To be fair, these cultists are actually quite cautious.
They did not believe the words of this strange "compatriot" just because Duncan took out the sun amulet, nor did they easily believe these statements just because Duncan told them what happened in the sewer sacrificial field. They were observing Duncan's words and deeds along the way, and even after arriving at the gathering place, they had to conduct an additional verification to confirm the identity of this stranger - for a group of cultists hiding from the underworld, they had done the best.
But all their screening measures were to treat Duncan as a "normal human being."
These methods were meaningless to the captain of the Lost Homeland.
The tall and thin leader took the inconspicuous cloth back from Duncan. He seemed to be completely unaware of the changes in the power of this extraordinary item. After expressing his welcome to the new compatriots, he raised his hand and pointed to a corner of the assembly hall: "Compatriots, take a rest here first. You are not the only stranger here."
Duncan nodded and walked towards the inconspicuous corner, while paying attention to every face that appeared at the gathering.
Unlike what he had seen before in the sewer sacrificial site, he was surprised to find that these sun believers were not wearing the iconic black robes, but were dressed like ordinary citizens. They did not wear hoods to cover their faces, but exposed their faces frankly.
He curiously asked the believers beside him: "Don't you need to cover your face when you gather here?"
The believer he asked was very surprised: "... Did the local believers in the city-state of Plande cover their faces when they gathered before?"
Duncan immediately frowned slightly: "You are not Pland..."
"We are from Lensa," another believer next to him said frankly. After confirming that the strangers in front of them were indeed fellow church members, the followers of the Sun here obviously let down their guard. "We just settled here last week, but before we could establish contact with the local compatriots, the attack happened..."
"Are all the people here from Lensa?" Duncan was a little surprised. He finally understood why there were still so many sun believers in this city after the sacrificial site in the sewer was destroyed.
"Well, all the people gathered here are from Rensa, but there are also teams from other city-states, and they are all scattered in different bases," another believer nearby joined the conversation, "Well, everyone has heard about the situation in Plande City-State. In the past four years, that damned archon and the hyenas of the church have been attacking our cause... It's not easy for you either, but fortunately it's all over."
Duncan nodded noncommittally, and then he heard the believer he had questioned at the beginning speak again: "The pigeon on your shoulder is really... unique."
Duncan's eyes twitched.
He knew that there was more than one person at the scene who was paying attention to the pigeon on his shoulder.
If you must say, there's nothing strange about a pigeon, but it would be strange if you came to the rally with a pigeon on your head.
He could only perfunctorily reply: "This is my pet. It can help me do many things."
He was perfunctorily answering this question, but his mind was already racing with thoughts—a large number of Sun Followers were pouring into the Plande City-State, which confirmed his previous speculation:
The usually low-key Church of the Sun suddenly did something high-profile in the sewer. These cultists really were up to something big!
This time he took advantage of the chaos to sneak in and unexpectedly found the right direction!
At the same time, he also understood why the cultists attending the rally here did not cover their faces, but dressed like ordinary citizens.
Before, in the sewers, the Sun believers' attire that completely concealed their identities and the system of single-line communication between lower-level believers were all intended to resist the church's repeated crackdowns and avoid traitors or key members being arrested and leaking secrets. It was the last resort for the local church in distress, and these mobs who had just gathered in Plande from various city-states obviously had no experience in this regard - after all, they were just cultists, not disciplined special forces.
On the other hand, there was no need for them to disguise themselves: because those gathered here were all "fellow villagers" from the same city-state, they were already familiar with each other, and there was no point in concealing their identities during the gathering.
Now, this kind of ordinary citizen attire makes it easier for them to escape as soon as their base is exposed, and to blend in with the civilians in the lower city area who lack a strict management system.
As he was thinking this in his mind, Duncan's eyes were sweeping across the assembly hall. Suddenly, he felt a pair of eyes falling on him.
He immediately followed his feeling and saw the owner of that gaze.
A petite girl with short black hair was standing about ten meters away.
The girl was wearing a black dress with white lace. She had a pretty and quiet face and looked about the same age as Nina. The most eye-catching thing was that she was wearing a dark red necklace with a delicate silver bell on it. It looked cute but also very strange.
When Duncan turned his gaze away, the girl also naturally turned her gaze elsewhere - she did not make a sound, but Duncan was sure that the gaze just now definitely came from this young girl!
Why is there such a young child among this group of cultists
Duncan couldn't help but have doubts in his mind, and at the same time he took another look at the girl's dress... For some reason, he always felt that this girl was out of place with the environment here.
While he was thinking about this, the sound of a door hinge turning suddenly came from not far away. The tall and thin cult leader ordered the door of the basement to be closed, and then he walked to the center of the gathering place.
All eyes at the scene immediately focused on the leader. Duncan also collected his thoughts and paid attention to the changes in the situation at the scene. He saw the tall and thin man standing in the eyes of everyone with a confident and calm attitude, with a hint of smile on his slightly gloomy face. Then he took something out of his arms and held it high among the crowd.
It was a pale golden sun mask - exactly the same mask worn by the cult priest who presided over the sacrificial ceremony in the underground gathering place.
"Pay tribute to the glory of the Lord, and recite the mantra silently under the Lord's gaze," the tall and thin man said loudly, with an extremely pious tone, "Bow your head to this blessed mask, and may the protection of the children of the sun rely on it to help me guide the brothers and sisters gathered here."
The believers around immediately chanted the name of the real Sun God in unison, then put their fists on their foreheads and bowed their heads in a gesture of respect - they were not paying tribute to the tall and thin man in the center of the gathering place, but to the golden mask, as if the mask was the real body of some superior, and the man holding the mask was just a carrier.
Duncan also pretended to blend in with the cultists and went through the motions, but he had no idea what the so-called mantra was, so he muttered a few multiplication tables and began to observe the cultists' actions carefully, while deducing the meaning behind each link from their ritual actions.
The tall and thin man solemnly put the mask on his face.
The next second, Duncan immediately noticed that something seemed to have changed in this man.
He couldn't explain why he felt this way. It was as if his temperament changed the moment he put on the mask, or as if an extra shadow appeared in his figure. Duncan looked at the golden mask that imitated the shape of the sun, and saw that the lines on the mask seemed to be slowly moving. At this moment, the mask seemed to come alive, as if a distant and powerful consciousness had projected its tiny power onto the mask, giving this originally ordinary object extraordinary qualities.
Ordinary people wearing masks, through this "wearing" action and this brief ceremony, completed their "sanctification" and became a symbol of some kind of divine power.
The believers around him sang in unison: "May the glory of our Lord last forever! May the way of our Lord come to the world!"
Duncan memorized the multiplication table up to the sixth column, recalling it rapidly in his mind.
He had also seen a priest wearing a golden mask at the gathering place in the sewer before, but the priest had already completed the "wearing" process at that time. In addition, Duncan didn't understand the surrounding situation at that time, and the temporary body he was using was not in good condition, so he didn't realize what was special about this seemingly ordinary golden mask, nor did he think about why the priest wearing the mask would be called a "messenger" by ordinary believers.
Now it seems... Could this so-called Sun Mask be the "communication device" used by the "children of the sun" hiding outside civilized society to remotely control their believers and observe the world? Or to be more precise, some kind of mental projection device
After suddenly realizing that it was a very interesting item, Duncan's eyes changed as he looked at the golden mask.
This thing... maybe it's meant for him.