Apocalypse Forecast

The entire dining room was thrown into turmoil by that scream.

Instantly, all the fierce glares turned towards the Green Fairy in the back of the restaurant, who was standing on the stove and stirring a large spoon. The dwarf-like man shivered and then screamed.

"I didn't... It wasn't me..."

He desperately argued, "I swear! I only threw in a Magical Insole!"

Well now...

Now Huai Shi knew where the magical insole from that table had gone. So the smell of foot odor emanating from the broth was really, truly foot odor!

Anyway, they had to tie this bastard up and beat him before anything else!

But soon, someone discovered that the person lying on the ground had really been poisoned.

The toxin was light, akin to some type of biological venom from a snake, but the dosage wasn't high. Dark Creatures naturally had a high resistance to poison. As long as it wasn't a targeted, high-potency toxin, ingesting this diluted kind would at most cause numbness in the mouth.

But it undoubtedly proved the existence of the toxin.

Immediately, the Green spirit was hung up.

Then, a group of people scooped around with their spoons, fishing out half a dead pig, two boots, and a stinking, greenish Magical Insole—without a doubt, the very same one in question.

In hindsight, it seemed that this magical thing was indeed miraculous, having absorbed a significant amount of the toxin after being tossed into the soup... otherwise, most of the people here would have suffered.

But this did not prevent the Green Fairy who threw the insole and the owner of the lost insole from being strung up by the angry passengers and beaten to within an inch of their lives.

Subsequently, after inspection, more than one person reached a conclusion.

The food indeed contained poison.

And worse yet—not just the food in the pot, but also the grains and meat in the cold storage, and even the ship's water supply had been poisoned. To prevent detection, the doses were quite small. However, they still couldn't stop the eventual outbreak from cumulative buildup.

If not for that insole, which stank to high heaven, it probably would have been too late by the time they discovered it.

Although Huai Shi had taken simple samples, without the full set of alchemy equipment in his own room, he couldn't yet determine the type of toxin.

Just as he was about to go back to his room for an analysis, to see if he could produce some inferior Antidote based on Van Essen's memories, he suddenly heard a hysterical scream amidst the crowd.

"It's her!"

A man with a face covered in sores jumped up, pointing to a figure in the crowd, "It's definitely that woman who poisoned us! In the daytime, my friend and I were almost poisoned to death by her!"

This voice sounded so familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

Damn it!

This was the bastard who had attacked him with a blunt object!

By the time Huai Shi finally realized this, he suddenly had a bad feeling, and as he looked in the direction the man was pointing, he saw the astounded Hela.

"It wasn't me."

Hela frowned and looked back coldly. The man with the sores flinched before his expression turned even more ferocious, "If it wasn't you, then who? Did the sores on my face grow by themselves?"

Some people's expressions turned suggestive, "Now that everyone is here, whether it was you who poisoned us can be clarified with a simple search!"

Hela looked at him indifferently. The man's smile froze, and he instinctively stepped back several paces, but then he grew bolder again, "Am I wrong?! I saw you poison someone with my own eyes this afternoon! That person is still lying in the cabin, bedridden!"

Amid the clamor of a few people, the surrounding crowd's attention was drawn, and after listening to the man's vivid description, their gaze upon Hela turned hostile.

Huai Shi tried to speak up, but then he heard Ai Qing's voice, "I suggest we observe and wait."

"Just stand by and watch?"

"Can you vouch for her?" Ai Qing countered. "Are you certain that during the time you were unconscious, she did nothing? And why, when you were unconscious for such a long time, did she suddenly splash water on you to wake you up?"

Huai Shi was struck dumb, speechless.

"Let's not get agitated," the woman with the painted smile who stood beside Hela interjected, trying to defuse the situation, "Believe me, this must be some misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding my ass!"

As if afraid that the turmoil wasn't sufficient, the man with sores screamed out, "She wants to kill us all! These two wretched women might even be in cahoots!"

The woman with the painted smile's smile stiffened for a moment. She looked at the man with sores, her expression revealing a tangible fierceness and ferocity, finally silencing him with an icy threat.

They finally understood that this wasn't a place about reason and evidence.

This was the vast sea, far from any civilization, a cruise ship with no shores to dock. They were not passengers in need of evidence and clues, detectives, or meek and defenseless victims. They were Dark Creatures who lived by the law of the Survival of the Fittest.

Poisoning? Laughable. Was there anyone on this ship who didn't know how to use poison?

Some people's farts were practically poison gas!

In the brief silence, the crowd that was about to boil over stopped for a moment, petrified by that sinister gaze. The chaos that was about to erupt seemed to have been stillborn.

Until suddenly, from within the crowd, someone unleashed a dark shadow, aiming it towards Hela.

It was impossible to tell whether it was some kind of witchcraft, sorcery, or a Flying Head, but the Source Substance parasite, imbued with dense negative energy, flew through the air, lunging at Hela.

The worldly woman was finally completely enraged, roaring as she raised her sharp claws, intending to tear the aggressor's throat. But then, cries of incredulous alarm rose from the crowd.

Just as the parasite touched Hela, there was the sound of something shattering with a snap, and it was incinerated into a wisp of black smoke, vanishing in an instant.

It vanished in an instant, within a beam of light... That beam of light was so faint, gone in a flash, yet it stood out vividly in the dimness, like a crane among chickens, stirring up an almost overwhelming frenzy.

By her side, the worldly woman bore the brunt the moment the light shone. Charred traces appeared on her hand, cracking the layer of makeup that disguised her skin, briefly revealing slack, wrinkled skin underneath, along with dark, age-spot-like scars.

"Believer?"

Someone said with a trembling voice, "She... she... she's a Believer!"

In the entire restaurant, everyone rose from their seats in astonishment, first in disbelief, and then, their gazes turned fierce and ferocious. In the crowd, a disheveled woman stood up, pointing at Hela while venomously chanting something, as if casting some Curse, but soon, the intangible Curse was repelled.

By a faint Halo rising above Hela's head.

The Stigma, the mark of a Believer.

The First Stage of the Stigma Genealogy, and at the same time, the only First Stage Stigma. Regardless of whether it was the Righteous man, the Angel, or even Lasal, all Stigmata within the Stigma Genealogy extend from this foundation.

Unlike the myriad paths in other genealogies that converge into one, it starts from one, extends into thousands, and ultimately returns to the void's 'one'.

The ability of the Stigma Genealogy to grow to such a massive scale is not unrelated to this structure.

As long as one drinks the blessed Holy Water and receives baptism, the baptized individual will become a potential member of the Believers—that is to say, as long as you drink the Holy Water and receive baptism by a Priest, then as long as you complete the sublimation and recite a few lines from the Holy book, you can become a 'Believer' on your own.

It's simple, convenient, with no side effects, quick and easy, and can virtually be said to have no cost... Even if only one in ten Sublimators chooses to become a Believer, the Stigma Genealogy will gain a loyal member.

Most parents of babies who are baptized at birth are devout believers. Influenced by such a family atmosphere, few make another choice. Moreover, the Stigma Genealogy has extensive resources and never skimps on treatment. The applications of the 'Believer' Stigma are vast, and in terms of cost-effectiveness, hardly any can compare.

On this basis, the Stigma Genealogy grew to dominate almost the entire West in a few hundred years—a monstrous scale supported by countless grassroots Believers.

Countless Sublimators like Hela.

Even the name 'Stigma' comes from the scars that appear on the bodies of Sublimators who advance after becoming Believers.

If this were anywhere else, Hela would certainly be respected and welcomed, and nobody would make things difficult for her wherever she went.

Except here.

Except aboard this ship that serves as a congregation point for Dark Creatures...

Here, apart from Huai Shi, everyone is a Dark Creature at odds with the Stigma Genealogy, sinners hunted, suppressed, and pursued by the Judgement Court.

Even Vampires still have several subtypes and origins, and they're not an exclusive property of the Stigma Genealogy. Moreover, even within the Stigma Genealogy, this is a secret among secrets, known to very few. Even if Huai Shi accidentally exposed himself, he could stubbornly claim that he was from the Slavic Genealogy or one from the Haitian lineage of cannibals.

But Believers are different.

They are unique to a single house, practically the trademark of the Stigma Genealogy...

In the instant of Transformation, even Huai Shi himself was stunned, never expecting to find an ally aboard the ship. But then, he heard the roar of the mob like a tidal wave, along with screams.

The entire restaurant was boiling with fury.

All passengers were roaring, with brutal expressions crowding in, revealing their ruthless natures. A palpable aura of darkness spread out, pressuring the dim Halo that was on the verge of collapsing.

"Spy!"

"Traitor!"

"Kill her!" someone bellowed, "Tear her to pieces!"

All the crimson eyes were fixed intently on Hela, but the Teenage Girl just pursed her lips tightly, not speaking, her hand clutching the knife trembling slightly, swallowed by the surging crowd.

A violent aura surfaced from every one of the ship's boarders.

Each person here had suffered persecution and hunting by the Stigma Genealogy. Each one was a failure who couldn't survive in the old world. The more they suffered, the more they hated those living under the sun.

When countless hatreds and angers merged together, the situation was thoroughly out of control.

And the worldly woman, at the first sign of trouble, had dissociated herself from Hela and hidden on the outskirts of the crowd. Hela, backing away step by step, was cornered in the restaurant by the infuriated mob.

But in the midst of the heated siege as the crowd pressed in, a hand suddenly reached out from the back, pulling away those in front, almost roughly shoving aside anyone in the way.

Stepping forward, the figure lifted a chair and smashed it brutally onto the face of the man with sores, completely shattering his exultant, excited face.

Finally, with a fierce punch, they shattered an obstructing table.

In the midst of the thunderous interruption, Huai Shi stood atop the table he had smashed, bellowing out.

"Hey! That's enough!"