Qian Li was shaken awake by Lily at three in the morning.
Mrs. Hans had hired several makeup artists and had someone call Lily and Qian Li to her room to get their looks designed, their makeup done, and their hair styled.
Having slept for less than six hours, Qian Li was in a foul mood upon waking. However, the moment she saw the deep concern in Mrs. Hans’s eyes, her irritation vanished.
Normally, Mrs. Hans would insist that the bakery weigh two loaves of bread for five interstellar coins, and if they were even a milligram short, she would file a complaint. It was even more unthinkable that she would spend a large sum of silver coins to hire people to style her and Lily’s hair and makeup.
Feeling much better, Qian Li found that time passed quickly. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was unnaturally pale beneath a thick layer of foundation, and her lips were painted a deep red. The corners of her mouth turned downward.
It was obvious that the makeup artist was using cosmetics to make her look older while concealing her original sickly appearance.
She pushed the makeup artist aside, picked up Mrs. Hans’s usual handkerchief, dampened it, and wiped all the makeup off her face.
“You!” Mrs. Hans was so furious that she nearly jumped out of her skin.
Clutching her chest, she pointed at Qian Li for a long moment, but the moment their eyes met, she instinctively backed down.
Mrs. Hans turned to the makeup artist and said, “Do her makeup again!”
The makeup artist glanced at the clock and frowned. “There isn’t enough time, Madam.”
Mrs. Hans immediately became so angry that she could barely catch her breath. “I paid you! You haven’t provided the service you were supposed to…”
The makeup artist replied expressionlessly, “We can do it, but the schedule is too tight. You’ll have to pay extra.”
Well, that hit her right where it hurt!
Qian Li raised an eyebrow.
However, there were less than ten minutes left, and she hated that hideous makeup anyway.
Mrs. Hans gritted her teeth, opened her optical brain, and transferred five hundred and seventy star coins to the makeup artist.
Downstairs, the sound of carriage wheels and horses’ hooves rang out.
Hearing her husband and son calling for her to hurry, Mrs. Hans rushed downstairs to calm them down.
With so little time left, the makeup artist glanced at Qian Li’s reflection and simply applied some lipstick and shaped her eyebrows.
Qian Li was quite satisfied with the result.
Before leaving, she also packed up all the jewelry Mrs. Hans had locked in her drawer.
Normally, Mrs. Hans should have used a biometric lock.
However, unable to resist her ambitions of climbing the social ladder, she had imitated the nobility and opted for a metal lock instead.
For someone who had undergone all kinds of training, picking such a lock was child’s play. As for the bag she used to store everything, she had Mrs.
Hans’s spatial folding bracelet to thank for that.
After today, she would be leaving this quagmire behind, so she needed to take as many valuable things as she could.
Sitting in the carriage, Hans kept frowning at Qian Li while occasionally checking the time on his optical brain. Mrs. Hans’s face had turned livid, and she was constantly using her optical brain to write a lengthy complaint.
The boy, Mike, stuffed pastries into his mouth, while Lily remained silent, staring at the teapot and occasionally refilling Mike’s cup.
Qian Li couldn’t be bothered with them. She simply lifted the carriage curtain and looked at the scenery outside.
The streets were always crowded on the day of worship, but prolonged traffic jams on the bustling thoroughfares were a rare occurrence.
With one carriage pressed closely against another, Qian Li could hear two girls in the neighboring carriage chatting.
“Ahhh! The Holy Son is coming today! His Eminence Ellros, whose beauty is said to be radiant!”
“Yes, yes! Our very own Kroll is truly blessed to have such an honor!”
“I heard that His Radiant Beauty is a cold beauty. I just love cold beauties!”
“But why would His Eminence the Holy Son come to our remote planet?”
“Who cares! As long as I can catch a glimpse of His Eminence Ellros from afar, I’ll be satisfied!”
Qian Li rested her arm on the carriage window frame and propped up her chin with one hand, listening with great interest to the girls pouring out their feelings. An hour later, they finally arrived at the meeting place with Lord Aaron.
Lord Aaron had slicked his hair straight back, wore white gloves, carried a black cane, and was dressed in an expensive tailored suit. His entire being radiated wealth.
Standing in front of his carriage, he briefly shook hands with Hans, who came forward with his head bowed and his back bent. However, his small eyes remained fixed on Lily and Qian Li, moving back and forth between them as though he were selecting merchandise.
Qian Li stood quietly beside Lily, her expressionless face betraying nothing.
She felt Lord Aaron’s gaze sweep over her and linger on her chest before finally settling on Lily.
Having chosen his target, Lord Aaron smiled and took Lily’s hand. As he passed Qian Li, however, he tried to give her arm a pinch with his other hand.
Qian Li shifted slightly to avoid him, a flash of impatience passing through her lowered eyes.
Hans shot Qian Li a discreet glare from the side. Lord Aaron chuckled and said, “Mr. Hans, it just so happens that His Eminence the Holy Son has chosen to favor Planet Kroll with his presence today. A blessing ceremony will be held inside the church. This is a rare opportunity.”
Hans’s eyes lit up.
Receiving a blessing could drive away illness and extend one’s lifespan. Blessing ceremonies were generally reserved for people of status. How could someone of his social standing possibly gain entry?
Lord Aaron led the pale-faced Lily ahead of them, while Hans and Mrs.
Hans walked in the middle, holding their son’s hand. Lord Aaron’s butler deliberately followed behind Qian Li, apparently to prevent her from escaping.
They passed through the corridor of the church’s worship hall, supported by white marble pillars, and continued deeper into the building. Gradually, the only light illuminating their path came from the luminous stones.
Lord Aaron stopped in front of a door carved with the Flower of Light. Soon afterward, some members of the congregation brought over white robes and gestured for everyone to put them on.
Qian Li followed them into the room.
The ceiling was very low, and the luminous stones brightly illuminated the interior. White candles burned quietly on the floor. More than a dozen transparent, little finger sized vials stood on a round table. In front of a small statue at the very center of the table, a chief priest wearing a white robe embroidered with golden red eye patterns knelt and murmured something under his breath.
The candlelight flickered. Hans and his family greedily surveyed the entire room until Lord Aaron’s butler quietly reminded them that they should kneel and pray. Only then did they seem to awaken from a dream and bend their bodies toward the ground.
“Eternal life! Power! Wealth! The divine will protect us! As long as we are devout, my Lord will generously grant us everything we desire!”
Something about this prayer seemed rather wrong…
Qian Li’s forehead was already damp with sweat. She instinctively felt oppressed, and her mind had grown abnormally heavy.
As the chief priest finished reciting the sacrificial prayer, she noticed tiny red threads, resembling fine strands of silk, slowly wriggling as they tried to burrow into everyone’s bodies.
Yet everyone seemed oblivious to them, prostrating themselves even more devoutly until their entire bodies were pressed against the floor.
Something was wrong!
The white robed members of the congregation began distributing holy water. Qian Li stared intently at the red threads, which resembled tiny nematodes and were trying to burrow into her body, then took a deep breath.
Pretending not to notice anything, she accepted the holy water and observed the people around her.
Lord Aaron was the first to drink the holy water. Seeing this, the Hans family also drank theirs in one gulp. One person after another drank the holy water with fervent expressions, and the red threads rapidly grew inside their bodies, soon spreading throughout their entire forms.
Qian Li clutched the holy water in her hand, drenched in sweat.
What blessing from the God of Light? This was clearly a gathering of evil god cultists!
Every one of them was a sacrificial offering!