Title: A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse
Translator: Little Bamboo Spirit
Chapter 224 - Then I want the guy that's the tallest and most handsome! (2)
Jia Han paused and continued on, "However, since I was young enough to be held in my father's arms and not old enough to know how to speak, I've been looking at the painting of the saint. I believe the saint should like exactly like the portrait instead of Yawen's appearance."
Jia Han stared at Bei Nuan. "The saint should look like she's the water god's beloved daughter, pure, beautiful, and ethereal."
Bei Nuan was a bit embarrassed. This was really a world that judged people by their physical beauty.
Jia Han said, "You look like you walked right out of the painting tonight."
Bei Nuan thought; if she was Yawen. She would wrap a blanket around herself and put a monkey on her head. Wouldn't that be enough?"
Jia Han answered Bei Nuan's unspoken question, "Of course, Yawen knows what the saint looks like in the painting. She would dress up and have the same pose as the painting's every spring festival when she's praying for a good harvest. That part is easy enough, but it's difficult to find a monkey. She keeps a group of monkeys and tries to train them to obediently hold her head during the sacrificial ceremony."
Jia Han's tone was calm, but Bei Nuan could hear a slight mockery in his voice.
"It's a pity that after training the monkeys for a long time, she could only get one very old monkey to peacefully lie on her head during the sacrificial ceremony. It's clearly a young monkey in the painting. Yawen wasn't satisfied, but she didn't have other options. Unfortunately, that old monkey died last winter. Before Yawen could train a replacement monkey, the zombie virus broke out."
"And also, we never understood what those vertical lines on the painting meant," Jia Han said, "Yawen once had people hang up strips of gauzy material while she offered the sacrifices. She even had them hang branches that had just sprouted…"
Jia Han gave a rare smile.
"... It's only now that I understand. Those vertical lines are the metal bars of a cage. The torches on both sides of the saint are trees on fire. The blanket you're wearing is the blanket we drape over the altar. We had the blanket made according to the pattern in the painting." Jia Han glanced at Great Sage. "Did the holy monkey bring it to you?"
Bei Nuan: Holy monkey?
Great Sage: Ook?
Bei Nuan thought; this tribe's method of identifying the saint was too unreliable. The painting of the saint wasn't a secret. Plenty of people had seen it during ceremonies. A scheming person could easily create a fake saint. Find a girl, drape the blanket over her, and put a monkey on her head.
Just like what happened tonight to her. Create a scene that made it seem as if everything had happened by chance. Do enough tricks, and it was easy enough to trick the entire tribe to do that schemer's bidding.
However, Bei Nuan couldn't voice that thought.
Jia Han stared at Bei Nuan.
Jia Han suddenly changed the subject. "I already noticed you during the daytime. Were you the one that set all fires today? You were the one that lit the fires on the trees tonight, right?"
Bei Nuan felt uneasy. Their tribe worshiped water and despised fire. If they knew she had set those fires, they might think she was a demon pretending to be a saint and throw her into the Yanhe River.
However, Jia Han's expression remained gentle and calm.
He went on to say, "Our tribe actually has a way to identify the saint. It's a secret that's only passed down from one chief to the next. No one else knows, not even Yawen. My father thought that part of the prophecy was nonsense, but I've always believed it."
Jia Han glanced at the people behind them, and those people respectfully bowed and withdrew from the room.
Jia Han resumed speaking, "The prophecy says that the fire god is jealous that the saint is favored by the water god, so the fire god has cursed the saint. If the saint isn't careful, the things around her will catch fire, which will cause the believers of the water god to doubt her. That's why I didn't have any doubts that the true saint had appeared once I saw the sudden fires."
Bei Nuan: A fire ability was okay? She had thought the fire ability would bring disaster to her, but it turned out to be the ultimate proof that she was the saint. Could this be any more ridiculous?
Jia Han continued to say, "The fire god's curse can only be lifted by being recognized as a saint."
Bei Nuan froze for a moment before opening the taskbar. Sure enough, the timer on the God's Blessing had run out.
Bei Nuan was extremely happy and hastily touched her head to check. Nothing happened.
Jia Han had been observing Bei Nuan. Seeing that she looked pleasantly surprised, he smiled.
"Saint, is your accidental fire setting gone?"
His guess was correct.
The countdown for the ability had stopped at the perfect time, making it seem like the ancient prophecy was true.
However, Bei Nuan didn't speak.
This Jia Han kept drawing a line with Yawen. Could it be that he wasn't the person that Yawen was acting cutely spoiled with on the phone? But if he was, then he should have a relationship with Yawen. If that was the case, why didn't Yawen help at all? Why had he so smoothly recognized Bei Nuan as the saint? There was something odd about this.
"What will happen to Yawen if I become the tribe's saint?" Bei Nuan probingly asked.
Jia Han ruminated for a while, "I've never recognized Yawen as the saint. After my father died, I planned on removing her title of saint, but then the zombie outbreak happened."
Jia Han furrowed his brow. "At the time, Yawen had already been the saint for the past ten years. If such a big change was made during this time of panic, it would make everyone uneasy. Now that the real saint has appeared, we should send her away, but Yawen…"