They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 15 [Character Blurring]

Lia remained silent for a moment. He turned to look at James, and only picked up the white bread after James made a gesture indicating that it was not poisoned.

He came here not to eat, but to find the mysterious artifacts hidden in the church, and the person who instructed others to bury him.

Logically, if that person could find him the first time, they should be able to find him a second time, but now that he has dug himself out of the pile of dirt, that person is still not making a move.

Therefore, Ria considered two possibilities.

The first possibility is that the person has already left Winstown and gone elsewhere.

The second possibility is that the person can no longer use the mysterious item.

Items with extraordinary power cannot be easily used by people. Since that person could instruct others to bury him, it means that the other party is of high status.

With such a powerful figure behind the scenes, it would be a simple matter for him to use mysterious items to deal with this highly contagious source of pollution, which is easily transmitted to ordinary people.

But the truth is, Ria is still alive. Not only is he alive, but he's also causing trouble at night by creating mythical creatures, and now he's gone to the enemy's stronghold.

This only shows that the other party doesn't not want to use that thing, but rather that they can't.

Mysterious items should not be used lightly.

Using it comes at a high price, since the law of conservation of matter applies everywhere.

Without the assistance of the mysterious item, it would be impossible for the enemy to find him so easily.

As she pondered, Ria broke the white bread into small pieces and tasted them. She found that they tasted really good. Unlike the sour black bread, this food had a slightly sweet milky aroma and was incredibly soft, like cotton, melting in her mouth.

Paired with a red wine as an appetizer, the taste couldn't be better.

Being able to eat such delicious food, this is probably one of the joys of being alive.

As Ria looked around at the hungry crowd devouring their food, James's speed of stuffing a plate in one bite was quite conspicuous even among them, but the clergy did not stop him.

No matter how much they ate, the pastor looked at them kindly, saying in his words: God is merciful and selfless.

God gave people flesh and blood, and people only need to believe in Him, follow Him, and dedicate their body, mind, soul and thoughts to Him.

After a hearty meal, the pastors led a prayer session, and as agreed with James, Ria stood before the pastors and told them that she wanted to repent.

The man looked Ria up and down, his eyes filled with pity: "Child, no matter what you have done wrong, as long as you sincerely repent, the sun will forgive you."

As he spoke, he led Ria around the layers of mixed Corinthian and Ionic columns, through a complex corridor with grooves inlaid with unknown idols, towards the end of the darkness.

There were no more stained-glass windows, and the walls were bare. Only a black cloth covered a wooden door, and fifteen white candles flickered unevenly on the ground, providing light for the place.

The pastor stopped escorting Ria inside and instead asked him to walk over the candles into the confessional.

Ria did as instructed.

As he took his first step, he suddenly heard a clear echo. The environment here was prone to echoes, so it was not surprising that he could hear it. However, as he took heavier steps, the echoes became more frequent, and the flame on the candle flickered more violently.

"call."

Before Ria could even get close to the candle, the first candle went out.

He proceeded cautiously, but this only hastened the extinguishing of the candles. Two... four... six.

When he reached the door, only one white candle remained, and the pastor who had witnessed everything stared wide-eyed.

"The more evil a person carries, the faster the candle will go out. If all the candles are out, it means that person is beyond redemption and must be dealt with immediately—"

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt something cold pressing against his neck. The next second, he was struck hard on the back of the head and collapsed unconscious.

As Ria witnessed the last candle growing dimmer, seemingly about to go out at any moment, he turned around and saw James, wearing a bird-beak mask, grabbing the monk by the collar and slowly laying him down. Then, James reached out and snapped his fingers through his leather gloves.

"Snapped!"

All the candles are lit.

“Very good, sir. You are innocent. Remember, you do not need to repent.”

"Now, let's turn back."

"It is the other side that should repent; the keeper of secrets never repents."

The doctor's mask glowed red in the firelight, and Ria turned around, reached out and touched the black cloth covering the door, lifted it, and entered the room behind it.

The confessional, also known as the confessional hall, is where believers confess their sins, repent, and vow to reform.

The normal procedure is as follows: choose face-to-face or anonymous confession, sit in front of the pastor, who will guide the believer to confess, and the believer must sincerely repent and conduct a conscience examination.

This should have been the normal procedure.

But when Ria entered, she didn't find anyone inside. Instead, there was a semi-circular wooden table, pressed against the curved wall without leaving a trace, and against the wall was a rather old-fashioned painting, which depicted a sun made up of a bunch of circles squeezed together.

The black charcoal dust had lost its color significantly, but Ria could still make out that the wavy lines were trying to express the shape of a sun, with the long and short twisted edges around it representing sunlight, and below, people gathered in a circle around a bonfire, celebrating.

"Is this supposed to make me repent for this portrait? Then again, who would draw the sun like this? Anyone who didn't know better would think someone had stuck cauliflower covered in charcoal on it."

Ria couldn't help but mutter to himself, but then he noticed another note on the table.

The note reads: "The interior of the confessional room changes according to the number of candles that go out. You did not let any candle go out, and you are qualified to see the sun's most essential form. You are the purest believer!"
As for someone like you, you are fully entitled to confess to the Sun without needing to repent, because He has judged you innocent.

Come, offer your loyalty to [Character Blur], recite His call, express your desire, and then connect with Him more deeply…

"What is this?"

Lia raised an eyebrow. He couldn't see the characters at all. No matter which direction he looked at them from, they seemed to be obscured by an unknown gas, making it impossible to see the whole picture.

But putting that aside for now, it seems that Leah understands why James brought him here and made that move.

"This definitely makes it easier to find mysterious items. That guy is quite experienced. But what is a summoning incantation? Can I go out and ask him?"

As Ria turned to leave, she discovered something terrifying.

The door, the door we just came through—

Missed.

(End of this chapter)