They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 110 Garn Hephaestus

The pigeon cooed a few times before Lia stuffed the hat back into its place.

He bowed to everyone, spread his hands and stretched them slightly downwards: "Thank you all for coming. Praise be to the sun."

"Praise the sun!"

People responded happily to him, and then asked him where he came from and whether he could continue with other performances.

Ria gave an affirmative answer and announced that today's performance was completely free, and that an even grander magic show would be held here tomorrow, with an admission fee of only one Swarth.

Upon hearing this number, everyone thought they had misheard, but Lia just smiled mysteriously.

“I think there is a lack of joy here. The job of a magician is to bring joy to everyone. As for money, it is just a formality. I am very honored that you all came to see my performance.”

After he finished speaking, everyone showed a look of joy. They had indeed rarely seen magic performances, which was a fatal temptation for people who longed for fantasy. But Lia said that there were no extraordinary means involved, and that it could be done by an individual.

“If anyone wants to learn, I can teach them after tomorrow’s performance, and the fee is just one swain.”

"Really!?" People exchanged glances and rushed forward to register. More and more people surrounded Lia, but the young man still treated everyone with gentleness and politeness.

He quieted the crowd and continued watching his performance, and at the end, while they were still engrossed, Ria dropped a bombshell.

"You must all be wondering, if the regular performances are already so amazing, what would happen if we added some extraordinary methods? Well, tomorrow I will invite a magical creature to satisfy your desire to witness something extraordinary."

Do you believe in magic? It's far more amazing than you can imagine.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please look forward to tomorrow's performance. See you at this familiar place."

He twirled his cane a few times, and suddenly the cane transformed into a ceremonial cannon that shot into the sky, exploding into a huge firework at the top of the sky.

"Bang—smash!!!!"

The brilliant firelight illuminated everyone's smiling faces, and everyone applauded with satisfaction. Some couldn't resist giving Ria some food or coins, which Ria humbly accepted.

"See you at this time tomorrow, dear audience."

He watched the crowd disperse, pulled his hat back over his head, and sent the rats to continue investigating the zombies. Several rats had already found the house where the zombies were, but so far the zombies inside hadn't made any significant movements.

However, this is a dangerous task; if one is not careful, the rat will be caught and eaten by the zombies.

Lia casually reminded them to be careful, and after pausing for a moment with her cane, she used the end of it to lightly draw a sun symbol on the ground.

"We'll need a tent to prepare all this, maybe we can apply for an activity subsidy from Sun."

He glanced at the ground one last time, then turned and walked toward Ilint's old house.

By this time, the sky was about to turn from dusk to night, with orange and deep purple hues blending together. The sun had already sunk below the horizon, its remaining blood-red glow briefly illuminating the night, while the moon appeared directly overhead above Ria.

A few irregularly distributed stars dotted the night sky, watching over Ria, who walked alone on the street—

There were no more pedestrians on the street. The shadow of the young man wearing the bird-beak mask was stretched extremely long by the glow of the setting sun, and the chirping of insects seemed to fill the air.

Lia continued along the original route at a leisurely pace. In addition to the sounds of wind, footsteps, cane tapping on the ground, and insects chirping, something else seemed to gradually appear on the street.

The sound was intermittent, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, like the sound of a flute, and it became increasingly shrill, almost reaching the point of being jarringly loud.

Ria stopped in her tracks, her cane striking the ground one last time with a dull thud.

He slowly turned around, and through his glasses, he saw that someone had appeared behind him at some point.

The man seemed to be following him the whole time, walking close to the edge of his shadow, holding a long flute in both hands and playing it through his mask, from which strange sounds emanated.

The man was dressed in a loose black robe with elaborate accessories, and a hood covered half of his face. Beneath the hood was a blank mask.

"The Plague Doctor of the Guardians?" the man in black robes asked slowly, his voice drawn out. Then, he denied his question, "No, Plague Doctors are a bunch of people who are too lazy to show themselves in public unless necessary. You are not a Plague Doctor."

"This smell..."

"You're a patient with contamination syndrome, and this patient is actually disguising themselves as a doctor and running around!?"

The man in black robes muttered something to himself. Clearly, for a group of people who prioritized hedonism, Ria's behavior had successfully caught their attention, and not just a little bit.

Ria is very good at guessing what other people want based on their psychology, and what he did after arriving in the Zolamu district perfectly matched the White Mask Church's way of doing things.

These people never even imagined that patients would dare to impersonate epidemic doctors, or that such a form of entertainment could exist.

The man in black robes put down his flute and stood at a relative distance behind Ria. However, this made Ria feel an immense pressure coming at him, as if the surrounding air had been forcibly solidified by something, making it difficult for him to even breathe.

Ria recalled the image he had seen again. He found it hard to believe that everyone in the church possessed such power, especially since his own tolerance to contamination had been greatly enhanced due to the contamination he carried.

So far, the only being that has given him this feeling of suffocation is the mythical creature he first met, which is now Little Swarth.

He thought that the person in the image might hold a very special position in the church, and the person in front of him matched the image with a physical appearance that was spiritually polluting.

It seems they are the same person.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Garn, Garn Hephisgetu, the true leader of the White Mask Church. If you hear anyone else claiming to be the leader, please pretend you didn't hear them and ignore them."

"What is your meme?" The black-robed man who called himself Garn asked this question and slowly walked towards Ria. His movements were slow, as if he was afraid that his sudden outburst would scare away the prey in front of him.

“Our God can heal any disease, and there are many people in the church who were originally patients but have successfully recovered, so you can completely trust me.”

"Those doctors who treat epidemics are the real danger; they are all quacks who will only push you into deeper and deeper suffering..."

As he spoke, he reached out his hand to Ria.

(End of this chapter)