Now, he had to focus on Amber's Cult of the God of Wine.
Although the god of wine was one of the twelve major Greek gods, he and his followers behaved wildly and recklessly, making him a god who was neither wholly good nor wholly evil.
The most famous followers of the god of wine were the female mad revelers known as the Maenads. Their name was also one of the sources of the English word "mad."
They were fanatical worshippers of the god of wine. During the Dionysian Festival, they drank, feasted, danced, and engaged in promiscuity until they fell into a trance and lost their minds;
then they would frenziedly tear apart and devour live infants, goats, and people who did not worship the god of wine.
Looking at it now, they were textbook fanatical cultists!
And Amber had transformed the bar into a venue for wild revelry, clearly imitating the Dionysian Festival.
The female laughter Lin Chen had heard on the second floor that day, along with the smell of blood, had very likely come from the female mad revelers of the god of wine conducting the Dionysian Festival ritual.
And a festival like that was bound to have sacrifices!
It was not hard to guess that the sacrifices were, of course, those drinkers.
Both Lin Chen and Chen Xiao Diao had registered their identities, making the odds of being targeted extremely high!
Moreover, there had been something strange about the way Amber looked at Lin Chen. His thoughts had been muddled at the time, so he had not noticed;
now that he thought back on it, there had been a hint of playful desecration beneath the politeness, as if Amber had been looking at a lamb waiting to be slaughtered!
On top of that, Lin Chen had apparently discovered the ritual site. Even if Amber was not planning to sacrifice him and merely wanted to silence him, she was still highly likely to make a move against him.
Lin Chen also wondered whether he was overthinking things, but it was better to be safe than sorry!
He did not dare gamble that the other party was truly an honest, handsome, good citizen.
The best solution was to report this suspected cult site and have the authorities deal with it!
Lin Chen quickly searched the internet for "the god of wine," planning to gather some supporting evidence first.
A window popped up on the webpage: "Sorry, this keyword concerns a god and is classified as sensitive. You do not have permission to search or view it."
In this world, because evil spirits ran rampant and contamination was severe, information about gods was strictly controlled.
Lin Chen could only ask Chen Xiao Diao to investigate. As a Card Master from the Security Bureau, she ought to have higher clearance.
During a brief break in the midst of her hectic patrol duties, Chen Xiao Diao looked into it;
there was still nothing.
The official definition of cults did not include the Cult of the God of Wine, either.
It seemed that the history of the god of wine had also been severed on the authorities' end.
At present, Lin Chen alone knew that this secretive cult of the god of wine was still alive and secretly causing trouble.
But he could not report it, because the authorities did not even know this cult existed!
The Security Bureau was already short-staffed. Without evidence, there was no way they would take action.
Lin Chen could not simply sit around and wait for death, either. Who knew what kind of catastrophe a cult as crazed and unrestrained as the Cult of the God of Wine might be brewing?
Ordinary people could never fathom the thoughts of madmen!
Therefore, he had to go to the bar one more time.
Whether to probe for information or gather evidence, as the saying went:
To get the tiger cub, one had to enter the tiger's lair!
The author came with Lin Chen to beg for follows and votes!
Lin Chen shot to his feet and slapped the table. "It's the monthly votes! All these recommendation slots are closely tied to the monthly votes in the readers' hands!"
This book was currently on its first round of recommendations. If the numbers were poor, it would be knocked off the list later, with no more traffic. Everyone, please follow it all the way to the latest chapter! Those with votes, please cast them~
Thanks to Huadie Tianya for the 100 Qidian Coins tip~
Thanks to "I'm the Transformer, You're the King Kong" for the 100 Qidian Coins tip~
Thanks to Tank Hero, Yi Yi Sheng_Zhi Lian Shi, Love Little Bookworm, and Huan Liangsheng for the monthly votes~
Reverse Card Creation
But Lin Chen was neither a reckless man like Chen Xiao Diao nor a ruthless man like Guan Yu.
Going alone to the meeting was impossible!
He had to mobilize every available resource and connection before setting out.
To put it simply, first, he had to call in reinforcements! Second, he had to spend money!
But Lin Chen knew only two Card Masters in this world: Chen Xiao Diao and Zhong Yueming.
Brother Zhong had not replied to Lin Chen's message before. Now that things had reached a critical juncture, Lin Chen could only send him another message like a lovesick puppy:
"Brother Zhong, I've been targeted by a secretive cult!
Although this cult isn't recorded by the authorities, you have to believe me!
They worship the god of wine. They're using a bar as their base and seem to be conducting sacrificial rituals!
I've already been put on their list and may very well be the next victim.
I hope you can make time to accompany me and investigate;
if you can't leave, I also hope you can report this to the Security Bureau so the authorities will take it seriously and thoroughly investigate them!
The bar's owner is called Amber, and the address is xxxxxx.
Awaiting your reply!"
Unexpectedly, Zhong Yueming, who had been silent for so long, actually replied!
It turned out that Zhong Yueming had been infected by an Eyeless Ghost inside the Myriad Ghosts Night Parade Dungeon.
He had to remain isolated and quarantined for five days, and could only communicate with the outside world after confirming that there were no abnormalities.
As soon as the five days were up, Zhong Yueming logged in and received Lin Chen's message.
Upon hearing that Lin Chen had been targeted by a cult, Zhong Yueming immediately applied to leave, only to be rejected without surprise;
after all, his isolation period was not yet over.
With no other choice, he reported the matter to the Prevention and Control Group, claiming that one of his informants had come forward—
a bar was a cult stronghold belonging to the Cult of the God of Wine, and he hoped the organization would send people to investigate it undercover.
But Zhong Yueming did not know that, because his report involved belief in an "evil god," every piece of information he submitted would be scrutinized again and again.
This time, he had reported another evil-god cult that supposedly had appeared out of nowhere, making the reviewers even more convinced that Zhong Yueming's rationality had been contaminated.
Still, out of caution, the reviewers conducted a preliminary investigation into the bar:
they found that its business records were complete, its qualifications were in order, the owner's information was normal, and there had been no complaints or abnormalities during its operations, while customers had left glowing reviews one after another;
it was even a rare, high-quality establishment capable of producing spirit wine!
Next, an investigator paid a covert visit to the bar;
under Amber's "bewitchment," which felt like bathing in a spring breeze, he laughed heartily and experienced the massages provided by the bar's maids.
In the end, he drifted away with a complimentary bottle of wine.
This service was far too good!
This owner was far too gentle!
I'm coming again next time!
How could this kind of place possibly be a cult stronghold?
I've never heard of a cult stronghold filled with nothing but laughter and joy.
When the reviewer returned, he placed a question mark on Zhong Yueming's rationality-contamination assessment report.
Thus, not only did Zhong Yueming's report sink without a trace, but he himself also came under even stricter control!
As for Amber, who had seen the investigator off, she had actually seen through his identity long ago;
this time, she had muddled through with a field of pleasure and intoxication.
But that also meant this bar had come under scrutiny.
Amber tapped her fingers against the counter. As if she had made up her mind, she murmured, "It's time to pick up the pace."
As for Lin Chen, he still had a little over a hundred thousand in savings. He had to spend it and convert it into immediate combat power.
This time, Lin Chen planned to create cards specifically to counter the Cult of the God of Wine;
the Cult of the God of Wine specialized in mental manipulation, making its opponents fall into revelry, drunkenness, and loss of reason.
Lin Chen had nearly fallen for it last time, when he had been lured to the second floor.
This showed that when facing the Cult of the God of Wine, Lin Chen's current mental strength could still be breached.
Therefore, Lin Chen needed a card that could protect his mind and keep him clear-headed and rational.
But cards with this kind of rationality protection were not only scarce on the card market; they were also outrageously expensive!
After all, every ghostly monster came with an Intelligence Reduction effect. Card Masters flocked to mental-defense cards and craved them desperately.
A Green-grade light-element Consecrated Talisman, which provided mental protection and purification, sold for 300,000!
Lin Chen could not help complaining, "Is the Church of Light robbing people? Do they throw in a certificate of indulgence when you buy a card?"
A Green-grade Moon Spirit Mask, which provided resistance to mental spells, cost an even more outrageous 350,000!
And another reason this card sold for so much was its good looks!
The comment section was filled with buyers' photos, all featuring handsome young men and beautiful young women.
Lin Chen was speechless. He could not afford it at all, and the value for money was not high either. Buying it would make his heart ache.
He stopped placing his hopes on buying a finished card and decided to make one himself!
He had drawn inspiration from Zhong Yueming. Zhong Yueming's DS-R1 Mechanical Guardian had an Emergency Response Module program implanted in it;
once it detected that its Card Master was under a rationality attack, it would automatically alter the frequency of its electronic pulses and release them onto the Card Master, clearing away negative mental interference.
This was an excellent approach to breaking free from control—
Before you continue