At this moment, Qi Xinzhu had arrived at the top of the central bell tower of the Church.

Since the Alliance mandated that no other buildings could surpass this height, this place was the tallest point of the entire Church, and even the entire Inner Ring.

Qi Xinzhu pressed her palms together, making the same gesture Pope Fan Zhen had made before, and then called out quietly, "Teacher!"

On the other side, Fan Zhen, who was resting in the small wooden cabin, opened his eyes again, his wrinkled face now full of smiles. However, his entire demeanor seemed somewhat sinister and frightening. This feeling of regained success made the 200-year-old man somewhat excited and lose his composure.

He released his remaining Holy Radiance and transmitted his voice to Qi Xinzhu, "Xinzhu, you must remember this when you receive the baptism of the Dawn Disc and the Sequence Force. As long as you condense all your Holy Radiance in your heart, you won't suffer any malignant distortions! Truly feel the gift that Truth grants you!"

"Huh?" The Pope's words astonished Qi Xinzhu. What did he mean? What baptism by the Dawn Disc and Sequence Force? And what is the gift of Truth? Did Teacher pass on the Source of Holy Light to her just to tell her these things? But she hadn't gone to receive the baptism of the Dawn Disc, had she? Right now, she was clearly in the Third Ring. And the Dawn Disc was in the First Ring!

"Teacher, what are you talking about? I don't understand at all." Qi Xinzhu's voice was puzzled yet steady, not at all like someone whose mind had been influenced.

This immediately made Fan Zhen, lying in bed, feel impatient and uneasy. His Holy Radiance was no longer sufficient to sense Qi Xinzhu's location. Could it be that he had missed something? Or had the development of the whole situation not gone as he had envisioned?

"Xinzhu, where are you now?"

"I'm in the Church bell tower! Teacher, what's happened?"

The Qi Xinzhu of today was no longer the naive and sweet girl of the past. She immediately realized that her teacher seemed to have arranged certain matters. And her words, or rather her behavior, made her teacher realize that these matters hadn't developed as he had envisioned. In that case, things were getting interesting!

"You... didn't go to the Doomsday Sanctuary?"

Qi Xinzhu's eyes narrowed slightly. In such a moment, she subconsciously thought of Lu Luo. Because she realized there was a problem and felt uneasy. But she couldn't figure out where the root of the problem lay. If Lu Luo were here, he would definitely be able to help her analyze it.

"Teacher, you've never told me, what is the Doomsday Sanctuary?"

Fan Zhen's heart pounded fiercely; he didn't know what kind of feeling this was. Why hadn't Bai Qingshuang taken Qi Xinzhu to the Doomsday Sanctuary? But the Doomsday Sanctuary had already been opened, hadn't it? Then who was the successor that followed Bai Qingshuang to the Doomsday Sanctuary? Apart from the pure Qi Xinzhu, who else could inherit the power of the Sanctuary? What had happened to the Church during the time he was asleep?

"Xinzhu, what has happened to the Church since I fell asleep?"

Qi Xinzhu fell silent for a moment; by now, she had already realized something. Her kind teacher might have deceived her about some issues!

"Teacher, you still haven't told me what the Doomsday Sanctuary is."

Fan Zhen detected the doubt in Qi Xinzhu's tone, but he had been through too much already. So, Pope Fan Zhen quickly composed himself. Without subordinates, without channels, Zemo's control was only temporary. And Qi Xinzhu was now the only person he could contact who was not associated with Bai Qingshuang.

After pondering for a while, Fan Zhen's expression became serious. "The Doomsday Sanctuary is humanity's last refuge. There, the last secrets of humankind are kept."

Qi Xinzhu's expression grew even colder. "Teacher must be quite anxious now, right? I've always had a question: Has Teacher really grown old?"

"Xinzhu, some things are not as you think. You are too young, which is why I haven't told you. And I have indeed grown old."

Qi Xinzhu nodded. The Pope's condition indeed seemed to have weakened to the extreme. At his level and status, accessing the Fruit of Life should have been easy. So, had the Pope ever consumed the Fruit of Life to extend his lifespan?

"Teacher, have you ever eaten the Fruit of Life?"

"Fruit of Life? That term only became widespread after Bai Qingshuang took power."

"Teacher? What do you mean?"

"You are talking about that thing that extends lifespan, right? The original name of that thing is the Seed of Origination."

Qi Xinzhu paused. She and Lu Luo had conducted much research and many investigations into the Fruit of Life. But now the Pope was telling her another name, which made Qi Xinzhu feel that something was off.

"But I have consulted many texts and books, and they all refer to it as the Fruit of Life."

This time, the Pope also fell silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating the key aspect of this issue. "Xinzhu, I know you are uneasy and unwilling to believe me, but I still have to tell you. I am 200 years old now and have been the Pope for 140 years. In these 140 years, that forbidden substance for extending lifespan, produced from pregnant women, has always been called the Seed of Origination. Its implication is like that of an Exotic Species, being born anew with vitality from death. The principle of lifespan extension is similar. If everything you have seen and found is called the Fruit of Life, there is only one possibility. The things you've researched and seen were all prepared and arranged for you by others beforehand."

This time, Qi Xinzhu was not swayed by the Pope's explanation. She quietly took out her phone and sent a discreet message to Lu Luo, then she turned off the phone again and continued to ask, "Teacher, although I would like to believe you, at this moment, it's really hard for one to trust you!"

"Xinzhu, what else do you want to know?"

"I've always thought of myself as a genius, but my strength hasn't grown quickly. Teacher, you've never made any demands regarding my strength. Is it because I'm easier to control if my strength is weaker?"

The Qi Xinzhu of the past would never have uttered such words. Fan Zhen didn't know what she had gone through in the past year.

"Xinzhu, why would you think that?"

"You just need to answer yes or no."

"No!"

"Thank you for your answer, Teacher. It does offer me a bit of warmth."

"Do you have any other questions?"

Fan Zhen needed Qi Xinzhu now; his time was running out, and she was his only chance.

Meanwhile, Qi Xinzhu was calm and unruffled. What she needed to do now was to collect as much information as possible. This information might not be useful to her directly, but Lu Luo would help her summarize it.

"What exactly is in the Doomsday Sanctuary that can make you so distraught?"

"Within the Doomsday Sanctuary lies the sealed secret of humanity reaching the Eighth Order!"

Qi Xinzhu's gaze flickered, a subtle charm in her eyes. Eighth Order, a rank humanity had never reached before. Was it a secret once held by humanity?

"What about the Dawn Disc?"

"The Dawn Disc is the key to opening the Doomsday Sanctuary."

"I see. So, what do you need me to do right now, Teacher?" Qi Xinzhu glanced in the direction of the Luo Family, where Lu Luo was, her expression somewhat nonchalant.

"Can you come to my side now? I'm in the Watcher's cabin in the Second Ring."

"Okay, Teacher, wait for me!"

Qi Xinzhu didn't hesitate, cutting off the connection to the light source immediately. Then she took out her phone, and before she could dial, Lu Luo had already called her.

When faced with problems, Lu Luo was always direct and dispassionate.

"Is the environment safe?"

"For now, it's relatively safe."

"That's good." On the other end of the phone, Lu Luo finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, tell me briefly about your situation there."

"This matter is a bit complicated; I don't know how to start."

"Just start with what you feel are the most important points. It's okay if it's a bit disjointed."

Lu Luo didn't mind if others' information was chaotic and scattered. Because, as an Observer, even when faced with highly jumbled information, he could quickly parse, aggregate, and summarize the useful content.

"The Doomsday Sanctuary, the secret of the Eighth Order, the Dawn Disc, and the Seed of Origination..."

Qi Xinzhu relayed all the information she had obtained to Lu Luo, holding nothing back. She spoke slowly and in detail.

But Qi Xinzhu did not realize that not far from her, a pair of eyes in the darkness were staring at her.

...

Underground in the First Ring, Qi Gefei had followed Bai Qingshuang down countless flights of stairs and through numerous corridors. Besides these, Qi Gefei had also passed through several square halls. He counted them—a total of seven.

The murals in each square hall depicted text and images. Their content seemed to record battles between humanity and some kind of Exotic Species.

When Qi Gefei arrived at the sixth hall, he stopped in surprise. Because the content recorded on this hall's mural was something he had seen before!

The Sky Canopy Behemoth, Leviathan. Its enormous body could swallow a city in an instant, though humanity no longer possessed cities. Thus, he had no way of knowing which city was depicted in the mural.

"Humanity once fought against the Sky Canopy Behemoth?"

Bai Qingshuang glanced at the mural and nodded, "If the images on the mural are true, then they probably did fight."

"But isn't Leviathan a behemoth that never bothers with human affairs? The Leviathan of legend has always been a symbol of docility; it has never had conflicts with humans. And considering its enormous size, if it truly fought humanity, the scale of destruction would be unimaginable!"

Looking at the images on the mural, Qi Gefei was left in awe. He could hardly imagine what would happen if such a massive entity went to war with the humans of today. The Inner Ring was very small. Given Leviathan's size, if it attacked recklessly, a few direct charges and impacts could completely destroy the entire Inner Ring.

At this moment, Bai Qingshuang also stopped and looked at the mural's depiction of the Sky Canopy Behemoth. "Heh, a large size also means a large target. No one has truly battled the Sky Canopy Behemoth, nor do they know the extent of its power. Whether it is benevolent or malevolent has always been mere speculation. Because no one has ever journeyed to the heavens above to communicate with the Sky Canopy Behemoth. We have always lived in this well, for over four hundred years! As for the Sky Canopy Behemoth, Leviathan, itself, this part of history isn't recorded, so no one knows what befell the humans of that era."

Bai Qingshuang's tone was somewhat enigmatic, but Qi Gefei still managed to ignore some of the questions. "Uh, does the Judgment Chief also not know?"

"I am not omniscient or omnipotent. Besides, things like murals can be fabricated by humans. Anything man-made cannot be fully trusted."

Qi Gefei didn't quite understand what Bai Qingshuang was saying, but she didn't plan to explain any further. "Let's go; the place we're going to is not here."

"Uh, okay."

Bai Qingshuang's face always carried a smiling expression. Qi Gefei was not quite sure what she was smiling about. But that smile always gave him a feeling of warmth. Truly, a person illuminated by the Holy Light! The Judgment Chief is the hope of the entire Wasteland Alliance!

The two of them, one after the other, once again passed through an underground corridor. Eventually, they arrived at a vast area without a roof.

Qi Gefei looked up at the canopy above. It was no longer the stone ceiling from before but had transformed into a galaxy, a starry expanse.

"Judgment Chief, this place? What's happening?"

"I told you before, this is a special place. It's humanity's last sanctuary!"

"Then these starry skies, are they created by technology?"

"No, this is called Sequence Force."

"Sequence Force is related to the starry sky?"

"You're too weak right now to comprehend the effects of the Sequence Force. Come with me."

Qi Gefei followed Bai Qingshuang and slowly walked to the center of the hall. As they proceeded, Qi Gefei noticed the entire area was filled with rectangular boxes crafted from white stone. These boxes were covered with intricate red runes, giving them a somewhat sinister appearance.

"Judgment Chief, what are these boxes for?"

"These boxes are called coffins."

"Coffins?" Qi Gefei had never heard of this term, so he didn't quite understand what the purpose of a coffin was.

"It's something to store dead people in."

"Uh, dead people... shouldn't they be cremated? If they're stored in boxes like this, what if they mutate or spread contagious viruses?"

Bai Qingshuang didn't answer Qi Gefei's question. Instead, she slowly walked to the center of the hall, raising both her hands high. "Truth always exists within humankind!"

At Bai Qingshuang's soft call, intense Holy Radiance began to flow from her feet into the earth. The entire hall gradually brightened.

The Dawn Disc on the ground slowly rotated. Where she held her hands aloft, a new disc gradually materialized.

"When Truth is revealed once again, it will be the time for mankind's rise."

Qi Gefei stared at the disc in Bai Qingshuang's hands, somewhat stunned. This disc looked identical to the Dawn Disc. But there were also many differences. The Dawn Disc was white like jade, while the disc in Bai Qingshuang's hands was an unsettling, alluring purple.

"Judgment Chief, what is that in your hands?"

"In my hands, I hold the Truth!"

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