Inside the safe house.
A cell phone rang.
Luosha pulled it out and looked at the screen. After pausing for a few seconds, she pressed the answer button.
"Hello, Luosha."
"Greetings, Cardinal."
"Ye Huan is truly something, isn't he? Right now, before the Great Being, he's killing those children from your orphanage. It's exhilarating, wouldn't you say?"
Luosha lowered her eyelids and replied softly, "The Great Being must be very pleased."
"Indeed. I am delighted as well. What about you? Aren't you pleased?" An Qi asked.
Luosha hesitated.
"Ye Huan really is a fine man, isn't he?" An Qi giggled.
"No," Luosha said at once.
—There was surveillance here.
She could not say too much, or the outside world would learn of Ye Huan's ties to the cult.
Furthermore...
An Qi shouldn't have made this call in the first place.
Kidnapping mortals and sacrificing them to the Great Being was fine; there was no problem with that.
Yet calling afterward specifically to disgust her—
That proved the sacrifice was "impure."
As for Ye Huan...
He would never want to do such a thing willingly.
You did all of this. You set the trap. You borrowed someone else's blade to kill. You are the one who disgusts me to my very core.
Suppressing her churning emotions, Luosha's emerald-green eyes emitted a faint glimmer, as though piercing the void to gaze into the boundless Ether.
Great Being.
I am going to abandon you.
"Why do you take pleasure in seeing those around me vanish, and revel in my pain?" Luosha murmured.
"Because you took his side. Ever since the Descent Judgment, you've stood with him. I will make everyone see what happens when they cross me," An Qi said.
She didn't even bother hiding it!
"Your two favorite children—you should know which two—are dead." An Qi let out a deliberate, soft sigh.
"You used the Great Being's power to carry out personal vengeance against me," Luosha said.
Silence fell on the other end for a moment.
"No," An Qi's tone softened. "It was merely a coincidence. I never imagined that two children kidnapped at random would happen to know you."
With that, she hung up.
Stupidity was not terrifying.
What was truly terrifying was flaunting that stupidity.
Under surveillance, this was as far as she could speak.
The Cardinal had revealed her selfish motives, but the Great Being might not even care.
Things like this happened all the time.
It had never cared.
What a pity.
I possess no power.
Luosha looked down at her slender, powerless fingers.
She had no way to avenge herself...
None at all.
Her eyes grew hollow and dull.
Yet in the very next second...
Wisp upon wisp of crimson light began to surface across her trembling fingers.
...
Inside the abandoned factory.
Ye Huan spoke in a measured cadence:
"Devoid of talent, devoid of knowledge, devoid of vision, devoid of management skill, and uncultured."
"That is An Qi."
"Let me put it in the simplest terms."
"If memory serves, she sacrificed nine souls just to meet with you. And me?"
"How many have I sacrificed to you today alone?"
The woman's head looked at Ye Huan.
—With an entirely new expression in its eyes.
At this moment...
It began to evaluate the benefits he brought to the table.
"Even for the mining area, shouldn't I receive a share of the credit?" Ye Huan added.
"She spearheaded that," the woman's head replied.
Ye Huan immediately interjected, "If memory serves, a total of one hundred and fifty-six souls were sacrificed in the mining area."
His original host had been a security guard at the mine!
And died that very night!
To claim the host had nothing to do with it was something not even a ghost would believe!
"Do you believe I made no contribution?"
"Of course you contributed; that is beyond question. But wanting to replace An Qi isn't so simple. She has done an immense amount of work!"
"Making work voluminous and tedious is easy; achieving real results is what's difficult," Ye Huan stated loudly.
"Enough! Don't talk about the past now, and don't feed me empty, grand slogans. Such words cannot—"
The woman's head cut off midsentence.
Ye Huan looked over in surprise, only to see the woman's head turn toward another direction, as if sensing something.
"...What an extraordinary talent," it murmured.
It appeared to be observing something. A blend of cold detachment and deep contemplation surfaced on its face, followed by a surge of murderous intent.
"Ye Huan, my ritual executor, go and kill those two children," it commanded.
Dammit.
"No. An Qi is trying to cut off my path. Why must you listen to her?" Ye Huan protested.
He prepared to sacrifice the Ritual Fire.
The instant it made another move, he would immediately complete the offering!
Ye Huan stared unblinkingly at the woman's head.
Yet the head showed no anger. Instead, it asked thoughtfully, "Why are you trying to help Luosha?"
"I discovered she possesses extraordinary talent. Her staying alive benefits the cult—yet An Qi is blinded by hatred and greed for power. I will not permit An Qi to disregard the cult's interests like this," Ye Huan declared.
Completely spot-on!
No one knew that Luosha had already been designated as the Holy Maiden.
Yet he had seen her identity tag change—
The woman's head had made the decision long ago, but had kept it secret, so no one else was aware.
And he was backing that decision with concrete action!
"To speak plainly," Ye Huan sighed, "those two children were raised by Luosha. Killing them is tantamount to forcing her into an irrevocable split with the cult."
Within the flames, there was no movement.
The woman's head looked down at Ye Huan for quite a while before speaking:
"This was merely an oversight on An Qi's part."
It was explaining!
Offering an explanation meant making a concession.
But how could he let this end with a meager concession?
The price was far from enough!
Ye Huan ground his heel into the shattered fragments of the cell phone on the floor as if crushing An Qi underfoot, though his voice remained steady and calm:
"An Qi's strategy is to rope people into the cult—those loyal to her can be cultivated into followers, while those disloyal are sacrificed."
"On the side, she pulls off a few kidnappings and murders."
"—It is far too slow."
"Even several centuries from now, the cult will still be stuck in this sorry state."
"If you criticize her like this, you must offer more practical methods and means than hers. If you have none, our conversation is at an end." Unwilling to get bogged down, the woman's head drew the flames around itself and began retreating.
Ye Huan took a stride forward, nearly plunging into the dark green flames.
The temperature began to climb.
He could be consumed by the blaze at any second.
Yet—
There was not a shred of fear in his expression; rather, he grew increasingly galvanized.
Shifting the narrative from 'killing two children' to an internal power struggle within the cult meant half the battle was won!
Ye Huan said in a deep voice, "If you ask me, slaughtering every single follower in the cult would be the only thing worthy of being called a grand ritual."
"Fool! If you kill them all, how will our faith spread throughout the city?" the woman's head snapped.
It stopped.
It hadn't left!
"That is precisely the point," Ye Huan said.
"What?" The woman's head was genuinely confounded by him.
"Once I climb step by step to the highest ranks, we won't be a cult anymore—we will be the law enforcers of this city," Ye Huan said.
The woman's head froze.
—He seemed full of confidence.
"Go on," the woman's head said.
"Right now, the cult can only skulk in hiding, pulling off petty, shameful killings."
"Even then, An Qi spends her time digging pits for her own people. With her stupidity, this is the limit of what she can achieve."
"However—"
Ye Huan drew out the syllable, raising a single finger as if delivering an oration: "If we make the Bureau of Investigation our own, we will never have to fear pursuit or arrest by any human institution again."
"No one will oppose us."
"On the contrary, everyone will have to live in fear of our arrests and manhunts."
"From then on, we will be the only ones hunting others down—"
"Whomever we execute will be labeled a cultist."
The woman's head stared blankly for a second, slowly catching on, and immediately asked, "What if someone objects? What if someone sees through it? What do you plan to do then?"
"Then they are evil! We burn them at the stake!"
Ye Huan continued with an ecstatic expression, "Such people must be accomplices of darkness. To uphold justice and ensure the city's enduring peace, we must hunt them down and eliminate them."
He slowed his pace, whispering softly by the woman's head's ear, "When that time comes, whenever you take a fancy to someone and desire their soul, we will simply declare them evil."
"And the deed will be done."
Only then did he take a few steps back, bending down to pick up the leader's long saber.
"My colleagues will be arriving soon, Great Being."
"The moment has come for you to make your choice."
"If you wish for the cult to remain in stagnation, for my proposal to scatter like dust, and for Luosha to be alienated into rebellion—then order me to kill these two children."
Ye Huan stood before the two children, raising the saber with one hand.
The ritual could begin at any moment.
"If I kill them, I will immediately strip off this investigator's uniform, return to the dark, and live as a ritual executor who hides by day and creeps by night, dodging capture at every turn."
"But if you agree with my perspective, then let these two children live to serve as my meritorious deed."
"From then on, whichever citizen in this city you wish to devour, I can deliver them to you."
His words concluded.
The saber hung suspended in midair.
"Kill them," the woman's head said.
"Understood!"
Ye Huan gripped the long saber tightly and slashed downward with sudden ferocity!
Out of the void, dark green flames abruptly flared up, engulfing and dissolving the blade.
The two children remained safe and sound.
A close shave!
Ye Huan had gambled everything on that final fraction of a second.
If the entity had truly remained unmoved, he would have halted the blade right before it reached the children's necks.
That would have meant a complete rupture between them!
Fortunately, at the very last moment, the woman's head used her flames to obstruct the ritual.
"Your judgment is infallible. I shall surely carve out an entirely new horizon for you."
Ye Huan tossed the hilt onto the ground, his expression solemn.
"It is not so simple," the woman's head said.
"Please, enlighten me," Ye Huan said.
"Will human society accept this kind of slaughter carried out in the name of justice?" the woman's head asked.
"How could this possibly be under the guise of justice?" Ye Huan wore a look of utter bewilderment.
"How is it not?" the woman's head pressed.
"First, reward the cultists and send them out to kill, to conduct grand rituals, to commit atrocities, and to strike terror into the populace."
"And then?" the woman's head asked.
"Once they have killed enough—enough to leave the people terrified and consumed with rage—we will step forward, wipe out every cultist, enact justice, and earn the people's eternal gratitude."
"Besides, upon the cultists' deaths, you will bestow your benevolence and come to receive them in person."
"—This is not slaughter under the guise of justice. This is true justice,"
Ye Huan declared.
The woman's head pondered for a moment, then spoke again: "There is one more question."
"Please, speak."
"An Qi painstakingly preached doctrine and carried out extensive missionary work to build this congregation. How do you intend to make the cultists obey you? Why would they follow your orders to slaughter?"
Ye Huan smiled and explained, "Tell them that as long as they kill the person they despise the most in their daily lives, they will receive a golden fin—no, they will receive your blessing. Of course, you can indeed grant them a tiny fraction of power."
"That alone will be enough to drive them into a frenzy."
"Once they kill their first person and obtain power, tell them that the ultimate reward is a hundred times greater."
"Kill a full hundred people, and they will receive the ultimate reward."
"—People will go mad for it."
"If they truly kill a hundred, what will you do then? What sort of ultimate reward would be appropriate?" the woman's head asked.
"Ascension," Ye Huan said.
"Ascension?"
"Yes, ascension. Going up to the Heavenly Kingdom to enjoy eternal bliss above, never to return."
The woman's head said nothing, merely looking down upon him.
"Naturally, there is no Heavenly Kingdom. As long as the ritual is made dazzling enough, you can simply devour them where mortals cannot see."
"—That certainly qualifies as 'ultimate.'" Ye Huan shrugged.
The woman's head remained silent.
"You may not believe in justice, but please believe in my noble character," Ye Huan said.
"You? Character?" the woman's head echoed in astonishment.
"The number of souls I have offered across every ritual—that is my character," Ye Huan stated.
The woman's head fell silent once more.
—The numbers.
It was a cold, emotionless thing, immune to alteration or embellishment.
It spoke only the truth.
Indeed.
Ye Huan killed with far greater abandon and efficiency, from the mine to the alleys, and even right now when executing cultists.
His character was exceptionally noble!
Outside the factory, in the distance, faint sounds began to stir.
Someone was approaching.
The moment for a resolution had arrived.
"From a human perspective, someone like you will surely meet a terrible end," the woman's head finally said.
"And from your perspective?" Ye Huan asked.
"Do you truly not care about the fate of other humans? Or even your own?" the woman's head asked in return.
"After I die, what care I if the deluge comes?" Ye Huan answered.
"Remember those words."
The woman's head suddenly vanished into nothingness.
Silence settled over the factory.
It was over.
It was finally over.
The fervor and madness on Ye Huan's face gradually faded as his facial muscles relaxed.
"What was it looking at just now? Who was it looking at?"
He closed his eyes, beginning to replay everything that had just occurred, searching meticulously for any loose ends or flaws.
Chapter 36