Nightmare Light

Chapter 171 The Story of Vice-Bishop Zhao

Are mortals qualified to receive gifts from the gods?

Outside Tangsheng City, deep within an ancient temple, in a strange stone chamber.

Deputy Bishop Zhao spoke slowly, his glasses reflecting light as he stared intently at Lin Wang.

Lin Wang narrowed his eyes slightly, but a slow smile appeared on his lips: "Is your question related to mine?"

"Young man, is my question difficult to answer?"

"It's not difficult, but this question is irrelevant to the answer I'm looking for."

Vice-Bishop Zhao stared straight at Lin Wang for a few seconds. Lin Wang also looked at the old man at the same time, and although he smiled, his eyes never left him.

Seven or eight seconds later, the old man was the first to look away.

He pulled out the stone cube from somewhere, held it in his right hand, and slowly played with it while walking over to a chair.

Deputy Bishop Zhao leaned his scepter against the chair and sat down. He picked up the stone and stared at it for a few moments.

"That was many, many years ago... many, many years ago. I was very young then... about a teenager."

The old man held the stone in his hand, staring intently at it, and spoke slowly.

“I was born on the federal border in a small mountain village that was very close to the fog.”

"The village was so small that it didn't even have a proper name."

"That village is also very poor—every now and then, mercenaries will enter the fog, and before entering the fog, they will rest and resupply in the village, which is almost the village's biggest source of income."

"For us village kids, watching these mercenaries come and go, live and die... was practically the biggest form of entertainment."

The old man paused for a few seconds after saying this.

He raised his hand and drew a triangle in front of his chest.

“In the small village I lived in, there was no temple at first. Then one year, a mercenary who was also a priest built a temple in the village—actually, he just found an empty house that no one lived in, did some minor repairs, and put a portrait of my mother inside.”

"It was during this process that I developed my faith in my mother—of course, for any new believer who has just developed faith, my faith was not firm at that stage either."

"Like many villagers, I believe that the so-called faith in the mother is nothing more than another way to beg that stupid priest for divine help and medicine."

At this point, Vice-Bishop Zhao remained silent for a few seconds.

Lin Wang noticed that the old man's grip on the stone tightened unconsciously.

“In those days, I listened to the priests praising the Mother and watched the lay priests enjoying the Mother’s gifts.”

"I've noticed that both priests and lay practitioners... all seem to take for granted the fact that they enjoy the power of the Mother."

"It seems as natural for them to use the power of their mothers as to expect crops to grow from the land."

The old man held the stone, looked at Lin Wang through his glasses, and tilted his head to say, "Many times, I've been puzzled—since these people who call themselves 'children' enjoy the gifts of their mother, why don't they ever think about how to repay her?"

"Don't they know where their power comes from?"

"I specifically asked that priest about this issue. He thought about it for a long time and then gave me an ambiguous answer—the mother's gift is also part of the laws of the world."

"That was certainly not the answer I was looking for. So, I kept thinking about that question in the days that followed."

The old man smiled and said, "Of course, with my dullness, I am destined not to be able to figure out the answer... It's a pity that my mother didn't tell me the answer in my meditation either."

The old man paused again. This time, he looked at the emptiness before him and remained silent for a long time.

"Later, things changed."

"That was my third year as a follower of the temple."

"One day, as usual, I went into the mountains to herd sheep."

“That day, Niu and I walked farther than usual, and we got very close to the fog.”

"Although we are very close to the fog here, I have observed the fog up close before, and I know that as long as we don't enter the fog, there is no danger."

"But that day... I was in danger."

"As I led the cattle and approached the fog, I suddenly became very curious about what was inside the fog."

"Although both our family and the temple repeatedly warned us not to go near the fog."

"But that day, my curiosity got the better of me."

"I walked to within a few dozen meters of the fog and looked into it... At the edge of the fog and reality, I saw a building!"

Deputy Bishop Zhao looked at Lin Wang: "Child, do you know? That's a... very strange building!"

"It has a very illogical shape, but upon closer inspection, it looks a lot like a temple—I mean, a real temple!"

“I stood outside that building, hesitated for a long time, and finally made up my mind—I wanted to go in and take a look.”

"I told myself that I would only observe from this half of reality and would never enter the foggy half."

"After making the decision, I slowly walked into that building."

Hearing this, Lin Wang thought to himself: Something unexpected is definitely going to happen next...

The next second, he heard Vice-Bishop Zhao say, "Then, in that temple-like building, I encountered a group of mercenaries."

"Mercenaries?" Lin Wang was momentarily stunned. "You mean, we encountered a group of mercenaries?"

Vice-Bishop Zhao took a breath: "That's right, a group of mercenaries."

"I thought you were in that building..." Lin Wang started to say, but then realized that there must be a story behind these mercenaries, so he changed his words, "What did those mercenaries do?"

“They were going to rape me,” Vice-Bishop Zhao said calmly.

"...Huh?" Lin Wang couldn't control his emotions for a moment. "What?...Rape?"

Then he saw that Vice-Bishop Zhao was gradually growing taller in front of him.

The originally withered and thin old man gradually became curvaceous, tall and fair-skinned. His once messy white hair gradually turned black and grew longer, flowing like a waterfall, eventually becoming a head of jet-black hair that reached past his shoulders.

She tossed her hair aside and looked at Lin Wang: "Yes."

His voice also transformed into a magnetic tone.

This was truly beyond Lin Wang's expectations. Before that, he had considered countless possibilities, but he never expected that the old man would actually be a curvaceous woman with glasses!

She sat in a chair, crossed her legs, and said calmly, "When that group of villains surrounded me, I had only one thought in my mind: if there really is a god in this world, if there really is a mother... please, Mother, send down divine punishment. I am willing to dedicate the rest of my life to Mother with the ultimate devotion."

(End of this chapter)