Chapter 1045: Chapter 719: Soul Loss Syndro Chapter 1045: Chapter 719: Soul Loss Syndro When Duanmu Huai returned to Arkham City once more, everything remained orderly as ever.
The only thing to ntion is…
“Mistelina, what in the world is with that crowd of people outside?”
After Duanmu Huai returned to the city, the first thing he did was to find Mistelina and voice his confusion.
Upon his return to Arkham City, the first thing Duanmu Huai saw was the long line of people queued up outside the domain’s gate, which puzzled him. Considering it was the deep winter in the Faelun world, weren’t these people afraid of freezing to death by aimlessly coming here?
“Ah, I was just about to report to you, Great Judge. Currently, there is a curse known as Lost Souls Syndro spreading throughout the Northern Lands, and those… are refugees seeking sanctuary. In fact, this matter has a little to do with you.”
“Lost Souls Syndro? What is that? How is it related to ?”
Upon hearing Mistelina’s reply, Duanmu Huai looked puzzled, but Mistelina quickly started to fill him in on the details.
Previously, after Duanmu Huai had dealt with that envoy of the True God and their base, he had shared the information with all the churches in Arkham City. Frankly speaking, it was akin to how a police departnt shares case files with other stations, asking them to be on the lookout for similar incidents within their jurisdiction.
Putting aside Evil Gods like Shawl, benevolent Deities like Tyler naturally would not stand by idly. Upon further investigation, everyone was shocked. They had always assud that this so-called Supre True God was perhaps a newly risen cult, but careful investigation revealed that this faction had been lurking in the Northern Land for many years, and all the while spreading the Lost Souls Syndro curse.
Simply put, those afflicted with this curse start by acting groggy and dazed, then appear soulless, left with just an empty shell. Subsequently, they disappear, and when found again, they have joined the cult and beco its fervent believers.
For instance, Alia and Kasim also investigated this matter and found out from the wife of a farr outside Baldur’s Gate that her husband had had an encounter with these mysterious individuals. Subsequently, he changed completely, turning from a spirited young man into one seeming to suffer from dentia, and then he just vanished.
Following the trail, Alia and the others tracked down a base of the Supre True God nearby. To their surprise, the missing farr had already turned into a complete zealot and an important mber of that place.
Of course, Alia’s group later stord, overca the cult hideout, and captured people like the farr, who were then sent to jail. However, no matter how he was interrogated, the farr would repeat, over and over, that he worshipped the only True God, who would eventually devour the world…
The reason this affliction was nad Lost Souls Syndro was that, after inspections by priests and Sacred Knights, it was shocking to discover that these individuals had no soul within them; their souls were completely untraceable!
Now, this was strange.
Logically, if the soul is annihilated, the body must be dead. And if a body is alive without the soul, it should be classified among the Undead Creatures. However, these people were not Undead Creatures; they lacked the characteristics of the Undead. In contrast, their behavior was almost indistinguishable from when they were alive, except for the loss of soul and the fanatical worship of the supposed Supre True God.
“So, what’s with all those people outside?”
“Ah…”
At this point, Mistelina let out a helpless sigh.
“For so reason, the investigation results were leaked, leading to widespread panic. Many people are scared of this terrible curse, and they believe that they can avoid contracting it on this land protected by the Deities. That’s why they are rushing here in such a panic…”
“Have there been any cases of Lost Souls Syndro among our people?”
“No.”
Mistelina shook her head.
“But we have found several patients with Lost Soul Disease among the immigrants; they have already been isolated. The responsibility for researching and developing treatnt programs has been handed over to various temples.”
“How were the disease victims discovered?”
“It seems that they can be seen through by so sort of soul detection Divine Art… Sorry, I don’t understand the magic of this world very well.”
“Is it happening everywhere?”
“Yes… According to reports, it seems that the probability of occurrence is higher in remote towns and villages. We still do not understand the infection chanism of this curse. I have ordered the Night Guard to take charge of maintaining order, and for now, things are still under control.”
“How many people are infected in total?”
“The thods of communication in this world are rather primitive; based on the verifiable intelligence we have collected so far, at least eight hundred to a thousand people have been infected with this curse.”
“That’s not a small number for this world.”
“Is this related to the Chaos Evil Gods you ntioned, Great Judge?”
“No, I don’t think this is the work of the Chaos Evil Gods; this is not their style.”
In response to Mistelina’s questions, Duanmu Huai shook his head. Such thods did not seem like sothing the Chaos Evil Gods would do, nor would the fat otaku create such a strange plague. He was more inclined to believe it was soone within the world of Faelun stirring trouble, but as for who it might be… that was not easy to say.
“Has the Blade of Judgnt reported anything?”
“The Blade of Judgnt squad has destroyed several Cult strongholds, but nothing significant was found.”
“I see.”
After listening to Mistelina’s report, Duanmu Huai thought for a mont and nodded.
“I’ll go see those Lost Soul Disease patients first… Oh, and call Mary too.”
“Yes, Grand Judge-sama.”
Soon, Duanmu Huai arrived in front of Tyler Church, located within Arkham City; most of the Lost Soul Disease patients discovered earlier had already been taken in by the Tyler Church, and Mary had also t up with Duanmu Huai, except…
“What’s her condition?”
Looking at Shirley standing not far behind, Duanmu Huai frowned and turned to ask Mary, who looked puzzled and tilted her head slightly.
“Shirley has been with all this ti, is that not okay?”
“It’s not that it isn’t okay, but… never mind.”
Duanmu Huai looked toward Shirley, who was standing a short distance away and respectfully bowed to him. However, Duanmu Huai always felt that sothing was not quite right. How to put it, he felt that the way Shirley looked at him was not entirely normal, sowhat akin to the fervor of a fanatic fan seeing their idol star…
“`
It must be my imagination, right?
I an, co to think of it, with the way I am, how could there possibly be anyone fanatically worshipping ?
I’m overthinking it, overthinking it.
Duanmu Huai withdrew his gaze, not giving it further thought.
“Alright, let’s go in,” he said.
“Yes.”
Having explained their purpose, the priests of Tyler quickly led the two to the underground facility where the lost souls were contained, and also started to fill them in on the condition of these patients.
“Although it’s called soul-loss, their behavior doesn’t show any abnormalities, and they’re even quite lucid. The only thing worth ntioning is their extre fanaticism towards that so-called Supre True God…”
“Are you sure they haven’t just been reading too much of the He-Man Scripture?”
Duanmu Huai chuckled, and the priest gave him a strange look.
“I’m sure… Grand Judge-sama, it should not be the case.”
The so-called He-Man Scripture was a book written by sobody after Sherrick ascended to godhood, which basically says all other deities are false gods and only Sherrick himself is the True God. So, he had soone write the He-Man Scripture, its content nothing more than how great Sherrick is and that he is the only true deity of this world.
Of course, it would have been fine if it was just for self-entertainnt, but whether it was due to the writer’s compelling style or so other reason, after the He-Man Scripture was completed, everyone who read it really beca brainwashed, turning into Sherrick’s most loyal and insane followers.
Seeing this, Sherrick thought, hey? This book is actually quite useful. Let have a look.
And then… well, Sherrick went mad.
To read one’s autobiography and then beco fanatical and vain to the point of insanity—this deity was truly unique in history, ancient and modern, here and abroad.
The funniest part was, the way to resist the power of this book was actually very simple: just read “The True Chronicle of Sherrick” before the He-Man Scripture. Simply put, the difference between the two is much like that between the “Three Kingdoms” and “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”… After you’ve read the “official history,” you won’t be confused when reading the He-Man Scripture.
So, in the end, the He-Man Scripture is just like a novel from the “Romance” genre. Sherrick, after reading it, found it conflicted with his mory—Am I really like that in the book? Am I not? Am I? Or not? Am I? Or not?
And then he went mad.
This shows that even blowing smoke up soone’s skirt can be dangerous.
While they talked, the three arrived at the place where the patients with soul-loss were confined.
To Duanmu Huai’s recollection, it looked sowhat like a ntal hospital, with each room separated and a small window in each door. The Sacred Knights and Guards of Tyler stood on both sides of the corridor, and from inside the rooms ca angry shouts and curses—indeed, it was just like a cross between a ntal hospital and a prison.
“You haven’t found any way to deal with this?” he asked.
“No.”
The priest shook his head.
“We are also puzzled. Clearly, their souls have vanished, yet their bodies are still alive. They don’t look like undead creatures; they can be in sunlight and need food and water. If it weren’t for their fanatical worship of the Supre True God and the divine arts detecting that there really are no souls in their bodies, one would hardly think there’s anything wrong with them.”
“The Supre True God is the only deity!! You dogs of false gods!”
“Let us out! When the Supre True God reappears, it will destroy all of you……!!”
However, before the priest could finish speaking, the shouts of those people could be heard from the rooms around them. They stuffed their faces into the window openings and began to yell loudly, startling Mary, who was sowhat at a loss—she had never seen such a scene before.
“Hmph!”
Duanmu Huai’s expression darkened as he heard the yelling. With a cold snort, the next mont his Fearful Aura spread instantly, and the shouting lost souls suddenly fell silent, as if choked.
“You should starve them for ten or fifteen days, see if they dare to spout nonsense again,” he suggested.
Duanmu Huai looked towards the priest, who shook his head.
“That’s not the Tyler way of doing things.”
“Alright, even though I knew that,” Duanmu Huai responded wryly, then turned to the guards.
“Bring these lost souls out.”
“Yes.”
On Duanmu Huai’s command, the guards promptly unlocked the doors and brought out the lost souls, now trembling in Duanmu Huai’s Fearful Aura, barely able to stand, collapsing to the ground like their legs were made of jelly. Despite the guards’ help, they seed unable to stand up from the ground.
“It’s up to you now, Mary.”
Duanmu Huai turned his head to look at Mary, speaking to her.
“You check these people out.”
“Uh… I know, it may be hard to describe…
“Would you like to do it again?”
At Mary’s response, Duanmu Huai quietly pulled out the Pink Book, and seeing his action, Mary instantly blanched and vigorously shook her head.
“No, no, no, no need!! I can express it through drawing!!”
Rembering her past experience, Mary truly did not dare to let Duanmu Huai use that move again.
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