"Apostle?"
The two words sounded strangely unfamiliar.
Having spent so long in the secret realm, Duan Chen had almost forgotten how simple the reality he faced was.
It was only when he saw the word "Apostle" on a mission that he remembered what other entanglements existed in his real world.
Questions about apostles flooded his mind.
Especially the magician he had been interacting with frequently lately.
The magician had had too great an influence on him.
Duan Chen couldn't help but reach into his pocket and pull out a deck of cards.
At the top was the Jester.
Duan Chen stared intently at the Jester.
The Jester card was safe in his hand, but something seemed to have changed.
It was a change he couldn't quite articulate yet.
Seeing the card Duan Chen suddenly produced, Hill hesitated for a moment, then also took another card from his pocket.
"Does it have any purpose?"
The others were taken aback.
"The same card?"
Duan Chen didn't explain what these two cards in his and Hill's hands were for. He frowned, deep in thought.
Just then, he felt the mark on his wrist grow hot. Before he could say anything, he heard a voice in his mind.
"I need to come out for a bit."
It was Melbols.
Melbols acted as soon as he spoke.
It seemed he only intended to inform.
After this notification, everyone suddenly saw Duan Chen's wrist flare with light. They had to squint, and then they saw a humanoid figure appear directly beside Duan Chen.
They immediately went on alert.
But upon seeing the patterns on the newcomer's clothes, they relaxed slightly.
Melbols eyed the card in Duan Chen's hand with curiosity.
He rubbed his chin.
"I didn't expect this. I didn't expect you to possess something like this."
"I'm surprised I couldn't glimpse it in your memories. Someone must have shielded the heavenly secrets for you."
"A divine artifact?"
Duan Chen was taken aback.
"How does it compare to my gun?"
Melbols smiled faintly.
"You mean the weapon you named Qianhuan Pandora?"
He said, word by word.
"No weaker, only stronger."
Duan Chen was shocked.
No weaker, only stronger?
What kind of devastating weapon had Wu Suowei given him?
He couldn't help but press further.
"How do I use this divine artifact?"
However, after asking this question, Duan Chen received a strange look from Melbols.
"Aren't you already using it?"
"What?"
Duan Chen was stunned again.
Melbols no longer looked at him but reached out gently.
In a flash, he snatched the card from Duan Chen's hand.
And also the card in Hill's hand.
He gathered all the cards in his hand, then frowned slightly.
"One is missing."
Although Duan Chen didn't understand what Melbols was trying to do, he spoke.
"I gave the other one to someone else."
"It was The Hanged Man."
"The Hanged Man?"
Melbols stroked his chin.
"It seems you trust him a lot?"
"No, it's more that he trusts you."
"How so?"
Given the rare opportunity to learn what kind of cards Wu Suowei had left him, Duan Chen was impatient, pressing for information about the cards.
And Melbols, perhaps in a good mood or for some other reason, answered everything for free.
"This is a deck of Tarot cards you hold. Twenty-two Major Arcana and fifty-six Minor Arcana."
"A perfectly normal deck of Tarot cards."
Duan Chen knew this.
But he had never thought of using Tarot cards for divination.
If they were only for divination, these cards wouldn't have undergone such drastic changes.
Fortunately, Melbols wasn't finished speaking.
"The Fool, that's the card you hold, the 0 in the Major Arcana."
He personally drew the card and showed the image to Duan Chen.
The Fool on the card, dressed in colorful attire, rejoiced like a jester, heedless of the cliff ahead, striding forward.
One of his feet was already at the edge of the cliff, yet he did not stop. A small white dog at his feet barked incessantly.
But the Fool maintained his joyful expression, gazing at the distant sky, not the precipice before him.
In his left hand, he held a white rose, and in his right, a scepter topped with a glittering crown. The dew on the white rose was fresh.
"You are The Fool."
Melbols said with a smile, a glint of amusement in his eyes, and placed the Fool card back into Duan Chen's hand.
Duan Chen, however, couldn't understand and shook his head slightly.
"What does this mean?"
But Melbols didn't answer him.
Instead, he picked up another card.
That card was The High Priestess.
The image showed a sacred High Priestess, wearing a long white dress that reached her ankles, and a wreath of white flowers woven into her hair.
A faint smile played on her lips, and in her hands, she held the Ark of the Covenant.
As if in compassion for the world.
Yet, around her were only decaying roses and white bones.
Needles were scattered on the ground.
Hill numbly accepted the card.
Melbols looked at Hill with amusement.
He was now symbiotic with Duan Chen,
so he could naturally see Hill through Duan Chen's eyes, and wasn't completely shielded as before.
"The High Priestess is a very fitting card for you."
He held the other cards in his hand, not distributing them.
Duan Chen still couldn't understand.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Melbols raised a finger to his lips.
"Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed. That's a saying you humans like, isn't it?"
"I can only tell you that when you find suitable owners for all the cards, something unexpected will happen."
Something unexpected?
Duan Chen pondered, his gaze lowered, and his eyes involuntarily drifted to the street below outside the window.
But as he looked, something stirred his heart.
In the distance of his sight, he suddenly saw a familiar shadow, disappearing from the corner of his vision while holding something.