Chapter 253: Solving The Problem
A’duo stared blankly at the scene before her, as if the howitzer from moments ago had exploded in her brain, and it was still buzzing now.
Cold wind carrying the stench of blood blew over, and black smoke with gunpowder smell hit her face.
A’duo suddenly jolted, raising her head to look at the figure on the altar, her heart enveloped in immense confusion.
“Is this blood enough?”
Her brain lost the ability to think, leaving only her mouth repeating a meaningless question.
“Why?”
Su Huan rested one hand on the back of the chair, his body slightly turned, glancing at the watch on his left wrist.
The watch had stopped long ago, but fortunately, he wasn’t really looking.
“My time is very precious. Waiting for you all one by one, it won’t be done even by nightfall.”
“But everyone is dead…”
Ever since the High Priestess prophesied the arrival of the proxy, she had begun preparations.
For this, she even refused to become the Fourth Priest.
She just wanted to wait for the proxy to arrive, assist the proxy in contending against the Second Priest, and after defeating the Second Priest, become the person the proxy trusted most, take over the Second Priest’s position, and lead New Eden together into the larger world outside.
This story would inevitably be very twists and turns, and extremely difficult in the early stages.
But in the end, it would become an epic of the new era.
But she didn’t expect the turning point of reality to come so suddenly and tragically.
Three hundred people entire, with a “boom,” merged with the soil on the island, becoming worthless filthy waste.
Whatever story, contention, or even the Second Priest, all blasted into a pile of rotten mud.
It was like the card table hadn’t even been set up yet, and the house was burned down along with it.
She had wanted to draw a savior, but ended up drawing a killing star.
A sense of hollow bewilderment arose spontaneously.
Facing all this, the High Priestess instead became much calmer. Perhaps she had already “seen” this shattered scene in the prophecy, or perhaps those turbid eyeballs had long lost their function to see.
Shu Wei glanced pityingly at A’duo.
Deluding themselves that the Train Conductor would play by their rules, without checking how wide their river was to accommodate this dragon crossing the river.
Based on her current understanding of Su Huan.
He only cared about the armored train and his own goal; as for everything else, he didn’t care much.
Even lethargic enough not to bother specifically choosing.
This was an extremely obsessive and serious person. He was neither arrogant nor inferior, but absolutely obsessive.
In the face of this obsession, even his own life had to rank second.
From the moment he came ashore, Su Huan probably hadn’t cared about this New Eden at all, let alone the High Priestess or Second Priest. If not for the altar temporarily piquing his interest, the Second Priest would now be leading over two hundred people kneeling and paying taxes.
But now…
It could be considered watered.
“Do you need to call experts from the train to test the altar’s effects?”
“Call Director Xu and them over. The general energy concentration in the air is very high now.”
Su Huan spoke halfway, his gaze falling on the edge of the deep pit.
A figure staggered to its feet.
Dark red ice slag crumbled off the jacket, and the backpack had somehow torn open. He instinctively reached for it, but the whole person spun like a three-year-old child and fell to the ground.
This fall finally cleared Liu Chang’s mind a bit.
When he saw the mongoose coming up, he had hidden at the edge of the crowd; it was this caution that saved him.
Relying on his ability plus a bit of luck, he survived.
Although his brain was still dizzy, scanning the several unscathed figures on the altar, Liu Chang felt there was nothing wrong with lying down.
But this was intolerable for the Second Priest.
As someone who had received divine grace twice, a Tier 1 Evolver, he naturally wouldn’t die so easily.
Thanks to his confidant’s ability, plus the protection of the god of death, he survived too.
Though his right hand was blown off somewhere.
But what truly made his complexion deathly pale wasn’t the massive blood loss, but the meaning behind that howitzer shot.
That was absolutely not a power survivors could wield!
And Old Wu and the mongoose hiding behind the opponent.
Clearly, the other side had prepared early.
Could this be the High Priestess’s backup plan?
The Second Priest stared deadly at Su Huan, who was composed on the stage.
His voice hoarse like a zombie’s dry roar, as if about to tear his vocal cords.
“Who the hell are you?”
Facing the Second Priest’s questioning, Su Huan raised an eyebrow and said casually, “The High Priestess, doesn’t it seem like it?”
While speaking, another dozen or so people staggered up from the pit one after another.
After all, they were all evolvers; having some life-preserving ability was normal.
The Second Priest’s line of sight swept over the rising crowd, and seeing the silent Third Priest, he felt slightly relieved.
He secretly urged his ability, sensing responses coming from the foot of the mountain, and his confidence instantly doubled.
As long as the sacrifice wasn’t over, he hadn’t lost yet!
He still had a chance to turn the tables!
While calculating, he manipulated the god of death to absorb the scattered divine stones.
The Second Priest said with a gloomy complexion, “To become the High Priestess, one not only needs strength but also the approval of two-thirds of New Eden. Only those of high virtue and prestige become the High Priestess.”
After speaking, seeing Su Huan didn’t answer.
Feeling strange, he looked up, only to see Su Huan counting people with his fingers.
Muttering, “I have two here, you have sixteen there, so if I kill until only you remain, I can become the High Priestess?”
Because he didn’t lower his voice, even Liu Chang lying in the pit heard it.
Everyone’s hearts chilled.
The Second Priest hurriedly said, “Do you think you have the winning ticket?”
Su Huan felt surprised and specifically asked those around him, “Is this a righteous line or a villain line?”
Shu Wei and others: “……?”
Is this the issue to discuss now?
Shu Wei sighed, “He’s stalling for time.”
Su Huan propped his cheek with one hand and said indifferently, “I know. I’m killing time.”
“Arrogant fool, today I will make you pay the price.”
Sensing more divine stones had come up the mountain, the Second Priest was overjoyed, abruptly standing and pointing at Su Huan in fury.
But the tattered black robe on him made the words lack momentum.
Su Huan lifted his eyelids and commented, “This line finally has some villain vibe, but this half-literary half-colloquial way of speaking is really grating.”
A general energy fluctuation spread from the Second Priest.
In the deep pit, all the dead corpses began stitching together under a bizarre force, like a large-scale corpse-sewing contest, just lacking spectacle in the process—whether heads or arms and legs, slammed together counted as connected.
Even Lin Xia, with thirty years of experience in ancient Western medicine, would shake his head.
Su Huan narrowed his eyes.
Not long ago, he had just seen Yu Jing demonstrate this ability, only much more refined than this.
Whether in puppet stitching details or lively manipulation, Yu Jing surpassed by more than a notch.
Through general energy perception, he could clearly sense these were all empty shells.
Most of the general energy in their bodies had dissipated into the air.
In this state, whether they could fight ordinary people was questionable.
But some weren’t bad.
That god of death always by the Second Priest’s side showed Tier 1 general energy fluctuation.
At that moment, Liu Chang lying in the pit suddenly let out a pained howl.
The whole person rolling in agony in the pit.
Yet his aura kept rising.
New Eden’s remaining crowd looked over in shock and suspicion, but before they could figure it out, a dozen survivors simultaneously knelt, emitting pained wails.
The missing-ear confidant instantly reacted, charging to kneel before the Second Priest, kowtowing hard.
“Priest lord, I’ll be your ox and horse, please give me a way to live, a way to live…”
Drooping Eye also reacted, enduring the intense pain in his body, kowtowing to the Second Priest.
“If you don’t fight desperately, I won’t even have a way to live!”
The Second Priest stared ferociously at Su Huan.
The missing-ear one still wanted to curse, but it was too late; he turned into a zombie-like puppet.
His skin lost all blood color, gradually turning iron gray, with crisscrossing bright red lines on the surface, and his eyes became pitch black and shiny.
“Looks pretty intimidating, but why does it feel so weak?”
White Deer smacked her lips.
The Second Priest glared hatefully at Su Huan and said, “If not for you, once I gain the third divine grace and refine them one by one alive, their combat power would at least double, not this half-baked state!”
Su Huan’s gaze shifted; so this was the effect of those divine stones.
The sacrifice had always existed, and this Second Priest added a divine stone to it, actually a puppet trigger made by his own ability.
As long as they ate it, their lives would be under his control.
That Tier 1 Third Priest hadn’t eaten it and wasn’t surprised by this, perhaps the two had long conspired.
Besides these ordinary puppets, that Tier 1 god of death changed most dramatically.
Having absorbed many divine stones, its body muscles suddenly bulged like gray granite, tearing its clothes, bright red lines rolling with violent general energy fluctuation, an ice-cold terrifying aura spreading outward.
The mask on its head and clothes fell off.
Revealing a honest face full of scars.
“So Brother Wang Chang didn’t betray, but was refined into a puppet by him!”
A’duo in her confusion cried out at this terrifying sight.
Su Huan fell into contemplation.
He had originally thought the High Priestess and the horned woman were so confident because they had buried a backup by the Second Priest’s side.
But he didn’t expect… the backup to be buried this deep.
Almost cremated.
If not for him suddenly arriving on the island, where did those two women get the confidence to take down the Second Priest and seize power in New Eden?
This Second Priest at least had some villain air; what about those two women?
Just betting on that bullshit prophecy?
Though he shouldn’t expect too much from survivor factions, this makeshift power grab still plunged the Train Conductor into long silence.
Were other districts like this too?
“This many people isn’t enough.”
Su Huan urged coldly.
The Second Priest sneered, “Come out, my army of gods of death!”
The gloomy peak was silent, over three hundred iron gray puppets staring deadly at the figures on the altar.
The Second Priest’s face stiffened somewhat.
He urged his ability again vigorously, but those divine stones right nearby showed no reaction.
This made him panic a bit.
Even if some were vigilant and didn’t eat, there were over a thousand; how could not a single one have eaten?
“It must be your doing!”
The Second Priest roared in fury and shame, but a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.
The god of death hidden among the puppets had quietly moved to the front of the group, using other puppets for cover, pulling out a standard Iron Curtain Assault Rifle from his bosom, muzzle aimed at Su Huan on the altar.
“Bang!”
The heavy sniper rifle roared.
The god of death’s bald head suddenly vanished, along with most of its upper body torn into shredded meat by the bullet.
The assault rifle in its hand naturally couldn’t hold, dropping to the ground.
Tier 1 puppet, one shot one down.
Clearly, in puppet quality, the Second Priest fell far short of Yu Jing.
Her Bodhi Dao Artifact could fight autonomously.
And its combat instinct was even stronger than hers.
The Second Priest’s, without control, was just a live target.
Seeing his proudest god of death one-shot down, the Second Priest was stunned, whipping his head around.
Just in time to see a man in military raincoat, unremarkable in appearance, holding a heavy sniper rifle, with a girl in clean white shirt standing behind him.
Qu Hang stowed the heavy sniper rifle in his hands and said calmly, “Armed Corps, Major Qu Hang reporting to the Train Conductor.”
With a clatter, dozens of similarly fully armed soldiers encircled the entire mountain top, coldly watching the Second Priest in the center.
The Second Priest looked at them in disbelief.
Everyone had feedback from the divine stones, but he just couldn’t manipulate them.
“Looking for this?”
Goat pulled a handful of red crystals from his pocket and tossed them on the ground.
The armed soldiers behind imitated, sprinkling large handfuls of red crystals from their pockets.
Densely packed red crystals, over a thousand in total.
“Snap!”
Su Huan snapped his fingers, drawing everyone’s attention.
He smiled, “Now all sacrifice participants are here. I say I’m the High Priestess—who agrees, who opposes?”
The mountain top instantly fell silent.
Dead people wouldn’t speak; living ones didn’t dare.
The Second Priest’s face was black as if water could be wrung out.
But with dozens of guns aimed at him, he didn’t dare say another word.
“Since no opposition, it’s settled,” Su Huan pointed at the three hundred or so corpses standing in the field and said, “First bury those that should be buried.”
As soon as the words fell, over a dozen muzzle flashes bloomed instantly.
Area-suppressing the puppets in the deep pit.
The puppets roared and began resisting.
But their fragile bodies were torn apart by bullets.
Because they had all died once, the scene was violent but not bloody.
When the soldiers swapped to the third magazine, all three hundred puppets fell back into the deep pit.
Under weapon over-level suppression, not a single puppet reached the soldiers.
A’duo standing by the altar blankly opened her mouth, feeling it absurd.
Every reversal exceeded her most exaggerated imagination.
And this guy she had just criticized for being reckless sat in the High Priestess position.
New Eden’s greatest struggle ended so hastily.
But New Eden seemed…
Gone too.
“No! You’re the vanished army!”
The Second Priest standing alone on the spot had his brain cells fire like electricity, blurting out in ghostly fury.
In an instant, Qu Hang and the others looked at him with complicated gazes.
