After finishing the pizza, Lu Xiu and I walked out of the shop and strolled along the pedestrian street, savoring the lingering aftertaste of the meal.
Crowds of people were passing by on the street, and on both sides, shops were overflowing with light, illuminating the thoroughfare.
“This is so nice,” I couldn’t help but sigh.
“What’s so nice?” Lu Xiu asked, a lollipop hanging from his mouth and his hands tucked into his pockets.
“It’s nice to be full.”
“… I thought you were saying the world of the living was nice.”
“Why would I think about that?” I let out a yawn and wiped away the tears welling in the corners of my eyes. ‘As long as I’m obedient, don’t cause trouble, and have a full stomach, I’m very happy.’
“Sigh, sometimes I really envy you. You’re simple-minded and have no worries.”
“I am not simple-minded!”
“Yes, yes, whatever you say.”
“That’s more like it.” I picked up my pace, running forward. I plucked some grass from a green belt and stuffed it into my mouth as a post-meal dessert.
“Friend, would you like a world without suffering?”
Hearing those familiar words, I turned my head to see a person in a frog mascot suit preaching to a girl.
“Join our Great Lord of Heavenly Unity. Go to an eternal Heavenly Kingdom where there is no suffering and no worry.”
Why was it another one of these guys?
I looked at Lu Xiu, who was already on the phone.
***
A moment later, several large men caught the frog mascot who had been harassing people everywhere.
Before being taken away, the guy even tried to proselytize to the Agents of the Response Division.
“These guys… why are they everywhere?”
I didn’t quite understand. There hadn’t been this many before, yet I had encountered them two times today alone.
“To be honest, this should be the tenth similar case today…” Lu Xiu stood beside me.
“This organization, the Heavenly Kingdom, has suddenly exploded in growth without anyone noticing. All kinds of preaching believers are acting as its spokespeople.”
“Then won’t everyone end up joining that Heavenly Kingdom or whatever?”
“No.” He shook his head.
“Don’t forget, we have a local power here. The Nirvana Society won’t allow a foreign force to keep growing and encroaching on their territory. But having said that, quite a few people will definitely be affected…”
“Doesn’t the Response Division have any reaction? For example, catching the boss of that Heavenly Kingdom?”
“Of course we do, but we can’t find them.”
He tossed the finished lollipop stick into a trash can.
“No matter what method we use, these believers simply cannot provide the source of the information. They only know how to preach.”
“Their thoughts and memories have been stripped away… it’s more terrifying than brainwashing. Even their personalities have been completely taken.”
“Currently, we’ve sought help from other Response Divisions, but the result remains an unknown.”
“But you don’t seem worried at all?”
He even had the leisure to go shopping with me.
“What’s the use of worrying? If you worry all day long, you’ll end up losing your hair and getting wrinkles on your face, and the result will still be nothing. Isn’t that just looking for trouble?”
That seemed to make sense.
“So, don’t go around looking miserable all day. Even if tomorrow is the apocalypse, you should still eat an apple for breakfast today.”
He cradled the back of his head with his hands and walked forward. “Just being alive is already quite good. Everything else is just a bonus.”
I didn’t understand…
But…. if tomorrow really was the apocalypse, then I would definitely have to drink a jumbo cup of Kuyan Fire Village.
Thinking this, I followed him, walking together toward the brightly lit world of the living.
After walking for a short while, Lu Xiu and I stopped at the same time.
“Do you see it?” Lu Xiu asked.
“Mm-hmm.” I nodded.
He sighed and pulled several spirit talismans from his pocket.
I stared straight ahead. Across the road from us, standing under a traffic light, was a figure.
It was a figure about the same size as me, except she was a deathly pale color and wore no clothes.
Two wings grew from her back, but they were shaped like finger joints, curled in a twisted fashion.
Those crimson pupils, engraved with crosses, looked toward me, her lips curling into a hollow smile.
Above her head was an angelic halo made of countless interconnected palms. Drops of blood flowed from wounds deeply gouged into her flesh, staining her long, pale hair.
The blood dripped from the ends of her hair, staining her footprints red and forming a small pool of blood at her feet that reflected a blurred image of the city.
That was a monster, without a doubt.
A monster that appeared blatantly in the middle of a crowd, yet not a single person noticed her. People passed by her, subconsciously avoiding her, but they never spared her a single glance, as if…
‘A ghost that does not exist in this world.’
For some reason, this thought suddenly popped into my head.
“Wait a moment while I restrict her movements. You deliver the killing blow. Be careful to control your power so you don’t affect ordinary people.”
“Oh, okay.”
Red blades popped from my fingertips. I crouched slightly, ready to exert force at any moment, waiting only for Lu Xiu’s command.
“Three, two—”
**[Supreme.]**
At the end of the countdown, an abrupt voice entered my mind, causing me to pause.
Lu Xiu beside me had already rushed out, but weirdly enough, his movements became slower and slower, eventually stopping in mid-air. Everything on the opposite side also came to a quiet halt.
Falling scraps of paper, fluttering flyers, the light reflected by floating dust.
Everything froze along with the stagnant countdown on the red light.
They were frozen in this city that seemed to have died.
Except for me.
And her.
*Shing—*
I bent low, my calves exploding with power. My figure suddenly vanished, and I appeared before her in an instant. My wrist flipped, tearing toward her neck.
*Tear—*
White blood splattered. Without any resistance, her head flew off and slammed heavily into a trash can.
But the headless body stood firm after staggering a few steps. She reached out to touch the severed neck and ‘looked’ at me.
‘Do you hate me?’
The voice came into my mind again.
I immediately distanced myself from her.
“Who are you? Why are you here?”
Bone spikes squirmed out of my palms, transforming into a piercing spear that I gripped tightly, pointing it directly at the other’s body.
‘I am His Agent. I have come here to see you.’
“To see me?”
‘Yes. I believe we need to have a good talk about a potential cooperation between us.’
“Cooperation? What is there to talk about between us?”
Aberrations and demons were all meant to be eaten by me; they were nothing more than food.
‘They are all awakening. You are their enemy, and they will not let you go. But I am different.’
On the ground, the severed head suddenly melted. At the same time, a lump of dough-like white substance sprayed from the neck.
Features struggled to emerge from within the white mass, appearing in detail like a carving.
Then, colors slowly filled in, and a head identical to the previous one grew back from the severed section. This time, she truly looked at me.
“Between us, there can be cooperation. Between us, there can be fusion.”
She spoke slowly, the voices of countless children emerging from her mouth simultaneously.
“So… join me. Together with us, build that—”
“The Indestructible Eternal Heavenly Kingdom!”