While the lump of concrete was still in midair, it had already unleashed a piercing, explosive screech.
The leading man's expression changed instantly.
If he insisted on killing the two children now, he would take the direct impact of that flying concrete.
—He would die!
With a furious roar, the man swung his long saber around and chopped down toward the incoming concrete, not forgetting to yell at the top of his lungs, "Kill those two kids!"
Some drew guns, others raised blades, but an afterimage struck first despite moving second, scooping both children into his embrace.
Ye Huan!
Gunfire erupted violently.
Sabers, daggers, shovels, crowbars, fists, and kicks rained down upon him all at once.
Ye Huan blocked several strikes, but feeling his qi-blood and strength depleting too quickly, he simply bit a metal button off one child's collar, channeled his inner force, turned his head, and spat it out.
The cultist holding a machine gun had been spraying relentlessly, maintaining an intense rate of fire.
Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his hand. Unable to keep his grip, he threw himself into a roll in sheer terror.
With that roll, the suppressive machine-gun fire ceased.
Taking advantage of the opening, Ye Huan spun and whipped out a palm strike.
Smack!
Several In-Rank martial artists were hurled through the air at the same time.
Blood burst from their bodies and splattered across the ceiling, dyeing it crimson.
Dead!
Nine palms in an instant—Iron Hand Bars the River!
Not wanting to get bogged down, Ye Huan clutched the two children and rushed forward a few paces toward a gunman reloading his magazine, ramming into him head-on.
The man's neck snapped instantly, and he collapsed backward.
Ye Huan sent the corpse flying with a kick into the man who was picking up the machine gun again. Both rolled away together, only for Ye Huan to close the distance and deliver another kick, sending them crashing into the ceiling.
They were dead before they hit the floor.
In just a few seconds, total annihilation.
Only then did Ye Huan pant heavily.
This fight was different from the earlier ones. Before, he could fight however he pleased, but here he had to protect two hostages. Ye Huan had unleashed his full power in the shortest time possible!
Ring, ring, ring—
On the floor, the leader's phone was ringing.
Ye Huan checked the pulses on the two boys' necks first.
The children were still unconscious, but fortunately unharmed.
"Hello?"
Ye Huan stepped forward, grabbed the phone, and answered.
"It's me," a familiar female voice sounded from the receiver.
"Little Sister An Qi, long time no see. How do you have time to call me?" Ye Huan asked, feigning surprise.
"You're being so petty, brother. I only wanted Luosha dead, but you killed so many of my people," An Qi said in a huff.
"Who's Luosha?" Ye Huan asked curiously.
Silence fell on the other end.
When Ye Huan had told her not to kill Luosha before, she had deliberately played dumb with that exact question: "Who's Luosha?"
"Isn't she your friend?" An Qi said with a chuckle.
"She's my friend? Then... what does that have to do with you?" Ye Huan chuckled as well.
"Spare my people," An Qi said.
Ye Huan looked around.
The flames were devouring everything.
It was feeding.
"Sure, no problem," Ye Huan said.
"Listen closely. I know your martial arts are formidable, but there are truly powerful fighters in the cult. They're on an assignment outside the city. Once they get back, you're finished," An Qi said.
"When are they coming back?" Ye Huan asked.
"Stop prying into my business. And don't lay a finger on my people anymore. We're calling a temporary truce for now," An Qi said.
The flames—
They suddenly coalesced into a woman's head, hovering before Ye Huan.
"Where did those two little boys come from?" the woman's head asked.
"O Great Being, they are prime picks I selected from the orphanage. I hope you are pleased with them," An Qi answered immediately.
"Come, kill them and offer them to me," the woman's head urged impatiently.
This command was directed at Ye Huan.
Ye Huan glanced at the two unconscious boys, and everything clicked.
This was a trap An Qi had set.
Luosha had grown up in an orphanage, and the first thing she did upon getting money was aid orphans.
If he killed two orphans, how would Luosha view him afterward?
An Qi had abducted these two children on purpose.
She was no fool. She might have started planning this the moment he wiped out the cultists at the wastewater treatment plant!
She had engineered this exact dilemma!
How was he supposed to choose?
Either defy the Great Being's will and die right here, or break ties with Luosha completely!
What a vicious scheme.
"I said kill them. Hurry!" the woman's head urged.
Ye Huan was silent for a moment, then spoke up: "Apologies, but these two cannot be killed."
From the phone, An Qi's laughter burst out. "O Great Being, do you see now? He isn't serving you loyally! He only kills our cult's members—he's an investigator!"
Checkmate.
A dead end.
Listening to her laughter, Ye Huan felt an inexplicable wave of grief swell within his body, nearly moving him to tears. His head buzzed, and illusions danced before his eyes.
...What?
Could this situation be triggering such a powerful reaction within him?
A scene suddenly flashed across his mind.
A cerulean sky.
He was holding An Qi on a balcony.
Back then, he had agreed to something, and An Qi had laughed out loud before gently touching her lips to his cheek.
At that time, the weather was gentle, the sun warm, and spring flowers were in full bloom. The girl in white had a slender waist, nestling in his embrace as she murmured softly.
Yet now, separated by mountains of corpses and hundreds of wailing souls, each wished nothing more than to see the other dead.
Emotions surged by pure instinct.
Ye Huan closed his eyes for a second and hung up the phone.
An Qi's voice cut off abruptly.
Calm down.
That was the original host.
Not me.
Say it again—that wasn't me!
Though many questions remained, one thing was certain beyond doubt.
Even if the original host wasn't a member of the Black Tide Cult, he had been exceptionally close to it.
That was why the moment he used the Ritual Fire to eliminate the three assassins, this Great Being had sensed it and granted him a pact.
This Great Being must have known Ye Huan long ago!
It knew Ye Huan inside and out, which was why it let the "resurrected" him clash against An Qi!
When facing external pressure, an organization would unite against outsiders. But when it came to internal friction, the boss would never execute two of its own subordinates right off the bat!
Reality had proven this point as well.
It was pleased to watch him and An Qi "compete"!
As for the relationship between the original host and An Qi—
Quick.
Hurry and remember, think faster.
What were we talking about back then?
In that memory, what did the original host say that made her laugh out loud like that?
His head ached terribly, as if a nail were being driven deep into his brain.
Yet enduring the agony, words finally echoed in his ears:
"I will save you from the Black Tide Cult, An Qi..."
That was what the original host had said.
She had listened in silence.
Lifting her hand, she placed it over his heart.
Her eyes were as dark and bottomless as an abyss. Smiling, she leaned close.
He had let her hand rest over his heart and held her tight.
Childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable.
"I'm under too much pressure... Ye Huan, I have to become a Cardinal to break free of their control. You must help me..."
And then, what did the original host say?
It was that very sentence that had made An Qi laugh so openly.
"I'll help you," the original host had said.
Her hand had immediately left his chest, and then she had planted a gentle peck on his cheek.
That was all.
Only this single scene.
Three lines of dialogue.
There was no time to recall more, nor could he dredge up any further memories of the past.
Ye Huan snapped his eyes open, his gaze as cold as a frozen pool. All the previous emotions and memories vanished without a trace.
Just then, the woman's head spoke:
"You have only one last chance to explain yourself."
Ye Huan smiled, crushed the phone to pieces, and surveyed his surroundings.
There were no corpses or souls left on the ground.
They had all been consumed.
Song Fushan had said demons needed one of three mediums to descend: a pact, a token, or a servant.
Now, there were no servants left.
The corpses were the "tokens," and they were already gone.
As for the pact, he could sacrifice the Ritual Fire at any moment.
Therefore, if this talk fell apart, it truly would be their last conversation.
The moment negotiations failed, he would immediately sacrifice the Ritual Fire and flee back to the Bureau of Investigation.
To be honest, though, he really didn't want An Qi to win just like that.
Was there any way...
"I am an investigator," Ye Huan said.
His mind raced as words tumbled swiftly from his lips: "I am racking up merits. Perhaps soon, I will bring true transformation to the Black Tide Cult, allowing it to escape its current awkward predicament."
This tied right back to what he had said at the wastewater treatment plant.
He had spared no effort to remind this "boss" that his position was extremely sensitive.
"What predicament could the cult possibly be in? Don't assume I don't pay attention to the cult. I have the entire situation in the palm of my hand," the woman's head sneered.
Ye Huan suddenly couldn't help but laugh out loud.
So that was how it was!
The reason the woman's head had welcomed the original host's involvement, made him a ritual executor, and didn't even mind when he lost the Ritual Fire once was that the original host had wanted to rescue An Qi from the Black Tide Cult.
The woman's head relished watching the original host plunge into darkness of his own accord. It took immense pleasure in watching this youth, who so desperately wanted to walk in the light, fall step by step into an irredeemable abyss.
This was its twisted amusement, as well as a demonstration of its power.
"What are you laughing at?" the woman's head barked.
Its flames hovered just a short distance before Ye Huan; a single pounce would be enough to kill him.
Yet Ye Huan remained perfectly calm.
"I'm laughing at how An Qi lets her emotions govern her actions," he said. "Mobilizing so many resources just to deal with me and cut off my path is purely juvenile. It brings no benefit to the cult, nor does it generate any profit. In truth, she is just a little hoodlum raised in the mining district. If I hadn't helped her, how could she have achieved anything or climbed to such high rank step by step?"
The woman's head listened quietly, sizing Ye Huan up.
Ye Huan shook his head and kept smiling.
He had to shift the demon's mindset now.
*You can't just sit back and watch a show anymore.*
*You must look at your own gains and interests.*
Ye Huan spread his hands and continued, "Don't you think An Qi has done an utterly abysmal job? In human society, the Black Tide Cult can only skulk around, hunted down by the authorities, fleeing everywhere like rats. The sacrifices offered to you are both scarce and shoddy. As you mentioned before, it took her this long just to sacrifice three hundred people to earn the position of Cardinal. Can such results truly satisfy you?"
Ye Huan paused, then delivered the clincher:
"You don't need her. I can do much better."
The woman's head stared blankly, a look of recollection surfacing as it said, "In that alley, you expressed this exact stance."
"In that alley, I produced one hundred and twenty-eight souls—and that was merely my contribution from a single ritual," Ye Huan said. "Today, up to this point, I am still running up the numbers. At this rate, I will catch up to An Qi before long. Meanwhile, her previous achievements were accomplished only with my help."
The woman's head fell silent.
These were undeniable facts.
Ye Huan took a step forward, facing the flames capable of burning souls, letting their light illuminate his eyes so the entity could witness the unshakeable conviction within them.
"She hates me because she knows she is nothing more than a puppet, forever incapable of matching my talent. She is trying to use your hand to ruin my future and take my life because she is terrified."
"What is she terrified of?" the woman's head asked.
Ye Huan offered a gentle smile and opened his arms wide, as if about to embrace the fire.
"Let me speak plainly—in truth, I am your Cardinal."
Chapter 35