Demon Bible

Chapter 212: Prelude

Days passed one by one, and soon the sweltering summer heat seemed to have reached its absolute peak.

Ten months had passed since Nemus took the position of Great Knight in Tail Fin Town.

Yet in just these short ten months, his influence had seeped into every corner of the town.

As the rain clouds scattered, the fleeting coolness quickly gave way to a stifling mugginess.

It felt like being trapped inside a roasting oven.

Upon the Whaleback, seasonal temperatures fluctuated drastically.

The winters were as freezing as one could imagine, and the summers were just as blistering.

Right now, it was the absolute hottest time of the year.

Even so, as soon as the stormy weather cleared, the streets quickly filled with crowds once again.

Bare-chested men moved about, and with just a few exertions, their sweat dripped like rain, mixing into the puddles that had yet to drain away.Zoven mingled within the crowd, also bare-chested. Carrying a heavy load of goods on his back, he trudged down the street, his footsteps heavy and uneven.

Deeply tanned from the sun and with his head shaved clean, his appearance had undergone a near-total transformation.

He looked completely different from his past self.

Ever since he left Grandma Bird's place, Zoven had been hunted. However, the pursuit did not come from Nemus's subordinates, but from bounty hunters.

These bounty hunters were not particularly strong, but their sheer numbers made them overwhelming.

Most of them held day jobs; very few actually made a dedicated living entirely off bounties.

Because they lacked raw strength, their methods were exceptionally insidious and vicious.

Poisoning his food was the least of his worries.

Upon discovering that Zoven possessed a certain sense of justice, their tactics grew even more despicable.

For instance, he once spotted an abandoned infant on the roadside. Pitying the child, Zoven approached, only to see the baby's face turned purple, its breathing practically stopped.

He immediately picked the infant up, but the moment he did, a sharp sting pierced his palm.

Only then did he realize that several highly concealed poison needles were hidden within the baby's swaddling clothes.

Had Lilian not instantly summoned the Soul of History of Little Giant Melo, he likely would have died from the poison right there on the street, or been hacked to pieces by the bounty hunters lurking in the shadows after the toxin severely weakened him.

After failing to kill him in their first frontal assault, these bounty hunters basically gave up on confronting him directly. Instead, they hid in his surroundings, waiting to land a cheap shot.

After that incident, Zoven did everything he could to conceal his identity.

Aside from wanting to avoid drawing too much attention and clashing with the dutiful, good-hearted people in the Church, his main reason was that he did not want innocent bystanders dragged into his mess.

During that previous ambush by the bounty hunters, he had been unable to save the infant in the swaddling clothes.

Following that, his pursuers became even more eager to involve ordinary people just to lower his guard.

That was why he completely altered his appearance and hid his identity while searching for his target.

After delivering the goods to his destination—a Dance Hall in the South District—Zoven wiped away his sweat and cast a distant glance at the woman performing a striptease on the stage.

In reality, however, he was using his peripheral vision to observe two other men nearby.

It was none other than the Desperate Duo who had attacked him before.

Unlike the previous bounty hunters, the Desperate Duo had pinned a false charge of theft and evasion on him. Moreover, their strength was on a completely different, much higher tier than those amateur hunters.

Therefore, he could be fairly certain that these two men were directly connected to Nemus.

Yet they had no significant ties to the Church, making it almost guaranteed that they were the ones doing Nemus's dirty work.

If he wanted to find trouble with Nemus, starting with these two and using them as a breakthrough point was the best approach he could find.

There were still some issues, though.

Zoven had fought the Desperate Duo and knew their combat style well. Given how little they valued their own lives in battle, trying to extract information from them through torture seemed highly unlikely to succeed.

All he could do was keep them under surveillance and wait for them to make contact with Nemus, allowing him to probe the dark underbelly of Nemus's operations.

"Lilian, how are things?" Zoven dared not stare at the two men for too long, entrusting the primary surveillance duty to Lilian.

"They still haven't made a move. Every day they just waste time with women in the Dance Hall or a Tavern," Lilian replied. She dared not leave Zoven's side for too long, afraid he might fall into danger during her absence.

Furthermore, if she was separated from Zoven for an extended period, her connection to the world would weaken, dulling her ability to observe her surroundings.

Because of this, she had only kept a brief eye on the Desperate Duo before returning.

Zoven was not discouraged. He simply went back to his manual labor.

He had thoroughly blended into the South District by now, long shedding his identity as a pampered young master who had his meals served and clothes laid out for him.

Everything seemed eerily quiet.

The temperature gradually began to drop. Although the weather remained hot, it was finally becoming bearable.

At the very least, there were far fewer people collapsing from heatstroke on the sides of the streets.

Perhaps because of this, the countless ordinary citizens of the South District showed a bit more joy on their faces.

Even though in three months they would have to face the bitter cold once again.

But for now, they had survived another tribulation and lived to see another day.

Of course, many of them only survived this time not through their own resilience, but because of Isabella.

During the peak of the sweltering heat, Isabella took the initiative, leading the newly reformed Redemption Department out into the public.

They walked the streets of the South District, distributing water and providing healing Spells to those suffering from heatstroke.

Because of her actions, the death toll during those hottest few days had drastically dropped.

As a result, Isabella's reputation in the South District began to surpass even Nemus's, and she became an "Angel" revered by all.

Countless people admired her benevolent deeds.

Many Nobles even began pursuing her, and various invitations rained down on her like snowflakes.

However, Isabella rejected them all.

She was currently dedicating the vast majority of her energy to reforming the Redemption Department.

Although the initial phase was a success, significant problems still remained.

Besides, just by sensing their emotions, she could tell that their minds were filled to the brim with lust and all sorts of filthy thoughts.

Believing their methods to be perfectly covert, these suitors would engineer all sorts of incidents just to coincidentally bump into her, which only ended up interfering with her work.

In comparison, she still believed Nemus to be a more suitable choice.

Having determined that Nemus was exceptional, Isabella took the initiative to learn more about him. She was not the type of woman to simply sit back and wait passively.

But even now, there still seemed to be a barrier between them.

It always felt like something crucial was missing.

She could see her own reflection in Nemus's eyes, but that reflection was far too illusory.

'Perhaps he just isn't interested,' Isabella thought, shaking her head as she set her personal matters aside.

Life was about more than just romance; there were greater pursuits. For instance, right now she planned to head into the South District to treat the elderly and injured who were incapable of making the trip themselves.

"Hmm?" Suddenly, Isabella turned her head, her brow furrowing slightly.