In the basement of the ancient castle.
After the doctors left, Dudian and the others also rested. They hadn't had a good sleep during the ten days outside the Wall. Now, in this place that was almost like a cage, everyone completely relaxed, and soon loud snores filled the air.
However, Dudian didn't fall asleep immediately. Instead, he gently stroked the Marks of the Demon on his chest. The touch was extremely clear, making it difficult for him to tell whether the sensation was transmitted from his fingertips to his mind or from the Marks of the Demon. He always felt as if his heart was being touched between his fingers. That cool feeling made the hair on his body stand up slightly, and his nerves were instinctively tense.
When he exerted a little more force, he could feel his heart beating faster, and there was a bit of a stuffy feeling in his chest.
"If these Marks of the Demon were to be destroyed, my life would probably be greatly threatened, or I might even die." Dudian thought silently. He didn't expect that his life was actually linked to the Marks of the Demon. To be precise, it was connected to the blood-red worm inside the Marks of the Demon.
Lying on the bed, he tossed and turned but couldn't fall asleep. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of the "Book of Light" on the small table. His heart stirred, and he picked it up and gently opened it. The flying quill pen characters came into view. The first sentence at the beginning made him narrow his eyes, "Is light the truth?"
"Because of the light in the world, plants can grow."
"Because of the light, we can'see'."
"Light can bestow life upon people, and the great Creator who created the light, the God of Light, will protect all the lives that are loyal to Him..."
The beginning of the scripture was a statement of its purpose, which was also the core of the scripture. Each subsequent chapter was a story about the benefits of "light", or to be precise, a phenomenon that everyone knew. Precisely because everyone knew about it, it couldn't be refuted! Since the role of light was truly enormous, what was said in this scripture was basically correct. Dudian even felt that what was said in the scripture wasn't comprehensive enough!
The role of light...
If there were no light, there would be no life on Earth!
Just this one point was more powerful than thousands of examples.
However, although he knew this, Dudian wouldn't believe in the "God of Light". It was true that the role of light couldn't be ignored, but... what did this have to do with the Church of Light?
Dudian flipped through it casually and roughly understood how they recruited believers.
First, they put forward some natural phenomena that were commonly known to everyone and incorporated them into their "doctrine". Then, they listed them one by one. After people read them, most of them would have a sudden realization. Combining what they had seen in life, they would suddenly be convinced.
Once convinced, they could add their own ideas, mix these ideas in, and instill them into other people's minds together. If a person's personality wasn't sound enough and their worldview wasn't firm enough, it would be difficult for them to distinguish the mixed ideas and thus believe everything completely, which would turn into blind belief.
Once blindly believing, they would become devout believers, believing whatever was said.
"What's written here are just some of the surface phenomena brought about by light, and there is no scientific basis for explanation. Just as my father often said, the ancients were intelligent, but they lacked tools, so they could only know the appearance of things but not the reasons behind them. People nowadays are the same." Dudian thought secretly, "Once the tools are improved and we enter the microscopic level, we can explain the origin of light from the root and even allow people to see the form of light."
"My father often said that all blind belief comes from the backwardness of technology, which can't provide an explanation."
Dudian firmly believed in his father's words and became even more determined to become an alchemist.
...
...
The three-day Washing Day passed quickly.
The two doctors would come for a routine inspection every day to observe the physical changes of Dudian and the others. In fact, it was just a formality. They had seen too many such inspections. Basically, those who were infected would show symptoms quickly. Only those with extremely strong wills would carefully hide their wounds and endure until the last moment of the third day before the symptoms broke out, but such cases were very rare.
The door of the basement opened, and Dudian and the others changed into the new black soft armor that was delivered. The size had also been measured according to their damaged soft armor, and it fit very well.
"Please, everyone." A guard of the Church of Light came over and showed them the way.
Dudian and the others didn't see the young knight with jet-black hair. They followed this guard of the Church of Light and left the ancient castle. As soon as they reached the main gate, they heard a voice saying, "Mr. Dudian, may I ask which one is Mr. Dudian?"
Dudian looked over in surprise. It was a middle-aged gentleman wearing a black top hat and holding a walking stick. He was looking towards Dudian and the others.
Scott, who was walking on the side, smiled and pointed at Dudian, "This is him."
The middle-aged gentleman was a bit surprised. He didn't expect that the person he was specifically waiting here to deliver the letter to was just a young boy. But he didn't dare to be negligent. He quickly stepped forward, took out a letter from the side of his chest pocket, and said, "Mr. Dean, this is a letter for you."
Dudian glanced at the stamp and the address on it. It was a stamp from the Mellon Consortium, and the address was that of the Scavenger Headquarters. He immediately understood that it was about the Marks of the Demon that the two doctors had reported.
Nodding slightly and thanking him, Dudian put away the letter and gently opened it. The content was extremely simple: "Come to the office on the top floor of the headquarters to find me... The top floor?"
Dudian naturally understood what the top floor meant. That was where the highest secrets related to scavengers were handled. In simple terms, if Pete and other senior scavengers were to be trained or hold a meeting, it would be carried out on the top floor of the headquarters.
"It's probably about nominating you as a hunter. The headquarters is really quick." Scott smiled and said, "Congratulations. You've only been a scavenger once and you've already become a hunter. Maybe we'll meet you in the wilderness again in the future."
Mia beside him was stunned and said, "Wha, what's going on? A hunter? Dean?"
Scott smiled and said, "You don't know yet, do you? Dean has the Marks of the Demon and is already a real hunter."
Mia stared at Dudian with her mouth agape, looking a bit dazed.
Dudian smiled slightly and said to Scott, "I really appreciate your guidance during this scavenging trip outside the Wall."
"It's nothing." Scott smiled. In fact, he was very happy in his heart, knowing that Dudian had remembered his favor. He immediately said, "Mia and I will leave first. When the evaluation of the material prices comes out in a few days, we'll meet again at the headquarters."
Dudian was a bit surprised. Hadn't the evaluation of the material prices been completed yet? But then he thought that those things were all modern items from the ruins outside the Wall, and many of them were things that people inside the Wall had never seen before. It really would take time to evaluate their prices.
After watching Scott and Mia leave, Mekin and the other three also bid farewell to Dudian and left here together in the consortium's exclusive carriage outside.
The other three young scavengers from the consortium and the young scavenger boy also politely said goodbye to Dudian, then chose a consortium carriage and left the place.
Dudian put away the letter and directly took a carriage to the headquarters.