City of Four Elephants

Joker burst into loud laughter.

"Interesting, truly interesting. No wonder you are the bishop of a city. This eloquence of yours is truly admirable.

Committing evil under the banner of faith allows you to feel perfectly justified and at peace. You should go to the Church of Mist; that place suits you much better.

You have to be a human first before you can mess around with your faith."

Father Jing looked at Joker coolly.

"The Church of Mist? At least my actions have a purpose and follow order. Since when did a bottomless lunatic like you start pitying mankind?"

"Hehe, I don't care how many people die. I just simply find you an eyesore."

Chen Miemie had been listening to them bicker for quite a while before finally chiming in.

"Father Jing, I won't judge you for abandoning the city for your faith, but you can't make choices on behalf of everyone else, can you? Perhaps humanity and the new races can coexist."

"Chen Miemie... no, Your Holiness Chen Miemie. It still feels highly disrespectful to address you directly by name.

Coexist?

If I understand correctly, you mean in a manner similar to the Witches, right?

Your Holiness might be overestimating human nature.

The Witches are not the masters of this city; they are merely distinguished guests. They have never been part of the Triumvirate, even though the Mian family produced a Grand Witch who holds the Seventh Seat.

In this world, humanity is not a righteous and kind race.

Among the seven great races, humans are the most scheming, the most fickle, and the least willing to share.

They are like locusts, seizing all resources and consuming them until nothing is left; they are also like fierce beasts, refusing to let anyone else sleep peacefully near their beds.

Let me give you an example.

Do you know the origin of the name Sixiang City?

Humanity rose in the earliest First Era, but at that time, the human population was limited. They liked to cluster together and were not the masters of all cities.

At the beginning of the Second Era, this city welcomed its first masters. The Monster Race perfected and renovated the city, naming it Sixiang City, meaning Four Elephants. The name Four Elephants originally came from the four Great Sages of the Monster Race.

In the Sixth Era, the Ghost Race rose to power. They paid an immense price to trade for this city from the Monster Race.

From then on, the masters of this city became the ghosts.

Though the name Ghost sounds eerie, they actually disliked conflict and were not evil. They lived and worked here in peace.

At the beginning of the Seventh Era, the city changed hands.

The ones who made the move were not the new Witch Race, but humans who seized the opportunity.

As for how they captured the city?

Heh, the city's history books will tell you that heroes led fearless warriors, using courage and wisdom to defeat the strong with the weak, and the many with the few.

But in reality?

Sixiang City was originally perfectly square, but now it has become a triangle. It only has East, South, and North districts; there is no West District.

The truth is so cruel that ordinary people can hardly imagine it.

Originally, of course, there was a West District. Upstream to the west of the city, there was a massive dam where the Ghost Race had lived and multiplied for generations.

The humans of that time blew up the dam, flooding the entire city. Almost the entire population was wiped out.

Thus, humanity seized the city.

Afterwards, humans were naturally afraid of repeating the same mistake, so they destroyed the entire dam and the West District.

The other six races, feeling the ruthless and bottomless cruelty of humanity due to this flood massacre, added a water radical to the character Si in Sixiang City, changing its name forever to the current Sixiang City as a reminder of the water that destroyed it.

Humans naturally disliked this new name, but it was useless. This new name became like the city's codename, impossible to shake off."

"I remember there is an Accidental Monument just outside the west of the city?"

"Correct. It isn't used to commemorate anything; it used to be the water level monitoring stele for the dam.

Your Holiness Chen Miemie, I believe in the moon, in the Eternal Moon. Since you are the proxy of the Eternal Moon, I will follow your will. This is absolutely true."

It had to be said that Father Jing had excellent eloquence. He explained the cause and effect with absolute clarity, making his final logic of absolute obedience perfectly sound.

Chen Miemie looked at Joker.

Joker spread his hands, indicating his helplessness.

"But I still trust my neighbor a bit more."

Joker had been verbally attacking Father Jing just now.

Now it was Father Jing's turn to strike back.

"I have no intention of questioning Your Holiness's decision, but I must truthfully share the information I know, so that Your Holiness can make a more informed choice.

Joker is the former bishop of the Church of Mist in Sixiang City. Of course, they prefer to call the bishop position Person-in-Charge.

May I ask, Your Holiness, do you know what Joker does every day when he goes out for the entire day?"

Chen Miemie shook his head; he really didn't know.

"Heh, he is incredibly busy. He is known as the Devil with a Clown Face, specializing in instigating people to commit suicide or mutually destroy others, even thoughtfully providing poisons and other tools for those who want to end their lives."

Chen Miemie glared fiercely at Joker. The meaning was obvious: Is this the kind of crap you pull out there?

Joker was very unconvinced.

"To correct you, my profession is an Assisted Emancipation Specialist.

There are many people in this world who are better off dead but are constrained by law and morality, unable to free themselves. I never force anyone; I merely help those who are willing to fulfill their wishes."

Chen Miemie frowned. "Keep making things up. Go on."

"I am not lying.

The elderly in hospital beds, hopeless of recovery, dragging their entire families down with exorbitant medical bills;

The gamblers in casinos, drowning in endless debt, terrified of implicating their friends and family;

The marginalized groups bearing blood feuds but lacking the courage to take down the powerful with them...

It is I who lets them realize their own will, letting them achieve their goals."

Chen Miemie silently distanced himself a bit from the two lunatics.

Neither of these two was a good person; both could cloak their crimes in beautiful disguises.

Father Jing said coldly,

"Bullshit. You didn't manipulate them? Instigating a minor to rush into City Hall with explosives wasn't your doing? When someone in a relationship cheated, you incited their partner to murder the cheater's entire family—does that count as assistance too?"

Joker didn't want to pay attention to Father Jing, a layman who couldn't comprehend the height of his intellect, and looked eagerly at Chen Miemie.

Chen Miemie shook his head, indicating that he couldn't understand it either.

Joker felt very hurt and squatted to the side to sulk. If it weren't for the blood pillar making attacks ineffective, he definitely would have continued to duel Father Jing.

Father Jing had won a round, but he wasn't done yet.

"Your Holiness Chen Miemie, I can tell that you and Joker already know each other and have a certain foundation of trust.

However, I want to tell you that Joker cannot be judged by common sense. He worships chaos. Even if you have established some sort of alliance, you cannot truly trust him."

"He is safe with me."

"I can see that Your Holiness's mind is made up. It seems I am powerless to sway you, so I will only say one last thing.

The Church of Mist is a gathering of villains, but even a church like that couldn't tolerate Joker, and that is because..."

"You're courting death!"

Joker flew into a rage and lunged straight at Father Jing. The knife-like playing cards in his hands shot relentlessly at Father Jing's blood pillar.

Even though it was useless, he did not hold back.

Father Jing tilted his head slightly, the corners of his mouth curling up as he revealed a crazed and excited look in his eyes.

"What's wrong? You dared to do it, but you're afraid of people talking about it?"

Joker, the reason even the Church of Mist couldn't tolerate you is because—

you killed your partner. No, I should say, you killed the wife who trusted you the most!