New Gods of North America

As the gunshot rang out, Wayne shoved one of the exorcists in front of him, taking a bullet in his shoulder in the process.

The gun held only one bullet, and Mr. Wiseman's actions were a clear act of hostility.

The other exorcists in the room reacted quickly, unleashing their weapons and extraordinary abilities.

Mr. Wiseman swiftly raised the gun, and a bright light flashed, momentarily blinding everyone.

Mr. Wiseman's shadow was cast onto the wall in the bright light, and the room's lighting was extinguished instantly, including the kerosene lamps on the walls and even the candlesticks held by some of the exorcist priests.

Wayne activated his simplified vision, seeing Mr. Wiseman's body slump to the ground before collapsing completely.

An exorcist shouted, "Watch out for the 'Darkness'!"

The quickest to react lit up strange light sources, such as the holy symbol mark in one exorcist's hand.

Other exorcists quickly formed teams nearby, standing back-to-back in groups of two or three, trying to light up sources of light or defend themselves.

Wayne fired a shot at the shadow on the wall, and an exorcist priest next to him poured spiritual power into a bottle of holy water, throwing it when he saw sparks.

The holy water bottle shattered against the wall, and the holy water inside momentarily transformed into concentrated 'firefly plasma,' with the bright white fluorescence attempting to dispel the shadowy outline remaining on the wall.

But the shadow then suddenly emitted an even more blinding white light, like a twisted human-shaped black LED panel being illuminated. Even Wayne couldn't help but raise his left arm to shield himself from the fleeting glare.

Not only were his eyes seeing afterimages, and his simplified vision instantly covered with countless lines, but his body also felt like it was being washed over by an invisible giant wave. A portion of his spiritual power was directly 'shocked' out of him, as if repelled into his own shadow behind him.

The simplified vision recovered faster than his eyesight.

Hunter bullets, accompanied by the sounds of gunfire, tracked the formless figure 'jumping' between people's shadows, creating a string of sparks on the wall.

An exorcist priest also tore pages from his 《Holy Book》, igniting a bright flame that defied common sense. Before the continuous 'sparks' approached his shadow, he altered its position, forcing the revealed shadow to retreat back into the shadows cast by the furniture.

"Light and darkness combined, this is at least a光明祭祀 (Guangming Jisi) Light Priest who has undergone 'baptism'!"

"Withdraw from the narrow space to avoid danger!"

The violently burning pages were quickly consumed, and the exorcist priest's hand didn't stop. Several times, before the shadows in the room spread further, he reignited the pages.

There was still light in the corridor outside the room, and other exorcists retreated from the room behind him, with some blowing warning whistles as they retreated.

After the exorcist priest responsible for covering the rear threw away the burning pages and quickly retreated out of the door,

Wayne thought about the reason for Mr. Wiseman's sudden outburst, and raised his hand to fire two quick shots into the room.

"Bang! Bang!"

The statue was first hit in the waist, then driven by the force to fall to the side, breaking into two large pieces and several smaller pieces.

The upper half of the statue, holding a sword aloft, looked like an irregular ring, rolling twice before falling beside Mr. Wiseman's bullet-ridden head.

"No——"

A wail, like that of a vengeful ghost, seemed to echo in the room, along with a blinding white light that obscured vision.

The light was so intense that people outside the room could see the gaps between the wooden boards in the wall through the wallpaper and paint.

The source of the white light was not the statue, but rather Mr. Wiseman's body in the room.

Wayne, still standing at the door, was the first to be hit. He quickly dodged to the side. There was no physical pain, but the spiritual power shaved off by the white light was even more damaging than being shot in the head.

When the white light disappeared, Wayne used his simplified vision to look into the darkness. Mr. Wiseman's clothes had collapsed to the ground, leaving only the broken statue in pieces.

……

"I didn't expect you to actually find one."

When Tom Hagen arrived after hearing the news, he observed the scene with an expression that was neither happy nor sad.

No extraordinary materials had precipitated out, and the exorcist priests confirmed that they had not sensed any signs of 'divine descent'.

According to the exorcists who were guarding the perimeter, the intense white light shone from the room like a beam of light, shooting far away. By the time they tried to find the landing point, it was too late.

Based on what Wayne and the others had witnessed, in a nutshell, 'that guy ran away'.

The exorcists present were a bit hesitant to comment on this.

In terms of responsibility, allowing a suspect who had exposed his heretical identity to escape control could basically be considered 'collective negligence'.

But judging from the opponent's strength, Wayne, having only been grazed by a non-discriminating 'flashbang,' was at least equivalent to being shot in the head more than once.

If the opponent had really chosen to fight to the death, not to mention the possible loss of control and extraordinary changes that could occur when he was pushed to the brink, just a few more 'flashbangs' might have resulted in everyone being 'wiped out' on the spot.

Even regarding his final wail, after analyzing it for a while, everyone couldn't confirm whether he was wailing for the statue or for his own body.

If it was the former, it would be consistent with one of Lina's theories: 'The followers of evil gods may not care about the statue itself, but they are likely to be very concerned about the act of 'the statue being destroyed,' especially when they are 'on the scene' or 'the matter arose because of them'.

If it was the latter, it would mean that when he used his extraordinary abilities, his 'body' might be a weakness.

After confirming the situation, Tom Hagen had one of his guards take a small team back to Richmond first:

"Go back and report that he has been confirmed as a Light heretic. If he has indeed undergone 'baptism,' his rank should be 5th rank or higher. Have people investigate his residence and personal relationships. Any sudden changes can be dealt with promptly."

"Yes!"

Wayne listened for a while and understood that the real big fish was the one who had escaped tonight. He didn't know whether to be happy or regretful, but even Tom Hagen had said that this guy 'didn't have any big problems' before. Who knew he would be so fierce?

However, by reasoning backward from this, some new conclusions could be drawn.

Could the whole thing actually be the other way around?

Perhaps Pastor Pasiel was not the leader of the incident at all, but rather a 'bewitched person' or a 'downline'?

Wayne first went through it according to the detective movie routine, and then began to recall the spy movies he had watched.

When spies want to do things, they basically use two strategies when they are weak: either 'borrowing strength to strike,' or 'sabotaging in secret'.

Cohen Pharmaceuticals is easy to understand, with money and people, and a demand for gray area.

But what is the purpose of cooperating with Pastor Pasiel?

Wayne recalled the composition of the clergy who came to the manor for the banquet, and his thoughts gradually went downhill, wondering how to provoke discord in the face of 'groups'.

Ugh,

This is called 'alliance and confrontation', 'divide and conquer'.

No eunuchs. Family members have been hospitalized in the last few days, the kind that the ambulance pulled over. What should be made up for should be strived for.