Care Guide to Raising a Max Level Leaf in Apocalypse - 67
Lost Ji Jiu
The anger was interrupted at this moment, and a moment of helplessness flashed in Si Yin Yuan’s eyes. Simultaneously, a strange sense of reason emerged within him.
As the menacing aura dispersed, the High Priest finally had a chance to speak. He suddenly amplified his voice, “Regardless of who your mastermind is, anyone who dares to intrude into the church will be handed over to the judiciary for judgment!”
With this statement, those who had initially come seeking the truth began to shrink back. Unlike the angry protests directed at the guard team during the previous demonstration, most of the people gathered this time were driven by a “gossip” mentality. It wasn’t genuine gossip but rather a panic incited by public opinion.
If it were only other scandals about the church being exposed, the survivors’ emotions wouldn’t be so intense. However, this involved mutants!
The church worships mutants?
Once this statement was made, everyone became nervous. The survivors who had managed to survive in the post-apocalyptic world until now had a strong collective survival consciousness and dared not overlook any risks. So when the first person took the lead, the rest followed suit, and things fell into place.
Yu Feichen, wearing a mask and a hat in the crowd, whispered, “We just need an explanation!”
Feng Chuyao lowered the brim of her hat, “Yes, if you have nothing to hide, why not let us investigate the church’s internal affairs?”
The crowd was quickly inspired, and voices chimed in, “Exactly! And why did you take two innocent children away separately? Are you planning to feed them to mutants?”
With such questioning, the High Priest’s face, hidden behind the mask, became even more colorful.
He turned to look at Xiao Shu and Ji Jiu, who were obediently like dolls behind him. His heart, pounding heavily, felt as if it had taken a calming pill.
He suddenly realized that this could be an opportunity to turn the tide, conveniently quashing the growing doubts about the church from the outside.
In a moment of contemplation, the church’s believers finally arrived. The venue instantly became crowded. Without the High Priest’s command, the high-level believers stood dumbfounded, while the intermediate and junior believers directly engaged with the survivors acting as witnesses, leading to increasing friction.
Si Yin Yuan took a step forward, thundering, “What are you waiting for?”
The High Priest directly pushed Xiao Shu and Ji Jiu in front of the crowd, coldly snorting, “Words are useless; let them explain it themselves!”
The initially somewhat chaotic scene quieted down. Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared at Xiao Shu and Ji Jiu.
A sudden pain in Xiao Shu’s neck, under the effect of “Faith,” left him unclear about what had happened. His body moved faster than his mind as he opened his mouth, “High Priest was just teaching us. There’s no mention of offering to mutants from the outside. What we worship is the most sacred and supreme Lord.”
The junior and intermediate believers straightened their backs, and their speech became more arrogant.
“You are truly ignorant!”
“How could the Holy Lord be a mutant?”
“Being disrespectful to the Lord will make you hated and abandoned by the Lord. Only sincere repentance can obtain the Holy Lord’s forgiveness. Do you know the fate of the Mayan civilization? That’s their ending for not worshiping the Holy Lord!”
“It’s all a trial! It’s a trial given to us by the Holy Lord!”
The voices of resistance gradually weakened, leaving only the brainwashed statements of the believers amplifying.
Ji Jiu lifted his delicate wrist, lacking any intimidating presence with his soft appearance, yet, at this moment, he unexpectedly drew the attention of everyone.
Without any sense of oppression, people subconsciously closed their mouths.
It was as if they were not facing a fragile individual but rather another colossal entity in a different sense.
Ji Jiu squinted his eyes, very satisfied with the awareness of these humans.
He took the small cube silently capturing everything on his collar, pressed a button on the top, and a massive screen projected onto the opposite pristine wall.
All eyes shifted towards it.
“What is that?”
“A projector?”
A huge unease instantly pervaded their hearts, and the High Priest clenched his fists in disbelief.
Impossible… this couldn’t be happening!
The next moment, Ji Jiu’s words plunged him into panic.
Ji Jiu’s lips curled slightly, “The High Priest indeed never instructed us to worship mutants. I’ve recorded it all.”
“Stop!” The High Priest’s eyes widened, but he found himself unable to control Ji Jiu no matter how he activated the light ring.
A small black mist curled up in Ji Jiu’s arms, satisfied and burped with a hint of the taste of light rings, hiding its prowess and fame.
The screen began to project everything that happened in this spacious room. The High Priest, disregarding his image, immediately ordered all the high-level believers present to capture Ji Jiu.
Someone noticed something wrong, “Heavens, what’s on their necks?”
“White runes?”
“Looks like shackles.”
“Oh my, don’t push me! Are they insane?”
Yu Feichen, seizing the opportunity, shouted, “He wants to kill and erase evidence!” and incidentally kicked away a high-level believer who approached.
It happened to be the plump believer who had been training Ji Jiu and the others for the past few days. His bulky body collided with the High Priest, pressing him down in a sorry state.
The deputy disciple panicked, hastily pulled him away, and kicked him against the wall, rescuing the High Priest, who was left with only half a breath.
Surrounded by many high-level believers, Ji Jiu, like an agile fish, evaded them with the small cube.
The hunters in the crowd continually obstructed these controlled believers, and the screams of survivors were chaotic and incessant.
In the midst of chaos, the screen finally played the crucial sentence: 【”Him? The Holy Lord is also something I fabricated. I am the god you all should worship!】
Instantly, the junior and intermediate believers, who were still dazed and driving people away, stopped. They stared blankly, lifting their heads to look at the familiar smiling face behind the mask on the screen.
They felt nothing but terror in the face of this strangeness.
The following scenes on the screen, manipulating people with light rings, further fueled their anger.
The long-standing beliefs and faith collapsed in an instant. The revelation that the Holy Lord was a sham uttered by the person they had always respected felt like a knife cutting through their hearts with the mocking tone in the screen.
Having undergone only the superficial brainwashing of “faith,” junior and intermediate believers had been worshiping the High Priest. Now, they could no longer deceive themselves. The tension in their nerves, strained due to external public opinion in recent days, finally snapped like a broken bowstring in this moment.
Fear, panic, and anger overwhelmed the High Priest, and he, supporting himself on the deputy disciple’s arm, felt like half of his blood had turned cold.
It’s over… everything is over… his efforts!!
Under the overwhelming stress, coupled with the recent oppression of nearly two hundred kilograms of weight, the High Priest spat out a mouthful of blood.
The deputy disciple growled, “High Priest! Run!”
He pulled the High Priest behind him, activated his ability “Shield,” and shielded against a fiery whip attack.
Feng Chuyao, who had rushed into the center at some point, blew a rogue whistle, and with a snap, her ability’s fiery whip struck the ground. “Quite impressive.”
The deputy disciple gritted his teeth in silence.
The awakened believers, still not recovered from the deception, had only one thought – to capture the High Priest!
The once balanced situation turned into a one-sided onslaught. The junior and intermediate believers, who had been defending the church just minutes ago, were now more ruthless than other survivors. After all, they were the ones truly deceived. The conflict escalated rapidly to a life-and-death struggle.
The advanced believers, manipulated by the light rings, couldn’t stop this unruly crowd. Their injuries increased, and violence and cries intermingled.
The voices of those deceived were filled with furious agony.
No, this couldn’t happen. If he were subdued now, he wouldn’t survive the judgment of the base; these frenzied believers would tear him apart!
A tremendous survival instinct erupted. Suddenly, a massive light ring appeared in the hands of the High Priest. Under its illumination, the runic shackles on the necks of every advanced believer became scorching hot. With a defeated look in their eyes, they used their own bodies to block the crowd rushing toward the High Priest.
The smell of blood filled the air, yet they seemed oblivious to the pain.
The High Priest started running, and the deputy disciple remained motionless, using his ability “Shield” to create an opportunity for the escape.
Feng Chuyao, unable to break through, muttered a curse and swiftly attacked the invisible shield with her fiery whip.
The High Priest’s eyes filled with hope. No one could break the “Shield,” which was why he never allowed the deputy disciple to leave his side.
As long as there’s turmoil, humanity needs faith!
He still had a chance!
Just as his fingertips touched the handle of the back door about to be opened, a sudden pull at the back of his neck sent him and his entourage crashing to the ground.
The man’s eyes were indifferent, carrying imperceptible anger as he stepped on the High Priest’s chest, raising an eyebrow and asking, “Where are you going?”
Before he could plead for mercy, the foot on his chest, shod in black boots, suddenly exerted force, easily surpassing a hundred kilograms, as if the ribs and heart were about to be crushed.
The light ring, supported by his ability, instantly cracked under the pressure.
The “shackles” disappeared.
The advanced believers finally screamed in pain. The indoctrination that had been in their minds disappeared, leaving them bewildered. Their confused brains couldn’t understand why they were blocking knives for a person covered in blood. Instinctively, they sought safety by dodging to the side, and the human wall they had formed collapsed.
The angry crowd surged forward. The hunters, who had been waiting in the crowd, used all their strength to prevent this place from turning into a trampling scene.
The mask on the High Priest’s face was flung aside, revealing a face beneath.
It was an ordinary face with no distinctive features.
This seemingly ordinary person, who no one would have noticed even if thrown into the streets before the apocalypse, had planned all of this, constructing a false altar for himself!
Those once adoring eyes, now gazing at him with intense hatred.
The illusion he had crafted was finally backfiring.
In a desperate twist, just before losing consciousness, the High Priest saw the deputy disciple rushing towards him with a moan.
Feng Chuyao knocked out the deputy disciple and said with complex emotions, “I didn’t expect that, in the end, there would still be someone genuinely supporting him.”
The correction officers and members of the Judiciary finally arrived just before the furious believers could tear apart the High Priest. They began maintaining order and evacuating the injured.
Si Yin Yuan threw the High Priest to Li Chao, who had rushed over upon hearing the signal, then turned to look for Ji Jiu.
The next second, his eyes turned fiercely cold.
…
Ji Jiu slowly opened his eyes. Amidst the chaos, someone had approached him, placing something at his feet.
A massive red magic array unfolded beneath him, and after a whirlwind of dizziness, he found himself in a different location.
He glanced down at the still dissipating magic array, recognizing it as the mysterious item that the person who called himself Wei Shen had used when leaving that day.
There was movement beside him. His roommate, who had appeared quite docile these past few days with black-framed glasses, took off his glasses, revealing bold phoenix eyes. He wiped them and put the glasses back on, meeting Ji Jiu’s cold gaze, then spoke in a calm tone, “Pardon the intrusion. My boss at home wants to see you.”