Apocalypse Forecast

The spread of chaos was even faster than anticipated.

In this juncture, where everyone was like a frightened bird, even the smallest spark could lead to a tragic explosion, let alone the scramble of a dozen ultimate mad dogs spreading the virus everywhere.

With the unfortunate ones as a breeding ground, the wolf poison had shifted from the initial latency phase to the expansion phase, becoming strong and vigorous. After completely transforming the hosts into lunatics obsessed with eating, it began to spread amongst the victims.

Secondary infection.

Even though the 'replanted' wolf poison had lost its infectivity, its ferocity and nature remained unchanged. The number of those out of control had skyrocketed tenfold in an instant.

Every man for himself.

Even those who hadn't been infected were thrown into madness, attacking anything that dared come close with all their might. At this moment, everywhere was filled with the whispers of the lost and the roars of the deranged.

The entire ship was brimming with chaos, sailing through the Abyss as if it was falling, faster and faster...

The narrow corridors were now strewn with fresh blood and wreckage. Wandering infected murmured incomprehensible words, pacing back and forth. Driven by a soul-deep hunger, they searched for anything edible.

In an inconspicuous corner, a figure suddenly dropped from the ventilation duct, swinging an axe with both hands, instantly beheading an infected.

Huai Shi landed and stepped on the head that still tried to bite him. With the back end of the axe handle, he decisively smashed the head into a pulp.

The headless corpse, however, still staggered forward, utterly unaware of its own death.

Huai Shi looked around and, seeing no one else, sighed in relief.

These weren't the brainless zombies from the movies. Though similarly brainless, these creatures were super zombies. Before infection, these individuals were bonafide Dark Creatures, either born with inhuman blood or fallen Sublimators—each one harder to deal with than the last.

Now they had become fearlessly mad, their minds void and empty, not knowing what fear was. As long as there was food, they dared to charge forward.

If surrounded by such creatures, Huai Shi wouldn't be confident that he could escape. Getting this far was half by brute force and half by cowardice.

It was all thanks to his speed and skill. After taking down those blocking his path, he never lingered but charged straight ahead, seizing opportunities to hide. Nevertheless, those overly sensitive creatures still caught the scent of blood on his body far too many times.

Along the way, he had witnessed countless atrocities. Even those who hid in their cabins, daring not to come out, were invaded and bitten to death by this mob. No place was safe.

Huai Shi, however, wasn't worried about Hela. She was, after all, a dual-class Sublimator and Scholar. Even if she couldn't fight, the Believer's purification halo against dark forces or the Scholar's many methods should ensure her safety.

What concerned him more was himself.

He felt himself losing control.

Tilting his head back, Huai Shi drained a tube of plasma and wiped his mouth. He suppressed the disgusting urge to vomit while also resisting the relief that felt as sweet as nectar.

Two utterly conflicting sensations were driving him to madness.

Too much blood, too much death… Either would suffice to stir a Vampire's thirst.

The predatory instincts of Abraham Van Helsing, along with the mad thirst, were gradually becoming more difficult to suppress. Even though the power of this bloodshed was so strong, Huai Shi dared not allow himself to surrender to it.

Heaven knew whether he would remain Huai Shi after indulgence or become Van Essen.

Those tenets etched into his bones and that cold determination were constantly influencing him. The Book of Fate could pull him back once, but who would he become after being utterly changed by Van Essen's Source Substance?

Pinching his nose, Huai Shi held onto his axe and fiercely kicked open a door.

As expected, the room behind the door was empty...

This was Lei Feizhou's residence.

That guy had specifically chosen the place farthest from his teammates, positioning his room closest to the cargo hold, the epicenter of the chaos...

By now, he must have already fled, not leaving any opportunity for Huai Shi.

What remained in the room was a dismantled Bible, and countless pages covering the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling.

Those pages densely filled every inch of space, overlapping one another, yet through the overlaps, a blood-red color crisscrossed.

Looking like printing errors, the red marks became complex and mysterious patterns after crisscrossing the overlaps. In the end, numerous intricate red imprints overlapped in one spot, intertwining into a solemn emblem representing the Stigma Genealogy.

"Mobile Sanctuary?"

Huai Shi stared dumbfounded at the scene in Lei Feizhou's room, feeling like he had been hit on the back of the head with an axe and was hallucinating.

What's going on?

What the hell?

Why would Lei Feizhou, a Werewolf, carry something akin to a miniature church's Mobile Sanctuary with him?

"Isn't it simple?" Ai Qing explained calmly. "Werewolves themselves have some murky ties with the gods. They are considered part of the group that was unsuccessful in their struggles against the Dark Creatures, to begin with… No, it should be said, from the start, Werewolves were creations of the gods.

"Being connected to the Stigma Genealogy is only natural; otherwise, they couldn't have timed the appearance of the Blood Moon so precisely.

"Now we just have direct confirmed evidence, no need to make such a fuss, right?"

"No, if he's one of the Stigma Genealogy… doesn't that make him an ally?" Huai Shi raged, "Then why the betrayal?"

"Why shouldn't he stab you in the back? Just because you're an ally?" Ai Qing asked coldly. "Besides, are you really his ally?"

Huai Shi was stunned.

He had finally found his blind spot.

What exactly was the Stigma Genealogy thinking?

If they had already sent one of their own onto the ship, then what was the purpose of sending Lei Feizhou on board?

Since Lei Feizhou was connected with the gods, he should naturally be on the same side. They would have their own missions, but they should also have been capable of some degree of cooperation...

Now it seemed this chaos was mostly related to Lei Feizhou's mission: to incite turmoil and significantly weaken the forces loyal to the White Crown King.

Then, why didn't the Stigma Genealogy inform them of each other's existence? This led to them concealing their identities from each other. Thus, the two who should have been on the same side ended up backstabbing each other... Well, only Huai Shi was backstabbed by Lei Feizhou.

"No, they did it on purpose," Ai Qing concluded decisively. "The Stigma Genealogy deliberately put you both on this ship without informing either of you of the specifics."

"What for?!" Huai Shi asked.

"There are two reasons. First, Parasussell's threat was so high that even with Lei Feizhou on board, the Stigma Genealogy had to dispatch their own Executioner to specifically eliminate him.

"But since the mission involved secrets that absolutely could not be known by others, the Stigma Genealogy chose to do it this way. Even at the risk of fratricide, they could not let the secret reach a second person's ears."

"And the second reason?"

"The second is even simpler; it's the most basic office politics," Ai Qing said coldly. "They wish for Van Essen, after completing his mission, to die on this ship."

Huai Shi froze.

"If I'm not wrong, this is Van Essen's last mission in his life, Huai Shi," Ai Qing said calmly. "Tools are like consumables; once their task is accomplished, there's no need for them to continue existing. Just switch to new ones. Van Essen knows too much, has done too much, maybe even performed too well. So well that the people in control above are worried about the consequences if he loses control.

"But in order to achieve the goal, they had to continue using him. Thus, the best outcome is to completely destroy him after use."

Parasussell must be killed; he cannot be given the chance to fish in troubled waters. That secret was too terrifying, so Van Essen must also be killed. He must not be allowed to set foot alive on American soil...

This is the Stigma Genealogy's aim: to end everything on this ship.

To let everything sink into the sea of the Abyss.

For God, for justice, for everything...

Only, they didn't expect that, even though they specifically dragged out the time for Lei Feizhou to initiate his plan, Van Essen didn't complete his mission in time.

Huai Shi had been slacking all along.

Slacking off completely, slacking off recklessly, slacking off until the Stigma Genealogy ran out of patience, yet no trace of Paracelsus could be found.

They even didn't anticipate that there would be a Believer on the ship.

A 'Believer' capable of temporarily suppressing the rules for Van Essen.

"After all, they are a group of big shots who sit in the office drinking tea all day, never having thought things through before acting," Ai Qing scoffed. "The more meticulous the plan, the more disastrous the problems that are exposed when issues arise. Patting their heads and singing a couple of hymns, they thought they had planned everything for God, but once it began to waver, their true, riddled nature was revealed.

"They never considered that no matter how intricate the schemes, from the moment this ship left the coast, nothing else would be of use. That's probably the definition of being too clever for one's own good."

"So, Lei Feizhou, this son of a bitch, is our opponent now?"

"Exactly," Ai Qing nodded. "Not the main one, but definitely the most troublesome one."

"Damn it, they are forcing me to be a Second fifth," Huai Shi muttered in annoyance, looking down at the coin spinning on his fingertip. A Second fifth? There's no way I'd be a Second fifth, not in this lifetime.

Even knowing that the Stigma Genealogy was sending him to his death, Van Essen would have still completed his task, driven by a sense of mission and faith, ready to sacrifice himself. On the other hand, it was also due to the precepts ingrained into his very marrow since the day he became a Vampire.

Now, that indelible Source Substance and the precepts etched into his flesh were still pressing on Huai Shi, forcing him to follow his own main storyline.

Now it's just that there's an additional branch to it, nothing worth being pleased about.

BOOM!

As he pondered, a sudden earth-shaking explosion resounded.

The steel behemoth under Huai Shi's feet shook violently as if something had exploded, followed by hysterical screams and roaring.

Coming from the direction of the restaurant.

That was the voice of Baba Yaga.