Rhodes Island does not exist.

“However, this quietness is indeed unusual.” The doctor had no intention of making any more teasing remarks and returned to the main topic. “Even if we set off four or five minutes later than those hybrids, there should have been some noise coming from the direction of the Cathedral of Afterglow, since it’s so quiet.”

“Perhaps the battle was already over,” Skadi said.

“That’s not very realistic.” The doctor shook his head. “There were at least thirty to forty people surrounding us just now. Even if they were all wiped out, it wouldn’t be this quiet.”

“That’s because you underestimate the Deep and her Kin.” Skadi gave a wry smile. “Don’t think that just because you’ve created a drug that can neutralize madness, you’ve seen through the Deep. That’s far from enough, outsider.”

"Perhaps you are right." The doctor paused for a moment, then lowered his head, realizing the slight arrogance that had crossed his mind just now.

As a biological individual, one must never abandon a sense of awe.

A famous writer from Yan once said, "Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is."

No matter how times change or how much the distance between ourselves and our ideals shrinks, we must never sow the seeds of arrogance in our hearts.

“Alright.” Skadi quickened her pace slightly. “Instead of repenting here, we should focus on what needs to be done right now. I think we’d better get there quickly; I have a bad feeling.”

"Was there a story behind that last sentence?" the professor asked, following Skadi.

"Which sentence?" Skadi asked, puzzled.

“That line, ‘Instead of regretting your actions, focus on what you should be doing right now,’” the doctor repeated Skadi’s words. “It sounds like a proverb from some Iberian story.”

“No, there is no such proverb.” Skadi shook her head. “That was just something I said casually.”

"..."

The two figures walked swiftly along the dark roads of the Iberian night, one after the other.

-

But the two stopped after traveling very far.

Skadi was the first to stop.

She was almost like an F1 car that had been suddenly slammed on the brakes while accelerating in a straight line, abruptly stopping on the rough road along with the doctor who was speeding behind her. The soles of her shoes rubbed against the stone slabs with a sound like sandpaper scraping against a wall.

"Watch out, there's a smell."

Skadi's red eyes burned, and she now looked like a true hunter.

"What does it taste like?" As for the Doctor, he obviously couldn't have the same overly powerful senses as Skadi, so he could only follow behind Skadi and ask.

“A fishy smell, and a pleasant aroma.” Skadi’s steps slowed, her eyes darting around.

"These two flavors seem to clash quite a bit," the doctor commented.

“No.” Skadi shook her head. “What smells fishy to most people is a fragrance to the deep-sea creatures…”

"Whether it's the smell of blood or the saltiness of the tide, it's all a fragrance to them... or rather to us."

She said this as she walked.

"What is the source of the flavor?" the doctor asked.

"In the direction of the Cathedral of Afterglow, without a doubt," Skadi replied immediately.

“But we’re still at least 500 meters from the Cathedral of Afterglow.” The doctor frowned. “And I didn’t see you make this face at the beach before. What’s wrong?”

“The scenarios are different.” Skadi shook her head. “When you’re in a slaughterhouse, even if you smell something unbearable or see something unacceptable, you’ll just think it’s common sense and won’t be surprised or feel dangerous. But what if you changed the scenario to your home?”

"I'll leave that aside for now; an ordinary person would probably go crazy," the doctor replied.

“That’s the situation right now. The atmosphere at the Cathedral of Afterglow is almost as strong as it is on the coast.” Skadi’s tone was as indifferent as ever, but it had lost its calmness. “You may not feel it now, but you will after we go another two or three hundred meters.”

"Do not."

The words had barely left her mouth when Skadi immediately contradicted herself.

“Fifty meters.” Her red eyes grew serious. “Fifty meters away.”

What happened fifty meters away?

“Just fifty meters further to the side and ahead, there’s a fairly obvious spot where the aura is emanating.” Skadi’s legs began to unconsciously veer off in the direction she was pointing. “Let’s go there first.”

So the two sped up again, running around a residential street corner and arriving at a slightly wider street.

And in the very center of that street lay a face that the doctor recognized.

After all, he had just seen the owner of that face about ten minutes ago.

He was shouting Hallelujah as he charged toward the Promised Land.

However, he clearly died on the way to the Promised Land before he even reached it.

Like a warrior living in Azeroth.

“The lower half of the body is completely gone, and the gap is horribly gruesome. It probably wasn’t severed.” Skadi crouched down, examined the corpse, and drew this conclusion.

"The bloodstains have extended trails, indicating that the person was dragged here or crawled here on their own," the doctor concluded after scanning the street.

“I’ve seen this kind of death before.” Skadi stood up and sighed. “But even if we find out the truth, it’s pointless.”

"Because he wasn't the only body around here."

Chapter 120, Chapter 119: Deep Sea Tales, Chapter 53: Burning Pain

Mutilated corpses littered the streets.

They resembled a crooked, makeshift path, clearly intended to lead the Doctor and Skadi towards the Cathedral of Afterglow.

“These are all the hybrids who attacked us back then.” Skadi’s heels sank into the blue blood, and the red in her eyes intensified. “After taking your hint, they all rushed toward the Cathedral of Afterglow, but obviously most of them failed.”

“But this is too strange,” the doctor mused. “It shouldn’t have been like this in the first place.”

"what?"

"Why did we deliberately advance in the shadows in the first place?" the doctor said. "Wasn't it to avoid those punitive troops and papal knights? But now, where are those troops to be seen?"

Dark clouds churned and rolled across the night sky. Skadi opened her mouth, wanting to say something but unable to utter a word. After a long pause, she finally managed to say something.

"You stayed one night at the Sunset Cathedral at the beginning, right?"

"That's true." The doctor nodded.

"Did you notice anything unusual that night?" Skadi asked.

“I didn’t think so at the time, but now that I think about it, there are probably quite a few details that are not right.” The doctor pondered for a moment. “For example, that night I kept hearing a sound like a fish tail hitting a cutting board outside the window, but when I actually went out to check, it disappeared… Oh right, I also saw the bishop when I went out.”

"Is there anything else?" Skadi asked again.

"Also, on the first night of dinner, there was a table where a priest who seemed to be a little mentally challenged was sitting, and the food he was eating was quite strange. I don't know what it was." The doctor thought for a moment and said, "But the person at my table told me not to pay too much attention to it, so I ignored it."

Skadi frowned slightly, "I think we should still—"

"boom!

Just as Skadi was trying to draw some conclusions from the current bizarre situation, a loud bang suddenly erupted from the Iberian night sky, like a clap of thunder in spring.

Bright golden light shone on the sky, casting a white glow.

what happened?

no one knows.

But the direction from which the sound came was clear enough.

"Quick! It's the Cathedral of Twilight." Skadi ignored the corpses at her feet and the whereabouts of the Punishers and Papal Knights mentioned in the Doctor's words. She patted the greatsword on her back and ran wildly towards the cathedral, stepping through a trail of blood.

The Doctor, as if bound to Skadi by an invisible rope, followed her as she took off.

-

"this."

When the two finally left the alley and turned the corner, arriving at the empty square in front of the Cathedral of Afterglow, they were greeted only by a ruin that was boiling and burning in a red and white flame.

The wooden buildings crackled and popped in the flames, like wood mice cracking nuts or sharp-beaked birds tearing bark from trees.

"We must completely eliminate the monsters inside! Leave no survivors! Burn all the evil spirits and creatures... no, don't assume there are any normal creatures inside, just burn them all indiscriminately!"

Clad in white armor and adorned with halos, the paladins wielded massive muskets, hurling fire-infused bullets at the already ruined buildings. Behind them, their commander held aloft a large banner with a cross pattern, issuing commands.

The Punishers, wielding maces and large shields, surrounded them in an impenetrable formation, their dark gray iron weapons splattered with red and blue blood and entrails.

"Hey, are there any bystanders here?"

A sergeant who appeared to be of some rank noticed the doctor standing dumbfounded at the edge of the square and immediately called out to his companions.

The doctor immediately felt a sense of foreboding. After all, he was currently a wanted criminal in Iberia, and Skadi was probably his accomplice. So he would definitely be arrested on the spot, and if things got serious, it was even possible that he would be shot dead.

To his surprise, after spotting him, the soldier simply walked up to him, waved him off, and told him that they were on a mission and that he should leave quickly and go home to rest.

"That's true," the doctor thought to himself as he backed away. "After all, their main problem right now isn't themselves."

However, after he took a few steps back, he realized that Skadi had disappeared from his side.

"Hey, come here."

Then, a faint sound came from around the corner.

Having identified the voice as belonging to Skadi, the doctor hurried over.

"Where did you go?" he asked.

“What else can I do? If they find out I have red eyes, they’ll probably turn their attention to me immediately.” Skadi glanced at him. “Let me tell you something.”

"What?" the doctor asked.

“They’re inside the burning Cathedral of Afterglow, there’s nothing there, it’s completely empty,” Skadi said.

"Empty" refers to...?

“The presence of Agor.” Skadi shook her head. “Neither the living nor the dead Agor. I now suspect that the bishop and those suspicious priests you met may not have been in the cathedral at all in the first place, and you led those half-bloods to the wrong destination.”

"Isn't it what you said at the beginning—that the enemy is in the cathedral?" The Doctor retorted with a glance at Skadi. "Don't say I gave you the wrong directions."

"About that matter..."

Skadi's brow twitched again for a moment.

“When I left the seaside district before, I said that after leaving the seaside district, the aura of Agor in the city would become clearer. The bishop’s side would definitely be able to feel my aura, and I could also distinguish the aura coming from the cathedral.”

"Hmm." The doctor nodded.

“But things changed after we were attacked by a group of hybrids.” Skadi’s tone became slightly more serious than usual.

Because her tone was generally flat, the difference was even more noticeable.

“The arrival of dozens of hybrids disrupted the Agor aura that should have been clearly discernible. Their fat, their blood, their human tissue, and the stench unique to hybrids on their bodies masked my senses,” Skadi said with a sigh, her head bowed. “To the point that for a period of time, I couldn’t even discern what was happening at the cathedral.”

"And then, you could smell their corpses, right?"

The doctor recalled the analogy about the slaughterhouse that Skadi had told him before.

-

Thank you segment.

Thank you to Foghorn, Nan Yuan Hui, and Skadi, my wife, for the monthly pass and the razor blade. Thank you.

Chapter 121, Chapter 120: Deep Sea Tales, Chapter 54: Network Resources

"I really didn't expect that the dense aura I sensed was emanating from their mass deaths."

Skadi leaned against the wall, gazing up at the murky starry sky.

"Now that I think about it, those irregular, lacerated wounds were probably caused by the large-caliber revolvers of the Papal Knights," Skadi sighed. "I've seen them enforce the law during executions and killings before. As soon as the muzzle fires, the Originium bullets, carrying flames, can pass by at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, and with astonishing impact, they can break the victim's body in half or shatter it directly."

“Ordinary guns can’t produce that kind of effect, and ordinary Sarkaz can’t handle that level of rapid-fire guns.” The doctor shook his head. “That’s why they can become Papal Knights.”

“But that’s not what I’m concerned about.” Skadi’s eyes were lowered, as if deep in thought. “Because, according to my original understanding, the Punishers and the Papal Knights both see us as enemies. They have no reason to oppose the bishop. After all, before revealing his identity, the bishop is still the cardinal representative of Iberia and the person in charge of the Cathedral of Twilight. If you have to say, he is even the superior of these soldiers. Why…”

“I noticed some details when I was listening to them talk, but you might have been too busy avoiding their gaze to hear them,” the doctor said.

"What details?"

"【We must completely eliminate the monsters inside! Leave no survivors! Burn everything inside indiscriminately!】—That's what they said."

The doctor looked at Skadi.

"So you mean, the Cathedral of Afterglow might have been exposed?" Skadi pondered. "But why? The bishop had no reason to do that."

“Even if you ask me why, I can’t answer.” The doctor shook his head. “But at least based on their behavior and your perception just now, we can draw at least two conclusions.”

"what?"

"First, the Cathedral of Twilight had already been attacked by them long before we drove those half-bloods away."