Traces of Utter Chaos

The massive, heavy mechanical spider folded its long, segmented limbs towards its abdomen, using the wheel-like structures on the outside of its limbs to glide at extreme speed along the straight road. Inquisitor Vana stood steadily, as if cast upon the carapace of this mechanical creation. The night wind, carrying a faint scent of the sea, blew through the street, and the cold air made her mind even clearer.

Those cultists who worship the Sun God are a critical threat to modern civilization—and unfortunately, there is more than one such critical threat.

Malicious gazes are always cast upon the mortal realm from the depths of subspace, and foolish mortals always attempt to covet those ominous powers. Between this collusion of ancient gods and mortals, twisted relics forgotten from antiquity, forbidden offspring, and residual pollution lurk in the depths of the city-states, constantly stirring and attempting to pry apart the very structure of this society.

Among all these threats, the followers of the Sun God are the most vigilant and troublesome for the protectors of the Pland City-State.

They are not merely cultists, but the product of a lost part of the old world's history. Compared to most foolish and blind common cults, the most dangerous aspect of these heretics who worship the dark Sun is that they possess a certain "belief"—though fanatical and twisted, and though their lower-ranking members are a mixed bag, within the higher echelons of this detestable cult, there truly exists a "core belief" that has remained unchanged for centuries.

This belief revolves around the "Age of Order" under the illumination of the ancient Sun. It is not only self-contained but even has a corresponding "True Solar Calendar" that is not recognized by modern civilization. They firmly believe they are descendants of a long-lost ancient civilization and that this glorious ancient civilization will inevitably be revived.

As an Inquisitor of the Deep Sea Church, Vana had little interest in the heretical doctrines of those cultists. However, she knew that it was precisely the existence of these heretical doctrines that gave the Sun God's followers unity and stubbornness far exceeding other heretics, allowing them to survive tenaciously after repeated crackdowns and to grow day and night in the shadows of many city-states.

But their resurgence in Pland still surprised Vana somewhat.

After the unprecedentedly strong crackdown four years ago, the Sun God's believers within the Pland City-State were severely weakened. According to several investigation reports, those heretics should have transferred their main members to nearby Lensa, Mokha, or even the farther Coldport City-State. What remained in Pland were basically just some deluded and unrepentant followers who were not qualified to be transferred with the bishopric.

These lackeys hid in the sewers, relying entirely on their knowledge of the underground world and the twisted blessings bestowed by the dark Sun to evade the pursuit of the guardians. For four years, their numbers dwindled, and all they could do was barely survive.

But today, four years later, they had suddenly gathered again, even daring to risk exposure by holding a sacrificial ritual in a meeting place… Who gave them the courage?

Or rather… what major event was about to happen in this city-state? Was there a reason significant enough for those cultists to draw the attention of the dark Sun to Pland, even at the risk of having their last spark extinguished?

The vibration and noise of the continuously operating steam core came from within the mechanical spider. A faint scent of incense also overflowed from the steam pressure relief pipes, carried along by the night wind. Vana temporarily put away her wandering thoughts and looked up at the sky.

The "World's Creation" hung high in the night sky, its pale radiance illuminating the scattered houses, chimneys, and towers of Pland City. The action team was currently passing through the edge of the industrial zone, where the massive steam and thermal pipelines spanning between the factory buildings crisscrossed the sky above the streets like the veins of giants.

Vana vaguely recalled the past, recalling the most profound and terrifying night in her memory—on that blood-soaked midnight, her uncle carried her to escape the sea of fire. The streets were filled with people lost in collective hallucinations and flesh shadows that fluctuated unstably. They fled from the factory pipelines, the smell of blood and the chemical oil seeping from the pipes making one nauseous…

The mechanical spider beneath her feet suddenly vibrated, jolting Vana out of her memories.

The flat road ended, and ahead lay the abandoned area on the outskirts of the city. The road surface was pitted and uneven. The two mechanical spiders ended their gliding mode, extended their long segmented limbs, and began to walk rapidly on the bumpy road.

Before long, the team arrived at an abandoned sewer entrance.

Another eight-person team was already waiting there, having sealed off the surrounding area to prevent unauthorized personnel from approaching the entrance.

Vana greeted the subordinates there and then followed the on-site person in charge directly into the depths of the sewer.

Passing through the deep passages, through the dirty paths, Vana finally arrived at the secret meeting place—here, she saw more guardian warriors and church priests performing a purification ritual.

A temporarily erected altar was located in the center of the meeting place. The wooden high platform looked as if it had been burned by flames. On the platform, the blasphemous totems erected by the Sun God cultists could still be seen—the totems had been destroyed by fire, but their basic structure remained intact.

Around the high platform were dozens of cultists, their hands bound and squatting on the ground. Most of them were trembling, while a few had their lips moving, silently muttering their blasphemous prayers.

But with the ritual site destroyed and the Goddess of Storms having taken notice, the prayers of these heretics were utterly useless.

Not far from the altar were the bodies of the victims found in nearby caves. These tragic victims were placed on linen cloths inscribed with runes, and the hastily arrived undertakers were examining the condition of each corpse.

Several church priests moved around the altar, their bronze chains swaying slightly. The censers at the end of the chains emitted white smoke. As the smoke touched the ground near the altar, it was immediately stained with an ominous black shadow, while more white smoke carried away this pollution—the aura left by the dark Sun would be gradually cleared in this process.

"Inquisitor, please come this way. This is what we found to be amiss," the young guardian said, pointing to several corpses next to the altar. "Please be careful, the ground here is not very clean."

Vana walked directly towards the corpses, and upon seeing the condition of one of them, she subconsciously frowned.

It was a cultist wearing a golden mask—undoubtedly, the priest directly responsible for the sacrificial ritual at this blasphemous sacrificial ground.

There was a terrifying void in his chest.

"...What is going on?" Vana frowned. "Did this fanatical heretic get too excited at the end of the ritual and sacrifice himself? I haven't heard of any rules like that among the cultists who worship the dark Sun."

"This is precisely what is strange and bizarre—he did not sacrifice himself," the guardian who brought Vana immediately shook his head, his expression somewhat strange. "According to the descriptions of the cultists captured at the scene… their 'Emissary' was sacrificed by a sacrifice…"

"Sacrificed by a sacrifice?" Vana raised her eyebrows. "What kind of nonsense is that?"

"It does sound like nonsense," the guardian spread his hands helplessly. "In fact, when we arrived, most of the cultists here were already in a semi-insane state."

"Already in a semi-insane state?"

"Yes, their sacrificial ritual clearly had a major flaw, and many people became insane. Some even started to kill each other. They seemed to regard each other as 'monsters' possessed by some terrifying entity. It was precisely because they rushed out of the meeting place in their madness that they alerted the nearby patrolling law enforcement officers, leading to the exposure of the situation… When we arrived, there were very few people who could remain lucid enough to answer questions. And the few who could still speak fluently insisted that the sacrifice had sacrificed the Emissary."

"Fallen into madness? Killing each other? And believing others were possessed monsters?" Vana's expression immediately became serious. "Have they been checked? Is it the result of contamination by the dark Sun?"

"No traces of external contamination were found. It's more like spontaneous madness—the factor causing the madness is rooted in their own spiritual world," the guardian said, then pointed to a young lady in a black long dress walking among the cultists. "Ms. Heidi has arrived. If it's confirmed that these cultists are not contaminated by the dark Sun, then we can only try to find a solution through hypnosis."