Chapter Thirty: The Malice Behind

  Andre's face had rotted a lot, with a rough and foul odor lingering, barely visible was the terror and struggle before his death.

  Apart from this, Lucien could no longer find anything related to his mysterious death.

  "What's this got to do with Aaron Hernandez's recent low profile?"

  Lucien sat in silence for a few minutes, then found a piece of tattered cloth, wrapped his hand with it, and heavily pressed Andre's corpse into the water. Although he didn't know how he was hung by the barbed wire before, this time, there wouldn't be such good luck.

  Andre's body floated down the dark river, through the barbed wire and into the Beren River, as for who found it later, that was beyond Lucien's control.

  He threw the pouch of money and the tattered cloth into the dark river, Lucien stood up and headed back, but this time, he didn't take the same road as before. Instead, he changed direction at a fork in the road about twenty meters away, to avoid running into that group of beggars again. According to Lucien's recollection of the route he had taken to get there, this path would lead him through the ruins of the witch's magic laboratory and back to the entrance of the sewer where he first entered.

  At the fork in the road, Lucien suddenly heard a heavy footsteps after walking for several meters.

  These footsteps are chaotic and staggered, yet in the quiet and enclosed sewer, they can be transmitted so far and so clearly, as if a large group of people is walking from afar, and several of them have extremely exaggerated body weight, which creates such a heavy effect.

  Lucien straightened his waist and looked around the path he was walking on, soon discovering a recessed area not far ahead. Although it wasn't enough to conceal his entire body, as long as those approaching didn't come in for a closer look, they wouldn't be able to discover him from the outside.

  Lucien waited with his back pressed tightly against the wall for a few minutes until the group of people passed by.

  Perhaps it was because everything had gone too smoothly in the past, without any problems arising, that this group of people merely glanced casually at the passageway where Lucien was hiding and continued walking forward.

  "You few, quickly throw these corpses down. May the Lord bless them to be eaten by sharp-mouthed fish as soon as possible." A low and muffled voice sounded, coming from far away in the closed and quiet sewer, but when he spoke, it seemed that there was some leakage of air, so many syllables were not accurate.

  Lucien was about to take the opportunity to leave, but this voice made him frown: "How is it a bit familiar, who is it?" He began to recall every person he had met in his mind.

  Then came a familiar voice from the west: "How can you collect so slowly? Don't delay the big thing."

  "That's the old man who tried to preach." The second voice was one Lucien had heard recently, so he recognized it immediately.

  The first voice fell silent for a moment, then replied with a hint of fear: "Don't worry, it will be gathered within ten days, Aaron has already given the order, at all costs."

  Aaron, Long Xiang? Aaron?

  Lucien immediately recalled the owner of the first voice, Jackson, who had brought people to destroy his own home and was beaten by himself and John. The feeling that he spoke with a lisp was because he had lost several teeth: "But it sounds like Aaron's gang is not the victim, but rather an accomplice of the cult. And Andrei probably refused to obey and was silenced."

  The old missionary smiled gloomily: "Please inform Mr. Aaron and that person, as long as you can cooperate wholeheartedly, we will absolutely not disappoint you. Don't look at me having no power, but under the glory of God, I am just a tiny worm. The several priests are all strong enough to rival the Archbishop of the True Faith cult. If it weren't for maintaining that thing, there would be no need for your help."

  "Alright, I'll let Aaron know." Jackson replied emotionlessly.

  After a few thuds, someone else spoke up with a trembling voice: "But, Brother Jackson, it's really hard to find those people who have gone missing without drawing attention to themselves. It's impossible to gather fifty of them within ten days. I don't know where all the beggars in this sewer have gone. Except for the ones that belong to you, not a single one can be found." The last sentence was directed at the old preacher.

  The old missionary chuckled and said: "Of course they were swept into the River Belen and became food for the sharp-beaked fish."

  "Jackson took a light breath: 'Scar, don't worry, Aaron has already said that he will do whatever it takes. As long as we don't provoke the nobles, priests and those high-society people, even if we kidnap others, he will use all his connections and resources to resolve it.'"

  "Jackson, you've got a target?" Skarr asked hesitantly.

  "Scar, you've seen and done so much, are you going to quit now? Don't forget Andre! As for the target, humph, my cheek still hurts from those two little bastards, and their family, how can I let them off!"

  Lucien almost lost his temper when he heard this, Jackson actually wanted to take his and Elisa's aunt's life for a not-so-serious grudge, how ruthless.

  But Lucien quickly controlled his anger, for such a freak, he had also heard many times, and it was not uncommon to kill the whole family for a few dollars or a sentence of mouth: "Fortunately, I heard it, otherwise, John and I can still handle it, but Uncle Joel, Aunt Elisa, Evan are likely to be unlucky."

  "We must settle this matter as soon as possible." Lucien thought quietly, harboring a murderous intent. If he let Jackson and his men leave the sewer, where would he go to find them? At that time, he wouldn't be able to split himself in two, how could he protect Joel's family? Who knew when or where Jackson and his men would launch a surprise attack? "If we just kill them all, the other members of the Aaron gang won't bother us for no reason. With this buffer of time, I can fabricate an excuse to reveal to John, letting him resolve the issue of this cult through Lord Vayne."

  All Lucien had to do was tell John that he overheard a beggar spouting blasphemy, and the beggar, who lived in the sewers, would be found out by the church or the knights if they investigated thoroughly. As for his fabricated alibi, no one would be able to contradict him after he died.

  If Lucien doesn't take action now and reports directly through John, then when the time comes, as long as the old preacher and those heretic beggars are caught, he won't be able to explain his trip to the sewer.

  Lucien grew calmer, patted his pocket to confirm the ease of retrieving his spellcasting materials, and under the cover of their conversation, quietly stepped to the corner and cautiously peeked out.

  There were nine people in total.

  There were too many people, and Lucien didn't have a complete grasp on killing everyone, there was even the possibility of being killed by them uniting together. However, at this point, it was already impossible to retreat, he could only calmly make one last effort.

  …………

  Ska and his two companions threw the last body bag into the dark river, then prodded it with a long pole to make sure they could get through the hole in the iron wire net. The three gangsters involuntarily prayed to the god of truth in their hearts due to fear, terror, and regret, not even daring to look at the corpse, let alone approach it.

  Although they were all thugs who had taken lives with their own hands, they still couldn't accept the fact of digging out a living person's heart.

  Glancing at the eerie and mysterious old man, Suka suppressed the trembling in his heart and spoke up: "Brother Jackson, we've finished what we came to do. Let's leave quickly. I heard that there are many water ghosts in the River of Bellin. If they come swimming in..."

  "Alright." Jackson looked at the old preacher, "The Belen River has a water ghost, does it have anything to do with you? After all, so many corpses were thrown in, and the timing is also quite coincidental."

  The old missionary shook his head: "We don't want to stir up any other commotion before things are successful. Altro is the western core of the ancient magic empire, and perhaps somewhere in the Beren River there is a thick death force emanating, anyway, the Cult of Truth has not noticed us yet."

  Just as Jackson was about to order his men to leave, he suddenly saw Skar's expression turn terrified, and at the same time a strange, guttural, brief and urgent voice sounded from behind.

  Ska saw that in front of him, behind Jackson and the old preacher, about twenty meters away at the corner, there was a dark shadow standing quietly, only half of his body and face exposed. Under the glow of the moss, it was blurry and unclear, exuding a strong sense of eeriness, mystery and terror.

  "There's a ghost in the sewer!" This was Skar's suppressed fear after participating in the cult's heart extraction ritual - fearing revenge from vengeful spirits and ghosts, but he didn't dare to seek purification from the True God Cult. Now, under the dim light and enclosed environment, just after throwing away the corpse, Skar's fears burst out, leaving him paralyzed with fear.

  Just as Scatha saw the black shadow, the mysterious person raised his right hand, and countless dust particles emitting a faint glow floated out, uttering an eerie, inhuman voice.

  Jackson, the old missionary, turned around at the sound and saw the mysterious and terrifying black shadow. But before they could take two steps back, the light around them suddenly went out completely.

  A piece of darkness, stretching out one's hand without seeing five fingers, except for the calm old preacher, Jackson, Ska and others were extremely terrified, holding a dagger in their hands, waving it wildly, not allowing anyone to approach.

  But the Yongdao was originally narrow, and they stood very close together. In this swing, someone was immediately stabbed and cried out in pain.

  The screams only reignited Jackson's fear, for as they were already on edge from the eerie darkness that had befallen them, hearing one of their own scream made them worry about their own safety, and so they swung their knives with even more force.

  "Darkness Spell", an informal magic, creates a 6-meter long and 6-meter wide dark area that ordinary light sources cannot illuminate, which can last for one minute during the apprentice stage.

  "Calm down, calm down, O!" The old preacher, although not even up to the standard of a novice pastor, had heard the priests mention some common knowledge about magic and divine arts. This eerie darkness must have been created by that mysterious person. First, he himself couldn't panic, secondly, he ordered people to rush in all four directions. This darkness absolutely couldn't cover too much area. But just as his calm shout was uttered, he was stabbed with a dagger by Jackson who had fallen into terror and let out a painful cry.

  Within a few seconds, in the darkness, two people had been stabbed and fell to the ground, while several others were injured to varying degrees.

  Si Ka and the other three, driven by fear, ran towards the back, which was the direction of the water inlet. However, what they didn't know was that from where they were to the barbed wire, everything was shrouded in darkness.

  Jackson, the old preacher and another gangster charged forward towards the mysterious man.

  Because it was too dark to see the road, he ran out two steps and hadn't yet seen the light when a beggar and a gangster fell into the dark river with a splash.

  At this time, that heart-pounding, strange sound rang out again.