Chapter 57

Meanwhile, down below the window, Andre was limping away as fast as he could.

“Damn it! Idiot! Fool!” he cursed repeatedly, seeing the figure behind him drawing closer.

He couldn’t understand how things had turned out like this!

Perhaps it was the days of high tension and exhaustion from running around, but after dinner tonight, Andre felt unusually sleepy. As soon as he returned to his room, he fell into a deep sleep without even discussing the mayor’s family’s eerie prayer with his roommate.

He slept soundly, only to wake up half-asleep in the middle of the night needing the restroom — only to find himself outside!

He looked around, bewildered by the unfamiliar city streets. The mayor’s house was nowhere in sight. The sea breeze whipped through, leaving Andre with a pounding headache.

He took a few steps when a stick struck his right leg, sending a stabbing pain through his ankle.

“Argh!!” Andre collapsed, clutching his ankle in agony and cursing profusely.

“Damn it! When I catch you, I’ll kill you!”

A figure stood before him — he squinted and recognized him as the tourist stranded on the island that he had met during the day.

Jiang Suliu stood before him, hands in his pockets, looking down at Andre, who was kneeling in pain.

“You’ll soon realize you’ve crossed the wrong person,” Andre snarled at Jiang Suliu, his expression a mix of anger and excitement.

The idiot in front of him had no idea the trouble he was in.

Too many ordinary people lived blissfully ignorant in their small worlds, thinking they knew everything — unaware that the world was far more mysterious than they could imagine.

Andre struggled to his feet, leaning heavily against a nearby phone booth, and eyed Jiang Suliu with excitement. “Do you know what an ‘Ability User’ is, idiot?”

Jiang Suliu raised an eyebrow with a small smile, tilting his head. “What’s that?”

Andre clenched his fist, nodding. “Don’t know? Then you’re in serious trouble.”

He tried to use his powers immediately, only to find they weren’t working.

No teleportation, no grip around his target’s neck, no sudden flames appearing… His unique abilities had vanished, as if his god had abandoned him.

In disbelief, Andre kept trying, breaking into a sweat.

Jiang Suliu watched him silently the entire time, his gaze calm. When Andre finally gave up, swearing angrily, Jiang Suliu spoke softly, “Surina Island is a sacred place. Every intelligent creature of the sea — humans or otherwise — is a follower of the Thousand-Faced Moon.”

“This island is a sanctuary for the fanatics of the Thousand-Faced Moon. The collective power of their faith prevents any other gods from manifesting or using powers here.”

Seeing Jiang Suliu’s mocking gaze and recalling the delicious dinner, Andre finally put the pieces together.

He raised his head, eyes wide. “It was you! What did you do to me?”

Jiang Suliu didn’t deny it. Instead, he checked his watch and said, “Run.”

He looked at Andre with mild interest, a gentle smile on his face. “If I were you, I’d run faster. Much faster.”

Andre glared at Jiang Suliu. “You think I’m afraid of you?”

Jiang Suliu seemed like a frail, scholarly type. Even without his abilities, Andre could take down this guy.

Andre lunged at Jiang Suliu, but he was forced to raise his hands. “Hey, what’s the big idea? Isn’t this a fair fight?” he growled, gritting his teeth as he looked at the gun Jiang held.

Jiang stared back, expressionless, and pulled the trigger.

The gunshot shattered the silence as Andre’s hand was struck, flesh torn apart, and he screamed in pain.

With sweat beading on his forehead from the agony, Andre saw Jiang Suliu pull out a knife. He was in too much pain to even notice at first, but on closer inspection, it was the same fruit knife he had seen Jiang Suliu slicing an apple with earlier that day.

Back then, Andre had thought Jiang looked like he might stab him with that knife.

The premonition came true hours later.

Jiang Suliu knelt, and without hesitation, drove the blade into Andre’s ankle, twisting the blade as he severed the tendon, eliciting a heart-wrenching scream as sweat poured from Andre’s brow.

“Run faster,” Jiang murmured again.

He pulled the trigger without a second thought.

Though Andre knew he was being toyed with in some kind of twisted cat-and-mouse game, he couldn’t resist the urge to flee from his relentless pursuer.

Every few steps, he’d glance back, only to see Jiang Suliu’s calm, unhurried steps, yet somehow drawing closer and closer.

Andre, his right ankle already shattered, couldn’t run fast. Enduring the pain, he constantly checked the distance between them, and in his panic, he tripped, crashing to the ground.

Agony flared from his wounds as André rolled on the ground, clutching his injured ankle.

In his terror, Andre looked up to see Jiang standing before him.

“That’s all you could manage?” Jiang Suliu glanced at the distance from there to the sea, as if disappointed.

Jiang Suliu’s calm, refined appearance now looked monstrous to Andre, like a demon.

“You’re insane! You’re insane!” Andre stammered, momentarily forgetting he was once a powerful ability user.

He couldn’t comprehend why this man pursued him so ruthlessly in the dead of night.

“You dared to disrespect a god,” Jiang Suliu said lightly, turning away and grabbing an axe from a nearby wall.

Hearing this, Andre strained to remember, finally recalling the offhand comment he had made about Yue Yin on the boat.

Disbelief flashed in his eyes.

All of this, just for a single remark?

His dulled senses finally pieced together the connections between Yue Yin, Jiang Suliu, and the island’s eerie events.

It all made sense now. His face twisted in rage, muttering curses under his breath. “Madman! Madman!”

As Jiang Suliu turned back toward him, Andre sprang forward, his face twisted with fury. “Die, you maniac!”

What met him was the axe in Jiang Suliu’s hand, swung around with precision.

The blunt side of the axe struck his head hard, blurring his vision and sending him stumbling back. He touched his wound with trembling hands, staring at Jiang Suliu in disbelief before collapsing.

Blood spattered across his cheek, dripping onto the ground with a slow, rhythmic sound, freezing him in place.

“Do you know what I despise the most?” Jiang Suliu looked down at the blond man sprawled at his feet, unfastening the watch on his wrist and placing it on the nearby chair with calm detachment.

He moved with utter calmness, even as he picked up the axe and walked toward Andre, his expression unchanging.

Watching the man approach, Andre finally felt true fear.

The young man before him, clearly equipped with a gun that could end his life at any moment, had chosen not to use it. Instead, he opted for the far more grueling option of a cold weapon.

The earlier torment and chase were merely appetizers, the axe was the main course, prepared specifically for the brutality that would follow. This was deliberate vengeance—all because of a single disparaging word against Yue Yin.

Although Andre had cursed Jiang Suliu as a madman countless times before, nothing prepared him for the depth of this realization now.

Unlike his earlier feigned weakness and surprise counterattack, Andre now truly feared the demon standing before him.

This man was more terrifying than he’d ever imagined. Was he even human?

Trembling, Andre shrank back on the ground, pleading, “Please, spare me. I was wrong. I’ll apologize to her. I’ll make it right…”

Jiang Suliu’s expression remained indifferent, though his burning gaze betrayed him. “You dared to insult the Thousand-Faced Moon? You dared to look upon the divine?”

With a chilling smile, Jiang Suliu reached the fallen Andre and swung the axe for the first time. “You dared to curse our goddess on our own land?”

In his mind, he heard the frenzied cries of the monsters:

—“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”

—“Once again, the vile thief, the despicable heretic!”

—“Heretics tread openly upon our land, desecrating our idols and slandering our deity. Kill them all, slaughter every one of them!”

The devoted worshipers of the Thousand-Faced Moon were fanatical in their reverence. Their goddess was of far greater importance than their own lives, and they would never tolerate even a word of blasphemy toward the revered being they followed so fervently.

To uphold the sanctity of their Mother of Monsters, they would spend their lives, relentlessly hunting the blasphemer until their own souls perished.

From the depths of the ocean, the monsters whispered urgently into Jiang Suliu’s ear:

—“Unforgivable, intolerable. Silence the defiler with his own blood. Offer his head to our great goddess.”

—“The mouths of charlatans are skilled in deceit. Close your ears, cover your breath, and wait in silence for our Lord’s arrival, listening only to the will of the Great Old One.”

As the monsters stirred with fervor, Jiang Suliu felt a similar intensity. His eyes gleamed red, resembling the eyes of a terrifying killer from a nightmare.

With a cold smile, he looked down at the terrified Andre and murmured softly, “How dare you disrespect her?”

Despite his lean frame, Jiang Suliu possessed immense strength. He raised the axe, bringing it down repeatedly, relentlessly.

Andre’s screams and pleas for mercy dwindled, growing weaker until they finally ceased forever. Yet Jiang Suliu did not stop. His smile revealed a potent rage, wielding the axe again and again as blood splattered across his face, his delicate features twisted into something monstrous.

His once-white shirt was now soaked with blood, his hair disheveled, sweat dripping from his brow.

“All who insult her will face eternal revenge from her devout followers.”

Jiang Suliu gazed at the remains before him, a faint smile on his face.

Bending down, he dragged the dead body by its foot and headed for the cliff. At the edge, he tossed the corpse into the sea below.

The body fell with a dull splash, quickly swallowed by the turbulent waves.

Jiang Suliu’s lips curled. “Feast,” he murmured, staring into the vast ocean, as though gazing into the endless depths where monsters lurked below.

“And remember to pray to our great goddess before your meal.”

An unsettling excitement lit Jiang Suliu’s face as he remembered the prayer ritual performed by the mayor and his wife. His pale fingers trembled slightly in anticipation.

Alone on the deserted coast, Jiang Suliu murmured, “Pray to my Lord. It’s so beautiful.”

What appeared to outsiders as strange and horrifying rituals were, to Jiang Suliu, expressions of devoted worship. He should have come here sooner, immersed himself in this fervent faith.

How much had he missed before now? Andre and his group found the prayer tedious and pointless, but he did not.

He was enthralled, worshiping the great goddess, to the point where merely envisioning the scene set his blood on fire.

All the more so because this divine being, whom he adored, sat with them at the same table.

She heard every sincere word of prayer, every trusting plea, and responded with a song.

“It is a great honor to witness the glory of the Thousand-Faced Moon with you all.”

It was hard to describe the emotions of the fanatics upon hearing the goddess’s response. After generations of feeling abandoned in this realm, endlessly praying for the Thousand-Faced Moon’s return, they finally attained their heart’s desire.

This was the highest purpose—so much so that even if every deep-sea monster perished in that moment, they would die without regret.

Jiang Suliu’s face showed a look of contentment and happiness.

He felt failed as a follower; he had much yet to learn. But that was fine. He had plenty of time.

Andre had been thrown into the sea for some time now, and in his mind, the monsters had stopped their fierce whispers. Instead, there was the eerie sound of chewing.

The flesh of a heretic who had insulted the goddess was the most fitting sacrifice.

Jiang Suliu stood at the cliff’s edge for a while, then dropped the axe and turned back to the mayor’s house.

As he entered, he noticed a figure lurking near the vending machine.

Yue Yin was standing by the vending machine, counting her spare coins, trying to trick it into giving her a bottle of cola.