Chapter 163 Savior

Chapter 163 Savior

Savior.

A word too vast and heavy with divinity.

Charles couldn't connect this word with Xavier. Though Xavier's appearance was indeed somewhat deceptive, the weight of the word 'Savior' was simply too great—it seemed nearly impossible to link the two.

Probably because Charles's expression was so strange, Logan, after a burst of laughter, explained again, "Savior is a profession. In this world, very few people can stay long-term."

"But there's a considerable number who can reach this world and accidentally overstay. Whenever that happens, Xavier and others step in, sending these folks who don't know the rules to the exit, saving their lives."

As Logan said this last sentence, the smile on his face gradually faded, even his eyes becoming dim and lifeless.

Watching this change, Charles suddenly had a theory.

His voice was hesitant yet certain. "Mr. Wolf, you were also a Savior before, weren't you?"

Logan didn't answer. He lowered his head slightly, hooking his finger on the edge of his eyepatch and tugging. The elastic eyepatch snapped back with a sound.

Even without hearing an answer, it didn't affect Charles's understanding of the truth.

Guessing this wasn't a pleasant memory for Logan, Charles didn't press further.

About an hour later, Xavier returned.

"Damn it all." He started complaining the moment he walked in. It was freezing outside, and as soon as he entered, he began rubbing his hands together, as if thoroughly tortured by the weather. But his words weren't about the weather at all. "I've never seen a trial participant like this."

Realizing he might be talking about Juno, Charles immediately looked over.

"What happened, Mr. Black?"

Xavier sat down at the table and took the water Charles handed him. He gulped it down before beginning to recount what he'd just experienced.

"You know, I just took Juno out." He spoke, then suddenly clapped his hands, full of helplessness. "And guess what? That woman woke up at the exit and said she wanted to stay inside? She's got a death wish."

Charles wasn't surprised. From his first encounter with Juno, he'd realized she wasn't ordinary.

"Still wants to stay inside?" Logan, listening from the side, couldn't help shaking his head. He held a piece of bread that was dry and hard, difficult to tear. "What? Is she treating this place like her suicide spot?"

Charles looked over at that.

He felt Logan's assessment wasn't quite right. However, Xavier snorted with laughter. "That kind of thing—encountering it even once is rare. How could we run into it again?"

By that tone, they really had encountered it before.

But Charles wasn't interested in such matters. After all, dying here meant dying in the real world. From that perspective, it would indeed attract some people with suicidal tendencies to deliberately overstay or seek death.

But Charles didn't think Juno would do that.

When Juno talked about anomalies, her eyes sparkled with light. Setting aside how her life was in the real world, just from her passion for anomalies, she couldn't possibly willingly give up her life.

Unless... her love for anomalies had reached an unprecedented level, to the point where she actively wanted to become one.

But clearly, Juno hadn't reached that level of madness. After all, just a day ago, she'd been wary of Logan and Xavier, precisely because she wanted to keep living.

Though he'd thought a lot about it, Charles couldn't confirm exactly why Juno wanted to stay in the Main World. According to Xavier, Juno probably wouldn't return to the Main World for quite some time.

Her mental state was too poor, and with the mental world's rules, Juno's next entry into the Main World would likely be in half a month or even a month.

The small episode with Juno quickly passed.

Charles took Xavier's carriage to the preliminary assessment venue the next day.

The preliminary assessment was held once every year.

This year was measured in mental world time, not real world time.

Actually, no one really knew the exact duration, because even permanent Main World residents had to leave after about a month or a month and a half to rest in the real world for a while.

Therefore, no one knew the precise interval of the preliminary assessment—it was just roughly calculated by the permanent residents.

The venue was in the depths of District Two.

The carriage drove down a long gravel road, the wheels rolling over the uneven stones with sounds like elongated ancient bell tolls counting in the void.

Logan was also in the carriage. He lowered his head, looking out from the half-drawn curtain. Unknowingly, a layer of mist had risen outside the window.

Light blue mixed with pale green fog made the surrounding buildings appear even more blurred and eerie. The originally clear lines of wall corners were softened into hazy silhouettes. Orange-yellow or cold white lights shone through layers of mist, like the eyes of anomalies.

The deeper they went, the thicker the fog became. Even the ambient sounds around them vanished instantly, leaving only the constant sound of wheels crushing stones on the road.

The wheel tracks rolled over stones. Occasionally, stones that protruded too much or slightly piled gravel caused slight jolts to the carriage body and brief rolling sounds, particularly clear in the empty depths of District Two.

After traveling in this area for about thirty minutes, the carriage finally began to slow down.

Charles tilted his head down, looking out the window. Ahead, the sky remained misty, gradually revealing an enormous silhouette—the outline of a castle.

The carriage gradually drove onto the stone bridge above the castle's moat.

The castle's solid wood gate slowly opened.

A knight stood on each side, but these knights were different—they were excessively tall, nearly as high as the castle walls.

The carriage's entrance didn't draw the knights' attention. They were only responsible for opening the gate and nothing else.

Entering another manor's interior, Charles felt somewhat nervous.

The ram's horn flute hanging at Logan's waist also began to stir restlessly.

Isis remained quiet—she didn't even respond to Charles's mental questions.

This scene was extraordinarily familiar. The last time facing Ophelia, Isis had been just as silent.

"It's in that castle." Xavier pointed at the main building in the distance.

But the carriage didn't head there. It stopped beneath a small tower beside the main building.