Allen’s speech rolled through the empty factory like thunder breaking the silence, echoing for a long time.
Most members of the Wild Dog Gang were teenagers, sensitive and insecure, yet desperately craving dignity.
They huddled together for warmth, seeking even the smallest shred of recognition and respect.
But even in the gray Underground World, they were the lowest of the low.
Whether ordinary citizens or rival gangs, everyone looked down on these petty thieves who only knew how to pilfer and sneak.
If nothing changed, they would vanish within a few years, leaving no trace.
Just like those who had silently disappeared over the past thousand years.
Yet at this moment, Allen’s powerful words pierced through the darkness like a ray of light, striking deep into their hearts’ most hidden desires.
The “dead end” Allen spoke of was terrifying, but the word “dignity” acted like a magnet, drawing them in.
They refused to disappear quietly.
Even if they had to die, they wanted to die with dignity—that was the fate of heroes in stories.
They exchanged glances, and their eyes no longer held numbness or hostility, but confusion, shock, and an indescribable fluttering in their hearts.
Finn carefully asked, “Boss, what exactly do you want us to do? And what do you plan to do yourself?”
Allen took a deep breath, his face glowing with an almost divine radiance, his voice low and full of power:
“I want you to arm yourselves with my spirit—fighting and failing but never giving up!”
“I want you to unite as one, fight bravely, overcome all obstacles, and seize victory!”
“As for what I want to do…”
He paused, scanning every stunned face before uttering each word like a bolt of thunder:
“What I want to do is simple. I want to smash the entire Old World! Break every chain that binds people!”
“I want to drag down all those lofty figures who sit above us!”
“I want to create a New World without nobles, without oppression, without suffering, where the elderly are cared for, the poor have support, the weak are helped, and everyone is equal!”
“I want to build, with my own hands, a Heaven on Earth for all people in this world full of pain!”
Boom—!
The entire factory fell into absolute silence; a pin could be heard dropping!
A world without nobles? Heaven on Earth?
This… this was sheer upheaval and blasphemy!
A thousand times more insane than any tyrannical noble lord!
This was not just opposing kings and generals, but the entire world itself!
Yet this wild vision was so stirring! So… dazzling! Like a giant stone thrown into still water, it stirred tremendous waves in every Wild Dog Gang member’s heart!
They were moths drawn to a flame in the darkness, burned and captivated by this unprecedented light, their hearts trembling with passion and unimaginable yearning!
Even though Marianne had long guessed Allen’s plans, she still watched his back with eyes full of shock and fervor.
This was the God’s Messenger. This was the man she chose to follow.
She was his apostle, the sharpest sword in his hand.
Even if they were to stand against the entire world, Marianne feared nothing.
Because the Heaven on Earth Allen was going to create belonged to her as well.
Allen turned and whispered in Marianne’s ear, “Marianne, I’m going to establish a new organization and entrust it to you. Can you handle it?”
Marianne nodded, her resolve as unwavering as a martyr’s. “I will give it my all.”
“Good. Your cultural studies workload will double from now on,” Allen said with a slight smile. “From now on, you’re no longer an ordinary maid. I want you to become the Underground Queen.”
“Then… will you be the King?” Marianne joked rare and lightheartedly.
Allen’s voice deepened. “I am the God’s Messenger.”
“Dummy… can’t you say something that makes me happy?” Marianne muttered softly, but her eyes shone brilliantly.
“By the way, your chance to establish authority is coming soon. Make sure you seize it,” Allen’s sharp gaze swept toward a corner of the crowd.
He had already noticed that while everyone else was stunned by his declaration, only two remained unusually calm.
One was Anna.
She wasn’t deaf to Allen’s words. On the contrary, she fully understood what he intended.
Anna was no fool—she simply embodied Saintly Substance.
In fact, the Inquisition, or rather the Church itself, was never short of radicals like Allen.
The old King had once been a radical cleric in his youth.
Having heard countless radical speeches, Anna didn’t see Allen’s thoughts as heretical or think him a heretic.
She just found his speech far more interesting than any priest’s sermon!
The other was an inconspicuous old man in tattered work clothes, his hair gray and disheveled.
His cloudy eyes held no fanaticism, only cold calculation and caution.
Clearly, his mind had been shaped by other doctrines, which explained his instinctive hostility toward Allen’s radical ideas.
Heresy was far worse than mere heretics!
“Anna,” Allen whispered, “do you smell anything on that man?”
Anna sniffed intently. Her eyes brightened instantly as she excitedly pointed at the old man in work clothes. “Heresy! I smell heresy!”
Allen smiled with satisfaction. “Go on, Anna. Take him down!”
“Roger that!” Anna responded like a hound given a command, instantly springing into action!
Before the old man could react, his vision blurred.
That seemingly foolish red-haired girl exploded forward with terrifying speed like a cannonball.
He didn’t even have time to defend himself before a fist carrying tremendous force slammed into his abdomen.
“Pft—!”
The old man flew backward like a sack of potatoes, crashing heavily against a rusty machine with a dull crash! Dust billowed!
“Old Jack!” Finn cried out in shock.
Old Jack was a seasoned veteran who had scraped by in the lower levels for decades, known for his kindness and many favors toward Finn.
Finn relied heavily on the old man.
He was about to rush to Old Jack’s aid but was stopped by Allen.
“He’s a cultist,” Allen said coldly.
“No way!” Finn couldn’t believe it.
“The fact is,” Allen gestured toward Anna flexing her wrist, “she’s a Combat Nun of the Inquisition.”
Finn froze.
Recalling Old Jack’s suspicious behavior, a chill ran down his spine.
Why had Old Jack joined a low-profile gang like the Wild Dog Gang?
Why did he assist Finn in running the gang in such detail? Was he really just a good old man?
But if he was a Cultist of the Crimson Spiral Cult, everything made sense.
Cultists held a unique niche in the Underground World.
Everyone knew of their existence, but few had actually seen them.
Those who knew their identities either became members or were killed.
Though cultists were mad and evil, no one else was exactly pure.
They were all the lowest scum, none disdainful of the other.
The denizens of the Underground World always turned a blind eye to the cultists’ suspicious activities.
This way, everyone got along and life went on.
Many gangs were gradually developed into Crimson Spiral Cult affiliates.
Could it be… the Crimson Spiral Cult had set their sights on the Wild Dog Gang?!
Allen and Marianne exchanged quiet words as they watched Anna dominate the fight.
“To survive Anna’s full-strength strike, you need at least the physique of a False God Marked Knight,” Allen analyzed.
“Hmm.” Marianne looked puzzled. “Ask him why he isn’t using his Mark ability?”
Allen recalled the 《Starlit Romance》 Church storyline and suddenly had a hypothesis.
“Could the Combat Nuns of the Inquisition possess special abilities that suppress Marks? Maybe Anna’s ability to identify Marked hosts is related.”
Marianne pondered as well.
If Allen’s guess was correct, the reason Anna had been sent to the Laval family as a monitor might have been precisely due to her perfect counter to heresy.
Anna’s fight was no contest.
Old Jack’s physique surpassed normal men, but faced with Anna’s overwhelming brute strength, he was easily subdued like a punching bag, then dragged like a dead dog before Allen.
“Wow, he looks so weak!” Anna clapped her hands, looking carefree.
Allen laughed as he ruffled her red hair. “You earned merit. Go report to the Inquisition. I’ll treat you well tonight!”
“Yay!” Anna cheered, dashing off like a gust of wind.
After finding an excuse to send Anna away, Allen turned to Finn. “Finn, go calm everyone down. I’ll show you all a good show soon.”
Finn looked at Allen’s calm face with awe.
This former drunkard young master had become so unfathomable!
He could casually command a Combat Nun of the Inquisition?
What on earth was going on? Had he already sided with the Inquisition?
In the Underground World, strength meant everything. Allen’s display of power completely won over Finn.
He obediently nodded. “Yes, Boss!”
Though only fifteen, Finn had been struggling to survive in the Capital’s Underground World since he was seven or eight, possessing cunning beyond his years.
As the true leader of the Wild Dog Gang, Finn used only a few words to shatter Old Jack’s revered image and nailed him to the pillar of traitor shame.
The fear and unease lingering in the crowd slowly faded.
Finn’s leadership won Allen’s respect, and he was quite pleased with his young follower.
Now, it was time to deal with the real threat.
Allen looked at Marianne, pointing at Old Jack. “He might know you.”
Marianne’s eyes darkened with cruelty. “Understood, Young Master. But won’t this look like we’re covering up a murder to the Inquisition?”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s a member of our gang. We clean house; they have no say.”
Allen approached the unconscious Old Jack, eyes devoid of mercy.
He drew a dagger, precise and cold, and swiftly severed the tendons in Old Jack’s hands and feet!
“Ahhh—!!!”
The intense pain snapped Old Jack awake, and he screamed pitifully.
“Well, well, awake?” Allen squatted, smiling at him. “Hello, heretic.”
“I… I’m not a heretic! What do you want?! I’ll call the guards!” Old Jack yelled through the pain.
“Don’t pretend,” Allen lightly parted Old Jack’s torn collar with the dagger tip, revealing a dull, twisted mark beneath his collarbone. “An Eroded Iron Crest… a useful power that dissolves metal. Too bad, Anna fights with fists—she’s your natural counter.”
“Why is your Mark so weak? Suppressed by Anna?”
With his identity and abilities fully exposed, Old Jack knew denial was useless.
He glared venomously at Allen. “So you’re from the Inquisition… Allen de Laval… no wonder the Cult suffered such heavy losses…”
His gaze shifted to Marianne, full of hatred. “And you, traitor! Have you forgotten your hatred for this world?! You sided with the Inquisition, becoming their lapdog! When the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked—you think betraying the Cult will save you?!”
Marianne’s eyes burned with killing intent, but she only smiled coldly. “I still hate this world, but I’m different from you. You want to destroy it and await the False God’s false salvation. We hate it to save it, to make it better. You heard Young Master just now—what do you think?”
“Hmph! Fool’s dream! Humanity will perish! Only the Lord can save us!” Old Jack shouted.
Allen sneered with disdain. “Do you know who’s really destroying humanity?”
“The false Creator! He made this cage so we’ll never be free!” Old Jack shouted fanatically.
Allen shook his head, pity in his voice. “You can’t even see humanity’s true enemy. A complete blind man. The False God’s pawns are just brainwashed cannon fodder.”
Allen stood, no longer looking at Old Jack but addressing the Wild Dog Gang loudly:
“You can reconsider my proposal. I don’t care if you want to be my comrades, but this opportunity is your only one.”
“Also, what I said earlier—you may only tell the Inquisition. If you dare spread my words elsewhere…”
Allen’s gaze slowly drifted to Marianne, a mysterious smile curling at his lips.
“Marianne, is your Mickey’s Wonderful Tool ready?”
Marianne understood, expressionless, drawing from beneath her skirt a gleaming dental extraction forceps.
Allen then turned gracefully like the most elegant magician to his audience, bowing to the Wild Dog Gang members.
When he looked up, his eyes blazed with wild frenzy.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy this terrifying show of bullying!”
Old Jack, tied to a chair, sensed something was very wrong with this master-servant pair’s mental state.
Before the cold metal touched his skin, an overwhelming, viscous, and icy despair swallowed him whole.
He finally understood what they were about to do was far worse than killing him.
“Wha… what do you want to do?! No! Wait! Aaaaaaahhhhhhh—!!!”
A piercing scream unlike any human voice shattered the factory’s silence!
That sound filled with unimaginable pain and despair made every listener’s scalp crawl and hairs stand on end!
The Wild Dog Gang members turned pale as death; some covered their ears, some looked away in fear, and several girls trembled and clung together.
Finn bit his teeth hard, forcing himself to watch—he knew this was Allen establishing authority, demonstrating power, warning them of the consequences of betrayal!
Allen calmly enjoyed the bloody spectacle he created, interrogating Old Jack without changing expression.
Under extreme pain, Old Jack’s mental defenses collapsed, and he confessed precious intelligence in fragments.
For example, he was a Double Agent—both a Thieves’ Guild informant monitoring small gangs and a Cult missionary corrupting Underground forces.
Also, Allen learned from him that the Thieves’ Guild leadership colluded with the Crimson Spiral Cult, and the Guild’s headquarters even housed a Cult base!
When the interrogation ended, Old Jack was left only twitching.
His blurry vision slowly focused, locking eyes with Allen’s emotionless gaze.
That bone-chilling look made him instantly realize his fate—
Everything he suffered so far was merely an appetizer!
Marianne had once been part of the Cult too.
Old Jack knew the Cult’s tortures worse than death awaited him!
Allen never intended to hand him alive to the Inquisition—this was mercy. He gave Old Jack a chance to end himself.
A resolute glint flashed in Old Jack’s eyes as he bit off his own tongue!
Blood poured from his mouth; he twitched a few times before going completely still.
Allen looked at the pitiful sight of his missing teeth and bloody mouth, sighed softly.
He reached out to close Old Jack’s unseeing eyes, speaking with profound compassion: “How lucky you are, finally freed from this hopeless world. I’m truly happy for you.”
The compassion on his face contrasted sharply with his earlier madness and coldness!
Allen turned to the thoroughly shaken Wild Dog Gang members, resuming his signature villainous smile laced with malice.
He spread his arms wide and shouted in a hypnotic, fanatical tone:
“Everyone! Lend me your strength!”
“We will conquer this wicked world and purify a brand-new future with the flames of our righteous fury!”
At this moment, Allen seemed a hundred times more heretical than any heretic.
Marianne quietly stood by his side, the hem of her pure white dress stained with spots of glaring blood.
Her face bore no expression as she calmly surveyed the crowd, as if the bloody interrogation had been nothing but a trivial matter.
Old Jack’s death screams, the brutal scene, and the pair’s cold, ruthless demeanor during interrogation hammered home a hard truth to every Wild Dog Gang member.
For the first time, they realized the gray world they inhabited was as bright as Heaven compared to the black abyss these two occupied!
This was absolute power! Absolute violence!
Allen’s terrifying control and ruthless methods completely conquered these desperate survivors.
They understood Allen spoke the truth.
He possessed the ambition and strength to become the Emperor of the Underworld!
If they united under Young Master Laval, perhaps they could truly conquer this world!
Following him, the Wild Dog Gang could grow strong and mighty!
When Inquisitor Victor Solen arrived at the abandoned factory with an Inquisition strike team and Anna, now wearing her battle suit, this was the scene before him:
Old Jack’s corpse slumped in the chair, his death gruesome.
Allen and Marianne stood surrounded by Wild Dog Gang members whose eyes burned with fanatic loyalty as if they had found their true leader.
“Hey! It’s you! Remember me? We go way back!” Allen greeted with a warm smile, as if the bloodied interrogation had never happened.
Victor Solen stared at the black-haired boy’s radiant smile, then at the cold corpse, and finally at the fanatically gazing “Wild Dogs” around him.
A wave of indescribable chill swept over him.
He suddenly realized he was not merely facing a “suspicious heretic suspect.”
He was confronting a wholly alien existence itself.