Cthulhu America, I can see the kill line.

The damp morning breeze after the rain gently caressed Church Street.

Sophie, dressed in a simple, almost shabby, coarse cloth robe, stood quietly before the stone steps of the Prophet's Church.

Not far away, a large iron pot at a mutton soup stall was burning brightly, and thick, pungent white steam rose from the boiling soup.

The smell was so pungent it made people frown, yet it still attracted emaciated, unsteady refugees who lined up in long queues in front of the stall.

A man with deep-set eyes and prominent cheekbones suddenly squeezed through the crowd.

He looked furtive and thin, clearly suffering from long-term addiction.

The refugees who were pushed aside immediately glared angrily, clenched their fists, and were about to shout curses.

"Hey, hey! Don't rush, don't rush!"

The drug addict quickly hunched over, forcing a smile, his voice hoarse yet brimming with barely suppressed excitement, "This morning, when I was picking up hemp butts near the Purple Light Cult, I saw something strange... guess what?"

"Shut the fuck up!" The veins on the man's forehead throbbed, his fist already raised halfway in the air. "Say what you want, or get lost. Don't cut in line for your dad's mutton soup."

"Oh, don't be like that! I'll talk, I'll talk. Can't you just let me squeeze in and do me a favor?" the man quickly pleaded.

"Spit it out if you have something to say!" the crowd snapped impatiently.

The man winked slyly, glanced around, and lowered his voice, feigning mystery, saying, "The flag raised this morning at the Purple Light Cult's grand cathedral... was black!"

Black?

Those who heard this couldn't help but gasp.

Although these refugees were neither members of the Purple Light Cult nor the Vortex Gang, they had heard of some unwritten rules after struggling to survive in the Lower City for so long.

Everyone knows that the color of the flag signifies a change in the situation.

The blue flag represents the supply period. Whether it's a cult or a gang, they will all go to the port to buy goods, so you must not cause trouble.

The red flag signifies battle, and it's the flag most frequently displayed as winter approaches.

As for the white flag, it means a truce between the two sides, and the refugees can return to their homes, pack their belongings and flee. Members of both sides will even help the refugees repair their homes.

Two weeks ago, after a battle involving missiles and various large-scale psionic spells, both sides switched from red flags to white flags and have been recuperating for some time.

The refugees in the lower city had finally caught their breath for half a month, wondering when the smoke of war would rise again, when a black flag was raised in front of the Purple Light Church.

But the black flag... that's mourning, it signifies the death of the mastermind.

Farah, is she dead?

A hint of astonishment flashed in the eyes of the refugees queuing up.

The refugees looked at each other, their eyes filled with surprise and unease.

The news spread like wildfire, and soon reached the ears of Soph, who was standing at the church entrance.

"It seems that, just like forty years ago, the Enhancer faction has once again taken control of the Lower City."

Su Fu sighed softly, shook his head, turned around, and was about to walk into the church.

Suddenly, an arm reached out silently from behind and patted his shoulder.

He turned around, a look of surprise on his aged face.

"Kong? What are you doing here?"

Since the ceasefire in the lower city, the refugee mortality rate has dropped significantly, and Congo has been visiting the Prophet's Church less and less frequently.

Moreover, the mutton soup stall was already being tended by staff, so his appearance at this moment was highly unusual.

"Let's go inside and talk," Kong Jiu said with a dark face and a low voice, pulling Su Fu into the church's small meeting room.

A moment later, the book "The Original Way of Creation" was placed in front of Su Fu.

Su Fu stretched out his withered hand and carefully turned a few pages. After a moment of silence, he shook his head and pushed the book back to Kong Jiu.

"I'm sorry, Kong... I can't help you." His voice was gentle, but it carried a clear sense of helplessness.

Kong Jiu slumped back in his chair, muttering a complaint, "I forgot this thing is written in Chinese, you can't understand it..."

Have you encountered any religious-related problems?

Su Fu asked softly, closed the scroll, and gently pushed it toward Kong Jiu.

The young man took the book, which seemed light yet felt incredibly heavy. His fingers unconsciously traced the raised text on the cover, and he remained silent for a long time.

"Su Fu,"

After much hesitation, he finally spoke.

You once said... that I would become some kind of... incomprehensible being because I was worshipped, right?

Su Fu nodded, his gaze quietly fixed on his face, as if observing or confirming.

"Could it be... that your future self has already tried to contact you?"

attempt?

Kong Jiu tugged at the corners of his mouth, revealing an extremely bitter smile.

That frantic and unfamiliar "self" had pointed at his nose and berated him countless times, not just tried to.

Seeing that wry smile, Su Fu could roughly read the answer from the expression.

"Are you... really heading down the path of cursing the angel of death?"

Su Fu lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard: "It's... done? It's already anchored the outcome in the future, causing interference with the past?"

Kong Jiu remained silent, neither shaking his head nor nodding.

Su Fu's psychic abilities are not strong; he would struggle even against a D-level psychic.

But in just a few words, the depth of knowledge and insight he displayed were clearly many times greater than that of a layman like Kong Jiu.

I guess so.

He recalled Professor Iam's fanatical and distorted tone during that recent "phone call," which made him feel extremely uncomfortable and gave him a headache.

The overwhelming, blindly fervent energy he felt sent a jolt of nausea and headache through him. This was the most direct confrontation between a modern person, someone who adhered to common sense, and blind faith.

"That's a good thing."

A relieved smile slowly spread across Sof's face, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothed out. "When you establish your own religion in the future, the Prophet's Church might remember your story of saving the world."

"Could this be a good thing?"

Kong Jiu casually opened a subspace rift and threw the book in: "I don't want to become that kind of... monster who has lost himself and disregards life."

"Do not use human morality to judge those supreme beings, not even your future self, Kong."

Sof shook his head gently, his tone as calm as a still well, "Our Lord once commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and the world criticizes Him for being cruel; but if He did not love people, how could He have used a lamb to atone for their sins?"

"I'm not here to debate theology with you, Sofia."

Kong Jiu raised his face, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked as haggard as if he had been up for several nights in a row.

Su Fu looked at him quietly, not angered by his words. He had long known that this young companion from the East held a deep-seated atheistic beliefs that bordered on blasphemy.

Without saying anything to Kong Jiu's "treasonous" remarks, Su Fu simply smiled faintly: "You're rejecting yourself, becoming the very thing you hate most, aren't you?"

He nervously rubbed his fingers, then awkwardly scratched his head with his fingers, making a series of helpless gestures.

Finally, he nodded dejectedly.

"You need a journey, a journey to see all living beings, Kong."

Su Fu bent down, took out a yellowed sheepskin map from under the table, and gently spread it between the two of them.

"The supreme beings each have their own path: some wield power over killing, some guide the souls of the dead, and some practice medicine to save the world."

His fingertips brushed across the leather surface, and strange spots of light lit up, twinkling like stars, reflected in Kong Jiu's pupils.

Is this a magical object?

Stargate Operations Executive Office, United States Secret Council, Abyss Covenant Brotherhood...

Strange organization names flashed on the parchment map.

"But they all have one thing in common, and that is 'love.' And after reaching the highest point, they left these traces scattered throughout the world."

"Go and seek them out, Kong. It's time... to face your destiny and accept it."