CH 90

The cardinal, who had planned everything properly, suddenly got worried. He looked out the iron window to the darkness outside and sighed very softly.

It looked like he would still have to try his best to survive. He must take care of the problem with the pope smoothly, and then find a way to extricate himself.

Just in case the Holy Paladin carelessly starved himself until petrification in some random place. He would have to personally hurry over there and kiss the paladin awake.

The paladin, who was slinking stealthily in the shadows with bread in his mouth, was coincidentally seriously worried about the same problem.

He couldn’t say for sure, but what if his experience points dropped to negative numbers once he reconnected with the network? Naturally, Su Shi was not resigned to such a possibility. Even the heavy responsibility of assassinating the pope has been tossed to the side. Regardless, he intended to flip over the protagonist’s pot first.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Silently circumventing a team of guards, Su Shi swallowed the last bite of bread. He dexterously twisted his body and steadily landed outside the file library’s door.

He quietly opened the crystal door and was met with a dense darkness. Su Shi stepped inside with light movements and stood in front of a wall that was densely packed with files.

The law enforcement bishop had no right to decide the life or death of a prisoner, and the warrant to execute the prisoner must be written by the pope himself. The pope should personally bear witness and sign off on the prisoner’s crime. Then it would be sealed and put into the temple, and finally retrieved to be filed away here.

As long as these two files could be found then things would definitely take a turn for the better.

Although the system was disconnected, the offline functions were still there. The system quickly scanned the entire wall of dossiers and marked out the exact location of the two copies that he needed.

Su Shi was slightly relieved. He went over to collect the files and then stored them away on his person. He turned his body to go when he suddenly felt an intense chill go down his back.

He was instantly on high alert. Su Shi protected his neck with both hands and turned a circle on the spot. A fierce stab of pain suddenly erupted from his shoulder, making his vision turn black for an instant. He staggered and half kneeled on the floor.

“You really came.”

The pope slowly came out of the darkness. He looked at Su Shi with an inquiring gaze.

Support the translator. Read this on vmnovels (dot) com

A powerful force easily broke through his simple disguise, revealing a somewhat wan and delicately pretty face. Those dark eyes were clear and steady as they surveyed the pope. There wasn’t a thread of fear in those eyes.

Those exquisite eyes caused the pope to arch his brow.

He walked towards Su Shi, his expression full of interest: “I was baffled at first. Why would Esmond be willing to put his future on the line to help a common paladin get rid of his criminal charge?”

Su Shi did not utter a word. He braced against the floor to stand up. His expression did not waver, but there was a faint struggle in the depth of his eyes.

It was not time yet.

If things were still going according to the original plotline, then he could self-destruct with the pope at any time, and then toss the remaining mess to the protagonist to clean up.

But Esmond was still in jail right now, and the people still thought that the protagonist had ambitions to assassinate the pope. If the pope were to be met with any accidents at this time, then Esmond’s crime could not be washed away even with holy water.

His strength level could not compare to the pope’s. If he did not pull out some self-destructive forbidden technique right now, then he could only be slaughtered by the opponent.

There was no room to advance or to retreat*.

[*T/N: caught in a dilemma]

While Su Shi was struggling over what to do, the pope has already lost his patience. He no longer tried to have a meaningless conversation with the silent and recalcitrant paladin. His hands were still behind his back, but a black light suddenly shot out from him.

No matter what, Su Shi still had to try some token of resistance.

Su Shi took a deep breath, and attempted to transfer power within his body. But he suddenly felt something different. His eyes could not help but shake slightly.

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

All of a sudden, there was an unfamiliar ice-blue cold light shielding him within its resplendent light. It easily repelled the black light blasting at him, and a glorious golden flame abruptly ignited.

In a flash, it burned the entire wall of files.

The dry parchment paper burned up from the tiniest of embers. In just a few counts, the fire ate up the surrounding walls, replacing the structure with walls of fire.

The pope’s complexion changed at once. He couldn’t bother to care about the paladin anymore. He hurried towards the files. Without care for himself, he threw the black light atop the flames, causing his expression to twist as if he was being burned, but he suppressed the fire even more ruthlessly.