Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1459 Lucky Star
The professionalism of the corpse collectors is not a concern; the real worry is this kind of guy who sneaked in. The pharmacist also couldn't understand how this guy, who looked like he'd taken too much, got into the city. Was Violet City's defenses really that lax? Although it didn't look like it had walls, it should be harder to enter and exit casually than cities with walls.

The pharmacist frowned and continued walking through the mixed-up neighborhood.

If one appears, there could be more. Even if this is truly an apostle, such a weak apostle is rather strange.

What happened next largely confirmed her suspicions. Before she had even left the block, she heard a series of hurried footsteps. A group of cultivators dressed in the robes and armor of the Burial Pivot rushed into the street. They did not use powerful firearms, but instead relied on melee weapons as their primary means of combat, and many of their weapons clearly came from the Bone-Piercing Training Ground.

The pharmacist quickly spotted Liu in the crowd. She didn't have any special weapons; she simply wielded her heavy serrated folding knife and chopped down a person who was trying to climb onto the roof to escape. The body fell not far from the pharmacist.

"Oh, what a coincidence." Liu squatted on the wall, blood still slowly dripping from the knife in her hand. Although her tone was relaxed, the pharmacist, seeing the large-scale mobilization of the Burial Pivot, couldn't detect much ease in her voice.

"what happened?"

“A group of plague apostles who are basically insane have been brought in. All the people who sent them in have been arrested, but these plague apostles are harder to catch. The order came directly from the Church of East, a hunt aimed at annihilation.” Liu stared at the apothecary. “Why are you here?”

“Now you’re more like the one who buried the Savior of Kasyapa,” the apothecary replied helplessly. “I need to inspect all the churches in Violet City. You know, every church may not have a Sunday priest for the Savior of Kasyapa, but it will definitely have someone from the Savior of Kasyapa.”

As cardinals who deal with believers, the internal inspection work of the Cardinals of the Saviour is indeed very heavy. If they didn't want other cardinals to interfere, they would probably have to seek outside help. Liu also accepted this statement, but still said, "This area has now been designated as a hunting ground. You'd better leave as soon as possible. We can judge friend from foe, but when a fight breaks out, we may not be able to consider others."

"I just took care of one and had the body collectors clean it up. If you want all of them, you'd better ask them too."

“Of course. The corpse collectors also have to clean up for us.” Liu jumped down from the wall, pointed in a direction, and indicated that the pharmacist should leave from that direction. However, before the pharmacist could take a step, a muffled gunshot pierced the relatively quiet night.

Their expressions changed simultaneously.

"Firing in the city...do you have permission to do that?"

“Of course, but unless it’s a tricky situation, we usually don’t use firearms. Crossbows and javelins are fine, and so is magic.” Liu nimbly jumped onto the high wall again. “I have to go take a look.”

The pharmacist originally didn't want to get involved in this, but a message suddenly popped into her mind.

[Main Task 2 has been generated.]

Shadows Abound—beneath the splendor of Violet City, shadows will also be cast. Shadows arise from the human heart, and the heart reflects even more shadows. Whether traitor or plague apostle, under the unseen force of fate, they will all choose the same end; you must choose your own heart.

The pharmacist paused, somewhat puzzled. She really wanted to "wake up" for a moment, but doing so in front of others would be too dangerous.

What's puzzling is the timing of this task's release. Tasks released at a distribution center like this usually only appear when a certain trigger is established, but she feels like she hasn't done anything yet, and this task has already appeared. If it's not Liu in front of her who's suspicious, then someone among the tourists in this scene must have done something.

She was well aware that this choice was time-limited, and she needed to actually take some action.

“I’ll go with you,” the pharmacist said in a low voice. “I can ignore the covert elimination, but since you’ve all opened fire, we need to prevent this from turning into a full-scale war.”

“Not necessarily. These people aren’t very combat-effective. No matter how powerful the Plague Apostles are, they won’t cause much harm unless they spread the plague,” Liu replied.

"Are you sure?"

"...Okay, I'm not so sure. Let's go."

Liu was a decisive person, and immediately agreed to the pharmacist's request. The two of them walked together toward the place where the gunshots had come from.

As expected, the hunt at Burial Cave went awry this time. The problem did not stem from within the church, but from the Plague Apostles who had intruded into the area.

=
Even among a group of madmen, Lucky Star Duckworth believed his madness was unique.

He was very proud of his "impressive" record of committing crimes everywhere without ever being killed, and he often boasted about it. However, he was soon ridiculed by a group of people. After all, he had no education and didn't know how to make plagues. The things he made were not even very contagious. He would spend a lot of time killing one or two people and then running away. He certainly wouldn't be considered an important target.

Duckworth was furious. He planned to kill all the "colleagues" who had mocked him, and then do something big to make sure no one dared to look down on him anymore. Fortunately, although Pandeon rejected his request to join the gang, he still found a way to send him to Violet City.

I heard that everyone on the delivery line was arrested, but who cares? Anyway, Darko Woz had already planted his latest "prototype" in all those people. He's a pretty obedient guy; when those people were mocking him, they couldn't help but boast about their achievements, and Darko Woz picked out the ones that sounded good and carefully compiled them.

However, he overlooked one problem: these people weren't very skilled either, otherwise they wouldn't have been so disliked by everyone. And his plague, which he claimed was "a combination of everyone's strengths," hadn't even spread before this hybrid plague prototype infected everyone who had infiltrated, including himself.

However, as the creator of the plague, Darkworth remained almost unchanged, perhaps because his mind had long since become unstable. He was now sitting in a room, carefully examining the patterns spreading from his arm. These patterns were extremely ugly, even according to his own aesthetic standards. But a long-lost power surged within him; the last time he felt this way was when he took a pill sold to him by a pharmacist.

In his occasional moments of lucidity, those people didn't realize they were infected; instead, they all started running into the city and acting erratically. This behavior naturally attracted attention quickly, and after several church friars verified their identities, it immediately triggered a crackdown by the church.

"Oh no, I should say it's fantastic! Have I attracted enough attention? Now I can brag about this experience—no! What bragging? Haha, I really caused a huge mess! Go, go, spread out!"

Suddenly, a sharp headache struck Duckworth, and he collapsed to his knees in pain. He had simply chosen an abandoned house as his hiding place—a common sight in this chaotic neighborhood—but Duckworth felt he might not be able to remain hidden any longer.

"Appear, appear... King of Madness, the purgatory of the brain, the lake of corpses, anything is fine, please take a look, take a look at my gift to you..." A gunshot rang out from outside, and the long-neglected wall was instantly blasted open with a large hole. The silver bullet did not slow down after breaking through the wall, but instead pierced through the wall behind it. If Darkworth hadn't moved his position due to the pain, half of him would have been killed by that shot.

"Ah... a piercing bullet, such power... Burial Piercer..." Darkworth grinned, rolling on the ground, letting the dust cover him, but he knew in his heart that it was the right choice. Sure enough, three crossbow bolts whistled and pierced the spot where he had just been.

"Haha, haha, I get it, I get it!" Darkowls laughed wildly, then got up and ran straight to the back door.

There must be people lying in ambush there to bury the dead, but he was now 100% confident.

You can't catch me!

Among the members of the siege team outside the Burial Pivot, several experienced cultivators now had increasingly serious expressions. They had a clear assessment of the battle situation; they were well aware that the previous attack had missed, but a single miss could be considered a calibration, while a second miss was a serious problem.

"Tighten the encirclement, but do not use tracking spells." Several leading cultivators directed the encirclement. "This might be a false divine descent. That madman's ramblings probably attracted something. With insufficient offerings, it probably isn't the true form of a god."

Thick black clouds were beginning to gather in the sky. Although they were not conspicuous at night, the cultivators could see them clearly. Whatever it was, they absolutely could not allow it to actually descend upon Violet City.

The pharmacist and Liu, who arrived quickly, also saw this strange phenomenon. The pharmacist immediately took out a syringe from the box, injected himself in the neck, and then threw it to Liu along with another medicine bottle.

"What—a blocking injection?"

"I can explain it, otherwise where would your Funeral Home have this equipment? There will be no blood infection, don't worry."

Without saying a word, Liu quickly drew out a vial of medicine and injected it into his neck.

The blocking injection took effect quickly, giving her a strange feeling. The Burial Pivot usually doesn't use this, instead relying on its trained willpower to tough it out, and then making psychological adjustments. It's not that the Salvation Pivot doesn't provide it, but rather that this thing is too expensive, and its production is even less than that of a bullet.

"I feel... my head is a little..."

"Don't worry, it only numbs the ability to recognize the gods. This time it's not the Plague Lord's limbs descending. Judging from the signs, it should be something like filth."

The pharmacist looked at the gathering dark clouds in the sky, took out the "Plague" and aimed it at the center of the cloud layer.

"What do you want to do?"

"Let's test the level of this thing." After saying that, the pharmacist fired a shot.

The plague hadn't reached its full potential in her hands, but it was enough to kill any ordinary person in this world with a single shot. And because she hadn't "awakened," the gun's maximum effectiveness was further reduced, making it perfect for testing the enemy's strength.

The bullet defied gravity and flew directly towards the center of the clouds. The seemingly towering clouds, actually descending towards the lower ground, collided with the bullet. Instantly, purple lightning erupted in the clouds, but no thunder followed. This bizarre phenomenon terrified many witnesses, who hid in their homes, too afraid to venture out.

"What's the result?"

“Possessing divine power is filth.” The apothecary put away his gun and made a gesture. “You go that way, I’ll go this way. Now we either drive this thing back, or kill the summoner before it descends.”

"know."

The two split up, and among the attackers present, only the two of them were able to move freely.

Duckworth had already heard the voice in his mind. It wasn't the Plague Lord's response, but rather that his actions had attracted the attention of some being in the lake of corpse fluid. The voice gradually seeped into his brain, as if to dissolve his entire brain, and this fusion made Duckworth suddenly understand its name—"pituitary gland."

Duckworth has lost the ability to think. His brain is being used by the pituitary gland to transmit information, and all his organs are being stimulated to actively drive his body to evade the attacks launched by the monks who are still able to attack.

Meanwhile, many inexperienced cultivators were being evacuated. The "Pituitary" had not yet descended, and it was clear that even for something of its level, the offerings were far from sufficient. Moreover, the cultivators of the Burial Pivot had already loaded the Sublimation Bullets, weapons specifically designed to target divine-related disasters. While they would have little effect on the Plague Lord, they would still kill the Pituitary.

Duckworth fled for his life in order to find a safe place for it.

But such a wandering fellow was far too conspicuous in a place where everyone was on guard. A wave of magic swept by, and Darkworth instinctively sensed that he had been marked.

"Hunter's Mark," a simple second-tier spell, but when the spell was applied to him, the ugly patterns covering his body suddenly lit up, instantly marking the spell user. At the same time, a filthy mental force rushed straight to the opponent's brain.

"Hmm..." Liu had anticipated this counterattack. Under the effect of the blocking drug, she only felt a slight headache. If there had been no protection, her brain would probably have been turned into a complete mess.

"Luckily it was only a second-tier divine spell, otherwise the feedback would have been fatal." Liu was only slightly slowed down before chasing after it again, quickly pressing a shotgun shell into the magazine.

With the skills of a Saint of the Burial Cave, it wouldn't take him more than five minutes to catch a madman running away on instinct. When Liu jumped down from the roof to intercept Darkworth, she fired a shot right over his head.

Three meters above the ground, the shrapnel of steel balls covered everything within a five-meter radius below, even creating numerous craters in the ground. Darkworth was covered in steel balls and could only gasp for breath as he lay on the ground.

But Liu was very wary—if this guy hadn't been turned into mincemeat by this shot, was he even human?