Chapter 20: Black Death and Deities 02 Part 1

Jian Bumian stood frozen in place for a long moment before he finally snapped back to reality.

Although the steamy, hot fog in the bathroom kept him from catching a chill…

He still wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground. He was so embarrassed his ears turned as red as ripe fruit.

He had barely been a living person again for any time at all—how could he end up suffering such a grievance?

The viewers in the livestream room only saw a large patch of mosaic blur.

But seeing that his clothes had mysteriously vanished, they instantly understood what was happening.

【Damn!! I’m angry!! The baby can’t be left with no clothes! (Chaos)】

【I thought Mianmian having no pants in the last instance was bad enough! Now he has no clothes at all. What kind of human tragedy is this? (Gloating)】

【Aahh, damned mosaic! QAQ Let me see the poor little Mianmian with no clothes!】

【Who stole Mianmian’s clothes? I have a bad feeling about the target NPC this time…】

Jian Bumian was silent for a very long time before finally accepting his miserable fate.

…When he found out who stole his clothes, he would definitely devour them thoroughly.

Jian Bumian rubbed his hair in frustration, letting the wet strands drape down.

He certainly couldn’t go out like this.

Although he had spent a very long time as a non-human in the Infinite World, he still knew some basic moral principles.

Like, you shouldn’t litter.

And you can’t just run outside with no clothes on.

Jian Bumian thought for a long time, pressing his lips together.

In the end, he chose to put his previous clothes back on.

The clothes had been worn into a high-risk infection zone for the Black Death.

The first thing Jian Bumian did upon arriving at the bathroom was strip them off and boil them in hot water.

The clothes were very clean now, just not dry yet. Still damp, but better than having no clothes at all.

He could wear them outside and search for new clothes.

Jian Bumian wrung out the clothes with all his strength, put the half-dry, half-wet garments on, and then left the bathroom.

Jian Bumian arrived at the church hall.

He saw the players were still gathered together, discussing strategies.

From their downcast expressions, it was clear they’d talked most of the day and still had no results.

The infection counter had already jumped rapidly to four hundred people.

【401…】

【403…】

【410…】

The moment that number jumped to five hundred, it would be the death sentence for every player present.

One veteran player finally collapsed on the ground in despair:

“Damn it!! This instance has to be one of the rare unsolvable types! The methods to control the Black Death are just those few things! And the populace won’t accept them!”

Some of them had thought about heading straight for the town right now, using manpower to scrub clean every place in the entire city where germs could breed easily.

But that idea was far too naive.

There simply wasn’t enough time. Not to mention, the players’ identities were just commoners with no power or influence.

The veteran player slumped to the ground in hopelessness, his hollow eyes fixed on the rapidly ticking number.

【422…】

【426…】

The veteran player suddenly heard the sound of muffled footsteps approaching.

Jian Bumian heard it too, and followed the sound with his gaze.

A small door, hidden in the church’s darkness all this time, was pushed open. From it emerged a strange, humanoid black silhouette.

An NPC!

The players had all thought this church was deserted, a rest area prepared exclusively for them.

But this instance was not so merciful.

The appearance of an NPC usually brought nothing but bad news.

As the NPC stepped out of the darkness, the players could see its features clearly.

It was a middle-aged male, very fat, with blond hair and blue eyes—an utterly ordinary, plain European face.

The most eye-catching thing was the clothes he wore.

It was a pure white robe made entirely of expensive silk, covered in exquisite and beautiful gems. Even the cross on his chest was made of gold, sparkling brightly in the sunlight.

A Church member who could wear a golden cross could only be a Priest.

What surprised the players was that the Priest NPC completely ignored them. He walked right past them, carrying a large sack, and headed toward the church doors.

Seeing the NPC, Jian Bumian’s expression flickered with delight. He rushed forward in a few strides, blocking the Priest NPC’s path.

Every player’s gaze toward Jian Bumian instantly turned to horror, including Qin Yihan’s.

What was Jian Bumian trying to do? He wasn’t planning to just directly ask for the secret to clearing the instance, was he?

That did seem like something he’d do. And his face was extremely deceptive, so it wasn’t entirely impossible.

Qin Yihan thought he was finally starting to get on Jian Bumian’s wavelength, that he could finally guess what the other was planning.

But the moment Jian Bumian opened his mouth, Qin Yihan realized he was still far too naive.

Jian Bumian stood in front of the NPC, tilted his head up, and asked politely: “Father Priest, do you have any clothes you don’t need? My clothes got wet and won’t dry in a short while. Could I borrow some clothes from the church to wear for just a little while… just a little while…”

Neither his hair nor his clothes had dried yet. His wet hair drooped down softly; his eyelashes, soaked and too long, too thick to dry quickly either, leaving the edges of his eyes rimmed with pitiful traces of water.

The clothes were even worse. Coarse fabric, once soaked, became stiff as stone, wrapped around the boy’s thin, frail body just so.

It was particularly adept at stirring a person’s protective instincts.

Just a few glances at Jian Bumian, and the Priest NPC couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity, making him involuntarily think of the little angels in mythology.

“Oh, my God, how can there be such a poor little boy? Of course the church has unused clothes. Let me take you there.”

Jian Bumian’s lips curved up: “Thank you.”

Qin Yihan and the players watched the retreating figures of Jian Bumian and the NPC, completely dumbfounded.

…Just what was Jian Bumian trying to do??

Jian Bumian followed the NPC to the wardrobe room inside the church.

The Priest NPC kept his eyes on Jian Bumian: “Poor child, this room holds the clothes the church personnel wear for various ceremonies. Most are new. You can go inside and pick whatever you like.”

Jian Bumian didn’t enter the wardrobe room. He stood outside the door, looking at the large sack in the NPC’s hand, and asked casually: “What’s this?”

“Indulgences.”

Jian Bumian: “?”

Jian Bumian asked curiously: “What are Indulgences?”

The Priest NPC’s gaze toward Jian Bumian grew even more pitying: “You poor, silly child, you don’t even know about Indulgences. They are our letters of pardon. As long as you purchase an Indulgence, no matter how great the sin, it can be forgiven.

Many people have been dying lately—that is the consequence of committing sinful acts and not purchasing Indulgences.

Yet many people still have self-awareness and are frantically buying up the church’s Indulgences. Look, these are the Indulgences I’m about to go out and sell.”

He opened the mouth of the sack, deigning to let Jian Bumian have a look inside.

Inside the sack were many crudely made paper scraps, filthy, covered in dirt and dust, mixed with many flea corpses, flea eggs, and rat droppings. At a glance, it was a textbook source of contagion.

Jian Bumian: “……”

This thing could make a deity forgive all sins?

Only a ghost would believe that.

No—even when he was a monstrous ghost himself, he wouldn’t believe it.

Jian Bumian asked: “Then may I ask, how much does one Indulgence cost?”

This NPC, hearing this, assumed Jian Bumian also wanted to buy Indulgences. He narrowed his eyes, a glint of shrewd light showing, and stated a figure that astonished Jian Bumian.

It was roughly an entire month’s living expenses for the residents here.

If one’s sins were greater, they needed to purchase even more Indulgences.

The Priest NPC saw Jian Bumian’s expression shift slightly and raised an eyebrow with displeasure, speaking effortlessly: “Little one, if you find it expensive, I can give you a discount. Don’t think you are without sin. In truth, beauty itself is also a sin.”

Jian Bumian: “……”

He felt this NPC might as well have written “swindling money” right on his face.

It wasn’t just Jian Bumian who felt this way; the viewers in the livestream room were also discussing it heatedly.

【Mianmian’s instincts are right. In real history, Indulgences were definitely a money scam.】

In medieval Europe, because of religion, everyone believed they were born bearing sin.

To squeeze wealth from the populace, the Church developed the concept of “Indulgences.”

No matter what wrong you did, what sin you committed, as long as you gave enough money and bought enough Indulgences, all sins could be cleansed, and your soul could ascend to Heaven.

There were even instances of armies purchasing Indulgences en masse to cleanse their sins after slaughtering an entire city.

Thus, the medieval Church plundered vast wealth from the common people of Europe, becoming the richest and most powerful organization of its time.

At the same time, with the arrival of the Black Death, the Church became one of the culprits in its outbreak.

When people realized they were sick, their first reaction was to think sin had descended upon them, and they all scrambled to buy Indulgences.

The Church intensified its efforts, maliciously bidding up the price of Indulgences, causing the masses to gather at churches, on roadsides, and at doorsteps, frantically fighting to buy them.

The plague multiplied and spread rapidly among the crowds, ultimately spiraling completely out of control.

【As soon as the coin in your coffer clinks for the Indulgence, the souls of you and your relatives fly straight from Purgatory to Heaven.】

【Haha, this is a one-way, insta-kill Black Death experience ticket!! It’s probably covered in viruses!】

【Beauty is also a sin. If Mianmian performs something stimulating for everyone, his sins can be forgiven!】

【Mianmian looks so dazed, I wonder if he realizes the Indulgences are a bad thing.】

The viewers snapped back to attention, nervously awaiting Jian Bumian’s next move.

But their reactions seemed a step too slow.

The Priest standing before Jian Bumian, who had been speaking just a second ago, suddenly toppled straight backward like a mannequin, hitting the floor with a muffled thud of flesh and bone.

His neck had been cleanly snapped, like a piece of rotten wood broken in two, twisted at a bizarre angle.

His eyes were wide open, bloodshot vessels bursting; his forehead was covered in bulging veins. His half-open mouth still held words he hadn’t had time to speak.

The sack containing the Indulgences fell to the ground.

This Priest could never have understood, even in death, how a beautiful, well-behaved little boy could have killed him so straightforwardly.

Jian Bumian himself hadn’t expected he could twist the man’s neck in one go.

He flexed his aching wrist and wiped it on his clothes with disgust.

Jian Bumian’s thinking was very simple, straight as an arrow. He didn’t bother much to hide his emotions.

He didn’t like this Priest, whose mind was full of nothing but Indulgences and money.

Didn’t like him, and he wasn’t tasty. So the only option was to kill him.

This kind of humanoid NPC, its head full of worldly desires and possessing no combat strength whatsoever, took Jian Bumian no effort at all to kill.

Furthermore, if the Priest NPC sold those Indulgences—those things covered in flea eggs and rat droppings—they would only become new sources of infection, accelerating the growth of the infected count and the probability of the players being wiped out.

Jian Bumian dumped the Priest’s corpse by the door and walked into the wardrobe room himself.

The Church had amassed vast wealth. Besides flowing into private pockets, the rest was used to construct the church itself—

Including the wardrobe room within the church.

The wardrobe room held all kinds of expensive attire, styles from all over the world, the fabric exquisite and magnificent.

But after looking around for a long time, Jian Bumian couldn’t find anything fitting his frame. Most were overly large, the pant legs dragging on the floor.

The people of the Church ate their fill and dressed well, usually fat as pigs, so naturally their clothes were wide and big.

The only ones that might fit him were women’s clothing.

Wearing women’s clothing was absolutely out of the question.

In the end, the only thing suitable for Jian Bumian to wear was a single robe.

The robe was placed in the very center of the wardrobe room, propped up on a clothes rack made of gold and silver. The smooth, expensive fabric was bathed in sunlight, reflecting ripples of golden light.

It looked very warm at first glance.

Jian Bumian had been wearing wet clothes the entire time, his whole body feeling miserable.

His nose tingled, and he couldn’t help but sneeze, the tip reddening.

If this went on, a cold was inevitable.

Jian Bumian definitely didn’t want to catch a cold. If he caught a cold, he wouldn’t be able to taste the flavor of the target NPC.

He couldn’t let a target NPC go to waste in vain.