"Who's up there?!"
The footsteps at the stairwell drew closer and closer.
Bai Zhu glanced down at the controller in his pocket, then at the large bell he had rung.
All right.
The audience was in place.
Lowering his voice, he spoke into his earpiece. "Milluki, don't blow anything up on your end yet. A few enthusiastic fellow believers just showed up here."
There was a crackle from Milluki's end.
"Don't mess around! Big Brother is still in the core area!"
"Relax. I value my life."
"The credibility of that statement is zero."
Bai Zhu pulled his hood lower and turned toward the stairwell.
Two black-robed guards rushed upstairs, short batons in hand. They had Nen, but not much.
When one of them saw Bai Zhu's clerical robe, he froze for a moment.
"Who are you? Why did you ring the bell?"
Bai Zhu raised a hand and made the Creation Society's sign over his chest.
"The Lord told me to ring it."
Both men stopped at once.
Bai Zhu added, "Are you going to stop the Lord?"
The one on the left was clearly hesitant.
The one on the right was more clearheaded and raised his baton.
"Bullshit! Take him down!"
Bai Zhu sighed.
"As expected, low-level employees aren't easy to fool."
He brought his fingers together, and yellow light flashed.
"Bakudo #4: Hainawa."
The guard charging ahead had both arms suddenly yanked behind his back by a rope of yellow light. He slammed face-first onto the wooden stairs.
The other guard was just about to shout when Bai Zhu had already closed in and drove an elbow into his abdomen.
The guard doubled over.
Bai Zhu casually snatched away his baton and struck the back of his neck.
Bang.
The man fell.
"Done."
Milluki did not respond through the earpiece.
Bai Zhu frowned. "Tubby? Don't tell me you disconnected again?"
Several seconds later, Milluki's voice came through, very low.
"Stop talking."
"Something happened to my big brother."
The underground core area.
After Illumi was pushed out of the examination room, he was not taken back to the purification room.
The silver-robed bishop personally followed behind him, far more courteous than before.
The two nurses supporting him were gentler as well.
"Vessel Number Fifteen needs to be housed separately."
The silver-robed bishop instructed, "From now on, her meals, medication, and number of baptisms must all be personally approved by the elder."
The nurses immediately lowered their heads.
"Yes."
Illumi was wrapped in a blanket and walked very slowly.
He was currently playing the role of a pregnant woman who had been frightened out of her wits and forcibly examined. He could not walk too steadily, nor could he reveal any traces of training.
But what truly held his attention was the old man who had scrutinized him through the glass earlier.
That old man had also come out from the adjoining room and was now examining Illumi from close range.
The Nen of that gaunt elder himself did not make Illumi feel disgust or fear.
The source of all that malignant Nen was the black crystal embedded in the old man's chest.
What came from within it was chaotic.
It was like countless remnants of Nen left after death had been forcibly stuffed together, biting and dragging at one another, yet all bound by an even greater will.
That thing did not press down on him directly, but its clinging presence was deeply unpleasant.
Illumi rarely had such a reaction.
Since childhood, he had undergone training involving poison, pain, suffocation, and torture. His body no longer gave normal responses to most discomfort.
But when that Nen had touched him earlier, his first instinct had been to pull out the needles, kill everyone, and retreat.
This was not a matter of strength.
It was filth.
The nurses escorted him into a private ward.
The room was padded, monitoring equipment stood beside the bed, and three medical staff members waited nearby.
His treatment had suddenly risen several levels.
One nurse brought him warm water, and even her tone had changed.
"Number Fifteen, the elder thinks highly of you. Cooperate, and do not disappoint the Lord."
Illumi kept his head lowered, his voice trembling.
"I... I want to see Pige Aaron."
The nurse glanced at him.
"Your husband will be rewarded. For now, you only need to take good care of the Holy Infant."
Illumi protected his belly, lightly tapping his fingers twice beneath the blanket.
Milluki immediately received the signal.
"Private room. Three medical staff. Two guards at the door."
At the hotel, Milluki entered the information into a temporary map, his expression growing increasingly grim.
Ella sat beside him, both hands pressed over her lower abdomen.
The footage on the screen shook violently, but the sound still came through in broken fragments.
"Holy Infant..."
She repeated the words softly, as if she had finally understood what they meant.
Milluki did not look up.
"Stop spacing out. Every second you space out gives us another second of risk."
Ella did not snap back.
After a while, she finally spoke. "They call me a vessel. They call my child the Holy Infant."
Milluki's hands paused over the keyboard for half a beat.
Ella lifted her head, the uncertainty gone from her face.
"This isn't my child."
"This is the demon they want me to give birth to."
Milluki glanced at her.
"You only figured that out now?"
Ella pressed down harder on her stomach.
"I was too stupid before."
Bai Zhu's voice came through the earpiece.
"Congratulations. You finally dragged your lovesick brain back from the crematorium."
Ella froze.
Suddenly, she felt that the way these people spoke was not quite as harsh as she had thought.
She looked at the rows of compartments on the screen, her voice a little hoarse.
"Mr. Bai Zhu, I'll expose myself according to your plan."
Milluki immediately turned around.
"Are you insane?"
"If they want the real me, then let them come and catch me."
"Do you know what you're saying?" Milluki's voice abruptly rose. "You've never had training, you have no combat ability, and you can't even run fast. If they send out anyone who knows Nen, you won't even have time to react."
Ella looked at him.
"Then what about the women on that screen?"
Milluki choked on his words.
Ella continued, "If I hide here, they'll die. If I go out, I might die too. But at least I can make them move."
"You can't save everyone."
"I know."
"Going in there is just throwing your life away."
"I know that too."
Milluki irritably raked a hand through his hair.
"Then why are you still going?"
Ella lowered her head and looked at her belly.
"If I do nothing, I'll be more disgusted with myself than if I die."
The room fell silent for two seconds.
Milluki cursed. "Crazy really is contagious."
Bai Zhu, on the other hand, did not laugh.
"Ella, don't rush to throw yourself in. We're using a double bait strategy now."
"What double bait?" Milluki immediately asked.
Standing in the bell tower, Bai Zhu dragged the unconscious guards into a corner while rapidly laying out the plan.
"Illumi is currently the fake perfect vessel, responsible for holding the elder's attention."
"It's too dangerous for Big Brother to stay inside."
"So we switch him out."
"Right. The real Ella shows herself in a controllable location, letting them confirm that Number Fifteen has another source. Or rather, making them think the Holy Infant's reaction has split."
As Milluki heard this, his fingers began moving.
"You want them to send people out to capture the real Ella, pulling personnel out from underground and reducing pressure on the core area, so Big Brother can escape while they're distracted?"
"Smart."
"Don't praise me. It makes me sick."
Bai Zhu took out the first Exploding Mosquito and attached it to the inside of the bell's clapper.
"I'll stir things up on the surface first. Once they start moving people around, give Illumi an escape route."
Milluki gritted his teeth.
"You'd better not blow the bell tower down."
Bai Zhu lowered his head to look at the massive bell.
"That depends on the building quality."
"Bai Zhu!"
"Just kidding. Why are you so tense?"
At that moment, the hotel screen suddenly flickered.
The audio from the underground core area stabilized again for a brief stretch.
Behind the glass room, the silver-robed bishop returned to the elder's side.
"Elder, the abnormality in Vessel Number Fifteen has stabilized."
The gaunt elder sat amid the machinery, one hand pressed against the black crystal in his chest.
"It hasn't stabilized."
His voice was raspy.
"Her soul has not been corrupted."
The silver-robed bishop lowered his head.
"Does that mean the Lord has chosen her?"
The elder slowly stroked the crystal.
"I am merely a wick."
"Before the Lord descends, someone must guard the flame for Him."
"My flesh should have rotted away long ago. It is the Holy Stone and the Lord's will that have sustained me until today."
The silver-robed bishop lowered his head further.
"The Lord will surely return."
The elder suddenly raised his hand.
"Activate the Fetal Breath Resonance Instrument."
The silver-robed bishop froze.
"Now? Number Fifteen just endured the gaze."
"I want to hear the Holy Infant respond."
In the private ward.
A nurse wheeled in a small instrument.
A disk was pressed against Illumi's abdomen, engraved with the Creation Society's symbol.
Illumi kept his head lowered, one hand resting on his stomach.
There was no fetus.
There could not possibly be fetal breath.
Once this test began, his disguise would immediately crack.
The nurse secured the disk and pressed the switch.
The instrument let out a soft sound.
On the screen, the line remained flat.
The nurse frowned.
"Why isn't there any response?"
The silver-robed bishop at the door looked over as well.
"Test it again."
Illumi's hand moved beneath the blanket.
Several Nen Needles pierced through his skin and into his abdominal muscles.
He suppressed the pain.
His muscles began twitching in segments, at a subtle frequency, like the pulling sensation caused by fetal movement during pregnancy.
The line on the instrument twitched.
The nurse immediately cried out, "There it is!"
The silver-robed bishop hurried forward.
On the screen, the line jumped twice more.
Not much.
But enough.
In the core chamber, the elder stared at the transmitted data and leaned forward.
"It is protecting the mother."
The silver-robed bishop hesitated. "Elder, could it be an instrument error?"
The elder grabbed the metal cup beside him and smashed it against the floor by the bishop's feet.
"Idiot!"
"The Holy Infant already possesses the instinct to protect itself. The mother's soul is so resilient because It is inside her."
The silver-robed bishop immediately dropped to his knees.
"Please forgive me, Elder."
The crystal in the elder's chest pulsed faster.
"Notify everyone."
"Three days is too long."
The silver-robed bishop abruptly looked up.
"Elder, the other vessels have not yet stabilized, and Number Seven's side is not ready either."
The elder pressed a hand over the crystal, his knuckles turning white.
"Perform the Pre-Sanctification Descent tonight."
"The Lord has chosen the finest Cradle."
At the hotel, Milluki nearly crushed the controller in his grip.
"Oh no."
Ella rose to her feet. "What happened?"
Milluki snatched up the communicator and shouted into his earpiece.
"Bai Zhu! The plan's ruined!"
At the bell tower, Bai Zhu had just kicked the second guard charging at him down the stairs.
"What now?"
Milluki spoke rapidly.
"That old bastard announced a Pre-Sanctification Descent tonight! Big Brother's being sent to the altar ahead of schedule!"
Bai Zhu paused for a second.
Then he laughed.
"Overtime?"
"I hate it when clients change the requirements at the last minute."
Milluki got angry.
"You're still in the mood to joke?!"
Bai Zhu tucked away the controller and looked toward the stairwell.
More guards were rushing upward.
"Don't panic."
"I'll first let them know that last-minute changes cost extra."
Milluki sensed something was wrong.
"What are you going to do?"
Bai Zhu backed up to the edge of the bell tower and glanced down at the height.
Not bad.
It would not kill him.
Probably.
He reached into empty air, slowly drawing a Zanpakuto from the system space.
Half the blade emerged, Reiatsu gathering in his palm.
The guards charging up saw this and all paused for a moment.
Bai Zhu waved at them.
"Gentlemen, would you mind making way?"
The next instant, he slashed at the main axle of the hanging bell.
Crack.
The heavy bronze bell suddenly dropped.
Bai Zhu leaped out of the bell tower.
Behind him, the red lights of the Exploding Mosquitoes lit up.
Boom!
The top of the bell tower exploded.
The enormous bronze bell, along with its shattered wooden frame, crashed down from above toward the Church's main hall.
Suspended in midair, Bai Zhu fully drew his Zanpakuto.
Milluki's shrill roar came through the earpiece.
"Is this what you call knowing your limits?!"
Before you continue