People are scared in America, my uncle is Dante

"Bring together all the family members who spoke with the deceased, and also dig up the deceased's remains."

Suren looked at Midnight Father and said calmly, "Then you and Constantine will pray for these corpses, burn them, and release their resentment."

"Relictum spiritum expurgationis."

Constantine took a drag of his cigarette and added.

At midnight, the old man got up and dusted off his red robe.

Although he was unwilling, he was well aware of his current situation; disobeying would only lead to his death.

With a cold face, he summoned his subordinates and whispered the instructions.

After some maneuvering, it wasn't long before several bewildered family members were brought to the scene, and the remains of those who had already been buried and turned into bones were also brought over.

The bodies were piled up on the open ground in front of the platform, and grease was poured around them to aid combustion.

Suren took two steps back and nodded slightly.

That's how it was handled in the original work, so it shouldn't be wrong.

"Constantine, it's up to you now."

Constantine spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth.

In the short time he had been waiting, a pile of cigarette butts had accumulated at his feet.

He stepped forward and stood on either side of the pile of corpses, alongside Old Man Midnight.

The two men, with solemn expressions, began to chant the difficult-to-pronounce peace incantation in a low voice.

As the incantation grew more urgent, Old Man Midnight suddenly yelled.

"Lost souls, return to where you belong!"

"boom!"

The pile of corpses spontaneously combusted without fire, with orange-yellow flames shooting into the sky. Before long, they turned into ashes and dissipated in the wind.

At the same time.

On a highway outside Los Santos.

A little boy standing alone by the roadside, waving for a ride, seemed to sense something.

He raised his head, a relieved smile appearing on his previously blank face, and his figure transformed into starlight, dissipating in the wind.

In an alley in the city, a female model holding scissors, who was about to ask passersby for advice, suddenly froze.

She dropped the scissors, covered her face in anguish, and vanished into nothingness.

【Ding! 】

Side Quest: The Truth Behind Urban Ghost Stories

【completed】

[Task Reward: 500 points]

Upon hearing the notification in his mind, Suren's heart stirred slightly.

With these rewards, his points balance has reached 4700 points.

We've finally completed half of our goal of exchanging for the [Alastor] magical artifact.

However, this progress is still too slow.

He felt he should think of other ways to increase the ways to earn points.

Or... how about directly acquiring the magical artifact?

Suren's thoughts suddenly wandered.

Since Constantine said that many demons have ignored the contract and escaped to the human world.

Does that mean I can proactively select and accept relevant commissioned tasks?

Try to subdue these demons until they submit willingly and become magical artifacts exclusively for you?

Suren's eyes lit up slightly as she considered this idea as an alternative.

You can definitely give it a try when you take on a new commission.

Even if the magical artifacts that those demons eventually transform into are not suitable for them, they can be rented to the black market merchant Enzo, turning them into a steady stream of income.

Coming to his senses, Suren looked up and saw that Old Man Midnight had somehow produced a human skull whose surface was covered with runes.

He pressed the skull tightly against his own head, closed his eyes, and muttered incantations.

This is Midnight Old Man's most relied-upon magical artifact, made from the head of his own sister that he personally chopped off.

Through this skull, he could make his sister's soul his eyes and ears in hell, to find out the secrets beneath the abyss.

"Sister, what exactly happened in hell? Why did my ritual encounter such serious problems?"

At midnight, the old man asked softly with his eyes closed.

A few minutes later, he slowly lowered the skull, looked at Suren and the others, and his voice carried a hint of surprise and fear:

"Darkness is coming..."

"The son of Satan... Mammon is coming."

Upon hearing this, Constantine's pupils constricted sharply, and he looked at Suren with a face full of shock.

Because not long ago, Suren had said those words verbatim: "Darkness is coming."

At the time, I was completely baffled because I didn't understand the meaning of those words.

But I never expected that this guy already knew about this kind of world-shaking intelligence!

How many secrets is he still hiding?!

Midnight Father took a deep breath and continued, "In order to descend upon the human world, Mammon sent a large number of demons as a vanguard to sneak over."

"It seems to be wary of something, so it has been hiding behind the scenes, constantly probing through these advance troops."

"But now, the test is over. It's ready to get involved itself."

"How was the barrier between the human world and hell breached?"

Constantine pressed for an answer.

This is what he's most concerned about right now.

This barrier was jointly constructed by the Heavenly Council and generations of top human exorcists.

Let alone Mammon, even if Satan, the lord of hell, were to personally intervene, it would take hundreds or thousands of years to forcibly break through.

"..."

Midnight Old Man glanced at Constantine and shook his head: "I don't know either."

Meanwhile, Suren, standing to the side, touched his chin, looking as if he had just realized something.

How could I have forgotten this crucial plot point?

Mammon, dissatisfied with his father's rule in Hell, secretly plotted to descend to Earth and establish a kingdom under his absolute dominion.

If we follow this line of reasoning, all the previous clues will be connected.

The reason why Midnight Father's psychic abilities suddenly went out of control was that the barrier between the human world and hell was damaged, causing certain magical laws to change.

Now that Mammon is ready to make his move, does that mean that the most essential key item in the Advent Ritual—the Spear of Destiny—has already been unearthed?

Legend has it that after Jesus was nailed to the cross, Roman soldiers, to confirm his death, pierced his body with a spear, which is said to be the origin of the Spear of Fate.

A saying has been passed down in Western mythology—

Whoever possesses this spear will control the destiny of the world.

However, most of these are exaggerations by the rulers to demonstrate the legitimacy of their rule.

It's just like the Imperial Seal of the State in a previous life.

But in this world where gods and demons truly exist, this legendary artifact undoubtedly contains terrifying power.

In that case, we can make some good plans.

Regardless of whether this thing is useful to me or not, I can't go wrong by grabbing it first.

Just then, another prompt popped up on the system panel.

【Ding! 】

[Main Quest Triggered: Darkness Is Coming]

[Mission Description: A force lurking in the shadows is paving the way for the abyss to descend.]

Mission Objective: Completely eliminate the mysterious organization behind the scenes.

[Mission Rewards: Determined based on final mission completion and exploration progress]

【Ding! 】

[Triggering the Darkness Is Coming Node Quest: The Demon Prince's Ambition]

[Mission Description: Mammon, as a harbinger of darkness, attempts to cross boundaries and turn the human world into his private hunting ground.]

Mission Objective: Stop Mammon's incarnation ritual.

[Mission Rewards: 10000 points, Bloodline Awakening: 5%, Mammon's Original Sin Soul x1]

Suren frowned as she looked at the pile of information that popped up in her mind.

Was Mammon's arrival merely a harbinger of impending darkness?

The goal of the impending darkness is to completely eliminate the mysterious organization behind it all.

It seems that, as Constantine said, there are indeed traitors plotting in the shadows.

This reminded him of the miniature device he had previously discovered on the heart of an ancient ogre.

Could that thing also be related to the organization behind the scenes, or could they be the organization behind the scenes?

After all, the purpose of implanting a monitoring device into the body of an ancient demon with immortality is nothing more than to collect data for research.

I've been damaging the equipment for days now, but the other party hasn't made a move.

This indicates that their reference sample was far more than just cannibals.

Even other demons have these devices inside their bodies?

The barrier between the human world and hell has been breached. Even if this mysterious organization wasn't behind it, it's definitely inextricably linked to them.

Perhaps the methods by which those demons from hell evade the Heavenly Council's searches may also be their doing.

If that's the case, then these people are really ambitious.

Suren refocused his consciousness on the system level.

He looked at the mission objective: to stop Mammon's descent ritual.

A bold and crazy idea suddenly popped into my head.

Why stop it?

Not only did he not want to stop it, but he also planned to secretly help Mammon at the crucial moment, allowing this son of hell to successfully complete the reward ceremony.

Wait until it is born and at its weakest moment, then kill it completely!

This is the son of Satan. If we can kill it, we might trigger an extra kill reward from the system.

As for whether it will anger Satan and bring about a crazy retaliation?

Suren chuckled inwardly. "Go tell my Uncle Dante what's on your mind."

Satan's power is more inclined towards torment of the soul and the rule of hell.

In terms of combat prowess, Dante was a ruthless individual who single-handedly conquered the demon realm and slew many demon emperors and ancient demons.

If Satan really dares to cause trouble, Dante would probably be more than happy to acquire another new magical artifact.

According to the original storyline, Mammon must meet three extremely demanding conditions to successfully descend to Earth—

First, it needs a medium with strong psychic abilities to serve as a physical vessel to hold its soul.

Secondly, it needs that spear of destiny stained with the blood of the gods to give it a new life in the human world.

Third, and most importantly, it requires an angel with powerful angelic abilities to act as a guide, wielding the spear of destiny, to help it deceive and bypass the power of the pact between Heaven and Hell.

Although the barrier between the two worlds is now riddled with holes, it's not something Mammon can just squeeze through.

Without the protection of angels, it would be discovered as soon as it showed its face.

In the original story, the one with the power to do all this was the archangel Gabriel, who was prejudiced against humanity and attempted to test humanity's faith through destruction.

However, Suren didn't need to worry about these tedious preparations.

The original initiation ceremony went very smoothly. Gabriel would arrange everything to welcome Mammon.

If Constantine hadn't committed suicide by cutting his wrists at the last moment, forcibly attracting Satan, Mammon's plan would never have been exposed.

Therefore, all I need to do is observe the situation and control Constantine at the most crucial moment.

Suren felt a surge of excitement as he glanced at Constantine, who was frantically smoking a cigarette.

Although it's unclear how far along Mammon's descent ritual is in preparation, Constantine's relaxed demeanor suggests the story hasn't even begun yet.

Before that, I still have a period of development time to raise my normal combat strength.

At worst...

Suren glanced at the [Yama Blade] lying in the system space; this top-tier magical artifact would give him the greatest confidence.

Constantine, who was deep in thought, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He turned around and met Suren's burning gaze, and his anus tightened instinctively.

"What kind of disgusting look is that? I have no interest in men."

Constantine retorted with a wary expression.

"I have completed your task, and I have even provided this valuable intelligence."

"Now, can you two leave my territory?" Old Man Midnight said coldly.

Suren snapped out of her daze, her gaze falling on Old Man Midnight, a murderous glint flashing in her eyes.

Midnight Dad is a master of all sorts of bizarre witchcraft and black magic.

Offending such a person means you have to be wary of his underhanded tactics at any time.

Even if Suren himself doesn't need to worry, he still has Patty and Lady, who are human, by his side, so he has to be careful.

Keeping him around is a huge hidden danger.

The next moment, his figure suddenly shot up.

Before everyone knew it, Suren had appeared in front of Old Man Midnight.

He grabbed the man by the neck with one hand and lifted the tall black wizard up.

"Click".

A crisp sound.

At midnight, Old Man's head drooped, the expression from when he spoke still lingering on his face.

"ah!!"

The sudden turn of events caused the surrounding servants to scream in terror.

Suren looked at the body in his hands and felt that this was not safe enough.

He slammed the corpse to the ground, then, as if stomping on a balloon, with violent magic, he stomped down heavily.

"Bang!"

Constantine, who was standing to the side, finally realized what was happening: "Are you crazy?!"

Although he and Midnight Dad weren't exactly friends, they often had minor disagreements.

But he never expected that Su Lun, who was peacefully discussing cooperation with someone one second, would suddenly turn around and kill them the next.

Suren wiped the blood off the sole of his shoe and said calmly, "Since we've already offended this kind of wizard who's proficient in curses, we might as well just kill him and be done with it, eliminating any future trouble."

"I don't want to be the one getting voodoo dolled someday."

Lady, who had been watching the whole thing from the sidelines, raised an eyebrow and agreed, "Well done. I was going to do it too, but you were faster than me."

However, the next second, a bizarre scene unfolded.

The corpse on the ground, its head crushed, was enveloped in a ball of green light.

Immediately afterwards, the flesh and debris seemed to revert to their original state, rapidly reforming themselves.

In just a few breaths, Old Man Midnight's head miraculously recovered without a scratch.

He got up from the ground, panting heavily, staring intently at Suren, his eyes filled with horror and suppressed anger.

"I'm a pure businessman! There's absolutely no benefit for me in retaliating against you unless there's a conflict of interest!"

Suren looked at the other party's unharmed appearance and just pursed her lips slightly in regret.

Don't let Midnight Old Man's current appearance, which makes him look like he's in his thirties, fool you.

The other person's real age is probably comparable to the founding date of the United States.

He carries an ancient curse upon him—

Unless the continent beneath his feet is no longer ruled by white people, he is an immortal being.

So Suren was just trying it out.

It would be best to kill them outright to prevent future troubles. If that's not possible, you can still use violence to establish authority and make the other party think twice about the consequences before they decide to retaliate.

"It would be best if it were as you said, Mr. Businessman."

Suren smiled faintly, as if nothing had just happened.

------

P.S.: One update today. I won't split this chapter; I can't find a place to cut it.