Chapter 2: The Saintess’s Vigil and Wang Xiaole’s Predicament

“I’m in the Empire, just left the Guild, and now I’m heading to the Church.”

This statement perfectly encapsulated Wang Xiaole’s current situation.

On the very first day of her transmigration, she was confronted with a stark reality:

She was broke! More precisely, she possessed none of the local currency of this world.

No money meant finding work. So, Wang Xiaole began her search for establishments offering employment.

The troubling truth was that, in the nation of Dibilese, she was essentially an undocumented resident.

Consequently, not only was Wang Xiaole barred from staying in inns, but her ability to secure any kind of job was severely hampered.

Yet, there was a silver lining. Her greatest asset now, since her transformation into a girl, was her peerless beauty. Her looks were her ultimate trump card!

Of the five shops she had visited, every single one was willing to take her in.

However, the way each boss looked at her sent shivers down Wang Xiaole’s spine.

She had never imagined that women could be so terrifying.

‘If I stayed to work here, I would surely lose something…’

‘When first heard, one doesn’t grasp the song’s meaning; by the second listen, one has become the person in the song.’

‘If only I knew girls could also be victims of such crimes.’

Wang Xiaole shivered, recalling a certain ‘educational’ film she had once seen. Every employer she had encountered since starting her job hunt, regardless of gender, warranted extreme caution.

At the sixth shop, she met a straightforward proprietress. The woman was an auntie nearing fifty, giving off the impression that in a few more years, she would exude pure benevolence.

“Don’t worry, my little beauty, Auntie will treat you very well~”

The beaming auntie spoke, and with no third person present, her hand began to slowly ascend from Wang Xiaole’s palm to her shoulder…

“Auntie, no!”

Her body reacted before her mind could process the situation. Wang Xiaole, with a single hand, threw the lecherous woman to the ground and fled the shop before the proprietress could cry for help.

Why did she run? Because if law enforcement arrived, she, a suspicious individual with no registered identity and possibly an illegal immigrant, would be invited for “tea” in a dark room!

Should she fight the enforcers too? Unnecessary. Those people were merely doing their duty according to the law; they hadn’t done anything wrong.

Having always lacked experience in bullying others, Wang Xiaole, even after gaining formidable strength, was still determined to be a law-abiding citizen whenever possible. Though, strictly speaking, she wasn’t even a citizen.

****

After her sixth failed interview, Wang Xiaole turned her attention to the Adventurer’s Guild. Unlike other places of employment, it didn’t require proof of identity.

Unfortunately, before the Guild would accept Wang Xiaole, they required her to pay a deposit. This arrangement was made with the understanding that if she were to vanish without a trace during a mission, causing its failure, the Guild could at least mitigate its losses with the pre-paid deposit.

And so, she was back to square one: Wang Xiaole was looking for work precisely because she had no money. If she could easily pay the deposit, she wouldn’t be here in the first place!

At her wits’ end, Wang Xiaole received a flyer clearly stating, “Church Hiring.”

Upon comparison, Wang Xiaole quickly realized that the Church had the lowest barrier to entry for employment! As long as one wasn’t on a wanted list and possessed the ability to work, they could apply to the Church regardless of whether they had an official residence permit.

In Wang Xiaole’s personal opinion, she harbored no good impressions of the Church. She herself had never visited one, but this hadn’t prevented her, prior to her transmigration, from forming a terrible impression of churches based on certain web novels she had read.

‘I have no better choice; if I don’t work, I won’t even have a place to stay tonight…’

It was the pressure of “survival” that compelled Wang Xiaole to move forward. After all, it was already nightfall!

‘Will I become a test subject for magical research? Or be tragically brainwashed, turning into a soulless automaton?’ Wang Xiaole’s imagination never ceased to conjure up dire scenarios on her journey.

Let’s just say that suicide squad members embarking on a fatal mission, or condemned prisoners walking to the guillotine, did not feel as heavy-hearted as she did at this moment.

****

At the very same time.

This evening, she was here.

Within the solemn cathedral, her figure appeared, her graceful, swaying steps treading upon expensive flagstones as she moved along the lengthy corridor. Tonight, there would be no unwelcome disturbances; she had warned the others in the cathedral not to approach at this hour, and so far, no one had dared to challenge her boundaries. This was good.

The holy statue stood before her, carved in the likeness of the main deity. As if the true god stood before her, the young woman couldn’t help but reach out, her fingernails leaving winding scratches on the stone surface.

How ridiculous, how detestable, how utterly abhorrent it was to her.

The young woman did not favor such sculptures. She believed humanity only needed one kind of statue: the face that frequently surfaced in her mind.

She gripped the iris pendant at her neck, as if she were touching *her* skin. The person the young woman constantly yearned for was her faith, her totem, her love!

Of the myriad forms of love in the world, hers was particularly unique, best described as “devotional love.” The young woman was obsessively devoted to that esteemed person, regarding her as her sole belief, and within this devotion lay an unparalleled affection.

It transcended mere worship, ordinary affection, and romantic love. In her heart, that person was her everything, greater and more magnificent than the heavens themselves.

“Only you are my one true god…” She caressed the pendant held in her palm.

Devout in her love, the young woman mourned—for those who had passed, and for those who lived now—as if her very existence was solely for reunion.

Ever since the day she was parted by death from that esteemed person, the young woman had been searching for her, traversing every corner of the world.

The living may pass, and the passed may live again, in an endless cycle, called “reincarnation.” This world indeed recognized the existence of “souls”!

Upon the decline of life, the soul would detach from the body, abandoning the gradually cooling flesh to journey to a fixed destination. There, the soul would shed all memories and meaning of its current life, entering the cycle of reincarnation to begin anew. Perhaps ten years, perhaps a hundred, or even a thousand.

No matter how much time passed, the young woman waited, and she would continue to wait.

“Even the ants on the ground can greet a new life; you cannot possibly be without a chance.”

This was not a prayer; the young woman genuinely believed it. In the past, she had no proof, but today, she had caught an extraordinary sense of familiarity—the aura of someone she knew.

In this world, powerful individuals, whose strength surpassed that of ordinary people, could track targets through their aura. Previously, the young woman had not been strong enough, so even if the object of her search was nearby, she couldn’t detect her. But now, it was different!

Even if her eyes couldn’t see and her ears couldn’t hear, the young woman knew she wasn’t mistaken. It was indeed the person she had been searching for!

Surprises always arrived unexpectedly. At this sudden discovery, the young woman’s eyes welled up, and her clasped hands tightened even more forcefully.

In that moment, her god had returned! All that mattered was their reunion. No matter what form she had taken, the young woman would accept her.

This was a wait that spanned distant ages, and now her arduous efforts were finally bearing fruit; her dedication was about to yield a result.

“I feel it. She’s not far… She’s right here, in this city, in a place I can reach!”

The young woman would go to greet her, and it mattered not if their reunion was unintentional, appearing merely as an everyday encounter.

From this moment onward, an unmistakable joy bloomed across the face of the Saintess!