Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 102: Massive Scapegoat

The people at the headquarters of the main church were completely flabbergasted.

It made sense that the clans that had children in the White Cloud Prefecture had come together to seek justice, but why was it that the clans of those that had been sent to places like the White Apple Prefecture, the White Elephant Prefecture, and the White Mist Prefecture were also joining in Hai Wuliang's condemnation?

Up to this point, the total death tally had reached over four thousand. Surely Hai Wuliang hadn't killed all of them! That was impossible!

Anyone with any capacity for rational thought would come to the realization that even if Hai Wuliang had truly gone insane, there was no way he could've been responsible for so many deaths in such a short time.

However, the enraged masses refused to listen to reason.

Anyone who dared to even suggest that Hai Wuliang could be innocent was immediately subjected to a wave of hostility.

If Hai Wuliang didn't do it, then how did my son die? Even if he was killed by the Hall of Protectionists, Hai Wuliang had to have reported him!

In a matter of days, Hai Wuliang had earned himself a putrid reputation in the main church.

Ever since the founding of the Church of the Self-Righteous, no one's reputation had ever been as foul as Hai Wuliang's, and it was nothing short of a miracle!

Finally, the headquarters released a brief public statement: "The deputy popes are looking into this matter. Please go home for now and await further news."

"We're not going anywhere! We're waiting right here!"

Someone suddenly erupted into tears over their deceased son, and their grief was contagious. Before long, thousands of people were bawling at the top of their lungs, and the situation was quickly spiraling out of control.

In the end, Yan Nan had to personally arrive on the scene, projecting his voice to the grieving masses as he said in an authoritative manner, "I'm already looking into the matter, so all of you can go home to await further updates! Don't make me repeat myself again!"

Only then did everyone reluctantly depart, but the incident was far from over.

***

Meanwhile, Hai Wuliang suddenly received an urgent string of messages on his communication jade.

It was an astonishing number of messages, and there were still more flowing in by the second!

He hurriedly pulled out his communication jade to discover that he had been messaged by almost all of his contacts at once, and some of them were asking him what had happened, while the rest were all sending him insults and death threats!

Hai Wuliang was dumbstruck and horrified!

What's going on? What did I do?

A message had already arrived from the southeastern headquarters: "The Night Demon Church is to temporarily cease all operations and await reform! Pope Hai Wuliang of the Night Demon Church must immediately travel to the southeastern headquarters for questioning!"

Hai Wuliang was stunned.

What the hell is going on?!

He hurriedly began sending inquisitive messages to his backer in the main church, only to be completely ignored.

He switched to someone else, and only on the eighth person that he messaged did he receive a response.

"What do you mean what's going on? You've been exposed!"

"Exposed for what?!"

"For what?! Are you telling me that there are multiple reprehensible things that you've done?!"

Hai Wuliang was utterly perplexed.

No shit! I'm the pope of the Night Demon Church, of course I'm constantly getting up to no good! I've been screwing over the other subsidiary churches and factions of the southeastern path in secret for years, and I've been killing Protectionists every day as well! What exactly am I being held reprehensible for?!

"Please enlighten me, Uncle-master."

Given the current situation, Hai Wuliang didn't dare to go to the southeastern headquarters at all! He had a feeling that if he dared to go, then it would be his final resting place!

He had to figure out what was going on first.

"You sent people to attack the One Heart Church branch helm, did you not?"

"I did, but that's normal, isn't it?"

"Normal? Do you know how many people from the main church died during the attack?"

"If we count the casualties from my side as well, then there were around twenty-five casualties from the main church."

"Twenty-five?! You're beyond saving, Hai Wuliang! I can't believe you're lying even to me!"

"But I'm telling the truth, Uncle-master! I would never lie to you! Is this really such a big deal? There are people dying all the time in conflicts between the churches, why is this being taken so seriously?"

"You killed people from over a thousand clans of the main church, then come playing dumb to me! Don't call me uncle-master anymore! You're on your own now!"

"Over a thousand?! That's absurd!"

"Cut the act already! You're not fooling anyone!"

"I'm not acting, Uncle-master! I truly have no idea what's going on! You have to help me! Even if I have to die, I need to know why I'm being made to die!"

"Do you really not know what's happening?"

"I don't! I swear in the name of the Heavenly Centipede Deity!"

"In that case, you're in massive trouble."

The uncle-master on the other end gave Hai Wuliang a recount of recent events, then concluded: "I'm afraid you may be beyond saving, Hai Wuliang."

Hai Wuliang was completely shell-shocked by what he had just heard.

He stood rooted to the spot, his mind completely blank.

Only after several minutes of stunned silence did he abruptly erupt into a rage.

"Yin Shengong! Is this what you wanted?!"

He felt so enraged and indignant that tears began flowing from his eyes.

He knew that he was well and truly screwed.

Given the collective outrage against him, no one would be able to save him.

He had fought for over a thousand years to become the pope of the Night Demon Church, and with just a single misstep, it was all gone!

He began trembling as he turned to look at the Night Demon Church headquarters.

Several centuries of hard work, all gone.

He pulled out his communication jade with a trembling hand, then sent Yin Shengong a message: "You won, Yin Shengong! I hope you're happy!"

At this point, Yin Shengong had already heard the news through his sources in the main church, and even he was astonished by just how rapidly the matter had escalated.

Is this really it for Hai Wuliang? All it took was a report from me? If I knew this would happen, I would've reported him long ago!

After frantically messaging his contacts to find out exactly what had led to all of this, he discovered that the entire incident had been orchestrated by his disciple's branch helm!

In order to retaliate against Hai Wuliang, he had drawn upon all of the resources at his disposal, and somehow, he was able to rally almost all of the clans of the entire main church against Hai Wuliang!

In the blink of an eye, he had become the biggest scapegoat in the church's history!

At first glance, this seemed utterly incredible, but if one were to look at the entire sequence of events that had led up to this point, then it was perfectly understandable.

This was the result of the culmination of a torrential wave of resentment tracing all the way back to the Parasite Ascension Project.

So many of the main church's clans had lost direct lineal descendants to Night Demon, which meant that none of those clans would have anyone entering the main church's official system for progression for three years. That didn't sound like a big deal, but as a result of this, all of the clans of the deceased would fall behind the clans of those who had survived the ordeal.

This naturally created a sense of injustice and indignation among the clans of the deceased, and these clans were able to unite as one as they could all empathize with one another.

Together, they set out to recover what they had lost, and it was at their collective request that the decision-makers of the main church arranged what was essentially a second Parasite Ascension Project, sending all those people to the southeast to accumulate experience and earn accolades.

This decision had been met with approval from all clans, even those who hadn't lost any direct lineal descendants during the Parasite Ascension Project. After all, it benefitted them as well, so why would they oppose the idea? Thus, all of the clans were united in a common consensus, and it felt like a small victory for everyone.

Of course, casualties were bound to happen, and everyone had already accepted this outcome. In their eyes, it would already be a good outcome if more than 20% to 30% of everyone sent to the southeast could return alive.

Sure enough, the casualties quickly began to pile up, but everyone was already mentally prepared, and they had resigned themselves to grieving in silence.

However, things took a different turn in the White Cloud Prefecture.

Administrator Fang had killed many people, while Helmsmaster Starlight recruited many others.

With others actively reporting them, they were forced to retaliate, and their retaliatory reports resulted in many more casualties.

What they had done was bound to be revealed someday, and to further compound their woes, Administrator Fang proposed a collaboration with their escort agency, making them a positive role model for the entire prefecture.

Essentially, everyone had been backed into a corner, and even though Starlight had managed to come up with a plan to somewhat turn the tables, there was still a sword constantly hanging over their heads.

Right as everyone was bracing themselves for the day of reckoning, they received a gift from the heavens in the form of Hai Wuliang's attack.

The nineteen people that died during the attack made Hai Wuliang the perfect scapegoat for everyone, and the only way for Zhao Wushang and the others to save themselves was to condemn Hai Wuliang.

If they could successfully shift the blame to Hai Wuliang, then they would all be saved.