Chapter 168 You Can Study Me
Winter followed Ethan and walked through the familiar streets of the imperial capital. Compared with the last time she came here, the city looked almost the same.

It was a stagnant city, and yet she had lived here for many years as a member of the Council of Seven.

At this moment, all the wanted warrants against her were withdrawn, and the charges against the Violet Commune were also cleared. She witnessed the process of the Pope and others being tied to the stake and executed. No matter what their mood was or how many curses they had uttered, they were all devoured by the flames until they turned into ashes.

To Winter, it all seemed to happen too fast, so much so that she never thought about what would happen after revenge.

The Empire seemed to be back on track.

A new “faith” is being established, and the news of the impending Doomsday will spread an unprecedented sense of crisis among the people. However, people’s way of faith has changed. Compared with the past when people went to cathedrals to attend worship and placed their hopes on illusory things, many people now have a strong motivation, as if they are fighting side by side for a grand goal.

Unknowingly, the two left the imperial capital and traveled through the snow and wind in the north. The noise on the streets gradually faded away. At the end of the snow and wind was Mr. Big Cat’s cave, which was also her past residence. Many changes had taken place in the cave. Ivy and others brought a lot of furniture and made simple decorations on the cave. Their personal belongings were also placed on the ground. After the war ended, they had not had time to count them.

Then, Winter discovered an unusual object.

It was a red gem shrouded in a faint light and looked somewhat familiar.

She almost immediately recognized that this gem was similar to the one on the Pope’s scepter. The Pope’s scepter was a miraculous object that had existed since the founding of the empire. It was forged by Saint Hillman himself and later became a token of every pope. When power was transferred, it would be handed over to the new pope.

The ruby ​​that symbolizes the Pope’s power has been shattered in the war.

This gem does not belong to any of them.

Then, Winter noticed something unusual.

Ethan hadn’t spoken for a long time, and when she was on the streets of the imperial capital just now, people seemed not to see her.

Even if the wrongful conviction is cleared, people’s attitude towards her will not be so easily changed.

What she passed by seemed to be just images that had been set in advance, and each image seemed to be moving along a set trajectory, just like… the illusion they saw in the contaminated area of ​​Wolf’s Head Fort.

She always felt that was not the power of Bazatos.

Winter felt the call of the ruby. She bent down, and the moment her index finger touched the ruby, the whole world peeled off and shattered, taking off the outer layer. All that was left was darkness, a void that was only illuminated by a little light. She seemed to be standing in the starry sky. Apart from her, outside this vast sea of ​​stars, there was only another person who looked like her.

The woman had her back to her, looking up at the starry sky in the distance.

The faintly glowing stars reflected a scene that was strange yet somewhat familiar to the winter.

It seems to be the imperial capital as well.

The imperial capital was shrouded in a bloody plague, with twisted flesh-and-blood creatures occupying the streets, and even the destroyed seemed to be infected.

The body of Pope Julius lay in the middle of the street, with countless ice spikes piercing his body. His eyes were wide open, as if he had died with his eyes open.

“so good.”

The woman turned around and looked at her with envy, noticing the change in Winter’s eyes and the gathering ice field, she just raised the corners of her mouth.

The flow of time stopped, but the woman walked on unaffected.

“Want to catch me? This is the plan you…or we and Ethan discussed.”

She raised her eyebrows, with a strange light in her eyes. “Actually, it doesn’t have to be so troublesome. When you see him, just blindfold yourself and lock your hands behind your back with shackles. Of course, you can also put on the gag if you want.”

Winter suddenly understood something and asked, “Is there anything I need to know now?”

The woman immediately showed a relieved expression. “He helped you, now it’s your turn to help him. The key is the characteristics of the evil gods. Just like treating gods, you have to strip off their outer clothes… I can only remind you of this, otherwise something terrible will happen to you. Oh, by the way.”

She suddenly thought of something and added, “I left you some clues. If you see me at some point in the future like I did in Wolf’s Head, it means something is about to happen.”

“anything else?”

Winter quietly waited for her next words.

“Hmm…” The woman seemed to be thinking about something, and then said, “You can also try blindfolding yourself. It might be very exciting.”

……

The singing in the tavern brought Lin Dong back to reality. This was an independent compartment. Next to her sat Ethan, and opposite her sat Rowena, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time. She was excitedly accusing Ethan of something.

“You guys, have you completely forgotten about me?”

Rowena took a sip of liquor and became emotional.

Now the whole city is spreading their glorious deeds, describing them as heroes who thwarted the Pope’s conspiracy, but her name has not been mentioned by anyone. According to the strategy, her mission is to ambush in the central city, which is the only way for the rebels to escape. Then she will use the cutting magic circle that she has spent a whole night to set up to annihilate them.

It sounds thrilling, but she lay in ambush in Midtown for a whole day and didn’t see even a shadow of a rebel!

Rowena also went to the square today to witness the execution ceremony. Freeman, who was supposed to be her target, had been burned to death.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. “Are you guys excluding me?”

Even Miss Chloe was widely known as the “divine bird” by the people of the Imperial Capital, but she was the only one whose heads were all K-ed out! She learned this professional term from Ethan, who described Turzan in this way when analyzing the battle of the Imperial Capital. Now Rowena knew how abominable this behavior was.

Fortunately, the cutting magic scrolls were not triggered and were still about 80% new. She could continue to use them or sell them at Lao Sen’s Magic Technology Store to recover her health.

All the basic materials were paid for by her own pocket!
“Rowena, you are the backbone of the team. Although Prince Freeman’s troops have not escaped the encirclement, we can only rest assured if you ambush in the central city.”

Ethan didn’t mean it. He seriously overestimated the rebels’ resilience and thought they would fight to the last moment. However, when the sun rose, they all surrendered, leaving Freeman alone, shouting and rushing into the crowd. He was kicked to the ground by the other side.

“Really? You didn’t lie to me?”

Rowena was skeptical, and looked at Ethan with one eye bigger than the other, but she was actually quite happy in her heart.

Ethan made up a story, “Of course, your existence is like the concept of the phantom fifth person. You are in the fog and will only take action at the most critical moment.”

Rowena immediately smiled happily.

She had been secretly observing the situation in the imperial capital recently, heard people’s praises for Ethan, and learned about the grand plan.

She knew that Ethan was the one who formulated the plan and was considered by people to be greater than the true God.

And now, Ethan described her as the backbone of the team, and she was also awarded the title of the Phantom Fifth. Although she had no idea what this title was for, it must be an important part of the great plan. Usually, only key figures could get the title.

Rowena looked at Lin Dong arrogantly, “Lin Dong, why haven’t you said anything?”

“I’m thinking about something.”

Winter didn’t bother to look at her, he seemed to be thinking about something.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Which style of eye mask is better to buy?”

“Eye mask? Have you been having trouble sleeping recently? Haha, I didn’t expect you could be so nervous that you couldn’t sleep.”

Rowena smiled happily. When she was a partner with Lin Dong before, this guy always had a cold face and didn’t like dealing with people. But after meeting Ethan, he became a completely different person and became more and more human.

But as she laughed, she suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Winter had a very bad temper. If she exposed him in front of him, he would be so angry that he would turn into a cat and scratch her or even let her eat an ice arrow. However, instead of taking action, Winter avoided looking at Ethan, with a slight blush on his face.

An ominous premonition came to my mind.

“You… can’t sleep… right?” The cubicle suddenly fell into a suffocating silence. Until the door of the cubicle was pushed open, Rowena didn’t get a definite answer.

The ones who came in were Ivy, Bi’an and Miss Chloe.

Their faces were filled with fatigue. They had not been quiet since the end of the war. Apart from the three members of the seven-member council who were convicted, the institution they established was also facing the situation of overthrow and reorganization. Although people were inspired by the “grand plan”, it was not an exaggeration to describe the internal affairs of the empire as a mess.

But the second prince Damian is a fool. All he did every day was go to the Imperial Theater to watch dramas, or hang out with those noble ladies. He is so foolish that the Pope is unwilling to take him with him when they do bad things. He is a puppet emperor who is more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything. Perhaps in the eyes of the Pope, Damian’s continued foolish life is the biggest help.

After the coup, Damian stayed in his bedroom every day in a state of panic, fearing that he would be dragged out and killed, but in fact no one had the energy to pay attention to him.

“My aunt is forming a new cabinet in the name of the Margaret family. If nothing unexpected happens, the next heir to the throne will be between the eldest prince and the third princess.”

The golden hair on Ivy’s head drooped listlessly, motionless, and looked like she was taking a nap. “They have the support of the Enlightenment Society and the Holy Temple of Netheril behind them.”

For the precarious imperial capital, it is particularly important to gain the support of an entire group of extraordinary forces. “The death of the gods has also caused them a lot of impact. The Academy and the Astrology Guild have expressed their desire to hold a meeting, but the Lophik Consortium has disappeared.”

Ethan was not surprised by this.

The civil war in the empire did not break out, and the other side, who was supposed to be dead, is still alive. In addition, with the return of the Winter Witch, there are two saints in charge of the empire. Those foreign forces that are ready to provoke a war should have calmed down.

“The biggest problem now is that the death of the Pope and the retreat of the Lophik Consortium have made the Empire’s diplomacy a big problem. My aunt hopes to reconvene a diplomatic conference, but she needs someone of some weight to take the lead.”

Ivy said, “It would be great if we could find a way to contact Yug.”

“Yuger, who is it?”

Rowena asked.

The other side said, “The son of the chairman of the Deep Sea Council visited the Imperial Capital as a diplomatic representative a few months ago. I met him once.”

If nothing unexpected happens, Yuge will be a strong contender for the future speaker. “But we don’t have much relationship with the Deep Sea Council, so it should be difficult to persuade him.”

Ivy glanced at Ethan and said, “That depends on the charm of Old Ethan. Yuger is an old customer of our store. He even sent a letter to remind us before.”

The Deep Sea Parliament is an important provider of steam technology, but compared to the royal family, they are closer to the Lophik Consortium. During the formation of the new cabinet, several letters were sent to the consortium. The consortium’s attitude was ambiguous, neither supporting nor opposing, and it has been adopting a policy of procrastination.

Ivy felt that this was reasonable. After the fall of the Vatican, the Lofik Group, which controlled the financial lifeline of the empire, became a problem that had to be solved. For ordinary residents of the empire, the factories under the name of the Lofik Group and the various resources they occupied had a much more far-reaching impact.

“I can send a letter to Yug, but I’m not sure if it will work.”

Ethan has never been interested in politics. Doomsday is approaching, and once the evil god comes, these fragile political games will be torn apart like toys.

He has already decided on the next research topic. Ethan has always advocated that if you want to defeat your opponent, you must first understand your opponent’s strategy. Now that he has established a deep friendship with Lao Ba and Kane, he has to find a way to use this friendship to more deeply understand the nature of the evil god.

Obviously, they are different from the righteous gods and the middle gods. The evil gods are more ancient. They existed before the birth of human civilization in the First Age. They also have longer lifespans, and they have outlasted all human gods just by staying up all night to watch the falcons.

“We have also encountered some problems here. I don’t know what happened to Kane. I can’t contact him recently.”

Ethan thought about it and felt that he had never offended Kane.

Now that there has been such a great turmoil in the imperial capital, this should have been Kane’s happiest moment, but he has never shown up. What’s even more strange is that he was unable to summon the other party using the summoning spell that Winter taught him. This made Ethan worry about the safety of his old friend.

Could it be that Kane was killed by other evil gods in some unknown place?

As far as he knew, the evil gods were far less united than the righteous gods, and they were in competition with each other. Kane had clearly expressed that he was a dedicated person and did not like those with mixed beliefs, while Old Ba was a complete Minotaur fanatic and specifically targeted those with firm beliefs.

The more it is forced upon Him, the more He likes it.

Hearing this, Lin Dong suddenly thought of something.

She recalled the conversation in the abnormal space.

The key point is the characteristics of evil gods. Just like treating gods, you must strip off their outer shells.

The other self seemed to have known the direction of Ethan’s next research.

But this is a riddle-style guide, full of confusion, and more like a question than an answer.

Winter doesn’t like the Riddler, but she seems to understand why he can’t tell her the correct answer – the stars in space gave her clues, she saw the destroyed imperial capital, the scarlet plague brought down by Bazatos infected everyone, and in the stars she saw, the plague could not be cured.

Bazatos harvested enough souls to project the contaminated area to the imperial capital.

The power of the Holy See was eventually destroyed, but the price was that the entire empire fell apart due to the destruction of the imperial capital. Civil war and foreign enemies destroyed this ancient country. When the death toll in the war reached a certain level, Ethan’s worries came true.

The polluted areas distributed in various places were connected together, and when the real plane was completely occupied, the ban was broken.

And now, at this critical time when information is needed, their good friend Magic Kane has lost contact again.

She may have gotten other hints there, too.

Lin Dong carefully recalled every word she had heard, and when she recalled those blushing and heart-pounding contents, she seemed to suddenly understand something.

Before leaving, the other party emphasized this to her again.

“Ethan.”

“Ok?”

“Maybe… This may sound a little strange. Wait a minute. You need to be mentally prepared. I’ll give you two minutes.”

Lin Dong took a deep breath. Obviously, she also needed to be mentally prepared.

Although she had read many forbidden books exploring the mysteries of life in the church library of Gear City before, she had no practical experience and was not even at the entry level. What she heard in the abnormal space seemed like something that only super masters would do.

Just the thought of it made her blush.

“here we go again!”

Rowena slammed the table and stood up. She had thought it was suspicious that Lindong suddenly wanted to buy an eye mask. Now she saw that this cat really had no good intentions.

These villains don’t give single people any chance to survive!
Of course, Rowena stated that she was standing up for others, and veterans like her who had more than a dozen dating experiences were naturally not included.

“Teacher, what do you want to say?”

Ethan asked. Although he was a little confused, he also prepared according to the other party’s reminder.

“I think, in fact, it is not necessary to find Kane.”

“Teacher, do you mean we can start with Lao Ba?”

When he lost contact with Kane, Ethan focused his attention on Old Ba.

But, Lao Ba is a good guy in every way except that he can’t speak clearly, and his mumbling is not something that normal people can understand.

Maybe he should find a translator.

“wrong!”

Lin Dong’s face turned red all the way to her neck. Her voice became lower and lower, and she became hesitant. “I mean, you can study me.”

(End of this chapter)