There's a () in the Three Cities World!

As for why he thought "again," it was because he had "shattered" once before, on the third day after his awakening, when he still hadn't gained full control over his body.

It had been three o'clock in the morning. His body had suddenly broken apart without warning, drifting through the room as light as feathers.

How could he describe that feeling?

His consciousness and senses had been firmly trapped in one single fragment, leaving him to watch helplessly as the other pieces drifted everywhere like kites with severed strings.

If he hadn't been at "home," those parts of his body might have drifted too far away and dissipated on their own.

In the end, it was his brother who came over, carrying the fragment containing his main consciousness and slowly "eating" back all the scattered pieces of his body, one by one, like a game of Snake.

In short, it was another piece of his embarrassing past that he hated to remember.

But at least that had happened at home, within the Alliance.

Besides, his brother had seen more than enough of his embarrassing moments; Ren Yi was practically immune to the shame by now.

But where was he now? He was inside an otherworldly Instance, right in the middle of the peril-filled Holy City!

Don't do this to me!

After a moment of panic, Ren Yi quickly realized that this "shatter" hadn't triggered a chain reaction like the last time.

That small, out-of-control piece of his body sat quietly inside the energy crystal.

Meanwhile, the humanoid form he was maintaining remained perfectly stable, showing no signs of collapsing.

What did this mean?

Can an energy crystal help me create a clone?

But on second thought, Ren Yi felt that wasn't quite right.

At most, the energy crystal could serve as an independent "container" that could preserve a part of his body and keep it stable.

He couldn't even control the part of his body inside the crystal, so it couldn't be considered a true clone.

But... what use did this have?

Could it be used to save a part of his body as a "backup," so that if his main body met with "death," he could be resurrected using this detached part?

The moment the thought appeared, he dismissed it.

Forget it. He was currently just a small E-rank Anomaly who hadn't even fully mastered his own body yet. How could he possibly possess such a high-level ability?

However, there might actually be other uses for it; he just needed to verify them...

Knock, knock, knock—

Suddenly, a series of urgent knocks came from the door.

Ren Yi, lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes.

No one would be particularly happy about being disturbed right after lying down to rest.

"Who is it?" he asked, deliberately infusing his tone with the coldness and detachment of someone who had just been woken up.

"Lord Son of God, it's me."

A familiar female voice came from outside—the same female believer who had led him to this room earlier. "May I come in?"

Ren Yi frowned, a trace of doubt rising in his heart.

Between browsing the forum and studying the energy crystal, only about an hour had passed in total.

If this female believer had business with him, she should have mentioned it when she was leading the way. Returning so soon after leaving was far too abnormal.

He wordlessly got out of bed and opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, the female believer gave a faint smile. Her smile carried a strange sense of boldness, completely unlike her previous respectful demeanor.

She didn't even wait for Ren Yi's invitation before brushing past him into the room and sitting directly on the bed.

Ren Yi's heart grew wary.

This woman... her attitude was wrong.

"Lord Son of God, I am very sorry to disturb you," the female believer said, lightly smoothing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "But the Pope just gave me new orders."

She paused, stressing each word. "Lord Son of God, to be honest, my ability is 'Lie Detection.' I hope you will cooperate and answer a few questions for me."

"Lie Detection?"

Ren Yi's heart skipped a beat.

If this woman was telling the truth, then he was only one step away from being exposed.

His identity as the "Son of God" was entirely a facade. As long as she asked a few key questions, his lies would be punctured.

Vague or indirect answers would be useless in this situation; in fact, they would only make his predicament worse.

He began to secretly sense the illusion seed he had planted earlier, while simultaneously gripping his only piece of "Ammunition," ready to make a break for it at any moment.

But at the same time, he felt a faint sense that something was off.

If the Holy City had the ability to detect lies, why hadn't they used it before? Why send an Esper here alone now?

At that moment, Ren Yi suddenly realized that the faint sense of being watched had vanished.

What was going on? At a time like this, shouldn't the watcher be staring at him intently to ensure they could take him down the moment he showed any abnormality?

Could it be that something happened to the watcher? The probability of that was too low.

Ren Yi's mind raced, and he suddenly thought of a possibility.

"Heh," Ren Yi raised an eyebrow, his tone turning aggressive. "If you wanted to ask questions, you should have asked them earlier. If you're going to doubt me, then doubt me openly."

"If the Pope truly had concerns, he would have come to ask me himself. There is no reason for him to let me rest halfway and then send you here alone."

"You didn't say a word the whole way here, yet you wait until now to come running back. Are you sick in the head?"

"Whose instructions are you following? Or do you just think you're the only sane one in the world, insisting on questioning someone you shouldn't?"

If this female believer had truly been sent by the Pope, then the watcher shouldn't have left at this moment.

Unless something had really gone wrong, the Pope wouldn't expect this female believer, who possessed a non-combat ability, to take him down by herself.

The other possibility was that they weren't on the same side, and the watcher didn't know who this female believer was.

Encountering what looked like internal infighting within the Holy City, the watcher wouldn't dare make a decision on their own and would have hurried to find the Pope for confirmation.

Taking a step back, if this woman really had a "Lie Detection" ability, Ren Yi absolutely could not cooperate with her.

Now that he had deduced this possibility, he had to take a gamble.

And that was... to shut her down.

His original body, Mo Ming, wasn't some real Son of God; he was a wilderness hunter who had clawed his way up from the bottom.

Why would a prickly wilderness hunter, who lived with his life on the line, be submissive to a female believer of unknown origin?

The woman's expression stiffened. Ren Yi's reaction was somewhat outside her expectations.

"Lord Son of God," she narrowed her eyes, having maintained intense eye contact with Ren Yi from the start. "Is your refusal to answer because you have a guilty conscience?"

Ren Yi glared back without hesitation. "I don't like talking to idiots of unknown origin."

The woman took a deep breath as if forcing down her anger, her eyes still locked onto Ren Yi's. "Even if you don't cooperate, I will still ask."

With that, she stared at Ren Yi and began to recite with a blank expression.

"Are you loyal to the Holy City? Did you clear the Instance on your own? Is everything you said at the Three Cities Meeting true? Is the method of salvation you mentioned real? Are you..."

"?"

Ren Yi was stunned by the woman's bizarre, nonsensical behavior.

Lady, are you being a bit... surreal?

He stared at her as if she were a lunatic, but the woman acted as if she didn't notice. She continued to recite questions mechanically while staring back at him defiantly.

Could it be that her ability wasn't Lie Detection, but rather that she could obtain answers just by reciting questions in front of someone?

What a joke. Even if such an ability existed, it wasn't something this low-magic post-apocalyptic world could support.

Then what kind of fit was she throwing?

Ren Yi suddenly thought of a joke from his previous life: characters are invincible during their transformation sequence, and enemies cannot attack.

In the joke, the protagonist would perform all sorts of bizarre actions to leave the opponent in a state of confusion, making them stand there like an idiot.

So... she's trying to draw my attention and stall for time?

But why? If his deduction was correct, the Pope would be here soon.

Stalling for time should actually be beneficial to him, the "Son of God."

In front of him, the woman continued to recite: "Did you kill your own people in the Instance? Did you side with the Anomalies in the Instance? Are you..."

"Instance"?

Wait, Ren Yi suddenly realized something.

The people of the Holy City believed that Anomaly Instances were trials sent by the gods.

In previous conversations and during the meeting, people from the other two cities used the term "Instance," but the people of the Holy City always called them "Trials"!

Ren Yi was struck with a sudden shock.

It was obviously impossible for people from the other two cities to be here, so this woman who was saying "Instance"...

Holy crap, there's an Anomaly!