Benson Peters coughed dryly. "We still believe that the so-called evil god is merely the delusion of the below-averagely educated public. There's no evidence to suggest that the 7592E incident is related to any mysterious force."
Ford Hill raised his eyebrows and asked as he walked, "So, what results have you achieved in your investigations these past few days?"
Benson's gaze drifted for a moment, and he kept talking, "The sewage treatment plant in Port Alplai discharged excessive amounts of heavy metals, and the drinking water was not properly filtered. As a result, one person in the slum died and another became seriously ill. They are now receiving treatment at the city hospital."
"The issue of improving the average educational level of Omegas in the war zone was revisited by City Hall a few days ago. The Ministry of Education, considering the current shortage of teaching staff, has decided to temporarily slow the pace of compulsory education..."
"Excuse me," Ford interrupted him and said calmly, "Please tell me something that's not in the news."
Benson suddenly felt like his throat was being strangled.
Noyce, who was following behind them, rolled his eyes and caught sight of the newspaper rack at the edge of the corridor. His eyes lit up as he leaned forward and said, "A few days ago, a wealthy man from Port Alplai rented out Newnas Island for half a month and even drove away all the staff! Some people suspected he was conducting some strange experiments on the island, or perhaps staging some kind of wilderness survival reality show."
As he spoke, Noyce's eyes revealed genuine envy, and his face clearly showed the words "I also hope that someone will rent an island for me one day."
Ford said nothing, hung the package on his wrist, took out a small notebook and a ballpoint pen from his suit pocket and wrote a few lines.
"Is there nothing else?"
Benson said awkwardly, "You know, we're just cooperating with your company. We know nothing about investigating this kind of thing. Furthermore, the locals of Port Alplai are extremely xenophobic. Many of them firmly believe in the existence of evil gods and are unwilling to trust us."
"Really?" The tall Alpha with short blond hair and grey eyes glanced down at his watch. "So you haven't been to the local church either?"
"Uh," Benson said, "As far as I know, the bishop of the Alplai Harbor Church is an Omega."
"What does this have to do with gender?"
So don't you think it's incredibly strange to be alone in the confessional with an Omega bishop? Are you a normal Alpha? Benson, relying on Ford walking ahead without looking back, said with a twisted expression, "So the church here doesn't enforce its laws well, and few people go to pray regularly. I guess the bishop doesn't know what's going on."
Ford snorted in an ambiguous tone. "All right, then, we'll go to church this afternoon."
Benson was dumbfounded. "Wait, wait a minute! Didn't you come to the war zone to help with the live broadcast mission assigned by the capital planet? Shouldn't we first study the script and find a suitable live broadcast location and actors..."
"I'm just a commentator," Ford said politely. "I'm doing my job. If you're not interested, you can go back to the hotel and prepare for the live broadcast."
Benson's breath hitched, remembering his superior's strict instructions to 'please Mr. Hill,' and he had to say aggrievedly, "I'm quite interested. Let's go to the church now."
**
Azathoth, a half-eaten ice cream cone in hand, squatted on a discarded shipping container two men tall. A black-capped sparrow with a pair of red eyes rested on his shoulder. He absentmindedly licked the ice cream Igor had bought for him, his gaze over his hood falling on the construction site below.
This is a building complex that was halfway through development when construction was halted for various reasons. Few people visit it normally. The ground is covered with rubble, cigarette butts and randomly discarded promotional posters. The surroundings are empty and silent, with only bursts of whimpering sounds brought by the wind.
Hugo stayed in the hotel to organize his new army of bionic men.
However, due to limited material resources, it had to settle for the next best thing, shrinking its supposedly full-limbed humanoid form again and again, ultimately transforming it into the common bird native to Port Alpre that Azathoth carried. Furthermore, due to a lack of suitable materials for eyes, it could only use a small, ordinary infrared camera. This resulted in the adorable sparrow sporting a pair of glowing red eyes, making it particularly conspicuous when looking directly at it or in dimly lit environments.
As for Igor Sullivan, he had no idea what strange switch had turned on, but recently he had suddenly become obsessed with feeding his god. Whenever he saw a new snack on the road, he would bring some to Azathoth. Azathoth didn't need to eat, but he never refused anything he fed him. The relationship between man and god was extremely harmonious.
However, Igor didn't go out shopping today. Instead, he said he was going to contact an 'old friend in Port Yarple':
"I saw the report on Starnet. The commentator assigned to Port Alplai is Ford Hill. He's well-known around the capital and has an impressive record. I've had the pleasure of meeting him before... Although we had a big argument, he's certainly capable. We were acting in such haste, I'm a little worried Hill might discover any traces of our activities on the spacecraft, so it's best to find someone to help cover it up."
As soon as Igor left, Azathoth, who had nothing to do, thought of the second believer he had picked up.
Although he wasn't as cold and heartless as people's original impression of evil gods, he still lacked the empathy that humans praised. He didn't even think of looking at Erica when she might be in trouble. At this moment, he was bored on the one hand, and on the other hand, he suddenly realized:
If one believer was in danger, he could save him in time. Two wouldn't be a problem either, but what if his followers were to spread throughout the entire Port of Alpre? When Azathoth thought of how many humans lived in this city, and the image of the densely packed heads gathered together appeared in his mind, he almost felt short of breath.
So for the sake of his own future, he must find a way for his believers to protect themselves, so as to effectively prevent them from calling out Azathoth's name and muttering in their hearts when they encounter danger.
The Heretic God, feeling incredibly clever, thought to himself, the names of his only two followers flashed through his mind, and he tentatively projected his power towards one of them. This method of operation sounded incredible, but to him, it was like instinct; just trying would achieve his goal.
But perhaps because Erica had never come into contact with him before, the energy that could be transferred was extremely limited, as if he owned an ocean but could only pour a drop of water into another cup.
Erica had no idea that Azathoth was squatting above her head, watching her.
She stood among the crumbling buildings with a group of half-grown children of similar age. Most of them were Omegas, with only a few being Betas who looked thin and malnourished.
Only a week had passed, and the wounds Erica had incurred when she and Teacher Catherine were being chased and beaten had only just scabbed over. She paid little attention to the scars, solemnly spreading out the old newspaper, soaked in sewage and with rotten print, on the ground in front of her.
The other children stood by, watching her actions, their dirty faces filled with suspicion and confusion. After a while, a Beta asked, "Erica, you said you can talk to the evil god. Is that true?"
In fact, after that day, Erica felt guilty for a moment because she hadn't received any response from the god no matter how many times she called out to him. But she quickly realized and said, "Of course it's true, and He is not an evil god. You can't call Him that!"
Another child pressed the issue, "So what is His name? When you sinned against Peter and his brother went to teach you and Catherine a lesson, was it God who saved you?"
"I can't tell you." Erica said with a serious expression, "Unless you are willing to swear to God that you will never tell anyone else what happened today."
The children looked at each other for a long time, and no one spoke.
After a long silence, Erica keenly realized something: "You don't believe what I say?"
A child kicked a stone on the ground and tilted his head, saying, "It's not that I don't believe it... Your grandma always said that God would save us, but God never showed up until Xiao Kaili's father got sick and died after drinking unhealthy water."
Another child put it more bluntly: "My mom said Erica's grandmother was a liar, and she wouldn't let me play with Erica."
"My mom said that too! She said Erica's grandmother is crazy and doesn't look like a good person."
"I think what Erica said might be true." Beta, who spoke first, suddenly interrupted, "How else could she memorize the text that none of us could? She can even solve math problems, but she's never been to school!"
Erica had been listening to the others' questions calmly, but now she became excited and retorted, "This has nothing to do with the gods! Teacher Catherine taught me that!"
"I also sat in on Teacher Catherine's class," the children said in a flurry, "but I didn't understand a thing. My Alpha cousin went to school, and he said he didn't know how to do that question either."
"But Erica figured it out easily."
"The evil god must have told her the answer. Otherwise, how could an Omega know so much? She even beat Peter. Peter ranked third in the class last time he took the test at school..."
Erica couldn't help but step forward and said, "Isn't it normal that I can do such a simple math problem? If you can't, why don't you admit that it's your fault?"
Another slightly taller child also stood in front of her and said loudly, "Because the adults all say that Alphas are smarter and stronger, and Omegas just need to be raised at home and give birth to children for Alphas! You were supposed to only know how to get pregnant and give birth, but now you know so much useless knowledge!"
The children are so young that some don't even know what pregnancy is, but they hear these fallacies from adults and can naturally apply them to conversations.
Erica was practically mad at them: "Teacher Catherine is also an Omega! The bishop of the Church of Port Alple is also an Omega! Even the current ruler of the Federation is an Omega! Can you please use your brain before you speak?"
The child opposite her impulsively raised his fist: "I..."
Suddenly, a loud "bang" interrupted the children's conversation.
Erica stared at the boy, panting. Not far behind them, a dozen-story unfinished building swayed, then collapsed under the weight as a crowd of people watched.
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