep your word?"

"Of course." The little girl patted her flat chest. "My promise is as devout as my faith."

"But it seems that all the gods here are dead... Well." Bai Wei shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I'm from the Rhine."

"... Rhine?" The little girl's expression became even more interesting, her gaze constantly shifting between Bai Wei and her. "I heard that the Father of Rhine... don't like women, is that true?"

"Hmm... Before answering your question, I'd like to know where you learned about these things?" Bai Wei looked at the girl with interest. "Didn't you say you rarely interact with outsiders? And you rarely go out, right?"

"Of course, I've never left here," the little girl said. "But don't mistake me for a clueless bumpkin. I know a lot about the outside world, like the Father of the Rhine, the notes of the Holy Sound, and those lunatics on Lyra who like to turn their bodies into metal lumps... Of course, I don't know if that's true or not."

"They actually know so much." Bai Wei stroked his chin. "It seems someone told you. Let me think... Wildfire Cultist?"

"Huh? How did you know that?"

"In this land, the only ones who can contact the outside world are those guys, right?" Bai Wei smiled and looked around, seemingly searching for something.

"Don't worry," the little girl said, seemingly reading Bai Wei's mind. "There aren't any of those weirdos here."

"Not even at night?"

"Of course... In fact, they never stay overnight in this town." The girl shrugged and said, "They only come here occasionally during the day to buy some necessities and to bring back news from the outside world, such as the information about other churches that I just mentioned, which they got from them."

"I see." Bai Wei nodded and said, "They're actually quite nice people."

"Remove the 'good' from them, I just think they're weird," the little girl said. "Alright, alright, I've answered your question, now it's your turn to answer mine... Do the Father there not like women? I heard they all like little boys."

Seeing the little girl's enthusiastic expression, Bai Wei said with a smile, "Actually, it has nothing to do with gender. The most important thing is appearance. For them, the smaller, more fragrant ones, the better, are those whose gender is not obvious."

"... Tsk, your explanation is so strange," the girl said. "And how come you can describe it in such detail? I think you're lying to me."

Bai Wei shook his head. "I didn't lie to you."

"Where's the evidence?" The little girl stretched out her fair hand to Bai Wei. "If there's no evidence, then I can't trust you, and I can't halve the room fee."

"So this is where you were waiting for me. You were planning not to reduce the room rate all along, weren't you?" Bai Wei slowly reached into his pocket. "Too bad I actually have proof."

As he spoke, he placed a Sleeve badge in the little girl's hand.

The little girl looked at the Sleeve badge and asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's this?"

"The badge of Rhine Father".

How did you get this?

"Because I am the Father of the Rhine."

The little girl was stunned. Before she could react, she saw Bai Wei lean forward slightly and twitch his nose.

"To be honest, you smell pretty good."

The little girl was stunned. After she came to her senses, she immediately shrank into a corner and threw the badge back to Bai Wei.

"Alright, alright, I believe you. I'll waive half the room fee, I mean it!" she said, tossing a rusty key onto the table. "I won't take you to the innermost room on the second floor."

Bai Wei chuckled as he took the key, then gave the little girl an intrigued look, which frightened her so much that her face turned pale, before leading Wei Ke upstairs.

The little girl only breathed a sigh of relief after watching the two figures disappear at the top of the stairs. Then, belatedly, she sniffed her sleeve and murmured to herself, "... Do I smell good?"

After entering the room, Bai Wei leaned against the window, crossed his arms, and leisurely looked at Wei Ke, who hadn't spoken for a long time, and said, "Are you trying to find the truth through silence?"

Wei Ke was silent for a moment, then slowly raised his hand and took off the hood that covered his entire face.

Then, the face of a half-human, half-wolf was revealed to Bai Wei.

Bai Wei carefully examined Wei Ke, then nodded slightly. "The wolf part has dissipated somewhat, and it should return to normal in another two days."

"... Can I still say that I'm normal now?"

"It depends on how you look at it," Bai Wei shrugged and said. "Haven't you always wanted to find that little dog? Now that you know it's inside your body, shouldn't you be happy?"

"... I didn't expect it to be like this."

"Of course, no normal person would think of that."

"But you seem to know something," Wei Ke, looking at Bai Wei with some agitation. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Calm down, Wei Ke," Bai Wei said calmly. "Nobody knows what really happened to you, and even if I said I knew and told you the answer, would you believe me?"

"... I will verify it."

"Yes, just like that little girl downstairs earlier, she knew she needed evidence," Bai Wei said. "So you also need evidence. In that case, why not go find it yourself and draw your own conclusions? Maybe you can avoid some detours... What do you think?"

Wei Ke fell silent once again.

His mind was in a mess, really in a mess.

When Vic discovered that A De, whom he had been searching for, was inside his body, Wei Ke almost broke down.

If Bai Wei hadn't stopped him in time, saying he would help him find the answer and that he should just follow him, he really wouldn't know what to do.

After calming down a bit, Wei Ke asked, "You think I'm connected to the Wildfire Cultist, right?"

"It's not what I think, it's what you think," Bai Wei corrected. "That's what you believe, so we started from this direction."

Wei Ke recalled.

At that moment, his first thought was whether he was related to the Wildfire Cultist, since the Wildfire Cultist fought by transforming their bodies into wolves, and he was doing the same now, so it was hard not to make the connection.

When he told Bai Wei about this idea, Bai Wei also gave his approval.

So it was indeed his conjecture, not Bai Wei's.

But Wei Ke seemed puzzled, as if Bai Wei valued the speculation about who had made the conjecture.

When he asked Bai Wei, he only received Bai Wei's reply, "I just don't want to take the blame," which felt very perfunctory.

However, there are more important things to pay attention to right now than that.

"Why are we here?" Wei Ke said. "Shouldn't we just go find the Wildfire Cultist? We could just capture one or two of them and interrogate them to find out the answer."

"Great idea." Bai Wei gave Wei Ke a thumbs up. "So you're afraid people won't be able to find you, that you're rushing to walk right into their trap, right?"

Wei Ke fell silent again, and after a long pause, he said, "So what should we do now? I really don't want to just wait; I just want to know the truth, and..."

Wei Ke didn't say the second half of the sentence, but Bai Wei still "heard" it.

He still wanted to find A De.

Wei Ke didn't know what state A De was in right now, whether he was alive or dead.

If he's dead, he'll want to know the truth; if he's alive... he'll still find A De.

Even at any cost.

That's exactly what he thought.

Bai Wei looked at the impatient Wei Ke and said slowly, "Generally speaking, dogs don't lose things because their excellent sense of smell allows them to easily find most lost items. But it's different for people. When people lose something, they need to rely on their eyes, memory, and brain to find it. Although in most cases, these three things are not as good as a dog's sense of smell, if the lost item is in a place where the sense of smell cannot reach, then you can only rely on these three things."

"... Could you please explain yourself more clearly?"

Bai Wei sighed, "What I'm trying to say is, didn't you realize that I was just leading you to find the truth?"

"... Ah, just now?" Wei Ke hesitated. "Weren't you just flirting with that little girl?"

"If you can only see the surface, you'll never find the truth in your entire life."

Wei Ke was even more confused.

Bai Wei slightly turned his body to the side, allowing Wei Ke to look out at the town from the window behind him.

The sun had not yet completely set, and the evening glow painted the entire town in a pale gold hue, giving people a sense of tranquility and peace.

Such a view would not seem strange anywhere.

But it was precisely here, in this godless land ravaged by darkness, that it happened.

"Do you remember what that girl said?" Bai Wei said slowly, "The Wildfire Cultist members never stay overnight here. They only come during the day, and when they do, they do so to conduct legitimate business and bring news from the outside world. Don't you think this treatment is completely different from that Yade Town on the border?"

Hearing Bai Wei say this, the confusion on Wei Ke's face slowly turned into contemplation.

He had certainly visited this town and experienced its unique charm.

At the time, he was focused on finding the lost Sacrificial Ground, so he didn't linger there or think much about it.

Now that Bai Wei had specifically brought it up, he had given it serious thought.

"It is... very strange," Wei Ke said softly. "This town is very vibrant, just like that landlady."

Bai Wei wore a relieved expression, as if to say, "You've finally found the blind spot." He continued, "Yes, that little girl doesn't seem like a resident under the control of the Esoteric Sect at all. Her eyes are full of clear... stupidity. In this land, this is absolutely abnormal."

...really.

Normally, under the dual interference of darkness and the Wildfire Cultist, the residents here should live more like the townspeople in the Yade Town.

But why is that?

Wei Ke instinctively wanted to continue questioning Bai Wei, but then he remembered what Bai Wei had said earlier.

The biggest difference between humans and dogs is that humans can use their brains.

So he forced himself to use his brain.

A small, peaceful area in a dangerous place, undisturbed by darkness or Wildfire.

Isolated from the world.

That is to say...

Suddenly, an image popped into Wei Ke's mind.

He stood in a shallow fence that he could never cross, surrounded by flesh and blood.

Then he roared, "Damn it! What are you doing?! That's my wolf, not your livestock!"

In an instant, he had the answer in his heart, and he blurted it out.

"Livestock!"

"Um?"

"This town is like livestock kept in captivity." Wei Ke didn't have time to think about where the scene he had just seen came from, because he was already frightened by his own conjecture. "This town is like livestock kept in captivity... I've seen it! It's for fattening up and then slaughtering for meat. Only livestock are completely unaware of the outside world. Only livestock are protected in a dangerous world. At least they are safe before they are slaughtered for meat."

Wei Ke looked at Bai Wei with anticipation, feeling both nervous and excited, as if he had found the answer.

Am I right?

Bai Wei had a faint smile on his face.

"Certainly."

You answered incorrectly.

The answer is imitation.

Bai Wei quietly watched Wei Ke, whose face was full of joy.

It's like you're imitating a person.

Them.

Imitating God.

A god who brings peace to the world.