Chapter 863 - 218: Revenge
Adis had no acquaintances in the Church.
So there’s only one reason he could become an official disciple, he received the favor of the Divine Spirit!
It’s important to note that at least two or three hundred people became believers of the All Beings Sect today, and even when he left, there were still many people being escorted to the entrance of the church.
However, not many became official disciples, only a dozen or so, and Adis was one of them.
"Brother, I don’t think things look good. When we go back, put away these clothes and don’t tell anyone. There seem to be many people from the Black Rope Sect around here." Tarian looked down the street and saw many people wearing black religious robes with animal patterns resembling snakes.
Adis looked over as well, nodded, understanding what Tarian meant: "Okay, I’ll head back first, be careful yourself."
Turning around, he walked up the stairs.
His home was located very close to the church, just next door.
This was an apartment; walking along the corridor, some doors were open, while others were tightly shut.
Through the open doors, one could peer inside from outside, revealing chaotic scenes, as if they had been ransacked.
During the plague, many people died, some entire families were wiped out, and if there were no relatives, their property would be plundered by others.
The city’s government had no intention of managing such affairs, let alone caring for these civilians who were unlikely to survive.
"Where did you go this afternoon, and what’s with those clothes?" A person wrapped from head to toe, exposing only their eyes, tilted their head to look at him and asked coldly.
"Me?"
"I just joined a new church, it’s quite a good one." Adis passed by the person, saying.
That person convulsed, began to laugh to themselves mockingly, seemingly ridiculing his ignorance, "About to die, believing in anything, thinking someone can save you. Give me that clock from your house, so it won’t be snatched by others."
"Don’t be thinking I’ll die, I’m far from death, even if you die, I won’t." Adis wasn’t angry, turned back to look at them earnestly and said: "Also, this church truly has the ability to cure the plague."
After saying this, he opened the door and walked inside, slammed the door shut behind him, completely isolating the outside noise.
Inside, he was alone, without light, very quiet, shadows concealed his cheeks.
Fully relaxed, he felt sleepiness approaching, without much thought walked into the bedroom and lay down to sleep.
His arm had ointment applied, most of the pain was relieved.
He fell asleep easily, he hadn’t slept so soundly in a long time, not needing to worry about death, fearing that once asleep he might never wake again.
...
Bang bang~
Intense banging from outside woke Adis, he slowly opened his eyes, lips parched, eyes bloodshot.
"Who’s there?"
He staggered out of bed, shouting towards the door.
By now it was deep into the night, pitch-black outside, the streetlights faintly visible.
The intense knocking continued, with a loud collision, the door latch flew off, seven or eight people burst in from outside, grabbed him, holding him in place.
Adis was startled, immediately awake, and saw that the person before him wore a black ear cap.
"Sir, he was one of the official disciples today, surely has a special relationship with the All Beings Sect." The ear-cap wearer said sycophantically, sinisterly staring at Adis.
Adis understood at once what was happening, angrily said: "Ruth, you set me up!"
Then he explained to the black-robed believer beside him: "Sir, this guy has a grudge against me, he wants to retaliate against me!"
The Black Rope Sect believer smiled faintly, asking: "Are you now an official disciple of the All Beings Sect?"
Adis paused, then nodded: "Yes."
The believer waved his hand, saying: "Then there’s no problem, take him away."
Adis immediately sensed something was wrong, wanted to struggle, but found the people gripping him terrifyingly strong, unable to break free, clearly trained.
Moreover, the other side had more people, making escaping impossible, so he simply gave up.
After calming a bit, he felt furious about Ruth’s actions, glared at Ruth and cursed:
"You ungrateful traitor, the church just cured your illness, and you go and do this!"
Ruth saw Adis’s agitated expression and couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows: "Well, go tell it to the Black Rope Sect’s lord then."
Ruth watched as Adis was led away, a smile on his face; it was the joy of victory, the thrill of revenge. He still remembered the scene when Adis had thrown him out of the factory:
"You think I forgot? I’ve always remembered. Goodbye, Adis."
He knew the Black Rope Sect was not to be trifled with. Many who offended them disappeared by the second day, and their bodies would later be found in the sewers.
These bodies were never concealed; everyone knew it was the work of the Black Rope Sect, yet no one ever spoke out. The local nobility and city government instead maintained the sect’s face.
The Black Rope Sect was now the de facto ruler of Du Lan, practically an emperor here.
He also knew that the recently arrived new Church would suffer misfortune, even if they held the means to cure the plague.
"I’m grateful to you all, but there’s nothing I can do."
Ruth wiped away the remnants of guilt in his heart, then lowered his head, descended the stairs, and hurriedly left.
...
After some scuffle, Adis felt himself led into a room, and his mask was torn off.
He looked around; it was a small room lit by candlelight, with snake-like black patterns on the walls that, at a glance, seemed alive and slithering, making his skin crawl.
In front of him was a man with black lips wearing a hood, scrutinizing him, and then he asked:
"You became an official believer today?"
Adis looked around and, seeing no one else, showed a frightened expression and quickly nodded, saying:
"Yes, I became an official believer, sir. What are you going to do to me? I haven’t done anything wrong. They said they could cure the plague in me, so I went."
The hooded man nodded, giving a look of approval, and said, "There’s nothing wrong with wanting to survive. Have your plague symptoms improved?"
Adis hesitated for a moment and said, "It seems like they’ve improved."
"Seems like?"
"It’s better than before; their methods are effective," Adis explained again, still looking very scared, his voice trembling nonstop, and under the faint light, cold sweat could be seen on his forehead.
The hooded man nodded, grasping his shoulder lightly and said:
"Then why did they make you an official believer? I’ve heard very few people become official believers."
Hearing this, Adis shook his head repeatedly, saying, "I don’t know, I don’t know why they made me an official believer. I hadn’t seen them before."
Clearly, the hooded man did not believe his words, silently watching him.
Adis continued, "Just this afternoon, someone came to me, saying they could cure the plague."
"My symptoms were already severe, so I went with them. After going, they made us believers, and then someone told me I became an official believer."
The hooded man showed a thoughtful expression and further asked, "How did they cure the plague in you? What method did they use?"
Adis thought for a moment, then said, "After we finished taking our baptismal vows under the statue, they told us that the plague in us had been cured."
"So I suspect they rely on some kind of medicine that can be ignited to treat the plague. At that time, I smelled a peculiar ancient scent in the church, faint but detectable."
"My nose has always been sensitive," Adis emphasized.
What he said was, of course, his guess. From the beginning, he had been pondering how the All Beings Sect cured the plague in them, thinking from the perspective of an ordinary person.
Claiming that it was the work of a Divine Spirit, he remained skeptical, holding a great deal of doubt, which led him to this explanation.
The hooded man smiled and said, "The information you’ve provided is very helpful. I hope you can cooperate with us; we can’t let you go back yet."
He then turned his head and shouted to the outside, "Lock him up!"
Two large men in black religious robes dragged him out of the room, turning left and right before descending a staircase.
Below was a dungeon, where the sound of wailing could be heard; the ground was stained with dried blood, and the air was filled with a putrid smell.
Adis knew this was the smell of corpses because he had smelled it before. Apparently, someone had died here, but no one cared.
Soon, he saw a person wearing white religious robes squatting in front of an iron gate, wailing at them: "Sir, I have nothing to do with them, let me go. I swear, I definitely have nothing to do with them!"
Adis remembered that, like him, that person had become an official believer but ended up captured and imprisoned here.
This realization balanced his heart a lot; at least he wasn’t the only one caught by the Black Rope Sect because of this.
Besides, there were other people in the prison, some of whom appeared to have been imprisoned for a long time, leaning against the walls, their eyes vacant.
Previously, Adis had never heard that the Black Rope Sect had such a large dungeon, holding so many people.
After the plague spread, the city’s order had long since collapsed; even if people went missing, no one cared.