Understanding

...

Ren Yi stepped out of the tent, with Zhang Qiuqiu, inhabiting the body of "Extinction," following closely behind him.

If the Pope was telling the truth, then Ren Yi was now the rightful supreme ruler of the Holy City, and he no longer needed to bother hiding anything.

He could simply use the excuse that he had tamed "Extinction" to silence any questions from the followers.

If the world outside was full of machine guns and cannons, there would be even less need to pretend to restrain "Extinction."

Of course, Ren Yi had already used his perception to confirm that the area outside was safe.

In the distance, the priest who had first shown them the way was still waiting. Seeing Ren Yi emerge, he immediately hurried over to greet him.

However, when his gaze swept past the tent entrance and saw only two people coming out, and then caught sight of Zhang Qiuqiu, his footsteps came to a sudden halt, and he didn't dare draw any closer.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt anyone," Ren Yi reassured him.

"What were the Pope's arrangements? Just follow the instructions he gave you before."

Whatever the Pope had told him, the priest merely lowered his head quickly, raised a hand to wipe his eyes, gave a hurried response, and then turned to walk away in haste.

Ren Yi paid no further attention to the movement within the camp. He walked straight out and sat down on the same earthen slope where he had previously performed his miracle.

He needed to sort out his thoughts.

"You just agreed to his request like that?" Zhang Qiuqiu followed him over and crouched beside him. The mutant beast's head tilted slightly, her voice filled with confusion.

"What else could I do?" Ren Yi shrugged helplessly. "Under those circumstances, could I have said no?"

After the Pope finished speaking, he had answered a few more of their questions before taking his own life with the dagger in his hand.

In his own words, he wanted to die with dignity as the last sane human in the Holy City.

There were no restrictions and no threats. This old man, who had guarded the Holy City his entire life, had simply and lightly handed over the city he had spent his life protecting to these two heretics who were destined to "destroy" it.

"It's truly hard to understand," Zhang Qiuqiu said, shaking the mutant beast's head.

"Is it because we're Anomalies that we can't understand humans? But the Alliance said we were raised in a one-to-one replica of human society."

Ren Yi thought for a moment and replied with a complex tone.

"Actually, humans often can't understand other humans either."

A silence followed for a while.

"Fine, then what do you plan to do now, 'Lord Son of God'?" Zhang Qiuqiu curled her lip, intentionally emphasizing the title.

"Are you really going to keep your promise?"

But as soon as she spoke, she shook her own head.

"Setting aside how abstract his request is, just the part about 'covering the entire city' would require at least an adult Anomaly to pull off."

Ren Yi shrugged. "I'll give it a try. Since I've been given control over the Holy City for the next few days, I can't just take the benefits and do nothing. I think I can manage another 'harvest' here."

"Besides, the Pope might have guessed part of my ability. Since he made the request, it means he thinks I can do it?"

At this point, Ren Yi felt a bit helpless.

The Pope had seen his "miracle," but was he perhaps overestimating him?

"Sigh, anyway, as long as we don't mess around, the Holy City shouldn't pose any danger to us for the next few days."

Among the final questions Ren Yi had asked the Pope was the current location of "Azure."

Entering an Instance was a one-way trip for Participants, so Azure couldn't have left the Three Cities World; he had to be somewhere within it.

The Pope's answer was that Azure had disappeared when the apocalypse arrived, and at that time, he had been on the far side of the world.

Furthermore, if that fellow was busy turning into an Anomaly, he likely wouldn't have time to bother with them.

Otherwise, if they bumped into each other again within the Alliance, wouldn't it be even easier for his cover to be blown?

Speaking of which, the Anomalies entering the Three Cities World this time would surely be picked up one-on-one by their Parents upon their return.

If Azure really dared to sneak into the Alliance, wouldn't he be discovered the moment he showed his face?

Ren Yi felt that this was starting to sound like a bit of a dark joke.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?" Zhang Qiuqiu poked him with a claw.

Ren Yi snapped back to reality. "I just feel like the Pope was still hiding a few things."

"Hiding what?" Zhang Qiuqiu's interest was instantly piqued, the mutant beast's eyes widening.

"Think about it," Ren Yi held up his hands, gesturing as he organized his thoughts. "From beginning to end, he kept saying that this 'world' has long been without hope, right?"

"If I understood correctly, when he said 'long been,' he meant that the 'lack of hope' wasn't because of the Calamity, but because of the series of events caused by Azure."

"But the reason he gave for this 'lack of hope' was that the 'people of the Holy City' had all undergone soul mutation."

"Don't you think that logic is strange?"

"The reason the 'world' has no hope is because the 'Holy City' is beyond saving?"

Ren Yi explained it to Zhang Qiuqiu, and as he spoke, his own cluttered thoughts gradually became clearer.

"What about the other cities?" Ren Yi stared into Zhang Qiuqiu's eyes and asked word by word.

"Or rather, what about the only one left, Xin City?"

The communication device from the Three Cities Meeting had existed for a long time. Could the Xin King have been in contact with the Pope all along?

Was the "method of salvation" the Xin King spoke of really just a simple lie?

Even if the world's will didn't provide a "method of salvation," wouldn't people seek a way to survive on their own?

But if there really was a way to survive, what could it be?

"That's unlikely." After listening to Ren Yi's analysis, Zhang Qiuqiu thought hard for a moment before shaking her head.

"According to the Pope, the world Azure originally came from was much stronger than this one. Yet, only Azure managed to escape."

"Even if they have some technology from Azure's world, they probably still couldn't do it."

"When the Pope said Azure planned to turn into an Anomaly to escape the Calamity, I thought for a split second that it might actually work."

"But an entire city of people... you can't turn an entire city's worth of people into Anomalies. That's not just a matter of being discovered immediately."

Ren Yi fell silent, sinking into deep thought.

Setting aside whether it was even possible for humans to become Anomalies.

Besides becoming an Anomaly, was there any other way to survive?

Or rather, besides Anomalies, what else could leave this world intact under the weight of a Calamity?

Ultimately, he shook his head and gave up on the thought.

"Forget it, if I can't figure it out, I won't think about it. This doesn't seem like something we two Cubs should be worrying about."

"Old Lu is over in Xin City. I'll check in with him over the next couple of days to see if there's any unusual activity there."

"In addition," he stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes, "we still have one last mutant beast nest to 'harvest' before we head back to the Holy City. We need to hurry."