Night World Players

Chapter 11 Now that things have come to this, let’s eat first

"Is this the sculpture that was contaminated by the evil god's aura and the source of the Iron Cross Plague in later generations?"

Hiltina's eyes were fixed on the sculpture in the center of the altar.

The sculpture is made entirely of gray-black metal, and the details are unclear. Only the outline of a human figure tied to a cross can be seen.

She wanted to pick up the sculpture and study it carefully, but as soon as she reached out her hand, Last got there first.

Last took out a small ink-colored square box from his arms, then placed the cross sculpture into the box and carefully sealed it.

"Lead box." Rast raised the small box in his hand: "It is impossible to completely isolate it. In theory, only a mithril container can perfectly contain pollutants."

"But time is tight this time, so I can't be picky."

Hiltina folded her arms and watched as Rast put away the lead box containing the evil god sculpture: "So, this is the end of it?"

The process of resolving this cult stronghold was much smoother than Hiltina herself had expected.

Now the cult's advent ceremony has been destroyed, their strongholds have been eradicated, and even the statue of the evil god that was the source of the pollution has been seized. Even if there are still some small fish and shrimp left in other strongholds of this cult, they obviously no longer pose much of a threat.

Logically speaking, all Rast and Hiltina need to do next is find a place to dispose of the sculpture, such as digging a hole to bury it or sinking it back into the sea... After that, they can find a safe place in Deep Blue Harbor, hide and wait for the mission to end.

"Unfortunately."

"If it was that easy, I would have cleared the level by myself a long time ago."

Luster put the lead box close to his body and smiled.

"I said before that when the residents of Deep Blue Harbor accidentally saw the sculpture, the seeds of pollution had already been planted, even if they didn't even remember it at all."

"Similarly, the rules of God are not something that can be guessed so easily."

He glanced at the altar, which was in ruins and had been broken into pieces. "Using sacrifices, rituals, and the devout faith of believers as a medium—"

"This is indeed the easiest and most convenient way to descend from the gods with the least loss. However, it is not the only way."

Luster paused for a moment.

"Everyone who has ever seen the statue, or even heard of its existence, can become its believer, flesh and blood. The only difference from the Advent Ceremony is the loss and the number of people required."

"I don't know if the Deep Blue Harbor at dusk on this day has any special mystical meaning."

"But the descent of God at 6:30 pm on October 9th is the only unchanging fact in the tens of thousands of cycles I have experienced."

"If the ritual of advent can be successfully completed, there is nothing more to say. But if the ritual fails and the original believers are wiped out... then the thousands of potential contaminated people in Deep Blue Harbor will be the medium for His advent."

Last stared at the flickering candlelight in the secret room and chuckled softly, "How can the fate trajectory marked by the gods be changed by the small actions of a few mortals?"

"It's like you wouldn't give up your spring outing plan the next day just because a bug had bitten a hole in your schoolbag."

The secret room returned to silence, leaving only the crackling sound of the white candle burning on the table.

Looking out the window at the gray sky and the deep blue harbor shrouded in the night, Hiltina felt suffocated.

No contact or belief is required. Just accidentally seeing or even hearing about the existence of the sculpture can spread pollution... God knows how many potential contaminated media and carriers are lurking in this ancient port city at this moment.

There might even be more people contaminated than normal humans. And this contamination had already occurred several months or even half a year ago, so early that Hiltina and Rast were completely powerless to intervene.

She thought this was a heroic script, and that she only needed to defeat the enemies step by step and destroy the evil plot of the villain organization, and then she could save the world and change the ending of the city of Deep Blue Harbor.

But now it seems that they are not the heroes in the play at all, but just a group of ants huddled together to survive in the flood...

In the face of the rolling fate, all the struggles seem so pale and powerless.

……

"But I know you're not the kind of person who's willing to sit back and wait for death, Luster."

After a long silence, the silence in the secret room was broken again by Hiltina.

"If you really have given up, then you should continue to indulge in role-playing in that hotel instead of bringing me here."

She stared into Luster's eyes, which were like deep pools swallowing up all the light. "You already have a plan, right?"

"of course."

Last turned the empty cylinder of the revolver and loaded new ammunition into it one by one. "If not, then when you asked me about the probability of success, my answer should not have been one percent, but zero."

Hiltina couldn't help but frown as she watched Rast changing the bullet in his hand.

Compared with the ordinary short bullets he had used before, the bullet that Last loaded this time was wrapped with a layer of copper metal shell outside the lead core.

This type of warhead is called a full metal jacket bullet. It is a type of bullet that places extreme emphasis on penetration performance at the expense of initial bullet velocity and human damage. It is generally only suitable for combat against armored units on the battlefield.

But where did the armored units come from in Deep Blue Harbor? Could it be that Last was going to challenge the Royal Navy's steel fleet with just a revolver?
"What are you going to do?" Xiltina rubbed her brows. "The pollution in Deep Blue Harbor has already spread. This is an established fact that we cannot stop or intervene."

"And because of the restrictions of the Night World rules, I am also unable to leave the Deep Blue Harbor... I think you must have similar restrictions, otherwise you would have tried to escape from here long ago."

Now Deep Blue Harbor has been planted with a time bomb called the Contaminated, and they can neither defuse the bomb nor escape... It seems that there is no other way but to wait for death.

"But if you insist, we also have a unique advantage—"

"According to the information circulating in the Night World, perhaps because of the different dimensions, the gods' interference in the world, whether it is the descending power or the detection of intelligence, is greatly limited."

"So, even if the evil god interfered with the world in the form of a pollutant sculpture, the evil god's body would never be able to understand the situation in Deep Blue Harbor in real time. It could only act according to certain preset rules through a trace of divinity that resided in the sculpture."

Xiltina glanced at Rast and asked, "Are you planning to make a fuss about this?"

"Very interesting reasoning." Luster applauded. "It seems that Miss Hiltina is not only an excellent swordsman, but also has the potential to become a detective."

"Your guess is basically correct... But before we challenge the almighty God as insects, we still have some important things to do."

"What's the matter?" Hiltina frowned.

Snapped--

"Eat." Luster flicked a bullet with his fingers and yawned, "And sleep."

(End of this chapter)