Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 481 Whispering Information
"Now that this monster has broken the seal again, it won't be easy to seal it back in."

The Goddess of Night spoke to Li Wei.

"However, we have a way. If you can lure that monster back into the sealing array, and then sacrifice a few devout believers, you can reactivate the array and seal it away again. Of course, I can tell you the specific steps."

"Why sacrifice believers? Couldn't you just kill a few people at random?"

"Of course not."

The Goddess of Night sounded quite surprised when Li Wei asked her question.

"Killing people indiscriminately is a very evil thing."

"Isn't sacrifice also considered a sacrifice?"

"Since they are devout believers, shouldn't sacrificing their lives for the gods be their expectation? They have fulfilled their wishes, and we have achieved our goal. What's wrong with that?"

The goddess of the night spoke with conviction and self-consistency, leaving Li Wei speechless.

"But I'm very curious."

Upon hearing the Goddess of Night's answer, Li Wei's mind stirred, and he asked a question.

"How did you seal that monster back then? And why just seal it? Why not just kill it? Or was this thing so powerful that even you gods couldn't defeat it?"

"Of course not!"

Upon hearing this, the Goddess of Night became somewhat exasperated.

"At that time, the world had fallen into darkness, and without the power of fire, we could not descend again."

Oh, without the flame, you cannot descend again…

Li Wei silently began to make notes in his mind.

"Moreover, at that time, many gods chose to remain in slumber in order to preserve themselves, and very few gods were able to respond."

Like in science fiction movies where astronauts are put into cryogenic sleep during long-distance voyages? Write that down. Also, preserving the self? Does that mean the divine self will dissipate? Does it mean the divine will die? Or that it means losing self-awareness?
"In fact, at the beginning, we did have believers sacrifice themselves and then descend to try to directly destroy the monster."

"Why must there be sacrifices? Can't you use your power without sacrifices?"

Li Wei asked again, noticing that sacrifice seemed very important, at least in the myth of the Night Maiden, sacrifices were frequently mentioned, and she didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it.

"Listen carefully, there's a reason for that."

Everyone has the pleasure of being a teacher, and it seems that the Goddess of the Night is no exception. Although Li Wei could not see her expression clearly, her smug tone must have indicated that she was about to give a lecture with her hands on her hips.

"Since the flames went out, the world has been plunged into darkness and stagnation. Without the flames, our power cannot be used in this world. The sacrifice of mortals, burning their souls, can turn into flames and bring a glimmer of light again. And we can also use this glimmer of light to give some power."

Oh, I see…

"Of course, it's not that anyone can be sacrificed after death. The burning of human souls will bring all sorts of different problems. That's why believers are required to make sacrifices. After all, we can also sense the emotions of souls. Like you said, if you just find a few people to kill, their souls will definitely be filled with pain, resentment, despair, anger, and other emotions. Only evil gods would like these kinds of emotions."

"Mmm..."

"On the contrary, when believers see us during their sacrifices, their souls are filled with joy, satisfaction, and happiness, which is also what we like."

"I see..."

Li Wei remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was frantically taking notes. Although he didn't know if the Goddess of the Night had realized anything, at least for now, Li Wei could get a general understanding of the gods' situation from what she had said.

"Furthermore, only devout believers will come to us after death. After all, if they don't know who they believe in, their souls will have no goal or direction and will eventually get lost. As for what you said about randomly grabbing a few people to kill, even if you kill them, you don't know which god their souls will go to. They might just get lost in the abyss."

abyss?

It was another unfamiliar word, but Li Wei didn't ask about it. The way to induce someone to say something is to listen to them and let them say whatever they want. Once they start talking freely, they might say anything. But if you interrupt them and give them a chance to think, they might realize what you're doing and stop talking.

"So don't think that sacrifice is a simple matter. There aren't many mortals who are qualified to sacrifice and light up the darkness to call us."

As the goddess of the night seemed to realize she had gone off-topic, she coughed and returned to the main point.

"Ahem! In short, a believer burned his soul to gain the power we bestowed upon him to destroy that extraterrestrial demon. But what we didn't expect was that the extraterrestrial demon possessed a strange power! It could travel between different worlds at the same time! Even if we wanted to destroy it, it would simply disappear from this world and hide in another world, only to return after we left."

So that's how it is. Traveling to parallel worlds is the power of that monster. It seems even the gods find it troublesome.

"In the end, we had no choice but to come up with another solution, which was to merge our believers with the other party. In this way, it would be fixed in this world, and then we could seal it away completely."

As she spoke, the Goddess of Night sighed.

“However, it seems that there are no such devout believers in this era, which is why I said you should lure it into a magic circle, then sacrifice those ordinary believers to activate it.”

"Why does it have to be a magic circle? Don't you all use the All-Seeing Eye?" "Hmph, you just don't understand."

A hint of smugness crept into the Goddess of Night's voice.

"Although we communicate with believers through the all-seeing eye, as I said before, believers must know who they believe in for their souls to return to the correct deity during their sacrifices. However, there are other methods, such as the prayer circles of the Holy Bishop, each with its own purpose, and in fact, these circles represent different deities. As long as sacrifices and prayers are performed on these circles, believers' souls can also return to the deity."

"I see..."

Now it seems that what the Goddess of Night said does indeed fit the popular folk tale of the Holy Lord, which is that the Holy Lord is the result of compromise and integration among the gods, rather than the Holy Lord defeating other gods and unifying the world as the Holy Bishop said.

Moreover, it is obvious that the holy bishops did not know the true purpose of these prayer circles, otherwise they would never have kept them.

Li Wei felt that whether or not they fought the BOSS didn't matter; being able to lure out the Goddess of Night and hear so much information meant they had already made their money back.

This is firsthand information about deities; you can't find it normally.

"So, if you just follow my instructions and trap that monster again, you'll be able to seal it away completely!"

"That's true, but if possible, I would rather avoid using sacrifices."

Li Wei shook his head.

"After all, in this era, sacrifice can be described as a very primitive, bloody, and cruel thing. In the eyes of many people, sacrificing human lives is something that only uncivilized barbarians would do."

"Huh? Is this how people think in this day and age?"

The goddess of night's voice was unusually shocked, as if she had heard someone confidently assert that the sun rises in the west.

"No wonder we haven't seen any believers come to us for so long..."

"Ok?"

Hearing the Night Goddess's murmurs, Li Wei raised an eyebrow slightly. He felt there was something wrong with what she said. Indeed, the Holy Bishop's current patron was not the Night Goddess, but the Night Goddess had also said that as long as one offered sacrifices on the prayer circle, the soul could still return to the gods.

Moreover, they are the Holy Lord, and the Holy Lord is them.

So many people who believe in the Holy Lord, their souls have not returned to the gods, where did they go?
The funerals of some religious figures and highly respected people are also held in prayer circles, to bless their souls to successfully reach the Lord. Logically speaking, their souls should return to the gods, right?
Furthermore, the Goddess of Night's words revealed that she definitely doesn't know much about the current world.

But she was able to appear in front of Li Wei again.

Could it be that she's been by his side all along?
For example...

Li Wei glanced silently at the ring on his hand before looking away.

"Ah, um... I see. It seems... the situation is a bit complicated."

Clearly, Li Wei's answer, in line with the current state of affairs, was completely unexpected by the Goddess of Night, catching her off guard. Although she tried hard to appear serious, Li Wei could still detect her unease in her tone.

Clearly, this goddess only knows these three tricks; if they don't work, she's out of options.

This also proves once again that it is indeed very difficult for deities to interfere with the real world at present.

"By the way, Miss Goddess."

Thinking of this, Li Wei had an idea, and then he took out the strange white mask from his pocket.

"You're very knowledgeable, could you help me identify what this is?"

"This? Isn't it just an ordinary mask?"

Looking at the white mask in Li Wei's hand, the Goddess of Night first answered with a puzzled expression, then remained silent for a moment.

"No, that's not right. I feel a very familiar aura about it... This thing should be related to that monster, right?"

"I think so too. What's your opinion?"

"It's strange, I can't sense any will on this thing... It's like a person who has lost their soul, but it should be able to start."

"start up?"

"Yes, generally speaking, most of them use blood, because blood contains the soul and power, making it the most suitable item."

"I see."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei's eyes flashed.

He has an idea.

(End of this chapter)