First, there was a CLICK, then a BANG!
A metallic rain burst forth from the gun barrel, instantly sending the old woman flying into the wall. Instantly, she sprayed copious amounts of blood, as if her body were a sieve.
But Liu DongLi's actions were relentless. His hand worked the bolt of the gun, loading a special round designed for Sublimators into the chamber.
Then, he pressed forward and pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The old woman, her face mangled beyond recognition, almost a mere lump of flesh after the close-range shots, slid down the wall. Her limbs twitched as if she were still struggling. Incredibly, even after taking two rounds to the face at such close range, she was still alive!
But not for much longer.
Liu DongLi cracked open the gunstock, fished two bullets from his pocket, loaded them, and fired two more shots, then another two.
He continued until the barrel burned red-hot.
The lump of flesh on the ground finally stopped moving for good.
Only her steel-shredded face still retained an expression of unfaded ferocity and panic.
Liu DongLi didn't have time to catch his breath. He turned and walked towards the two men entangled in the fight, swinging the hot barrel and cracking King Ocean on the back of the head with the gunstock.
The old man's eyes rolled back, and he fainted, leaving Huai Shi still lying on the ground gasping for air, tears and snot still streaking his face.
In that instant, Huai Shi saw Liu DongLi's eyes… His pupils had inexplicably become double pupils!
Fifty seconds passed.
The battle was over.
Lao Tang Lockdown Countdown: 2:40
"Take this and get moving. We have to at least get out of the church…"
Liu DongLi picked up his pistol from the ground and tossed it to Huai Shi, along with a magazine. Then he turned, grabbed the box, and hastened their retreat.
Huai Shi climbed up from the ground, gasping heavily, and staggered after him.
Then he saw the box tucked under Liu DongLi's arm.
That box, that familiar box… He'd seen it again. It was definitely the same box he had found; Huai Shi was sure of it. And it should have been his… Yes, it should have been his. Did Liu DongLi really think that taking his things would settle everything?
Enraged, he raised the pistol in his hand, aimed at Liu DongLi's back, and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The gunshot faded. Blood sprayed out.
Liu DongLi's body jolted violently and fell to the ground. He turned his head stiffly, looking back in disbelief at the young man behind him… at that distorted, vacant face.
After firing the gun, Huai Shi also froze, staring blankly down at the smoking barrel in his hand.
What's going on? What did I do? Why did I try to take that box? And why am I here? Didn't I feel the threat of death the moment I entered this place? Haven't I repeatedly felt the ever-thickening shadow of death? Why did I come to the church? Why did I shoot Old Liu? And what exactly am I doing?
In an instant, his thoughts tangled into a mess. An intense wave of nausea followed. His stomach churned, and he bent over abruptly, vomiting.
Then, he felt something being expelled from him.
It landed amidst the filth on the ground.
It appeared to be a living, writhing… goldfish?
Goldfish? Again with the goldfish? The person who just brushed past me seemed to have goldfish in their eyes too. And earlier, at the very beginning… that corpse, before dying, had also vomited… a goldfish?
"So, this is the stress response period? Not even six hours, and already a rejection reaction," a raspy, unfamiliar voice sighed from behind him. "Even second-generation goldfish can resist it; no wonder the initial Third Generation Goldfish couldn't establish parasitism. Such bad luck. Otherwise, the box would have been ours long ago. Why would we need all this trouble now?"
With that husky sigh, the air slowly distorted. A gaunt figure emerged from thin air, revealing a dark windbreaker and a cold, indifferent face.
He wore a pair of blood-red gloves and held a fish tank in his right hand.
Inside the small fish tank, several slender goldfish fry swam slowly.
…Green Day?
Amidst the blood, Liu DongLi saw the green circular emblem on the back of the man's hand and finally understood. He struggled to lift his gun. "Huai Shi, run…"
Red Gloves looked down at him, shaking his head pitifully. "You can't even fend for yourself, let alone others."
The chill of death suddenly flared.
Then, gunshots rang out from behind Huai Shi.
BANG! Then another BANG!
One shot finished off Liu DongLi, and the other was for Huai Shi himself.
Liu DongLi convulsed once and then fell silent.
Huai Shi stiffly looked down to see blood blooming on his chest and a gaping hole, as if his back had been struck by a sledgehammer.
It hurt like hell.
He knelt, crying out uncontrollably.
But when he turned and saw the person who had fired, his hoarse cry of pain froze in his throat.
…Old Yang?
The hunched man with an empty expression looked up at him. His usually cunningly smiling face still seemed to retain traces of that smile.
Behind his eyes, a goldfish swam about joyfully.
As if in its own fish tank.
As Huai Shi watched in stunned silence, Old Yang bent down, picked up the box, stepped through the blood, and stood behind the man in the windbreaker, awaiting orders.
"Go lock the main entrance as well. Then prepare the ritual. We've waited so long; it must yield something of value."
The stranger commanded. Old Yang turned and left, without even a backward glance at Huai Shi.
"Were you acquaintances?"
The stranger glanced down at Huai Shi and chuckled mockingly. "He had taken on large debts for others and could only offer himself to settle them. Don't blame him, and don't blame me… If you must blame someone, blame your own bad luck."
…
In his daze and confusion, Huai Shi suddenly understood something. Although a furious rage threatened to drive him mad, he couldn't help but want to laugh.
He wanted to laugh, mocking himself for struggling so long like an insect caught in a web.
Everything had been predetermined.
From the very beginning.
From the moment he received Old Yang's call and joyfully carried his instrument case to the Cowherd Club for an interview, he had already stepped onto the path of death. He would arrive at the designated place. Then, when leaving, he would furiously call Old Yang to report his location and information. Finally, he would take the shortcut home, where he'd encounter a corpse, a box, and a goldfish in an alley… That goldfish should have been swimming happily inside his head. He had miraculously escaped disaster once, only to be dragged back onto the original track by the hand behind the scenes, to meet his predestined end. Just as this person said, his luck seemed to have never been good. He was always inexplicably encountering inexplicable situations. His messy life only got messier—poorer, more miserable, more despondent. And now… he had finally blundered into a dead end like a headless fly. Meeting his end.
"Damn it, why?!"
Huai Shi could no longer suppress his intense pain. He vomited blood, tears and snot flowing shamelessly. "All I wanted was to live a good life! To earn some money, live a little better, find a decent job—even if it meant slaving away, I wouldn't have minded! To marry someone I liked, have a home that wouldn't reject me… Is that so wrong?! Why?! Why the hell can't you monsters just leave me alone?"
The man in red gloves fell silent.
After a long while, he sighed softly.
"For a better world, there are many things we are powerless to change." He took a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at the boy's face. "I'm sorry. Your sacrifice is for a greater value."
He pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The bullet was deflected.
By a faintly visible film of light.
Red Gloves froze.
"Desperate Times Blessing?" he exclaimed in astonishment, looking at the weak glow now enveloping the young man. "That woman actually gave you her life-saving charm? Are you really her old flame?"
This was an emergency aegis granted by the Astronomical Society to each of its supervisory officers, a literal life-saving charm. It would activate automatically upon encountering a fatal attack, preserving the user's life in the worst situations while they awaited rescue…
For three minutes, it was an almost impenetrable barrier, unless forcibly breached by an attack at the level of a Fourth Stage Stigma or higher.
"Forget it."
He holstered his pistol, giving Huai Shi's chest a mocking glance. Even if he didn't deliver a finishing blow, this guy would bleed out.
Time was precious. He was on the verge of success and had no more time to waste on Huai Shi.
He turned and walked towards the auditorium.
The plan had taken a turn that was completely beyond his expectations. Though his action against the Savior Association had been impulsive, sparked by the sight of the box, it had still undergone meticulous planning. To avoid alerting the group of Lords backing King Ocean and triggering their vigilance and detection, he had to start with ordinary people. He manipulated an internal conflict using the power of his Soul—Sneering Fish Tank—and had Old Yang arrange the final transfer using the completely unrelated Huai Shi. He hadn't anticipated that Huai Shi would turn out to be a hidden stress-period candidate for Sublimation. Huai Shi was resistant to the Third Generation Goldfish fry derived from hosts, leading to a total failure of the parasitism and derailing the plan completely. Fortunately, he had successfully concealed himself behind the scenes. Also, due to the immense pressure from the Astronomical Society, The Purified People backing King Ocean hadn't sniffed out anything unusual. Those lunatics, whose minds were solely occupied by their Savior, were utterly devoid of reason. However, since he couldn't complete the plan covertly, he had to change tactics. For him, as long as the final outcome wasn't compromised, the process hardly mattered. Since he had already attracted the Astronomical Society's attention… why not make an even bigger scene!
He kicked open the door, fired two shots randomly, killing an old man who tried to pounce, then strode through the screaming, chaotic crowd to the podium.
The front and back doors were already sealed.
He didn't know how much time remained, but it was enough to complete the final Descent.
Only… Using the Rebirth Cauldron to make drugs? Have The Purified People allowed their god to eat the brains of their own subordinates too?
He looked down at the box placed before him, unable to suppress a sneer.
This container-type relic, unearthed from the seventh depth of the Hell Relics, was the finest vessel for Source Substance. It could easily convert a Fanatic's frenzied Source Substance into material form. Yet, King Ocean himself was likely unaware of what he truly possessed. The sacrifices weren't just the Believers he had deceived; he himself was part of it. As long as there was sufficient Source Substance within, the box was an embryo capable of birthing an ancient spirit into the Current Circumstances! Once the Ranch Owner's Envoy descended through it, all living beings in sight would likely become its meal. Not that what he himself intended to do was much better. Might as well recycle the waste.
He glanced at the Believers, continuously harvested for their Source Substance, then opened the box and took a test tube from his coat.
Under the dim light of the church, he examined the flesh and blood within.
"Let's begin," he murmured softly. "To lay an insignificant cornerstone for our great undertaking."