Chapter 11: Well, let’s eat first.
“This is the sculpture that has been polluted by the aura of the Evil God, and it is also the source of the Iron Cross Plague in later generations?”
Hiltina’s gaze was fixed on the sculpture in the center of the altar.
The sculpture was entirely cast from dark gray metal, the details indistinguishable, with only a human silhouette bound to a cross clearly visible.
She wanted to pick up the sculpture for a closer examination, but before she could reach out, Rast stepped in first.
Rast pulled out a small square box in an ink color from his pocket and carefully placed the cross sculpture inside, sealing it meticulously.
“Lead box,” Rast held up the small box in his hand. “It can’t achieve complete isolation, theoretically only a mithril container can perfectly contain pollutants.”
“But this time we are pressed for time, and I can’t afford to be choosy.”
Hiltina crossed her arms, watching as Rast stored the lead box containing the Evil God sculpture. “So, does this mean we are done?”
The process of dismantling this cult base went far smoother than Hiltina had anticipated.
Now that the cultists’ arrival ceremony had been disrupted, and the base eradicated, even the Evil God sculpture, which was the source of pollution, was in their hands. Although some small fry of the cult might still exist at other bases, they evidently no longer posed a significant threat.
Logically speaking, Rast and Hiltina only needed to find a place to dispose of the sculpture, such as digging a pit to bury it or sinking it back into the sea… After that, they could find a safe spot in Deep Blue Harbor to hide and wait for the mission to end.
“What a pity.”
“If it were that simple, I would have cleared it all by myself long ago.”
Rast secured the lead box close to himself and smiled.
“As I mentioned earlier, once the residents of Deep Blue Harbor see the sculpture by chance, the seeds of pollution would have already been sown, even if they don’t remember the incident at all.”
“Similarly, the rules of the Deity are not so easily decipherable.”
He glanced at the shattered altar with ritual arrangements strewn about: “Using offerings, rituals, and the believers’ sincere faith as a medium—”
“This is indeed the simplest and least wasteful way for divine descent. However, it is not the only method.”
Rast’s words paused slightly.
“Anyone who has inadvertently seen the sculpture’s appearance, or even just heard about its existence… can become His believer, a flesh and bl**d vessel. The only difference from the arrival ceremony lies in consumption and the required number.”
“I don’t know if the dusk of Deep Blue Harbor holds any special significance in mysticism.”
“But the divine descent at six-thirty PM on October 9th is the only unchanging fact in the tens of thousands of loops I have experienced.”
“If the arrival ceremony succeeds, there is no need to say more. However, if the ceremony fails and the original believers are purged… then the many potential polluted individuals in Deep Blue Harbor would serve as His medium for descent.”
Rast gazed at the flickering candlelight in the secret chamber and chuckled softly: “The trajectory of fate marked by the Deity would not change because of a few mundane people’s little actions.”
“Just as you wouldn’t give up your planned spring outing the next day just because there’s a hole chewed by bugs in your backpack.”
The secret chamber returned to silence, leaving only the crackling sound of the white candle burning on the table.
Hiltina looked out at the gray, hazy sky and the night-shrouded Deep Blue Harbor, feeling an oppressive suffocation.
No need for contact, no need for faith, merely needing to see, or even just to hear about the existence of the sculpture could spread pollution… God knows how many potential polluted mediums and vessels lay hidden in this ancient harbor city at this moment.
Even the polluted individuals might outnumber normal humans.
And this pollution had occurred months, even half a year ago, so early that Hiltina and Rast were powerless to intervene.
She had thought this would be a hero’s narrative, where defeating enemies and thwarting the villain organization’s evil plot would naturally lead to saving the world and altering the fate of Deep Blue Harbor.
But it seemed they were not heroes in a play but merely an ant colony huddling together to survive amidst a flood…
In the face of rolling fate, all their struggles felt so pale and powerless.
…
“But I know you are not the type to just sit back and accept your fate, Rast.”
After a long silence, Hiltina broke the stillness in the secret chamber once more.
“If you had truly given up, you would have stayed in that hotel to play role-playing instead of bringing me here.”
She stared intensely into Rast’s eyes, which swallowed the light like a deep pool: “You have a plan, right?”
“Of course.”
Rast spun the empty cylinder of his revolver, loading in one round after another: “If not, then my response to your earlier question about success probability shouldn’t have been one percent, but zero.”
Hiltina frowned as she watched Rast change the bullets in his hands.
Compared to the ordinary short bullets he had used before, the rounds Rast was loading this time had a copper metal casing over the lead core.
These bullets, known as Full Metal Jacket Bullets, sacrifice initial velocity and lethality against humans to greatly emphasize penetration performance, typically suitable only for combat against armored units on the battlefield.
But what armored units could there possibly be in Deep Blue Harbor? Was Rast actually preparing to challenge the Royal Navy’s steel fleet with just a revolver?
“What are you planning to do?” Hiltina rubbed her forehead. “The pollution in Deep Blue Harbor has already spread, and that is an established fact we cannot prevent or interfere with.”
“And due to the rules of the Night World, I can’t leave the bounds of Deep Blue Harbor… I assume you have a similar constraint; otherwise, you would have tried to escape long ago.”
Now Deep Blue Harbor had been rigged like a ticking bomb named ‘polluted individuals,’ and they could neither defuse it nor run away… It seemed they had no choice but to wait for d*ath.
“However, if we had to say, we do have one advantage—”
“According to the intelligence circulating in the Night World, perhaps because of dimensional separation, the Deities’ interference in the present world, whether through descent powers or intelligence acquisition, has significant limitations.”
“So, even though the sculpture serves as a medium for interference in the present world, the true form of that Evil God would be unable to understand the situation in Deep Blue Harbor in real-time, and could only act through a strand of divinity residing in that sculpture, following some pre-set rules.”
Hiltina glanced at Rast: “Are you planning to exploit this?”
“Very astute reasoning,” Rast applauded. “It seems Miss Hiltina is not just an excellent swordsman but also possesses the potential to become a detective.”
“Your guess is generally correct… However, before challenging the lofty divinity in the form of bugs, we still have important matters to attend to.”
“What matters?” Hiltina frowned.
Clap—
“Food.” Rast flicked a b*llet from his fingers and yawned. “And sleep.”
(End of Chapter)
