Chapter 1 The Troublesome Sun-Worshippers

The massive, heavy mechanical spider folded its long limbs, retracting them to its abdomen, and used the wheel structures on the outside of its limbs to glide rapidly along the straight road. Inquisitor Vanna stood firmly as if she were cast onto the carapace of this mechanical creation. The night wind, carrying a faint scent of the sea, swept across the street, and the cold air cleared her mind.

Those sun-worshipping cultists were a major threat to modern civilization—and unfortunately, they were not the only such threat.

There were always malicious gazes cast from the depths of the sub-space upon the mortal realm, and there were always foolish mortals who妄图染指 (wàng tú rǎn zhǐ – recklessly try to obtain) those ominous powers. And between the collusion of these ancient gods and mortals, there were twisted things, forbidden offspring, and contaminated remnants that had been lost from ancient times, lurking in the depths of the city-states, constantly eager to stir and to undermine the social order.

Of all these threats, the followers of the Sun God were the most alarming and troublesome to the protectors of Prand City-State.

They were not only cultists but also a product of a lost history from a certain part of the Old World. Compared to most foolish and blindly devoted cults, the most dangerous aspect of these heretics who worshipped the Dark Sun was that they possessed a certain "belief"—albeit fanatical and distorted, and despite the motley crew that made up their lower ranks, there was indeed a "core belief" among the higher echelons of this detestable sect that had remained unchanged for thousands of years.

This belief revolved around the "Era of Order" illuminated by the sun of old. It not only formed a system in itself but even possessed a corresponding "True Solar Calendar" that was not recognized by modern civilization. They firmly believed that they were descendants of a long-lost ancient civilization and that this glorious ancient civilization would surely be revived.

As an Inquisitor of the Deep Sea Church, Vanna had little interest in the cultists' fallacies, but she knew that it was the existence of these fallacies that gave the Sun God's followers a unity and stubbornness far exceeding that of other heretics, allowing them to survive repeated blows and to grow day and night in the shadows of many city-states.

However, their resurgence in Prand was still somewhat unexpected to Vanna.

Since the unprecedented crackdown four years ago, the Sun God's followers in Prand City-State had been severely weakened. According to several investigation reports, those heretics should have already transferred their main members to the nearby Lensa, Moker, or even the more distant Cold Harbor City-States. What remained in Prand were basically just some bewitched and stubborn rabble who were not qualified to transfer with the Bishopric.

These lackeys hid in the sewers, relying entirely on their understanding of the underworld and the twisted blessings that the Black Sun gave them to evade the pursuit of the guardians. For four years, their numbers had dwindled, and all they could do was苟延残喘 (gǒu yán cán chuǎn – eke out a miserable existence).

But today, four years later, they had suddenly gathered again, even daring to hold a sacrificial ceremony in the assembly ground at the risk of exposure... Who gave them the courage?

Or rather... what major event was about to happen in this city-state? What reason could be compelling enough to make those cultists risk extinguishing their last spark of life just to draw the Black Sun's gaze to Prand?

The mechanical spider vibrated and hummed with the constant operation of its steam core, and a faint scent of lavender wafted from the steam relief pipe, carried by the night wind. Vanna temporarily put aside the random thoughts in her mind and looked up at the sky.

"World's Creation" hung high in the night sky, its pale light illuminating the varying heights of Prand City's houses, chimneys, and towers. The action squad was now passing through the edge of the industrial district, and the huge steam and hot liquid pipelines that spanned the factories resembled the veins of a giant running across the sky above the street.

Vanna vaguely recalled the past, recalling the deepest and most terrifying night in her memory—on that blood-soaked midnight, her uncle carried her to escape from the sea of fire, the streets were full of zombies and shadows of flesh and blood, who were trapped in a collective hallucination. They fled from the factory's pipelines, the smell of blood and the chemical grease seeping from the pipes was sickening…

The mechanical spider beneath her suddenly vibrated, and Vanna woke from her memories.

The flat road had come to an end, and ahead was the abandoned area on the edge of the city. The road surface was pitted, undulating, and uneven. The two mechanical spiders ended their gliding mode, extended their long limbs, and began to walk quickly on the rough road.

Before long, the squad arrived at an abandoned sewer entrance.

Another eight-person team was already on standby, sealing off the surrounding area to prevent irrelevant personnel from approaching the entrance.

Vanna greeted her subordinates here and then followed the person in charge of the scene directly into the depths of the sewer.

Passing through the deep tunnel and the dirty path, Vanna finally arrived at the secret assembly ground—here, she saw more guardian warriors and church priests performing a purification ceremony.

A temporary altar was located in the center of the assembly ground. The wooden platform seemed to have been burned by flames. On the platform, one could still see the blasphemous totems erected by the Sun God's cultists—the totems had been destroyed by fire, but their basic structure remained intact.

Around the platform were dozens of cultists who were bound and squatting on the ground. Most of them were trembling, and a few were moving their lips, silently mumbling their blasphemous prayers.

But with the ritual site having been destroyed and the Goddess of Storms having already focused her attention here, these heretics' prayers were completely useless.

Not far from the altar were the remains of the victims found in the nearby caves. These miserable victims were placed on rune-covered linen cloths, and the hastily arrived morticians were examining the condition of each corpse.

Several church priests were walking around the altar, the copper chains in their hands swaying slightly, and the incense burners at the ends of the chains emitted a pure white smoke. When the smoke touched the ground near the altar, it was immediately stained with an ominous black shadow, and more pure white smoke would take away the contamination—the aura left here by the Black Sun would be gradually removed in this process.

"Inquisitor, please come this way, this is where we found something wrong," the young guardian said, pointing to several corpses next to the altar, "Please be careful, the ground here is not very clean."

Vanna walked directly to the corpses, and after seeing the condition of one of them, she frowned subconsciously.

It was a cultist wearing a golden mask—undoubtedly, the priest directly responsible for the sacrificial ceremony on this blasphemous sacrificial site.

There was a terrifying hole in his chest.

"...What happened?" Vanna frowned, "Did this fanatical heretic become too excited at the end of the ceremony and sacrifice himself as well? I've never heard of those cultists who worship the Black Sun having such rules."

"That's the strange thing—he didn't sacrifice himself," the guardian who brought Vanna shook his head immediately, with a slightly strange expression on his face, "According to the cultists caught on the scene... their 'emissary' was sacrificed by a sacrificial offering..."

"Sacrificed by a sacrificial offering?" Vanna raised her eyebrows, "What kind of madness is this?"

"It does sound like madness," the guardian spread his hands helplessly, "In fact, when we arrived, most of the cultists here were indeed in a semi-mad state."

"Already in a semi-mad state?"

"Yes, their sacrificial ceremony obviously had a major flaw. Many people were infected with madness, and even many people had begun to砍杀 (kǎn shā – hack and kill) each other. They all seemed to regard each other as... 'monsters' occupied by some terrifying thing. It was precisely because they rushed out of the assembly ground in madness that they alarmed the nearby patrolling constables, leading to the exposure of the situation... When we arrived, there were not many people left who could remain conscious and answer questions, and those few who could still speak fluently insisted that the sacrificial offering sacrificed the emissary."

"Fallen into madness? Killing each other? And thinking others are possessed monsters?" Vanna's expression immediately became serious, "Have you done an examination? Is it the result of being contaminated by the Black Sun?"

"No traces of external contamination were found, it's more like a spontaneous madness—the factors leading to madness are rooted in their own spiritual world," the guardian said, raising his finger to point to a young woman in a black dress who was walking among the cultists, "Ms. Heidi has arrived. If it is confirmed that these cultists are not contaminated by the Black Sun, we can only think of ways to use hypnotism."