Chapter 979: , to sacrifice everyone on board!

When Eto Miyabi woke up, a dull pain throbbed at the back of her head, as if someone were lightly tapping the inside of her skull with a hammer. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was—she was not on the floor of the storage closet, not in the refrigerator, not in that large office-like room, not in any familiar cabin on the ship. She was in a cabin about thirty square meters in size, illuminated by dim candlelight, the walls covered in dark velvet cloth, the floor laid with old tatami mats, and the air filled with the scent of sandalwood and some underlying aroma like the musty smell of old books.

She moved her wrists and found that she was fixed to a wooden cross.

The transverse beam supported her arms, the upright beam pressed against her spine, her wrists and ankles bound with wide black leather straps, tied not too tightly but firmly enough. The cross itself was leaned diagonally against the wall, allowing her to barely see the layout of the entire room.

Four thick candles burned in the center of the room, their flames quietly flickering in the windless interior, occasionally jumping.

Five people dressed in black hunting robes stood in a loose semicircle facing her direction. Their hunting robes were deep, nearly ink-black, with wide sleeves and white linings visible at the collars.

Each person wore a black horn hat on their head, the brim pressed low, shading their brows and eyes. Each held a paper lantern in hand, emitting a dim yellow light from within, while others cradled white skulls—the texture of which did not look human, but more like that of a slightly larger beast. Eto Miyabi took a deep breath.

She was not gagged.

"You……" she began, her voice slightly hoarse but quickly steadying: "Who are you? I warn you, this is FIFA conduct! You are FIFA detaining! FIFA assault! I am a social celebrity! I have filed with NHK! And I know Uesugi Muneyuki! I have gone missing, he will surely find me!"

"Such things, no matter how, are irrelevant." The black-clothed person nearest to her slightly lifted his head, candlelight illuminating his jawline. It was the voice of a middle-aged man, low and smooth, carrying a rhythm close to that of a monk chanting sutras: "We are drifters, Miss Eto. Walking between the seams of the world, seeking the path back to the mother body."

"When we lost our mother, became a fleeting visitor in this cold universe, a people without homeland, we began to call ourselves drifters. We four have always sought the traces of the Mother God. Unfortunately, she abandoned us long ago."

Another person said: "She once loved us so deeply that, in a sense, she was our mother, the source of all our vitality and passion, but now only desire, sex, and addictive substances remain."

"Mother body? Who is your mother?"

"Shikirui An." That voice said: "Or, using the name you are more familiar with—Svwian. The old god of love and desire, born from the warmth of humanity's first embrace. The pool is that very moment."

Eto Miyabi's mind quickly ran through the sentences she had seen in the documents last night: "………Not just Shikirui An, right? You mentioned other names in the documents. The destructive god-form Golgos? The perfect ascendant born in the first year AD? The Abyssal God? The Moon God?" She blurted out those names in one breath, trying to extract more information from their reactions.

Several black-clothed individuals exchanged glances. Another voice spoke—somewhat younger, with a hint of offended sharpness: "You know quite a bit. But you do not know that Shikirui An is merely one gate. The old gods are a net, each a knot on the net. Touch one, and you can follow the ropes to touch all the others."

"Old gods? Is that your goal? What exactly do you want to obtain?" Eto Miyabi could not help but continue asking.

"Old gods are the laws and origins of the world's operation, but since they departed, the world has been gradually decaying and rotting, and they left humanity without guidance or aid, only leaving behind a golden throne. Those who ascend the throne can become new gods, but that is all, and the power of new gods is easily exhausted and fades away. Humanity, this great race, always moves toward decay and decline, and the noble virtues humanity possesses are gradually replaced by capital and baseness."

"Society is losing vitality, everyone only wants to stay home in air-conditioned rooms playing Nirvana, birthrates keep falling, humanity keeps refusing communication and interaction, we believe this cannot continue."

"People need freedom, people also do not need freedom."

"People need miracles, need navigators, the former emperor was the navigator appointed by the old gods, but now the imperial family has long since decayed, the former Ruler of Heaven is now either a Tang person or a coward."

The leading tall, thin man said calmly: "It is time to make a change, either to let the old gods return, or to give birth to new deities, since that person in Kansai can do it, I too can certainly do it."

"Then why did you seize me? I am an anchor, not a police officer. I have no enforcement authority over your affairs. Let me go, I promise not to report—" "You saw last night's documents, the Bible of the Flesh." The middle-aged man interrupted her: "You have already seen what you should not have seen. Moreover—unfortunately—our originally prepared sacrificial vessel for tonight has already been taken away by the Japan Coast Guard. That worker in the cold storage, whom we painstakingly brought aboard, is the 'anchor's' first layer. Now the anchor is gone, yet the ship must still sail."

"We call this 'Shimura's Folly'."

He paused, stepped closer to Eto Miyabi, the lantern light falling on her face, making her skin appear especially pallid in the dimness. "You are fortunate, Miss Eto. You will take his place, becoming the new sacrificial vessel."

Eto Miyabi's breath caught for an instant: "What does that mean?"

"Tonight, Asuka 11 will pass through the Kuroshio Current. It is one of the narrowest waterways in the Setouchi Sea, deep water, rapid flow, steep banks. That is where the 'gate' is thinnest. We will detonate the pre-placed small explosives in the lower deck cargo hold, creating a list to the ship, letting this vessel reenact his pause—he paused, as if reciting a line that had been recited countless times.

"The trajectory of Ise-go. That time, we were only one step away from success. Fear had already taken shape, death had already begun to gather, but nearby foolish Korean barbarians……Despite the Korean government and Korean Coast Guard repeatedly warning the cargo and civilian ships coming to assist to leave, to roll far away, not to obstruct this revelry, some foolish fellows still rushed in and disrupted the ritual site."

Sewol-go?!

Eto Miyabi instantly recalled one of the largest maritime disasters in Korean history from a few years ago!

Moreover, in this matter, the Korean government and Korean Coast Guard, including the very strange behavior of President Park Kakaka, have always left people bewildered—they not only failed to actively rescue, but seemed almost as if they deliberately wanted the incident to occur, wanting the two hundred students on board to meet with misfortune on purpose! Even after Kakaka finally took office and conducted a thorough investigation, many mysteries remain incomprehensible, but at this point time has passed for several years, many things have become utterly impossible to investigate.

So it really is this bunch?!

"This time, with you as a purer vessel, with Shikirui An's recent blessing accepted, we will not fail. The fear and death of thousands of passengers will be absorbed by the Watchman, and the realm of the new god will be reached this night."

"Have you given birth? Right? Very good, very good!"

Eto Miyabi's head buzzed.

She had thought these people might be smugglers, fraudsters, money launderers—even possibly a cult—but she had not imagined their target was the lives of an entire ship's passengers. She wanted to say something, wanted to curse them as mad, but her throat felt stuffed with cotton. She felt a wave of icy despair crawl up from the soles of her feet, spreading along her spine to her fingertips.

She could not move, could not escape. No one knew she was here.

Uesugi Muneyuki probably thought she was just on the ship conducting her own investigation, Shirakawa Mai was polite to her but obviously did not want much interaction, and Shimura Sayuri, that silly girl, had no idea what kind of person her boyfriend was.

Eto Miyabi closed her eyes and opened them again.

She felt a bit regretful, truly!

She should not have come!

Ugh! I am still young, I do not want to die yet! I really do not want to be some kind of sacrifice! I only want to rise high in office and make a fortune! I only want to mingle with Tokyo's upper-class society as a socialite trophy wife, I……

As she thought, she swiftly observed the entire room—where the door was, whether the window offered a possible escape, whether the spacing between the candles was sufficient for her to break free and create chaos after.

However, there was no opportunity.

Moreover, these people have guns!

Have guns!

Even Uesugi Muneyuki does not have guns! But these people have guns! This shows that even if Uesugi Muneyuki could deduce her whereabouts and find her trail, he would be powerless, even in danger!!

"Even if our martial arts are superb, we cannot match foreign guns!"

One《Jingwu Yingxiong》Huo Yuanjia

What to do, what to do?

Eto Miyabi observed for over ten minutes, her gaze caught by a detail.

She silently counted the number of black-clothed people in the room in her heart.

Five.

No way?

Just now, the speakers were two voices, while those standing before the cross in black hunting robes were indeed five.

But Eto Miyabi clearly remembered that the middle-aged man had just said "we four."

"We four drifters, we have found the path back"—that sentence she heard crystal clear.

She glanced again at those five figures with the corner of her eye, confirming she had not miscounted.

How come there are five people?

Yet they themselves said they were four.

Is there an extra person?

Although it's normal for the Four Heavenly Kings to have five members, but...

The extra person stood at the far left end of the semicircle.

Her figure appeared somewhat petite beneath the wide hunting robe, her lantern-holding posture steady, her stance as silent as the others, her hat brim pressed low just like theirs.

Judging by appearance alone, she differed in no way from the other four—yet her position was slightly off, as if she had just joined the team and hadn't fully settled into their formation habits.

Could she be a newcomer?

Shimura Sayuri? She joined too?

She merely shifted her gaze away from that direction, refocusing on the middle-aged man, summoning all her strength to make her voice sound both fearful and obedient: "... When do you plan to act?"

"At moonrise tonight," the middle-aged man said. "You will become the first fissure touched by the Watchman when the 'Gate' opens, reaching toward the Old Gods. Wait in silence, Miss Higashitani. Your death will be the first cornerstone of the New World."

He turned around, gesturing for the other black-clothed people to disperse. The candle flames were extinguished one by one, the lantern light moving with footsteps toward a dark door in the cabin corner: "Before then, enjoy your final moments to the fullest, Miss Higashitani."

"Don't grieve—your sacrifice is necessary, valuable, inevitable."

"Your soul—you should feel honored. To become the divine vessel for the birth of the New God is a privilege not everyone possesses. 'Tonight, you will witness the birth of the New God, the Fear and Death God!'"

"Raise a salute cannon for the birth of the New God! Cheers!"

"Cheers!!!"

The last person vanished behind the dark door.

The room plunged into darkness.