When the Golden-Faced Bishop's words, filled with both pity and cruelty, echoed through the evil underground altar, Lin Jie felt a headache coming on.

From the moment this high-ranking cult member appeared and spoke those words, their small team had lost any possibility of relying on "stealth" or "surprise attacks" to create miracles.

They had become three trapped beasts exposed under the hunting ground's spotlight.

"It seems we lost our bet." Julian shook his head and said self-mockingly.

He prided himself on understanding the Eternal Serpent thoroughly, yet never expected they were also continuously gathering intelligence from the Association to upgrade themselves.

The complexity of this mission far exceeded his expectations.

Meanwhile, heavy footsteps began sounding from all directions.

The ten Ascendants, who had been still as statues, slowly turned their lizard-like vertical pupils that glowed with inhuman red light.

On their arms grafted with UMA claws and bone blades, hot steam-like air currents began slowly rising—a sign that the unstable alchemical agents and biological tissues within their bodies were beginning to react violently as they entered combat mode.

An overwhelming encirclement instantly sealed off the rock exit where Lin Jie and his two companions stood, leaving no gaps.

William's body was already highly tense, like a compressed spring.

His face showed an expression even more grave than when he'd been surrounded by thousands of spear warriors on the Zulu battlefield.

The muzzle of his Winchester dipped slightly—not in surrender, but assuming a defensive posture that could counterattack in any direction within a short time.

Julian tightly gripped the few bottles of self-made alchemical agents in his coat that might create some chaos at critical moments.

He clearly understood that against such organized elites, his clever little gadgets might not even qualify to cause them trouble.

Yet contrary to everyone's expectations, the Golden-Faced Bishop standing atop the altar didn't immediately issue the kill-on-sight order.

He simply slowly raised his right hand wearing pure gold gloves, making a "hold" gesture.

Then his gaze, filled with amusement and curiosity, crossed dozens of meters, passed over the ten Ascendant guards who stood like an impregnable fortress, and landed on the youngest and least threatening member of the Iron Triangle team—Lin Jie.

"I know you, Mr. Lin." The bishop's voice was magnetic yet filled with killing intent. "To be precise, I 'know' you through the final residual information left by those incompetent fools in Scotland before their deaths."

Lin Jie's heart sank.

"A very interesting soul." The bishop's voice actually carried approval. "The wisdom and decisiveness you displayed on that icy lake far exceeded my preconceived notions of I.A.R.C.'s 'Guardians of Order' who only know how to follow dogma."

"You didn't choose to confront the deity and us head-on like those foolish brutes, but cleverly stood on the 'deity's' side, using its hand to eliminate those troublesome wastes for you."

"This way of thinking, combining efficiency with aesthetics, is very close to our Eternal Serpent doctrine."

"To be honest," the bishop descended one step from the altar, "I somewhat... admire you."

These words carrying "recruitment" undertones made both William and Julian show stunned expressions.

"Our great 'New World' is about to descend." The bishop spread his arms again. "The old order, along with those ignorant old humans bound by emotions and morality, will all be swept into the dustbin of history."

"And nascent 'new humans' like you, possessing transcendent era rationality and absolute logic, are exactly what our Lord needs—the first apostles to write new truths for those 'blank slates' who have had everything erased in the New World."

"So," the eyes hidden beneath the golden mask fixed intently on Lin Jie, "I now extend a sincere invitation to you in my capacity as 'Deacon' of the Eternal Serpent Cult's European diocese—join us, Mr. Lin."

"Abandon those two burdens behind you who are about to be eliminated, representing brute courage and obsolete knowledge."

"Come to my side and witness with us, while helping create a 'perfect New World' completely free from conflict and suffering."

These tempting and bewitching words echoed in Lin Jie's ears like venomous curses.

Yet Lin Jie's face showed no wavering or hesitation.

He simply raised his head to meet the Golden-Faced Bishop's superior gaze and calmly retorted: "What about the UMAs you hunt, those creatures you imprison in amber as 'living materials' to continuously torture and extract from—do they also have a place in your so-called 'perfect New World'?"

The bishop's laughter cut off abruptly, cold killing intent appearing in his eyes.

"It seems there truly exists... irreconcilable ideological conflict between us."

"What a... pity."

Lin Jie's seemingly arrogant provocation and the few minutes he bought by engaging the bishop weren't meaningless bluster.

He had already communicated his intentions to his two companions via hand signals—these few minutes were crucial time for Julian and William, the professionals, to conduct final battlefield analysis!

Sergeant William's gaze swept back and forth over the ten Ascendant guards. He wasn't confused by their oppressive presence, instead focusing all his beast-like combat intuition on observing the "flaws" of these biological weapons!

Soon he noticed something wrong, because although the Ascendants appeared powerful, each of their movements carried a slight, unnatural "stiffness."

Moreover, at regular intervals, the pale white steam exhaling from their armor seams would briefly pause.

This might mean nothing to ordinary people, but to William, this "pause" was a clear malfunction signal of system failure, proving their "biological modification" had some internal defect.

Meanwhile, Julian had already set his vast knowledge into high-speed operation. His gaze didn't linger on the fearsome guards, but locked onto the Ascension workshop where inhuman grafting surgeries were being performed.

He observed, recorded, analyzed—analyzing the color and dosage of every alchemical agent the white-robed scholars injected into volunteers.

He analyzed the spiritual hue of the "cell sap" they extracted from the Catacomb Nightingale, and he especially analyzed the "energy signatures" remaining on the tissue samples discarded as waste after failed surgeries.

"I understand..." Julian's voice reached Lin Jie's ears through the lowest frequency breath sounds.

"Finally I understand! Lin! Their modifications are incomplete! This is a forced grafting with rejection reactions!"

"The Catacomb Nightingale's 'spirituality' cannot perfectly fuse with their mortal flesh and blood!"

"They must rely on that purple alchemical agent to barely suppress this 'rejection reaction' temporarily! That's why their movements show periodic 'rigidity'! That's the normal reaction when the drug effect hits a 'trough' in their bodies!"

This professional and decisive intelligence was the final puzzle piece.

William discovered the "phenomenon," while Julian revealed the "essence."

And Lin Jie, the natural "chess player," completed the final step of logical deduction using the intelligence provided by the two professionals, relying on his tactical thinking that could perceive the core contradiction.

Since the mixture within the Ascendants' bodies caused rejection reactions due to their own "impurity," then what reaction would the Catacomb Nightingale itself—the source of that spirituality—have when it perceived those "inferior copies" made from part of its own body, carrying pollution and impurities?

And if there were a method to greatly amplify the "noise" of rejection and pollution characteristics emitted by these "inferior copies," then forcibly flood it into the perception of that "original creator" already on the verge of collapse?

After just a few seconds of thought, a plan to use poison against poison emerged in Lin Jie's mind!

"Purify... them."

From atop the altar, the purple-robed bishop's voice, filled with killing intent, delivered the final judgment.

The ten Ascendants simultaneously raised their deadly bone blades!