Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 165 Snow White's Wicked Stepmother

North Quarter, St. Samuel Church.

Audrey stood by the window, gazing worriedly into the distance.

She saw the fog on the horizon gradually thicken, turning from pale yellow to iron black, and slowly spreading in her direction.

"Hopefully it's not too late."

Audrey pursed her lips, unsure what the mist represented, but she knew it was definitely not a good thing.

Suddenly, she noticed that the branches outside the window began to sway and the glass vibrated slightly.

"The wind is coming!"

Audrey felt inexplicably joyful.

A terrifying storm, visible to the naked eye, suddenly appeared from the St. Wind Cathedral in the Joewood district, and then an unimaginable hurricane raged eastward.

Ugh!

The deposited fog was blown away, and the rich yellow and iron black quickly faded.

Ugh!

Dry branches fell to the ground, dust and dirt rose into the air, and then drifted away with the mist.

Ugh!

Many pedestrians had their hats fall off their heads, and their bodies swayed so much that they had to hold onto trees or walls for support.

The sailors in the dock area felt as if they had returned to the port city, witnessing the onslaught of a typhoon. The smoke in the eastern and factory areas thinned, and the mild discomfort experienced by healthy residents was alleviated.

Boom boom boom!

Lightning flashed and thunder roared.

They quickly subsided, and the torrential rain began to wash the earth, cleansing away the diseases and plagues brought by the Witch of Despair.

"call!"

Seeing this, Audrey breathed a sigh of relief, her mood improving slightly. She hesitated before asking, "Ember, is that Lady Bernadette a descendant of Emperor Roselle?"

Gustav's surname certainly makes it hard not to draw associations. But what Audrey was most concerned about was whether the woman she prayed for could catch the murderer and those witches who plotted to bring down the famous "Primordial Witch".

"Um."

Ember gazed at the dark clouds on the horizon and nodded slightly. "She is Roselle's youngest daughter, an angel."

"Angel?"

Audrey's eyes flickered slightly, a mixture of surprise and delight in them.

If that's the case, then there's definitely no problem.

After all, she was an angel!

-

"A mysterious queen?"

The Despairing Lady glanced at the chestnut-haired woman blocking her path. Her brows furrowed slightly, but then lifted abruptly, and a charming smile curved her lips as she said contentedly, "You're just passing by too?"

"Just passing by?"

Bernadette's sapphire-blue eyes gazed calmly at her as she whispered, "No, I came to find you."

"I see~"

Lady Despair chuckled softly, and in her cheerful demeanor, a sharp, crystalline ice spear instantly materialized in her palm, which she hurled at Bernadette. Taking advantage of this opportunity, she swiftly vanished into the alleyway behind her!

She believed she had kept her whereabouts secret and had taken precautions beforehand, so she wasn't worried about being cornered by the demigods of Backlund in the short term. But she never expected to be cornered by Bernadette, an outsider!

She couldn't understand why the other party had found her, who was hiding so quickly, nor did she know why the other party was meddling in her affairs. But as a Sequence 4 Despair Witch who had grown step by step from an assassin, she understood that she couldn't be distracted or talk nonsense at crucial moments, and that all problems could be considered later.

Bernadette, a mysterious queen and one of the Four Kings of Pirates, is also a descendant of Russell Gustav and a prominent figure in various secret organizations. Furthermore, the "mission" undertaken by Lady Despair is somewhat related to her, thus giving her a considerable understanding of Bernadette's abilities.

The opponent was a Sequence 3 of the Seeker Path, a higher sequence than himself, but not particularly skilled in combat. This was because a Sequence 3 of the Seeker Path was a Prophecy Master. Her 'Mystic Reappearance' alone wouldn't be enough to stop him.

But Bernadette's father was, after all, the former Emperor Roselle, and the legacy and resources he inherited were unknown to Lady Despair. Moreover, this was Backlund; if too much time was wasted, it would be even harder for her to escape once the demigods of the three major churches arrived.

Therefore, she chose to attack directly and take the opportunity to escape!

"Click!"

Wherever the ice spear passed, frost condensed, freezing the world.

The pea vines hanging from the sky quickly froze, turning into emerald green icicles! And this was still spreading, with layers of crystalline ice extending towards Bernadette, freezing everything around them.

She would have to struggle to break through the obstacles to have the strength to catch up. By then, she would surely have already left the street and blended into the crowd!

Lady Despair thought to herself in a good mood, a bright and beautiful sweet smile curving her lips.

However, the next second, her smile froze completely on her face.

Because, without her noticing, Bernadette, who should have been frozen in layers of crystal, reappeared in front of her, blocking her way!

The desperate woman's gaze sharpened, and black flames suddenly erupted from her body, spreading disease and intending to ignite everything around her, creating a massive fire.

But the next moment, she heard the mysterious queen utter an obscure and enigmatic incantation:

"A cage!"

In an instant, the dazzling starlight surrounding the mysterious queen flew away one after another, transforming into a massive, suffocating net that lunged at Lady Despair. The starlight instantly condensed, creating a huge, transparent amber that completely enveloped her, like an exquisite specimen.

At that moment, a change finally appeared on the face of the Despair Lady. A trace of astonishment and fear remained on her beautiful face, and she finally realized what kind of existence she was fighting against.

That was no longer her, but Him, an angel!

Bernadette's gaze remained calm as she slowly withdrew her eyes from the Lady of Despair and looked towards the distant sky.

"The wind is coming."

She murmured softly.

The next instant, countless pea vines appeared out of thin air. Scattered and collided with each other by the wind, they quickly descended from the sky, wrapping around the Despair Lady who was to be sealed as a specimen in amber. After a brief pause, they suddenly retracted, returned to the horizon, and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Also disappearing from sight was a woman wearing a girlish yellow cake dress and an old-fashioned black soft hat.

The strong winds dispersed the fog that spread the disease, and the heavy rains washed away the remaining plague from the ground.

But the Church of Storms was powerless to help those who had already fallen in the fog.

Despite the large number of extraordinary individuals who rushed to the East District immediately, and despite the immediate assistance from the major cathedrals of the East District, in the dock area and the factory area, those who were old or had hidden illnesses fell one after another in the fog, like felled trees. Those who came into contact with them were infected with the plague and died quickly. Even adults and children who were relatively healthy experienced mild discomfort.

In their eyes, the mist, a mixture of pale yellow and iron black, resembled the approaching 'Grim Reaper'.

And for those who are taken away by death, they are powerless.

The survivors looked at the people who had collapsed in the fog on the street, their eyes filled with sorrow.

Many more people are suffering from severe coughing due to infection with the plague.

"Ahem!"

"Cough cough cough cough—"

The coughing grew louder and more frequent, spreading rapidly like a plague. In no time, the entire street and the entire area were filled with a cacophony of coughs.

The first group of extraordinary individuals who rushed to the rescue changed their expressions drastically, immediately realizing that something was wrong, but just as they were about to take action...

The next second, however, it was discovered that these coughing people were the very people who had already collapsed in the heavy smog.

They, who had already been presumed dead from the plague, were now coughing violently, looking as if they might cough up their lungs.

"Cough cough cough~"

Old Kohler coughed painfully, feeling as if something in his throat had been expelled like a bullet. He struggled to his feet, not forgetting to pick up the paper bag containing his belongings—it was something he had prepared for the New Year, and he couldn't just throw it away.

"I'm still alive?"

Old Kohler thought incredulously that the cough had almost killed him, and he felt as if his internal organs had been coughed up. But after coughing, he felt a sense of relief; his back and legs were no longer sore, but thankfully his heart was still beating.

Old Kohler's expression suddenly changed, as if he had remembered something, and he exclaimed:

"Oh, right, my cigarettes!"

He frantically searched the ground and finally found the crumpled cigarette, broken in two with the tobacco stick sticking out. But as he picked up the cigarette, he noticed what appeared to be a piece of apple on the ground—a blackened, rotten apple.

Old Kohler paused for a moment, then he finally remembered that what he had coughed up was this piece of apple!

But he remembered that the last time he ate an apple was several years ago...

-

"Mom, Mom, how are you feeling?"

Freya, who had spat out the apple, got up from the ground and hurriedly helped Liv up.

"I...I'm fine..."

Liv stared at the two pieces of apple that had been spat out and were rapidly rotting on the ground, somewhat bewildered and unsure of what had just happened.

They helped each other out of the apartment and saw that the streets were full of people who had just woken up. Their faces showed a complex mix of fear and confusion. There were rotten apples everywhere on the ground, pieces of which were stuck to the ground like sores.

But soon, the torrential rain washed the poisoned apples into the sewers, and they were never seen again.

"Daisy!"

Liv glanced at her bewildered daughter beside her, then suddenly exclaimed and hurriedly ran towards the public school. Freya followed behind her, and the two slender women displayed astonishing stamina and speed as they ran towards the public elementary school located on the edge of the eastern district.

From afar, they saw a small, thin figure rush out of the church next to the school; it was Daisy.

She is Liv's daughter and Freya's sister.

"Daisy!"

"Mom! Freya!"

They ran towards each other, embracing tightly in the street and in the pouring rain, filled with the relief of surviving a disaster and the joy of reunion.

Although we don't know what happened, at least they are still alive.

-

Thanks to the magical item he obtained from the embers—the mottled, patina-green cross—Klein was fortunate enough to hold his own against Mr. A. Even so, he dared not continue the fight for long, because the cross had too many side effects—

If he holds it for more than an hour, his sequence will drop by at least one level, and this regression will accelerate, turning him into a completely ordinary person within three hours. If absolutely necessary, he would rather discard the cross and flee for his life.

Fortunately, the battle did not last a full hour.

Just as the two were in the midst of their intense "fight," all the colors in his vision became intense, as if they had been splashed with paint by a deity.

The feeling was fleeting, and Klein found himself far from where he had been, with Azik Aegis, a man with bronze skin and soft features, standing beside him.

"Mr. Azik, are you alright?" He breathed a sigh of relief, then threw the Dark Cross away as if it were a hot potato.

Azik looked at Klein's actions with surprise, then smiled and said:

"Yes, but it's not a big problem for the undead."

-

In a room beneath St. Samuel's Cathedral, 'Necromancer' Daly Simone, holding a telegram just received from the East End, reported with a grave expression:

"The smog brought widespread diseases and plagues. Even with the timely intervention of the Storm Church, the affected area was still vast. At least 100,000 people were directly affected, while at least 200,000 residents in the surrounding areas were impacted!"

"Two hundred thousand people?"

Audrey closed her eyes with a heavy heart, unable to bear thinking about how many lives this tragedy had taken.

"Miss Daly."

Ember raised his head and slowly asked, "How many people are left in the church?"

"There's no one left."

Daly shook her head. "Everyone except my squad has been sent out."

Before leaving, Archbishop St. Anthony instructed that even the deacons must obey the arrangements and orders of the embers. All the night watchmen in the church had been sent out, but Daly and her team stayed behind because they were also responsible for guarding the Charnis Gate.

After a long silence, Yu Jin pressed on, "What about the number of dead?"

"The statistics haven't been compiled yet."

"But the estimated death toll is at least over 100,000," Daly whispered.

One hundred thousand people—even a typical small town might not have that kind of population!

"Butler Daly, a new telegram."

Just then, the night watchman who received the telegram suddenly had a strange expression and handed a telegram to Daly.

Dai Li took the telegram, glanced at it with a serious expression, then froze, staring blankly at the large characters on it:

"Estimated death toll: 0."

Dai Li couldn't help but ask, "You didn't translate it wrong?"

"no."

The telegraph operator stated firmly, "The telegram was sent twice; this is the correct number!"

Audrey asked, somewhat reluctantly, "What does it say?"

Daly glanced at her, her expression turning as strange as the telegraph operator's, and said:

"The death toll is out: 0."

"0?"

Audrey exclaimed, "How is this possible?"

"Yeah, how could that be?"

Daly frowned and said, "The telegram says that people affected by the plague miraculously recovered and became completely healthy after spitting out a poisoned apple."

"A poisoned apple? Snow White?"

Audrey instinctively made the connection, and was immediately overjoyed, knowing that someone had stepped in to save the people of the East End!

It was the High Priest of Deep Blue who summoned a gale to dispel the smog and a torrential rain to cleanse the plague, but he clearly lacked the extraordinary abilities to do so. The archbishops of the other two major churches also lacked these abilities; it was an unfamiliar high-sequence extraordinary individual who had intervened.

And the name of this high-sequence extraordinary being is already obvious:

Bernadette Gustave!

Audrey looked up at Ember in surprise, and Ember nodded almost imperceptibly, confirming the girl's guess.

Audrey smiled faintly, with a hint of reserved pride:

Although she didn't directly take action, and although she was only responsible for praying, she still deserves some credit.

Rounded up, it's as if she saved Backlund!

This made Audrey even prouder than the Tarot Society preventing the evil god from descending or the Church of the Night capturing criminals!

What pleased Audrey the most was that the death toll was zero.

This means that no one will lose their life in this disaster!

(End of this chapter)