Chapter 369: A Handsome Face is Reason Enough

"This is a nightmare." A deep, magnetic voice reached Su Qing's ears. She could even feel the slight rise and fall of the man's chest as he spoke.

"I interrupted the Pope's possession ritual. His soul has suffered a backlash, so he shouldn't be able to recover anytime soon."

Su Mu spoke at an unhurried pace. A unique rhythm wove through his words like a trickling stream—peaceful, yet inadvertently soothing. It drew the listener in, making it feel as if the entire world had faded away to leave only his magnetic voice echoing in the silence.

Su Qing's face grew even redder.

Su Mu seemed to notice. He lowered his head slightly, and for a moment, their eyes met.

"Your face is really red. Is something wrong?"

Su Qing's eyes flickered, her voice barely a whisper. "Probably. I feel a little dizzy."

"Then lie down and rest for a while."

"Don't!" Su Qing cried out. Then, realizing her reaction was inappropriate, she hurriedly added, "Don't move. I'll get dizzy if I move right now. Let's just stay like this for a bit. Let me catch my breath... I'll be fine once I catch my breath."

"Alright. Take your time."

Su Qing rejoiced inwardly. She nuzzled her head deeper against him. Afraid Su Mu would notice her joy, she quickly asked, "Right, how did you suddenly come back? I thought you were already..."

"Already dead?"

"Yeah. The Pope is a liar. He's been deceiving us this whole time. He actually knew all along that you weren't a real divine envoy, but just someone who happened to obtain the power of the Primal Angel by chance. He also knew that we were Nightmare Apostles..."

"I know," Su Mu said gently.

"You know?" Su Qing was slightly taken aback. "When did you find out?"

She found it unbelievable. After all, she had only learned these secrets from the Pope himself.

"I knew from the very beginning."

"The very beginning?!" Su Qing's beautiful eyes widened.

"As the leader of the largest faction in the Nightmare World, the Pope commands millions of followers. Even counting those who haven't joined the Primal Divine Cult but still worship the Primal Angel, the number reaches at least ten million.

"With such a terrifying force at his disposal, it's not strange for him to know about Nightmare Apostles. Don't forget, we aren't the only team to have entered the Nightmare World."

Su Qing thought about it and agreed. After all, the Pope had just mentioned that he had captured Nightmare Apostles before to extract information.

"But is that enough to prove there's something wrong with the Pope?"

"It wasn't just that. There is also the Primal Angel's Divinity. The Divinity of the Primal Angel can resonate with itself. You all might not have noticed, but the Pope could definitely sense that the Primal Divinity within my body was extremely weak. Just think about it—if a divine envoy descended from Heaven, even if it wasn't their true body, how could the Divinity carried within their soul be inferior to a mortal Pope's? Wouldn't he suspect my identity as the envoy?

"I might be able to fool the ordinary cultists who don't possess the Primal Angel's Divinity, but I could never fool the Pope."

Su Mu's lips parted slightly. As he spoke, his Adam's apple bobbed gently along the sharp lines of his neck. His lips trembled slightly, like two soft maple leaves swaying in the breeze.

Su Qing stared in a daze, her eyes glassy. She hadn't absorbed a single word he said, yet she completely agreed with him—such a handsome face made perfect sense.

"Yet, the Pope directly acknowledged my status as the envoy. And when everyone was fighting to go to the Abyss, the Pope only grew tense when you spoke up. He clearly didn't want you to go throw your life away.

"Now I understand. He wanted to possess your body. But what I don't understand is, why you?"

"Mhm... you're absolutely right." Su Qing nodded in a daze. Then, she suddenly froze as she realized what she was saying, and hastily blurted out, "The Pope probably just has the heart of a young girl."

She didn't say it was because of her weak soul connection and fragile physical body, as that would easily expose the fact that she was an avatar. Instead, she just made up a random excuse.

"Since you already knew, why didn't you expose him?"

The moment she asked the question, Su Qing regretted it. She felt she was acting like an absolute idiot in front of Su Mu. It was the classic case of big boobs and no brains... well, hers weren't exactly big, either.

Su Mu didn't answer. He simply looked down at her.

Su Qing quickly tried to cover for herself. "Of course I know that exposing the Pope would have cornered him into attacking right away! I've just been unconscious for too long, so my brain is still a little foggy."

Then, she started changing the subject. "Why did the Pope take you to the Abyss? He clearly could have just made you fall unconscious like the rest of us."

Su Mu looked at Su Qing, momentarily speechless.

Su Qing blinked, completely missing the point this time. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm not like you guys. I'm the envoy. Before I even met the Pope, many of the Primal Cultists had already spread my name. The reason the Pope played along at first was because he was wary of my status as the envoy. He could claim I wasn't the envoy, but the God's Eye cannot be faked.

"Regardless of whether I truly am or not, as long as I have the God's Eye, the Pope couldn't possibly attack me directly. It would undermine his rule. It just so happened that I mentioned wanting to go to the Abyss, so he beat me at my own game and sent me there, using the Abyss to get rid of me.

"Going to the Abyss was also part of my plan. The Pope is simply too strong. Tearing off all pretenses with him would mean certain death. I could only feign going to the Abyss and figure out my next step later.

"Just like that, I was sent into the Abyss by the Pope. However, once inside, I didn't venture deep. Instead, I hid near the entrance, planning to come back out after the Pope left.

"What I didn't expect was just how perilous the Abyss truly was. Even though I was only at the entrance, I still encountered an evil god. I thought I was dead for sure, but that evil god turned out to be the Shadow God, and Bubai just so happened to be His kin. With Bubai's protection, not only did I survive, but it was a blessing in disguise. It allowed Bubai to advance into a Gold Grade Nightmare Creature.

"With Bubai's help, I successfully escaped the Shadow God and left the Abyss. And it was exactly because of this that I was able to rush back and save you all, relying on Bubai's power to ambush the Pope during his possession ritual.

"Are you listening?"

"Ah?" Su Qing blinked blankly. "Oh, you're totally right."

...

...

Watching the descending Faceless Angel, the Seven Kings stood as if facing a formidable enemy. None of them dared to make a rash move. Only King Chi's mind was wandering. If one looked closely, they could even see a deep flush creeping onto her breathtakingly beautiful face.

Great! Su Mu isn't dead, and he even saved all of us. As expected of the man this King has her eyes on!

Hmph. I knew Gongsun Quan's guesses were pure nonsense. How could Su Mu be Pride? If Su Mu were Pride, then who is this Pride standing before us with Supreme Heaven?

King Chi had also considered the possibility of it being a clone, but she quickly dismissed the thought. The moment the Faceless Angel descended, she knew Su Mu couldn't possibly be Pride. The reason was simple: Pride was simply far too strong.

Unimaginably strong. Just a single 'little pet' possessed power surpassing that of a Gold King. What would be the point of an existence like that creating a Silver clone?

To have a Silver clone help him overthrow the world? What a joke. This 'little pet' was practically enough on its own.

As for what Su Mu had just said, she felt like she had listened, yet at the same time, hadn't heard a thing.

King Chi wasn't the only one distracted; Su Mu was, too.

Beneath that Silver-White Mask, a helpless smile surfaced on the corners of Su Mu's lips. He couldn't help but feel that meticulously designing an illusion specifically to target King Chi was like taking off his pants to fart—a completely unnecessary effort.