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At this bizarre sight, the Sister's expression suddenly turned grim.

She walked over quickly to the one-eyed man and repeatedly examined his wound. Aside from the dark-red blood inexplicably spreading from his chest, there were no signs of any puncture wound from a sharp weapon...

She moved to the other corpses, bending down to inspect them one by one. The results were exactly the same.

The Sister's expression grew even more unsightly.

“What... what is going on?” The girl seemed to have only just snapped out of her terror, asking the Sister with a lingering look of fear.

“Those people are all dead. They died from bleeding in their chests,” the Sister said, straightening up.

“Bleeding in their chests... How could that be? Didn't they say earlier that only those patients would show these symptoms...?” A hint of surprise appeared on Solana's face.

Hearing this, the Sister suddenly turned her head and said, out of nowhere:

“Shouldn't I be asking you that?”

Solana felt a wave of suspicion and alarm in her heart, but she quickly dismissed these possibilities.

On one hand, she had never displayed any supernatural power since entering the tavern. On the other hand, the attack of those flesh buds earlier could simply be explained by her close proximity to him.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't find any slip-up that would have exposed her.

With that thought, she put on a puzzled expression and said, “Ask me? But I didn't do anything...”

The moment the words left her mouth, a spiked plant instantly burst through the wall, thrusting straight toward Solana's neck.

Knowing the other party wanted to test her, Solana didn't dodge. She immediately closed her eyes in fear, putting on the panicked and helpless act of a normal girl.

When she opened her eyes again, the plant had stopped less than a centimeter in front of her. She immediately pretended to collapse onto the floor, panting heavily.

“It seems you really don't know...”

The Sister waved her hand again, and the plant retracted.

“Then what on earth is the reason...?”

She fell into slight contemplation and muttered to herself, “First, we can rule out natural diseases and accidents. This must be caused by some kind of Beyonder ability. The use of Beyonder abilities cannot be entirely without limitations. The more bizarre the ability, the more it requires a specific trigger mechanism. In other words, there must be some medium that caused this to happen...”

“But what exactly became that medium...?”

Just then, the Sister's gaze unconsciously fell upon the tables in front of the deceased. She suddenly noticed that on the table before each dead person sat an unfinished cup of ale or some other liquor.

She turned her head, looking at Solana, who was still sitting on the floor as if she hadn't recovered from her shock, and asked, “Did you drink the alcohol here?”

Solana still hadn't fully recovered from her state. Only after a long while did she blush and squeeze out a single word: “No...”

“Then why didn't you drink it?” the Sister asked again.

Solana seemed to still be in a huff. She turned her head away petulantly, pouting as she mumbled, “Minors aren't allowed to drink alcohol...”

The Sister: ...

Seeing the other's petulant, little-girl attitude, the Sister stopped asking. She turned her face back and quietly resumed her thoughts.

“Phew... I finally managed to bluff my way through...”

Seeing that the other party was no longer focusing attention on her, Solana finally let out a sigh of relief.

After an unknown amount of time, the Sister seemed to think of something else and walked over to the girl.

Solana's heartstrings tightened once more.

She composed her expression and introduced herself: “My name is Theresa. I am a Rank Two Natural Contractor of the Life pathway from the Holy City. I've been stationed in the slums lately to investigate the movements of the Abyssal Order.”

Then, she pulled a badge from her white robe and tossed it into Solana's hand, saying, “This is my badge. You can take it to the Saint Sophia Cathedral here to seek asylum. They will understand when they see it.”

Thus, Solana tried to close the distance: “Beyonders... I've heard a bit about them! My mother was a super powerful Beyonder!”

“Oh? Which pathway was she on?” Theresa asked.

“She didn't tell me... I only occasionally heard her mention that her abilities seemed to be related to elements. She could assimilate with the environment, use ice crystals to create decoys to swap places, and oh, she could even create identical clones!” Solana counted them down on her fingers.

Theresa listened carefully to her words.

This kind of knowledge was completely inaccessible to ordinary people, which meant her mother was very likely indeed a Beyonder of the Elemental pathway, and at least at Rank Three.

Yet the Beyonder world had always been cruel, and taking relatives hostage was a common occurrence. How could they feel safe letting a young girl out on her own?

After pondering for a moment, Theresa came to a realization.

Perhaps the girl's mother had been following her all along. Theresa had heard that after Rank Two of the Elemental pathway, one could swap locations through certain objects and perform a certain degree of perception.

“Then... can I follow you...?” Solana asked timidly.

Theresa did not refuse, which naturally meant she agreed.

Seeing this, Solana instantly grew excited and seized the opportunity to throw out more questions: “Sister Theresa, what is the Abyssal Order?”

“A dangerous organization.”

“Is what just happened related to them?”

Theresa rubbed the space between her eyebrows and said, “Perhaps, perhaps not. To be honest, in all my years of investigating the Abyssal Order, this is the first time I've seen such a situation.”

“Can the people from this organization also release black smoke?” Solana's eyes suddenly sparkled.

Theresa paused for a moment, then turned her head to ask, “Where did you hear that? Did your mother tell you that too?”

“Mhm, mhm...”

“That is the signature ability of their Rank Two Devourer. Beyonders of the Demon pathway love using black smoke to feed on despair,” Theresa said.

“Feeding on despair?”

“Yes, and it is related to their Rank Three advancement ritual.”

A Rank Three advancement ritual... So, the Abyssal Order assassin I encountered before, was his true purpose to advance? Solana secretly speculated.

“Then where do the people of the Abyssal Order usually operate?” Solana tried to pry for more information.

Theresa thought for a moment and said, “Some hidden places in the slums. Abandoned cellars, underground warehouses, those could all be their primary activity hubs. I've taken down quite a few of their strongholds, so I know a thing or two about it.”

“Amazing! Then how do you resist their mental pollution?” Solana praised sincerely, following up with another question.

With that thought, Solana's eyes sparkled.

“One of my abilities is to detect the movements of those around me through the sound of the wind, which is enough for me to fight with my eyes closed. Most of the Abyssal Order members I've faced in the past contaminated others through their eyes or through items that require a direct gaze to take effect.”

“Are those red plants and worms also part of your ability? Why does it feel like it doesn't fit the style of the Church of Life?” Solana asked curiously.

Theresa shook her head and said, “No, you know too little about our Church. Such abilities are very common and extremely normal in our Holy City.”

Solana was about to ask another question when Sister Theresa suddenly sensed something. Her gaze sharpened as she looked toward the tavern door, shouting:

“Who's there?!”

Countless dark-red vines instantly grew out from everywhere, lunging toward that shadow.

The heavy sounds of the vines smashing against the ground rang out in succession.

However, as the dust cleared...

There was nothing left at the doorway except for a somewhat familiar cloak lying on the ground.