Frenzy

"No abnormalities." Adam frowned. He could not be certain whether there was a trap hidden within.

But Adam quickly set his mind at ease. The conflict between humans and the aberrants was irreconcilable. Most aberrants knew full well that no salvation awaited them. No matter what they did, all that awaited them was the Church's merciless judgment.

Aberrants like Adel, who could grit their teeth and go worship at the Church, were few and far between.

When priests encountered aberrants, even if they did not kill them on the spot, they would merely hand them over to the Inquisition to extract information through torture. After all, for captured aberrants, there was no recruitment, no preferential treatment, no forgiveness—only death.

This had also created a phenomenon: aberrants rarely cooperated with priests, and priests rarely used aberrants as bait, or for anything that required an aberrant's willing cooperation.

Given Adel, Will, and the others' thirst for the Tears of God Ritual, they had definitely arrived at House No. 17 in advance. At that time, the Church's night patrol arrangements had not yet changed.

Therefore, if Adel and the others had truly been exposed, fighting would inevitably have broken out here. Yet there were no traces of battle, which meant they had not been exposed.

Adam adjusted his emotions once more, shifting the weighting toward his soul to strengthen his perception of presence and his charisma. He walked calmly toward the entrance, then, as he passed it, glanced at a graffiti-like symbol on the wall beside the door.

His footsteps paused slightly before he continued into the house.

"It carries a faint abnormal aura. Is it some aberrant's ability?" Adam committed the detail to memory, crossed the courtyard, and arrived at the door, where he rang the bell.

Before long, someone opened the door. It was a person Adam had never seen before.

"A human?" Adam narrowed his eyes, but asked without the slightest alarm, "Has the gathering begun?"

"We have been awaiting your arrival, Lord Riges. Please follow me." The human bent low with extreme respect and led the way with impeccable etiquette.

"Will truly is wealthy." Adam swept his gaze over the surroundings and made a basic assessment of Will's financial resources. He had inspected this place long ago, which was precisely why he had chosen it as the gathering place.

Back then, there had not been much furniture or decoration here. Now, everything looked brand-new.

While discussing various materials with Priest Jim at the Church, Adam had glimpsed the Church's procurement lists several times and had some idea of the prices of certain ornaments.

Once he had a clear picture, Adam followed the human into the living room. Quite a few people were already there. The heavy curtains around them had been drawn tight, and the flickering candlelight illuminated their less-than-pleasant faces.

"Mr. Riges." The moment Adam entered, quite a few people gathered around him, calling out in low, respectful voices. There were also several unfamiliar faces among them.

"It seems tonight's little disturbance was not caused by you." Adam showed no stage fright whatsoever. He walked straight to the seat of honor without hesitation and, after sitting down, said, "Otherwise, dealing with it would have been quite troublesome."

"A few people did not have enough potion stored up and have completely fallen into madness. They attempted to trade hostages with the Church for Hoda's potion formula." Will stepped forward with the answer. "They invited me to one of their secret gatherings before."

"Those people place great importance on concealing their identities. Aside from the secret gatherings, we generally have no way to contact them, so they know nothing about you, sir."

"They were on a road to death." Adam shook his head. Needless to say, those aberrants were probably not even ashes anymore.

Let alone a mere handful of hostages—even if they used all of Roa as a threat, the Church would never compromise. To the Church, faith stood above life itself.

Only after sweeping his gaze around the room did Adam continue, "You gathered here in the afternoon and were not exposed because of it. That pleases me."

More than half the candles in the newly opened candle box on the counter had already been used. Judging from the number of candles and those that had been burned, one could roughly tell that they had begun lighting candles at sunset.

Together with a few small details, it was easy to determine that quite a few people had gathered here as early as the afternoon.

"I wonder what they'll imagine." Adam had pointed out the timing to deepen his own air of mystery. Judging by the situation, some people had indeed begun making connections.

"Mr. Will, come to the basement with me. You should have the materials ready by now." After displaying a touch of his mystery, Adam went straight to the point.

As long as something was a lie, there would always be flaws. But with real benefits placed beside it, people would instinctively overlook those flaws. So he now threw out the benefits directly.

"Yes, everything is ready."

"These people aren't fools, but neither were those who tried to threaten the Church." Adam's thoughts turned.

The reason those people had committed the utterly foolish act of threatening the Church was because they no longer had any hope. Expecting someone without hope to think rationally was unrealistic.

"These people are the same." Adam could feel the burning gazes behind him, and so he made another decision inwardly.

"Mr. Will." After entering the basement, Adam looked around, opened the ventilation window, and spoke softly.

"At your command." Will's voice trembled slightly as he suppressed his urgent emotions.

"Do as I say next." After sweeping his eyes over the materials, Adam said slowly, "Place the bird corpses in the southeast."

The instant Will heard Adam's words, his body shuddered. Then he could no longer contain himself, his face breaking into wild ecstasy as he hurriedly answered, "Yes!"

Adam told Will the requirements for the first stage of the Tears of God Ritual, then swiftly explained the first-stage ritual.

Adam had originally planned to use the first-stage ritual to reap greater benefits. But what had happened tonight made him realize that if he held it too tightly, these people might very well do something desperate. It would be better to spread it sooner.

"But it cannot be handed out freely either. Otherwise, some people may instead push their luck and demand more."

"Will paid such a great price this time to obtain the ritual, and he knows these people well. He will certainly squeeze benefits out of them." As Adam guided Will through the key points of the first-stage ritual, he thought to himself.

"Afterward, though, I need to immediately pull someone else up and let them obtain the first-stage ritual as well. Otherwise, this organization may end up having problems instead."

After telling Will the final key points, Adam stood up.

As he walked outside, he said, "Will, you are a smart man. You should understand why I gave this to you. Don't cause any trouble."

"I will heed your instructions, Mr. Riges," Will hurriedly said from behind him.

When Adam walked out of the basement, all the aberrants gathered there looked over. They were clearly deeply concerned about the ritual.

"You may seek Will afterward. For the time being, I have entrusted the task of performing the first-stage ritual to him." Adam's calm voice rang out.

Adel, standing among the crowd, suddenly changed expression. Dressed like a pauper and covered in injuries, Adel looked somewhat shabby within this house.

Adam seemed to notice this. He slowly walked over and patted Adel on the shoulder. He said nothing more, merely giving him a look of approval and encouragement.

But in Adel's eyes, Adam was giving off a distinctly different kind of presence at that moment. It completely ignited his fearful, conflicted emotions, turning them into frenzy.

Adel was a man of great ambition. He wanted to become a sorcerer, and he also wanted to rely on the ritual to advance into a true vampire. After the danger of his identity being exposed had been resolved, his goals changed.

What he craved now was not merely the subsequent Tears of God Ritual. He also wanted to obtain more power within the organization Adam had established.

Yet here, he discovered a problem. Compared with the other aberrants, he no longer held an advantage. What could he use to compete with wealthy people like Will? He had already begun to doubt himself before this.

Until this time, Mr. Riges saved him. In that instant, he had even thought that perhaps dying for Mr. Riges would not be so bad.

Although Adel quickly cast aside that thought, some effects had already sunk deep into his heart.

"Mr. Riges thinks highly of me. As long as I do something that satisfies Mr. Riges, I can stand on equal footing with Will. No—I was clearly here first. I will surpass Will!"

Adam noticed the change in Adel's expression, nodded, then went alone to the second floor of House No. 17.

Priests were still patrolling outside. Leaving now was too dangerous, and he could not rush to depart.

Thanks to Bai Jizhu, Pang Mo Dayu, Wuqing Xiudao Ren, Ling zero_, Guishen, and Huanyi Ling for the rewards. Thank you for your support. One more chapter will come later.