我连夜飞驰,在一栋又一栋建筑的屋顶之间不断跳跃,终于到达了地图上标记的五个据点之一.
砰.
我落在地上,发出像重物坠落的声音.
然后,我凝视着眼前的要塞.
这个据点是一家大型超市.里面没有灯,一片漆黑.我拿出事先准备好的手电筒,照向它.我看到这家大型超市到处都是破坏的迹象.正门已被拆除,不知所踪.内部也处于混乱状态.即使站在外面,也能看到里面的柜台和架子都破损不堪,地板上坑坑洼洼,仿佛是两支属于不同阵营的现代化力量在这里打过仗.
并且出于某种原因,内部地形有明显的变形痕迹.我所说的不是那种缺少某些东西的变形,而是那种添加了某些东西的变形.有些地方奇怪地鼓起,有些地方变成了扭曲的形状.
这到底是怎么回事?
我认为这要么是一个邪教的据点,要么是病人的据点.但这里既没有邪教成员,也没有病人.只剩下战斗后的废墟.
从后面传来一阵混乱的奔跑声.
我回头看了看.
向我跑来的是几个红眼睛的病人.在我去要塞的路上,他们都被我吸引住了.虽然我足够快地甩开了大部分病人,但仍然有极少数病人跟着来.现在跟随的病人原本都位于超市附近.在我有机会甩开他们之前,我已经到达了要塞.
在夜晚,这双发光的红色眼睛是如此令人毛骨悚然.
他们拿着手头的任何东西制成的武器向我走来.
我知道他们恢复正常的机会非常低.也许他们的余生会这样.但我仍然不打算杀死他们.一方面,我不愿意轻易杀人.另一方面,我有余地处理这种情况而不杀人.如果战斗激烈到我没有回旋余地去坚持,那么就算对手是人,我也不会手下留情.
我一想到,向我走来的病人的脖子上有手印.
三十秒后,之前还充满生机的病人,都被我击倒,失去了知觉.
我拿出黑色的手机,调出短信界面,点击放大短信附带的地图.
一眼望去,我发现了一些奇怪的东西.
There were a total of five strongholds on the map, located in the northwest, northeast, southeast, southwest, and south respectively. They were marked with red crosses. And the position I was currently in was the southwest. But for some reason, the red cross in the southwest had disappeared now. There were only four strongholds left on the map.
Originally there were five strongholds, but now one has disappeared.
Combined with the scenery I saw, it's not hard to deduce that the reason why the southwest stronghold mark on the map disappeared was because this stronghold had been destroyed.
So, who destroyed it?
A name popped up in my mind - Alphonse Elric.
Yes, it's most likely him.
Since both Aoba and I received the text message with instructions from the shadowy figure, this third person should have received it too. Judging from my conversation with the deceased office worker, the third person is a superhero-like character who is keen on doing good deeds. Whether this is a stronghold for the patients or a cult stronghold, he has sufficient motives to destroy it. And he also has powerful superpowers. Judging from his strength, it must be him. The reason why the terrain inside the supermarket became so strange was also because of his superpower that can change the terrain, right?
I just don't know why he has always been reluctant to contact us. Even superheroes sometimes act in teams, right?
I entered this destroyed large supermarket and made a simple investigation.
As a result, I found nothing. There was no one here and no other clues. There were only rubble and dust and the like. The only suspicious thing was that for some reason there was a bonfire in the open space in the center of the supermarket. Now this bonfire has been extinguished and completely cooled.
Since I found nothing, I had to leave the supermarket.
At the main entrance of the supermarket, I took out another ordinary mobile phone and checked the time.
Well, it's still early.
My purpose in coming here was to investigate the stronghold. If it was convenient, I would also carry out the instructions of the shadowy figure and destroy the stronghold. However, the task of destroying the stronghold had been completed by the third person who arrived earlier. Only a large area of ruins left after the battle without any investigative value remained. I didn't have the ability to extract clues from such ruins and analyze the whole situation. This trip was in vain.
If I go back now, it would be too disappointing.
I confirmed the positions of the other strongholds again, turned around, and set off for the stronghold in the south.
...
Forty-five minutes later, I arrived at my destination.
As I leaped on the high rooftops of buildings, I could ignore the winding roads below and head towards my destination at high speed along a straight line. Although there was no stopwatch or speed measuring device, according to my personal feeling, my speed should have reached forty kilometers per hour. Converted into an easy-to-understand statement, it was eleven meters per second, slightly faster than the world sprint record. This speed was naturally far from my limit. But at this moment, what I was doing was a long-distance run that emphasized endurance rather than a short-distance run that emphasized explosiveness. So there was no need to increase the speed to too high a level. Because my running was mainly propelled forward by telekinesis, and my legs were actually only responsible for adjusting my balance. So after running all the way, I only sweated a little.
After stopping, I casually knocked out the few patients who were attracted and then quickly hid in the shadows nearby.
The building forty meters ahead was the stronghold in the south on the map.
This stronghold was a gymnasium. The interior was brightly lit, and there were also several cultists in black robes patrolling outside, completely different from the supermarket stronghold I found earlier.
Sure enough, the strongholds on the map were all established by cultists.
To avoid being discovered and alerting them, I had to observe secretly for the time being.
The cultists patrolling around the gymnasium were different from the person who attacked me with fireballs during the day. The black robes they wore had no red totem patterns. They were just plain black. And they also didn't wear masks, and their faces were exposed.
I didn't know if they could shoot fireballs or use other kinds of supernatural powers.
I thought it should not be the case - I must admit that at least thirty percent of this thought was due to my own mentality of not wanting to see supernatural powers proliferate. I hoped that people who could use supernatural powers were rare. In this way, I naturally stood on the rare side. I didn't know how to describe this mentality in detail. How should I put it? It was as if as long as people like me were rare, scarce, and countable, I was noble... No, saying this would be going too far. I didn't think I was noble. I just didn't want to become cheap. Yes, I figured it out. Having supernatural powers may not necessarily be noble. But once it proliferates, it will definitely become cheap. And superpowers are my only specialty. So I couldn't accept a decrease in its value.
By the way, did I really think I wasn't noble? There was no one around who could read minds now. I wouldn't say what was on my mind. There was no need to deceive myself because of shame. Looking back on the past, my inferiority when I didn't have superpowers, the excitement when I awakened my superpowers, and the way I looked at people around me later... Didn't I think I was superior?
Because I had superpowers, I thought I was superior. This arrogance and narrow-mindedness were something I despised. But it seemed to lurk in my heart.
No, what was I thinking? Now the matter of investigating the stronghold should take priority, right?
I shook off my thoughts and returned to the current situation.
There were two cultists stationed at the main entrance of the gymnasium. They didn't seem to be slacking off and were standing guard very seriously. It was also very easy to sneak into the gymnasium by bypassing them. As long as I entered through a window. But I didn't intend to go in hastily now.
I circled around halfway and quietly came to the back of the gymnasium and targeted the cultists patrolling in pairs.
They were shining flashlights around and patrolling seriously.
After checking the vicinity and confirming that no one else was looking this way, I used telekinesis and grabbed the necks of these two people.
They immediately suffocated.
Before losing consciousness, they tried to make some small movements and make noises to attract other cultists to come here. But I wasn't careless. I immediately suppressed their small movements with telekinesis and made them unable to move. Eventually, they lost consciousness powerlessly.
After that, I carried these two people to a convenience store hundreds of meters away and woke them up with mineral water.
They woke up, saw me, and wanted to attack me. But they had already been tied up by me with ropes and couldn't even stand up.
"Who are you?"
"Let us go. Do you know what consequences this will bring!"
"Okay, no more nonsense." I said. "Tell me, did you guys cause the disaster in Beaver City."
"So what if it was us?" One of them sneered.
Although captured by me, their attitude was very arrogant.
I immediately kicked this person in the face.
To clarify, I really don't have a violent tendency. I did this just to emphasize my superior position and gain a psychological advantage in the upcoming interrogation.
"It seems you still don't know your situation." After I said that to him, I looked at the other person. "I hope you are more honest than him. Tell me, did you guys cause the disaster in Beaver City? Yes or no. I only allow you to give these two answers."
"Yes." The other person looked at me expressionlessly. "So what if you know? You... and others, sooner or later, will all become nourishment for the god."
"The minions of the messenger refer to people with red-eye disease, right?" I continued to ask. "Then, what is the messenger?"
"The messenger is not a thing." The person I kicked was lying on the ground and said. "The messenger is... the gastric juice of the god. It turns a group of sinners into its own sharp teeth and fangs and kills another group of sinners... The messenger is both by the side of the god and inside the minions..."
What he said was so mysterious and hard to understand.
I simply digested this passage and tentatively understood that the messenger was something similar to a virus. It could turn ordinary people into patients.
"Is it because this city is inside the stomach of the god that we can't leave Beaver City?" I asked.
"You know quite a lot." The other person looked indifferent. "Yes, the stomach of the god is in a different dimension from the real world."
"Soon... all the sinners in Beaver City will either become minions or be killed by minions..." The guy I kicked let out a creepy laugh. "When there are only minions left in the city, the minions will commit suicide. At that time... the digestion of the god will be completed."
In other words, his meaning was that if there were only patients left in the city, the patients would commit suicide and no one would be able to survive.
Considering that red-eye disease cannot be prevented, this situation seemed to be only a matter of time.
"How can we prevent red-eye disease?" I asked.
Both of them were silent.
They were still answering my questions very honestly before. It seemed that they had submitted to the situation. But now it seemed that this was not the case. Probably they just thought that it didn't matter even if they told me those things. So they told me.
"How can we leave the stomach of the god?" I asked again.
Both of them remained silent.
It seemed that I had to use some extreme methods.
...
Two hours later, my interrogation ended in failure.
During the interrogation process, I used some... inhumane methods. For example, by adding external injuries of different degrees at different positions, I caused them pain. Or I grabbed their necks with telekinesis and gave them only one or two seconds of breathing time during the process. This made them be in a painful state of not getting enough oxygen for a long time. Or I separated them into two different rooms. After a while, I told one of them that your partner has already confessed. So it's useless for you to resist stubbornly. This was a psychological tactic of sowing discord. In short, to get the information I wanted, I used many methods, but all failed.
Even in torturing others, I didn't have any special talent. I only used the content I saw on the Internet in the past.
"It's... useless..." One of them was already covered in blood and delirious but still didn't yield to me.
Obviously, I was the one torturing others. But at this moment, I felt a chill.
To be honest, during these two hours, my mentality had gone awry. Torturing others with torture would also have a great negative effect on my own psychology. In the future, I would definitely not forget what I did here today. I even felt that it was necessary for me to see a psychologist. If it wasn't for the great pressure of red-eye disease on me, I wouldn't have done such a thing. But it was too late to say this now. And it felt like I was looking for an excuse for my evil deeds.
They were members of the cult gang that turned Beaver City into a living hell. They deserved to be tortured. But what about me who used such means?
I didn't regret hurting them. I just felt that after doing such a thing, I was no longer the me I used to be.
At this time, I thought of Yukio again. When she tried to shoot the people in the institute, I stopped her. I was afraid that after killing people, her mentality would completely go awry and she would never be able to return to her former self. But now I lacked someone to stop me. I didn't suddenly realize that I had gone awry until after I had done it.
It was like crossing a moral bottom line that shouldn't be crossed. Before crossing it, I couldn't see it. After crossing it, I could see it. Some things that are taken for granted are only clearly felt when they are lost.
The two people I tortured stared at me coldly.
I left here. Before leaving, I conveniently killed them.
Cutting the weeds and eradicating the roots... This statement is not quite right. Although it was indeed cutting the weeds and eradicating the roots, but the psychological motivation for me to kill them was more to destroy the evidence. I felt a deep aversion to myself who tortured others and extremely rejected the fact that this matter was known to others.
...
After leaving the convenience store where I interrogated those two people, I came to the periphery of the gymnasium stronghold. I used telekinesis to make myself float up and entered through a second-floor window.
I entered a bright locker room. There was a cultist sitting on a bench and resting inside.
The moment I entered, he immediately noticed me and was about to shout.
Before he could make a sound, I grabbed his neck with telekinesis and knocked him out.
Then, I put on the black robe worn by this cultist, left the locker room, and walked onto an empty corridor.
I didn't know the internal structure of the gymnasium, so I just randomly chose a direction to walk.
On the way, I encountered another cultist. I should have walked with my head down and not let him see my face. But out of a testing mentality, I deliberately let him see my face and passed by him openly. As a result, he didn't realize that I wasn't a member of this cult stronghold.
If he had noticed, I would have dealt with him before he could make a sound.
The result of this test showed that the cultists in the stronghold were actually not familiar with each other. As long as I wore the cultist's clothes, I could pass through without covering my face.
Of course, to avoid encountering someone who could remember the faces of everyone in the stronghold because of having an exceptionally good memory, I still maintained a cautious style and walked through this stronghold.
There were not many cultists inside the stronghold. Only one could be seen occasionally in the corridor.
After a brief observation and combined with the experience of capturing those two people before, I could almost be certain... Ordinary cultists didn't have supernatural powers. The person I met during the day was an exception. He was probably a senior member of this cult.
In addition, I also discovered another thing.
The interior of this gymnasium was somehow dilapidated and there were many signs of destruction. It was as if a fierce battle had taken place not long ago. And there were also many deformed traces on the floor and walls here. Yes, it was the kind of deformation I saw in the supermarket stronghold. A dozen cultists were responsible for cleaning up the rubble and filling in the gaps, trying to restore this place to its original state.
The deceased office worker mentioned that Alphonse Elric had the superpower to change the terrain... The destruction scenery of the supermarket stronghold and the situation here were all consistent with the description of this superpower.
Had he been here?
But here had not been completely destroyed and was still functioning as a stronghold... That is to say, had he failed?
Could he have died here?
He was a natural ally of Aoba and me and had good strength. If he died, it would really be bad news.
I passed through another corridor and came to an indoor basketball court with spectator stands.
This place was empty. Only a burly man with his upper body naked was sitting on the floor in the center of the basketball court. There was a raging bonfire in front of him.
My intuition told me: This person was very dangerous and definitely not an ordinary cultist.
Most likely a senior member.I immediately took cover and hid myself.
There was only him here, with no other cultists in sight. This indicated that perhaps this was a place where ordinary cult members were not allowed entry. If I were to be discovered, I would surely be questioned, and that would be rather difficult to handle.
While remaining hidden, I crouched and moved stealthily until I reached the front row of the spectator stands.
Since this might be a place off-limits to ordinary cult members, the likelihood of it harboring secrets was quite high. My intention in entering this gymnasium stronghold was to conduct an investigation, and naturally, I couldn't let such a suspicious place slip by.
I turned my gaze towards the bonfire.
It was only upon getting closer that I noticed, rather inexplicably, a crudely made iron sword stuck right in the middle of the bonfire, its blade glowing red-hot.
"This is a node of the ritual." The burly man suddenly spoke up.
Who was he talking to?
"The ritual has a total of five nodes, distributed in the northwest, northeast, southeast, southwest, and south of Beaver City, forming an inverted pentagram shape." The burly man continued, "As long as three of the five nodes are destroyed, along with the most crucial core, the ritual can be dismantled and Beaver City can be saved..."
I surveyed the vicinity but found no one to whom he could be speaking.
Nevertheless, he had indeed revealed quite a lot of interesting information. Could destroying three of the five nodes and the core really save Beaver City? Did that mean it was possible to liberate Beaver City from the stomach of the god?
If so, that would truly be wonderful news.
"The armored man named Alphonse Elric, who came to this stronghold before, asked me some questions, and this was the answer I gave him at that time." The burly man went on speaking, "I thought... you might ask the same questions too, so I'm telling you in advance, lest you die with regrets. Right? The one hiding in the spectator stands?"
I was instantly startled. Was he actually talking to me?
However, could he be trying to trick me? I mean, although he had sensed my presence, he might not actually know my exact location, so he was attempting to lure me out by speaking.
I couldn't act rashly.
"My spell is one of physical enhancement." The burly man said slowly, "My colleagues' first impression of this spell is that it boosts strength and defense. But in fact... it's not limited to that. This spell can also enhance my visual, auditory, olfactory, and other... sensory abilities are also part of physical capabilities, and I can now hear the extra heartbeats here, smell the extra body odors here, and even pinpoint their locations."
Suddenly, he looked in my direction.
"Stop hiding and come out."
"..."
It seemed he wasn't trying to trick me.
I stood up and faced him.
"So, you've disguised yourself as one of us?" He looked at the black robe I was wearing. "This attire suits you quite well, don't you think?"
"I don't think so." I readied myself for battle.
"Such a pity." He said.
Then, he also stood up and assumed a powerful boxing stance.
"Then, let's have a showdown!"