Chapter 54 - Cyra's Past

Actually, when I first heard Cyra say she had a dream about becoming the Pope, I was a bit skeptical too. But she also mentioned that in the dream, she had reverted back to her former male appearance, so I didn't dwell on it further. After all, it was too absurd - how could the Pope possibly look like Cyra's previous male self?

But reality is indeed absurd! Looking at that "Cyrus" face before me, I couldn't help but want to comment again!

"Why do you look like that?" 

Okay, Nicola beat me to voicing that question. It seemed her doubts were no less than mine.

"And I remember the Pope's real name shouldn't be Cysper, right?"

The Pope's name can be found in public records. Since we were investigating him, we had obviously done our homework beforehand. I vaguely recalled it was something plain like Garrick.

"That question really puts me in a difficult spot...it's not like I can control how I look!" 

Cysper casually sat on the sofa and, upon hearing this, spread his hands in a somewhat helpless gesture as he replied.

"As for the name, if I need to move around the city privately, I'd obviously need an alias, right? Come to think of it, my real name was probably given to me by someone else too, so I actually prefer this alias name. You all can just call me Cysper."

"If my memory serves, you're already several thousand years old, right? Are you even human anymore?"

I asked suspiciously, staring at him intently. From his appearance, you couldn't tell at all! Back at the hotel lobby, we had already sensed that he was quite similar to the legends - his body seemed to be composed entirely of pure light elements, much like an angel's body. 

Of course, to ordinary people unable to perceive light elements, the Pope would just look like a normal human.

"As for the matter of my identity, I suggest you pay more attention to your companion first. It seems she's more sensitive to such things..."

Saying that, Cysper pointed at Cyra, who sat silently behind me.

"Didn't I just say? I'm not your 'Lord', you're mistaken! I'm merely the Lord's proxy in this world. Addressing me like that is really inappropriate. In fact, I'm quite apprehensive - what if the 'Lord' decides to punish me?"

These words were directed at Cyra. Since entering the room, Cyra had gradually calmed down, but remained fixated on her so-called "Lord", her eyes never leaving Cysper.

"I'm not mistaken! The Lord has manifested before, and I saw with my own eyes that he looked just like you back then! If you're saying you're not him, then what's going on? It can't be just a coincidence!" 

Cyra finally spoke up, but what she said only left me confused, as there seemed to be a big misunderstanding.

"Hang on, don't rush! Explain this slowly!" 

Nicola couldn't hold back anymore either as she turned to Cyra inquiringly.

"This 'Lord' you're referring to must be Yawee, right? When did he manifest? We've been with you this whole time and never saw it. It couldn't have happened in Edenmere, could it?"

Thinking back over the past half month or so, we had always been together with Cyra, familiar with her every move. If Yawee really did manifest, it could only have occurred before we arrived in Edenmere, but none of the other angels ever mentioned it!

"It wasn't in this world, it was on Earth before we traveled here! I saw the 'Lord' with my own eyes on Earth, otherwise I would have never joined the True Church!"

Cyra shook her head as she explained. 

"Earth..."

Surprisingly, when Cysper heard the word "Earth", he actually furrowed his brow in thought, appearing as if he was recalling something.

In theory, we probably shouldn't have brought up the topic of traveling between worlds in front of the Pope whose background we didn't fully understand yet. But given the Pope's enigmatic identity, and that Cyra's experience likely had some connection to him, Nicola and I didn't stop Cyra from continuing.

"You remember it, don't you? It seems you indeed still recall that place, because you've actually been there before!"

Noticing the change in the Pope's expression, Cyra became rather excited and kept questioning him.

"Unfortunately, I just find it a bit familiar, but that doesn't mean I remember ever going to that place! So why don't you continue with your story first?"

However, Cysper denied her claim.

"Yeah, it's better if you finish recounting your experience first, then we can all analyze it together. That's much better than you randomly recognizing a 'Lord' on your own, isn't it?"

I quickly chimed in to advise as well. To be honest, hearing that this happened on Earth only raised more questions in my mind. After all, Cyra hadn't transformed back then! Didn't that imply she had once encountered someone exactly like her former self? That seemed too incredible.

"It was something that happened back in college. You remember I mentioned to you before that I once had a girlfriend..."

Over the next half hour or so, we gradually came to understand the crux of the matter based on Cyra's account.

Cyrus. Although his mother was indeed a believer in God and he was influenced from a young age. But in today's society, it is very difficult for someone to spontaneously develop faith unless they have truly "seen God". Therefore, during high school, Cyrus was not a member of the True Church, nor did he believe in God at all.

When it came time for the college he managed to get into a prestigious university around the same level as mine, or even slightly better. It just wasn't in the same city, but rather a nearby one.

It was at this university that he met his girlfriend, Daisy Yea. 

Though not his first love, she was at least his first real girlfriend, and it was a mutual relationship, so their romance heated up extremely quickly. Soon it progressed to the point of discussing marriage after graduation. Of course, back then he was only a sophomore, so it was a bit early to bring that up, but it was enough to prove their feelings were very deep.

However, disaster struck in the second half of his sophomore year.

One night, as Daisy Yea was walking home from her part-time job off-campus, she encountered some thugs harassing a passing female student on the street. Unable to simply ignore it, her sense of justice compelled Daisy Yea to step forward and intervene, resulting in an altercation between the two sides.

Amidst the argument, one of the thugs shoved Daisy Yea with his palm, pushing her into the middle of the street. A truck just happened to be driving by at that moment, instantly killing Daisy Yea on the spot. A minor case of harassment suddenly turned into a fatal incident.

"But the police didn't care at all! They simply followed standard procedures for dealing with the truck driver, then announced to the public that it was a traffic accident caused by roughhousing between friends, and declared the case closed."

As Cyra softly recounted this part, her fists unconsciously clenched tight.

"One of those thugs was actually a student from our university named Liam Lin, the son of an official! Daisy Yea had never crossed paths with him, so how could it possibly be a traffic accident caused by roughhousing between friends?"

After investigating, Cyrus had tracked down the female student who was harassed multiple times, finally learning the truth - it was Liam Lin who had accidentally shoved Daisy Yea into the street!

Enraged, Cyrus went alone to confront Liam Lin and demand an explanation. Unsurprisingly, he ended up being beaten by Liam Lin and his gang. But the beating was not in vain, as Cyrus had secretly recorded their conversation as evidence, which he then uploaded to the internet...

This recording quickly went viral online, causing an uproar for a period of time. I vaguely recall seeing related discussions about it on the internet back then, since the incident took place at a university in a neighboring city. I just never imagined that one of the involved parties was actually my high school classmate Cyrus.

Soon, under pressure from public opinion, Liam Lin was finally expelled from Cyrus's university. To mitigate the disharmonious impact, he was even sentenced to five years in prison for negligent homicide at the time.

However, Liam Lin's father still wielded significant influence. As a high-ranking official, he virtually had the situation under control in both Cyrus's hometown (which was also my city) and the city where Cyrus attended university. Not helping his son initially was just waiting for the heat to die down. 

By Cyrus's junior year, not even a full year into Liam Lin's sentence, he was "released for medical parole" and returned home. At the same time, tragedy also befell Cyrus's family in another city.

Cyrus's old home was a small residential building located at the boundary of urban and rural areas. Due to demolition and reconstruction, they had already signed an agreement with the government. But right before the demolition, a notice suddenly arrived - Cyrus's home was declared an illegal construction that did not meet various procedural, documentation and size requirements stipulated. Therefore, all the previous agreement terms were nullified, and they could only receive thousands of bucks in compensation! Moreover, they were ordered to move out within three days.

At this point, Cyrus's father could no longer sit still and began inquiring everywhere about why this had happened. But all he received in response were sighs.

Finally, on the day of the forced demolition, Cyrus's father was accidentally struck and killed by an excavator for resisting it alone. In this situation, their family did not receive the compensation they were due. The government simply presented him and his mother with a document along with around thousands bucks, guaranteeing they would not pursue this incident further if they accepted this consolation money.