Chapter 249

Chapter 236 Suspicion

“Oh, it’s Miss Dorothy! You scared me.”

In the underground ritual venue of King Campus, Vania, who was carefully observing the altar and deity statue, was startled by a sudden voice beside her. Only when she turned around and saw Dorothy did she relax slightly.

“It seems that Sister Vania is very interested in this altar and deity statue,” Dorothy asked with a smile, to which Vania nodded in response.

“More or less. After all, I’m from the Historical Records Office, and sometimes I come across various studies on altars and statues. This particular altar is quite special, and it really piqued my interest.”

Vania continued, explaining that the duty of the Historical Records Office was to collect, organize, repair, and research various scriptures related to the Radiant Church. Therefore, Vania had a certain level of expertise in theology centered around the Radiant Church.

“So, in your opinion, what makes this altar so special?” Dorothy asked, hoping to hear the perspective of a church member on this mysterious altar. If she could clearly understand the significance of this altar, perhaps she could gain some insight into the Eight Pinnacle Nest’s intentions.

“In my view…” Listening to Dorothy, Vania pondered for a moment before continuing.

“In my view, this altar has clearly been desecrated. The spider head and the deity statue are not one entity; they were likely replaced by those cultists. They did this to desecrate the god originally worshipped here. The ceremony those cultists were performing just now might be part of the desecration ritual, but I don’t know what specific effect it would have. As for that spider head, it should be the idol worshipped by those cultists.”

Vania shared her understanding, and Dorothy continued questioning.

“Do you know anything about this spider deity and the original god worshipped at this altar?”

“The spider deity… Well, honestly, I’m not specialized in cult research. I don’t know much about these heretical gods and idols. The institution within the church that handles cult matters is the Holy War Army, and they know more about cults.”

“But regarding the god originally worshipped at this altar…”

As Vania spoke, she began examining the surroundings of the altar meticulously, scrutinizing the decorative engravings on it, her expression becoming intensely focused.

“This altar has a very Radiant Church style, and it’s quite ancient. It seems to be an altar dedicated to a Radiant Church deity, but the problem is that this goddess statue is not one of the Three Saints. I suspect… this might be a heretical idol.”

Vania expressed her thoughts to Dorothy, and Dorothy frowned slightly as she listened.

“You think this goddess statue is a symbol of a heretical Radiant Church faith?”

“Yes, indeed. Among the heretics within the church, there are those who worship idols outside the Three Saints, claiming that this is the true incarnation of the Savior of Radiance. It’s possible that this goddess statue is one of them.”

“Because our Historical Records Office sometimes deals with dangerous false scriptures, I know quite a bit about such heretical beliefs. I’ve seen their idols, but I’ve never seen a mirror-holding goddess like this… Considering the age of this altar, I guess this might be an ancient heresy within the Radiant Church.”

“An ancient heresy of the Radiant Church?”

Listening to Vania’s speculation, Dorothy muttered to herself. The analysis seemed reasonable, but upon further thought, something didn’t feel right.

“No, from the Poison Recognition in the previous notes about this statue, this should be a goddess with a ‘Shadow’ spirituality. The Radiant Church represents ‘Lamp,’ so how can a goddess with ‘Shadow’ spirituality become the object of a heretical faith within the Radiant Church?”

Dorothy couldn’t immediately come up with an answer to this question. Regarding the mysterious Mirror Moon Goddess faith, her father had already deduced several key points:

Firstly, this faith once widely existed in Prit and later seemed to have migrated eastward collectively.

Secondly, this faith appeared to have some connection with the Radiant Church, possibly as a heretical faith of the Radiant Church, but strangely, this goddess seemed to be in opposition to the Radiant Church, embodying the “Shadow” attribute.

Thirdly, for unknown reasons, this goddess seemed to have attracted the attention of a spider deity, and the Eight Pinnacle Nest might obtain some ‘influence’ through desecrating these abandoned Mirror Moon Goddess statues.

Dorothy summarized the information about the Mirror Moon Goddess statue, identifying several points and doubts. She wanted to derive some clues, but due to insufficient evidence, she didn’t draw any effective conclusions.

“Sigh… Forget it, thinking about this for now won’t help. Better to clean up the scene and leave quickly.”

With a deep breath, Dorothy thought, and soon she searched the battlefield on this floor again, gathering another pile of corpses. On the black-tier body impersonating Claudius, she found two silent sigils and about 50 pounds in cash.

Afterwards, Dorothy, Vania, and Nephnis gathered and quickly left the scene, exiting the ruins through a secret passage of the Repair Association. Once they returned to the night sky, they parted ways. Dorothy promised Vania and Nephnis that after sorting and valuing all the spoils, she would share some with them.

After separating, Vania and Nephnis took a carriage to the city, while Dorothy didn’t rest. She took the opportunity to enter the school and infiltrated Andrew’s office, where Andrew was an observer from the An Yin Bureau pretending to be Claudius. Inside, she conducted a thorough search, acquiring 150 pounds in cash and a secret transmission manual after directing the zombie puppet to rummage through everything.

After searching the office, Dorothy returned to her home at Green Shade Town No. 17 and took a relaxing bath. After changing into her nightwear, she sat down at her desk.

After sitting at her desk and resting for a while, following the usual routine after a major operation, Dorothy began organizing the expenses and gains from this operation.

Firstly, regarding expenses, Dorothy had spent quite a sum this time.

To ensure the smooth operation, Dorothy’s preparations for targeting Claudius were quite costly. Almost all of her cash savings were used up, spending 350 pounds on vampire intelligence, 100 pounds on zombie puppet equipment, 120 pounds on antidotes, and another 70 pounds on gas cylinders and steel swords. Later, when she ran out of money, Dorothy had to pawn some of the gold and silver items she had collected.

In total, Dorothy spent nearly 640 pounds on this operation. At that point, she had about 250 pounds left after purchasing all the items.