They faced a grim-faced cult priest and two Corrupted-Feather Crowmen, their rotting, fleshy wings spread wide and dripping deadly poison.
In the cramped alley entrance, even the air seemed to freeze.
Standing beside him, [God Never Laughs] was too terrified to breathe. The rusty chain in his hands was already soaked with sweat.
He frantically shot Jiahao meaningful looks, practically ready to write his last will and testament on the spot.
Yet as the server's number-one show-off, [I'm Not Jiahao] didn't panic in this desperate situation. Instead, he straightened his hunched back with extraordinary composure.
He even reached up with exquisite elegance, slowly removed his dark red hood, and shook his signature center-parted bangs in the chilling wind.
"Your Reverence, you asked why I have no trace of the Abyss about me?"
With both hands tucked into his robe's pockets, Jiahao spoke with extreme arrogance, adopting the elite tone of someone ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq:
"Because we've just completed the deleveraging of our Abyssal faith assets."
The priest's face beneath his bone mask visibly stiffened. Even the wildly spinning eyeball atop his Magic Staff paused for half a second.
"What... what are you talking about?"
"To put it simply."
Jiahao sighed and gave the priest a pitying look that said, "How do you not even understand this?"
"The Abyss's contamination signature is currently in the downward phase of its cycle. To prevent malicious short-selling by the opposing Righteous Gods faction, we frontline personnel have proactively implemented localized signature isolation."
"This is called hedging risk at the fundamental level, to prevent us from being wiped out in one fell swoop."
"It's very... you understand, right?"
The priest's head buzzed as he listened.
He had spent over a decade serving the Evil God as a priest in the Wasteland. He