While the passenger ship was restocking supplies, a few of the crew members hesitantly walked up to Wu Yi.
“Hmm?”
“Um…” One of the crew glanced at the Borneo Guards stationed around the port, finally gathering the courage to look up.
“…You said before that you wanted to continue on to the Plain Continent?” he asked.
“Mm.” Wu Yi responded with a faint nasal hum.
“But the Captain, First Mate, and Second Mate are all dead. At a time like this, shouldn’t we… not be leaving port…”
“I am the Captain now.” Wu Yi said calmly.
The crewman gave an awkward smile. “But this ship belongs to the Owner. We don’t get to make the decisions. If you take us out to sea and something happens, we won’t be able to explain ourselves when we get back.”
“I’ll buy this ship. Go find a ‘Bolahuman’ here and ask her for the money.”
Borneo was once a federation founded on Faith, where all religious professions held high status.
“Bolahuman” was what the People of Borneo called their Priests.
Bolahuman often wielded significant power and wealth—after all, in the structure of religious authority, Priests were already the ruling class.
“You’re joking, right? Folks like that aren’t people we can just meet.” The crewman blocked Wu Yi’s path. “If you ask me, you should look for another owner.”
“I’ll take you to her now.” Wu Yi said, already walking toward the crowd.
The Old Gods were dead, Faith had crumbled, plunging Borneo into ten years of ideological turmoil.
Now, the land was divided into two factions. One sought the New Gods, hoping to find salvation in new objects of worship.
The other, led by Darlina and called the Self-God Faction, wished to create a federation where everyone could become their own god, seeking self-redemption.
“Where are you taking us?”
“To find Darlina.” Wu Yi gazed toward the distant white jade building.
That was the headquarters of the Self-God Faction.
The Self-God Faction’s architecture was unlike Borneo’s traditional style—there was no reverence for divine authority or the oppressive aura of Divinity.
The place was spacious enough that, by tradition, there ought to have been a chapel.
But the Self-God Faction’s Priest, Darlina, firmly insisted on replacing the chapel with a Debate Hall, and anyone could come to listen to the debates.
As a result, the place was always filled with the smoke of heated arguments and bustling with people.
“That’s strange, why are there so many people today?”
This wasn’t Wu Yi’s first time at the Debate Hall, but she had never seen such a crowd gathered outside the Palace.
There were still about two hundred meters to the Palace, yet the surrounding streets were packed so tightly that there wasn’t even room to breathe.
“Outlanders?” A Borneo native looked at Wu Yi, and after a moment of awe, lowered his head and shyly asked in the local language, “You don’t know?”
“What’s going on?” Wu Yi replied in the same language.
“Today is the official showdown between the Self-God Faction and the Seeking-God Faction! The High Priest of the Self-God Faction, ‘Darlina,’ and the High Priest of the Seeking-God Faction, ‘Vagang,’ are both appearing for the first-ever duel of the leaders!”
Oh wow, how exciting!
“This is a clash of ideas that will decide Borneo’s fate, and it’s open for everyone to watch… It’s just a shame that the Debate Hall isn’t big enough.”
Darlina’s Debate Hall was already the size of an Olympic Stadium, but even so, it still couldn’t contain the People of Borneo’s passion for seeking answers.
God and Divinity—these were the ultimate questions running through the lives of the People of Borneo. Everyone born here encountered them from childhood, forced to worship, forced to devote themselves.
So, they all wanted to see the answer.
Should they seek a new god, or become their own god? This wasn’t just a debate—it was deciding the direction of the People of Borneo’s lives.
“Tsk, are you sure someone as important as Darlina will meet with us?” The crewman was shocked by the size of the crowd.
He didn’t understand the situation in Borneo and thought Darlina was just a regular noble.
He hadn’t expected that getting to the front of the Palace would feel like crossing mountains and rivers.
“She’ll see us,” Wu Yi looked at the portraits and slogans lining the streets, and a faint smile of relief appeared on her face. “If she dares not to, I’ll smack her palm.”
With so many people, it was obviously impossible to squeeze in.
But that was fine.
“Follow me.”
Wu Yi led the crew into an alley. By now, Jinnah City was deserted, so there was no one in this dark corner.
She kicked aside a pile of weeds at the corner.
Beneath the pile, a trapdoor was revealed.
“Let’s go.”
She pulled open the trapdoor, revealing a tunnel thick with dust that clearly hadn’t been used in a long time.
Wu Yi was the first to step in, a flame lighting up at her fingertips to illuminate the way.
The tunnel walls on either side were covered in graffiti—crooked and random, with no pattern.
It was obvious that some child had drawn them, venting her emotions.
The crewman coughed, covering his mouth and nose, frowning at the wall art.
He could barely make out that the mural depicted a woman standing at the bow of a ship, raising the sails as she landed ashore.
Not far away, a Curly-Horned Girl, tied to a stake, was crying for help as she struggled in the flames.
Then, the long-haired woman waved her smoking gun, and in an instant, all the cannons on the ship roared at once, firelight sweeping across the land, blowing up all the Black Robed Cultists on shore—sending them wailing and screaming, torn to pieces.
The woman then rushed into the fire, hugging the Curly-Horned Girl and saving her from being burned.
Just then, reinforcements for the Black Robed Cultists arrived, and a Meteorite fell from the sky, smashing the woman’s ship.
The woman was gravely wounded in the ensuing battle.
Wounded, she carried the Curly-Horned Girl and escaped into this very tunnel.
They hid here for who knows how long—the Curly-Horned Girl’s hair grew as long as the woman’s.
At night, the woman went out to find food, returning to tend her wounds.
When it was cold, the two huddled together to sleep.
She taught the Curly-Horned Girl many things; even now, their drawings of Squid remained on the wall.
“What are you dawdling for? Hurry up.” Wu Yi called back.
“Oh, oh!” The crewman hurried to catch up.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced again at the wall, and from this point on, the artwork suddenly improved dramatically.
The figures became increasingly lifelike, exquisitely drawn.
Countless years must have passed—the Curly-Horned Girl had grown into a graceful young woman.
The other figure was gone, but the girl still often returned to the tunnel, venting her complaints in exaggerated comic style.
For example, a Bearded Man was drawn as a mangy dog with a halo over his head.
“Pfft—”
The crewman recognized him. Wasn’t that the Seeking-God Faction’s leader, Vagang? He’d just seen his portrait on the street.
And this Curly-Horned Girl…
She looked exactly like the Self-God Faction’s leader, Darlina!
Goodness, what kind of place was this?
Realizing he’d stumbled on something extraordinary, the crewman grew nervous.
“Where does this tunnel lead? We’re not going to get arrested, are we?”
“Of course not.” Wu Yi seemed very familiar with the tunnel, walking on ahead without hesitation.
“I’m getting a little scared. Maybe I should go back.”
But it was too late for regrets.
Ahead, a light shone from the exit.
And the sharp shout of a Guard rang out.
“Who goes there!”
The Guard drew his blade with a ringing sound.