“You finally recognize me.”

Sigrid propped herself against the desk and pounced on Lan Qi in the office chair, joyfully throwing her arms around him.

The principal's chair groaned under their combined weight.

"..."

Lan Qi blankly caught Sigrid, letting her hug him.

“No, no, no, how could you be Sigrid? Sigre is clearly Sigre, a creature of this era. When did you replace her?”

Lan Qi's eyes and ears told him the truth, but he still found it too absurd.

In his opinion, both Sigre and Sigrid were wolf women, somewhat similar in personality or fighting style, but they were definitely two different individuals. Lan Qi wouldn't confuse them just because they had some of each other's traits. That was a matter of respect.

Yet he never dreamed that Sigre would suddenly one day tell him personally that she was Sigrid.

"It was in this Shadow World. I was the nun you met at the beginning. How was it? Did I look good in a nun's habit?"

Sigrid temporarily released Lan Qi, wrapping her hands around the back of his neck and looking at him as she spoke.

A few days ago, she had arrived at the South Vantina port in the Southern Continent. Just as she had contacted the most neutral dimensional branch of the Rebirth Church, she was summoned into an eighth-order Shadow World by a temporarily manifested Gate of Void. When she came to her senses, she found herself in the Plant Empire church that she only saw in dreams.

And she had become that little wolf girl Sigre from a different era that she dreamed about every night.

“But it seems there really was a previous Shadow World. For example, Sigre and you met in the Plant Empire, you crossed the snowfields together, helped her fight off the Blood Clan Earl, and then went to Nicalis Island in the Demon World, encountered Hibernia, and so on. I dreamed about all of it.”

Sigrid added.

She had clear memories of all of this, with no great difference from personally experiencing it.

If she wasn't mistaken, this should be the previous Shadow World that Lan Qi, Hibernia, and the Cat Boss had experienced.

"This can happen?"

Lan Qi couldn't tell if Sigrid was messing with him or if this bizarre story had really happened.

But this could perfectly explain why Sigrid was able to seamlessly impersonate Sigre halfway through, and even Lan Qi didn't notice that she had been replaced after twelve years.

“Probably after I got the blessed ornament from the Church of the Goddess of Fate, I started dreaming about Sigre every day.”

Sigrid looked at her empty wrist and said to Lan Qi.

The bracelet inlaid with precious jade in the real world couldn't be brought into the Shadow World.

Legend has it that there is a kind of amulet called the Wheel of Fortune Jade.

It may be any stone related to the Goddess of Fate and her affiliated churches. As long as it is used as a medium, the deity can weakly interfere with the world from the conceptual side.

The Wheel of Fortune Jade is a gift for those who are destined. If one prays sincerely to the Goddess of Fate, she may let you have a beautiful dream, perhaps by chance, or perhaps a dream of a past life.

After all, this kind of thing is mysterious and cannot be verified, so it is more often regarded as a legend and a fairy tale.

According to Sigrid's idea.

Perhaps her previous life was the little wolf girl Sigre tens of thousands of years ago, and Lan Qi was the reincarnation of the Black Sun Lord tens of thousands of years ago. Their prayers to the Goddess of Fate allowed them to pick up their past life's karma.

"That's great."

After listening to Sigrid's explanation, Lan Qi's slightly widened green eyes slowly returned to normal, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"What do you mean 'that's great'?"

Sigrid asked him in confusion.

She knew that the Holy Son had a strong ability to accept things, but she didn't expect him to be so relieved.

“If it’s you, then this isn’t a separation of life and death for us. We can still meet again in another time and space.”

Lan Qi said with a happy expression.

“I’m really happy to meet you again, Sigrid.”

He no longer had to bid farewell to Sigre with sadness.

For Lancelot and Sigre, the end of the Blood Moon Calamity was destined to be an irreparable regret.

But he and Sigrid still had many opportunities to take pictures of the future.

“…Do you know? I still clearly remember the experience of almost saying goodbye to you forever that winter, and I still feel nervous and uneasy whenever I think about it.”

Sigrid slowly moved closer to Lan Qi after hearing this.

“It must be the many difficulties we overcame together that earned us this moment of tranquility.”

She nestled peacefully in his chest, murmuring as she listened to his heartbeat.

Having this dream that felt like a lifetime ago, she realized how precious their current lives were.

She didn't want to be like Sigre in the Blood Moon Calamity, facing an ending that she was powerless to change.

The dark clouds outside the French windows of the principal's office swirled, and the sound of wind and snow filled the silence between them.

The moonlight in the cold night sky of Purgatory City had a metallic, inorganic feel.

It was warm inside because a stove was lit.

Although some people said that the wolf clan, who lived in areas colder than the northern mountains in winter, didn't take this little bit of cold seriously at all.

But for the frail wolf clan descendants who lived with humans, winter was indeed a season that made people miss warmth.

Sigrid breathed a sigh of relief in the warm space.

The late night became colder, and Sigre, who had gotten warmth, was in a very good mood.

“Is it really appropriate for the Bishop to hug the Holy Son like this?”

Lan Qi let Sigrid hug him for a long time before finally asking.

He felt that if he didn't say anything, Sigrid would continue to hug him like this, motionless like a pillow.

Although Sigrid weighed almost ten kilograms more than Tata, she was tall after all, and a strong martial artist. This weight was what she should have, and Lan Qi didn't think she was heavy.

"..."

Sigrid let go of him, looked into his eyes, and felt that he seemed to be thinking about some damn things.

But she was used to it, and she didn't mind. After all, this was the Holy Son she had chosen herself.

“You don’t understand this, we’re actually on equal footing now.”

Sigrid rarely let out a chuckle and said to him.

“Bishop, don’t bury me. You’re the boss. I don’t have the slightest intention of seizing power from you. I don’t want to be wanted in the Southern Continent.”

Lan Qi shook his head repeatedly, denying it.

The hierarchical relationship between them could not be blurred. He was just an employee working for the Batian Church in the Northern Continent. He didn't consider himself a member of the Rebirth Church at all, but only served Batian Church personally, which was not a violation of the law in the Southern Continent.

“Uh, will the Southern Continent issue an arrest warrant for a Cardinal Bishop?”

Sigrid remembered Lan Qi mentioning the bad names of several Cardinal Bishops in the Southern Continent.

For her, who had lived in the Northern Continent for many years, she didn't know much about the situation in the Southern Continent in recent years.

“They wouldn’t dare to issue an arrest warrant.”

Lan Qi corrected Sigrid's description of the Cardinal Bishops.

The terrorists who could be arrested were generally okay.

The terrorists who couldn't be arrested at all were existences of another dimension.

It was useless to issue an arrest warrant for a Cardinal Bishop of the Rebirth Church. Not to mention some of the Cardinal Bishops whose true identities were unknown, not many people had the ability to catch an eighth-order powerhouse like a Cardinal Bishop who was outside the rules.

Except for the situation where the City of Flowers, Parieu, found a Cardinal Bishop by chance, according to the results of divination, they seemed to have really caught a Cardinal Bishop, but they quickly released the Cardinal Bishop afterwards, so it didn't count as a real catch.

“Is it that serious? Then if I come to your house to visit your uncle one day, wouldn’t the Kingdom Allied Council divine that a Cardinal Bishop has come to your hometown?”

Sigrid leaned on his office chair and didn't get down, putting her hand on his shoulder and asking.

"That..."

Lan Qi couldn't imagine what state Old Man Noe would be in.

It would be okay if Sigrid hid her identity.

But if Noe asked what Sigrid did for a living, it might be quite awkward.

“What’s wrong, is your family not welcome to Cardinal Bishops?”

Sigrid raised her eyebrows when she saw Lan Qi's hesitation, and asked in a fierce tone.

“Welcome, of course you’re welcome to have the Cardinal Bishop come to inspect. I’m just afraid that I won’t be able to please you, Cardinal Sigrid, and neglect you. After all, my family’s financial conditions are really too poor, as long as you don’t mind.”

Lan Qi answered respectfully in the posture of a small commoner.

Lan Qi's tea-like and joking look made Sigrid laugh angrily.

“Why are you like a well-bred young lady, and I’m like a bully who came to rob you? Although I don’t usually enjoy bullying others, seeing you look so weak makes me feel amused from the bottom of my heart.”

Sigrid reached out and raised Lan Qi's chin, looking at him and nodding in satisfaction.

What was even more interesting was that she, as a Cardinal Bishop, could actually tease another Cardinal Bishop one day.

It was simply the glory of the Cardinal Bishop.

“Forget it, I won’t make things difficult for you. I’ll definitely not embarrass you when I come to play with you. I’ll dress up as Sid. Now I’m a third-year student at the Protos Royal Magic Academy and came across the sea to the Southern Continent to play with friends.”

Sigrid told Lan Qi the identity she would use.

She hadn't told Lan Qi that she had arrived in the Southern Continent yet, and was planning to give him a big surprise after the Shadow World ended.

“You actually upgraded yourself by one grade? Do you still have a student monthly pass on you?”

Lan Qi was shocked. He clearly remembered that Sid's fake identity a year ago was a second-year student at the Protos Royal Magic Academy.

She was still so loyal to her persona.

“Of course, that’s bound to my ID. I also asked Great Sage Isis and the Church of the Goddess of Fate to write me letters of introduction. I’m thinking of going to the Ikerite Academy for half a year as a visiting student.”

Sigrid talked about her travel plan.

She was really looking forward to going to school with the Holy Son.

“You want to come to Ikerite Academy to study?”

Lan Qi suddenly felt unimaginable.

“Yes, I always feel happy being a student with you. Didn’t you also say that Hutton’s capital, Ikerite, is very suitable for dating? You can plan in advance how to date me. After school every day, I can accompany you to play in the downtown area.”

Sigrid said affirmatively.

“So if I accidentally run into your friends and family, I won’t scare them. I’ll hide my industries in the Northern Continent well and won’t let my uncle discover that I’m a Cardinal Bishop.”

She added, patting Lan Qi on the shoulder to reassure him.

When she arrived, she would definitely respect the local culture. Although the Rebirth Church could be a legitimate enterprise in the Northern Continent, it was better to keep a low profile in the Southern Continent.

“Actually, it doesn’t matter. Now there are many rumors of turmoil in the Southern Continent. These days, even the pure and innocent High Priest is almost slandered as the Storm Bishop. If you say you are from the Batian Church, others might think you’re joking.”

Lan Qi shook his head casually.

That title of "Storm Bishop" was too absurd.

Wasn't it just that the whereabouts of the mysterious bishop who came from the Northern Continent every time coincided with Loren's? Could this be used to infer that Loren was a Cardinal Bishop?

Statistics and journalism were both scoring high marks.

Now that Loren had died in battle, the Kingdom Allied Council had cleared Loren's name, but for some reason there were rumors in the Kerry T Empire that the God of War had confirmed Loren's identity as the Storm Bishop.

“Storm Bishop? Where did such a bishop come from?”

Sigrid had never heard of this title either, and asked Lan Qi in confusion.

“I told you, the Rebirth Church doesn’t have a Storm Bishop at all.”

Lan Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

With Sigrid as the official high-level certification, if she said there was one, then there must be one, and if she said there wasn't, then there definitely wasn't one.

“Speaking of which, a few months ago, a Cardinal Bishop seemed to have come from the Northern Continent. He went south all the way, and his motive was a mystery. After he came, he stayed around the Kingdom of Hutton. Later, he seemed to go to the Kerry T Empire. Do you know who this bishop is?”

Lan Qi asked Sigrid again.

He had been troubled by this question for a long time.

Now that he had finally met a Cardinal Bishop from the Northern Continent, he could solve the mystery.

If there were a few uncertain factors that Bulilda was most afraid of, this Cardinal Bishop was undoubtedly one of them.

"..."

Sigrid looked at Lan Qi with a complicated expression for a while.

A bishop came from the Northern Continent a few months ago, went south all the way, stayed in the Kingdom of Hutton, and jumped in the face of the Kingdom Allied Council?

Then she kind of knew who that bishop was.

Wasn't that too much to the north? (靠北 literally means 'leaning north' and is Taiwanese slang for 'nonsense' or 'are you kidding me')

“Can’t this information be revealed?”

Lan Qi couldn’t read what Sigrid wanted to express for a moment.

“No, let me think about how to say it.”

Sigrid sat on Lan Qi and pressed her temples, shaking her head.

“Are you about to reach the seventh order? After clearing this Shadow World, you can reach the seventh order as long as you have materials to inscribe the job class.”

She suddenly changed the topic and said optimistically.

It was best not to let the projection creatures in the Shadow World know about the relevant information about the Shadow World, otherwise it would be shielded by the Shadow World or cause confusion. This was common sense that even low-level challengers had.

Even if they trusted Kariera, they had to avoid discussing this topic with Kariera as much as possible.

Now this opportunity to be alone was particularly good.

Originally, she was planning to continue playing Sigre for a while, but since they were about to separate next, she didn't plan to hide it, so she confessed her identity to Lan Qi, and the token she wanted to send him should also be given to him.

"Yes."

Lan Qi nodded.

He was still chatting with Talia about this on the way to the principal's office just now.

However, Talia said that she would help him inscribe his job class, which made Lan Qi feel that Talia was becoming more and more useful.

“Then I have to tell you a good news and a bad news.”

Sigrid’s cheeks approached Lan Qi by half a point, and she lowered her voice with a serious expression.