Chapter 875: God of orthodoxy

Beside the filthy river.

Li Qi and the three faced off.

Of course, they thought they were confronting Li Qi, but Li Qi was merely observing.

And such observation wouldn't last long; it was only for an instant. Li Qi had already fully understood their situation.

"Hmm... you are all good people," Li Qi said.

In Li Qi's definition, law enforcers were essentially good people.

For Li Qi, the standard for judging whether someone was a good person was 'altruism.' As long as they were willing to be altruistic, they were considered good people.

And these spellcasters were typical 'altruists.' For them, even after suffering severe psychological trauma, they were still willing to restrain themselves, put their own interests aside, and use their abilities to protect the majority of people from strange harm. One could say they were quite noble.

Whether it was the young man who crawled out of his mother's corpse, the old soldier accustomed to obeying orders, or the ignorant, expressionless artificial ability user girl who actually knew nothing, like a baby—these were all people Li Qi would smile at.

However... bad people loved to push other good people and the weak to the forefront, making things difficult for the good people.

It was the same now.

"Your situation isn't good, but... perfect. Let's go. I look forward to the new residence you'll give me," Li Qi said.

The old soldier breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter who this person was, he seemed easy to get along with.

So, as long as he was brought back to headquarters, to the containment area there, any kind of strange entity should be suppressed.

After all... there was a friendly 'strongest strange entity in history' there, and it was their existence, along with the royal family's support, that truly made the Enforcement Bureau a violent law enforcement agency capable of deterring strange entities and various ability users.

Li Qi maintained his usual gentleness, temporarily interrupting his plan, and followed them.

Li Qi embarked on his journey via the underground train.

The underground train station was the transportation hub here, with six massive entrances, like open-mouthed beasts swallowing people underground, then six railway main lines emerging from behind them.

Li Qi sat on the subway seat, looking outside.

The tunnels outside the subway actually flickered with some monsters, but they were all harmless black shadows, quite interesting. In this underground, it seemed to be a place where spirits gathered, so it must have been quite haunted.

The two men sat casually, one in front and one behind Li Qi, seemingly relaxed, but their gun safeties were off, ready to fight Li Qi at any moment, sweat breaking out from their tension.

Only the expressionless girl truly felt nothing. She sat next to Li Qi, staring at him intently.

Li Qi smiled back at her.

She tilted her head, then searched in her pocket, pulled out a piece of candy, thought for a moment, broke it in half, and stared at the two halves for a full three minutes.

Finally, she reluctantly chose the larger piece and handed it to Li Qi: "Please... eat."

This action made the spines of the two men, front and back, stiffen.

"Thank you," Li Qi said with a smile, naturally taking the candy and putting it in his mouth.

"Oh, right, as a return gift, this is for you." Li Qi extended his hand towards her, but his palm was empty.

The two men immediately turned their gaze, hands already on their gun triggers. The younger man had poorer self-control, cold sweat already beading on his forehead.

Then Li Qi turned his palm, and a trace of power from his Inner World surged out, conjuring a flower.

The flower was tender and dewy, even with water droplets, as if it had just been plucked from a morning garden.

In this world of flowing sewage, such a flower could only be seen at noble banquets. Its fresh and fragrant scent made both men feel a jolt.

The expressionless girl was even more stunned. After several seconds, she took a deep breath, took the flower, stared at it for a while, and took a bite.

Then her expression clearly changed to (；′⌒`).

"So bitter... smells good, doesn't taste good."

"Heh—" Li Qi chuckled softly: "Of course it doesn't taste good eaten like that. Take it back, chop it up, and boil it down with sugar, and it'll taste good. It's called rose jam, and it's quite delicious."

"Okay." The expressionless girl nodded, then put away the bitten flower.

From beginning to end, aside from the bitter expression from tasting the bitterness, she showed no other emotion.

The two men exchanged glances, then turned their heads away again.

It could be confirmed: this was indeed some kind of strange entity. If he was human, then he was already powerful enough to be considered a strange entity.

Creating something from nothing...

This level of power—thankfully, he was of the friendly type, though his background was unclear.

The atmosphere in the carriage was no longer so tense.

After about an hour, Li Qi arrived at 'Headquarters.'

He came here not by chance, but because he suddenly felt he should meet the ultimate trump card here, the 'strongest strange entity' of this world. From them, he could assess the Demon of Death's influence on this world, and then infer the sustained intensity of the Demon of Death's remains on the outside world.

This was also one of Li Qi's purposes for coming to this world; he had initially planned to use this sample to observe the Demon of Death. As for other things... they were just incidental.

Of course, through True Knowledge's previous scan, he probably understood this 'strongest strange entity' better than anyone in this world, but after all, they were intelligent beings. Before actually conversing with them, no one knew what decisions intelligent beings would make.

This was the wonder of higher intelligence. Even if you completely understood someone's life, you still couldn't judge what they would do. They weren't machines; deductions were, after all, only 'probabilities,' not true determinations of the future.

Of course, for Li Qi, if the future wasn't what he wanted, then he would just start over. This was the privilege of a Third Rank.

However... Li Qi didn't like using this ability; he hadn't used it even once so far, because his 'Dao,' his answer to reality and illusion, didn't allow him to treat these lives as illusions.

So, in reality, Li Qi's ability to rewind was quite weak. This was also a limitation brought by his 'Dao's answer.'

Just like some Fourth Rank cultivators couldn't travel faster than light, their Fourth Rank answers didn't support arbitrary faster-than-light travel, so their journeys would be very troublesome.

Li Qi was the same. When he determined this world was truly real, he also placed restrictions on his Divine Ability. He couldn't arbitrarily rewind the world. This wasn't because he lacked the ability, but because he subjectively refused to use this ability. Forcibly using it would be a harm to his Dao path.

But in return, he also gained stability in reality. When facing attacks targeting his own existence, he could rely on the stability of reality to make himself less susceptible to influence.

Thinking these thoughts, Li Qi had completed his inspection.

The staff here were all very friendly to Li Qi, but Li Qi knew the reason for their friendliness, because he could easily hear the information spoken by everyone in the entire facility.

In what they thought was a strictly protected secret room, the previous trio of law enforcers had already reported Li Qi's matter to the higher-ups.

This was a powerful, mysterious, but seemingly quite friendly strange entity.

His origin was unknown, but he possessed terrifying power, even capable of conjuring a flower from his hand out of thin air.

That could absolutely not be a magic trick, because a sample of the flower had been brought back. There was no such flower in this world; it was a non-existent species.

However, the act of taking the flower for testing caused one of the three team members to show symptoms of mental instability, so it was quickly returned to them, but it was already enough.

A species that didn't exist in this world... perhaps it could become an important clue in exploring this strange entity.

Moreover, this strange entity had actively stated his request: he wanted to meet 'Cocoon.'

'Cocoon,' the strongest strange entity on record, called herself 'Cocoon.' She had an extraordinary friendliness towards humans; even when attacked, abused, or criticized, she would unconditionally tolerate it, just like a mother.

But towards things 'other than human,' she would become extremely violent. Although she would still restrain herself by obeying human commands, when facing rampaging strange entities contained within the facility, she had repeatedly attacked, torn apart, and eaten other strange entities.

After she ate other strange entities, she herself would undergo subtle changes. Therefore, to prevent the 'friendly to humans' trait from disappearing, she must not be allowed to feed unless in an emergency.

However, the 'Killer Infant' was a super strange entity that even the law enforcers couldn't handle, yet it was resolved by the strange entity before them, without even a battle. Coupled with the characteristic of creating from nothing, and the same 'friendly to humans' attitude, perhaps the two could meet under isolated conditions.

Li Qi observed and waited for about four or five hours, until daytime, before he obtained permission to meet 'Cocoon.'

He politely thanked the people around him, but this action made the others break out in cold sweat.

During this time, Li Qi also saw many strange entities similar to 'Spiritual Artifacts,' all items with peculiar properties, possessing various qualities unique to the Desire Realm, which he found quite interesting.

Soon, Li Qi arrived in the underground secret room and saw the existence of 'Cocoon.'

"Cocoon... that name is truly well-chosen. Did you pick it yourself?" Li Qi said from underground, separated by a thick glass wall, looking at the 'female' on the other side.

She could only be described as female, because she looked like a humanoid moth, appearing... eerie, beautiful, and pitiful.

Black compound eyes, two antennae on her forehead, and her body covered in many fuzzy hairs. But beyond the hairs, the rest of her translucent body emitted a mesmerizing glow.

And the moment 'Cocoon' saw Li Qi, she went berserk.

No one had expected that this peaceful, docile, and even somewhat endearing 'Cocoon' would erupt with such terrifying killing intent upon first meeting another friendly strange entity!

Li Qi hadn't expected it either. Although he knew he might not be very welcome, he didn't expect such a huge reaction.

So, to prevent scaring others, Li Qi gently waved his hand.

Time stopped.

Except for Cocoon and Li Qi, the flow of Qi in the entire world was halted by Li Qi's Divine Ability, creating a 'time stop' effect.

Cocoon was still erupting with power, even reaching the Eighth Rank, which was the limit of this world. If left unchecked, it could probably destroy a city.

In this world, this was indeed the 'strongest in history.'

But in front of Li Qi, it seemed slightly insufficient.

Li Qi took a step forward, and Cocoon's power was completely suppressed, shrinking into a ball.

"You should be a spirit condensed from the thoughts of The Orthodox Church believers, or, as they say in this world... you are the 'God' worshipped by The Orthodox Church, right?"

"I had planned to visit your church before, but I didn't expect to meet you here."

"May I ask, why do you support industrialization? Why do you establish this organization to hunt other spiritual phenomena? Why do you hinder these Mortals from rushing towards the sky? You should know the consequences of all this, right?"

Li Qi walked in front of 'Cocoon' and said to her.

Cocoon's attitude towards Li Qi was extremely violent. Her power was enough to destroy a city; in this world, calling her a 'God' was not an exaggeration.

But unfortunately, in front of Li Qi, she had to 'speak properly.'

"Dangerous... you are too dangerous. Where exactly did you come from?" Cocoon looked at Li Qi, muttering softly.

Li Qi then said: "Don't worry, I have no hostility whatsoever. My purpose in coming here is mainly to explore the relationship between you and the outside Universe. I hope you can cooperate with me. If you agree, let all this restart."

"Of course, if you don't agree, I will also leave here, rest assured."

Cocoon raised her moth-like face and said: "...If there were no mist in the sky... then, it would be very dangerous, even more dangerous than you."

This made Li Qi raise an eyebrow and say: "As an Eighth Rank... your senses are truly, unexpectedly sharp."