Chapter 15 Infiltration

Objectively speaking, these cultists were quite cautious.

They didn't immediately believe the words of this strange "compatriot" just because Duncan took out the sun amulet, nor did they readily accept his explanation simply because Duncan described the events in the sewer ritual site. They observed Duncan's words and actions the entire way, and even after arriving at the assembly point, they conducted an additional verification to confirm the stranger's identity. For a group of cultists constantly on the run, they had done their best.

But all their screening measures were based on treating Duncan as a "normal human being."

These methods were meaningless to the captain of the *Ghost Ship*.

The tall, thin ringleader took back the inconspicuous strip of cloth from Duncan's hand. He seemed completely unaware of any changes in the power within this extraordinary item. After welcoming the new compatriot, he raised his hand and pointed to a corner of the assembly point: "Compatriot, rest here for now. You're not the only new face here."

Duncan nodded and walked towards the inconspicuous corner, while observing every face that appeared in the assembly point.

Unlike what he had seen in the sewer ritual site, he was surprised to find that these sun worshipers weren't wearing those distinctive black robes, but were dressed like ordinary citizens. They also weren't wearing hoods to conceal their faces, but openly exposed them.

He curiously asked a worshiper beside him, "Do you not need to conceal your faces when gathering here?"

The worshiper he asked seemed very surprised: "...Did you people from the Pland City-State have to conceal your faces during gatherings before?"

Duncan immediately frowned slightly: "You're not from Pland..."

"We're from Lunsa," another worshiper next to him said frankly. After confirming that the stranger before them was indeed a member of the church, the followers of the sun here had clearly lowered their guard. "Everyone arrived just last week, but before we could establish contact with the local compatriots, that attack happened..."

"Everyone here is from Lunsa?" Duncan was somewhat surprised. He finally understood why there were still so many sun worshipers in this city after the destruction of the sewer ritual site.

"Yes, those gathered here are all compatriots from Lunsa, but there are also teams from other city-states. Everyone is scattered in different strongholds," another worshiper beside him joined the conversation. "Alas, everyone has heard more or less about the situation in the Pland City-State. In the past four years, that damned city official and the church's hyenas have been cracking down on our cause... It hasn't been easy for you either, but thankfully it's all over."

Duncan noncommittally nodded, then heard the worshiper he had asked at the beginning speak again: "That pigeon on your shoulder is really... unique."

Duncan's eyes twitched.

He knew that he wasn't the only one being observed because of this pigeon.

Strictly speaking, a pigeon wasn't anything strange, but bringing a pigeon to a gathering was bizarre.

He could only casually brush it off: "It's my pet. It can help me do a lot of things."

While he was brushing it off, thoughts were rapidly surging in his mind. A large number of sun followers were pouring into the Pland City-State, which confirmed one of his earlier guesses:

The usually low-profile Church of the Sun suddenly pulled off a high-profile stunt in the sewers. These cultists were indeed planning something big!

He had stumbled in here by chance and actually found the right direction!

At the same time, he understood why the cultists participating in the gathering here didn't conceal their faces, but dressed like ordinary citizens.

Previously, in the sewers, the sun worshipers' attire that completely concealed their identities and the system of single-line contact between the lower-level believers were both meant to counter the church's repeated purges, and to prevent traitors from appearing within the church or key members being arrested and leaking secrets. It was a choice that the local church in dire straits had to make. But these rabble who had just gathered in Pland from various city-states clearly didn't have this kind of experience yet – they were, after all, just cultists, not disciplined special forces.

On the other hand, there was no need for them to disguise themselves: because those gathered here were all "fellow villagers" from the same city-state. They were already familiar with each other, and there was no point in concealing their identities at a gathering.

Now, dressing like ordinary citizens made it easier for them to escape the moment their stronghold was exposed, and to disperse and blend into the commoners in the lower districts, where there was a lack of strict management.

While thinking this, Duncan's gaze swept across the assembly point, and suddenly, he felt a gaze landing on him.

He immediately followed his intuition and saw the owner of that gaze.

A petite girl with short black hair was standing a dozen meters away.

The girl was wearing a black dress with white lace trim, her appearance was delicate and gentle, and she looked about the same age as Nina. But the most striking thing was the dark red collar she wore around her neck, which was adorned with a delicate silver bell. It looked somewhat cute, but also particularly strange.

When Duncan turned his gaze over, the girl also very naturally turned her gaze to other places. Her shift was imperceptible, but Duncan was certain that the gaze just now definitely came from this young girl!

Why was there such a small child among these cultists?

A question couldn't help but arise in Duncan's mind. At the same time, he took another look at the girl's dress... For some reason, he always felt that this girl was out of place in this environment.

While he was pondering, the sound of a door axle turning suddenly came from not far away. The tall, thin cult leader ordered the basement door to be closed, and then he walked to the center of the assembly point.

All eyes on the scene immediately focused on this leader. Duncan also restrained his thoughts and paid attention to the changes in the situation. He saw the tall, thin man standing confidently and calmly in the crowd's gaze, a hint of a smile on his slightly sinister face. Then, he took out something from his arms and raised it high among the crowd.

It was a pale golden sun mask – exactly the same as the mask worn by the cult priest who presided over the sacrificial ritual in the underground assembly point before.

"Pay homage to the glory of the Lord, and silently recite the mantra under the Lord's gaze," the tall, thin man said loudly, his tone incomparably devout. "Bow your heads to this blessed mask, may the protection of the Sons of the Sun rely on it, and help me guide the brothers and sisters gathered here."

The surrounding worshipers immediately chanted the name of the True Sun God in unison, and then made a gesture of reverence by holding their fists to their foreheads and bowing their heads – they were not paying tribute to the tall, thin man in the center of the assembly point, but to the golden mask, as if the mask was the main body of some superior being, and the man holding the mask was just a carrier.

Duncan also pretended to be one of the cultists and did the movements, but he didn't know what the so-called mantra was, so he casually mumbled two multiplication tables and began to carefully observe the actions of these cultists, while inferring the meaning behind each link of their ritual from their ritual movements.

The tall, thin man solemnly put the mask on his face.

In the next second, Duncan immediately noticed that something seemed to have happened to this man... some kind of change.

He couldn't quite explain what this feeling was, it was as if the other party had changed his temperament the moment he put on the mask, or as if an extra shadow had appeared in his figure. Duncan looked at the golden mask that imitated the sun's shape, and saw that the patterns on the mask seemed to be slowly moving – at this moment, the mask seemed to come alive, as if a distant and powerful consciousness had projected its subtle power onto the mask, giving this originally unremarkable object extraordinary qualities.

The ordinary person wearing the mask, with the action of "wearing" and with this brief ritual, completed the "sanctification" and became a symbol of some kind of divine authority.

The surrounding worshipers chanted in unison: "May the glory of our Lord last forever! May the way of our Lord descend upon the world!"

Duncan recited the multiplication table to the sixth column, while quickly recalling in his mind.

He had also seen priests wearing golden masks at the assembly point in the sewers before, but at that time, the priest had already completed the "wearing" process, and Duncan didn't understand the surrounding situation at the time, and the temporary body he was using was also in poor condition, so he didn't realize that this seemingly ordinary golden mask had anything special about it, and he hadn't thought about why the priests wearing the mask were called "messengers" by ordinary worshipers.

Now it seemed... this so-called sun mask, could it be the "communication device" used by those "Sons of the Sun" hiding outside of civilized society to remotely control their believers and observe the world? Or more precisely, some kind of mental projection device?

After suddenly realizing that it was a very interesting item, Duncan's eyes suddenly changed a bit when he looked at the golden mask.

This thing... might be fated with him.