CCTnovel Chapter 119
Chapter 119
Who could have imagined that the scene which had settled down for more than a month, where even if there had been any turbulent battles, they would have gradually calmed down with the passage of time… only existed in imagination?
At least Su Li couldn’t.
Outside Sadina City, the scenery matched this season perfectly: barren ground, not a blade of grass growing, and even the air was filled with a burnt stench.
Almost as soon as this scene came into Su Li’s view, the idea of trying to enter Sadina City from the back rather than through the main gate formed in his mind.
It felt ominous.
“I feel like getting close to those two people would cause me both physical and mental discomfort,” Su Li said, gazing from afar at the silhouettes of Diz and “Xiao Zuo” fighting.
Mavis remarked with surprise, “I thought you were the type to face challenges head-on.”
“That’s quite a big misunderstanding,” Su Li waved his hand dismissively.
Egbert attempted to explain for the professional salted fish, “There’s a big difference between facing difficulties and facing unnecessary difficulties.”
As they spoke, several flashes of light exploded continuously in front of them.
Battles between light elementalists and other elementalists had some visual appeal, but if it was between two light elementalists…
Their battle could only be described as light pollution.
It was too blinding. Like someone shining a high-powered plaza spotlight directly in your face, repeatedly turning it on and off when you were half-asleep in the middle of the night.
Before they could even decide whether to join in or truly choose to enter from the back, the two people who had been continuously fighting suddenly stopped.
Su Li wondered, “Have they entered cooldown time?”
Egbert’s expression was troubled, “Lord Su Li is saying things we don’t understand again.”
Lan Zhe replied annoyed, “If you don’t understand, don’t dwell on it. Don’t you think it’s pathological to not understand something, not ask about it, but still obsess over it?”
“I can’t agree with that,” said Roy. “I actually think Egbert’s body, mind, soul, and even the marrow in his bones are all inscribed with the words ‘pathological.'”
Before his own people could start fighting each other, Su Li, uncharacteristically, didn’t attempt to probe or pull them apart, but instead charged forward directly.
He called out to the two who had stopped fighting from a distance, “Are you in a state where we can communicate now?”
Su Li didn’t really care how the people being questioned would react. Like the raven perched on his head, he just wanted the people behind him—who acted like they were in a safe zone where they could openly fight each other once they entered Sadina City’s territory—to not actually fight.
The raven on Su Li’s head muttered quietly, “Perhaps after dealing with ‘Xiao Zuo,’ I could consider guiding them a bit.”
The raven’s black wings swept toward the people behind them.
Su Li paused before replying, “Actually, if you said you’d take them all on by yourself, I wouldn’t mind either.”
His voice was soft, but Egbert, one of the gorillas, could still hear it. However, before he could show his pitiful expression, the person opposite had already responded.
“I suppose we can communicate, though I’m quite exhausted,” Diz replied from a distance, his voice hoarse.
Su Li, however, didn’t dare to approach.
Using those two temporarily-ceased fighters to divert attention was fine, but actively walking up to them would be suicide.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them…
Su Li tried to find an excuse for himself, then decisively gave up, declaring: he simply didn’t trust them.
Whether it was Xiao Zuo in an uncontrollable state, or Diz who would definitely be influenced by the Church of Light’s leaders.
A month had passed. Judging by the changes in the palace situation, the Church of Light should have somewhat selected new people to take positions.
But the reality was that the position of the Pope of Light remained vacant.
The Pope’s ascension was no less significant than a king’s succession. The fact that no news had reached the Inner City was equivalent to reverse information leakage.
For instance, Xiao Zuo was no longer completely Xiao Zuo.
“So I ask you, are you still trustworthy?” Su Li’s eyes flickered.
Honestly, the Church of Light’s position was now quite delicate.
The king was still alive, and with the now-dead Pope of Light having obviously cuckolded him, the Church of Light—which could be seen from certain angles as an organization under the Pope of Light’s influence—had become a thorn in the king’s side.
Secondly, there was now the Dark Church in the Inner City, wanting to step into the public eye.
The Pope of Light was dead, and a new Pope couldn’t take office in the short term. For those who disliked the Church of Light, this was the best time to target them.
Not to mention that before Su Li left the Inner City overnight, he had discovered that the Grand Judge had already begun to assert royal political priority from various cities.
Many city church branches had gradually transformed from holding real power to becoming merely symbolic religious buildings.
Moreover, during his return journey, Su Li hadn’t just been idly swaying in the carriage.
Euphia’s intelligence system couldn’t provide strong support in the Inner City, but once they left the capital city, this force became a formidable network not to be underestimated.
Su Li had learned quite a bit of news during this process.
For example, the collapse of the Church of Light branches had clearly involved the Dark Church’s interference.
Even the reason for this action was an open and righteous war of revenge.
Even when those two calculating old men came together, the situation became one where the Dark Church was openly waging a revenge war, while actually remotely undermining the nobility.
If so many powerful light elementalists of the Church of Light could die, what about you scattered nobles…
Whenever Su Li thought about this matter, he felt that it was no wonder he was unwilling to participate.
Even if he could master the development trajectory of all events and actively guide them… for someone in his youthful body, this would definitely not be a good thing.
Too many brain cells dying would lead to baldness.
The various pieces of information in Su Li’s mind, though numerous, flashed by in an instant.
After just a moment, Su Li heard Diz say, “I cannot judge whether I am still someone you can trust now. But I can tell you clearly that I bear no ill will toward you or the entire Sadina City.”
Su Li couldn’t discern Diz’s expression, as the slightly distant position was unfavorable to him. But for others with excellent vision, they could all see the clear sincerity in Diz’s eyes, as well as a hint of indescribable confusion.
As for Su Li, who couldn’t read expressions, he only needed a second to determine that Diz had no reason to trick him.
So despite the raven pecking lightly at his forehead, Su Li walked forward on his own initiative.
His footsteps were heavy, and although the distance wasn’t particularly long, Su Li’s walk somehow drew the attention of everyone present.
There was no room for tension to rise; Su Li now only wanted to know the current layout of this city he had deliberately ignored for a month.
“I thought you would stay in the Inner City.”
Xiao Zuo’s voice was devoid of emotion. Compared to the nuanced preferences in human voices, his current tone was like the mechanical quality of early AI readings.
Su Li shifted his gaze from the somewhat disheveled Diz. He looked at “Xiao Zuo,” whose posture was neither hunched like the Pope’s nor rigid like Xiao Zuo’s, with extremely calm emotions, “Staying there was meaningless to me.”
“From the current situation, and the materials I’ve re
Lan Zhe was confused. “You understood?”
Egbert nodded seriously. “Eight or nine tenths of it.”
Roy was unwilling to believe the truth. “Did you secretly take additional lessons when we weren’t aware?”
“Rather than additional lessons, I think this is more like… simulation,” Mavis gave her thoughts after pondering for a moment.
“That’s right,” Egbert admitted. “If Egbert is always just Egbert, then his achievement ceiling can only be Egbert’s ceiling. But if the core wearing Egbert’s skin is essentially Lord Su Li, then my growth ceiling will be immeasurable.”
Roy’s mouth twitched violently. “What absurd statement is this? I want to take back what I just said. Talk about secretly taking lessons, you’ve not only engraved the words ‘pathological’ in all aspects, but you’ve also secretly kneaded the words ‘neurotic’ into a ball and swallowed it, haven’t you?”
Mavis stroked her chin and murmured, “Could this be the legendary ‘becoming like you’?”
Lan Zhe was even more confused. “Don’t you two think you’re also quite abnormal?”
Before the two implied targets could curse back, Lan Zhe added, “Otherwise, why would you so naturally understand Egbert’s speech, which rivals tongue twisters in complexity?”
Lan Zhe’s words suddenly plunged the air into silence.
Egbert himself looked innocent, while Roy and Mavis somewhat questioned their life choices.
The former didn’t believe he could truly understand what Egbert’s correct direction of growth was, while the latter was wondering about the differences between professions like Holy Maiden, Holy Son, Dark Holy Maiden, and Son of Light.
Then she decisively affirmed that the problem lay with this world.
Mavis: If you throw all the blame onto the world, living becomes much easier.
While they were discussing heatedly, “Xiao Zuo” beside Su Li was utterly confused. “Let’s not talk about how you got the answer. You still haven’t told me the answer to my question.”
“I already said it,” Su Li showed Egbert’s signature innocent expression, though after making eye contact with Egbert, he instantly felt nauseated and reverted to his expressionless face.
“What you consider to be judgment or sentencing, in my view, has no extended meaning. All definitions for you are merely my personal thoughts, and personal thoughts… such things are too subjective. Even if I explain them, they would only confuse you more.”
“Xiao Zuo” showed a seemingly half-understanding expression.
For a moment, Su Li felt like he was trying to fool a baby who had grown a brain but not a complete one.
Even though his entire speech seemed full of implications and depth, fundamentally it was just…
You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.
You couldn’t possibly fully comprehend even if you did understand.
Even if you understood, you couldn’t possibly comprehend my feelings at this moment.
Just thinking that he had only used his first move and “Xiao Zuo” already showed a duped expression, Su Li’s thoughts instantly shifted from guilt to…
Egbert number two.
Of course, this didn’t refer to the pervert aspect.
Su Li cleared his throat gently, straightened his back, and asked naturally, “Do you want to come with me?”
“Xiao Zuo” was stunned again.
“Xiao Zuo” even felt that since meeting Su Li, he had experienced many changes that didn’t align with his personal behavior.
“Why would you say such a thing? At least in my brain, I have very clear memories of being beaten up by all of you.”
“Although this might sound shameless, I still need to say it.” Once shameless words were actively labeled, they became calm statements—this was basic rhetoric.
Su Li said flatly, “The Pope died at Leirela’s hands. Although there might have been some credit due to me and the people around me, those who actually took action and provided effective suppression were always people who had been harmed by the Pope in the past.”
Neither Su Li nor the people around him would claim this achievement.
Whether it was Mavis, Leirela, or even Qi’s mother, these three individuals—none of them hadn’t suffered deeply.
Mavis, after escaping a fatal crisis, rose up fiercely despite her weakness. Leirela even delivered the final stab. As for Qi’s mother....Su Li had no intention of establishing a good relationship with someone’s mother before meeting his companion who was still in the Mercenary City.
So from a personal inference, Qi’s mother became the one who inherited “part of the Pope’s estate” and cleaned up after him.
“Xiao Zuo,” however, didn’t understand. “But even if you think so, in others’ eyes, you are still the mastermind stirring up all the turmoil. So why bother with false modesty in front of me?”
Su Li had no extra thoughts about this kind of speech which, due to its mechanical tone, lacked even obvious sarcasm. He simply performed one of the interactive actions from games between players.
—Such as punching Xiao Zuo to show encouragement.
“Xiao Zuo” looked down at Su Li’s hand which had hit his chest, stared for a full three seconds before saying, “What are you doing?”
“Showing that when it comes to self-awareness, I’m never falsely humble,” Su Li removed his reddened hand, which had even broken skin at the knuckles due to the force used.
He gently inhaled, then held his hand in front of his face, staring with green eyes and an expressionless face, adding, “For example, this injury, which might fully heal in one breath for you, requires healing, scabbing, scab falling off, and scar fading for me—multiple reactions that would take at least ten days to completely remove all traces.”
Su-“Knows about his scar-prone constitution”-Li explained.
“Xiao Zuo”: …………………………
“…I sincerely feel that the Pope shouldn’t have died.”
Su Li: “I also sincerely feel that Xiao Zuo is a cutie.”
“Xiao Zuo”: “I feel like you’re insulting me.”
Su Li smiled candidly, “I am insulting you.”
The sighing raven blocked a fatal blow for Su Li.
Diz: Hello? Have you completely ignored me?