Chapter 1502

Dian Jutou, are you sure those scavengers are right on this hill?

Damn it, out in this godforsaken wilderness, are those bastards stuffed full?!

Sweating profusely, mid‑afternoon.

Although the sun was gradually setting, the afternoon air seemed even more murky; near the wild mountains, the scorching air became like a sauna, stiflingly hot.

Six or seven gang members wielding homemade weapons looked off at the mountain peak catching the sunset, unable to hold back their curses and complaints.

Damn it, after coming all this way, if there's nothing good I'll cut off the electric saw on your head!

Walking in front, a First Level Awakened One wielding a wolf‑tooth club cursed and spat, then kicked at the electric‑saw‑head beside him.

Bowing and scraping, the gaunt man called Electric‑Saw‑Head pointed far away and hurriedly said:

Lord Ha Man! This is definitely correct! Look at the bloodstains on the ground! And our people saw those guys heading this way.

Huo Lang also said they overheard those scavengers planning to come here to perform some evil ritual!

Believe me! Those people are definitely loaded!

Fuck your mother's oily cunt!

You think I really want that bit of junk in their hands?!

Heh, Huo Lang and crew already robbed them once, right?

Don't think I don't know what that little Huo Lang is scheming!

With a snort, the leader Ha Man waved his spiked club in a circle, and a flash of electricity suddenly flickered across his right hand.

That's right.

As a First Level Awakened One, he might not rank among the top in the Safe Zone, but among the lower-tier survivors he is truly a big shot!

Someone like him naturally wouldn't care about the 'dog food' these scavengers mutter.

Especially after having been robbed once!

'Go tell Huo Lang, if these people are really suitable, I won't shortchange his share.'

'Isn't that kid just afraid of death and thinks telling Old Ha Ka's crew they won't get any money?'

As if seeing through the electric saw head's thoughts at a glance, Ha Man spat a mouthful of saliva and smeared it on his smooth forehead to cool down.

In the morning, Huo Lang suddenly ran over to tell him that there was a batch of idiots perfect for religious sacrifices here, and he immediately felt tempted.

The reason is simple.

About two or three days ago, the top big shots in the Safe Zone seemed to have received some order, first demanding an internal investigation of abnormal people—those who looked like Asians.

Second, the Safe Zone's largest church, and also the extremely terrifying Truth Sect, suddenly demanded that more heretics be captured.

It is said that they plan to launch a new round of sacrifices to welcome the legendary true deity!

Of course, Ha Man thought the latter half was just nonsense—nothing more than the high-level's brainwashing of the ignorant masses.

'Heretics, dark eyes, Asians.'

'Heh, the requirements just happen to be all met!'

Licking his lips with excitement, Ha Man waved his hand and signaled the troops to follow.

He didn't care whether the dark-eyed individual among those who call themselves the Ling An Church was Asian; even if they were of another race, he'd still treat them as Asian and capture them! Especially regarding heretics, they're all damn heretical cults, but behind other sects there are Awakened Ones—this newly emerged sect has none. Persimmons are picked for their softness, and Ha Man only felt that today was his lucky day!

Not long after, following the bloodstains on the ground, Ha Man saw a large patch of trampled weeds.

Upon closer inspection from a slightly higher spot, everyone's eyes instantly flashed with delight!

They really are here!

In a relatively flat spot not far away on the hilltop, a broken stone mortar could be faintly seen; upon closer look, even scavengers kneeling on the ground could be seen.

One, two, three... ten... nineteen!

After a rough count, a flash of cruelty instantly appeared at the corner of Ha Man's mouth.

Nineteen people! These scavengers were worthless before, but now they're valuable!

With a wave of his hand, seeing everyone silently exchange a glance, they quietly surrounded the target.

They're not good at killing zombies and monsters, but capturing people is something they're extremely skilled at!

'Pay attention! Don't let me kill too many!'

Looking at them, so stupid to the extreme, it seemed they were actually sincerely kneeling, the scavengers—Ha Man found it utterly ridiculous.

These utterly useless idiots—if they're going to believe in something, they should at least believe in those powerful sects; according to Huo Lang, this suddenly appeared church is made up entirely of ordinary people! The guy playing the priest is even more a worthless piece of trash you could kick to death with one foot!

One minute later, at the moment the encirclement formed, after seeing scavengers still lying in the stone mortar, behaving like corpses—a laughable act—Ha Man's contempt grew even stronger.

What the hell are they doing? Burying themselves to play dead!?

Ling An? Soul peace? Playing dead and staying quiet—really fitting...

After cautiously sensing the surroundings and confirming there were no Awakened Ones, Ha Ke could no longer hold back and simply shouted as he charged forward.

'All of you, kneel down!'

"If you don't want to die, kneel down!"

A burst of explosive laughter!

In an instant, Ha Ke and the others who had suddenly charged out, grinning ferociously, waved their weapons and surrounded Lin An and the others.

Blades and spears waved in their hands, looking as if they intended to first smash someone to death to establish dominance before saying anything else!

But unlike what was imagined, this group of scavengers and the people pretending to be the church did not scream in fright.

As Ha Ke and the others rushed out, the scavengers kneeling on the ground showed no reaction whatsoever, as if they were oblivious to the danger behind them.

Even, their incessantly muttered prayers suddenly sped up, becoming somewhat frenzied!

"ourfatherinheavenhallowedbeyourname！peaceofmind！peaceofmind！！！"

This is!!

Ha Ka was suddenly startled.

He heard the tone beside his ear constantly rising, even somewhat distorted. For some reason, he actually detected a hint of evil intent from these prayers.

He felt nauseous, on the verge of vomiting.

Within this evil intent, for some reason there was also a hint of sanctity!

Such a bizarre scene suddenly left everyone stunned.

"What are they doing?!"

"Get up! All of you, get up, damn it! No more chanting!"

"Saw head! Drag them out! Drag those people lying inside out for me!!"

The situation became increasingly wrong.

Haman forcibly suppressed his inner unease, his voice even sounding somewhat like a frightened scream.

Even if his reaction were slower, he suddenly realized something was terribly amiss here! They had all come to attack! Yet these scavengers seemed completely immersed in prayer, and the three lying in the stone mortar remained completely still!

Moreover, the constantly rising tone of the chanting filled him with an inner panic.

This cult... has a problem!!

At the same time, almost everyone sensed that something was wrong.

Bang!!

As if venting his inner unease, the saw‑head ordered by Haman kicked the stone mortar in a panic, while the others hurriedly tried to pull up the scavengers who had formed a circle and knelt on the ground.

However, before they could lift the first person, amid the crashing sound of the stone mortar being kicked apart, two soft puffing sounds suddenly rang out.

Only the right foot remained in the kicking posture.

In Haman and the others' eyes, the saw‑head seemed frozen, motionless. And when they instinctively lowered their heads to look, the feet that had originally lain in the stone mortar had vanished.

What...?!

Gurgle.. gurgle..

Ahhhhh!!!

In an instant, accompanied by the sound of flesh being torn apart alive.

The saw‑head, frozen in place, let out a horrific scream.

On either side of his ribs, two blade‑like limbs resembling human hands had, at some point, pierced his chest.

As they slowly exerted force, like splitting pork, they forcibly ripped his chest open from both sides!

Before his eyes stood An Ge Si, his gaze dull, mouth agape, his lower jaw opened wide enough to reach his chest!

Crack!

Blood spattered, the sweet flesh bursting open like juice in an instant.

After biting off the saw‑head's upper torso in one gulp, the demon‑like An Ge Si stiffly swayed his body and turned his gaze toward Haman and the others.

At this moment, An Ge Si resembled a grinning corpse, his severed arms replaced by two blade‑like limbs, spliced together in an eerie, ferocious manner.

His eyes were empty and hollow; what were once brown pupils were now encircled by a black halo.

Upon meeting his gaze, it was like a black sun, radiating endless evil.

Seeing An Ge Si staggering stiffly toward them, Haman and the others instantly screamed in terror.

Monster! This is a monster!!

There's actually a monster here!!

Instinctively, before Haman could even scream and try to flee, a sudden surge of mental force yanked him back!

"Since you've come... don't leave..."

"Crash..."

The sound of the stone mortar being toppled.

Behind him, Lin An crawled up from the stone mortar, his weak voice letting out a low laugh.

In his eyes, a black sun brimming with supreme intent was infinitely expanding.

"Consume them all..."

The words fell.

In an instant, the remaining scavengers who had been kneeling suddenly turned their heads, filled with frenzy within the black sun.

Like An Ge Si, more than half of the scavengers instantly opened their mouths like demons and lunged to bite Haman and the others.

Three minutes later.

Lin An looked at the ground littered with flesh and the large group of scavengers kneeling before him, slowly raising his right hand.

As his mental power stirred, a half‑eaten eyeball slowly rotated in his palm.

"So... this is what faith power is..."

"Bang!"

With a slight exertion, the black mental power exploded instantly, crushing the eyeball.

Feeling a strand of new power within him, Lin An couldn't help but chuckle lowly, then turned his gaze toward the distant Safe Zone.

Yes.

Just as he had turned An Ge Si and the others into "monsters," he likewise hesitated not in transforming himself into a monster.

Although it hardly counted as a mutation, the power drawn from the sun instantly restored a trace of his strength.

Especially at the moment his strength returned, Lin An finally realized—or understood—the essence of faith.

"It is hatred, it is revenge, it is the secondary feedback of gaining power after offering everything!"

Lin An slightly turned his head, looking at An Ge Si standing beside him, who had undergone the highest degree of transformation.

When An Ge Si was on the brink of death, he chose to send him into the pyramid where energy concentration was greatest.

As expected, under conditions similar to those of a sunwalker's transformation, An Ge Si began to mutate at great speed. Though his strength was far less than that of the original sunwalker, he still had no trouble facing a Second Level opponent.

Of course, the price was that An Ge Si had already lost his mind, or rather, in his dying state, the last obsession he chose to leave behind was revenge.

It was also at the moment An Ge Si's transformation succeeded that Lin An suddenly felt a familiar force, mixed with the power of An Ge Si Memory, pour into his body.

Unlike the Term: Faith Power absorbed before, it was brief and illusory.

This time, Lin An actually felt as if a Term: Faith Power had taken root in his body.

"Because they regard me as the existence that bestows power, so after gaining the hope of revenge, all mental power transforms into the utmost belief, and finally converts into Term: Faith Power..."

"So.."

"Term: Faith Power is not about manifesting miracles, nor is it about the deity personally acting to gain Term: Faith Power."

"But rather, granting power, so that believers, in constant slaughter, strengthen their belief, and ultimately feed back to me..."

Instantly connecting the religious scriptures he had seen, at this moment Lin An finally understood why, in those myths and legends, the so-called deities always stir up divine wars, but in the battles to exterminate heretics, the deities never personally act.

Even Lin An didn't expect that, in human history, the secret of faith had actually been hidden long ago.

However, upon thinking of those fugitives, Lin An found it not strange either.

However, whether it was condensing a trace of Term: Faith Power or, with the aid of the sun, recovering some special mental power, Lin An also realized its drawbacks.

"Absorbing the faith of fanatics will likewise 'absorb' their mental fragments."

"Hatred, slaughter, resentment, revenge, unwillingness..."

"These emotions and fragments, when accumulated in small amounts, are fine, but once the quantity becomes excessive, they will likely directly affect my mind."

Recalling when he first entered the Fifth Stage state, Lin An also understood why he had completely lost himself at that time.

Under the onslaught of massive emotion, Memory, and belief, he at the time indeed could not withstand it.

"Therefore, breaking through the Fifth Stage via faith, the essential difficulty lies in having enough fanatics, and a consciousness strong enough to bear everyone's pain and negative thoughts!"

"The Emperor of Alien Species cannot do it, likely because the Alien Species' negative emotions are too high; high enough that if he dares to absorb them, he would die instantly!"

"Unable to reshape the species, he simply went through the Land of Death Battle, using the conversion core to purify similar power!"

"As for the sun..."

Lin An raised his head, looking toward the gradually setting sunset.

To be honest, he still hasn't figured out what the power in the sun actually is. Just like the previous experimental subject, when he first tried to absorb the power of the sun 'virus', mental power suddenly appeared in his body.

However, unlike his previous pure mental power that seemed like an extension of his own strength.

He could feel that this mental power carried an evil connotation, as if it were alive.

And under this power, he also regained approximately First Level attack power.

From a rational standpoint, Lin An clearly knows this power is extremely dangerous, far more terrifying than Term: Faith Power! This power, essentially, is a suspected Apocalypse Meme that triggers global mutation!

"Give up absorbing.."

"No... just converting An Ge Si and them is not enough!"

"Below the Fourth Stage, I should be able to suppress this power! Not to be completely eroded!"

As if returning to the previous state of pursuing power, Lin An clenched his fists tightly and had no intention of stopping absorption.

Since he has already chosen to give up hiding and waiting, he should strengthen himself as much as possible!

Especially, this hidden danger should not be enough to cause him too much impact.

Only seen in Lin An's eyes, the originally seemingly vanished Savior System has now reappeared vaguely.

"Beep, absorbing Term: Faith Power, the system is accelerating restart."

"Current restart progress: 6.1%..."

"More power.. more faith.."

"Then.."

"Descend again!"