CHAPTER 119: CHAPTER 119: THE COUNTER-LOGIC CONSPIRACY_1

Lance simply walked out, completely unaffected by the lure of money the police chief mentioned. Dismas followed suit. The sheriff hesitated for a moment before also picking up the girl and heading outside.

Now the police chief was truly at his limit. If he actually waited for the Church to arrive, they wouldn’t care about a petty police chief like him. He would definitely end up on the pyre, and his whole family would have to join him in death.

"I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Don’t go!"

But Lance didn’t stop; he continued walking. Although Dismas and the sheriff did not understand, they still habitually obeyed. This act further agitated the police chief’s nerves. Every step seemed to crush his heart, the immense pressure driving him to the brink of collapse.

"It was me! It was me! They promised to help me become the town mayor..."

The police chief revealed his biggest secret. Finally, Lance stopped, turned to face the chief, and mockingly said as the exhausted man gasped for breath, "Wouldn’t it have been easier if you’d spoken up sooner? You’ve wasted everyone’s time."

At this point, the police chief had no more excuses and, during questioning, revealed the details about the evil cult.

Half a month prior, a man had approached him with a business proposition. The chief recognized the man as a hunter from town who had disappeared some time ago on a hunting trip into the wilderness. His family had even brought in quality furs, seeking the chief’s help to find him. But now he had suddenly reappeared. His demeanor was entirely different from the meek attitude he had previously shown towards the chief; instead, he exuded strong confidence. He didn’t care at all about his family and was muttering incessantly about gods and spirits.

This transformation piqued his curiosity. Eventually, succumbing to the allure of money, he agreed to pay a visit. In a strange house, he encountered a group of strangers cloaked in black robes. The leader, who called himself a Preacher, claimed that God had chosen him, inviting him to join an organization called the Ascension Sect and become one of God’s beloved.

Under the rule of the Church, everyone knew the dangers of Heresy—discovery meant death. At that moment, the chief thought about escaping and reporting them to the Church. That was until the Preacher performed a Secret Technique and bestowed a Bless upon him, infusing his body with a power that made him feel as vigorous as he had in his youth. Even though it lasted only for a brief moment, if anything could captivate a middle-aged man, it was surely the return of his youthful vitality; nothing was more seductive. The Preacher’s display of formidable and enigmatic abilities conquered him instantly.

Not to mention, the Preacher also promised him control over all the followers the small town developed. Once the numbers were sufficient, he would be allowed to control the town and become the mayor. Under the temptations of money, power, and authority, it was no surprise that he had fallen and become a member of the evil cult.

The Preacher didn’t stay personally but instead left that fervent hunter to act as a Missionary, assisting him in preaching. He pushed him to develop as many followers as possible, to join the ranks of God’s beloved, and to achieve Ascension sooner rather than later. And so the evil cult had developed, until today when it was crushed in one fell swoop.

Ordinary people might have only heard about the evil cult’s preaching, but Lance keenly picked up on some useful information. Firstly, he had a rough understanding of their preaching logic: target people of high status, promise them benefits, convert them into followers, and then use their local influence to accumulate more believers. Secondly, the Ascension Sect was severely short on manpower; otherwise, they wouldn’t have left just a single believer here to act as a Missionary. You see, ordinary believers can’t fulfill that role; one must be skilled in rhetoric. Otherwise, crude or forced preaching won’t be very effective, yet they directly left a recently converted believer in charge. Additionally, those individuals’ powers weren’t very strong. Most of them were wiped out with a single move by Lance earlier. Even the Missionary who had been in the sect the longest hadn’t managed to cast a single spell of Sorcery, nor had Lance encountered any truly formidable Heretics among them.

But there were still several details Lance needed to hear more about.

"What’s going on with your Bless ritual?"

"I’m not entirely sure. It basically involves killing someone on the altar, and then the god will descend a Bless. So whenever a new member joins, we need to prepare a sacrifice. There was supposed to be an initiation ceremony for three new members tonight, but..." The police chief didn’t finish his sentence, but it was understood that he meant the ritual had been disrupted by them.

"All these missing person cases during this period—they were all your doing!" The sheriff, grinding his teeth upon hearing this, remembered why his previous attempts to investigate these missing person cases were always obstructed by the police chief. Instead, he had been assigned to petty thefts and minor offenses.

If only I had realized earlier, could I have saved them... That’s six lives!

The sheriff looked stricken with grief and anger. He blamed himself for not fulfilling his duties: the evil cult had gone undetected, and the people couldn’t be saved.

However, in contrast to his intense reaction, Lance was much calmer, pondering the Ascension Sect’s Bless ritual. Once these Heretics adopted the concept that killing could bring a Bless, they would quickly transform from ordinary people into bloodthirsty zealots. They would pursue slaughter frenziedly, both to please their god and to gain ever-increasing power for themselves.

Lance furrowed his brow. He felt as though he was beginning to piece together the evil cult’s plan, but he needed more information to complete the picture.

"Do you know where that Preacher has gone?"

"I have no idea. How would I dare to inquire about their whereabouts?"

"Then, have they given you any orders?"

"None, except to recruit more followers. They said that when the time comes, their god will descend upon the world and lead us to Ascension."

Lance fell silent. He roughly guessed the Ascension Sect’s situation: they wanted to take complete control of Hamlet Territory. This didn’t just mean his port town, but all the land historically controlled by his family at the height of its power. In that land were countless similar villages and farms. By making empty promises and sacrificing a few people, they could grow and continually expand their power.

But weren’t they afraid of alerting the Church?

Lance couldn’t understand this; he had too little information at hand.

"You will never live to see that day. Before it comes, I will wipe all of you out," Dismas scornfully remarked after hearing the police chief’s words. He believed that My Lord would prevent the Evil God from descending upon the world, and that he would be redeemed under His leadership; these Heretics were nothing but souls to be reaped by the sword.

And it was this statement that reminded Lance.

Right! What did the old geezer need the most right now? Without a doubt, more killings, more deaths, more Flesh and blood to be absorbed into this land. So the evil cult wasn’t afraid of being discovered by the Church at all, because the ancestor simply didn’t care about the losses of his Heretic followers. I guessed wrong before. The evil cult wasn’t leaving behind just one inexperienced Missionary due to a lack of people; rather, they were effectively delegating the followers they developed to frontline work.