I, Lord of Prayer

Human sins defile the highest good, and betrayal and defiance blaspheme piety.

The spirits and flesh of the sacrifices merged into a luminous sphere, like a yin-yang symbol, where good and evil, black and white, reached a perfect balance, with white within black and black within white, flowing slowly.

But soon, the black representing evil began to spread rapidly, swallowing up the white representing good, just like ink dripping into a clear pool of water. No matter how clear it was originally, it would eventually be stained black and assimilated. This was an unstoppable result.

Just like the human heart, once it is tainted by even a tiny bit of darkness and indulgence, it will spiral out of control until it completely devours the heart.

The ominous crimson moonlight shone silently, casting a blood-red hue over the luminous sphere and catalyzing the gestation and proliferation of boundless malevolent essence.

"Oh my!"

As if sensing delicious food, the "Sin Beast" opened its grayish-white eyes and stretched out its small hand to try to grab the aggregate of spirit and flesh. However, it was restricted by the ritual and could not reach it no matter what it did, so it cried out in distress.

Wow! Wow!

Cries of hunger exploded in everyone's minds like thunderclaps. Even the fourth-tier uncrowned beings who remained here felt their vision go black. A sticky consciousness crawled into everyone's ears, brains, and souls like mosquitoes, making them feel terrified and wanting to pry open their skulls, take out their brains, kill those crawling mosquitoes, and get rid of the strange and unbearable mental itch.

"Ah!" Someone frantically tore at their own face, instantly turning it into a bloody mess, tearing off a large chunk of skin and flesh.

Someone was frantically scratching their face with their fingernails, leaving bloody marks, yet they were laughing eerily without feeling any pain.

Some people knelt on the ground and repeatedly banged their heads against the ground, bleeding profusely, until they eventually knocked themselves unconscious.

Chaos and madness spread rapidly through the population like a contagious disease.

"Don't rush."

Dupp showed no reaction to his subordinates' plight, focusing all his attention on the Sin Child, whispering to it, "It's not time for it to mature yet."

The infant of sin seemed to understand human speech. Its cries gradually subsided, and it closed its grayish-white eyes, becoming as quiet as if it were asleep. In this short period of time, its size had increased dramatically, growing from a newborn to a three-month-old baby.

The crimson moonlight shone upon it, continuously providing energy for its growth. Gradually, a frenzied evil spread from it, causing the space around it to twist and deform. Strange and hideous phantoms flickered between the alternation of light and shadow, but were firmly sealed by the ritual and did not leak out.

Dupu lowered his gaze, slashing his palm with a magnificent, blood-red dagger. Threads of blood dripped down, nourishing the "Sin Beast," thus forging a connection by feeding it with his own blood. «-(¯`v´¯)-« ➅❾𝓢ĤⓊ᙭.𝕔𝐎м »-(¯`v´¯)-»

What he wants to do is not as simple as just awakening the evil god from the old era!

Boom!

The sky formed by the matrix of light suddenly trembled, and countless thin cracks appeared. Under the fierce and continuous attack, they spread to the entire sea of ​​light, teetering on the brink of collapse like a broken porcelain vase. Large fragments fell and crashed down.

  

Seconds later, the matrix shattered with a roar, and the sea of ​​light exploded into a rain of light, burning away completely.

Countless terrifying attacks flew toward Dup at the same time, but Dup remained calm and unperturbed.

In that instant, Dupu and the entire ritual array vanished from the spot, escaping from the Sin City, but a large number of his men were left behind. When the attack landed, those men instantly turned into a bloody mist.

The three remaining fourth-tier soldiers under Dupu leaped into the sky, risking their lives to buy time—they had all been thoroughly brainwashed by Dupu long ago, and even after advancing to the fourth tier, they were merely puppets without any self, their purpose in life being to die for Dupu.

"The passage of time has been altered!"

At that moment, an uncrowned member of the Star Society shouted in the Source Exchange channel, "The passage of time in Vice City can be manipulated!"

This is an ability that was never mentioned in the intelligence reports for B-033: Grand Theft Auto!

At this moment, all the fourth-tier members clearly felt that the instant Dupu left, he adjusted the time flow of Vice City to be slower than that of the outside world. Previously, when the time flow was fast, one second outside might have passed several hours here, but now, several hours outside might have passed, while only one second here!

In other words, as long as even a second or less passes in Vice City, Doope can complete the summoning ritual in reality and awaken the sleeping evil god!

However, the fourth-tier members were prepared. Even though they didn't know beforehand that the time flow in Sin City could be manipulated, the Stellar Society's strategic deployment department had included dozens of special situations, including this one, in their battle plan. So, the moment they sensed something was wrong, Li Xiye and Anna, the two idealistic Ascendants, took action.

"I figured time flows faster here than it does outside!"

A stream of light burst forth from the book I was pondering, soaring into the sky and covering the entire city of sin, forcibly reversing the laws of time here.

Boom!

The twilight sky, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, was now overcast with dark clouds, flashing with lightning and thunder. Streaks of azure lightning, brimming with destructive power, shone and flickered within the clouds, illuminating the gloomy world. Li Xiye's absolute will descended upon this world, forcefully denying the flow of time in the City of Sin.

bang.

Deep within the city of vice, a black notebook that was rapidly turning pages suddenly cracked, its pages turning abruptly stopping as if it had jammed.

The flow of time was forcibly altered, and time in Grand Theft Auto became faster than in the real world once again!

This will buy them more time.

However, the moment they forcibly altered the flow of time, Dupp changed it back.

"Damn it!" Li Xiye cursed, cooperating with Anna to forcibly change the flow of time again, racing against time.

This is, after all, the interior of an extremely dangerous fourth-tier forbidden artifact, and it's someone else's territory. Only by working together can the two of them compete with Dupu for control of the flow of time, and they must concentrate fully. It's as if they've suddenly lost two fourth-tier combatants.

"Five minutes!"

"Titan," the commander of the Raven Legion, shouted in a deep voice and charged towards the enemy's uncrowned ones.

The two sides engaged in fierce fighting, and the terrifying offensive caused the entire Sin City to wail incessantly, as if it were the end of the world.

At this very moment, the flow of time in Vice City is constantly changing, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Meanwhile, outside, in Liushan Prison, a scarlet full moon rises slowly, hanging in the night sky, replacing the original cold silver moon and dyeing the entire sky dark red. A tide of red moonlight surges out, covering most of Haicheng.

·

"Dup is back to reality."

Marvin gazed at the top of the building, then suddenly turned his head to look in one direction. "The 'Ghost' has torn through space and gone out."

"Ghost" probably wants to replace Dupu directly in the ceremony!

Zhou Chen's mind raced, and this thought flashed through his mind.

If "Ghost" faked his death on purpose, then this move was truly brilliant. He extricated himself from the storm, avoided everyone's sight, hid in the shadows, and waited for the opportunity to steal Dupu's fruits!

"Can you take me out?" Zhou Chen suddenly looked at Ma Wen. At this moment, he already had a guess in his mind and needed to confirm it.

Are you sure?

"I'm sure." Zhou Chen nodded seriously.

"Alright, I'll do my best to ensure you don't die." A silvery-white light shone in Marvin's eyes, constructing a spatial matrix. He couldn't tear space apart with his bare hands like Li Xiye, and in fact, most Ascended beings couldn't do that either, and could only rely on the spatial matrix.

"Zhou Chen, do you really have to go?" Eileen asked with a worried look. "Can't we leave it to Qunxing?"

Zhou Chen was silent for a moment. It was feasible. The "Prophet" had said that if the goal of this event was to maximize the benefits, the ritual had to be successfully carried out. In other words, the Star Society must have been prepared in advance, waiting for the moment the ritual was successful to reap the rewards.

but……

"Eileen..."

Zhou Chen paused for a moment before stating his conjecture: "Sasha is very likely the 'Ghost'... or more precisely, a part of the 'Ghost'."

Why is Sasha the only living person in the Requiem Cemetery? Why does she have no identity information? Why does she have amnesia and have almost forgotten everything?

If she was merely a part of the "ghost's" true form, a deliberately separated entity, the last vestige of kindness within her...

Only in this way can everything be explained.

"..." Eileen opened her mouth, but no words came out.

In fact, she had already guessed this possibility long after she learned that Sasha was likely taken away by the "ghost." After all, Zhou Chen had a forbidden object that could differentiate his own emotions, and there were quite a few similar extraordinary cases. However, she was unwilling to admit it or think about it deeply...

"I want to find out the truth, to see what really happened. If possible, I want to try to save Sasha, even though the chances are slim..."

If Sasha is part of the "ghost," then according to speculation, Sasha is actually dead now. This independent personality has returned to the main body and become the "ghost," just like a drop of water that was left out returning to the ocean, no longer distinguishing between you, me, and him.

If there were enough Wish Points to use "Mini Miracle," it might be possible to turn Sasha from a personality clone into an independent person, but unfortunately, there aren't enough Wish Points to summon a miracle right now.

They say the hope is slim, but in reality, there is not even the slightest hope.

But Zhou Chen still had to go. What if his guess was wrong? What if Sasha was still safe and sound?

And most importantly, after participating in this operation, as time went on, he began to think more and more about the things that the "prophet" and the disaster prevention department had done.

The sacrifices require nine pure virgins, eighteen traitors, thirty-six devout souls, and seventy-two deeply sinful criminals.

Among them, pure virgins and criminals must be alive, while traitors and pious people must be souls.

In other words, from the moment the specifics were known, everyone knew that nine innocent girls had been captured by Dupu and "Ghost" and used as sacrifices. Compared to the heinous criminals, they were truly innocent.

The "prophets" had every opportunity and ability to save them, but they didn't. Instead, they let things develop to their fullest potential, including the North Carolina Civil War and other major events.

Admittedly, from a macro perspective, they are doing their part for the continuation of humanity and have done nothing wrong. The core concept of disaster prevention departments is "we are not protecting individuals, but the human race as a whole." In order to get what they want, they will stand by and watch any sacrifices with indifference, as cold as machines, until the most appropriate time to intervene.

From a personal perspective, they are utterly despicable bastards who deserve to be torn to pieces. Knowing that people were about to be killed, they did nothing and let it go. If those who died knew that someone could have stopped it in advance and prevented their deaths, they would definitely die with their eyes wide open in anger. Even as vengeful ghosts, they would question the disaster prevention department about why they didn't save them.

Zhou Chen kept telling himself that he was powerless to change anything. He couldn't save people with his own strength. The only thing he could do was to carry out the mission well. Once the Stars killed Dupu and Ghost, the souls of those innocent people might find some comfort.

But these were just words to comfort himself. As an indifferent bystander and as an accomplice, he actually felt very guilty.

Those girls were probably around Eileen's age, or even younger. Imprisoned in dark cells, they prayed desperately day after day, hoping someone would come to rescue them, but ultimately no one came. But they didn't know that all of this could have been stopped; they had a chance to live…

As Zhou Chen thought about these things, his guilt deepened. Finally, he realized something crucial: he was not a member of the disaster prevention department, nor was he a leader who needed to worry about the future of humanity. There was no need to view the problem from the perspective of a grand narrative. He should do what he wanted to do!

Do what you believe is right!

Nine girls have already been sacrificed, but there are still nine girls who may still be alive and could be saved!

And there's Sasha, maybe she's still alive.

Zhou Chen no longer wanted to remain a cold bystander, and he absolutely did not want to become the kind of person who would casually sacrifice the innocent and disregard life!

hum!

As the matrix shimmered, a silver spatial gate opened, and Zhou Chen strode forward with a determined look in his eyes. His aura suddenly changed, and a golden soul appeared behind him, dazzlingly bright.

Marvin was taken aback. This meant that Zhou Chen's spiritual realm had broken through, his golden soul had become more solid, and his strength would reach a new level. What was he thinking about just now? How did he suddenly break through?

Seeing Zhou Chen's resolute decision, Eileen's lips moved, she had so much to say, but all that remained were a single, heartfelt sentence:

"be safe!"

"Um!"

Zhou Chen nodded and walked into the spatial portal with Ma Wen.

The scene shifts, and they arrive at a prison shrouded in crimson moonlight.