Walking silently through a long corridor, Matthew passed by a side hall under the leadership of a member of the cult. When he reached the intersection ahead, he was told to wait here.
This building looks quite old on the outside, but it has been renovated inside.
Also waiting here are several other professionals dressed in different styles.
These people all seemed to have some strength. They kept silent among themselves and looked very defensive.
Matthew glanced at the whole place with unscrupulous eyes, then snorted coldly and sat down on the chair next to him swaggeringly.
Peggy and Bing stood behind him.
He was immediately shocked by some malicious looks.
There is an open room in front of the intersection.
From time to time, low voices of conversation could be heard inside.
There is probably sound filtering magic at the door of the room.
This allows people outside to hear the conversation taking place inside, but they don't know what they actually said.
It gives people an itchy feeling.
Matthew calmed down and looked back at the side hall he had just passed. There was still a scene in his mind that he had accidentally glimpsed——
It was a senior member of the Calamity Cult preaching to a group of new ordinary believers.
The senior man claimed.
The great Lord of the Void, Euclus, is about to take over this land. At that time, all living creatures on the continent of Irondor will be deprived of the right to exist.
Terrible disasters will frequently occur with the appearance of giant beasts.
Ordinary people without faith will immediately become food for giant beasts.
Even if he barely survives.
There is no hope of survival.
And want to avoid all this.
Only by believing in the great Lord of the Void can that be done.
From today onwards, I will serve Yucrus, think of him often, pray every day, confess regularly, and worship devoutly.
Only in this way.
When Euclus comes to the earth, believers will have the opportunity to be promoted to the kingdom of the void and become immortal void beings.
Euclus has arranged 99 beautiful women for male believers in the kingdom of void, who are as beautiful as flowers and will obey your words;
69 strong, capable, considerate men were arranged for female believers;
If you are tired of love.
You will have the opportunity to be promoted to a more powerful "high-dimensional overlooker".
You will escape the shackles of time and space.
Become a star beside Ucruz.
Until this universe collapses.
You will not die.
You will enjoy true eternal life and happiness.
The senior person spoke the above rhetoric very skillfully, and it was obviously not his first time preaching.
Matthew recalled the enthusiastic expressions on the faces of those believers and couldn't help but shake his head.
One fact that is certain is.
The Scourge Cult is conducting a large-scale open recruitment of members in Watcher Heights.
The newly recruited members can be divided into three types -
The first type is ordinary believers.
The group of people Matthew saw in the side hall before was a typical example.
Ordinary believers only need to pay the most basic entrance fee, and food and accommodation are included after joining the sect.
What you need to pay is that you have almost no personal freedom, you must act as a group at all times, and you must obey orders.
But this part has the largest number of new members.
When Matthew walked into this building, he could often see a senior member leading dozens of new members to empty rooms or side halls, and then sitting down on the spot to start preaching.
Most of the new members are homeless people from Watcher's Heights, or low-income people who cannot make ends meet.
These people originally relied on the assistance of the Druid Order for their lives.
But ever since the Blight cultists attacked the Holy Oak area.
They lost the help of the druids.
Naturally, we can only find another way out.
This group of people is very large. If they all join the Scourge Cult or other cult organizations, the enemy's power will become unprecedentedly large.
This made Matthew feel heavy.
In fact, when he arrived in Cross City, he discovered that the population density here was much higher than that of other cities in the south.
This is obviously the result of the Dadi Association.
The druids are still helping as many homeless and hungry people as possible.
But here's the side effect.
As Watcher's Heights became more and more famous, it almost became a gathering place for homeless people in the South.
Even after tasting the sweetness, many homeless people have no intention of reclaiming the land. They just wait for the Druid Order to distribute food.
Over time.
Cross City not only accumulates a huge population, but also buries many hidden dangers.
After all, once these people who have had enough to eat become hungry, they may cause trouble.
For these people, it is certainly more comfortable to lie down and receive assistance from druids, but if they really have no food to eat, then joining a cult organization is not a problem worth considering.
The scene before Matthew's eyes confirmed this point.
The second type of new members are called "devoted believers" by senior members of the Calamity Cult.
Unlike ordinary believers who only need to pay a low entry fee, every devout believer must pay more than 1,000 gold coins immediately after joining the religion.
This fee is called a "charismatic donation."
After paying the fees.
Disaster believers will receive a divine grace token, and the level of the divine grace token will be different depending on the amount of fees paid.
And according to the level of divine grace order.
These devout believers will also receive certain positions and titles.
Although most of them are fictitious positions with little rights.
But their treatment is also much higher than that of ordinary believers.
The most important thing is that you can come and go freely, and you will not be forced to perform missions of the order.
also.
According to the news Peggy just inquired about.
In theory, the donation of divine grace was not in vain. The Natural Disaster Religion made a public promise to the devout believers——
No matter how much you donate, the entire principal will be returned after one year, along with 20% interest.
This way.
The more you donate, the more interest you earn.
In theory, it is also a good investment.
In fact.
The new ones who join the order and become devout believers are all merchants from Cross City.
And most of them only paid the minimum standard of 1,000 gold coins.
obviously.
These believers may be more religious about gold coins.
Matthew can understand this.
Businessmen join the Calamity Cult purely for self-protection. At most, it is a hedging bet——
After all, the current layout of Cross City is very complex.
The Druid Order retreated to the Holy Oak area and ignored other areas;
And the Blight Cultists attack all living creatures like crazy;
In comparison, the newly emerged Calamity Cult at least has no intention of attacking or looting ordinary people.
Therefore, these 1,000 gold coins should be regarded as protection fees.
This group of people probably didn’t expect that the Calamity Cult would return their principal plus interest after one year.
Based on Matthew and Paige's observations.
The number of devout believers is about 1/15 of ordinary believers.
The number is not huge.
But these people all have considerable influence in Cross City.
And as time goes by.
This group of people will expand larger and larger.
By then, maybe the entire Cross City will be members of the Calamity Cult.
In comparison, the third type of members has the smallest number, and that is the newly joined professionals.
This group is called "tentacles" by veterans.
It means "tentacles of Euclus".
Tentacles have the best treatment. Not only do they not need to pay entry fees, but they also include food and accommodation, unlimited freedom, and a salary!
Can be corresponding.
Becoming a Tentacle of the Scourge Cult requires rigorous vetting.
Matthew has successfully passed the previous two inspections by virtue of his identity as a necromancer.
Currently waiting for the review of the final boss.
About ten minutes passed.
The figures at the front came in and out one after another, and finally it was Matthew's turn.
When passing by the door.
A guard stopped him abruptly:
"You are not allowed to bring other people with you to see the Patriarch."
Matthew smiled maliciously at him:
"Do you want to be a zombie or a skeleton?"
The guard looked angry:
"Are you threatening me? Necromancer!?"
"I won't accept your trick..."
However, a faint voice came from the room:
"Let him in."
The guard snorted coldly and moved away angrily.
Matthew gave him the middle finger.
A Bing and Peggy also followed the same example when they passed by.
The guard was trembling with anger, but he didn't dare to do anything.
The room was empty.
There are only two chairs in the center, and a woman is sitting on one of them.
She looks about twenty-seven or eighty-years-old, with long wavy golden hair, and under the big waves shawl are even more dizzying white waves.
Her figure is a bit too good to be true, and it would be an understatement to say that she has a small body but a large body.
"Please take a seat."
The blonde woman's tone was gentle.
As Matthew sat down, he stared at her waist and breasts intently.
His gaze was quite naked, and he had no intention of covering it up.
The blonde woman was not angry, but smiled slightly:
"Does it look good?"
Matthew swallowed:
"nice."
The blonde woman smiled even more charmingly:
"Really? It's not worth it. I endured the pain and had two ribs removed."
"Do you have anything to say to me, handsome boy?"
Matthew licked his lips:
"I can smoke better."
The blonde woman was slightly startled.
Matthew explains:
"I'm a professional at rib smoking."
"If you want to smoke two more next time, be sure to come to me. My techniques will definitely make you enjoy it to the extreme."
The woman's eyes became a little subtle.
She looked at the simple information next to her and let out a provocative hum:
"Necromancer?"
Matthew nodded.
"Why join the Calamity Cult?"
she asked suddenly.
Matthew answered without hesitation:
"Lack of money."
The blond woman shook her head slightly, with a look of satisfaction in her eyes.
obviously.
The answer Matthew prepared was very consistent with other people's stereotypes of necromancers.
"Is there any other reason?"
she asked again.
Matthew rubbed his hands:
"Lack of materials, I mean, I hope to get a stable source of corpses."
The blonde didn't appear surprised.
She covered one gray thigh on top of the other leg, hugged her knees with both hands, and her upper body couldn't help but lean forward. The white and full waves hit Matthew's field of vision hard.
"There are already some necromancers in our sect, but if you are strong enough, I can give you a part of the body regularly, but the premise of all this is that you must prove that you are worthy of this treatment."
The blonde woman said.
Matthew seemed very confident:
"Except for White Rock City, my necromancy skills are the best in the south!"
The blonde woman didn't comment.
She took another look at Matthew's information:
"It says that you were active near Zeshui City before. Why did you come to Watcher's Heights?"
Matthew hesitated for a moment, then answered briefly:
"revenge."
The blonde woman got excited:
"Tell me carefully."
Matthew was silent for a while and then said slowly:
"I have some personal grudges with the druids here."
"In the Earth Society, there was a guy called the Ancient Tiger, and he stole my wife."
"I love her very much, but she betrayed me and found a savage from Tubulaji! This is unacceptable to me."
There was a little sympathy on the woman's face, but it soon turned into a strong flame of gossip:
"I heard that druids have a lot of fun. They may be very good at seducing others, so this may not be your wife's fault. She may just make a mistake that ordinary women make."
"I would like to ask, for what reason was your wife snatched away by that ancient tiger?"
When Matthew heard this, he immediately became furious:
"What did you say?"
The woman spread her hands:
"Okay, okay, just think I made a mistake. What happened next? Did you succeed in your revenge?"
Matthew nodded, then shook his head.
"Half the battle."
He said: "My wife came back to me, and I made her pay a small price."
"But that guy called the Ancient Tiger, I couldn't catch him. I'm still looking for traces of him everywhere."
When saying this.
Matthew also hugged Peggy to him, his eyes looking particularly fierce and vicious.
The woman looked surprised.
Her eyes moved back and forth between Matthew and Paige, and her voice contained a hint of uncontrollable excitement:
"You made your wife a skeleton?"
Matthew did not deny:
"This way she will never betray me."
The woman's body trembled slightly, and her voice became a little weird:
"Very good, very manly. Our cult needs ruthless characters like you."
"If I helped you find the ancient tiger, what would you do to him?"
Matthew suddenly showed a sinister expression:
"Oh, I will make him unforgettable for the rest of his life."
Women are happy with this.
She greeted the guard:
"I seem to have heard of the name Tiger of the Ancients somewhere. Do you have any impression of it?"
The guard quickly replied:
"In previous battles, our people have fought against the Ancient Tiger. It was a very difficult character."
"But later I heard that he was taken away by Queen House of the Whale Hunter."
Matthew heard this and immediately said loudly:
"Do you have any clues about him? Tell me where he is!?"
The woman smiled to calm his emotions:
"Don't be excited. The cult will definitely fulfill your long-cherished wish, but before that, you must prove your strength to me."
"You have to show me your skills."
Said.
She took Matthew out from the other door and came to a courtyard.
There are many movable dummies and movable targets placed here.
"I've seen your summons, and they both look pretty good."
"So all you have to do is show me your magical abilities."
The woman said this.
However, Matthew frowned when he looked at the targets:
"I never deal with a pile of junk."
The woman asked with great interest:
"So what kind of target are you hoping to find?"
During the conversation.
There was a roaring sound from the street at the other end of the yard.
Matthew heard this and opened an arbitrary door.
The next second.
He appeared on the wall.
But a group of Wither cultists suddenly appeared on the street. These cultists gathered together like a flood and attacked the buildings on the street wantonly.
Seeing this, Matthew started singing without saying a word.
Three seconds later.
A strange force field with dark scars appeared on the street, imprisoning the Blight cultists.
Immediately afterwards.
Two 20-meter-long scissors cut symmetrically.
But listen to a click.
These hundreds of Blight cultists were cut into two pieces.
Some of them were still shouting slogans such as "weeds" and "pests".
But shouting and shouting.
The mouth is in contact with the mud.
quickly.
Their bodies also turned into blood mud and merged into the earth.
This scene shocked many people on both sides of the street.
The guard at the door also rushed out.
His expression turned stunned.
Matthew looked at him proudly:
"How about it?"
"Do you still need me to show my hand again?"
The guard swallowed and said:
"No thanks, your spells are impressive."
"But those people just now... they are our allies."
Matthew suddenly looked embarrassed:
"Ah? Why didn't you tell me earlier!"
But the next second.
A warm and soft feeling came from his arm.
The blonde woman also passed through the door and stood side by side with him.
She held Matthew's arm very enthusiastically, and the soft balls kept stimulating his nerves.
"it does not matter."
"A dead ally is no longer qualified to be an ally."
"Welcome to join the Calamity Cult!"
Matthew did not refuse her embrace, but instead grabbed a handful of her with a pretense of lust:
"So, I became a tentacle?"
"Is there any task you need me to do?"
The blonde woman's eyes narrowed into a thin line, and her voice was numb and she said in Matthew's ear:
"The first task is to come to my room tonight."
Matthew was ecstatic on the surface.
Secretly, my heart skipped a beat.
broken.
Overacted!
"My name is Marie Joa, codenamed Camellia, and I am the interim patriarch of the Central Order. We will be partners from now on."
"Partners can't have too many secrets. I have to conduct an examination on you tonight. You must prepare carefully!"
Marie-Joya squeezed the flesh of Matthew's waist with charming eyes, and then left with satisfaction.
Matthew was left alone at the wall.
Silently thinking about the strategy for the night.
fine.
Matthew has a reputation for quick wit.
That night, he chose to face Marigio's examination calmly, but at the critical moment, he hesitated to tell the other party that his body was seriously affected by negative energy.
Some tissues have become necrotic and cannot be used.
Of course, Marie Joa was not willing to give in.
She checked it carefully.
But with Matthew's control over negative energy, it would not be a problem to temporarily freeze his lower body with negative energy.
After a few back and forth attempts, Mariejoia let Matthew leave with a disappointed look on her face.
And on the way back to the room assigned to Matthew by the Tianzai Order.
Peggy gloated:
"Fortunately, she doesn't have any quirks, otherwise you might not be able to get away with this."
Matthew was a little scared after hearing this.
fine.
The people of the Scourge Cult are not as perverted as the mages of the Alliance.
At least they have no idea of reusing the superficially necrotic tissues and organs.
Think so.
Matthew couldn't help but speed up his departure.
"Why are you walking so fast?"
Peggy asked doubtfully.
Matthew was silent.
It wasn't until he returned to the room, used his life energy to expel all the negative energy occupying his lower body, and felt the rebirth of the necrotic tissue again, that he breathed a sigh of relief.
at the same time.
A strange feeling surged out of his buttocks.
…
"Hint: You have completed a key conversion between negative energy and life energy in your body.
Your conversion factor +10 (balanced field)
Your negative energy transformation has produced new effects: you can carry out negative energy transformation on part of the body or organs. As long as the negative energy is removed within three hours and replaced with life energy, the transformed organs and tissues will
It's as good as new, and you might even get an extra boost."
…
"Key transition? Meaning reward for taking desperate risks?"
Matthew's eyes lit up.
The improvement of negative energy transformation means that his body can directly transform back and forth between the living and the undead to a greater extent.
This not only facilitates him in combat.
There are also many applications in daily life.
Matthew began to think quickly.
the following few days.
Matthew patiently circled Marigio.
After the Calamity Cult moved into Cross City, they showed great restraint. Apart from going door to door to promote the teachings of Euclus, they did not harass or loot ordinary people.
This is in sharp contrast to the irrational Blight Cultists.
So in the minds of many people.
The image of the Natural Disaster Religion is relatively positive.
The number of people joining the religion is also increasing day by day.
But in terms of professionals.
Marie-Joy is very strict.
In the past few days, apart from Matthew, only one human ranger named "White Helmet" has successfully joined.
"White Helmets" is obviously just a code name.
But the ranger was very cautious and did not want to reveal his name, and Marigio did not force him.
It is worth mentioning that.
The guy named White Helmet has a rather slovenly appearance. His big beard makes him look like he is in his forties or fifties. His eyes are extremely cloudy and he is addicted to alcohol.
As soon as he joined the sect, he asked Marigio for an advance on next month's salary and drank heavily all night.
As a result, he encountered an embarrassing scene similar to Matthew's in Mary Joa's room.
Matthew watched secretly.
It didn't take long.
White Helmet was kicked out by Marigio. He looked drunk and didn't understand what happened.
But Marigio's resentment could be smelled across the room.
that moment.
Matthew, who was hiding in the dark, and the dangling white helmet looked at each other unexpectedly.
There was a trace of complicated emotions in the eyes of both parties.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
October 13th.
Mary Joa suddenly summoned Matthew and White Helmet to her side.
She informed the two of them.
Tonight, a batch of very important goods will depart from the Underground Temple and be transported to a secret base jointly built by the three major organizations.
As the new stronghold established by the Scourge Cult in Cross City.
Marigio and her men do not need to be responsible for the entire process, not even to deliver the goods to the secret base.
They only need to escort the convoy forward on a specific stretch of road.
The time was set at 10pm.
Marigio ordered the two of them to follow her.
to be honest.
When Mary Joa described the task, Matthew felt something was not right.
If it is a secret escort mission, it can be completed directly by the people from the Dark Templar. Why do we need members of the Cross City branch to interfere?
If there is a shortage of manpower, why do we only need to escort a section of the way?
Combined with MarieJoia's nonchalant attitude.
Matthew suspected that this was a loyalty test for him and the White Helmets by the Scourge Order.
This is normal.
Since it is difficult to recruit people, all cult organizations usually deceive people first, then conduct loyalty tests in batches, and then allocate powers and conduct targeted training based on the test results.
For this loyalty test.
Matthew has his own understanding.
First of all, you must not do anything treacherous.
Secondly, you can't show too much loyalty.
The selfishness and adaptability of high-level evil elements must be shown.
Otherwise, others will become suspicious.
therefore.
While waiting for the task to start.
Matthew has rehearsed hundreds of unexpected situations in his mind.
Night falls.
A dozen figures left the Scourge Cult's stronghold in Cross City.
Under the leadership of Marie Gioia.
The group of people arrived at an underground entrance near Cross City. This underground entrance should have been opened by the Scourge Order itself, and it was not the same one that the fox from the Druid Order told Matthew.
A group of people walked into the tunnel.
I walked around for about 10 minutes.
The sound of rushing water came from the ground ahead.
That's an underground river.
Everyone lit torches and groped around the underground river for a while, and soon Marigio found a deer-headed statue close to the stone wall.
She waved her hand and motioned for everyone to disperse, but everyone had to look at the deer-headed statue.
The group of people just stared at it for half an hour.
suddenly.
The buck's eyes lit up!
Its eyes bloomed with gray-white brilliance.
Immediately afterwards.
The deer head fell from the stone wall.
A rugged portal appeared behind the giant deer head.
Marigio raised her hand.
Everyone was in high spirits.
Immediately afterwards.
The area of the portal is getting larger and larger, large enough to accommodate a carriage to enter and exit normally.
Tuk-tuk-tuk.
Accompanied by the sound of horse hooves.
One after another, underground carriages with special shapes appeared in front of everyone.
The horses that pull the cart are underground ponies that are unique to the Underdark.
They are not tall but have great endurance, and even have the ability to penetrate walls slightly, making them very suitable for transporting goods underground.
Matthew narrowed his eyes.
With the help of dark vision, he saw that the first carriage was carrying a rusty cage.
There is a monster twisted into a ball in the cage.
Its appearance at this time looks a bit like a twist.
"Ms. Marigio, your new member looks quite energetic!"
"Then I'll leave you with the rest of the journey."
A somewhat familiar voice sounded.
Matthew's heart trembled.
But I saw a rather handsome young man walking out from behind the portal.
His eyes looked around casually until they locked on Matthew, and they immediately became meaningful.
…
"Warning: You have encountered the projection of the Traveler God!"
