Long-term salvation

When the pistol flew out of his hand and fell to the ground, turning into an ugly metal corpse, Lei Dian realized that the opponent's speed was far superior to his.

"Has your sense of justice really vanished, Jack? Don't you want to change something? Change yourself, change the world, change the tragic ending? Do you want other children to repeat your childhood experience of becoming child soldiers, betraying each other out of hunger and fear?"

Rhodes' words echoed throughout the testing grounds, like a drill bit, bit by bit, drilling into Lei Dian's heart, which had been deliberately sealed by the evil one. Perhaps he wouldn't get a response today, but as long as a seed was planted... Rhodes was very patient.

“…actions speak louder than words.”

When the black muzzle of the gun pointed at him, Lei Dian's hair stood on end, and he couldn't help but tighten his grip on his long sword, his only remaining weapon. He had some projectiles before, but they had long been used in those strange tests.

"Then, even if not now, you will come under my command one day."

As Rhodes said this, he put his revolver back into the holster and walked towards his opponent. The latter was startled and also walked towards him.

As the two sides got closer, Rhode's voice gradually became clearer. His words, completely different from his previous whispers, were like a heavy hammer constantly hitting Lei Dian's chest. He lived in a daze, using training and fighting to paralyze himself. Of course, he also thought about it, but the more he thought, the more confused he felt.

Raiden raised his head, allowing his eyes to meet theirs.

Those deep blue eyes held unparalleled majesty and scrutiny, as well as a hint of expectation.

Subconsciously, Lei Dian wanted to respond to that expectation - no one had ever had any expectations of him before. Those eyes were full of indifference as if they were looking at a handy weapon. The knife was useful, but that was all.

But soon, Lei Dian broke free from this strange state. He retreated half a step, gripped the long sword again, and whispered:

"This world, and those monsters I just saw...you're going to let Aperture Technology capture those monsters?"

"We 'Secure,' we 'Contain,' we 'Protect.' We are the iron power that leads the future, the iron curtain that isolates the madness and the supernatural... Aperture Technologies? More than that, Atlas Corporation is also in my pocket, the finger of my savior reaching out to the world."

"It's time to face reality, Jack - welcome to the other side."

Faced with Lei Dian's doubts, Rhodes simply talked about the terrifying undercurrent lurking beneath human civilization, describing to him the inevitable darkness and the almost unstoppable tidal wave.

After hearing these words, Lei Dian's chest heaved a few times. He retreated half a step again and said with a cold face:

"Even if everything you said is true, then what happened in the test site just now..."

"They're serious criminals, including those charged with rape, murder, and drug trafficking," Rhode said calmly. He already knew how to answer this kind of question, and the warrior before him, who looked about as young as he was, was definitely not a villain or a naive fool. "There's irrefutable evidence for each of them. Do you want me to show you their criminal records?"

Lei Dian: "My company, Mukfu..."

"I can buy them out, or if they don't want to, I can destroy them."

Raiden: "Why do you have to..."

"You have the qualifications," Rhodes said, looking Raiden up and down. "Just now, I confirmed one final thing—you are indeed the 'Raiden', the warrior willing to take up the long sword to uphold justice. This is very important. I don't want the soldiers of the Army Without Borders to become madmen who only care about killing, like Jack the Ripper."

Thunder and Lightning: “…”

Looking at the lightning in front of him, the corners of Rhodes' mouth curled up slightly. As he said before, he was very patient.

After nearly half a minute of silence, Lei Dian raised his sword and made a mid-sword holding stance like in Japanese kendo, while speaking:

"I need to get out of here and see with my own eyes and think with my own brain—anyone can lie, and you're obviously not some prophet or omniscient god."

Wow? This guy actually gave me a surprise here?

Hearing this, Rhodes' face immediately blossomed into an appreciative smile of "this child is teachable", which made Lei Dian, who was confused, a little stunned.

Without further explanation, Rhodes shrugged and said with a smile:

"I'll let you go, but you'd better prove your abilities to me... Just consider it a warm-up. I haven't encountered any interesting opponents lately."

This provocation annoyed Lei Dian. He pursed his lips, and with his chest rising and falling, he lunged forward—the blade rose slightly and slashed down at an even faster speed! Pure, simple, yet deadly enough—the warrior's target was Rhodes's hand holding the revolver!

If the attack is successful, Lei Dian can take advantage of the momentum to step forward and rip Rhodes open!

For some reason, Raiden believed that the man before him could dodge his attack... Wait, he wasn't even trying to dodge, but was just charging forward?!

Clenching his right fist, Rhodes muttered something in Cantonese that Lei Dian couldn't understand:

"The magnetic field rotates one million times... Oh no, not one million... In short, it's the Sea Tiger Explosive Fist!"

Blocking the sword with his left hand, Rhodes used a restrained punch to strike Lei Dian's abdomen with greater speed, force, and dominance. The impact fiercely crushed the resistance of the abdominal muscles, causing the stomach and diaphragm to twitch due to the sudden dull pain. After spitting out a mouthful of turbid gastric juice, Lei Dian flew backwards at a speed faster than his previous charge.

What kind of strange power is this?! Lei Dian felt like he was being hit head-on by a heavy truck!

He rolled around a few times, his eyes flashing with black lightning. After vomiting some gastric juice again, he heard the sound of metal rubbing against the floor:

His own long sword was kicked towards him.

"Pick it up," Rhodes said calmly, "I told you to pick it up."

“…I don’t need you to tell me!”

Lei Dian reached out and grabbed the hilt of the long sword. He used it as support and tried to stand up, but the next second, scorching flames rolled in from the front!

The man was holding a long sword burning with golden flames and walking slowly towards him.

Taking a deep breath, Lei Dian charged again like Don Quixote. He gripped the hilt of the sword with his right hand and held the sword with his left hand to ensure that his attack was swift enough.

But Rhodes only raised his eyes slightly to withstand the lightning strike and melt the long sword. The flames in the latter's eyes grew bigger and hotter. He stood in front of him like a god, like a king who was chosen and shaped - the Lord of Humanity.

Hit by a punch again, Lei Dian flew backwards, but the next second his wrist was grabbed and he was dragged back, and was knocked to the ground by a knife.

His opponent had no intention of killing him, but at the same time, the man before him was definitely not someone he could contend with. Lei Dian understood this clearly, but he still tried, tried to get up.

"Even now, are you going to leave here and seek the truth and direction on your own?"

Rhodes asked.

"Even now, are you going to reject my invitation and embark on a more difficult and bumpy road?"

"...Yes," Lei Dian answered in a trance. He struggled to stand up and forced himself to look Rhode in the eye. "I don't believe in the existence of gods. If they do exist, they should lend a helping hand to my past self, and to every 'past self' in the world."

"In that case, let me give you a gift."

Raising the tip of his sword, Rhodes smiled and stabbed it towards Raiden's left eye—the golden flames evaporated the eyeball and completely burned the nanomachine inside!

+ + + + + + + +

"..."

“…Wake up.”

"..." Raiden struggled to open his only remaining right eye. Seeing a beautiful woman, he opened his mouth and asked weakly, "Where am I? And... who are you?"

"You washed ashore on Lake Erie and were admitted to the hospital."

The woman said this, gently wiping Lei Dian's face with a towel and continuing:

"You can call me 'Rosemary'."

Chapter 399: Weihua’s New Job (1/3)

"...Okay, I understand, Miss Mary, thank you."

Father Merlin put down the phone, looked at everyone in the room, and said calmly:

“Our requests were answered by God.”

The house trembled slightly at the sound, as if mocking it.

The old priest was not angry about this. He spread out his Bible and turned his head to look out the window.

The weather today is not very good, it is gloomy and a rainy day is about to come.

——Take your eyes away from the gloomy sky outside the car window, Qianye reached out and turned down the volume of the music radio station, which was playing Queen’s classic song "Killer Queen".

"We'll be there in an hour," the Black Goat's descendant said, a gentle smile on his beautiful, mature face, seemingly undeterred by the gloomy sky. "I never thought I'd get to be a 'Partner of Justice' one day."

"You are too self-deprecating," the little nun said with a chuckle. "Your kindness is no different from ours."

"Ah, aah, little Mary is so adorable."

The car was traveling along a highway in Rhode Island, United States, destined for the town of Burrillville in Providence County. Qianye was driving. Having nothing else to do, she was accompanying the two girls to avoid the constant vigilant scrutiny of the other two descendants of the evil god.

While KanColle, Nikki and the soldiers of the Army Without Borders began to guard against the enemy's counterattack, the descendants of the evil god and the students from Kivotos turned to their daily work - reviewing reports when they should review reports, robbing banks when they should rob banks, continuing to be lowly women when they should continue to be lowly women... In short, everyone has something to do.

Even the lovely Mika is the same. She is going on an exorcism mission with Mary today.

"What are we going to do after this?"

Weihua said nervously. This was her first time traveling alone without Rhode. Well, not quite alone, as she had Mary and Qianye by her side. But the girl still subconsciously clutched the edge of her skirt.

"What if I kill that evil spirit with one punch?"

"Uh... then we can only look for the next target."

Mary unfolded the thick book before her. Rhodes had written words on the cover with his own blood. Although the blood quickly disappeared under the system's intervention, the power and concepts had already lingered on it. Now, the page was filled with a vivid and ferocious evil spirit, and next to it were written the crimes it had committed both in life and after death:

"There will be more and more of these things in the future. Containing and suppressing them now is just advance preparation. Besides, we can't just watch innocent people suffer, right? Kill them if you want. Evil spirits aren't human."

"Makes sense."

Mika nodded, took a deep breath, and said seriously:

"I'll try not to kill them."

"That's okay, since those evil spirits are so fond of possessing people," Qianye agreed with a smile. She gently turned the steering wheel to the left, steer the car into a fork in the road, "I can try to create a body for them... maybe a skeleton made entirely of black stone, without hands, feet, eyes, ears, or nose, leaving only a mouth and excretion opening to maintain physiological functions, a so-called 'flesh prison'. How about that?"

Mary, Mika: "..."

Can we take back what we just said about you being so kind?

Not daring to say anything more on this topic, the two girls focused their attention on the early summer scenery that was rapidly passing by the car window.

The light dimmed, and the boundary between the ground and the sky seemed to melt and disappear. The thick sea of ​​clouds as far as the eye could see seemed to be shredded into pieces, transforming into layers of dirty cotton balls. The dullness before the rain spread from the front, and the car was covered by a continuous drizzle before reaching its destination.

The pine forest was steaming up a blue-gray mist in the rain, which hit the car window, penetrated into the car through the gap, and fell into the girl's palm.

"The weather hasn't reached its hottest point yet, and the coolness from the rain isn't that strong."

Mika whispered, leaving the car window only slightly open, letting the fresh breeze brush past her forehead. The girl flexed her fingers and arms a few more times, as if preparing for the upcoming battle (and massacre).

After letting her eyes follow the wipers up and down for a few times, bored Weihua thought of something more important:

"Mary, you said there are quite a few folk mediums and exorcists participating this time?"

"Well, it's a good opportunity," Mary nodded slightly. The orange-haired girl closed her big book, then took out a folder from the bag at her feet and handed it to Weihua. While the latter was flipping through it, she began to explain:

"The people coming this time include the Winchester brothers (from the American TV series Supernatural), Dean and Sam. Their parents and grandparents were bounty hunters in the southern and western United States, the kind that hunt monsters. Their family started this business in 1896. Although it was interrupted due to fighting between bounty hunters and the temporary decline of the tide in the other world, they picked it up again in the past two years."

"The psychic Elise Rainier (from 'Insidious') is a bit old, but she's still powerful and experienced. She also has a friend who's also a psychic, but she didn't come this time."

"And the Warrens (from The Conjuring, etc.), named Ed and Lorraine, have also dealt with quite a few evil spirit incidents and have collaborated with Father Merlin a few times. But according to Sensei, they weren't good people in another parallel universe timeline."

Mary said this, she paused for a few seconds to let Mika react, and then continued:

"Not counting Father Merlin, there were five civilian exorcists present. If it were just a common case of the Otherworld or demonic possession, these five would have easily solved it. But today is different. There are many ghosts in that house, and too many innocent people have died, and the tide of the Otherworld is rising."

"……I see."

Weihua nodded slightly, her little face became gloomy, almost the same color as the sky outside the window.

The girl could already sense some evil taking root, like poisonous rain seeping into the soil, causing it to rot. Looking out, the surrounding fields and forests were shrouded in a dead, leaden gray. Through the veil of rain, she could see the trees' new leaves, a poisonous blackish-blue, trembling on the branches.

"I originally thought I wouldn't be able to stretch my muscles," Mika said softly, a faint sense of anticipation and anger at the suffering of innocent people rising in her heart, "but now it seems there's still a chance."

At this moment, the raindrops drifting in from the car window have become cold and gloomy, but when they touch the girls in the car, they return to their original state - the darkness is dispelled by light and holiness, and swallowed by deeper darkness - after all, these evil creatures can only use the hatred and malice accumulated over the years to deal with ordinary people, and when faced with a stronger one, they will lay down their arms and flee in embarrassment.

They can't escape.

"Here we are."

Qianye said this as she drove her car to a stop in front of a large house in a remote countryside. Even the offspring of the evil god could sense from the building before them a darkness comparable to that of Hill Manor, but its essence was far purer than the latter, which was being changed bit by bit - pure evil thoughts and malice.

The rain pounded the house even more crazily, making strange crackling sounds, and the slowly descending gray sky squeezed the lights inside the house, trapping the light inside.

"It seems we are not late."