“Are you alright?”

Ciel glanced at the Pope beside her and asked.

It wasn’t that Ciel looked down on the Pope, but she had to ask—

At this moment, the Pope of the Church of the God of Order’s iron mask had melted into molten iron, dripping down bit by bit. Molten iron mixed with red flesh slowly gathered at their feet, then reabsorbed into their body from their soles.

With such a horrifying transformation, Ciel had no doubt that she could collapse and go mad at any moment.

Ciel wasn’t worried about her, but about herself… A Tier 4 transcendent collapsing and going mad next to her, with only a Tier 2 Tara beside her, and the surroundings basically sealed off. This situation was truly one where neither heaven nor earth could help.

After all, the Pope’s mental state had already seemed a little off before.

But hearing Ciel’s question, the Pope just slowly raised their hand and waved. A somewhat distorted buzzing sound came from their mouth.

“As long as I don’t go inside, there is no problem…”

Being able to remain rational and speak under these circumstances was truly not easy… Even Tara beside her was just hiding behind Ciel, unconsciously gripping Ciel’s skirt and keeping her eyes tightly shut, not daring to open them again.

Ciel suspected that this Pope had already started using the “Artificial Divinity” plan to modify their own mind. Otherwise, there was no explanation for their current behavior, which was like having a split personality compared to before.

“Tara, go up.”

Ciel turned around and placed her hand on Tara’s shoulder.

“No… Lord Mother Goddess… I can do it…”

Tara murmured, she didn’t even notice what she had unconsciously said that she shouldn’t have.

“Listen to me.”

Ciel’s tone was slightly firmer.

Tara looked up into Ciel’s eyes. After struggling for a moment, she still chose to bow to Ciel and turned to walk up the spiral staircase.

Only after watching Tara leave did Ciel turn her gaze back to the Other Side node before her.

The node… she had seen it.

But could this thing be redeemed?

If so, the required Fate Points would likely be astronomical…

Then could she replicate one herself?

What was the structure inside the node? If, as Henry said, it was a fixed route every time, why was Little Left able to go in and take out the quill pen?

One must know that the quill pen was something Ciel had thrown into the Other Side in Berren City… It couldn’t be that in those few seconds, Little Left had rushed to Berren City and then teleported back to Ansu City, right?

While Ciel was still studying the Other Side node before her, the Pope beside her, looking at the red-haired girl beside them, also seemed to have fallen into contemplation.

The crimson blood light reflected on the red-haired Ciel, making her pupils and long hair seem to glow. Her hair and the blood-red vortex before her seemed to merge into one.

And what astonished the Pope the most was the Divine Advent Church Archbishop’s address to Ciel just now.

Mother Goddess…

Is it true or false?

If that Tier 2 Archbishop could be fooled, there was still a Tier 4 Cardinal waiting upstairs… Clearly, that Archbishop also recognized the young girl’s identity before them.

If Ciel were some Tier 3 or Tier 4 transcendent, or a “Subverter” who could interfere with minds, the Pope wouldn’t believe the “Mother Goddess” claim… But the girl beside them was very clearly an ordinary person with no potion power within her…

This, however, made the Pope believe a little bit.

Perhaps because they were shaken by their own speculation, the Pope subconsciously took a step back, distancing themselves from the girl before them.

Distancing was an instinctive reaction, but rationality told them they should stay here and see clearly what the other party wanted to do.

“Can you tell me about your research on this node?”

Ciel turned to look at the Pope beside her and asked.

“Only those with great spiritual talent, those who can become Saints, have the mental capacity to briefly enter the Other Side,”

The Pope slowly said, “And before each entry, some sacrifices are required to activate the node before you…”

“Mm…”

Ciel slightly nodded. She probably understood the node’s operational logic.

This was a semi-dormant blood ritual array, connected to a certain door in the Other Side. Usually, like now, it was in a semi-dormant state. Only by consuming enough sacrifices could the door to the Other Side expand to a degree that allowed people to enter.

Some of the sacrificed flesh and blood were likely channeled to nourish and stabilize this node.

“Do you have any records of your previous explorations inside?” Ciel looked at the Pope and asked.

“Yes.”

The Pope slightly nodded. They placed their hand on their lower abdomen. The iron armor on their lower abdomen melted, revealing a hole. They put their hand into the hole and retrieved a record.

“This is a copy.”

They handed this notebook to Ciel before them.

The Pope didn’t mind sharing this information. They even hoped the other party would know more to help them continue exploring the deeper parts of this node.

At this moment, Little Left, perched on Ciel’s shoulder, seemed a little listless. It wiggled its fingers in front of Ciel, then directly leaped into the Other Side node like a jump bead and disappeared.

Without more blood to nourish it, Little Left could no longer sustain itself outside the Other Side.

Ciel didn’t plan to continue feeding Little Left blood, because it couldn’t help her explore the Other Side.

Although it could do some very simple things for Ciel based on instinct and communicate in a rudimentary way, its intelligence level was still too low. It was far from being able to communicate normally with Ciel like the Grim Worm.

Ciel reached out and took the notebook handed by the Pope. She opened it directly.

This was something akin to an exploration log, recording what was seen and heard in the Other Side in the first person… From the different writing styles and signatures, it was evident that a new person took over every two or three pages.

Ciel quickly flipped through the pages. Soon, she stopped on one page.

She saw the name of the explorer on it—Nia.