Chapter 1072: Chapter 1072

Getting off the ’public bus’, Riley stood in front of that massive stone sculpture, pointing at the character and saying, "My sister said this is a Divine Being who created our world."

"When did she say that?"

He Ao followed behind her, looking at the somewhat new stone sculpture, "This sculpture doesn’t look very old."

Riley looked at He Ao, scratching her head, "Probably a few days ago? It seems there was no promotion about ’K’ before."

Then she turned around, gazing at the stone sculpture with some emotion, "However, my sister said, having a Divine Being is also good; everyone is too exhausted,"

She paused, gazing at the ’K’ mark, in a slow voice, "If ’K’ could make our lives a little better, that would be even better."

Then she scratched her head again, turning to look at He Ao standing behind her, "I don’t know if ’K’ can hear my words, most likely not, my sister said, Divine Beings don’t hear mortals’ wishes."

"Then why would you still make a wish."

He Ao’s gaze moved beside the girl’s face as he asked, observing the stone sculpture, and gently asked.

"What if the Divine Being heard it?"

Riley chuckled, then she turned around to look at the wide and substantial stone building behind the relief, resembling a castle, with stairs layering in front of the building, elevating its grandeur and majesty, "This is the Ordinance Department."

She pointed to the wide open gates of the building, whispering, "That’s the main gate, but us ordinary people can’t go through there, my sister said only those big shots from above can go through that gate, we can only go through that small door on the side."

Saying so, she led He Ao towards a side door next to the main gate, which at first glance is not easily noticeable.

He Ao followed her, asking in a slow voice, "Where is that?"

Riley shook her head, "My sister only mentioned above, I’m not sure where that is, but those staying above must be important people."

The two followed the stairs, quickly reaching the side door.

This small door was far less grand and exquisite than the main gate, but unusually, there was a limestone pendulum clock hanging on the door, which was the first time He Ao had seen a clock in this city.

However, this clock did not divide its dial into twelve parts, but rather into twenty-four parts.

The outer ring had numbers from 1 to 24, representing hours, and the inner ring had another set of numbers from 1 to 60, apparently to make it easier to see the minutes.

In the Main World, most of the time, such dial clocks are 12-hour ones, generally only in special areas like submarines they use 24-hour clocks, because it is inconvenient to distinguish day from night inside.

Riley watched as He Ao gazed at the clock, whispering an explanation, then she glanced at the clock face, "It is now 15:27 in the afternoon."

Hearing her words, He Ao looked up at the dark sky overhead, casually asking, "Does it get daylight here?"

"Daylight? What’s that?"

Riley looked at him puzzled, "The sky is always dark."

He Ao nodded slightly, looking at the small door in front of him, he stepped forward and went through it, walking ahead of Riley.

Riley looked up at He Ao and also followed his steps into the castle.

Entering the castle, there was a relatively spacious lobby with only a few scattered people walking around.

The only ’facility’ in the entire lobby was a small wooden ’bar’ diagonally across from the entrance on the right hand side, where an indifferent woman with gray hair was sitting behind, oiling and maintaining some hand armor.

He Ao glanced at the bar and walked straight over.

"That’s the ’receptionist’ sister,"

Riley, following behind He Ao, quickly explained, "You can talk to her if you have any needs, but the Ordinance Department likely won’t bother with common folk like us."

"What’s the highest position in the Ordinance Department?"

As he approached the bar, He Ao looked back at Riley and asked quickly.

Riley’s eyes widened slightly, seemingly puzzled by why He Ao would ask such a question, but she still whispered,

"The greatest in the Ordinance Department is ’The Great Priest,’ but he is a very, very important figure. Sister said, unless the Great Priest permits, we can only refer to him as ’The Great Shepherd of the Gods,’

"The title ’The Great Priest’ is something we commoners cannot even utter. If offended, the Ordinance Department would execute the offender on the spot,

"The Ordinance Department is fierce; not only do they have an agency responsible for killing Variants, but they also have one specifically to execute the ’Disrespectful Ones.’

"The agency handling Variants is somewhat reasonable and might even protect mortals, but the one dealing with the ’Disrespectful Ones’ is extremely brutal and enjoys torturing people,"

Riley seemed to remember something, shrinking her neck and shaking her head, "Anyway, don’t provoke them."

"I understand, I’ll try to keep my tone as respectful as possible."

He Ao nodded gently; he had already reached the bar.

The indifferent woman behind the bar was still busy maintaining the armor in her hands, head lowered.

He Ao, trying to be as gentle and polite as possible, asked, "Excuse me, is your, um, the Great Priest around?"

Hearing He Ao’s ’title,’ in that moment, the woman’s hand movements stiffened, she lifted her head, her cold expression quickly turning to one of shock, "What?"

Riley also raised her head, looking at He Ao in astonishment.

"Don’t know where the Great Priest is?"

He Ao looked at her, shaking his head slightly, "Seems like we need to find someone with a bit more status."

Just then, urgent footsteps sounded from behind him.

Turning around, he saw a tall female warrior with a bronze sword at her waist leading a small team quickly into the lobby.

"Why have there been so many false alarms today?"

A man in armor spoke in a muffled voice, "Ran here several times for nothing."

"There are traces of Variants on the ground,"

A man holding a musket spoke, "Likely they escaped, our communicators only reached the bus drivers, they can only see so much, it’s normal for some Variants to lose track if residents don’t actively ’report’ to the buses."

"But lately, the number of Variants has increased many times compared to before."

A figure with a binding net spoke calmly, "They are too tired."

"What are you talking about?!"

The musket man immediately covered his companion’s mouth, glanced around the empty lobby, quickly saying, "I heard a Divine Envoy descended today, they are everywhere, you’re finished if they hear you, do you have a death wish?"

The figure holding the binding net lifted their head, glanced at their companion and the female warrior walking ahead, finally closing their mouth only letting out a light sigh.

At this time, the female warrior walking in front suddenly stopped, her gaze falling on He Ao and Riley by the bar not far away.

She quickly walked over and looked at Riley, "What are you doing here?"

Riley looked at the female warrior, took a slight breath, lowered her head, and said softly, "You said if there are any issues, we could come to the Ordinance Department, and I just happened to have some, so here I am."

The female warrior this time did not respond but calmly looked at Riley.

Riley looked up, glanced at the female warrior, and said softly, "Sister, I was wrong."

Hearing this call, the female warrior sighed, glanced at Riley, then turned her gaze to He Ao, extended her hand, and smiled, "Hello, my name is Ruilin, I’m this girl’s sister, she likes to cause trouble, thank you for looking after her."

He Ao extended his hand and shook hands with Ruilin, "I should be the one thanking your sister, she is eager to help, a good person."

"She just can be a bit mischievous,"

Ruilin withdrew her hand, turned her gaze away, glanced at her sister, and then picked up a blue square badge in front of her chest, pressed it, and said to the badge, "Bus number 32, wait for a second."

Then she looked at Riley, "If you don’t get back soon, there won’t be enough rest time."

Riley shrank her head, nodded quickly, "Okay."

Then she lifted her head, looked at He Ao, glanced at Ruilin, and said quickly and quietly, "Then I have to go back first, and don’t worry about my sister, she’s got a sharp tongue but a soft heart..."

Ruilin’s voice dragged on.

Riley shrank her head and slipped the little green bottle that Ruilin gave her into He Ao’s hand and quickly ran out the door.

He Ao watched Riley’s retreating figure, activated Super Memory, and put a mark on this little girl.

At this time, Ruilin turned her gaze back to He Ao, "Mr. Hao Yi, did you come to the Ordinance Department for some matter?"

"I’d like the chief priest to meet me,"

He Ao leaned against the bar, smiling, "If it’s inconvenient for him to move, I can also go and see him."

Hearing this question, Ruilin’s expression was good, clearly, she had just reached the front and had already heard He Ao’s inquiry, just confirming it once more.

And the ’teammates’ behind her had varying expressions, some showing fear mixed with a complex ’care’ and ’anticipation’.

At this time, hearing He Ao’s words, the expression of the cold-faced woman behind the bar finally shattered again as she confirmed that she had not miss-heard He Ao.

She looked terrified at He Ao, then at Ruilin.

"The chief priest has not left his seat for a long time,"

Ruilin walked up to the bar, looked at the cold-faced woman, said slowly, "Bring a ’Ordinance’ for this gentleman..."

"Bring a ’Ordinance’ for this gentleman as well,"

Ruilin turned her gaze back to He Ao, "Mr. Hao Yi, perhaps we should have a careful discussion about your distinct facial features that are not fitting in here and your ’special purpose’."

The cold-faced woman placed two glasses of drink on the bar, and Ruilin, leaning on the bar, pushed a glass towards He Ao and asked softly, bending down, "And, are you a ’mortal’ or a ’Variant’?"

Hearing Ruilin’s words, the color of the teammates behind her slightly changed, and they cautiously prepared for battle.

But He Ao picked up the glass and looked at her with interest.

"Riley was saved by you, wasn’t she?"

Facing He Ao’s gaze, Ruilin calmly spoke, "I’ve seen the marks on the ground; clearly, that Variant attacked Riley first, then you appeared and scared it away."

She leaned against the edge of the bar, grasping a wine glass from atop it, "Although Variants lack rationality, they possess strong perceptive abilities. They only fear beings far stronger than themselves, and humans cannot be stronger than Variants."

"So, what makes you conclude that ’humans cannot be stronger than Variants’,"

He Ao brought the glass to his lips, asking gently, "Is it your memory? Your experience? Or your identity? Are you sure your memory is complete? Are you certain that the ’world’ you know is the real ’world’?"

Hearing He Ao’s questions, Ruilin paused slightly, her expression changing.

Meanwhile, He Ao brought his glass to his lips and drank the liquid inside.

First mellow, then fierce.

Beneath its placid exterior was an interior as fiery as blazing flames, the wine named ’Ordinance’.

He Ao set the glass on the bar, softly saying, "This wine is good."

Seeing He Ao’s action, Ruilin also downed her drink in one go, then gazing at He Ao, she reached for the hilt of the bronze sword at her waist,

"You are very clever; you even managed to disrupt my thoughts momentarily. But coming to the Ordinance Department was a wrong decision,"

Her teammates behind her unwaveringly unfolded and slowly surrounded He Ao.

This was a veteran elite squad, well-coordinated in their movements.

Ruilin looked at He Ao, gripping the hilt tightly,

"I don’t know why you saved Riley or why you possess such formidable power. Regardless of whether you are a Variant or what motives you may have, your presence has already threatened the state of this city."

"And what do you think about the state of this city?"

He Ao turned around, his gaze passing through the doorway, glancing at the stone sculpture below the stairs and smiling, "Is it good or bad?"

Ruilin’s hand gripping the sword handle trembled.

He Ao withdrew his gaze, looking at the warrior in front of him, "What exactly are you trying to protect?"

The hand holding the bronze sword hesitated for a moment.

Then He Ao calmly fixed his eyes into Ruilin’s eyes, "My intention is clear; let me meet your ’High Priest’. You know how to contact him, take me to him."

Judging by the thoughts marked on Ruilin viewed before him, as an ’Elder’ and ’core member’ of the Ordinance Department, Ruilin knew where the ’High Priest’ was.

But her memory of the specific location was fuzzy; she only knew that she could find the way when she wanted to, but didn’t know where the way was.

Those memories seemed to be in her mind, yet also not.

"Your words are as tempting as the whispers of a devil,"

After what seemed a brief yet seemingly prolonged silence, Ruilin gazed at He Ao, "but they are insufficient to prove anything."

She fully drew her bronze short sword, "Sadly, you can’t leave here, and your goals cannot be achieved. We won’t kill you, but please cooperate."

Her teammates quickly surrounded He Ao.

He Ao glanced at the stubborn warrior in front of him, slightly shaking his head, raising his hand, with the Shadowless Sword floating behind him.

It seems another method must be found.

Just at that moment, He Ao’s expression slightly changed.

Opposite him, Ruilin, the sound emanated from the blue badge on her body, "Captain Ruilin, bus number 32 is suspected to have been attacked."

Ruilin paused briefly, then instantly reacted, grabbing the badge without hesitation, quickly asking, "Did you say bus number 32?"