Looking directly at Buddha Mother, when his eyes beheld the face of this gigantic Divine Statue.

Catherine trembled all over,

having absorbed the replica Divine Statue from the villagers’ home in advance and traversed the bizarre caves on the way here, along with continuous exposure to the sound infection, Catherine’s Thought had become fully integrated at this moment.

Even William holding her hand was useless,

her pupils began to show rice-grain-like protuberances, which quickly blossomed under the stimulation of the Divine Statue,

with the eyeball as the base, two dazzling, moist blue flowers quickly bloomed, replacing the function of the eyeballs, with densely packed stamens in the center that could also serve a visual purpose.

She abruptly broke free from William’s arm and walked on her initiative to a cushion at the very front of the temple, kneeling down to pray.

"Catherine!"

No matter how loudly William shouted, he received no response.

Facing the situation before him, William was so anxious that he broke into a sweat, even preparing to carry Catherine on his shoulder to forcibly escape from here,

Buzz!

A wave of mental pressure struck,

the corpses sitting on the cushions all raised their heads, directly looking at William with their flower eyes, as if warning him not to touch Buddha Mother’s sacrificial offerings, or he would bring disaster or a curse upon himself.

William slapped himself in the head, trying to stay as clear as possible and continued to move towards Catherine.

This moving scene was, of course, witnessed by Buddha Mother, further solidifying her intent to use the two as sacrificial offerings.

William, taking arduous steps, couldn’t help but occasionally glance at the ’flooded passage’ leading to the temple, as if waiting for something to arrive.

Just as he was about to touch Catherine’s arm, his peripheral vision finally caught sight of ripples and a darting figure in the passage.

The next second, something shot out from inside the passage.

Bullet!

Due to being prepared ahead of time, William was quicker to lift his right arm and block his head,

the bullet, fired through a silencer, pierced William’s arm, hitting the surface of the bone, and finally stopped.

Thereafter, William performed a familiar technique he had mastered upon joining the Organization - "rolling".

Using the half-meter deep seawater flooding the temple, he executed a smooth roll to dodge the incoming bullet and landed stably behind a Flower Man, using it as cover.

He then tensed the muscles in his right arm and caused the bullet to be squeezed out by rhythmic muscle contractions.

Phew...

William, hidden behind the Flower Man, finally relaxed and whispered with a slight smile, "You’re really slow, I almost had no way out."

[Flooded Passage]

The Investigator at the forefront of the team, named Wei Darong, 24 this year.

He had once secured the runner-up position in Linghai City’s youth shooting contest and later underwent special training at the city bureau, his face embedded with a semi-prosthetic metal round mirror that enhanced dynamic vision and concentration.

Such a low-pressure single-point design should, logically, not have failed.

But during the time spent deep inside the cave, humidity issues and water seepage significantly deteriorated his condition.

When the first shot was blocked by William’s hand-raising, he was visibly stunned, amazed at how fast the other’s reaction was. His subsequent shooting lacked confidence, and because of the quickness of William’s roll, he failed to hit his mark.

Just as he aimed at the Flower Man, preparing to shoot through the corpse at his target,

a gigantic hand suddenly pressed down, firmly holding his gun-wielding palm, and even causing the metal gun to creak under the pressure.

The Village Chief, walking at the back of the team, had somehow already positioned himself beside him.

Bending over and moving his head,

the Village Chief’s wrinkled, taut face came close to the Investigator, ready to fire, "You can’t shoot at the sacrificial offerings, young man. If you anger the Buddha Mother, we’ll all die here.

In the current situation,

since one of the duo has already been chosen by the Buddha Mother as a sacrificial offering, you only need to deal with one person. There’s no need for such metallic contraptions, right?

Capturing the foreigner alive and turning him over to the city district can even earn you commendation~ Thus, Flower Sea Village will fully stabilize, and you will have completely accomplished your investigative mission."

After Wei Darong nodded, the Village Chief finally let go of his hand.

The total four Investigators present at the scene, all more or less fatigued by the cave’s effects, dragged their lead-filled legs with sluggish movements.

At that moment,

the Village Chief placed his hand on everyone’s shoulders, inserting a type of sea intestine structure into the bodies of the Investigators and absorbing some of the seawater, immediately making them feel much lighter, their condition improving from 50% to about 80%.

"There, I’ve slightly cleared out the stuff inside you... My old bones are almost at their limit, the rest is up to you now."

The Village Chief leaned against the passage wall, visibly tired. Watching the young Investigators stepping into the temple one after another, his heart was blooming with joy.

In his eyes, the foreigner had been a great help.

Buddha Mother had been ’malnourished’ for some time, and the arrival of the foreigner not only gave her a chance to taste something fresh.

It also allowed the offering up of several high-quality sacrificial offerings cultivated in the city district, their value perhaps ten times greater than ordinary offerings.

At that time, Buddha Mother would surely be very happy, and might even bestow greater blessings.

The impending temple showdown, in the Village Chief’s eyes, resembled a filtering among sacrificial offerings, regardless of who lost or won, the end result would be the same.

In his eyes, whoever entered the temple where Buddha Mother resided was doomed.

As the Village Chief was immersed in the imminent perfect ending, fantasizing about accepting the gifts from Buddha Mother and continuing to live for hundreds of years, the marine creatures within him slightly sensed something.

With the movements of the intestines on his back, the Village Chief suddenly looked behind him.

There was nothing, just the sound of water droplets falling from the top of the tunnel to the ground.

The Village Chief’s focus was still inside the temple, even if someone really came through the cave tunnel, it would only be other investigators, which would not affect his plans.

[Temple]

As the four investigators stepped into the temple, they were likewise shocked by its setup, especially by the Divine Statue of Buddha Mother, feeling an invisible pressure in their hearts.

Such a huge statue was rare even in the city area.

As they prepared to make quick work of the foreigner and leave the place quickly, Buddha Mother moved!

A flower on Buddha Mother’s face completely withered, signifying that the corresponding body had been completely drained,

Pfft! Like spitting something out, it spat out the completely shriveled body, even the bone marrow drained, which disintegrated upon contacting the seawater.

Crunch, crunch~

Strings like roots and intestines stretched out from the holes in the face of Buddha Mother and wrapped around Catherine, the special sacrifice, dragging her upwards

During the dragging, seawater was still flowing out of the facial holes,

Clearly, Buddha Mother couldn’t wait to taste this foreigner’s special flesh.

Catherine’s body was quickly embedded in it, with only her head exposed.

The facial implantation was complete,

Her scalp also showed obvious signs of movement, and just as she was about to bloom like the other sacrifices and become part of Buddha Mother,

Crack~ her skull split open,

However, what emerged were not petals but the tentacles of a giant deep-sea octopus, which then wrapped around the Divine Statue’s head in reverse.

Rows of suckers firmly adhered to it, seemingly drawing energy from between the statues in reverse.

This scene dumbfounded the investigators, and the Village Chief was so frightened that he stood up abruptly,

Only William, hiding behind the planted individuals, showed a smile,

He had always believed in Catherine,

After all, Catherine came from the largest Arc Sea of the Old World, the only perfect subject who had escaped from Fish Origin, and exceptionally became an Assistant Clown in the circus with an Open Source identity.

Thus, along the way, both of them were acting, showing as much weakness and fear as possible, yet demonstrating enough strength to let Buddha Mother consider them as premium sacrifices.

Next, what William needed to do was to stall these people, giving Catherine enough time.

No longer hiding,

William stood up directly, and in full view of the investigators, he removed his outer garment, revealing his perfect physique.

Following the rhythm of his heart, he invited the group to participate in the upcoming wrestling activity with his throbbing chest muscles.

In the water-filled tunnel

The Village Chief was utterly panicked, not understanding how the foreigner, although planted on Buddha Mother’s face, could still resist, until he recalled some of the recent conversations of the investigators.

"Could they be the so-called carriers of the plague? Can even gods... be infected?"

Just as the Village Chief was about to rush into the temple to tear the giant octopus that was Catherine away from the Divine Statue,

A cold killing intent came from behind, and the Village Chief even felt as if he had been chopped into minced meat, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Suddenly turning around,

He saw a mysterious person in a yellow raincoat standing in the tunnel, which had been empty moments before, twirling a very ordinary but heavily murderous axe in his hand.

The lips under the raincoat’s hood moved steadily,

"I’ve been observing you for a long time, you must be the one who has received the most blessings here, you are a Mysterious, and have lived a very long time, your body long transcending human boundaries.

Even to be called a ’Divine Envoy’.

I hope you can entertain me a bit longer, don’t die too quickly, oh Village Chief~"

"Who are you?"

The Village Chief, as the chosen representative of Buddha Mother in Flower Sea Village, had control over this sea area, and any entity that stepped into the cave or touched the seawater was sensed by him.

But the mysterious person wrapped in the raincoat, even standing right in front of him, gave off no aura.

It seemed as if the raincoat blocked everything, or perhaps the murderous aura he exuded could erase everything around him.

At that moment, the person voluntarily removed their hood,

Revealing a face twisted with excitement, perversion, and bloodlust, a tongue that had tasted countless sinful bloods lightly scraping between his teeth,

He seemed to have already sensed the sin on the Village Chief and was eager to execute him.

Seeing this face, the Village Chief’s old memories were awakened.

Three years ago, major newspapers and news apps were reporting on one thing, and they included a very clear portrait.

"The immortal murderer?!"