Chapter 256

Chapter 256

Throughout the world, natural disasters raged, with numerous areas being affected by falling meteorites and various calamities. Signal towers were destroyed by these meteorites, and many places began to experience water and power outages.

At this moment, in Orland City.

Justice is Beauty swiftly arrived at the director's office. Now, all departments within the Audit Bureau were bustling with activity. They were fortunate; a small meteorite had fallen, but it didn't hit the bureau headquarters. It only burned some wires. Fortunately, Director Judith reacted promptly, activating the backup power source. Thus, the key departments in the building still glowed with light.

Ever since the anomalies started appearing in the sky, the Audit Bureau had begun investigating the incident. Meetings had been conducted for hours in the conference room, and experienced investigators who were away on missions were recalled. The cybersecurity department was also swiftly searching for relevant information. After all, the Audit Bureau was responsible for the supernatural domain. However, this time, they hadn't received any news from any location, caught off guard by the sudden attack.

The NPCs were doing their best with the limited information they had, while the players possessed intelligence but could only do so much within the game.

Thus, players like Justice is Beauty became communication bridges between the two.

At present, without hesitation, she knocked on Director Judith's office door. A weak voice came from inside, "Come in."

Judith lifted her head to look at the visitor. Dark circles under her eyes indicated that she hadn't had proper rest in a long time. Upon seeing Justice is Beauty, she was slightly surprised but quickly regained her composure, saying, "Is it something urgent? I'm very busy right now. If it's not an emergency, please report to others."

Justice is Beauty's position within the Audit Bureau was still in the logistics department, occasionally assigned to missions. Due to her amiable relationship with some eccentric investigators (players), she had recently been promoted.

Though unable to accompany Judith like her previous character card, Judith was still familiar with the current one.

"Yes!" Justice of Face looked directly into Judith's eyes and declared, "I know what's been bothering Director lately… I'm here to provide you with information."

Judith's gaze sharpened. "Do you realize what you're saying?"

Justice of Face didn't answer directly but instead revealed, "The one above the clouds isn't the true 'God.' It's a traitorous old god trying to seize the position of God. Oh, right, the old gods come from the Dream World and are hostile to the evil gods. Anyway, this renegade old god's goal is to trigger Judgment Day, eradicating humanity step by step as foretold in the Book of Revelation, and feeding on human fear to plunder faith along the way."

With her sharp intellect, Judith swiftly grasped the crucial points in Justice of Face's account. She gave her a deep look. "So… You and those more distinctive investigators are indeed from the same organization."

Justice's gaze remained unwavering; instead, a smile graced his lips. "Yes... And we've had encounters with the Auditors before."

Hmm?

Judith's eyes widened slightly as she looked at Justice in surprise, involuntarily recalling the legendary relay that had taken place earlier.

After a long silence, Judith spoke slowly under Justice's somewhat anxious gaze, "As long as we hinder Its acquisition of faith, right?"

"Yes!" Justice replied eagerly. "Do you believe me now?"

"For some reason," Judith picked up the phone beside her, a wistful smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "you remind me of a young woman I knew. Is it because you both come from the same organization?"

Justice's Face felt a sudden warmth in her eyes, but it would be too strange to cry now. She sniffled and said, "Thank you very much for your trust."

Judith shook her head. "No, consider it my way of thanking you. If not for your efforts, the Audit Bureau wouldn't have had a chance to rebuild."

With official backing, the natives could accomplish far more than players. Judith immediately called her superiors and issued a series of orders to the entire bureau, including cooperating with the police to evacuate citizens to safe zones.

Of course, what Justice's Face and other players were most looking forward to was the power of the authorities. If they could use the official media's influence to counteract Jude, they might be able to suppress this sudden surge of public opinion.

Under Justice's hopeful gaze, Judith made the call to her superiors and spoke for a while, but gradually fell silent.

A foreboding feeling suddenly flashed through Justice's mind.

Could it be...

"All right, I understand. But I'll continue organizing the evacuation of citizens," Judith said, hanging up the phone. She met Justice's somewhat anxious gaze and said just as reluctantly, "The higher-ups won't suppress the current public sentiment. The religious sector has already taken the lead."

"However..."

"Don't worry. The rescue operation is under control. Our bureau has its own shelters underground, and we'll strive to get people there," Judith reassured Justice Is All. "Moreover, while we can't directly suppress public opinion through official channels, our employees' actions after work hours are beyond the bureau's jurisdiction."

Justice Is All's face froze in confusion. "You mean...?"

A sly glint appeared in Judith's eyes. "In this chaos, who would bother to monitor what our computer experts are doing within the bureau?"

...

Compared to Orland and Arkham, both relatively inland cities, New Port was in an even more perilous situation.

Several coastal towns had already been submerged by the rising sea level, and the city itself wasn't faring much better. Areas with lower elevations were also feeling the brunt of the flooding.

Yet, the disaster was far from over. Dark clouds still loomed over New Port, and as masses of dead marine creatures were washed into the city, the knee-deep water turned red, filling the air with a pungent smell of blood.

Nonetheless, New Port was one of the few places where no religious figures had taken to the streets to preach.

Of course, this didn't mean they had given up on proselytizing. On the contrary, the preachers here saw this day as the perfect opportunity.

"Would you truly not give this crucifix a thought? It is a sign of God's wrath, brought about by the multitude of unbelievers in this age. His anger has provoked the Day of Judgment. Only by turning back from our errors can we survive the impending calamity!"

"Silence! Scram from my memorial!" The octogenarian, despite his age, boisterously expelled the missionary from the Black Death Memorial, ending with a panting admonishment to the young staff, "If you wish to pray to God, do it elsewhere!"

A few young employees exchanged glances and, with cheerful smiles, reassured the old man, "Oh no, no way."

"We would have left ages ago if we wanted to follow a religion."

"And isn't this catastrophe precisely the doing of the Almighty Himself? Only someone with a seriously flawed mind would blame the originator," the young man quipped sharply.

Indeed, while the devout might view it as Judgment Day, with salvation granted only to those who believe in God, any rational person would recognize that their calamity was, in fact, the doing of their so-called deity. And how could a man with a spine kneel before a tyrant?

Especially in this city, corrupted by faith.

There came another knock on the memorial hall's door. The young staff member was about to answer when Foss, still fuming, pulled the door open. Just as he was about to unleash a torrent of abuse, he recognized the familiar young man standing outside.

The God Among Men lifted his face. Since the conclusion of the New Port instance dungeon, he had rarely donned his priestly robes, opting instead for a black suit. The Bloodlings often teased him for dressing like a gangster in a suit.

He gently shook the rain off his black umbrella and offered a polite smile. "Greetings, we meet again. The situation is dire, and more perilous disasters may yet come. If you don't mind, please join us at the shelter."

In fact, specialized teams had also been dispatched to organize evacuations in other disaster-prone cities like the New Port. However, they couldn't cover everything, which was why players had stepped in early on to lend a hand.

By the way, Bicester University had its own bomb shelter, built by the cultists back then for their sacrificial rituals. Now, it served a genuine purpose.

Fors stared intently at God Among Us, then nodded after a moment. He turned to urge the young employees, "Hurry up! Go and pack away those precious documents and photographs!"

The young staff immediately sprang into action. Some even whispered behind his back, "Strange, wasn't Old Fors refusing to leave just now? I thought he was determined to perish with this memorial."

"What did you say?" Fors raised his voice.

"Nothing, nothing!"

God Among Us, of course, overheard their conversation. Noticing Fors's discomfort, he took the initiative to speak, "Compared to this concrete and steel memorial, people are the true witnesses. Dr. Fors, what do you think?"

"Funny you should say that," Fors replied, relaxing his wrinkled brows. "Yes, you're right."

At that moment, God Among Us turned his head to look at the sky, furrowing his brow. "Excuse me, please wait here for a moment. I'll check on the situation over there."

Fors was startled and instinctively peered out. He noticed that the sky had darkened without him realizing, as if it were sunset in the middle of the day. Raindrops began to fall, and when he looked down at the floor, he was horrified to see the water level dropping rapidly.

Yet, this was not a good omen. Decades of living by the sea had taught him that greater calamity was on its way.

"Hey, don't go! It's dangerous outside!" Old Fors hurriedly called out to the figure of God Amongst Men, who was already turning away.

"It's alright. If you're in a rush, head for Blichton University. You'll find students in orange uniforms along the way who will assist you," God Amongst Men waved, continuing his journey towards his destination. There were over a dozen residents trapped on upper floors, signaling for help with white flags in that direction.

Old Fors watched his retreating figure - a black suit, a black umbrella, an outfit drenched in somber hues. Under the almost total cover of dark clouds, he seemed as if he could be easily crushed, yet he remained steadfastly upright.

This figure gradually merged with the memory etched in Old Fors' mind.