The huge and heavy mechanical spider folded its long jointed limbs into its abdomen, and used the wheel structure on the outside of the jointed limbs to glide at high speed on the straight road. Inquisitor Vanna stood steadily as if cast on the carapace of this mechanical creation.
As she stood, the night breeze with a slight sea smell blew through the streets, and the cold air made her mind clearer.
Those cultists who worship the sun god are a serious scourge of modern civilization, and unfortunately, there are more than one such scourge.
There are always malicious eyes cast towards the world from the depths of subspace, and there are always stupid mortals trying to get their hands on those unknown powers. And between this collusion between ancient gods and mortals, there are twisted things left behind from ancient times.
, the Forbidden Heirs and the Pollution Reverberation lurk in the depths of the city-state, ready to move at all times in an attempt to disrupt the order structure of this society.
Of all these threats, the followers of the Sun God are the most alarming and troublesome to the protectors of the city-state of Pland.
They are not only cultists, but also the products of the lost history of a certain part of the old world. Compared with most stupid and blind ordinary cults, the most dangerous thing about these heretics who worship the dark sun is that they have some kind of "belief".
Fanatic and twisted, although its bottom members are a mixed bag of dragons and snakes, among the top leaders of this abominable sect, there does exist a certain "core belief" that has not changed for thousands of years.
This belief revolves around the "Era of Order" illuminated by the old sun. Not only is it its own system, but it even has a corresponding "True Solar Calendar" that is not recognized by modern civilization. They firmly believe that they are a person who has long been lost.
The descendants of ancient civilization, and believe that that glorious ancient civilization will surely be revived.
As the judge of the Deep Sea Church, Vanna is not very interested in the heresies of those cultists, but she knows that it is the existence of these heresies that gives the Sun God's believers a unity and stubbornness that far exceeds other heretics, allowing them to
It can still tenaciously survive after being struck again and again, and grow day and night in the shadow of many city-states.
But their resurgence in Purland still surprised Vanna.
Since the unprecedented round of attacks four years ago, the Sun God believers in the city-state of Puland have been severely weakened. According to several investigation reports, those heretics should have transferred their main members to nearby Lunsa, Morocco.
In the city-state of Lenggang even further away, the only remaining people in Puland are those who are stubborn and stubborn, but are not qualified to move with the bishops.
These minions are hiding in the sewers, relying entirely on their understanding of the underground world and the twisted blessing given to them by the Black Sun to evade the pursuit of the guards. For four years, their number has become smaller and smaller.
All that's left to do is linger on for a while.
But today, four years later, they suddenly gathered together again, and even dared to risk exposure by holding a sacrificial ceremony in the assembly hall... Who gave them the courage?
In other words... what big event is going to happen in this city-state? Is there some sufficient reason for the cultists to draw the Black Sun's attention to Purande even at the risk of extinguishing the last flame?
The vibration and noise of the continuous operation of the steam core came from the mechanical spider's body, and the faint scent of incense overflowed from the steam pressure relief pipe and floated along the night wind. Fanna temporarily put away the random thoughts in her heart and raised her head to glance at the sky.
.
"The Creation of the World" hangs high in the night sky, and the pale light it sheds illuminates the scattered houses, chimneys and towers in Pland City. Now the action team is passing through the edge of the industrial area. Those who straddle the factory buildings
Huge pipes of steam and hydrothermal fluids pierce the sky above the streets like giant veins.
Vanna vaguely recalled the past, recalling the most profound and terrifying night in her memory. In that midnight filled with the smell of blood, her uncle carried her to escape from the sea of fire, and everyone on the street fell into collective hallucinations.
The walking dead and the shrinking shadows of flesh and blood fled from the pipelines of the factory. The smell of blood and the smell of chemical grease seeping from the pipelines was nauseating...
The mechanical spider under her feet suddenly vibrated, and Vanna woke up from her memories.
The flat road came to an end, and ahead was an abandoned area on the edge of the city. The road was bumpy and bumpy. The two mechanical spiders ended their sliding mode. They stretched out their long jointed limbs and began to walk quickly on the uneven road.
Not long after, the team arrived at an abandoned sewer entrance.
Another eight-person team is already on standby, and they have cordoned off the nearby area to prevent anyone from approaching the entrance.
Fanna greeted the subordinates here, and then directly followed the person in charge of the scene into the depths of the sewer.
After passing through deep corridors and dirty paths, Vanna finally arrived at the secret meeting place. Here, she saw more defenders and church priests who were performing purification rituals.
A temporary sacrificial platform is located in the center of the assembly hall. The wooden platform seems to have been burned by flames. On the high platform, you can also see the blasphemous totem built by the Sun God believers. The totem has been burned by the flames, but the basic structure is still intact.
Surrounding the high platform were dozens of cultists squatting on the ground with their hands bound. Most of them were trembling, while a few had their lips moving, muttering their blasphemous prayers silently.
But since the ceremony site was destroyed and the Storm Goddess had paid attention to it, these heretical prayers had no effect at all.
Not far from the sacrificial altar, are the remains of the victims found in nearby caves. These miserable victims were placed on linens painted with runes. The embalmers who hurriedly arrived were inspecting each one.
The state of the corpse.
Several church pastors were walking around the altar. The copper chains in their hands were shaking slightly. The incense burner at the end of the copper chain emitted white smoke. When the smoke touched the ground near the altar, it would be immediately dyed with an unknown layer.
The black shadows, and more white smoke will take away these pollutants. The breath left here by the black sun will be removed bit by bit in the process.
"Your Excellency, Judge, please come here. This is what we found wrong," the young guard pointed at the corpses next to the altar and said, "Please be careful, the ground here is not very clean."
Fanna walked straight towards the corpses, and after seeing the condition of one of the corpses, she subconsciously frowned.
That was a cultist wearing a golden mask. There was no doubt that he was the priest directly responsible for the sacrificial ceremony at this desecrated sacrificial site.
There was a terrible hole in his chest.
"...What's going on?" Fanna frowned, "Did this fanatical heretic get too excited at the end of the ceremony and sacrifice himself? I've never heard of those cultists who worship the Black Sun.
This kind of rule."
"This is the weird and bizarre part. He is not self-sacrifice," the guard who brought Vanna immediately shook his head and said with a slightly weird expression on his face, "According to the description of the cultist caught at the scene...
Their 'messenger' was sacrificed as a sacrifice..."
"Being sacrificed by a sacrifice?" Fanna immediately raised her eyebrows, "What kind of crazy talk is this?"
"It really sounds like crazy talk," the guard spread his hands helplessly, "In fact, when we arrived, most of the cultists here were indeed half crazy."
"Already half crazy?"
"Yes, their sacrificial ceremony obviously went very wrong. Many people were infected with madness. Many people even started to kill each other. They all seemed to regard each other as... being possessed by some kind of terrifying thing.
The occupied 'monsters', it was precisely because they rushed out of the assembly hall in a frenzy that they alerted the patrolling police officers nearby, which exposed the situation... When we arrived, those who could stay awake to answer questions
There are not many left, and the few who can still speak fluently insist that they were sacrifices to the messenger."
"Going crazy? Killing each other? And thinking that others are possessed monsters?" Fanna's expression immediately became serious, "Have you had a checkup? Is it the result of being contaminated by the black sun?"
"There are no traces of contamination from external sources. It's more like a spontaneous madness that leads to crazy factors rooted in their own spiritual world," the guard said, raising his finger and pointing to a person who was among the cultists.
A young lady in a black dress walked around, "Ms. Heidi has arrived. If it is confirmed that these cultists are not contaminated by the black sun, we can only find a solution through hypnosis."