The executive's figure grew increasingly faint.
It was a sign of some kind of spatial transfer. The Captain had seen it many times before; in various mission worlds, cautious Reincarnators often used this method to escape when they encountered danger.
However, this executive was more composed and elegant, his face even carrying a hint of mockery.
“What did you mean by that?” the Captain questioned loudly.
The executive smiled broadly, like a fox that had just stolen a chicken leg.
“It means exactly what it sounds like.”
He scrutinized the three people present as if they were interesting test subjects, then added another cryptic remark:
“Thank you for the contribution you are about to make to Deep Blue Route.”
As his voice fell, his figure was about to vanish completely.
The Captain's heart skipped two beats.
He didn't understand the meaning behind those words.
But his subconscious was screaming in alarm. It certainly wasn't anything good; it was absolutely dripping with malice.
“Stop right there!” the Captain roared and lunged forward, but it was already too late.
The executive's smile grew even more brilliant.
Then, the smile froze.
He failed to leave as intended and remained where he was.
‘What’s happening?’ A tidal wave of shock surged through the executive's heart.
The badge he had just crushed was a high-grade escape item provided by the group, capable of spatial transfer to teleport the user back to a safe house.
He had used it many times before and had never failed.
Why? Why didn't it work this time?
The Captain was also stunned. He looked at the executive, then at his surroundings, as a sudden chill invaded his body.
The demon man and the vampire were becoming even more frenzied.
The demon man's eyes had completely transformed into horizontal goat-like pupils. Snarls erupted from his throat, his body swelling violently as the sulfurous smell grew heavier.
The vampire clutched his head with both hands, his body trembling as he muttered incessantly, sounding like prayers or perhaps delusions.
Just then, a hand reached out from behind the executive and grabbed him by the back of the neck.
The executive's body went rigid, and cold sweat poured down his face.
A lazy voice reached his ears.
“I'm also very curious to know what you meant by those words~”
The executive turned his head desperately, catching a glimpse of a face in his peripheral vision.
Long black hair, exceptionally handsome, yet possessing an utterly non-human feel. He held a silver-grey snow leopard in his arms and was looking at him with a smile.
The executive's heart pounded wildly.
He didn't recognize this person.
But he instinctively felt a fear—an uncontrollable dread that seeped from the depths of his bone marrow.
“You...”
He tried to speak while his internal supernatural power surged frantically, attempting to break free from that hand.
The executive's reason overcame his fear.
He was attempting to resist.
After all, he was one of the decision-makers of Deep Blue Route. How could someone who had reached such a position surrender easily?
A blinding light erupted from his body—the automatic reaction of some kind of defensive occult item.
The light exploded.
And then...
Crack.
He heard a crisp snap.
His left arm was broken.
“Ah!”
Before the scream could fully leave his mouth, there was another crisp snap.
Crack.
His right arm was broken.
Crack, crack.
The executive had only offered a moment of resistance before Yue Shi broke all four of his limbs.
He was now like a puddle of mud, his original elegance and composure gone, replaced only by shrill screams.
Yue Shi let go, allowing him to slump onto the ground, the smile still on his face.
“Now tell me, what did those words mean?”
The executive trembled with pain, but he showed no sign of yielding, his gaze fierce.
“Don't... don't even think about it...”
Yue Shi raised an eyebrow and gently placed a hand on top of the executive's head.
“You won't talk?”
“That's okay.”
“I have plenty of ways to make you open your mouth.”
Standing not far away, the Captain's face turned pale as he witnessed this scene.
He recognized that long-haired man—it was the human form of the Unknown Evil God from Sub-mission 3 issued by the Lord God!
Ever since this person appeared, the demon man had completely lost control.
The demon man had once exchanged for an Abyssal Demon bloodline in the Lord God Space, but that bloodline was being stimulated by something unknown.
At this moment, he had completely lost his human form, transforming into a demon over two meters tall. Sulfurous fire burned across his body as he roared and crashed around aimlessly.
Strangely, despite his wild movements, he remained trapped within a small area.
It was as if invisible walls were confining him.
The vampire's reaction was even more bizarre.
The Captain looked toward the vampire.
The man was kneeling on the ground with his hands clasped in prayer. His lips moved rapidly, his eyes wide, reflecting the figure of the long-haired man.
His expression was obsessed, showing a hint of excitement amidst his piety, and a nearly divine sense of... happiness.
The Captain felt his scalp go numb.
He stepped forward quickly and delivered two sharp slaps to the vampire's face.
Slap! Slap!
“Snap out of it!”
The vampire's head snapped to the side, but he continued to mutter.
This time, the Captain finally heard what he was saying.
“Praise the moon, praise the night, praise the darkness...”
The prayers continued, the voice growing increasingly pious and fanatical, as if worshiping a supreme being.
The Captain's hand froze in mid-air, his mind roaring.
Moon, night, darkness.
He had some knowledge of the occult and knew the symbolic meanings of these three concepts, which had many overlapping parts.
As a dark creature, a vampire would indeed instinctively worship high-level beings associated with these concepts.
But his teammate was a Reincarnator who had merely exchanged for a Vampire Prince bloodline in the Lord God Space. Could he be so severely affected?
—What if that high-level being was right in front of them?
As if struck by lightning, the Captain turned his head with difficulty to look at the long-haired man.
The man was squatting in front of the executive, interrogating him with great interest, seemingly oblivious to the chaos nearby.
But the Captain could feel it—that suffocating pressure.
Judging by the vampire's behavior, one could guess which direction this Unknown Evil God's authority leaned toward.
But that didn't matter at all!
At this moment, the Captain desperately suppressed the dark malice surging in his heart, his teeth chattering.
He knew he couldn't hold out for long.
He had to escape immediately.
As for his two teammates who were going mad?
He had no obligation to save them; it looked like they were beyond help anyway.
But at least he could save himself and live on with their shares.
The Captain quietly pulled a talisman from his robes.
A life-saving item: a Random Teleportation Talisman.
It had no fixed teleportation point but could bypass most factors to randomly teleport the user anywhere within this world.
He bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the talisman.
The talisman lit up.
Nothing happened.
The Captain was still where he started.
He felt that his expression at this moment must be one of utter devastation.
He suddenly empathized with the executive just now, and with the person who had stolen the Information Minister's teleportation talisman earlier.
Spatial teleportation was ineffective; every attempt to leave would fail.
“Space here has already been locked.”
A voice came from behind him.
The Captain turned around stiffly.
Yue Shi stood behind him, his eyes narrowed in a smile.
“No one is leaving.”
The Captain's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to his knees.
Rate on N.U.
