Chapter 1959 - 1958: Collapse

The enormous soul swept over the consciousness of the two individuals in an instant.

They slightly opened their mouths and raised their gun muzzles, seemingly ready to continue attacking He Ao, trying to create opportunities for themselves to break free.

Accompanied by two light ’click’ sounds, the two bodies fell to the ground.

He Ao’s gaze swept over the two people on the ground.

These two had appeared in Bod’s memories; they were two Secret Service Bureau agents assigned to protect Bod.

Of course, they weren’t Bod’s ’own people.’ Though Bod had recruited some Secret Service Bureau warriors, they were all stationed in Keskein, tasked with protecting his wife and daughter.

And this batch of Secret Service Bureau warriors were Skewis’s people.

Every time Skewis assigned him a task, he would arrange for a group of Secret Service Bureau staff to accompany him closely, ostensibly for protection, but actually for ’surveillance.’

This time, the Church of the Grim Reaper’s members being able to ambush Bod at home was likely because these Secret Service Bureau staff had disclosed Bod’s whereabouts to them.

As for those loyal to Bod, the Secret Service Bureau agents stationed at the door had been dispatched and dealt with from the outset. The ’familiar faces’ seen in Bod’s memories were merely illusions woven by the Dream Weaver.

However, due to Bod’s eagerness to return home, his hastened actions exposed a flaw in their setup, making Bod sense something was amiss.

So, was it Skewis who wanted to kill Bod?

But it doesn’t make sense. Although Skewis disliked Bod, it hadn’t reached a life-and-death confrontation. Killing Bod would be more detrimental than beneficial for Skewis.

If a Vice President died, the Federation would inevitably launch an investigation, and if it implicated Skewis, he’d potentially face severe impeachment that he’d struggle to justify.

He Ao raised his head and looked at the small building ahead.

It was a five-story building about a hundred years old, with Bod’s grandmother’s home located on the first floor.

When Bod’s grandmother bought this house, the building was already an old structure.

Now, even after several renovations, it was still tottering.

When Bod repurchased his grandmother’s house, to avoid being disturbed by others, he bought the entire building. The upper four floors were previously housing for Secret Service Bureau agents, but now those agents were all gone.

He Ao lowered his head, looked at the broken small door before him, and quickly entered.

Upon entry was a not particularly spacious living room.

The room was filled with scattered glass shards and broken furniture, as Bod had practically sprinted outside, and the Dream Weaver pursuing and attacking didn’t care much for the furniture in Bod’s home.

Many pieces of furniture here were old ones left by his grandmother, and the person who bought the house in the interim didn’t replace them, as buying a new set of furniture would have cost quite a bit.

Gazing at these fragments, He Ao remained silent for a moment. He opened a half-intact cabinet door by the side and retrieved an old wristband from inside, putting it in his pocket.

Then he swiftly walked into the storage room.

The wardrobe in the storage room was still open, its door already shattered during Bod’s intense running, littered across the ground.

A woman with blood covering her chest was lying in the wardrobe, her eyes closed, as if asleep.

He Ao slowly approached, squatting beside the woman.

The woman’s appearance wasn’t particularly charming, just barely passable, and time had added a fair share of wrinkles.

This was Bod’s wife, Alina.

When she married Bod, he was just a poor lad with nothing.

Although she didn’t directly partake in the thrilling phases of Bod’s life later on, she always managed to support him during the worst times.

He Ao reached out to touch Alina’s chest, already soaked in blood, with sharp spikes piercing through her entire chest.

Moreover, there wasn’t just one wound, but three.

She had long ceased breathing.

As a Secret Medicine Master and a Transcendent in medical fields, although Bod hadn’t deeply explored his abilities, his continuous collaboration with Stars Pharma had enabled him to master many extraordinary secret medicine configurations and gain access to numerous secret medicine materials.

He had actually left Alina two ’life-saving’ potions before, capable of keeping her alive in a critical state and even temporarily healing her wounds.

But clearly, the Dream Weaver had been meticulous, dealing the final blows twice, completely severing any chance of life.

However, it was merely the life force of the body that was extinguished.

He Ao raised his gaze, looking at Alina’s face.

On this body still clung a faint soul, a soul that hadn’t ’died.’

The extraordinary potion left by Bod had taken effect, preserving Alina’s soul, preventing it from dissipating immediately after the body’s life force was severed.

Under normal circumstances, after death, a soul would gradually dissipate.

However, with the existence of the New Netherworld, these departed souls wouldn’t entirely vanish, but instead, once roughly detached from the body, would enter the New Netherworld, signifying a complete death.

In Alina’s current situation, if she had just died, an extraordinary doctor could still possibly save her.

But she had been dead too long, with her body already starting to decay, merely preserved by the extraordinary secret medicine to maintain an intact appearance.

Even with the best doctor, someone of her state couldn’t be saved.

He Ao reached out and lifted the woman from the wardrobe.

But He Ao was different; he wasn’t a doctor, he was a ’God.’

He turned around and slowly walked out.

Surging purple radiance leapt out from within his body, continually rending his flesh, his body.

Grayish-purple blood, like a tide, gushed from his wounds, but upon spraying into the air, it was immediately shrouded in purple radiance, burning into new brilliance.

These surging purple radiances continuously flowed into the woman’s body in his arms, into her repeatedly pierced chest.

Like a printer rendering colors, blurry flesh wove in that damaged chest and in every ’broken’ corner of the body began to weave.

The glow illuminated the ruined hall and the damaged door.

He Ao, holding the woman in his arms, walked out of the broken door, then turned his head, his gaze passing through the destroyed threshold, looking at that old hall and the shattered furniture scattered throughout.

This was his grandmother’s house, where Bod grew up, a place storing his humble yet happy childhood, painful yet joyful memories.

Storing the encouragement from his grandmother, storing his dreams, his hopes.

Storing the desire to step out of the small city, ascend the stage, and make a name for himself across the world.

Boom——

A violent roar suddenly exploded beneath the entire night sky.

The old building collapsed in He Ao’s field of view like an avalanche.

The Secret Service Bureau agents had installed numerous bombs in this building to completely cover up all traces.

Before He Ao arrived, they had already pressed the detonation button.

The entire collapse was simply caused by delayed explosive bombs going off.

The scattered concrete dust fell like waterfall droplets, sprinkling onto He Ao’s shoulders, landing on his back.

He Ao did nothing, just stood there and watched the building collapse and be destroyed.

At the same time, the woman in his arms suddenly twitched, and her chest slightly heaved.

The pervasive purple radiance gathered from all directions and returned to his body.

He Ao turned away, no longer looking at the collapsed building, but instead walked towards the dark night behind him.

Alina’s body had been dead for too long, her soul already inclined to separation; even if saved, it would require more than half a month’s recovery.

This was not He Ao’s limit, but it was the limit of Bod’s body; if more power was exerted, Bod’s body would completely collapse here.

However, in the end, the person was indeed saved.

He Ao walked to the vehicle parked on the roadside, his body staggering slightly, almost falling.

But he managed to quickly steady himself against the vehicle, open the car door, and place Alina inside.

This body had been exhausted to its limit; just standing up to walk relied entirely on He Ao’s willpower, with no use of extraordinary power at all.

After putting Alina inside, He Ao turned around and looked at the bodies of the two Secret Service Bureau agents behind him.

He bent down and retrieved a key card from a Secret Service Bureau agent’s pocket, then took the Gauss Gun, ammunition, and grenades hanging from their bodies.

The Secret Service Bureau agents arranged by Skewis were naturally more than just these two, but these two were the most straightforward and were assigned to ’clean up the scene.’

Now, the remaining Secret Service Bureau agents were following the information provided by the Keskein Federal Investigation Bureau to capture ’K’ believers.

He Ao opened the driver’s side door of the SUV and sat inside.

As for why capture ’K’ believers.

With the Vice President killed, someone had to take the blame after all.

The best outcome would be Dawn City dispatching cultist assassins to murder the Vice President, everything proceeding smoothly while promoting hatred against Dawn City and ’K’.

Since cultists are the main characters in this plot, there certainly must be some cultists involved.

He Ao wore the bracelet he had just taken, glancing at the pink cartoon sticker on the bracelet.

This was Bod’s daughter Little Mira’s bracelet; Alina didn’t want her daughter always playing with the bracelet, mostly keeping it away.

He Ao unlocked the bracelet, its cover showing Mira’s photo, a chubby little face with big eyes.

He Ao opened the browser quickly, inputting the website and password.

With a soft sound, a gentle voice echoed in He Ao’s ear, "Hello, K."

"Hello," He Ao set down the bracelet, started the vehicle, and the bright headlights illuminated the dark road ahead, "Eve."

——

Abandoned Factory

Bright lights shone from the charging pendant light, casting warm colors over the surrounding old machinery and the empty floor.

"Alright, alright." A bespectacled young man, looking like a student, raised his head to look at the charging pendant light propped up by an iron rod, clapping his hands excitedly.

"Let’s eat, let’s eat!" Around him, some excited figures also joined in the applause.

The light shone on everyone’s cheeks, on their delicate skin, naive faces.

There were only a few people sitting here; some looked like students, some wearing slightly muddy overalls, others in faded casual clothes, all appearing youthful.

Before them was a camping folding table with some fried chicken, fried beans, and beer on it.

"Where’s Yuke?" the bespectacled young man sat down, glancing at the empty spot.

"He said he had something today, won’t come." A yellow-haired young man in the group picked up a bottle of beer, took a sip, "Probably chickened out, can’t handle the drink."

"Maybe it’s because we’ve been talking too intensely lately, he’s scared to come over." Another casually dressed young man picked up a piece of fried chicken, took a bite, "Do you think this guy might betray us, report us to the City Government or Federal Bureau of Investigation?"

"Does this guy have the guts?" The yellow-haired young man also took some fried chicken, took a sip, "Besides, we’re just discussing actual events; it’s not like we actually contacted Dawn City, would they arrest us for just talking? Then Keskein would be full of rebels, can they catch them all?"

"Who knows." The young man in overalls extended a calloused hand, grabbing some fried beans and chewing noisily, "A lot of people from our factory have already been taken for questioning, any trace found, and they’re fired."

Everyone around the table remained silent for a moment.

"But they weren’t caught," the yellow-haired young man hesitated, taking another sip of beer, "No evidence, they can’t just arrest people, can they?"

Everyone nodded slightly.

Speaking of which, the yellow-haired young man turned his head to the young man in overalls, "Stop eating fried beans, that stuff makes you gassy."

The young man in overalls glanced at the yellow-haired young man, picked up a beer, took a sip, "Next time, I’ll walk ahead of you."

"Hahahaha." The crowd paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Do you guys think," the bespectacled young man looked at everyone, whispered, "Dawn City could really launch an attack here?"

"Who knows," a short, chubby young man shook his head, "Dawn City is far from us; I don’t know if I’ll ever have a chance to go there in this lifetime."

"Definitely no chance now," the yellow-haired young man laughed, "If you go now, they’ll arrest you for sure."

"Can’t go even without the war," said the short, chubby young man as he grabbed a handful of fried beans, tossing them into his mouth one by one, "An airship ticket costs two months of my salary."

"Do people born in small cities like us ever have a chance to go to big cities?" said a voice in the light.

"Sure," said the bespectacled young man, "Didn’t Bod go?"

"Who’s Bod?" asked the yellow-haired young man confusedly, sweeping his eyes over everyone.

"Vice President," the young man in overalls said casually, chomping on fried beans, "He was sent from Keskein."

"Woah," the yellow-haired young man widened his eyes, "Can we really produce a Vice President from here? Was he just a tourist from elsewhere, only holding a name?"