A Deal Was Reached

The forty-ninth Pope Lan Ge stood on the palace balcony, numbly looking down at the noisy and chaotic Rhine City.

How long has it been? Half a month or a month?

Lan Ge thought about it carefully and realized that it hadn't even been half a month, only ten days.

Ten days ago, on that night, the most magnificent city on the continent presented itself to him in a tranquil and peaceful manner.

But what about now?

The constant passing of motorcycles raised high clouds of dust. Adults huddled in panic on both sides of the road, while children huddled in their parents' arms and cried loudly. But their cries were drowned out by the sirens that had been sounding for ten days straight.

Lan Ge gently closed his eyes, his brows furrowed with exhaustion.

He hadn't slept for ten days and nights. A normal person would have died long ago, but for Pope Rhine, who possessed the "Life Ring," this was nothing. It's worth noting that when he first obtained the ring, Lan Ge had tried going without rest for months without feeling much mental strain.

But right now, all Lan Ge wants is to find a place to get a good night's sleep, to sleep until the world turns dark, until everything in reality is irrelevant to him.

And Lan Ge knew that it wasn't because he was old, but because...

"Your Majesty!" The sound of clashing armor came from behind Lan Ge, and soon a fully armed Knight knelt before him. "The garrison in the west of the city has reported that another group of over a thousand refugees wants to enter the city seeking refuge. What do you think..."

Lan Ge didn't open his eyes. "Receive everything."

"Should we still accept them?" the Knight said through gritted teeth. "But the city's food supplies are almost exhausted, and not all of these people are Rhine believers."

"So what?" Lan Ge slowly opened his eyes, looking at the Knight behind him. "At this critical juncture, are you going to exclude these poor, desperate people from the city?"

The Knight certainly wouldn't dare say that, but he was still conflicted. "But the city is really..."

"This is the Lord's will," Lan Ge said calmly. "You know, He is in the great hall behind us. If you have any complaints, you can go and speak to Him directly."

Upon hearing this, the Knight involuntarily shuddered. He instinctively turned his head to look at the temple not far away, his eyes filled with panic.

"I... understand." The Knight lowered his head. "I will carry out the Lord's will."

After saying that, he got up and left.

Lan Ge watched his figure disappear from sight before letting out a soft sigh.

As Pope Lan Ge, how could he not know that the city's food supply was exhausted? He knew the city better than anyone else, and he knew better than anyone else how many people the city could support.

But accepting these refugees was God's will, and He could not disobey it.

They are called refugees because the outside world has fallen into chaos.

The Rhine City is currently in chaos, but in the outside world, a real war is raging—a unique war.

There was no battle between two armies, only Knight rushing into one household after another to plunder. Coupled with the fall of several gods and the collapse of the former order, everything was pushed to the peak of chaos.

In this situation, refugees would naturally flock to Rhine City, a place still Protection by the gods, even though their suffering was mostly caused by Knight who came from the city, but they had no other choice.

Rhine City's attitude towards these refugees was, as mentioned before, complete acceptance.

Regardless of where they come from or whether they are followers of the Rhine, as long as they ask for Protection, they will surely receive a response.

In this crumbling apocalypse, Rhine City seems to be the last seed of hope, and the great Rhine God will save everything.

Only a very few people know the real reason behind this—the Lord is collecting hostages.

To put it more precisely, the Rhine God is trying to bind everyone to His chariot, either to live with Him or to die with Him.

In other words, the Rhine God had already shown weakness before this battle, which was not for mortals, had even begun.

Lan Ge sighed softly.

The most desperate moment hasn't arrived yet. He couldn't imagine what kind of battle would unfold between Visas and the Lord of the Rhine when Vessas came knocking on his door.

Will the world collapse?

No, perhaps not.

But can this Rhine City, the greatest city in the world, and its millions of people bound to the chariot of the Rhine God, escape the vortex unleashed by this divine war?

That's impossible too.

At that moment, a torrential downpour finally began from the gray sky, shrouding the entire city in gloom.

Looking at the gloomy Rhine City, Lan Ge seemed to see a future where the city was destroyed and millions of people died in the war against the gods.

Perhaps that was the real end of the world.

Just then, a subordinate came to report, "Your Majesty, the chief wishes to see you."

"Knew."

Lan Ge nodded slightly.

He was perhaps the Pope of the Rhine who had the most direct contact with the Pope, apart from the first Pope, but at this moment he felt no joy, only numbness.

On the way to meet the Lord, the rain poured down harder and harder, and all I could hear was the cacophony of the rain. The once-familiar road now felt strange. It was as if the end of the road led not to the supreme temple, but to the Road to the Underworld.

In that moment of confusion, Lan Ge saw a smiling young man walking towards him.

He didn't recognize the other person, and the person wasn't dressed in clergy attire, looking like a weary stranger, but Lan Ge didn't find anything wrong with it. He even subconsciously bowed in return when the other person smiled at him.

Then they passed each other without sensing anything amiss.

Just before he entered the temple, the other person suddenly called out to him.

"I almost forgot."

Lan Ge turned around and saw the other person's outstretched hand.

"You should give that thing back to me," the other person said.

Thing?

After a slight pause, Lan Ge followed the other person's gaze and looked down, noticing the Vitality Ring on his hand. He suddenly realized, "Oh, right."

Then he quickly took it off and returned it to the other person.

After the other party took it, weighed it in their hand for a couple of moments, and then the ring disappeared.

"That's fine," the other person said with a smile. "Hurry up, or you won't be able to catch up with your god."

After saying that, the other person turned and left, quickly disappearing from Lan Ge's sight.

Lan Ge stared blankly at the other's back as if possessed, until his subordinates snapped him out of his daze, "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"

Lan Ge snapped out of his daze, and everything around him became familiar again. He subconsciously asked, "Who was that person just now?"

"That person just now?" the subordinate asked, somewhat puzzled. "Wasn't it just the two of us the whole time?"

Just the two of us?

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Lan Ge suddenly looked down and discovered that the Vitality Ring that had been with him for over ten years was gone.

"Could it be..." Lan Ge suddenly realized something, and his eyes widened instantly.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" The subordinate suddenly exclaimed in terror, "Your face!"

Without his subordinates reminding him, Lan Ge knew his own situation.

Having lost the Vitality Ring, his body should now return to normal.

In his normal state, he should have died of old age by now.

"Lord, Lord!" Lan Ge immediately turned around and hurried towards the temple. "Where is the Lord?!"

But within a few breaths, his body was about to give way.

"Your Majesty!" His subordinates immediately came forward to help Lan Ge.

"Get out of the way!"

Lan Ge roared and shoved his subordinates aside. He forced himself to walk to the foot of the temple, used his last bit of strength to push open the temple door, and then his eyes widened in shock.

The Rhine God is dead.

This battle of the gods had already ended before he even realized it.

Lan Ge opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a word.

Then he remembered what that person had told him.

"Hurry up, or you won't be able to catch up with your god."

Oh, that's what it meant.

His head lolled to the side, and he died just like that.

Bai Wei walked out of the temple and looked into the distance.

His eyes pierced through the Rhine City, through mountains and plains, through all sorts of people, and finally landed on a nameless, solitary grave Somu City.

"The deal is done."

He said this, then turned and left.

After resting for almost three months, I feel completely exhausted. I wrote half of this extra chapter after the main story was finished, but I didn't expect the other half to be delayed until now.

But I wasn't completely idle. I was constantly working on the beginning of my new book, spending a month on it and rewriting it four or five times before it was approved. The editor said my new book deals with very abstract things, which seemed interesting, but also didn't think it would be very successful. However, the editor said that I've always written about abstract things, so maybe it will work, and I'll give it a try.

In other words, the new book has been released, and it's probably a story about the protagonist being able to merge and transform with a girl.

Yes, it was originally intended to be the Dual Church in this book, but we decided to leave out the modern setting. The story is much lighter overall than this book. If you're interested, you can check it out.