Yes, we wish to become eternal, eternal Gods.
A man wearing a masquerade mask walked up to Wood, his voice laced with amusement, "Hello, I am Peter the High Priest."
Peter? Why Peter?
Wood questioned the man who called himself Peter the High Priest.
Because Peter is the head of the Twelve Apostles, the First Pope, the man closest to God.
The High Priest stated without a doubt, "We have inherited the heavy responsibility of leading humanity to become gods for generations, you are the being we know who is closest to the boundary between man and god."
Oh?
Wood narrowed his eyes, quietly observing his surroundings: "I came here to discuss that corpse with you, not to listen to you boast about your history and theological mysteries."
.. Fine.
Peter the High Priest gave a cold sneer, leading Wood through the magnificent Hall and past a long corridor with various blasphemous oil paintings hanging on both walls, finally entering the dimly lit and eerie Secret Room.
The Secret Room was crowded with people.
Every one of them wore a black cloak and a Venetian mask, standing silently like stone pillars on both sides of the red carpet leading to the central throne, coldly watching Wood, who had been personally brought into the room by the High Priest.
“This place..”
Wood swallowed hard.
He was certain that today was his first time coming here, yet images closely connected to this place inexplicably surfaced before his eyes.
In the images, he sat upon the throne, dressed in purple robes and wearing a golden crown, naturally enjoying the worship of everyone. Those who knelt before him—no matter how prominent they were in the outside world—crawled like slaves to the foot of the throne, prostrating themselves and crawling toward him on all fours to devoutly kiss his toes.
[King! King! Our King!]
Mad, delirious cries escaped their mouths, their eyes were so focused, it was as if they had fallen into an endless nightmare.
(Why are these memories surfacing? Could it be—)
Realizing something was wrong, Wood stopped in his tracks and scanned his surroundings alertly.
The Anubis Dog lowered his upper body, letting out a low, angry growl.
Jormungand, disguised as a snake-shaped bracelet, slightly raised his head and flicked his tongue to taste the scent.
So much blood.
Jormungand said in a low voice.
Many people have died here, much blood has been spilled. They tried to get more and more blood from Papa~
(So tonight's date was actually a conspiracy?)
Wood took a breath, preparing—
(You are not worthy to kill me!)
-----------------------
Author's Note: I really like *The Da Vinci Code* and *Angels & Demons*, but their film adaptations are quite mediocre. Similarly, with *Where Are You Going, My Love*, all three film versions I've seen are..
The only novel adaptation film that felt divine to me was Fellini's "Satyricon" (Chinese title: "The Myth of Love"), which is absolutely the best Roman-themed film I have seen so far. Every single frame is as beautiful as an oil painting, the pacing, while seemingly loose, is actually full of philosophical mysteries. The plot takes creative liberties while remaining highly faithful to the original work, the sexual content between men is comparable to Lao Ding's "The XX History of the Roman Empire"~ [Smirk][Smirk]
Chapter 71 Quetzalcoatl's Secret Treasure (8)
—dear.
A gentle and elegant Voice rang out from behind the throne. The people, standing silent as stone pillars, bowed one after another under the guidance of Peter the High Priest: "Great Shepherd, our only Master—"
(Master?)
Wood looked up, staring in surprise at Cain, who was stepping slowly out from behind the throne.
Cain also gazed at Wood, the depths of his dark eyes shimmering with an eerie light from Hell.
You look quite surprised?
“I didn't expect to see you here—"
Do you remember that I once invited you to attend tomorrow's banquet?
Of course I remember. You said if I attended the banquet with you and your followers, you would grant absolution on the spot to those who should have been served as.. as..
Wood could never bring himself to say that word.
For you, who has not yet recovered your memories and firmly believes yourself to be an ordinary human, that word is indeed difficult to utter.
Cain sat down leisurely into his throne, his middle finger, adorned with the massive Black Goat Ring, tapping lightly against the armrest.
Peter the High Priest then strode up the steps and knelt at Cain's feet: "Master—please give your command!"
Is the food all prepared?
Everything is ready.
Then—
Wait a minute!
Wood shouted, interrupting the conversation between the two, "Is the 'meal' you are discussing the thing I think it is?"
Hearing this, Cain smiled faintly, wearing a mocking expression that said, "How could you ask such a foolish question": "Darling, do you really think we need normal human food?"
.. In that case, why did you trick me into coming here?
Wood retorted coldly.
As soon as the words fell, Anubis returned to his form as an Egyptian God with the head of a wolf and the body of a man, standing majestically beside Wood.
Don't you dare lie to me!
Anubis~ Anubis~
Cain gave an ambiguous smile, his fingers continuing to tap lightly on the armrest of the throne: "Alright, let us begin the necessary exchange of information."
With those words, a polyhedral prism engraved with complex and strange patterns fell into the dim space. The prism slowly split open, hundreds of metal chains flew out, piercing the bodies of every creature wearing a black cloak and pulling them into the air.
Drip.. drip..
Blood continued to drip down the Golden Fine Chain, the air was filled with the choking scent of blood.
Wood watched everything with cold eyes, his gaze unwavering: "Cain, what exactly are you trying to do? And what is this prism?"
His name is Leviathan, an inhuman lifeform born from the biological masochism of..
Cain stood up, walking down from the throne against a backdrop of countless human bodies suspended in mid-air by chains. He walked up to Wood and introduced, "He is just like that thing the Mexican Mercenaries brought out from the South American Jungle Pyramid; both are relics from a previous era of human civilization."
“..”
The current human civilization is not the first advanced civilization born on Earth. Advanced civilizations have appeared on Earth more than once, but those civilizations eventually met their destruction—however, while civilizations may perish, the lifeforms that create them do not all die out in an instant. The will to live is so intense that even if the gate to life is narrower than the tip of a needle, they will find a way to squeeze through.
.. What exactly are you trying to say?
That thing the Mexican Mercenaries brought out from the Jungle Pyramid is very likely the Survivors from the last era.
“..”
Wood froze, his brain suffering a severe overload to the point where he could not understand Cain's words at all.
W-what are you talking about? What do you mean by Survivors?
It's exactly what it sounds like.
Cain shrugged and said slowly, "The previous civilization era—regardless of whether its name was Mu or Atlantis—met its destruction approximately fifteen thousand years ago. To survive the extreme and harsh environment following the great catastrophe, the survivors made a choice that is quite incredible for the civilization of the current era—they abandoned their individual physical bodies, completely merging their spiritual forms and bodies into a single entity, hid themselves within large structures similar to a Pyramid."
Wait a minute!
Wood interrupted Cain's speech once again: "There were Pyramids in the world fifteen thousand years ago?"
“Do you firmly believe that the current civilization is the only intelligent civilization nurtured by Earth over five and a half billion years? Do you think that no advanced civilizations existed in the world before this? In fact, the history of the Pyramid is even longer than the Ancient Egyptian Civilization; similarly, the Sphinx and the ancient and mysterious Temple of Osiris, which exists in this world despite no relevant construction records being found to this day, are filled with unsolved mysteries.”
Your sentence structure is too complex!
Wood had a look on his face that said, "I don't understand, I'm just a stereotypical blond idiot."
Cain: ".."
Defeated by Wood's dismissive attitude, he sighed helplessly, then looked up to catch a glimpse of Anubis, whose expression had turned lonely because of the previous remarks. "You agree with what I said, right?"
I make no comment.
But you—
[All gods are essentially a collective imagination of intelligent beings.]
Then why would the collective imagination of intelligent beings create gods?
Cain asked Anubis directly.
Anubis remained silent.
Wood pressed down on the restless Jormungand and asked Cain, "What exactly are you trying to say? And what do you want me to do for you?"
Help me capture That thing, don't let it destroy the hard-won balance we have right now.
Cain said coldly, "In return, I will restrain all Vampires and Cannibals, strictly forbid them from approaching you or your friends!"
Is that all?
Wood asked back coldly.
Every word from Cain was half-truth and half-lie; he did not dare to trust him easily.
What do you want?
Cain asked with a smile, "As long as I can give it, I will—"
Once this is over, take your Followers and get the hell out of New York! Don't you dare stay in New York to do evil!
“..”
Cain smiled faintly, a demonic luster flashing at the corners of his lips. "It is not I who commits evil, but the human heart—reality is not a novel of heroism, where a righteous hero defeats the Dark Demon Lord and everyone lives a happy and joyful life. The reality is that even if a hero defeats the Demon Lord, countless new demons will grow from the Demon Lord's corpse, because the essence of becoming a Demon Lord is hidden deep within everyone's heart—"
In that case, I'm leaving.
Wood simply turned around, preparing to leave.