Chapter 158

"It's me."

Li Cheng nodded in agreement; without using worm genes to alter his appearance, his outward form was still that of the manga artist Jiang Wanyong.

"How come you—"

Jiang Shaoxi glanced at the sci-fi-looking mechanical arm on Li Cheng's back, the rusted cleaver weighing dozens of kilograms in his hand, then at the motorcycle beneath him radiating a sinister, malevolent aura, and fell into incoherence.

"A lot has happened these past few months. In short, I made a pact with aliens and became a Masked Rider safeguarding justice and peace."

Li Cheng delivered the lie without blinking, causing the prosecutor beside him to silently scoff inside.

So having a motorcycle makes you a Masked Rider, huh? And he's not even wearing full armor. As for safeguarding justice—that's nonsense; he slaughtered the members of the Mind Cult in the building with ease. No fool would believe this.

Jiang Shaoxi paused, then nodded. "Oh, I see."

She actually believed it.

The prosecutor felt thunder rolling in his skull and his ass clenched tight—he didn't know Li Cheng had quietly activated the 【Misleading Slander】 skill, temporarily boosting his charm.

"You're safe. That's all that matters."

Li Cheng hesitated, then asked, "Anyway, why did the Mind Cult kidnap you? And why did they call you the Divine Maiden? Where is your child?"

Jiang Shaoxi had been held in a solitary room with personal attendants, and given the Mind Cult's massive effort to fabricate corpse models to close the missing persons case, their attitude toward her seemed… respectful?

Otherwise, they could've simply kidnapped Jiang Wanyong, who had been relentlessly investigating the disappearances, stuffed him into an empty gasoline drum, poured in cement, and dumped him into the sea.

"…"

At the mention of this, Jiang Shaoxi bit her lip and whispered, "Husband, you know I had an older sister, Jiang Zhihui, who died at fourteen."

"We were born together, and since childhood, we could see things others couldn't perceive or understand—ghosts, malevolent spirits, even other people's doomsday."

Jiang Shaoxi's voice was strained. "Our parents didn't believe in religion and forbade us from speaking of such things. Zhihui wanted me to step forward and prove I could see the same strange things she saw, but I retreated at the time, causing her to be confined to a psychiatric hospital for delusions; four years later, she committed suicide."

Jiang Shaoxi had only mentioned to her husband that she had a deceased elder sister, never the specific cause of death. She whispered, "After she died, I lost that ability—until four months ago, I heard her voice again."

"Wait, four months ago?"

Li Cheng calculated the timeline: four months ago, Jiang Wanyong and his wife's eldest daughter, Jiang Meixi, died in the Sewol ferry disaster; going further back, the year Zhihui died was precisely when the Mind Cult was founded.

"Yes," Jiang Shaoxi said bitterly. "She told me she didn't hate me. After death, she saw a broader world and understood her mission—the end of the world is near. She and I are Divine Maidens sent down from Heaven to guide those worthy mortals back to Heaven. And since I'm a Celestial, my daughter couldn't remain in this world either."

Uh…

Li Cheng didn't react to this madness; Korea was already a bizarre country draped in modernity, with underground cults more absurd than the last.

"To guide the worthy mortals back to Heaven to escape the end of the world… so the Mind Cult was actually founded by your sister behind the scenes."

Li Cheng deduced the truth, his composure unchanged. "And since Celestials cannot remain in this world, the Mind Cult orchestrated the ferry disaster—killing Meixi during her high school graduation trip."

"That…"

The prosecutor, who had been listening silently, rose from the ground, embarrassed. "I'm a prosecutor from the Seoul Prosecutors' Office—not aligned with Liu Chengzhe and his crew. I've been undercover, gathering evidence to bring them down."

"Lately, I've also heard rumors from Cheong Wa Dae: the President frequently visits a private club to secretly meet a pregnant high school girl discussing the end of the world."

【Secondary Objective "Locate Jiang Shaoxi" completed】

【You may now exit the script world, or accept the next-stage objective】

【Tertiary Objective: Go to the Bukhansan Club, kill Jiang Zhihui】

【Reward 1: 800 XP】

【Reward 2: 1000 Game Coins】

Hidden objective?

Li Cheng, receiving this system notification for the first time, froze—what came next stunned him even more.

【Reward 3: Randomly seize the highest-quality item or skill from Jiang Zhihui's inventory】

?!

Li Cheng took a deep breath. Jiang Zhihui, his wife's younger sister, dead since age fourteen yet returned by unknown means, was undoubtedly an extraordinary being.

She could exist as a spirit, detached from her physical body, travel from Korea to Japan, secretly manipulate the founding of the Mind Cult, and influence countless people. She could even create paper spirit-summoning talismans, allowing ordinary humans to summon demons.

But the term used in Reward 3 was "inventory."

A concept exclusive to players—pointing to an undeniable fact: Jiang Zhihui was a player certified by the Killing Field System.

【Time Limit: 2 hours】

【Failure Penalty: None】

【Accept?】

The system announcement ended. Li Cheng exhaled slowly and asked Jiang Shaoxi, "Can you still walk?"

"Yes."

"Drive to this address. I'll meet you within two hours."

Li Cheng showed Jiang Shaoxi the map on his phone, then turned to the prosecutor, rifling through his wallet, business card, and ID. "You're Prosecutor Kim, right? I need you to escort her. I've recorded your information—if anything happens to her, I'll find you and kill you."

A bland threat, yet spoken by him, carried unmatched conviction.

The prosecutor's heart stopped for several seconds; he nodded with difficulty.

Seeing Li Cheng remount his motorcycle, Jiang Shaoxi instinctively asked, "Where are you going?"

"Do you have to ask?" Li Cheng pressed the button; as the engine roared, he smiled. "To fulfill a father's duty."

Amid the screams of the riverside crowd, the heavily armored vehicle burst down the embankment, roaring northward across the river's surface, spewing thick smoke.