I, Lord of Prayer

"If you're referring to a curse, I know, the Duke of Elizabeth mentioned it to me before."

Jiang Che nodded calmly: "I checked the information in the database. Eileen is under a kind of fate curse. From the moment she was born, she was destined to die before the age of eighteen. This is the predetermined future and an inescapable fate of death."

The Duke of Elizabeth once sought out a crowned king with prophetic abilities and begged him to foresee Irene's future. The crowned king generously agreed, and the prophecy was that Irene would die from a curse in the future—the crowned king's prophecies were always accurate.

Even if she were kept in a heavily guarded quarantine zone, all sorts of unexpected things could happen, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, meteorites falling from the sky... or even the gates to the abyss opening inexplicably nearby, or her own life force drying up and her soul collapsing...

Because this curse involves the power of death, and after decades of fermentation, it has become completely integrated with Irene, and even the crowned kings who wield power cannot stop it.

Unless they tried to break the curse from the beginning, but back then, there was no crowned king in the 052 penalty area, and by the time the penalty area was unsealed, Erin had already grown to 14 years old, and it was all too late.

The Duke of Elizabeth has done everything she could. If you truly sympathize with Irene, then do your job and let her live out the rest of her life happily.

"..."

After hearing Jiang Che's words, Zhou Chen fell silent. Even the crowned king was powerless against his inevitable death...

After a long silence, he sighed helplessly, "I understand. I will do my best to make sure she has a good life every day from now on."

"For the next few days, you'd better stay within the vicinity of the Stars Association," Jiang Che said.

Why?

"Jinzhu has entered a state of high alert. There could be a major operation at any time in the next few days. If anything happens, you can run back to Qunxinghui immediately."

"Level One combat readiness?" Zhou Chen was stunned. His first thought was that something huge was coming, a super huge one at that. His mind raced, and he considered a possibility: "Is it because of 'that thing'?"

Jiang Che had previously said that the Stars Society was going to play the long game, and now that Jin Zhu has entered a state of high alert, it is highly likely that the fish is about to take the bait!

Jiang Che did not answer, nor did he delve into the topic: "I will tell Duke Elizabeth the materials you need for the advanced ritual. If all goes well, it will only take three to five days to gather the materials."

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The rewards for these missions have also been distributed: a bonus of thirteen million, the ability to choose two intermediate alchemical items from the item inventory, and an upgrade in privileges, from a regular operator to my secretary…”

Simply put, it means a promotion and a raise, plus bonuses, subsidies, and a lavish gift package!

"As for my personal compensation to you..." Jiang Che asked bluntly, "What do you want?"

I want to slack off every day, not have to work, and just live a life of leisure... Zhou Chen pondered for a moment, then scratched his head: "I seem to be a rich man now. I have three forbidden items, tens of millions in savings, and even the advancement secret artifact was delivered to my door for free. After thinking about it, there's nothing I really need... Why don't you tell me your story?"

"Zhou Chen, it's not a pleasant thing for someone to reopen old wounds. 🌷🐙 ♪♟" Jiang Che calmly gazed at him: "But if this is the payment you want, I can talk to you... but are you sure you want this as payment?"

"I'm sure." Zhou Chen stroked the little orange dog that had just jumped into his arms. "We're all friends... well, at least I think we're friends. Since we're friends, it's not impolite to want to understand each other, right? You know me perfectly well, but I only know a little about you. Isn't that a bit unfair?"

Looking into the other person's frank eyes, Jiang Che sighed softly after a moment: "I was born into a political family. My father is the deputy director of the Archives Administration Bureau of the Starry Sky Society, and my mother is a member of the Marine Ecology Association."

"When I was young, the world order was shaken by the 'Night of the Falling Sun,' and a fierce political struggle broke out within the Star Society. My father accidentally discovered that one of the guys who was trying to become a member of parliament had done a lot of dirty and shady things, so he prepared to report him to the committee. But that very night, a group of people broke into my house and murdered my parents... The leader at the time was Fu Qing."

Through a series of coincidences, I managed to escape. On the way, I met my best friend who had come after receiving my mother's distress signal. She was very knowledgeable in alchemy and created an artificial human on the spot to make it look like I had died in a car accident, and took me to a safe place.

Jiang Che's tone was very calm, as if the story he was telling was not his own past: "Later, I followed her to learn alchemy for a while, secretly joined the Star Society, and gradually got to where I am now."

Zhou Chen asked疑惑地, "What about Little Orange? I remember you've been raising it since you were very young, right? If we check the information and compare, won't that expose you?"

"After she escaped from prison, she burned the tracking device inside her body, so no one knew she was in my house. It was only a few years ago that I lied and said I found her to re-register her. 💜🍫 ➅9ѕᕼᵘχ.Ć๏м ♞♨ She went to play by the river the night of the incident, so she escaped unharmed."

Jiang Che silently took a sip of coffee: "My past is basically like this, monotonous and repetitive, all for revenge."

"I have one last question... Is that mastermind now a member of parliament?" Zhou Chen asked.

"It's almost time. You should go pick up Eileen. Remember, it's best not to go too far from the Star Club." Jiang Che changed the subject instead, without giving any answer.

Seeing that she had given him the order to leave, Zhou Chen wisely didn't linger and left the office to pick up Eileen downstairs at the women's dormitory.

"Mr. Zhou Chen, let's go to the zoo to see the giant pandas today," Eileen said, her face full of anticipation.

The zoo isn't far from the Star Club... Zhou Chen nodded: "Let's go have breakfast first, we'll have the energy to go shopping when we're full."

"Okay, I want to drink millet porridge this morning~"

·

For the next two days, the entire Jinzhu area was filled with an atmosphere of impending storm.

The number of pollution incidents is increasing rapidly. Sometimes seven or eight can occur in a morning, and more than twenty pollution incidents may occur in a day, which is a terrifying number.

If we had enough intelligence to look down on the entire Golden Bamboo from an overhead perspective, we would find that these pollution incidents were merely the result of the Birdman detonating the Corruption Gu, a trivial appetizer.

There are many more hidden in the mist, lurking in the darkness, yet to reveal their claws.

Zhou Chen also sensed that the atmosphere in the Stars Gathering was gradually becoming heavy, like the calm before a storm, as if something big was about to happen.

He promptly went to exchange for two alchemical items, just in case something went wrong, so he could run away with Eileen.

The first item was the [Helandi Flying Boots] that he had been craving for a long time. As long as the source essence was injected, one could actually fly, and the speed was not slow. Zhou Chen spent half an hour to completely master the technique, and also let Eileen play with it for a long time.

The second item is a set of alchemical armor. The previous defensive armor was in terrible condition. Although it was still usable, it was uncertain when it would break down. It would be better to take this opportunity to replace it with a new one.

This alchemical armor is not simply a defensive type, but an upgraded, fully enhanced type that can increase the user's strength and speed. It also has defensive capabilities and shock absorption comparable to defensive armor, and comes with an alchemical matrix to resist mental pollution. The black and gold color scheme makes it look very cool.

He then spent another three million to buy a gold necklace that could ward off the curse.

The effect is that any curse applied to him, or any curse present in the vicinity, will be blocked by the necklace, unless the curse becomes so powerful that it exceeds the necklace's tolerance.

As for Eileen, he didn't need to worry about her. She was a rich and beautiful young woman with countless alchemical artifacts on her person.

Just to be on the safe side, Zhou Chen also found a large backpack and put the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw inside, just in case.

"Eileen, things are in a mess in Jinzhu lately, so let's not go out for the next few days."

In the mall where customer traffic had decreased significantly, Zhou Chen sipped his milk tea and suggested that they stay in the Star Club for the next few days and wait for the storm to pass before venturing out.

"Yeah, I've pretty much done sightseeing these past few days, I want to go back and play some games." Eileen knew there were a lot of dangerous things going on lately, so it was safer to stay in the Stars Club. She had also pretty much finished exploring Jinzhu's city.

As the two were preparing to leave the mall, Zhou Chen suddenly looked up and saw a figure leaping down from the fifth floor of the mall in the distance.

*Splat*

The heavy object fell from the sky and instantly turned into a bloody pulp, with blood flowing all over the ground. Since it landed headfirst, various viscous liquids also splashed in all directions.

Immediately afterwards, one, two, three... like rain, several people jumped from the top floor of the mall, losing their lives the moment they hit the ground, leaving behind only mangled flesh and flowing blood.

Screams erupted as countless guests scattered in all directions.

Zhou Chen frowned. These people were all wearing the same style of mysterious black robes, as if it were an organized suicide, and there were patterns and symbols on the black robes...

His eyes suddenly widened as he spotted a familiar flame pattern on the black robe—the symbol of the Eternal Flame!

He hurriedly pulled out his phone and dialed Jiang Che's number: "Runfa Shopping Mall, a remnant of the Eternal Flame committed suicide!"

At that moment, the blood on the ground seemed to come alive, converging automatically in one direction like countless small snakes, gradually revealing a ritual array composed of abyssal runes. Instantly, the temperature plummeted, and the entire shopping mall was plunged into an ice cave, ushering in a bone-chilling cold.

boom!

Zhou Chen rubbed some thermite in his hands and threw it there. As if hindered by some mysterious force, the thermite exploded automatically in mid-air, bursting into a dazzling display of firework-like flames.

Only a few azure flames landed on the ritual array, but they were quickly extinguished like candle flames, causing no real damage.

"This isn't the true form of the ritual array..." Zhou Chen looked up and around, then suddenly looked down at the ground—the true form of the ritual array was likely underground!

He tried again, conjuring up a concentrated azure flame alchemical bomb and throwing it out, but the result was the same as the thermite: it was stopped by an unknown force and exploded automatically in mid-air. Although the azure flame landed on the ritual array, it did not cause any damage.

"Let's go back to the Stars Society!" Zhou Chen pulled Eileen and ran outside. Behind them, dense darkness surged out of the ritual array like a geyser.

·

In the dark, abandoned factory building.

A group of cultists dressed in black robes displayed devout expressions, and the factory floor was covered with twisted and bizarre abyssal script painted in bright red paint.

They slashed their wrists deeply, raised their arms, and blood gushed out, dripping in streams. They didn't stop until their faces turned pale and they showed signs of anemia. Each of them had a fanatical expression on their face, as if they were performing some kind of evil sacrificial ritual.

The same scene is playing out in many other places: abandoned buildings, secluded residences, neglected basements...

One by one, devout believers offered their sweet blood to the great being they believed in.

This made the abyssal incantations that constituted the ritual even more crimson and glaring.

in the garden.

"Grand Steward, the ceremony is about to begin, it's time," Li Xiaoxiao said respectfully.

"Start it." The old man on the recliner opened his eyes, his eyes burning with dark flames.

·

"The Eternal Flame has begun its operation, shall we begin too?"

In the living room, the lovers looked at the messages on their phones and asked the gentleman a question.

"Wait a little longer." The gentleman tapped his cane. "We need to confirm the location before we act. It should be a swift and decisive strike. We must not linger. I have a very bad feeling about this."

"Me too." The lover rubbed his chest and joked, "Your chest feels tight and you can't breathe, right? It's normal. Just like a swallow knows it's about to rain, those who have ascended also have a certain sense of impending danger, especially with this kind of... grand celebration that's about to happen."

Yes, a carnival.

Let the world witness once again the magnificent power of Paradise Lost!

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