Falling into the Abyss

The trio, including Roland, took turns taking watch during the night. Ethan had no chance to escape.

He stayed up all night but always pretended to be asleep with his eyes closed. He heard Roland talking to Angela in a low voice outside, and a few words floated into his ear.

“……Eves……Mars……the intensification of the infection from the second universe……mutation……blockade……the black hole in the milky way is unstable……”

Ethan approached the curtain to be able to hear more clearly, but the conversation stopped abruptly. He quickly lay back down and covered his head with a sleeping bag, and then he felt someone lift the curtain and look at him.

Roland got into the tent again and lay down beside him. His turn to keep vigil was over, and Angela took over. Soon, Ethan heard a slight snore coming from behind him.

Ethan turned over carefully and looked at Roland, who was about a person’s distance away from his sleeping bag.

It was an unexpectedly familiar scene. When he lived with Roland in the past, he also quietly looked at the man’s well-defined face during the nights when he suffered from insomnia. However, at this time, the love that once made him comfortable and relaxed had turned into bitterness and……hate, swirling in his chest.

He suddenly thought that if he carefully moved over now and suddenly grabbed Roland’s neck, would the spy have the means to shove Ethan off his body? If Ethan searched his body, maybe there would be self-defense weapons such as daggers. Would it be faster to directly pierce his heart?

However, he also knew that Roland’s calm sleeping face was an illusion. If he did that, then he would be subdued within a second.

Besides, this method of death would be too easy and quick, right?

He wanted Roland to be scared, to hear him scream, to see his despair, for him to feel what he had experienced in the Forbidden City, and to listen to him beg for mercy…… If he could grow those tentacles, maybe he could catch Angela in front of him and tear her curvy body in half, tearing off and devouring her snow-white arms and thighs. Then, he could use acid to corrode Roland’s skin bit by bit, destroying his self-righteous expression so that he could no longer use that sweet appearance to deceive a humble, boring, and too easily conquered fool like himself.

Subsequently, he would eat him, just like how he ate the horned people. Roland would become a part of him and would no longer betray or leave him.

His dark thoughts were like a storm trapped behind his calm and ghastly expression. He quietly reached out his hand in Roland’s direction. At the fingertip of his right index finger, a black, soft substance about the thickness of an earthworm had torn through his skin and was wriggling silently against the ground, climbing up Roland’s shoulder and wrapping his neck like a snake……

Roland’s body shook, and his eyes fluttered open quickly, only to see Ethan sleeping with his back to him.

He let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

How could he have such a strange dream…… He rubbed his neck and looked at Ethan again, before turning back and trying to get back to sleep. With two hours to go before the arrival of the dim dawn of Pales, he needed plenty of rest.

He didn’t know that Ethan, whose back was facing him, was looking at the little hole at the tip of his index finger that was still bleeding black blood.

Angela’s anxious call awakened Roland after less than an hour’s sleep. She detected an unusual vibration on the ground, indicating that many people were slowly approaching them within five kilometers. They quickly stored their tents and retreated to the aircraft. Naturally, Ethan was pushed into the cabin by Roland. The aircraft soon took off, skimming the top of the luminous silver forest as it flew to the west, around the ridge of the vast snowy mountain. Ethan heard them send a message to the incoming spacecraft that they changed the pickup location. He silently noted the coordinates and engraved them in his mind, waiting for Tanisiel to notice it.

The aircraft flew west, until they could see the corner of the horned people’s city across the horizon. It was currently noon, and a small orange sun hung in the middle of the sky. Overlapping purple and rose red clouds spread their colors to each other, and the relatively flat ground was covered in a gorgeous glow.

On the way here, Ethan saw three Earth Union’s army soldiers on patrol. He thought about whether he should rush forward to ask for help, but he had just managed to get rid of the control of the Forbidden City, so he didn’t want to give himself away. He decided to wait for Tanisiel for a while.

The owner of the hotel was a middle-aged man with a big belly and a beard. When he saw Roland and the others, he quietly led them into a zigzagging corridor before opening a room in the corner of the second floor. He carefully locked the door before saying, “I thought you would have left by now.” The middle-aged man lit a cigarette, before glancing from Roland to Ethan and asking, “Who is this?”

“An old acquaintance,” Roland replied simply, “The people from the Sagad tribe are looking for us, so stay away from them for a while. We’ll leave tonight.”

“Why are the people from the Sagad tribe seeking trouble with you? Didn’t you help them get out of Anas?”

“To be honest, I also think there’s a problem here.” Angela untied her chestnut hair that was in a bun and shook it freely. “It’s just for a prisoner. Is it really necessary to risk being discovered by the Earth Union’s army and chased as far as Unicorn Peak?”

“They certainly dare not come here,” another male Alpha spy said.

Ethan went straight to a rattan chair and sat down indifferently. He picked up a book from the tea table and looked at it. He sensed Tanisiel’s consciousness in his brain, so he knew that the priest was near.

Sure enough, two hours later, they heard a knock on the door in the yard. The innkeeper asked in a strange tone, “Who are you looking for?”

“My friend, Ethan Eldridge,” the voice of the priest came from downstairs.

Angela was cleaning her laser gun. When she heard that, she jumped up and opened a gap in the curtains, whistling.

“Oh~~~ My abstinent hunky priest came.”

“Is there anyone else present?”

“No, he’s the only one.”

Roland glanced at Ethan. “How does he know where you are?”

Ethan shrugged and grinned at him. “Isn’t that what you want?”

Roland didn’t argue with him and said to the other Alpha, “Benji, you go out from the rear to see if there’s anyone else nearby.”

The spy known as Benji flipped out of the window without saying a word. The boss in the yard was still stalling for time. “There’s no one with this name here. Have you gotten it wrong?”

Roland pushed the door open, standing at the railing on the second floor as he called down, “Let him up.”

Ethan saw Tanisiel in his field of vision, and his green eyes were like fireflies that suddenly lit up. Tanisiel glanced at him and stepped in. He had a serious expression on his face, and his footsteps were firm. The ten thousand function sphere revolved around him back and forth. Angela sat gracefully on the table close to him, her slender legs crossed. “Little priest, you couldn’t possibly have missed me so much that you chased us all the way here, right?

Roland was standing close to Ethan. As long as Roland wished it, he could take out the laser gun on his waist and press it against Ethan’s temple at any time. Although he didn’t make any threatening moves, Ethan knew that Roland wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger if things got to that point.

Tanisiel turned a blind eye to Angela’s provocative gesture, replying with a standard priestly silence. “You’ve taken my friend. Of course, I have to follow all of you here.”

“Your friend?” Roland leaned easily against Ethan’s armchair, and his sword-like eyebrows raised slightly. “I’m afraid he’s not just a friend, is he?”

The priest looked a little impatient as he said, “Why don’t we stop talking nonsense and speak straightforwardly. On what conditions will you allow me to take him away?” As he spoke, the third eye on his forehead opened a little. For a moment, the air within the room grew more turbulent.

However, he couldn’t control the two Ophiuchus Alliance spies before him and conjure illusions for them like he could for ordinary humans. They must have some devices on them used to counter the superior mental strength of the Eves, especially the Eve priests.

That was to say, they probably predicted that they would meet an Eve at Pales this time.

That was to say, everything was planned by them. They may have just wanted to find a chance to catch Ethan, or they may have wanted to use Ethan as a bargaining chip to make some deals with Tanisiel. Sure enough, there was a powerful person in the Earth Union behind the Ophiuchus Alliance’s schemes.

Although he had expected it, Tanisiel was still very upset, especially when Roland let out an unrestrained smile and placed his hand around Ethan’s shoulders naturally. The priest truly regretted not bringing that bottle containing Shub-Niggurath’s fluid.

At this time, another person came in, Benji, who had gone out previously. When he shut the door, Ethan saw that there seemed to be someone else outside. Maybe the whole hotel was full of the Ophiuchus Alliance’s people. He and Tanisiel were surrounded. Ethan was afraid they wouldn’t be able to get out so easily.

“The God of Order’s egg,” Angela suddenly said, “Hand it over, and I’ll let you both go.”

Tanisiel sneered and said, “I didn’t bring it.”

“Do you think we really believe that you would be assured enough to leave the God of Order’s eggs at Mars?” Angela held a cigarette gracefully and flipped open a lighter with a click. “Anyway, you Eves have so many God of Order’s eggs. Why don’t you give us one? Didn’t you steal one yourself previously?”

Ethan thought that the Ophiuchus Alliance even knew about Tanisiel’s use of the God of Order’s egg on Red Earth and that Tanisiel was closely related to him. How much did they know about his mutation?

They probably didn’t know it yet…… Otherwise, Roland would not have the courage to stand so close to him.

Tanisiel did not speak but suddenly looked steadily at Ethan. Ethan heard him ask in his head, “Do you want to go with him?”

Ethan was stunned and was unsure if Tanisiel had truly said that to him.

The voice in his mind rang out again, and it was Tanisiel’s voice. “Go to Ophiuchus Alliance with him, and you will be free. You can change your name and live a new life.”

Ethan stood up abruptly, startling Roland next to him. However, Roland saw the Beta was angry, green eyes glaring at Tanisiel. He seemed to want to say something but ultimately pursed his lips.

Of course, Ethan wanted to be free again and escape from this endless whirlpool of nightmares.

However, if Roland was his only way out, he would rather be trapped in the Forbidden City forever.

Seeing him in this manner, the priest showed a sincere, and even rather childish, smile. He seemed to have suddenly made up his mind, and his eyes swept over the faces of the trio from Ophiuchus Alliance in turn. “How much do you know about the God of Order’s eggs?”

“You Eves believe that they are a fragment of power left by the God of Order on a planet that was nearly born from the universe, don’t you?” Angela confidently replied, “Or, rather, they’re very sophisticated artificial intelligence left behind by some super civilization.”

With a sort of mocking smile on his face, Tanisiel said, “So you think you can control it? Do you really know what the God of Order is? Even if there is a religion on Earth that believes the Lord is very similar to the God of Order, who exists outside the universe, the God of Order is by no means as amiable as you think. It……has a terrifying appearance comparable to the God of Disorder and has no pity for human beings. Anyone who tries to peep at it will have their reason burned to ashes. Do you know what happened to the first Eve man who discovered the God of Order’s egg and touched it without an authorization?”

Roland seemed impatient as he asked, “What?”

“He became a demented fool. It was like his soul was burned out, leaving behind a body that could only perform its basic functions. He was locked up in a mental hospital, always speaking in a language that no one understood. Then, one day, he disappeared from the sealed ward. An autistic patient in his ward miraculously recovered and told everyone that he was eaten by his own shadow.”

Benji, who stood at a side, scoffed and said, “Should I feel scared? This kind of ghost story is not even enough to deceive children.”

Tanisiel stared at him with an expression that could almost be considered severe. “The Eves have spent more than five centuries trying to control the eggs, and even now, our understanding is very limited. No one who has arrogantly touched the God of Order’s eggs has survived under its radiation. What makes you so confident that you can safely bring it back to the Ophiuchus Alliance?”

Roland took a slight step forward, slightly hiding Ethan using his back. With a tone carrying a tinge of threat, he said, “We don’t need you to worry about that.”

The two men’s eyes were locked in an invisible battle. A moment later, the priest suddenly curled his mouth up, forming a beautiful and evil smile. He reached into the lining of his robe and pulled out a laughably small blue quail egg. Its exterior had some obvious crack, continuously leaking out a translucent and gelatinous substance that seemed spiritually conscious.

Obviously, this was the one he took to Mars.

The small object rotated on his snow-white palm as a stream of light emanating from it. If you looked carefully, you’d be able to see many crisscrossing lines that appeared like a circuit board. Angela’s expression suddenly changed and grew fanatical, as if she was bewitched. She immediately reached out to touch it.

However, the priest suddenly retracted his hand back, and his empty gray eyes gazed at her with a look of pity. “Are you sure? Once something is done, there is no way to turn back.”

This sentence carried a dual meaning. Everyone knew that he was speaking from personal experience. Roland glanced at Ethan, who was behind him, some unknown emotions drifting within his blue eyes.

Ethan was thinking about the mixture of blue and red blood on the ground, as well as the orgasmic pleasure from his memories of him tearing flesh and blood into pieces……

However, Angela didn’t see the look in the priest’s eyes and didn’t care about his warning. Like most people from the Ophiuchus Alliance, she didn’t believe in religion and even looked down on religious people. She didn’t understand how, in today’s highly developed technological society, anyone could be so stupid and lazy as to imagine a god who could neither save nor punish them, just to help them understand this cruel universe that sometimes couldn’t be understood at all. Therefore, she didn’t believe anything bad would happen if she just touched this little thing. After all, didn’t the priest just hold it?

Therefore, she stretched out her hand and took the egg from the priest.

In the next moment, her excited expression solidified on her face. It was as if she suddenly turned into a wax figure that had lost all signs of life.