Chapter 1534: Chapter 261: Nightwatcher

Claudia only felt a chill all over her body. There were some things she didn’t even want to think about in detail, but besides her trembling body, what she couldn’t control in her terror was her thoughts… her thoughts began to run uncontrollably.

How could the High Priest know her name—she had never revealed her real name to anyone in the City of the Sun; even Yiben had at first mistaken her for Princess Yamanlana.

Therefore, within the City of the Sun, in theory there were only two people who could know her name… Otto, and her classmate Luo Qiu.

Otto had already been seized by the High Priest right before her eyes, and as for Luo Qiu, he was still missing to this day… could it be that, under the High Priest’s interrogation, Otto had already told him everything, including the fact that they actually came from the world outside the City of the Sun, and had even…

No… that’s not it, there is actually another possibility!

A possibility she subconsciously did not want to believe, even instinctively refused to verify—that this High Priest before her and her father, Professor Xie Jiatu, were the same person!

This could very easily explain many things—for instance, the Divine Artifact held by Princess Yamanlana… that was clearly a firearm manufactured by humans from the outside world, brought into this City of the Sun by her father, Professor Xie Jiatu, who then handed it to Princess Yamanlana, claiming it had been bestowed by the True God.

For instance, why someone like Aria had a different name here and was called Yiben, whereas the High Priest used the same name, both outside and here.

Even… this sense the High Priest was giving off at this moment, one that felt uncannily familiar to Claudia—earlier, when she had secretly planned to slip away from the banquet’s loft and first ran into the High Priest, it was because of this very feeling that she had thrown herself into his arms without hesitation.

“You… who exactly are you?”

Countless doubts surfaced in Claudia’s mind—was this man before her truly the High Priest, or a monster disguised as the High Priest, or else… the real Professor Xie Jiatu.

The High Priest said calmly at this moment, “Claudia, don’t you trust me?”

“I trust…”

Claudia only felt that drowsy feeling surge over her once again, oppressively heavy… her eyelids slowly drooped shut, and finally her vision went black as she completely lost consciousness.

Her body collapsed along with it—yet it did not hit the floor, for before that happened the High Priest had stepped forward, steadily supporting her body.

“My name is Xie Jiatu.” The High Priest spoke softly into Claudia’s ear at this moment. “No matter where I am, I have only one identity…”

He helped Claudia onto the bed, then fetched that jug again and slowly poured the liquid from it into her mouth.

Not long after, the High Priest left the Princess’s sleeping palace, intending to return to the Temple.

“Tonight is much longer than usual.” The High Priest suddenly stopped, gazing at the moons in the night sky.

The white-robed guard walking at his side stepped forward at this moment and said, “Perhaps it’s because the longest night is drawing near.”

The High Priest, however, suddenly said out of nowhere, “When the longest night arrives… that will be the day of God’s extinction.”

The white-robed guard, standing so close, naturally heard clearly what the High Priest had just said. His face changed slightly at once; he looked at the black-robed man in front of him with both shock and fear… on his forehead, tiny beads of sweat had unknowingly appeared.

“Just a joke, that’s all.” The High Priest gave him a casual look and, in a way that was surprisingly roguish for someone of his station, said, “After all, in this entire Sun City, I’m the only one who can crack that kind of joke… if even I don’t say it, how could any of you ever hear it?”

“H-High Priest?” The white-robed guard felt even his back growing cold at this moment.

The High Priest merely shook his head, clasped his hands behind him, and walked away. Wrapped in his black robe, he very quickly merged into the darkness before dawn.

…

…

Yiben had actually come back to his senses halfway through, but when he discovered that he was being dragged along by that terrifying thing, he was so scared that he fainted again on the spot.

So this was the second time he had come to… his nerves had, to some extent, slightly adjusted to the fear of the moment.

All around were stone walls. It was not dim; in fact, it was unusually bright… the light came from flames, from oil lamps! A massive shadow was cast on the wall behind Yiben’s position, lined up side by side with him.

He stared in terror at the huge shadow on the wall, his neck stiffening… he bit his finger and slowly shifted his line of sight bit by bit, finally seeing the source of this immense shadow!

It came from the light of the flames—the terrifying creature that had dragged him to this place!

Yiben could only see the other’s back… its back was covered with coarse gray fur! Yiben swore that in all his memory he had never encountered anything that possessed this kind of hair!

It was facing away from Yiben, seemingly eating something… beside it lay a heap of scattered gray bones—judging from the varying degrees of decay of those bones, it could be inferred that this terrifying thing seemed to live in this place, and had already been here for quite some time.

Could these… all be human bones?

Yiben’s teeth began to chatter uncontrollably. He swallowed hard, and while that terrifying thing still had its back to him, busy eating, he quietly pushed himself up and shuffled his feet toward what looked like the exit door.

After taking a couple of steps, Yiben anxiously glanced back, and seeing that the horrifying creature was still eating and had not noticed him, he secretly let out a breath and continued creeping forward.

After repeating this several times, he finally found the door to the exit right before him, and his heart grew even more tense… he reached out toward the door, preparing to push it open and then run for his life—he had no desire to end up as this monster’s food.

But just then!

Bang—!

A sudden sound of something striking the wall rang out. Yiben jumped, instinctively wrapping his arms around his head and squatting on the ground, crying out in terror, “Don’t eat me! Please don’t eat me! I-I-I… I haven’t even emptied what’s in my stomach today! I-I’m really, really, really not tasty at all—!”

Clatter clatter clatter clatter…

Something seemed to roll to a stop at Yiben’s feet. When he opened his eyes, it turned out to be a bone that still had bits of bloody flesh attached to it… judging by the looks, it was some kind of leg bone!

Yiben’s vision went black at once, and he was just about to faint again when that terrifying, gray-furred creature suddenly stood up.

“If you fall asleep again this time, I might just consider eating you.”

“Don’t… don’t, don’t… please don’t eat… eat?” Yiben was sprawled flat on the ground, begging for mercy in terror, but suddenly jerked his head up—had he heard that right?

This terrifying creature could actually speak?

He saw the figure slowly walking over. Yiben’s eyes went wide, his body couldn’t stop trembling… but the other’s appearance gradually became clear—he finally saw what this person actually looked like!

Gray long fur all over… turned out to just be the pelt of some unknown beast draped over his body—this guy was obviously a human!

A guy wrapped in beast hide, wearing a mask made from the skull of some strange animal on his head—this beast skull mask made him look extremely terrifying… especially in the dim light!

“You… you?” Yiben opened his mouth. Once he realized the other was human, he couldn’t help letting out a breath of relief, his strength drained as if sucked dry, and he collapsed onto the ground—his palm pressing on the bone that had rolled over.

Yiben picked it up reflexively and glanced at it, discovering this thing wasn’t human bone at all… seemed more like cow bone.

The other didn’t speak, simply sat down directly in front of Yiben… Wrapped in beast hide and crowned with a beast skull, he looked much bulkier than Yiben, and that sense of pressure made Yiben’s briefly relaxed mood turn tense again in an instant.

For quite a while.

“Uh… brother?” Yiben tentatively spoke to him, “How… how should I address you?”

“Nightwatcher.” He suddenly tossed out a name. “Just call me by my name: Nightwatcher.”

“Nightwatcher?” Yiben nodded unconsciously, then glanced around and pointed at their surroundings. “This… where is this?”

The Nightwatcher’s attitude was hard for Yiben to get a read on, but he still replied calmly, “This is the underground chamber beneath the former Queen’s Sleeping Palace.”

“The former Empress?” Yiben sprang up in shock, looking quite frightened, exclaiming, “Here?”

The Nightwatcher only gave him a casual glance, without much of a reaction.

Yiben calmed himself, sat back down, and muttered to himself, “I heard the former Empress died suddenly, her cause of death is still unknown… There are all kinds of rumors saying the former Empress was murdered, and that after her Soul died, it’s been lingering in the place she once lived…”

As he spoke, Yiben furtively sized up the Nightwatcher in his “bizarre attire,” and blurted out, “They say terrifying things show up in the former Empress’s bedchamber… don’t tell me, that’s you?”

“Didn’t know before,” the Nightwatcher said blandly. “Now, I suppose that’s me.”

“Who are you? Why are you hiding here, dressed like this to scare people in the Royal Palace?” Yiben asked, frowning.

The Nightwatcher replied calmly, “Rather than that, why did you break in here… You’re a guard of the Royal Palace, don’t you know this is a forbidden area, no one allowed inside?”

Yiben leaned against the wall with a roguish grin. “Others are others, I’m me—how’s that the same? If you want to know, that’s easy… you tell me who you are first?”

The Nightwatcher just shook his head. “Let’s not talk about that… Stay here long enough, you’ll definitely end up spilling everything anyway… You look like the type who can’t keep a secret.”

The implication: you’re a damn blabbermouth.

Yiben was displeased at once, let out two cold chuckles, then suddenly pounced up. “Let me see what you look like… you phony spook! Today I, Master Yiben, will teach you what ‘master’ means!”

Three seconds later.

“Ow ow ow—spare me! Hero, spare me! I was wrong… I was wrong, all right?”

“No.” The Nightwatcher sneered.

He was now sitting right on top of Yiben, casually lifting a bloody bone still attached to meat and gnawing on it bite by bite.

Who knew he was this weak—Yiben had been taken down in just a few moves and pinned to the floor… Now he was on the verge of tears, begging nonstop for mercy, and in the end, with that big mouth of his, he spilled the whole story of why he’d come here in the first place.

“…That’s how it is.” Yiben braced himself up with both hands, straining to look back at the Nightwatcher sitting on his back. “Brother… could you not sit on me?”

“No.” The Nightwatcher tossed aside the bone he’d finished gnawing, wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth, then calmly asked, “You said that besides you, there were three others who infiltrated the Royal Palace with you, and one of them even looks exactly like Princess Yamanlana… where are they?”

“Didn’t I say already?” Yiben said helplessly. “I don’t know how I passed out, and after I came back to his senses I’ve just been running until I ended up here… I really don’t know, brother. Could you get off first, my back?”

The Nightwatcher ignored Yiben’s squawking and instead muttered to himself, “Princess Yamanlana? Could it be… could it be someone else has come in from outside?”

“Outside? What outside?” Yiben blurted out. “Outside the Royal Palace? Who else besides us?”

The Nightwatcher didn’t respond. He stood up directly and walked to a corner of the underground chamber—there, a huge piece of cloth was draped over something. The Nightwatcher lifted it, revealing what was underneath.

Most of the stuff inside Yiben had never seen before, but there was one thing that looked very familiar to him—suddenly, he slapped his own head and cried out in shock, “A Di… Divine Artifact? You… you’ve got a Divine Artifact too?”

Click—!

The Nightwatcher nimbly loaded a magazine into the Divine Artifact—a black pistol—in Yiben’s hand.

“Brother, who on earth are you?” Yiben edged closer, asking nervously.

The Nightwatcher glanced at him, then pointed the Divine Artifact straight at Yiben… pressing it to his forehead. Yiben instinctively raised both hands. “B-brother, I… I shouldn’t ask, I shouldn’t ask…”

The Nightwatcher suddenly said, “Yiben, right?”

Yiben nodded reflexively. “Please, go on!”

The Nightwatcher said directly, “Right now there’s a chance in front of you to make a lot, a lot of money… a chance to gain enormous wealth. Do you want it?”

“Enormous wealth?” The moment Yiben heard this, his spirits soared. He even forgot the terror of the Divine Artifact pressed to his forehead, his eyes shining. “What is it?”

“Come with me to kill the High Priest.” The Nightwatcher let out a cold laugh as he spoke.

Yiben blinked… then dropped straight to the floor in a faint, lying there motionless—the Nightwatcher silently lifted his foot, about to stomp down toward Yiben’s crotch.

Yiben hurriedly rolled to the side, scrambling up in a panic, his face twisted like a bitter gourd. “Brother… you need a life to enjoy that kind of enormous wealth… Kill the High Priest? Am I insane?”

“What if I told you that as long as you succeed in killing the High Priest, I have a way to take you out of this City of the Sun, even…” The Nightwatcher’s voice sank. “Even out of this desert?”

Yiben: “!!”