The Altar of the God of Abundance

A tiger dies like a sheep, a man dies like a tiger.

The corpse of a Class D Personnel, who had just died before their eyes, awakened the primal fear of throat-slitting hidden deep within everyone's bloodline. It was suffocating, making their faces numb and blood rush to their heads!

"Help... me..."

No, he wasn't dead yet.

A faint stream of air squeezed from between his teeth scattered a few specks of dust, undisturbed.

The gushing crimson filled the old floor tiles, coating the ground in a bloody mirror, reflecting a pale, bloodless face.

The Class D Personnel, with its organs emptied, slowly spun in the air, hanging upside down, revealing a tear capable of extracting a complete soul, a mad blasphemy against timid humanity.

It was like a sheep drained of blood, ready to be devoured.

Yet, there was no sign of any killer around him. Everything seemed like an extension of divine will, a proxy for the vengeful spirit's resentment.

"De... devil—"

A distorted scream came from behind Ning Xiuyuan.

A female Class D Personnel, her face contorted and eyeballs bulging, watched the scene. She could no longer suppress the surging fear and ran madly towards the end of the corridor.

There was a door there, a wooden door leading to the second-floor balcony.

"Ah—"

"Run!"

In an instant, the Class D Personnel, their Sanity value completely depleted, screamed, panicked, and cried out in terror. Ignoring the roars and shouts from their earphones, they madly followed the woman, as if a beast gnawing and sucking blood was relentlessly pursuing them.

"Creak!"

The wooden door was pulled open, and the pale afternoon sunlight streamed into the villa through the narrow opening, dispelling the fear.

That ray of light brought the woman endless hope, like a flame in a biting cold wind, appearing precious and warming her heart.

A look of joy appeared on her face as she eagerly stepped over the threshold, trying to embrace the light.

She felt the light!

Impalpable, soft, swollen, yet it brought extreme pain to her twisted soul.

She looked down in astonishment to see large masses of writhing organs piled at her feet, sticky blood spreading out, reflecting her mangled body.

—She was slowly floating up.

"Giggle... No, no..."

"Devil!"

"Monster—"

The Class D Personnel who had been running frantically behind the woman suddenly stopped. The terrifying scene, identical to the one before, made their teeth chatter and their minds completely collapse.

They retreated in terror towards Ning Xiuyuan.

"Daniel, what is all this?"

"Are we all going to die?"

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die, save me, save me!"

The Class D Personnel grabbed Ning Xiuyuan's clothes in their despair, asking and begging.

[Daniel, where is the altar!]

A question from the Foundation also came through the earphones.

Facing this horrific scene, Ning Xiuyuan remained expressionless and unmoved, silent.

He focused his gaze behind the hanged man, into an empty bedroom. The wallpaper was peeling, the walls covered in filth, and a window with a missing pane swayed gently.

The floor was covered in a scarlet, foul mess, still as a blood pool.

Occasional drops of thick liquid rippled, creating almost imperceptible waves.

Ning Xiuyuan's spirituality, through the Heart of the Beast, spread within the puppet Daniel. The Heart of the Beast was silent, but the Plague Disciple informed him that something was in the room.

Upon sensing that thing, "Ning Xiuyuan" trembled.

"Great God of Abundance, Verdant Form, my Lord, You are fairness and justice, You are my refuge. These lambs are all sacrifices I offer to You. Please bestow Your grace and divine gifts!"

Daniel suddenly began to chant fanatically.

—This was the closest he had ever been to God.

In a daze, Ning Xiuyuan wasn't sure if he was controlling Daniel or if Daniel had broken free from his control.

As the voice fell, the Class D Personnel gathered around Ning Xiuyuan were greatly alarmed and retreated one after another.

"Daniel... what are you going to do?"

"He's going to sacrifice us!"

"Kill him, kill him quickly!"

They instinctively backed away, and a few, spurred by a surge of ferocity, shouted in alarm.

God seemed to hear their pleas.

Daniel suddenly trembled all over, like a can being opened from the bottom. Red juice, mixed with colorful pulp, splashed onto the floor.

Daniel's body then began to levitate.

"Ah—"

The Class D Personnel, who had been angered by Daniel's words and actions, completely lost it.

The successive deaths had utterly shattered their sanity.

Screaming, they scattered and fled.

Two people dashed up to the attic, while the remaining few rushed into other rooms, slamming the doors shut, trying to keep the unnameable horror outside.

"Ah—"

"Help—"

Successive screams suddenly echoed on the second floor, and also in the ears of Ning Xiuyuan's main body, curled up in a ball.

The moment the puppet Daniel was attacked, he should have severed the link, but for some reason, he was a step too late.

It was this one step that entangled him like a kite-flying child, his hands bound tightly by the kite string.

The wind roared, the kite thrashed wildly, and the more he suffered, the more suffocating it was, as if being choked by the soul, the pain of tearing limbs!

The kite—Daniel, completely unable to control his own fate, slowly floated in the air, hanging upside down in the hallway.

At this moment, Ning Xiuyuan clearly felt an invisible liquid filling the hollowed-out cavity, seeping into his shell, and corrupting his soul.

Daniel was dead, yet not dead.

He stared with vacant eyes at the inverted world of the second floor.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Another burst of hurried footsteps approached. It was the two Class D Personnel who had rushed to the second floor. Only one remained, his expression twisted and terrified as he rushed down.

He ran, looking back as he did.

He saw nothing, yet stumbled and fell to the ground, rolling to the bottom of the second-floor stairs.

He looked at the upside-down Daniel and suddenly began to beg frantically.

"Where is the altar? Where is the altar?"

"Please tell me!"

[Daniel, where is the altar?]

A voice also came through Daniel's earpiece, questioning him.

—The Foundation had discovered through the instruments attached to Ning Xiuyuan that he was not dead.

"F-first floor..."

Daniel moved his lips, making an almost inaudible sound.

The last remaining Class D Personnel instinctively wanted to rush to the first floor, but as soon as he stepped on the first step, the last shred of his sanity forced him to freeze on the spot.

Not on the second floor, not on the third floor, theoretically the altar should be on the first floor.

The problem was, they had just come up from the first floor?

[Go to the first floor quickly!]

The roar in his earpiece became the last straw that broke his resolve.

He instinctively obeyed, rushing down the stairs.

As soon as he rounded the corner, he saw the living room filled with decaying old people. They looked at the Class D Personnel rushing down, and all of them immediately showed satisfied smiles.

"Child, come down quickly! Come down quickly!"

"Oh God, my Lord, spare this ignorant lamb!"

They screamed and cheered, eagerly backing away, trying to pull the Class D Personnel up.

The Class D Personnel broke down.

He turned to run, but the roar in his earpiece made him stop. His own will and the external consciousness were violently pulling at his fragile and pitiful soul.

"Boom!"

At that moment, an explosion suddenly occurred in the living room on the first floor.

—The explosion was caused by one of the cultists who had initially stayed on the first floor.

This explosion cleared a large area in the living room and awakened a sliver of sanity in the Class D Personnel on the stairs.

The desire to survive gave him courage. Gritting his teeth, he jumped down from the stairs. As soon as he landed in the cleared space from the explosion, he frantically charged towards the main door.

He bared his teeth, his expression ferocious, letting the foul wind pour into his mouth!

Screw the mission!

He'd rather be shot than stay in this devil's den.

Closer, closer!

The villa's wooden gate was right before his eyes.

Class D Personnel showed a flicker of hope. Snap, just then, an old man at the doorway grabbed his arm.

"Get lost! Get away—"

Class D Personnel screamed in terror, trying to shake off the old man's grip.

But it was too late.

In that very instant, two or three more hands grabbed his clothes.

"Get away—"

Class D Personnel cursed like a madman, tears streaming down his face. He knew he was finished. Trapped in this bizarre place, he would never escape alive.

Suddenly, he stopped. He abruptly turned his head to look into the villa's living room.

—He wanted to see if there was a damned evil god's altar on the first floor before he died!

Snap!

A rotting palm covered his face.

"Child, don't look back, run!"

Pale words squeezed from the decaying vocal cords sounded in his ears. As he stared in bewilderment, the several arms draped over him frantically pushed him out of the villa.

"Crash!"

The dilapidated wooden door slammed shut, sealing all the strangeness within.

The dazzling sunlight outside the villa made him instinctively squint. His greasy face, smeared with sweat and tears, was covered in dense red spots.

[475264, when was the last time you saw your mother?]

The cold voice from the headset left Class D Personnel, who had just escaped an extreme horror, in a daze for a long time.

"I, I last saw her last night... No, no, no, don't shoot, I dreamed of Mom. The last time I saw my mother was before the execution... I, I don't remember the date, don't kill me, give me time, let me think..."

475264 instinctively raised his hands, his face pleading desperately as he answered the questions. However, his chaotic thoughts made it difficult for him to recall the simplest details.

[OK, mental assessment passed, come over!]

475264 froze. After a long pause, he tentatively took a step forward. Seeing that there was no anomaly, his face immediately lit up with the joy of escaping death. He broke into a run.

"Pfft!"

As soon as he took a step, a strange gurgling sound came from within him.

He felt his body empty. He instinctively looked down. The ground was covered in colorful, scarlet gore. This suddenly reminded him of the sight he saw when he cut open a rabbit's belly as a child.

Perhaps... he was that rabbit.

His vision flipped, the world inverted, and then rapidly ascended, leaving the ground, soaring over the villa.

He saw the floating corpse he had seen on his way; he saw the armed personnel hidden in the forest; he saw the satellite command vehicle on the country road; he saw the drone hovering in the air.

He saw... a raven, as black as ink.

In the raven's eyes, a flower seemed to be blooming, in full bloom!

Ning Xiuyuan finally saw the altar!

The altar of the God of Abundance.