Chapter 245: Chaos and Firelight

The so‑called "drinking water".

It is the thousands of people scrambling, trying to drink the sewage in the drainage channel.

The people at the front kneel on both knees, as if they had found treasure, thrusting their hands into the sewage, carefully scooping up the greenish, yellowed, rotting "thick soup" and drinking it down without hesitation.

After drinking, they don't find it disgusting at all; instead they show a deeply satisfied expression, raise both hands, bow to the flowing sewage channel, and devoutly utter something.

"Thank you for my lord's gift!"

"My lord is generous!"

And other words of thanks to "my lord".

Leon and Ada, observing from the platform in secret, upon seeing this degenerate scene below, can be certain that the incident is inextricably linked to an evil god from an alternate dimension.

And not suspecting the Hell Plane as the cause?

It is because their employee rank allows them to access most files; the Hell Plane files have been classified by the company as "Hera (Level 2)", even lower than some anomalies on Earth.

Moreover, with D-1999 in existence, when encountering fanatical believers, the two instinctively ruled out the Hell Plane.

Leon, confirming his judgment, immediately uploaded what they saw to the company's network and to Krig 087 Squad, and requested elite support from the 087 Squad to exterminate the corrupted "cultists" before them.

The 087 Squad, with no communication lag, responded to Leon within seconds of receiving the request.

A heavy‑fire combat battalion is expected to arrive at Leon and Ada's location in fifteen minutes.

Furthermore, the commander of the 087 Squad said they would dispatch follow‑up forces to seal off Zone 04.

Learning that the 087 Squad has already moved, Leon puts his phone away and continues observing below.

He doesn't know how these people became corrupted, but Leon guesses that the plague doctor's "vaccine" must have taken effect.

Otherwise the already fallen cultists wouldn't choose to hide underground and gradually "contaminate" the entire metropolis.

Suddenly, Ada's right elbow nudged Leon, drawing his attention to the left‑rear direction.

Leon turns his head slightly and sees a cultist, having just drunk the sewage, dressed in a sheriff's uniform, about to raise a hand in salute, but frozen for a few seconds.

Immediately, the sheriff springs up, waving his arms wildly, and shouts excitedly at the surrounding cultists:

"Hahaha! My lord answered! My lord answered my prayer! I have received my lord's reward!"

As the sheriff shouts, his body begins to mutate.

His already unhealthy complexion grows even paler, and green pustules appear at the corners of his mouth.

The back of his right hand rots rapidly, sprouting milky‑white, slender tentacles that wriggle through the decayed skin.

A normal person would rush to a hospital for examination and have those parasite‑like tentacles removed.

But the corrupted minds of the cultists who can drink the "thick soup" not only fail to see the sheriff's mutation as pathological, they each display envious expressions.

It seems they also wish to obtain such a mutation.

At that moment, Leon and Ada spot a "person" at least three meters tall, wading in sewage toward the mutating sheriff.

The "person" is massive and corpulent, wrapped in a black long robe, its completely rotted right hand clutching a curved blade that emits an eerie green light.

However, the blade's hilt appears fused to the "person's" right hand, inseparable.

The black‑robed figure steps forward, stops, brandishes the curved blade with his right hand, and booms in a deep nasal voice:

"Let us congratulate this companion for gaining my lord's attention!"

"Congratulations!" the cultists reply loudly.

"As long as everyone is devout enough to my lord, sooner or later we will receive my lord's attention and his Blessing!" the black‑robed figure continues.

"My lord is merciful!" the cultists cheer again.

From the platform, Leon and Ada cannot see the black‑robed figure's face due to the angle, but they can easily infer that he is the main culprit—or one of the main culprits—behind the group's corruption.

After all, the evil god of the alternate dimension needs some medium to directly enter the real world, such as the cultists before Leon's eyes.

"Enough! Everyone be quiet!" the black‑robed figure signals the cultists to stay silent.

After the drainage channel quiets slightly, the black‑robed figure says, "I have bad news for everyone.

Our existence has been exposed; we can no longer covertly recruit more companions, so we must take aggressive measures to bring my lord down beside us, to lead us in teaching humanity the true meaning of life!"

"Sacrifice the heretics! For my lord!" the cultists shout in unison.

"Hahaha! Good!" the black‑robed figure laughs, then slowly turns to scan the cultists.

This action also allows Leon and Ada to gradually see his face.

The black‑robed man's face is covered with boils, even white maggot‑like parasites that occasionally burst from the skin, crawl a short distance, then burrow back inside.

Despite the grotesque visage, the visor's screen continues scanning; based on facial contours it still identifies the black‑robed figure as having a 56% probability of being Filsto Doroni.

Brief data on Filsto Doroni automatically appears on the right side of the visor screen for Leon and Ada to browse.

This Filsto is the former head of Zone 04's sheriff department who voluntarily retired two months ago.

This discovery further confirms Ada's judgment as accurate; the upper echelons of Zone 04 indeed have a problem.

"Everyone!" Filsto, scanning the cultists, says with increasing fervor:

"Our comrades hidden throughout the metropolis have already begun acting, preparing to reveal the truth to more ignorant people, so we must not fall behind! Prepare to follow me to the surface!"

"For my lord!!"

"But before that…" Filsto pivots his words, lifts the curved blade, points the tip toward the platform, and says with a grim smile:

"We must first eliminate the culprit hiding there, who dares not reveal themselves, disrupts our plan, and exposes our existence."

??

Hearing Filsto's words, the cultists rise, look in the direction the blade points, and discover Leon and Ada, who appeared there unnoticed.

The exposed pair, however, show no panic and coordinate a counterattack with perfect timing.

Half‑crouched, Ada decisively pulls the trigger, firing a high‑energy red beam at Filsto's brow.

Leon quickly stands, pulls two small grenades from his tactical pack, removes the pins, releases the safeties, and hurls them forcefully toward Filsto and the densest cluster of cultists.

But with a "buzz—!" sound.

The beam that first burst forth, just as it was about to pierce Fei Er Si's brow, was cancelled by a barrier emitting a faint green light, unable to injure Fei Er Si at all.

Boom! Boom!

Two expensive small plasma grenades detonated with deafening explosions, flashing blue, successfully enveloping Fei Er Si, and shattering and scorching the nearby believers.

Go!

Mm!

But Leon and Ai Da, having no time to check whether the grenades killed Fei Er Si, wisely retreated to the platform.

After all, they are mere mortals; no matter how skilled, they cannot take on a thousand with two, so retreat is the best choice.

Chase!!

Many believers who recovered shouted loudly, rushing to the platform by elevator or climbing stairs, then charging into the tunnel to pursue Leon and Ai Da, determined to "sacrifice" the two disruptors.

On the drainage side, the smoke from the explosion quickly dissipated.

Fei Er Si, who can generate a Spiritual Energy barrier to block high‑energy beams, naturally fears not the plasma grenades' attack.

Fei Er Si lifted his left hand, which seemed replaced by an octopus tentacle, pulled down his black robe hood, fully exposing his swollen head, and stared at the platform above with murky eyes.

At that moment, the curved blade that grew from his right hand emitted an intensified eerie green glow, causing Fei Er Si to shift his gaze from the platform to the blade.

"My master, I understand. I will let you step into reality again."

Fei Er Si then muttered devoutly to the curved blade.

It seemed the fallen former director was conversing with the so‑called "my master" through the blade.

When Fei Er Si finished his monologue, a fellow believer whose body was equally corrupted asked in a trembling voice:

"My master—what does that mean?"

"Since many comrades are already hunting those two insects, the remaining ones will go with me to the surface to prepare the ritual that summons my master's descent."

"Yes."

After the conversation, Fei Er Si led the remaining hundreds of believers to the end of the drainage channel.

Leon and Ai Da's side.

"Tack! Tack tack!" The pulse rifles crackled loudly in the tunnel.

"Pop! Pop!" The Shellless Pulse Ammo striking the wall caused small explosions, scattering debris and fragments.

It sounded noisy and perilous, yet the two of them never appeared in the believers' sight from start to finish.

The frenzied believers merely pulled triggers wildly ahead, trying to vent their rage.

The believers were numerous, but their composition was mixed; the vast majority were civilians.

Only a handful of less‑than‑ten lawmen mixed among them remained rational, attempting to track Leon and Ai Da.

However, the moment the lawmen led the believers around the corner

Boom—!

Another plasma grenade detonated, physically "purifying" more than ten believers and completely erasing any slim chance of the believers catching up to Leon and Ai Da.

Boom

Even though they heard faint explosions behind them, their running speed did not slow.

Only when they reached an area just one step above the ground did they ease their pace, and after another corner, they paused briefly on the walkway.

Huff huff.

The two regulated their breathing.

Ai Da kept her gun trained on the rear, while Leon pulled out his phone and saw a red cross icon—exactly what he dreaded most—above the channel linking to the company.

This indicated that they, and the entire Arcadia, had lost contact with the outside, and that the relay station guarded by Ke Li Ge had encountered a problem.

Noticing this, Leon switched to the communication channel with Ke Li Ge's 087 Unit.

Sure enough, the latest intel from the 087 Unit reported that the relay station and their garrison had both come under heavy artillery fire.

Because of Leon's warning, the 087 Unit had prepared for battle in advance; their personnel losses were not severe, and their artillery delivered an even fiercer counter‑strike.

However, the relay station was severely damaged, and until repairs are completed, they will remain cut off from the company.

Seeing this information, Leon's expression grew extremely solemn.

The 087 Unit suffered heavy artillery fire.

The only force capable of the bombardment was the UNSC 203rd Infantry Division stationed on the western edge of the metropolis.

The 087 Unit also reported that they had taken out the artillery battalion of the 203rd Division, and learned that the 203rd Division itself was also in chaos.

UNSC infantry could not distinguish friend from foe, caught in mutual suspicion and slaughter, and even faced a self‑detonating biological weapon attack.

Consequently, the entire Arcadia metropolis also fell into chaos.

As for Ke Li Ge's combat battalion tasked with supporting Leon and Ai Da, the artillery barrage from the 203rd Division damaged their air vehicles, forcing them to travel by ground transport to Zone 04, thus unable to arrive on time.

Moreover, the 087 Unit's garrison was being assaulted by hostile UNSC soldiers, lawmen, and civilians.

With this information, Leon knew he and Ai Da were temporarily isolated, but compared to the 087 Unit's situation, it was nothing.

After all, the two of them had already escaped the believers' pursuit; once they return to the chaotic surface, they need not worry about being chased.

"What's the situation?" Ai Da asked at that moment.

Leon gave no reply, but took over the watch, handed his phone to Ai Da, and let her see the current situation directly.

Ai Da quickly scanned the various data, returned the phone to Leon, and continued toward the surface, worrying:

"Leon, the current situation far exceeds our expectations, especially with that possibly Spiritual Energy‑wielding Fei Er Si present; the 087 Unit alone cannot hold out until company support arrives."

"Don't underestimate Ke Li Ge; once the combat battalion reaches Zone 04, we can attempt a decapitation strike on that Fei Er Si.

Moreover, we have disrupted those scoundrels' plan, showing they are far more panicked than us.

Furthermore, the company's first wave of support consists of units specialized in handling anomalous dimensions; even if we fail, they will not." Leon said calmly.

And while the two were speaking, they had already climbed the ladder, pushed open the manhole cover, and successfully returned to the surface street of Zone 04.

Moreover, this street houses their temporary residence, a blue resort hotel, and from all directions still comes.

"Ah, help! Help!"

"That law officer went mad! He's crazy!"

"Run quickly!"

"Tap! Tap tap!"

Screams and roars, and intermittent gunfire.

The street was filled with panicked people fleeing; a law officer even shot a civilian's thigh off, and even forced the legless civilian to drink an entire bottle of green "thick soup".

Conventional ground vehicles collided with each other, causing a total traffic jam, and the airships in the sky no longer obeyed flight‑path rules, trying to gain altitude to escape the city.

Under the glittering star‑filled night sky, the entire metropolis was engulfed in flames, disorder and chaos dominated, and it no longer resembled the former tourist haven.

(End of chapter)