Lord of Prayer

Chapter 137: Chapter 111: Let’s Begin

The squad advanced in silence.

The Cursed Black Sea, an ocean of Curses and calamities, was incredibly viscous. It felt like being ten thousand meters deep in the ocean; they moved as if wading through a swamp, each step meeting immense resistance.

“That last building was a secondary dining hall. The stadium is another kilometer down the main road.” As a Jinzhu University student, Zhou Chen knew the campus map by heart. They were now very close to the Curse Source.

However, the farther they advanced, the more Cursed Undead they encountered. Countless savage, desperate faces surfaced from the black sea, their hands grasping and pulling at the squad. They cried out, “Save us,” but were actually trying to drag everyone down into Hell.

The moment their hands touched the Battle Armor, they were seared by the Matrix and recoiled in pain. But soon, other Undead would reach out to grab them, creating what felt like an endless hell of demonic hands.

“How hospitable…”

Zhou Chen remarked with a sigh. He shrugged his shoulders to shake off a pair of arms, then—SMACK!—he slapped away another pair grabbing at his waist.

He was wearing an Alchemy Necklace that could resist the Curse, but he had long since switched its Matrix off. Otherwise, the necklace would have shattered in an instant, and it was worth several million.

“The Matrix has four minutes of operational time left. We have to pick up the pace,” the deputy captain warned, his voice low.

The squad picked up their pace, crossing a grassy area. Suddenly, the detection systems on all their Battle Armor blared with warnings.

On the path directly ahead of them, a large number of…

Corrupters!

’How are there Corrupters here?’ Zhou Chen frowned. ’The Curse is strong enough to assimilate even Abyssal Demons; Corrupters should be no exception. The real question is, how did they even get in?’

A flash of insight struck him, and Zhou Chen instantly knew the answer—Gentleman!

Gentleman’s Shadow Demon Pool could be used as a mobile space. It could hold a lot of things, so of course he could stuff the Corrupters inside and release them after he got here.

And as one of the World’s most powerful, mysterious, and reclusive organizations, Fallen Paradise would naturally have Artifacts capable of resisting the Curse.

“Ya Yi, Zhou Chen. These Corrupters aren’t high-Level. Gentleman and Lover are yours. The rest of us will push forward,” the deputy captain ordered.

The members of Fallen Paradise had to be dealt with, or they would jeopardize the mission.

Zhou Chen was equipped with a Forbidden Object and had experience fighting Gentleman. Combined with his reasons for joining the team, it made sense to leave this to him. Plus, the agent codenamed “Ya Yi” was a battle-hardened Tier Three Ascender who could provide effective backup.

“Got it.” Zhou Chen accepted the order without hesitation. He and the squad member with a number “1” painted on the left arm of his Raven Battle Armor raised their guns and advanced.

A few seconds later, they walked out of the churning, viscous Cursed Black Sea, and the scene before them opened up dramatically.

A massive, soap-bubble-like membrane held open a space five hundred meters in diameter, sealing out all Curses and calamities. Inside, there was no trace of the Curse; every blade of grass and every tree was part of the familiar campus Zhou Chen knew.

“This is a Barrier Bubble. It creates a safe, warded space.” Ya Yi’s voice identified him as a quiet, somber man. He reported to the rest of the team, “Deputy Captain, there’s a Barrier Bubble up ahead. You can cut through it to save a significant amount of time.”

“Roger that,” the deputy captain’s voice came over the comms.

Meanwhile, Zhou Chen and Ya Yi advanced on the dining hall, guns raised. Their instruments indicated that Gentleman, Lover, and the Corrupters were all on the second floor.

They crept silently toward the second floor, their Steel Battle Armor making not the slightest sound. But when they peeked out from the stairwell, they found the deathly-still second floor completely empty. Only a projector was lit, casting an image onto a white wall and playing an unknown recording.

The footage was chaotic, filled with the sound of a man’s ragged, hurried breathing, as if he were running for his life.

On one of the dining tables sat dozens of miniature figurines. Using his Battle Armor’s zoom function, Zhou Chen could clearly see they were models of Gentleman, Lover, and various physically deformed Corrupters. The energy signatures their instruments had detected were coming from these very figurines.

“It’s a trap! Go!”

Zhou Chen didn’t need Ya Yi’s warning; he immediately turned to run. But in that same instant, the audio from the recording blared. A cacophony of static crackled in his ears—CRACKLE—and the sound of the man’s panting grew closer, shifting from illusion to reality.

His vision blurred. Suddenly, he was the one frantically sprinting down a filthy alley, gasping for breath.

A massive flood of memories surged into Zhou Chen’s mind.

·

My name is Wu Cheng. I’m thirty-five years old. I’m a professional writer, an amateur archaeologist, a student of Mysticism, and a folklore Investigator. My wife died in a car crash three years ago, and I’ve been raising our daughter by myself ever since.

My daughter’s name is Wu Qiong. She’s smart, adorable, and so well-behaved. She loves to shout “Daddy!” and leap into my arms, giggling as she nuzzles my beard. Every night, she insists I tell her a fairy tale before she goes to sleep.

After my wife passed away, she became my only reason for living.

But three days ago, I took her on a trip to An City, where she was kidnapped by a group of Cultists who worship an Evil God. My investigation revealed that these Cultists serve the Blood Monarch of Abyssal Hell. They plan to sacrifice my daughter to that damned Evil God on the night of the Blood Moon!

No. I have to stop this. I have to save my daughter!