Underneath a crooked old tree in Kanglai County, Xihong City, Menxia Province.
A cicada, the size of a soccer ball, was held by a strange arm. Only two- or three-tenths of this arm was flesh and bone; the rest was filled with mechanical parts such as gears and chains. And at the end of that arm… there was nothing!
The cicada bit down hard on the arm, continuously emitting a blue light, trying to turn the arm into blue glass. But the blue light had no effect on the arm.
After struggling for a while, the cicada was crushed by the arm. The arm rummaged through the pile of debris for a moment, and upon not finding what it was looking for, it disappointedly used its fingers as legs and left.
All five fingers were extremely strong and moved with great speed, making the arm’s movements much faster than an ordinary person’s.
Ten minutes after the arm left, five blue cicadas flew to the vicinity. They buzzed and flew into every corner of the surroundings, but could not find what they were looking for. Sudan Fiction Network
After flying aimlessly for a while, an old farmer with a cross on his clothes passed by. The giant cicadas exchanged glances and immediately rushed towards the old farmer…
…
“One, two…”
On the roof of a car parked by the roadside, Wen Wen spread out a map of Menxia Province and sketched on it.
He marked all the places where cicadas had appeared, then connected them, finally forming a pattern resembling a semicircle.
The center of the semicircular pattern was in Liaozhou City, south of Caiyun Port City, a coastal city to the west of Xihong City.
These two adjacent cities, one suspected to be the center of the cicada incident, and the other teeming with anomalies, with an environment within the city far more恶劣 than the previous Nim City.
“Either these two places experiencing such major events simultaneously is pure coincidence, or… there’s a connection between them.”
However, the anomalies occurring in Xihong City were clearly not of the same nature as these cicadas. Whether there was a connection would only be known if Wen Wen went to see for himself.
Back in the car, Wen Wen urged San Zai’er to drive faster, his mind on the airplane that was yet to be delivered. Cars running on the ground were still too slow.
Suddenly, Wen Wen’s Hunter Terminal vibrated again; it was a message from the Association.
He had accepted the relevant mission the previous night, so all messages related to this incident would be sent to his terminal.
Upon seeing the information, Wen Wen raised an eyebrow.
“I thought the Church of Glory wouldn’t take it too seriously…”
First, the Genesis Church of the Huafu Grand District issued a notice suspending all large-scale religious activities in Menxia Province, with the specific resumption date to be announced later.
Simultaneously, the Church of Glory had also dispatched over half of their strength throughout the Huafu Grand District overnight to support Menxia Province.
A Grand Bishop of the True Order level, along with experts of various other ranks, had rushed to the provincial capital of Menxia Province overnight to take charge, ready to strike at the slightest disturbance.
After tonight, every church in Menxia Province would have supernaturals stationed there.
In addition to the Huafu Grand District, branches of the Church of Glory in other Grand Districts had also dispatched elite soldiers and seasoned warriors to Menxia Province. It was rumored that their secret forces, held as reserves, were also being deployed…
“Twenty-odd small churches, are they worth such attention from the Church of Glory?”
“Regardless, this reaction seems a bit excessive. People from the Church of Glory must know some inside information that I don’t…”
The reaction of the Church of Glory caused Wen Wen to elevate his evaluation of this incident by a whole level. Although Wen Wen was still unclear about the underlying reasons, the Church of Glory would definitely not act without cause.
After all, the Church of Glory was not as wealthy as the Hunter Association. If they went to great lengths only to find it was for naught, the loss would likely be unbearable for them.
“Let’s go to Liaozhou City first and see if I can discover anything.”
…
At Liaozhou City Airport, Yan Xiu, carrying a shoulder bag, disembarked from the plane.
The mask on his face was blank, showing no expression. The mask displayed emojis according to his mood, but he could control it to a certain extent.
Accompanying him on the flight were two supernaturals from the Church of Glory: a Paladin and two Divine Mages.
Paladins were mostly well-trained warriors who inherited the armor passed down from the Church of Glory, gaining powers similar to supernaturals.
Divine Mages were similar to sorcerers; they gained power through studying secret tomes. However, the knowledge they studied was special and did not lead to madness, but their growth in power was much slower than that of the sorcerers in the Golden Eagle Grand District.
However, what Yan Xiu cared about most were not these colleagues, but a transport plane in the distance. The cabin door of the transport plane was open, and its contents had already been transported away.
But Yan Xiu could sense a power on that transport plane that was very familiar to him… a Sin-Cleansing Angel!
The stone sculpture of the Sin-Cleansing Angel had once been on that plane. Judging by the size of the transport plane, there should have been other angel statues inside.
“Even angels were transported here. Does the ‘holy war’ mentioned in the notice mean it’s real?”
Yan Xiu felt a slight headache. He had been hiding his strength, so faking his death through high-intensity combat was somewhat feasible.
But with the statue of the Sin-Cleansing Angel here, the situation was somewhat different. Although he didn’t know why the Sin-Cleansing Angel hadn’t reported him to the church, if he were to be encountered by the Sin-Cleansing Angel, it would surely lead to complications.
There were people from the Genesis Church at the airport waiting for Yan Xiu and the other supernaturals. They got into the church’s vehicles and were to be taken to various churches in Liaozhou City.
After the bus had been driving for about ten minutes, Yan Xiu suddenly opened his eyes. A violent energy fluctuation was coming from not far ahead; supernaturals were fighting!
Yan Xiu and the others quickly got out of the car and headed towards the location of the energy burst. They saw several trucks loaded with angel stone sculptures had all overturned, and angel stone sculptures lay on the ground, all covered with blue cicadas!
An angel with wings and holding a light spear was entangled with two cicadas, but it was clear that the angel was on the verge of collapse.
The Divine Mages responsible for transporting these angels had already been killed by these cicadas. Only clergy with special orders could unseal the angels from their stone forms. Therefore, although the other angel statues possessed formidable power, they could only allow these cicadas to feed on them.
The supernaturals rushed to provide assistance, but the cicadas flew too fast, and with just a few of them, it was like trying to bail out a sinking ship with a single ladle.
Just then, an anxious voice sounded in Yan Xiu’s mind: “I can drive these things away. You and I have a contract, and you can unseal me from the stone sculpture.”
Yan Xiu replied in his mind with an unchanged expression, “How can you guarantee that you won’t act against me after being unsealed?”