Duncan quickly withdrew his gaze from the golden mask, lowered his eyes slightly like the ordinary believers around him, and pretended to be ready to listen to the teachings carefully.
He hadn't heard anything useful yet and couldn't attract the attention of this cult too early.
And just at the moment I lowered my head, the feeling of being glanced at came over me again.
Duncan frowned slightly and looked in the direction he felt. Sure enough, it was the girl in the black dress with the strange bell around her neck who was secretly observing him—and when his gaze turned away, she turned her head away without making a sound.
This made Duncan extremely confused.
He was sure that he did not know the other person, and there was no information about this girl in the memory of the original owner of this body - why would a follower of the Sun God, who he met for the first time, pay so much attention to him
Is it because the dove on her shoulder is so unique
He was just thinking about this for a while when he heard the voice of the leader of the believers suddenly coming from the front. After wearing the golden mask, the leader had become the embodiment of some kind of divine power. Even his voice seemed low and majestic when he spoke. He didn't know whether he was deliberately controlling his voice or the mask really mixed another consciousness into his voice:
"The prayer is over. The Lord has witnessed our piety and awe. Grace has illuminated our souls. Brothers and sisters, be grateful. We have persisted in this difficult and dark world for one more day, and we are one day closer to the day when the sun rises and order is restored."
The "priest" wearing a golden mask opened his arms and spoke in a very bewitching tone. Then his gaze suddenly fell on the corner among the believers, and his tone became calm and intimate.
“But before we start today’s gathering, we would like to welcome two compatriots who were once trapped in darkness during a difficult time, but were fortunately guided by the Lord and were able to return to the group… Please introduce yourselves briefly.”
Two compatriots
Duncan suddenly remembered that the leader seemed to have told him that he was not the only stranger in the gathering. Then he looked in the direction the leader was looking—he saw the girl in the black dress.
Somehow, he didn't feel surprised.
"You can call me Shirley," the girl took a half step forward naturally and spoke generously, "My parents were both believers, but unfortunately they were killed by the minions of the Deep Sea Church four years ago. I have been hiding in the Cross Street District for these years and have never contacted other brothers and sisters... Fortunately, you are here."
Her voice was not loud and she sounded quiet and well-behaved. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, it would have been hard to associate such a child with the bloody cultists.
"Welcome back to us, young sister," the leader nodded, and then looked at the believers around him. "Shirley's parents were killed in the church's purge four years ago. We found her parents' names on the list of that year. Next is another compatriot."
The chief's eyes finally fell on Duncan.
"Duncan, I live in the downtown area." Duncan had already prepared himself and took a half step forward calmly. "A few days ago, the Deep Sea Church disrupted a sacrificial ceremony in the sewer. I am a survivor."
He spoke briefly, but his attitude was sincere and frank enough. In addition, the news of the Deep Sea Church's raid on the sewer cult's stronghold was also widely known and occupied the front pages of several newspapers. Therefore, after he finished speaking, several believers around him immediately whispered to each other. The leader in the center of the gathering nodded and added the situation: "This is also a fellow countryman who has been through many trials. After experiencing the cruelty of those hyenas of the Deep Sea Church, he is still trying his best to return to the arms of the Lord. He has the blessed emblem on him as a token of trust, so he is credible."
As the leader finished speaking, the believers who didn't understand the situation immediately looked at Duncan. Some nodded and some sighed. Duncan continued to cover most of his face and recited the multiplication table backwards again...
"The brief introduction is over," the leader finally spoke about the part that Duncan was interested in, "Next, let me tell you the latest situation."
Duncan's ears immediately pricked up.
"… Currently, there are still a large number of compatriots gathering in this city-state, including ordinary believers with firm faith, as well as powerful messengers and priests. Our power in this city-state is gradually increasing, and the day of reshaping order is approaching...
"But it is undeniable that the minions of the Deep Sea Church have also reacted. In recent times, the city-state authorities have been increasingly strict in their inspections of foreign populations. Several of our gathering points have been destroyed by the authorities. Therefore, brothers and sisters active in the city must be careful. The collection of sacrifices can be slowed down. The descendants of the Lord have issued an order. We have collected more than half of the power recently. There are still vacancies, and the descendants of the Lord will personally solve them..."
The believers around him seemed to be deeply moved and began to praise the love and greatness of the Sun God. Duncan immediately thought of the sacrificial ceremony he had seen in the sewer before - these cultists were really using that kind of ceremony to gather power, and it sounded like... the group of behind-the-scenes manipulators called "Descendants of the Sun" were actually participating in it themselves this time
At present, the power gathered by this group of cultists seems to be insufficient, because the city hall and the church of Plande have already noticed their activities, but if those descendants also take part in the battle themselves... I am afraid that the plan of this group of cultists will have to continue to move forward!
At this moment, he heard the leader continue to say: "… Our most important task at the moment is to determine the exact location of the sun fragments. Remember, our goal is always to bring the real sun god back to the world, and finding the lost sun fragments is the most important part!"
Duncan's mind was stirred—sun fragments? What on earth was that
Can gathering a bunch of Sun Fragments allow the Spear of Adun to become more powerful
He felt the pigeon on his shoulder suddenly become restless, and Ai shook his body vigorously while making a low cooing sound from his throat.
Through the connection transmitted by the spiritual fire, he could vaguely feel what the pigeon wanted to do.
It wanted to force it, wanted to force it loudly, wanted Duncan to take the solar battle axe and gather another wave of troops.
But it can't speak - it's just a pigeon here.
This made it very depressed.
"Quiet." Duncan could only mutter quietly, and rubbed the pigeon's head with the back of his hand to comfort it. At the same time, a cultist who was closer to the leader asked: "Can we determine the approximate location of the solar fragment now? Is there any way to... detect it?"
"The fragment of the sun is currently dormant and cannot be detected by any means," the leader shook his head, "but the Lord has given us guidance. The fragment should be hidden near the lower city of Plande. In addition, considering that new compatriots have joined today, I will explain the situation again:
"According to the intelligence we have, the fragment first appeared in the human world eleven years ago, and it is very likely that it caused some large-scale supernatural phenomenon - it could be a large fire, abnormally high fever in the entire block, or collective spontaneous combustion of human bodies and group hallucinations. This is exactly the direction of our current investigation.
"The city-state authorities have detailed data on supernatural phenomena over the years. The great gods have been trying to find these records. Ordinary people living in the lower city may also remember the 'weird things' that happened here eleven years ago. Our mission is to collect clues in this regard to infer the location of the solar fragments.
"But please be careful when you are trying to find out. Although the authorities have always been lax in their management of the Lower City, the hyenas of the Deep Sea Church sometimes have an extremely keen sense of smell... They have already become alert."
The leader explained the current situation to the believers around him, and Duncan's mind was working rapidly. He paid special attention to the time point of "eleven years ago" - according to the leader, eleven years ago was the day when some extraordinary thing called "sun fragments" appeared in the world, but Duncan noticed this time point because of other things.
Eleven years ago, Nina lost her parents when she was only six years old.
It seems to be because of a big fire.
Is it just a coincidence? Is there such a coincidence
Duncan tried hard to sort out the messy and fragmented memories in his mind, but most of these memories had disappeared with the death of the original owner of the body. He tried hard to recall, but could only remember one or two vague fragments: the original owner of his body rushed out of the fire, holding his dying niece in his arms, an unclear building was burning and collapsing behind him, and in the distance were twisted and dim, like phantom city streets, and countless frantic people were shouting and running wildly on the streets...