Deep Sea Embers

The huge and heavy mechanical spider folded and shrunk its long jointed limbs to its abdomen, and used the wheel structure outside the jointed limbs to glide at high speed on a straight road. Judge Fanna stood firmly as if cast on the carapace of this mechanical creation As she walked, the night wind with a slight sea smell blew across the street, and the cold air made her mind clearer.

Those cultists who worship the sun god are the henchmen of modern civilization-and unfortunately, there are more than one such henchmen.

There are always malicious sights cast from the depths of the subspace to the human world, and there are always stupid mortals trying to meddle with those unknown powers, and between the collusion between ancient gods and mortals, there are twisted things left from ancient times In the depths of the city-state lurks , taboo children and pollution reverberations, ready to move at all times, trying to shake the order structure of this society.

Of all these threats, the followers of the sun god are the one that most vigilant and troublesome for the protectors of the city-state of Pland.

They are not only cultists, but also the product of a part of the lost history 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"— ——Despite fanaticism and twisting, and despite its low-level members being mixed with dragons and snakes, there is indeed a certain "core belief" that has not changed for thousands of years in the upper echelon of this hateful sect.

This belief revolves around the "Era of Order" illuminated by the old sun. Not only is it self-contained, but there is even a corresponding "true solar calendar" that is not recognized by modern civilization. They firmly believe that they are a long-lost The descendants of the ancient civilization, and think that the glorious ancient civilization will be revived.

As the judge of the Deep Sea Church, Fan Na is not very interested in the fallacies and heresies of those cultists, but she knows that it is the existence of these fallacies that make the followers of the Sun God far more united and stubborn than other heretics. It can still survive tenaciously after blows again and again, and grow day and night in the shadow of many city-states.

But their resurgence in Puland still surprised Fanna a little.

Since the unprecedented blow four years ago, the followers of the Sun God in the city-state of Pratt have been seriously injured. According to several investigation reports, those heretics should have transferred their main members to nearby Lensa, Moroccan Ke and even the city-state of Cold Harbor farther away, what remains in Plante are basically only some bewitched and stubborn people who are not qualified to transfer with the bishops.

These minions are hiding in the sewers, completely relying on their understanding of the underground world and the twisted blessings given to them by the black sun to escape the guards. After four years, their number is getting smaller and smaller. The only thing left to do is to hang on.

But today, four years later, they suddenly gathered together again, even daring to hold a sacrificial ceremony in the assembly hall at the risk of exposure... Who gave them the courage?

Or... what major event is going to happen in this city-state? Is there some reason enough for those cultists to draw Black Sun's attention to Prand even at the risk of being snuffed out the last flame?

The vibration and noise of the steam core's continuous operation came from the mechanical spider's body, and the faint scent of incense overflowed from the steam pressure relief pipe and floated along with the night wind. Fan Na temporarily put away her wild thoughts and looked up at the sky. .

"Creation of the World" hangs high in the night sky, casting pale light that illuminates the high and low scattered houses, chimneys, and towers in Prand City. Now the action team is passing through the edge of the industrial area, and those buildings straddling the factory buildings Huge steam and hydrothermal pipes of the siege run through the sky above the streets like giant veins.

Fanna vaguely recalled the past, and recalled the deepest and most terrifying night in her memory - in that bloody midnight, her uncle escaped from the sea of ​​fire with her on his back, and the streets were full of trapped people. The collective hallucination of the walking dead and the swollen shadows of flesh and blood, they escaped from the pipes of the factory, the smell of blood and the smell of chemical grease seeping from the pipes is disgusting...

There was a sudden vibration from the mechanical spider under her feet, and Fan Na 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 surface was potholed and uneven. The two mechanical spiders ended the sliding mode. They stretched out their long joints and began to walk quickly on the uneven road.

It didn't take long for the team to arrive at an abandoned sewer entrance.

Another eight-person team is already on standby here, and they have sealed off the surrounding area to prevent irrelevant personnel from approaching this entrance.

Fan Na greeted the subordinates here, and then followed the person in charge directly into the depths of the sewer.

Through the deep corridor and the dirty path, Vanna finally arrived at the secret meeting place—here, she saw more guardian warriors, and the priest of the church who was performing the purification ceremony.

A temporary sacrificial altar is located in the center of the meeting place. The wooden platform seems to have been burned by flames. On the platform, you can also see the blasphemy totem built by the Sun God Cultists—the totem has been burned by the flames, but the basic structure is still intact. .

Around the high platform were dozens of cultists squatting on the ground with their hands bound. Most of them were trembling, while a few of them moved their lips and muttered their blasphemous prayers silently.

But with the site of the ceremony being destroyed and the Storm Goddess already paying attention, these heretical prayers are useless at all.

Not far from the sacrificial altar, are the remains of victims found in nearby caves. These tragic victims are placed on linen cloth painted with runes, and the embalmers who rushed to inspect each one state of the body.

Several priests of the church were walking around the sacrificial altar. The copper chains in their hands shook slightly. The incense burner at the end of the copper chain emitted pure white smoke. When the smoke touched the ground near the altar, it would be immediately stained with an ominous layer. The black shadow of the black sun, and more white smog will take away these pollutions - the breath left by the black sun will be cleared little by little in this process.

"Your Excellency, please come here, this is something we found to be wrong," said the young guard, pointing to the corpses next to the sacrificial altar, "Please be careful, the ground here is not very clean."

Fan Na walked straight towards the corpses, and after seeing the condition of one of the corpses, she frowned subconsciously.

It was a cultist wearing a golden mask—undoubtedly, it was the priest who was directly in charge of the sacrificial ceremony in this blasphemous sacrificial field.

There was a horrible hollow in his chest.

"...What's going on here?" Fan Na frowned, "Did this fanatical heretic get too excited at the end of the ceremony and sacrificed himself? I've never heard of those cultists who worship the black sun. This kind of rule."

"This is the weird part—he didn't sacrifice himself," the guard who brought Fanna shook his head immediately, and said with a strange expression on his face, "According to the description of the cultist caught at the scene." ...their 'messenger' was sacrificed by a sacrifice..."

"Sacrificed by a sacrifice?" Fan Na raised her eyebrows immediately, "What kind of crazy talk is this?"

"It's really like crazy talk," the guard spread his hands helplessly, "In fact, when we arrived, most of the cultists here were already half-crazy."

"Already in a half-mad state?"

"Yes, there was obviously a big mistake in their sacrificial ceremony. Many people were infected with madness, and many people even started to kill each other. They all seemed to regard each other as... by some kind of horrible thing. The occupied 'monsters', it was precisely because they rushed out of the meeting place in their madness that they alerted the sheriff who was patrolling nearby, which led to the exposure of the situation... When we arrived, those who could stay awake and answer questions There are not many left, and the few remaining who can still speak fluently insist that they are sacrifices and sacrificed messengers."

"Crazy? Killing each other? And thinking that other people are occupied monsters?" Fan Na's expression immediately became serious, "Have you done an inspection? Is it the result of being polluted by the black sun?"

"I can't find any traces of contamination from external sources, but it's more like a kind of spontaneous madness - the factors that lead to madness are rooted in their own spiritual world," the guard said, pointing to a heretic A young lady in a long black dress walked among them, "Ms. Heidi has arrived. If it is confirmed that these cultists are not polluted by the black sun, we can only think of a way through hypnotism."