Why is his holy light red?

Chapter 96 The Address of the Secret Laboratory

A light drizzle fell, and the interior of the Church of Divine Grace was filled with a somber smell of old wood and wax.

On the bench, Flora clutched the tattered blanket tightly, her emaciated body trembling uncontrollably in the dim light.

It has been two whole days now.

Whenever she was forced to close her eyes due to extreme exhaustion, the rotting, blood-smelling monster would appear precisely in the depths of her dream, accompanied by nauseating chewing sounds, gradually closing the distance between itself and her.

Two consecutive days of mental torture had left the little girl's already sunken eyes with a deathly dark bruise. Even though she would bite her lip hard every time she woke up from a nightmare, trying her best to appear nonchalant and stubborn in front of Mercury, the fear was almost crushing her spirit.

Mercury leaned against the peeling wall opposite him, arms crossed, his brow furrowed.

With the help of the angels of light, the target was narrowed down, and with Sister Maria's prestige, Mercury successfully achieved his goal of convening a meeting of the Root District gangs.

Without a word, Mercury simply appeared in the ruins of Elm Street, briefly explaining how the crater came to be and where the pieces of flesh came from, and the group of gang thugs were already trembling with fear.

Many people, in particular, recalled the fate of the Brotherhood of Rage, that terrifying red demon, who turned out to be the newly emerged superhero before them.

Mercury was far more famous than he thought.

He dares to slap the Federal Police Department in public and still be alive and kicking, he kills without blinking an eye, he has the Hero Association backing him up, and he can even call out the Holy Light Angel.

That shout from a couple of days ago has already spread throughout the entire Tree Root District.

It turns out that the Holy Light Angel really can be summoned by shouting loudly, which has led many people who bought things for free to start giving up big TVs and choosing big speakers instead.

Mercury's connections in both the legitimate and underworld circles are truly terrifying. Coupled with Sister Maria's influence, he doesn't even need to use force. As long as he asks a question, all those gang leaders who used to be so arrogant will back down.

They trembled as they confessed everything: whose territory had been tainted by the mutated potion from the immortality technology, and which gangs on which streets had done shady, dirty work for the conglomerate.

But the result disappointed Mercury.

When he kicked open the doors to the remaining two high-risk locations, all he was met with was the stench of the sewers and the smell of rotting blood.

The first location was a water dungeon set up by the gang, where several drug addicts, tortured to the point of disfigurement because they couldn't repay their loan shark debts, were hanging on iron hooks; while the other abandoned slaughterhouse was nothing more than the most vulgar underground human trafficking den in the Root District.

There were no sterile, temperature-controlled chambers, no corporate researchers in white coats, and certainly no mutated monster that killed by chewing up dreams.

Two full days of the seven-day countdown to death have already been wasted, and the clues that were finally found have been completely wiped out again at this critical juncture.

Mercury leaned against the cold church wall, pressing hard on his throbbing brow, his inner turmoil growing wildly like weeds. Had Richard, that old fox, failed in his intelligence network? Or was the smokescreen laid by the immortality technology too thick?

He looked down at his palm, where a faint golden holy light shone between his fingers.

Reason told him that the safest course of action now was to switch to a completely defensive strategy and use this golden light to protect Flora. With his current reserves, he could hold out for ten days to two weeks without any problem.

As long as the Holy Light Angel completely destroys the Eternal Life Technology building, with irrefutable evidence, the true form of the "Ogre Nightmare" will naturally be extracted from the mouths of the Eternal Life Technology employees. Even worse, he could shamelessly ask the Holy Light Angel for a "recharge," locking Flora's life in golden holy light for a year or two.

But this feeling of being passively attacked made Mercury's muscles itch with restlessness.

All he needs is the exact coordinates. Once he finds that bastard, one punch will send him to hell, skin and bones alike.

Unfortunately, he lacked an intelligence network in this area, which was like punching the air, leaving people feeling frustrated.

He now missed the days when the "camera" was still around more than ever before. The intelligence from that mysterious information broker, combined with his fists, had always been the perfect match. But since the last time they lost contact, the guy seemed to have vanished into thin air. Mercury even suspected that he might have made enough money and gone straight to the bank.

Just as Mercury was suppressing his rage and preparing to continue waiting for the investigation results in this dilapidated church, "Squeak!"

The heavy oak doors emitted a harsh, scraping sound. The moment the doors were pushed open, a blast of scorching heat, noticeably hotter than normal, forced its way into the cold, damp chapel.

A tall, muscular girl with short hair stepped across the threshold. Her exposed skin had an unusual dark red hue, making her look like a slowly burning reactor.

The cold, drizzling rain outside the church hissed softly the moment it touched her body, turning into a layer of white mist.

Mercury's gaze pierced through the dim light and landed on her face. He exclaimed in surprise, "Bran? How did you find us?"

""

This woman is a truly rare guest. If it weren't for the fact that the two of them were caught red-handed by the Holy Light Angel during a potion transaction in an underground bar, he wouldn't be embroiled in this series of troubles now.

How did this little girl who plays with fire end up at the Church of Holy Grace?

Bran ignored his surprise and strode to the bench, bringing with her a wave of dry heat.

His sharply defined face still wore that cold, hard expression. Without any unnecessary pleasantries, he cut straight to the point: "I need your help. I've found my sister."

Mercury quickly asked, "Where did the clues come from? Are you sure the person is still alive?"

Bran nodded grimly. "If nothing unexpected happens, he's still alive. It was the camera that sent me the coordinates—but something about the whole thing is off."

"A camera?" Mercury was taken aback. One second he was cursing the mysterious information broker for disappearing without a trace, and the next second the guy's information was delivered right to his doorstep. "What's wrong with this?"

“I didn’t ask him to find anyone at all.” Bran frowned, seemingly still pondering the words in the encrypted message. “This time, he not only gave me the exact address directly, but also didn’t charge me. What’s even stranger is that when I asked about payment, he said that the person who asked for help this time was my sister, and that my sister asked the camera for help.”

Mercury immediately frowned.

"Are you kidding me?" Mercury felt this was illogical. "Even if your sister were still alive, she'd definitely be locked up in some isolated lab using immortality technology. She can't even protect herself, how could she find a camera to make a request? And to put it another way, your sister is definitely penniless, how could she possibly ask that greedy vampire for help?"

"Who knows?" Bran shook her head irritably, her emotional turmoil causing her body temperature to rise uncontrollably, distorting the surrounding air. "That information broker always maintains a one-way communication. I can't contact him proactively either. But now I've found the address, and the camera footage shows you probably want to go there too."

"Mercury, are you going or not?" Bran suddenly took a step forward, his hot breath almost hitting his face.

Her eyes were red, and her voice was completely hoarse from extreme anxiety, "As long as you help me rescue my sister, I'll pay any price!"

Mercury stared at the girl before him, who was practically bursting into flames. He could see that Bran had become a powder keg ready to explode at any moment. Having finally managed to track down her younger sister, she now wished she could simply transform into a fireball and smash her over.

But Bran hasn't completely gone mad yet.

She knew very well that if those coordinates were indeed the secret laboratory of the Immortal Life Technology hidden in the shadows, then it must be heavily guarded and the Immortal Life Technology must be cultivating a large number of superhumans.

Going in alone to force her way in would be suicide.

Mercury is a powerful ally, arguably the best choice among the people Bran knows.

So when the "camera" mentioned Mercury's name in the message, she didn't hesitate for a second and rushed to the church in the pouring rain.

Mercury's expression was somewhat strange. He had been troubled by not being able to find a target, but now one had been delivered right to his doorstep.

"Where is it?" Mercury asked.

Bran quickly gave an address, but to Mercury's surprise, he had checked the address before, and the last time he checked, there was only a group of drug addicts who owed money and refused to pay.

He never doubted the authenticity of the intelligence; intelligence from cameras was always trustworthy.

If that's the case, then it means those thugs might have lied to him.

"Someone actually dared to lie to me; they've got guts."

Mercury didn't waste any words. He pulled out his phone and his long, slender fingers flew across the screen, sending a message to his father, Al: "I've found the secret lab of the Immortal Technology. I'm going to investigate now."

Mercury sent the detailed address, then tilted his head at Bran: "Lead the way."

The two walked out of the church one after the other, and were caught in the drizzling rain.

Bran sprinted ahead like a madman, his body radiating heat that forced the falling rain to evaporate, leaving a long trail of white smoke. Mercury trailed behind at a leisurely pace, his mind replaying everything he had witnessed during his initial investigation.

The underground water dungeon where drug addicts are held doesn't really have any secret doors or anything like that. If the address is correct, then how exactly do you get into that laboratory?

As they walked and pondered, fifteen minutes later, Bran and Mercury abruptly stopped in front of a rusty iron gate.

Mercury looked at the building, which lay sprawled like a steel monster in the drizzle. It was a slaughterhouse, run by the Ice Cone Gang.

However, what appears to be a slaughterhouse is actually their pharmaceutical factory on the underground floor. The stench of manufacturing contraband is masked by the stench of the slaughterhouse, making it undetectable even to police dogs.

The second basement level was their prison cell, where drug addicts in debt were locked up.

Mercury kicked open the chained gate and strode inside.

This time, we'll dig three feet into the ground to find that secret laboratory.