Gathering

Zheng Long led Xiao Zhang to a secluded hideout, a remote cave outside Leping City. It had initially served as a gathering place for the gangsters. There were two tattered sofas, some personal belongings, and even a bathroom with spring water.

After the two took turns cleaning their bodies, they sat on the sofa without any regard for appearances. Zheng Long suddenly frowned, reached into his mouth, and spat out a large clump of black blood. Meanwhile, the cracks on Xiao Zhang's body were slowly being repaired by the Shadow Magic.

"That guy still has a mask," Xiao Zhang suddenly said, drawing Zheng Long's attention. "After this, he'll probably recruit more helpers. If we all want to kill him, we need to find more helpers. I know the whereabouts of one of the masks."

"That guy is abnormally powerful. His mask is different from ours. I suspect he knows something we don't. We'd better find out!" Although Zheng Long was a thug, he didn't seem too stupid with the mask on.

"I already have some clues." Xiao Zhang took out a piece of paper from his pocket and tossed it to Zheng Long. His Fire of Wrath inherited the characteristics of the Flame Species, which could not damage physical objects, but was extremely harmful to living beings, and this was also true for himself.

"We all got our masks out of nowhere!" Xiao Zhang said with certainty. "It all happened a few days ago, and just today, I got this note mixed in with some other things."

"Where are we fighting? Someone is secretly helping us... no, instigating us. He wants to see us at odds!" Zheng Long instantly realized, "That person might have been monitoring all the masked individuals."

"So come out, we all guessed you were here." Xiao Zhang said, and a Shadow Assassin without a mask emerged from the darkness of the cave, greeted by a ball of black flame.

The Shadow Assassin dodged the Flame of Wrath with a quick turn of its foot, and grinned slyly. As more and more hosts put on their masks, the intelligence of these Shadow Assassin all rose to an extremely high level, and they even developed their own personalities.

"Hey, is this how you welcome your mentor?" The Shadow Assassin flashed and plopped down on the sofa, ignoring Zheng Long's frown, and said to Xiao Zhang with a sly grin, "You're blaming me for not rescuing your little lover? Well, I'm really sorry, I was tied up."

"There are seven God Mask, representing the seven deadly sins. Xiao Zhang, you are wrath; Zheng Long, you are Pride; and I have nothing..." the Shadow Assassin said, feigning sadness. But seeing the two opposite him remain silent with cold expressions, he shrugged indifferently and said, "We, the Shadow Clan, are the custodians of the masks. Every so often, we release God Mask to the appropriate person."

"But this time, the Mask Host made a slight mistake. One of our clansmen gained the approval of a Shadow Mask!" the Shadow Assassin said solemnly. "He took all the God Mask and started the Mask Battle Royale ahead of schedule."

"The Mask Battle Royale is a ritual. The winner who collects all the masks can evolve into a species that transcends humanity, that is, a god in the conventional sense!" the Shadow Assassin said, providing the background story that Lu Li had already prepared.

"And one of those masks, that jet-black mask, is the Sloth that almost succeeded in the last Mask Battle Royale, so it carries rather special abilities," the Shadow Assassin said. "My people chose to help that person, and to correct that mistake, our clan sent me to help you."

"Just call me Shadow B!" After finishing his business, the Shadow Assassin said with a mixture of sadness, envy Envy, and resentment, "I also want a mask like that. I also want to become the Kamisama of the New World!"

"Enough! If collecting all the masks makes you a god, then why did you release them in the first place? And..." Xiao Zhang stared intently at Shadow Assassin B and said, "What happened to the gods chosen in the previous rituals?"

"Alright, alright, alright, I knew you guys weren't going to be fooled! Don't give me that gay-boy gaze." Shadow B shrugged and said, "This ritual has never succeeded; the closest we came was last time."

"The Mask Battle Royale ritual must be conducted strictly according to certain procedures, and the failure rate is very high!" Shadow B said. "First, the mask's host must become powerful enough to gather sufficient nourishment to support the final person to become a god, and you are still too inexperienced."

"The ritual has only just begun, and there is still plenty of time to cultivate new hosts. This is also why my kin allowed the original sin of Sloth to kill you all," Shadow B said helplessly.

"Then why didn't he just lock us up from the beginning and harvest us all together later?" Zheng Long asked.

"We tried it during the last Mask Battle Royale, keeping all the hosts in captivity, but they were completely unable to awaken their Original Sin Ability, no matter how much we abused them or instilled enough negative emotions in them." Shadow B calmly stated the chilling truth. "That can't be the way gods are created."

"So, according to you, that bastard's side already has three masks?" Xiao Zhang said, then looked at Zheng Long: "Let's put aside Becoming a God for now. Our common goal is to kill that guy, so let's actively find the remaining Mask Host and get them to help us!"

Zheng Long nodded, looked at Shadow B, and said fiercely, "Aren't you the instructor? We need more information about the development of the mask's abilities."

On the other side, Fu Bin frowned as he walked into a psychological counseling room. He recalled the Shadow Assassin's words earlier: the Seven Deadly Sins were basically complete, but the unused mask in his hand needed a new host, namely the one representing lust.

He came here today to find the new host of lust. His goal is to become the god of justice in the world. The Shadow Assassin bluntly stated that if the original sin is not complete, the ritual will fail 100%.

Fu Bin pushed open the door to the so-called consultation room. His keen hearing immediately picked up sounds of moaning and groaning coming from inside. Upon entering, he saw a woman wearing a tiger-striped leather coat and tall boots, holding a whip and candle, relentlessly lashing a naked, masked, fat man. Of course, the fat man's mask was an ordinary one; Fu Bin's target was the woman who was engaging in S-sex.

The world slowly passed by. That day, after checking the information of the Mask Host, Lu Li looked at his three subordinates gathered before him. Lilith's body had also completed its transformation. With a wave of his hand, Lu Li sent them back to the three masks, which floated to his side. The next mission was about to begin...