Lord of Prayer - Chapter 85 - 76: Rainbow Orange Cat

Chapter 85: Chapter 76: Rainbow Orange Cat

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Sterilization and disinfection, blood draws and tests, CT scans, Essence scans, Soul inspections, personality comparisons, psychological counseling…

After a series of the most rigorous physical examinations, the only findings were that Zhou Chen had a slight tendency toward corruption and somewhat low sanity, both of which would heal on their own after a period of rest.

He didn’t even need to be admitted.

“But I’m still hallucinating! Don’t you see the six little Dwarfs over there wearing calabash headdresses?”

Inside the isolation room, Zhou Chen pointed to a corner, his eyes wide. “Look, they’re starting to dance! And it’s to ’Shin Takarajima’! How is there music?”

“Er, that’s a normal phenomenon.”

The attending Physician glanced at the corner and faithfully recorded the situation on his clipboard. “Low sanity can cause symptoms like visual and auditory hallucinations. Moreover, you’ve suffered mental contamination, so you’ll experience a period of mental confusion.

Rest assured, this is the Star Association. No matter how low your sanity drops or how high your spiritual sensitivity gets, you won’t see any unnamable things here. The little Dwarfs you’re seeing are purely hallucinations.”

“However,” the Physician asked, puzzled, “aren’t there supposed to be seven Calabash Brothers and seven dwarfs in the fairy tale? Why do you only see six?”

“The sixth one is invisible!” Zhou Chen replied thunderously.

“…Alright, that makes perfect sense.” The Physician was actually speechless. After quickly scribbling something on his clipboard, he asked, “Besides the visual and auditory hallucinations, are you feeling any other discomfort?”

Zhou Chen took a moment to check himself, then shook his head. “Nope.”

The Physician nodded in understanding. “In that case, congratulations. You’re free to go.”

“So soon?” Zhou Chen was surprised. He had looked directly at the King of Chaos. Logically, his danger Level should be extremely high.p>”You’ve already been through the highest-Level examination procedure. If there was even the slightest thing wrong with you, inside or out, you wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

The Physician put away his clipboard and said, “It’s probably because you forged such strong Willpower through the torment of having a fragmented Soul, which allowed you to resist the mental contamination. In any case, there’s nothing seriously wrong. Go home, get some sleep, and you should be fine.”

And just like that, Zhou Chen was discharged.

The first thing he did after leaving was head to Jiang Che’s office.

“You’re listening to music? In a good mood?”

As soon as he walked in, he heard a graceful, upbeat melody echoing through the office and found himself humming along.

Jiang Che gave him a strange look.

“I’m not playing any music.”

“…”

Zhou Chen scratched his head in embarrassment. “Must be another auditory hallucination. Never mind… Did you get a cat?”

He was looking at her desk, where a cute, lazy orange cat was lounging. Unlike others of its kind that were fat as pigs, this cat was surprisingly fit.

“Wait, this must be another hallucination.” He came to his senses and shook his head, as if trying to fling all the visual and auditory illusions out of his brain.

“No, the cat is real.”

Jiang Che sighed helplessly. “Why don’t you go home and get some sleep first?”

’The cat is real… You actually keep a cat…’ Zhou Chen froze for a second, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m fine. The Physician said I’m perfectly healthy, just having a little trouble telling reality from hallucinations for now.

Is this your cat? What’s its name?”

“Forbidden Object C-016, Rainbow Orange Cat. Her name is Xiao Ju.”

Jiang Che said, “I’ve had her since I was six.”

Forbidden Object C-016…

Zhou Chen was stunned. He looked at the orange cat lying motionless on the desk like a lazy salted fish. ’This thing is a Forbidden Object?’

Forbidden Objects come in many types.

Those that require containment to be used, and those that don’t.

Those with side effects, and those without.

Dangerous ones, safe ones; stable ones, Activated ones…

A Forbidden Object like this, capable of independent action, belongs to the category of Activated Forbidden Objects.

Soon, Zhou Chen recalled the information on C-016, the Rainbow Orange Cat.

Over a decade ago, this orange cat accidentally fused with Extraordinary Essence, thereby gaining Extraordinary Abilities and being classified as a Forbidden Object.

It has a gentle temperament, enjoys sunbathing and eating dried fish, possesses the intelligence of an Extraordinary Creature, and has an extremely long lifespan.

Its Abilities are Rainbow Light and Rainbow Shield.

That’s right—Rainbow Light is the kind of beautiful beam you’d only see in anime, looking all girly and cute, but with extreme killing power. Rainbow Shield forms a seven-colored halo shield that can block attacks.

Once, an accident occurred at a research institute that contained Forbidden Objects. A Forbidden Object went out of control and rioted, and during the chaos, the cat escaped and vanished without a trace.

It seemed now that, by a twist of fate, a young Jiang Che must have found it and taken it home to raise as a normal cat.

’But an Activated Forbidden Object like this must have a tracker inside. I just don’t know why the Star Association never came to take the cat back… Could it have something to do with Jiang Che’s family background?’

“How come I didn’t see her around the last few days?” Zhou Chen reached out and gave the cat a few pets. As expected, the orange cat was very gentle, not resisting a stranger’s touch.

“She was taken for a physical. The examinations for Activated Forbidden Objects are very strict. She was just sent back today.”

Jiang Che didn’t dwell on the topic. “In three days, it’s the Eternal Fire’s festival,” she said calmly. “That’s when we’ll close the net. You should prepare yourself.”

As the undercover agent, Zhou Chen would definitely be in the most danger when the operation began.

“Can I apply for another Forbidden Object?” Zhou Chen asked. It was something he had been thinking about for a long time. Besides, at this point, only a Forbidden Object could increase his combat strength in such a short time.

“You can.”

Jiang Che nodded. “I’ll have someone compile a list of available Forbidden Objects and send it to you.”

“Thanks, boss~” Zhou Chen’s face lit up. He eagerly poured her a cup of coffee. “I should probably feed Eternal Fire some nonsense too, right? I can just make up some fake intel for them.”

Even though they were all going to drop the charade in three days, as a double agent with professional ethics, Zhou Chen decided to remain at his post for the little time he had left. He would leak some information to Eternal Fire from time to time to appear normal.

“Make up whatever you want. Just show it to me when you’re done.”

“Alright… What about Fu Qing? How did the investigation go today?”

According to Li Xiaoxiao, Fu Qing was about to fall from power, with them pulling the strings from behind the scenes. When that happens, Eternal Fire will use the fallout from Fu Qing’s downfall as a cover to achieve some hidden objective.

At the mention of this, Jiang Che became quite displeased.

“Fu Qing found a few scapegoats to take the fall. They confessed to all the crimes, leaving him completely absolved. And because the Eternal Commerce Association is so powerful, we can’t conduct a search without sufficient evidence. For now, we can only start with their maritime shipping operations.

However…”

Her tone shifted, her eyes filled with cold indifference. “When we close the net, we won’t need to waste any more time arguing with him. I’ll send people to storm the Eternal Commerce Association and arrest him on charges of colluding with the Abyss Church.”

Simple and brutal.

’There might not be any direct evidence… but there will be after the operation, won’t there?’

’Besides, since Eternal Fire is using Fu Qing as bait, there’s no way this is the extent of their plan. There’s probably an even bigger trap waiting for him.’

’So, all I have to do is wait patiently.’

·

Leaving the office, Zhou Chen returned to his dorm to rest and practice Meditation.

After two hours of deep Meditation, he opened his eyes. The occasional auditory hallucinations had vanished, and the room was no longer filled with bizarre visions.

His sanity had returned to normal.

’Finally, no more little Dwarfs… That was so close. The Abyssal Kings truly are existences comparable to Gods. Even their images contain mental contamination… One must not look directly at a God… I can’t be so reckless in the future. But with the Wish Bottle, I should at least be able to ensure my consciousness remains intact…’

As his thoughts raced, Zhou Chen looked at the shimmering Wish Bottle. Inside, there were a full twelve motes of starlight!

—A huge haul!

Officially joining Eternal Fire was a huge step toward the success of his undercover mission, and Jiang Che and the staff of the secret operations department had all contributed a large amount of ’wish value’.

On top of that, Li Xiaoxiao and the other believers in Eternal Fire had also provided a fair amount. He estimated that many of the believers were eager for him to join their Church and become a pawn planted inside the Star Association.

Playing both sides was so rewarding.

The only downside was that he couldn’t use these motes of starlight to restore his Soul’s integrity. He had no excuse for it; his Soul inexplicably healing would only arouse suspicion. However, he had already thought of other uses for them.

The net was about to close, so he would save three motes as a life-saving trump card.

The remaining nine would be used to learn the principles of Alchemy—he’d use as many as he needed. If any were left over, he would use them to improve his Soul Quality.

Three days of preparation wasn’t long. Time was extremely tight.

After confirming he was fully recovered, Zhou Chen went to the Library, preparing to first study the fundamentals of Alchemy.

Alchemy was no easy subject to learn. It was a vast and complex field of knowledge that required talent. Many people could study it their whole lives and never grasp the basics, while others could master it in just a month or two.

Zhou Chen never considered himself a genius. People like Professor Li An and Xiao Yan were the real geniuses. They could master Alchemy in their spare time while writing theses, study seriously for a weekend, and pass the Alchemist license exam the next day.

And the projects they worked on were even more high-end. Professor Li An, for example, was involved in the research for the “Godslaying Weapon”…

Sometimes, you just had to sigh. The gap between people could be bigger than the gap between a person and a dog.

But it didn’t matter. So what if he had no talent? He had a cheat!

In the Library, Zhou Chen gathered a pile of books on Alchemy and found a private study room to settle into.

’Let me think, how should I make this wish… Increase my learning efficiency? Or just directly implant the knowledge?’

’Direct implantation would be faster, but I’m afraid it would just blow up my brain… Hmm, maybe I can wish to increase my learning efficiency first, and then wish to fully comprehend all the knowledge? That seems safer…’

With a clear idea in mind, Zhou Chen didn’t hesitate to act.

Wish Bottle, give me a boost!

“—I wish to increase my learning efficiency!”