Igor walked to the door of the room, motioned the secretary to step back, and then swiped his card to open the door.
The moment the door opened, he glanced inside and saw that Azathoth had returned, slumped over on the bed, clutching a tentacle and staring blankly at the ceiling. Vine-like tentacles extended from the shadows all over the ceiling, walls, and carpeted floor. Igor reached up and touched the edge of the doorframe, and the tentacle crawling on the light switch immediately retreated like a tide.
Their owner sat up from the bed and looked over.
The secretary was behind Igor and felt a flash before her eyes. It seemed that the pattern on the ground had changed from what it was when she first saw it?
"We have a visitor."
As soon as Igor finished speaking, Hugo opened the window, threw the bionic birds in front of him onto the outer windowsill, and then kicked all the remaining parts on the carpet under the bed.
When the secretary walked in, she saw two people in the room, one wearing a hood and the other with an innocent look, both staring at her. Her gaze swept over the swaying window and the row of black-capped sparrows on the windowsill, their butts facing the room. Not noticing anything amiss, she casually said to Igor, who was disguised as a middle-aged man, "Are these two your children?"
——Having said that, she originally thought that this uncle who looked like he had high blood lipids, hypertension and coronary heart disease would be easier to deal with, which was why she acted impulsively in the elevator. Who knew that she would face such a tough guy?
Igor cleared his throat, put the cake bag on the table, and then said to Azathoth, "Please wait a moment, I'll go remove my makeup."
He walked into the room's attached bathroom, oblivious to the others. A few minutes later, a young man, whose appearance, age, and even height had changed slightly, emerged. The secretary of the governor of Port Alplai City Hall stared at him in astonishment, and after a long moment, he finally uttered a name: "...Igor Sullivan?"
"It's me." Igor nodded and briefly explained his schedule for the afternoon to Azathoth. However, the secretary's appearance was completely unexpected: "Why did you come to this hotel?"
The secretary, still recovering from the legendary encounter with a federal wanted criminal with a higher bounty while on the run, slurred, "Just call me Elaine. I... the owner of this hotel is an old acquaintance of mine, and I trust he won't betray me to City Hall. That's why I'm hiding here. I want to wait a couple of days to see how the situation develops before deciding where to move."
She wanted to ask, "Why are you here?" but swallowed the words before she could finish her words. After a moment of calm, she explained, "There are no stairwells above the 50th floor of this building. The hotel owner helped me turn off the security cameras. If the staff elevator next door was working, I wouldn't have run into strangers. Unfortunately, it broke down today, and the repairman didn't make it in time."
Hugo, who hadn't stopped him from browsing the Star Network while building the bionic bird, asked curiously, "Are you really running away because the mayor is going to make you a scapegoat?"
Elaine paused for a moment, her expression growing even more angry. "It's a long story... but since Igor Sullivan is here, I trust the Marshal's character and am not worried that you will report me."
This was a high-sounding statement, but she knew full well that she was relying on Igor's reluctance to appear publicly and deal with the authorities. And for some reason, this room gave Elaine a strange feeling, a sense of stuffiness and lack of oxygen. Her emotions gradually grew agitated, as if long-suppressed emotions had suddenly burst forth, making it impossible to remain silent any longer.
"Like I said in the elevator before, I know who the most terrifying and evil heretic in this city is."
"—O'Casey Griffin! Mr. Mayor of Port Alple!"
After uttering the name, she seemed to have given up on herself. A sickly blush appeared on her beautiful face, and she paced agitatedly. "Perhaps you will think I'm shirking responsibility when I say this, but the facts are right in front of everyone. Why is the shady business of smuggling and human trafficking in Port Alple so unchecked every year? Why is the power of the Holy See shrinking day by day, and why is it even ignoring the rumors of the alien god that are spreading throughout the slums?"
"Because the governor of the city hall is the real murderer behind the scenes!"
Elaine took a deep breath and opened her eyes wide. "I saw it with my own eyes! That man, O'Casey Griffin, is a beast! He... he's not one of those heretics who were tried by the Federation for not believing in the Supreme God. He's a genuine cultist who sacrificed countless innocent lives, just to gain the favor of the evil god and realize his own ambitions!"
Seeing Igor still maintaining a thoughtful expression, she clenched her fists and said, "Mr. Marshal, if I remember correctly, you should have an Omega sister."
Igor raised his eyes and looked directly at her: "...What do you mean?"
"This matter is no secret among high-ranking officials. I just think that since your sister is missing, you may be able to empathize with the experiences of other Omegas more." Elaine said.
"I was promoted to my current position two years ago, and O'Casey Griffin has been in office for four full years. My impression is that at least once a year, space pirates would bring in large quantities of cargo from their own dedicated shipping routes. At first, I had no idea what they were… I, I thought Mr. Griffin was just like those people who weren't satisfied with the status quo, looking to make some extra money."
"—Until I saw with my own eyes that he pulled a strange, seemingly underage Omega off the spaceship. He didn't defile that unfortunate Omega, because the flesh and blood sacrificed to the evil god must be pure. He just... just killed him with his own hands in front of me."
When she said this, Elaine's voice trembled, as if she recalled the scenes that kept reappearing in her nightmare, and tears fell from her eyes.
"I didn't stop him. I was scared, I didn't know what to do. I never thought I would encounter something like this... I became an accomplice. Those children had no idea that they were being forced to wither away before they even blossomed. They died in such pain... I often have nightmares, dreaming that they came to me and asked me why I was still helping a monster on earth... I don't know."
She choked back tears, wiped them away, and continued, "I was a coward—I had to admit that I was forced out of my comfort zone to muster the courage to resist, and I'm willing to accept the punishment afterwards. But O'Casey Griffin must not go unpunished."
"And I can trust you now because the wanted poster for Marshal Igor Sullivan is still posted on Starnet. I don't care what conflict of interest you have with the federal high-ranking officials, nor do I care whose fault this is. I am willing to trust your most basic sense of good and evil and empathy. I hope you will help me make the truth of this matter public."
After this passionate, eloquent and highly infectious speech, no one answered her immediately.
Half a minute later, Azathoth stood up and said slowly, "It sounds like you already have a plan."
Elaine's gaze shifted from Igor's face to the silent, faceless young man. His initial impression on her was unremarkable, not as impressive as the black-haired, red-eyed, and delicate Hugo. However, it was only at this moment that Elaine realized she had misjudged him—Azathoth was, in fact, the decisive figure in this team.
But who is he, and why is he with Igor Sullivan?
...Marshal Sullivan's attitude, which was both intimate and respectful, couldn't be an illusion caused by mental confusion, right?
The warm summer sun from Port Alplai shone through the treetops outside the window, casting dappled shadows on the walls. Birds perched on the windowsill chirped, and a few sparrows hopped around, turning and peering curiously into the hotel.
Elaine did not look back, so she did not see the scene of those specimens that seemed to be made by humans being instantly injected with life, and the deep red light emanating from their eyes.
"I do have a plan." She couldn't help but lower her posture, her head bowed. "The Archon favors young, pure Omegas and madly yearns for the favor of the evil god. If a rumor about the evil god, half true and half false, were to spread in Alple Harbor, and if the right child were to cooperate, he would surely be tempted to come alone to investigate."
In fact, Elaine took the elevator downstairs just now because she couldn't calm down and wanted to go to the slums to try her luck herself.
Many years later, the secretary recalled that ordinary summer evening in Port Alplait and couldn't help wondering if she had the good luck to win a jackpot of tens of millions by buying a lottery ticket.
Coincidentally, at this moment there is a ready-made candidate who can help her solve her current predicament.
"Ms. Elaine, please wait in the hotel for a while. We can handle this matter." Igor said, and took Elaine, whose face still had traces of tears, into the bathroom to wash up.
After the bathroom door locked, there was a loud snap. A tentacle hidden under the bed whipped the eyeball-shaped camera, which had been cushioning it for a while, out and slammed it against the wall. The round glass ball spun twice, its red port pointing toward the ceiling and remaining motionless.
"Evil god? Cultist?" Azathoth snorted meaningfully, picked up the disposable fork provided by the cake shop on the table, and thrust it into the red strawberry on top of the cream.
——Pah! They are all fakes!
**
Ford Hill half-crouched on the dirty dirt floor, looked at the little girl in front of him, and patiently repeated, "You can call me Ford. I'm a commentator from the capital, and this is my business card."
He handed the small card with his name and occupation printed on it to Erica and waited for her response.
"Hello," Erica whispered. She quickly glanced at the business card and then asked nervously, "What do you want from me? Mr. Ford, my friends and parents are nearby. How can we help you?"
Ford pretended not to hear the warning in her words and continued, "I've inquired about your family situation. Your elders are local residents of Port Alplai, with limited means to support their families. With compulsory education not universal in the war zone, they can't afford the cost of an Omega girl's schooling. But from what I understand, you are extremely talented in learning. You enjoy going to school and are willing to learn new things, right?"
Erica hunched her shoulders warily and said nothing.
"I can sponsor you." The blond Alpha said frankly, "You see, with my status and money, sending a girl from the border area to study in the capital is not a trivial matter. If you are willing, I can immediately contact the teachers of key schools to supplement your preschool knowledge and take entrance tests. This fall you can sit in the classroom with your peers, how about it?" The little Omega girl in front of him couldn't help but show an excited expression.
But Erica resisted the urge to agree and asked, "So what do you need from me in exchange?"
Ford said, "I hope you can tell me what you mean by being able to communicate with the evil god? Besides that, do you know anything else about this alien god that the locals believe in?"
However, before he could finish his words, when he heard the word "evil god", Erica suddenly turned and ran towards the slums.
Ford hadn't expected this reasonably priced deal to fail at the first stage of communication. He was momentarily taken aback, then, realizing what was happening, he instinctively took two steps in pursuit, only to watch the petite, nimble Erica disappear around the corner of the alley.
"...What's going on?" He muttered as he walked over and looked into the distance. The alley with a complex structure and many branches was empty and there was no sound of footsteps.
There were clearly small footprints left by Erica on the muddy ground, which suddenly disappeared out of thin air after reaching a certain position.
"Is it a secret passage, or an illusion?" the man muttered to himself, stroking the rough gray wall, trying to figure out what had just happened in the blink of an eye. Just then, under the gradually darkening sky, the sound of birds flapping wings could be heard.
'Chirp—chirp.'
The sparrows chirped and landed on the top of the wall, which was half a meter high.
Ford Hill raised his head upon hearing the voice, and when he saw the scene beneath the rising silver moon, his gray pupils suddenly shrank—
On the road directly in front of him, two tall, straight gray walls stood parallel to each other, with two rows of black-capped sparrows perched neatly on them.
The moment he looked up and saw them, the birds all turned their heads in this direction as if they were possessed. For some reason, their lifeless eyes emitted a bright red light that was particularly dazzling in the night.
'Chirp, chirp.'
The sparrows chirped in unison, their feet and bodies motionless, yet their feathers appeared vivid and lifelike. Their triangular, jet-black beaks opened and closed in time with the chirping, appearing perfectly natural.
Ford's face froze, and he inexplicably felt as if he were being closely watched by dozens of intelligent creatures. Cold sweat broke out on his back. Although there was no obstacle in his path, he dared not take another step forward in the face of this treacherous scene.
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