Chapter 163: 160. A Successful Arrest

160. A Successful Arrest

Breaking free from Li Duojin's movement, Wang Zijing pulled her opened collar back together. Her sinister eyes reflected a cold light like ice blades, chilling and oppressive. "Why do you know?"

"Your father told me." Li Duojin stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at her calmly. "Come to think of it, you were the one who led us there, weren't you? It just didn't go as you wished; we didn't end up dead."

Wang Zijing's expression turned as gloomy as water, and she stared straight at Li Duojin.

"Actually, if I had just narrowly escaped death at the hands of those corpses, at most I would have only deepened my suspicions of you; I wouldn't have had concrete evidence. But it just so happens that I can see things others cannot, such as your deceased father." Li Duojin explained unhurriedly, as if he felt no pressure from her hostile gaze, and continued, "It was also fortunate that your father's crazed soul shouted your name when it entered the dimension where the Inverted Creator resides, and I finally realized the trick hidden in your ritual."

Wang Zijing clenched her fists. Despite the surging crowd, she felt Li Duojin's voice, though not loud, was deafening.

"Yes, the ritual you performed this time was very strange. The host of the ritual was also the sacrifice, and the identity of the Sacrificial Person could be transferred. We should have guessed it sooner; such a lax Sacrificial Ritual simply does not align with the wishes of the 'noble and arrogant' Mother of the Black Goat. If it were not a perfect ritual, the Mother of the Black Goat would never descend."

"But this does not mean that as followers of the Mother of the Black Goat and the Inverted Creator, you did not want to summon the greatest Alien God in your hearts."

"You did indeed intend to summon the Inverted Creator in several steps, but it wasn't one ritual divided into several stages—you planned to carry it out through several different rituals!" Li Duojin stared at Wang Zijing and said coldly, "The Giant Corpse I encountered in the cave beneath the Jinma Mountain sinkhole is actually the shed Vessel of an Alien God, right?"

"The Void Demon, the Molting One, an existence circulating within the forbidden evil scriptures of the Inverted Sanctuary organization, is the offspring of the Inverted Creator and the Transcender of All Things. It is the most loyal believer of the Inverted Creator and also its most 'filial' offspring."

"You thought you could use the Void Demon's Vessel to summon the Void Demon's will back into its shell, and then have the Void Demon lead the members of the Inverted Sanctuary to perform the true Advent Ritual for the Inverted Creator... if I haven't guessed wrong."

The more she heard Li Duojin speak, the more agitated Wang Zijing became. A look of hatred and resentment appeared on her face, and she gritted her teeth and whispered: "This is impossible. You actually managed to escape from the palm of the great Molting One; that is impossible for a human to do on their own!"

Li Duojin nodded and said frankly: "Hmm, indeed. If I hadn't had help this time, I really would have almost died in the underground river."

Wang Zijing was unconvinced. "Just knowing this, it's impossible to realize what I wanted to do and then find this place."

"Of course. I have actually figured out some of the methods for the ritual you wanted to use to make the Void Demon descend back into its original molted Vessel. This ritual opens a channel for the Void Demon to descend into the world through slaughter, and at the same time, it opens a portal to the dimension where the Inverted Creator resides. The slaughtered souls serve as energy to open the two channels, and you ritual hosts—that is, the Sacrificial Persons—can send your souls to the side of the Inverted Creator by offering your flesh to the Void Demon."

"You, in your piety, will receive the Inverted Creator's gift, obtaining a body that can accompany her for eternity, staying by the Inverted Creator's side in advance to realize the great 'ideal' of you believers." Li Duojin emphasized the word "ideal" through gritted teeth, his tone full of sarcasm and provocation, seemingly quite disdainful of this group of lunatics' "wish." "To make the Void Demon descend into the world faster, the path must be to create larger-scale and more efficient slaughter, right?"

"And in the modern era, what kind of method is the most convenient and efficient way to kill?"

"Use a knife or a gun? No, that would be just like Zheng Yu; it would cause panic from the moment the first person was killed."

Li Duojin glanced at her messenger bag, knowing full well that a remote-detonated bomb was inside. "After I narrowly escaped death, the first thing I did when I met my friend was have her investigate your background. You studied chemical engineering in university, and your research topic was actually chemical explosives. I immediately guessed that your idea was to build a bomb powerful enough to blow everyone to the sky at once, right? And a mobile phone remote is the least conspicuous way to detonate it."

"Your whereabouts were even easier to guess. Nowadays, there are surveillance cameras everywhere. If I ask someone to check, I can immediately calculate your destination. The Bund Square in the Magic City, the place with the most exaggerated daily foot traffic in the entire city; there is no better place to strike than here."

He shook the Electronic Pulse Rod in his hand and said: "Of course, to be honest, I was also gambling, and the stakes were high. I was gambling that I could arrive before you took action, and gambling that using this thing wouldn't accidentally trigger the bomb, which would have made me a sinner for all time."

"But... I won the bet." Li Duojin grinned.

Wang Zijing's breathing was heavy. Li Duojin's mocking voice drove her crazy, to the point where she lost control of her emotions and her sanity. She repeated one sentence louder and louder: "Unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable..."

As she spoke, Wang Zijing raised her messenger bag, wanting to make a final resistance, yet she actually knew that the moment Li Duojin appeared, she had already lost any chance of winning.

The sound was almost as faint as a mosquito's buzz. In an instant, Wang Zijing's arm was rapidly pierced by something moving at high speed. A mist of blood exploded, and the bag her hands could no longer support fell from her grip. The high-speed object landed on the floor of The Bund, leaving a crater.

Li Duojin still wanted to reach out and catch the bag, but unexpectedly, several "passersby" he thought were just walking past Wang Zijing suddenly lunged out. With coordinated movements, some restrained Wang Zijing, while others caught the bag containing the bomb.

As it turned out, these people were plainclothes Mysterious Investigators who had followed him under the instructions of Yu Lianyun.

Wang Zijing shouted in anger, but this was merely a futile and powerless resistance.

Passersby walking on The Bund saw this scene and assumed it was Enforcers arresting criminals or something similar. The crowd was just about to gather to watch, but they were dispersed by other plainclothes Mysterious Investigators who had been lying in ambush all around, posing as Enforcers.

"It's all your fault, you damn bastard!" With her head pressed firmly against the ground and her face distorted, Wang Zijing could only glare sideways at Li Duojin and curse angrily.

Li Duojin ignored her, not even caring that she was being detained and loaded into a transport vehicle. He simply gazed toward the direction of Jinma Mountain and muttered: "The matter is far from over."