After that day, life became peaceful again.
Chen Heng continued to go to school as usual, going through simple days.
It was just that his current self kept some distance from his previous friends.
After leaving the school, he did not go home much and instead spent much of his time at the church.
"We are all children of the Holy Mother…
"The Holy Mother uses her great power to nurture us, and created this wonderful world for us to live in peace, not to destroy and kill each other…"
The Father preached from the pulpit, sounding quite impa.s.sioned.
However, many people below were almost falling asleep.
The Father"s sermons were quite boring.
Even the principles that he touched on were not very interesting.
Even some faithful believers would not help but feel bored.
However, Chen Heng was an exception.
He was still secretly doing certain things behind the scenes, stealing faith energy every day.
On the surface, he looked very focused and earnest.
This was something he had done on purpose.
After all, for him to come to the church every day, he had to have a reason.
As such, he acted as if he was very interested in the religion.
That way, he would be able to avoid some suspicion.
By now, it had been about half a month since he had first come here.
It was quite strange—despite it being half a month, the faith energy on the statue did not decrease too much.
Even though Chen Heng would come to absorb a large amount of faith energy every few days, the Holy Mother had far too many believers, and the faith energy would continuously increase.
This was why Chen Heng came quite regularly.
After all, only by coming over here could he absorb the faith energy.
Of course, Chen Heng could choose to go to other churches.
From how it seemed, he would also be able to absorb large amounts of faith energy from other churches.
However, there was an issue.
At least on the surface, he seemed like a middle-schooler.
If he went too far away from his school, it would not be too convenient, and this was the only church close to his church.
As such, Chen Heng would come to this church quite frequently, almost every day after school..
Even though it was just a façade, from how others saw it, Chen Heng seemed incredibly pious.
In the surroundings, the hymn ended, signaling the end of this service.
Sensing this, Chen Heng silently picked up his bag and prepared to leave.
Most days, after school ended, he would sit here for a while and leave after the service was over.
"Please wait," a voice sounded out.
Hearing that voice, Chen Heng paused and looked over, seeming quite surprised.
To his side, a middle-aged man in black robes had walked over.
The middle-aged man wore black Priest robes and had a kindly appearance. He looked at Chen Heng and said, "Child, you seem to be coming quite often recently."
"Yes," Chen Heng gave a slight smile, "I am filled with awe towards the Holy Mother and hope to receive the Holy Mother"s baptism…"
Hearing this, the middle-aged man gave a slight smile, "Is that so… that is good. These days, there are fewer and fewer children like you who feel reverence towards the Holy Mother…"
Following this, he asked a few questions, "What do you think about the Holy Mother"s Ten Commandments?"
"The Holy Mother"s Ten Commandments stipulate the boundaries between humans and G.o.d. That which belongs to humans, belongs to humans; that which belongs to G.o.d, belongs to G.o.d…"
Standing there, Chen Heng smiled as he said, "From how I see it, this is the Holy Mother"s compa.s.sion because people all belong to the Holy Mother, so everything they have is the same."
"Since people belong to the Holy Mother, then why are there boundaries?"
"That is because the Holy Mother loves her children…" Chen Heng said softly.
These days, he had listened to many sermons. Even though he was just here to steal faith energy, he had still taken in many things.
After all, for someone like him, mult.i.tasking was not a big deal.
As such, he naturally had answers to placate people with.
As expected, after hearing Chen Heng"s reply, the middle-aged man"s eyes lit up, seeming quite excited.
"Who would have thought…" he said, looking quite delighted, "Even though you"re quite young, you have a good grasp of theology. Are you willing to become an a.s.sistant here?" the middle-aged man asked, inviting Chen Heng.
"a.s.sistant?" Chen Heng felt quite surprised.
"Yes," the middle-aged man smiled and looked at Chen Heng"s bag as he said, "you"re most likely a student, right? That"s fine—as an a.s.sistant, you will just help out with some things, and it won"t affect your studies."
He then added, "Of course, we will also give you some pay. It"s not much, but it will be some good pocket money."
"Thank you," Chen Heng smiled and nodded, "I"m very willing."
In order to steal more faith energy and obtain divine energy, he had to regularly come to this place.
Whether or not he had this job, it would not make a big difference.
However, Chen Heng felt that if he had this job, he could come into contact with other churches, and he could also use this excuse to deal with some troublesome things.
It sounded quite good.
As such, after thinking about it, he agreed.
Seeing Chen Heng agree, the middle-aged Father was quite happy and brought Chen Heng to the side, and he gave him the appropriate robes.
After a while, a Sister came to explain to Chen Heng the rules of the church.
Only after a long time did Chen Heng leave.
After walking out, his body once again froze because he sensed a strange aura spreading.
He looked into the distance and sensed something.
"My mental mark…" he muttered.
Before, his mental mark had disappeared, and he had not been able to sense it for a while.
He had thought that the mental mark had completely disappeared and that he would not be able to sense it again.
He had never thought that it would reappear.
However, even though he had once again sensed the mental mark, the feeling that it gave off was a bit strange.
Chen Heng could sense that the condition of the person that the mental mark was on was a bit off.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Heng began to walk towards the distance.
His speed was not very fast and seemed quite slow, but for some reason, he quickly disappeared and left this area.
Within an old alleyway, two people"s bodies were covered with blood as they struggled onwards.
"Old Yang, hang in there!"
The young man"s black robes were covered with blood, and he dragged the middle-aged man onwards.
"I… can still hold on…" Yang Cheng breathed raggedly, his eyes wide open.
Right now, if anyone else was there, they would definitely be given a big scare by these two people"s appearances.
The young man was covered with blood, and there were wounds all over his body. This was especially so for his right arm, which was missing a big chunk of flesh as if something had bitten it off.
Yang Cheng"s condition was quite similar.
Beside the young man, Yang Cheng"s face was incredibly pale, and his body seemed somewhat stiff.
On his body, black marks appeared, wrapping around his body.
Scales appeared on the surface of his skin, and eyes could occasionally be seen, looking incredibly terrifying.
"This really is…"
Sensing his body"s state, Yang Cheng gave a bitter smile as he said, "Before, I was lucky enough to survive, and I thought that I was a survivor…
"Who would have thought the same thing would happen again."
"Don"t talk so much…"
Yang Cheng gritted his teeth. He seemed to sense something and he dragged Yang Cheng forwards even faster.
Even though ordinary people could not sense it, the two people"s senses were very sharp and could sense some abnormalities.
In the surroundings, there seemed to be countless formless eyes opening, stealthily watching them.
Sensing this, the young man gritted his teeth and desperately continued onwards.
Fortunately, this was an old alleyway and there were not any others around.
Otherwise, if any ordinary people saw them like this, they would definitely be given a big fright.
However, the two of them did not care about that much because they could sense a certain existence chasing behind them and had almost caught up to them.
"Coming… they"re coming…" Yang Cheng said, his mind seeming a bit clearer.
On his body, scales appeared, completely covering his skin.
A formless energy covered his body, wanting to devour him.
Right now, the only thing he could think of was running.
"Hurry up and go!" he shouted, a worried look on his face.
Around them, a strange fog converged and covered this region.
Within the fog, a tall figure slowly appeared, beginning to approach the two of them.
The sunlight outside dimmed, leaving behind only the last rays of sunset.
Under the sunset, the two people could not see much and could only see red eyes open up within the fog.
In that moment, the two of their bodies uncontrollably trembled, feeling an instinctive terror.
Within their body, the dormant curse energy seemed to sense something and began to roil.
A formless energy spread out from their bodies.
In that moment, they sensed something and looked at each other and could see the terror in each other"s eyes.
"Run!"
As they sensed the curse energy in their bodies begin to rampage, they simultaneously raised their heads and sprinted forwards.
As the fog spread in the surroundings, footsteps continuously sounded out.
Yang Cheng and the young man continuously headed forwards, wanting to reach this region.
However, it was quite strange that no matter how much they advanced, they could not leave this region.
The fog was especially heavy, surrounding everything and making it impossible for them to escape.
Sensing this, their hearts sank and a bad feeling welled up within them.
It seemed that it would not be so easy for them to leave.
The surroundings had long since been corroded by curse energy, making it impossible for them to escape.
Right now, they could only struggle.
In this world, no one was willing to just wait and die.
This was especially so for people like them.
After all, it could be said that it was because of their strong will to live that they were able to survive until now.
Those who did not have strong wills to live had all fallen to the corrosion of the curse energy.
Despite facing a situation like this, they did not give up and gritted their teeth as they headed onwards.
Soon, they arrived in another region.
"No way!"
When they saw this scene, their expressions became unsightly.
Ahead, there was a large wall blocking them off.
Because of the fog, they could not see their surroundings properly, and they had walked into a dead-end.
However, it was too late for regrets.
Behind them, heavy footsteps sounded out slowly.
As the footsteps came closer, a ma.s.sive figure could be seen.
It was an incredibly big figure, and it was at least three meters tall, looking like a small giant.
The fog made it so that they could not clearly see this giant"s appearance, and they could only see its red eyes.
They were a pair of eyes filled with violence and greed, and they could clearly see its desire to devour them.
Just like that, it walked towards them step by step.
As those footsteps sounded out, changes began to happen in the two people"s bodies.
A certain aura appeared, bringing with it waves of heat.
As the figure slowly approached from the distance, the curse energy within their bodies was activated and exploded out.
"d.a.m.nit!"
More and more scales appeared on Yang Cheng"s body, and even his face began to go through changes.
As for the young man, the same went for him.