The Fifteenth Vessel Was Actually Above Ground

After telling Bai Zhu about the emergency here, Milluki cursed and immediately grabbed the metal case.

"Come on, to the back alley."

Ella looked up. "Now?"

"Obviously. If we don't leave now, are we waiting for that thing to crawl over through the network cable and invite you to dinner?"

Milluki hung the controller around his neck and pulled a small medical case from beneath the table, moving so quickly he barely resembled the fat guy who usually just hugged bags of chips.

As he headed outside, he shouted into his headset:

"Bai Zhu, Ella is heading out. Draw the fight toward the side entrance on your end. Don't let her run straight into the main force."

A burst of clanging metal came from Bai Zhu's side.

"Got it."

Milluki paused.

"Don't just say you got it. Do it!"

"Already doing it. I just stuffed a priest who tried to sneak up on me into a snowdrift. Excellent customer service."

"One day, you're going to annoy me thin."

The inn's back alley.

The wind and snow were even fiercer than at the front entrance.

Ella put on a thick cloak and stood at the doorway, one hand pressed against her lower abdomen. Her legs were still trembling, but she forced herself not to retreat indoors.

Milluki clipped a mechanical spider inside her collar.

Ella flinched the instant its mechanical legs touched her skin.

"Don't move."

Milluki lowered his head and adjusted it.

"This thing will send me your location, body temperature, and heartbeat. If you fall, I'll know. If you get caught, I'll know too. And if your brain suddenly overheats and you decide to charge underground to save people, I'll immediately inject you with an anesthetic."

Ella froze. "You even prepared anesthetic?"

"Of course."

Milluki raised the small controller in his hand, his tone foul.

"Don't run around, don't push yourself, and don't suddenly get moved by your own heroism. You're bait now, not a hero."

Ella looked at him. After a few seconds, she spoke quietly.

"I know."

The wind whipped her cloak about.

She touched the faded cross tattoo on the inside of her wrist, her fingertips lingering there as though confirming she was still alive.

Those numbers underground, the tubes, the glass compartments, and the women on the screens all weighed heavily on her mind.

She had almost lain there too.

She had almost become "processing complete."

"I'm afraid."

Her voice tightened.

"But I won't turn back."

Milluki glanced at her and did not curse again.

He handed her one side of the headset.

"Listen to my commands. If the signal is jammed and you can't hear me, stop. Don't try to be clever."

Ella nodded.

Milluki turned back to the screen.

Of the six mosquito-camera views, only four still worked. The other two had been destroyed in the explosion earlier. He kept updating the map of the church aboveground. Red dots, blue dots, and gray dots were packed together, enough to make anyone's head hurt.

"Go right."

"Don't take the main road. There are two people there who can use Gyo."

"Stop behind the wooden shed ahead for three seconds."

"Move now."

Ella made her way through the back alley.

She did not move quickly, and snow crunched beneath her feet. Milluki kept one finger pressed against the emergency anesthetic button while continuing to curse.

"That lunatic Bai Zhu really knows how to cause trouble. I told him to create a distraction, and he tore down the bell tower. I told him to fish, and he hooked an entire pack of rabid dogs."

Bai Zhu's voice came through the headset.

"I heard that."

Milluki sneered. "Good. That means you're not dead yet."

"You have a peculiar way of showing concern."

"Cut the crap. I left you a bait point by the side entrance. The real Ella is still forty meters from the abandoned warehouse."

The church's front courtyard.

Bai Zhu was surrounded by the silver-robed bishop and more than a dozen guards.

More and more black-robed deacons were coming up from underground. Their Nen was a little stronger than that of the guards aboveground, but not by much. The troublesome part was their numbers.

One-on-one was no problem.

A whole crowd piled together was just annoying.

The silver-robed bishop had retrieved his silver staff, his expression ugly.

"Capture him! Don't let him get close to the underground entrance!"

Bai Zhu retreated toward the side entrance with his blade in hand.

"Your security is way too rigid. I smashed your idol, and you still won't upgrade the service package?"

The silver-robed bishop gritted his teeth. "Heretic!"

"Can't you people come up with another word? I'm tired of hearing that one."

Two guards lunged at him from the left.

Bai Zhu lifted a finger.

"Bakudo #4: Hainawa."

Yellow light lashed out and wrapped around a section of wooden railing beside the side entrance.

Bai Zhu yanked backward.

Crack.

The railing broke and crashed sideways into the crowd. Several believers had been hiding behind the side entrance, and the blow sent them scrambling toward the abandoned warehouse.

One tall, skinny believer ran the fastest.

The moment he turned the corner, he saw a cloaked woman standing in the snow.

The wind lifted part of her cloak.

It revealed half her face and her swollen abdomen.

The believer froze completely.

"E... Ella?"

Ella stopped as well.

Milluki cursed softly through the headset:

"Don't stop too long. Stand steady. Showing half your face is enough. Look a little dazed and helpless."

Bai Zhu heard the commotion from the front courtyard and immediately raised a hand to press the controller.

Beside the side entrance, a small explosive mosquito flashed red.

Boom!

Firelight burst at the edge of the snow. It was not powerful, but it was bright enough.

For an instant, Ella's face was clearly illuminated.

More believers looked over.

Someone shouted:

"Number Fifteen!"

"Why is she outside?!"

"Did something happen underground?"

"The Holy Infant has manifested!"

The scene immediately descended into chaos.

The people aboveground only knew that Number Fifteen had been sent into the underground core area. They had no idea the "Ella" down there was Illumi.

Now that the real Ella stood outside, it was more terrifying to them than the bell tower exploding.

That was exactly the effect Bai Zhu wanted.

He forced back the silver-robed bishop with a slash, then deliberately called out loudly:

"Oh? Your own vessel escaped. Aren't you going to catch her?"

The silver-robed bishop sharply turned his head.

The moment he saw Ella, his expression changed.

"The Fifteenth Vessel is above ground!"

"Capture her!"

"Alive! She must be taken alive!"

Milluki immediately reported from his side:

"Seven red dots aboveground are heading toward Ella. Bai Zhu, you're under less pressure, but Ella's pressure just exploded."

Bai Zhu rushed toward the side entrance.

The silver-robed bishop blocked him.

"Move!"

The silver staff came crashing down.

Bai Zhu sidestepped, pressing a finger to the ground.

"Hado #1: Sho."

Reiatsu exploded across the snow, making the silver-robed bishop slip. Bai Zhu took the chance to dart past him and kick over a black-robed deacon.

"I'm telling you, you people really have no manners."

He shouted at those pursuing Ella:

"You're even chasing a pregnant woman? You animals!"

Milluki commented through the headset:

"Now you remember she's pregnant? Who was it that made the plan to use her as bait?"

"That was a tactical necessity."

"You have no shame."

"Thanks for the compliment."

The underground core chamber.

When the silver-robed bishop received the urgent report from aboveground, even his voice changed.

"Elder, there is news from aboveground... the Fifteenth Vessel has appeared outside the church."

The gaunt elder's hand paused atop the Black Crystal.

The instruments beside him were all fluctuating wildly.

The Black Crystal vibrated urgently, even the connected pipes shaking.

The silver-robed bishop hurriedly added:

"But Number Fifteen is still in the private ward. The medical staff confirmed it just moments ago."

The elder did not doubt it.

Instead, he began to laugh. The sound squeezed from his throat made the attendants nearby take half a step back.

"The Lord's will has begun to separate from the mother."

The silver-robed bishop was stunned.

"Elder, you mean..."

"A sign of Pre-Sanctification Descent."

The elder's body trembled as his fingers dug hard into the edge of the crystal embedded in his chest.

"Capture her alive. Both of them."

The silver-robed bishop lowered his head.

"Should we suspend the Pre-Sanctification Descent?"

"No."

The elder suddenly turned his head.

"Send a small team to verify Number Fifteen in the ward. Leave the one aboveground to the deacon squad. Do not injure her abdomen, and do not let her lose too much blood."

The silver-robed bishop immediately gave the order.

The underground elevators began rising in succession.

Milluki watched batch after batch of red dots surge aboveground on the map, and his fat face nearly turned green.

"Bai Zhu, what you hooked wasn't fish. It was a pack of rabid dogs."

Bai Zhu was blocking people near the side entrance. Hearing that, he found time to reply:

"Rabid dogs are fine. As long as they bite the hook."

"Stop pretending to be calm. The enemy count has doubled."

"Then give me some technical support."

"I can play a funeral dirge for you."

"That's too much."

In front of the abandoned warehouse.

Ella retreated along Milluki's route.

She did not run.

She could not run, and she could not afford to.

Milluki kept reminding her:

"Someone on the left. Stop."

"Now move behind the wooden crates."

"Don't look at them. Watch the road."

Ella's breathing was ragged, but she did not cry out in panic.

Several black-robed deacons had already chased out through the side door.

The two in front held restraint straps, while a priest behind them carried a syringe.

"Number Fifteen, don't be afraid."

"The Elder wants to see you."

"Come back with us. The Holy Infant needs protection."

When Ella heard the words "come back," her steps suddenly slowed.

Milluki panicked.

"Don't stop! What are you spacing out for?!"

The next second, a familiar figure was dragged out by two guards.

Pige Aaron.

His face was ashen, his head lolling to one side, his body like a puppet that had lost its strings. The Nen Needle's control was still in effect, but after being roughly dragged around underground, his movements had become even stiffer.

Someone shoved him to the front.

"Have him soothe the vessel."

Pige Aaron raised a hand.

That hand had once put a ring on Ella's finger.

It had also shielded her from the wind when she had been most alone and helpless, and spoken those sickeningly sweet words for her.

Ella stopped in the snow.

She could hear her heart pounding wildly in her chest, her throat tightening.

Pige Aaron opened his mouth, his voice wooden.

"Ella, come back with me."

Milluki slammed a hand against the table at the hotel.

"Bai Zhu! She stopped!"

Bai Zhu caught the silver-robed bishop's silver staff with his blade, his shoulder numbed by the impact.

"I saw."

He could not get over there immediately.

Two deacons ahead were blocking his path, while the silver-robed bishop kept him tightly entangled. More and more people were gathering on the ground; if he charged over now, he would only draw the battle toward Ella.

Bai Zhu gritted his teeth and spoke in a low voice.

"Ella, can you hear me?"

Ella did not respond.

Pige Aaron repeated himself.

"Come back with me."

His tone was thirty percent like it had been in the past.

Those thirty percent were the deadliest part.

Bai Zhu raised his blade to block an attack and shouted straight into the earpiece.

"Look closely. He is not your husband."

Ella's fingers tightened.

Bai Zhu continued, his voice ice-cold.

"A man like that doesn't deserve you as his wife."

That hit exactly where it hurt.

Ella raised her head.

She looked at Pige Aaron's hollow face and suddenly remembered the names in the underground documents.

Martha.

Lucy.

Beilin.

And the previous nine wives.

They had heard sweet words too. They had believed they were loved too. They had carried a tiny, foolish hope too.

Ella slowly took a step forward.

Milluki was so anxious he nearly pressed the sedative button.

"Hey! What are you doing? Don't actually hand yourself over!"

Ella did not rush toward Pige Aaron.

She pulled the small knife from her sleeve.

The pursuing deacons immediately tensed.

"Don't move! Put down the knife!"

Pige Aaron held out his hand, repeating mechanically.

"Ella, come home."

Ella looked at him. Her voice still trembled, but it did not break.

"I went back with you once."

She gripped the knife handle tightly.

"I nearly paid with my life and my soul."

Pige Aaron did not react.

Ella's eyes reddened, but the tip of the knife turned toward herself.

"I won't do it a second time."

Milluki abruptly stood up.

"What is she doing?!"

Bai Zhu saw it as well.

"Don't stop her."

"Are you insane?!"

"Let her do it."

Ella sliced open her palm with the knife.

Blood immediately welled out.

Suppressing the pain, she pressed her hand against the pillar beside the church's side door. The blood on her palm was washed apart by the snowmelt, and she smeared it over the pillar again with force.

"Don't you want the vessel?"

She looked up at the deacons.

"I'm right here."

At that moment, everyone chasing her stopped.

Because the words "the vessel is injured" were enough to snap them out of their frenzy for one second.

The priest held the syringe, his voice cracking.

"Don't let her keep bleeding!"

"Notify the Elder now!"

"Number Fifteen is injured!"

As Bai Zhu listened to the chaos erupt around them, he silently gave Ella his approval.

Not bad.

This bait had started improvising on her own.

Milluki could not laugh at all.

On the screen, Ella's vital signs were fluctuating noticeably, while the curve of the underground Black Crystal suddenly spiked.

Inside the core chamber.

Every monitoring device emitted a shrill alarm at once.

The Elder sharply turned toward the screen.

The bloodstain on the pillar was magnified in the image.

The Black Crystal pulsed faster than before, even tugging at the skin around his chest.

The silver-robed bishop spoke in panic.

"Elder, the Holy Stone's response has exceeded the threshold!"

Yet the Elder stared at that smear of blood, pressing his entire body close to the screen.

"The true Cradle..."

His voice was hoarse, unable to conceal his greed.

"It's there."

At the hotel, Milluki's expression changed drastically.

He grabbed the communicator and growled at Bai Zhu.

"It wasn't fooled by us!"

"It really sensed Ella!"

In front of the church's side door, Bai Zhu raised his blade to block the silver-robed bishop, his peripheral vision sweeping toward the underground entrance.

The elevator doors there opened again.

This time, those emerging were not ordinary deacons.

Four people in white robes carried a black stretcher. Resting on it was a pulsing Black Crystal Fragment.

The smile on Bai Zhu's face slowly faded.

"Milluki."

"What?"

"Tell Illumi to hurry."

"Why?"

Bai Zhu tightened his grip on the knife handle as he watched the Black Crystal Fragment being carried toward Ella.