Night.

The sky was as overcast as ink, and the moon, which had cast a white glow on the earth, was obscured by layers of dark clouds.

By this time, the city of Trins had already fallen into silence and darkness, and the streets were deserted except for the sound of the footsteps of soldiers on night patrol passing through the streets.

Jon hid in a corner, his black linen robe hidden in a corner, and waited until a patrol of soldiers outside attacked, and then cautiously crossed the street, swaying through the dark alleys, until he came to the dirty door of a nondescript four-story building.

After looking left and right again to make sure there was no one, Jon reached out and knocked softly on the door in a certain pattern.

Soon, a small window the size of a palm opened on the door, and a pair of vigilant eyes saw it.

Jon whispered with his hands crossed over his chest.

"Embrace the depths, embrace evolution, and thank the Lord for His gifts."

Kata snorted.

The door was opened, and inside was a middle-aged man in a linen black robe, with rough skin on his face, his back slightly bent, a pair of large hands full of thick calluses, and an indelible fishy smell on his body indicating that he was a fisherman who made a living from fishing.

After putting Jon in, the middle-aged man also crossed his hands and hugged each other, and whispered.

"Embrace the deep sea, embrace evolution."

In the dim light, a few cyan scales could be seen growing on the middle-aged man's exposed neck, surrounded by a patch of gray skin.

The cyan scales seemed to be alive.

Jon's eyes suddenly showed a look of envy, which was proof that he had been rewarded by the priest and drank the water of the deep sea.

It is rumored that this middle-aged man was blessed after drinking the water of the deep sea, not only swimming much faster, but also being able to move underwater for more than an hour!

This allowed him to catch more fish, earn more silver each month, and his life was much better.

Jon thought to himself that if he could get the priest's reward and earn more silver, then maybe he could make his wife an extra quilt so that the children could sleep warmer at night.

"Why are you here so late? It's almost a quarter of an hour late. ”

Jon scolded in a low voice, "There was some delay on the road to avoid the patrolling soldiers, and the patrol route and frequency of those eagle dogs seem to have changed somewhat. ”

The middle-aged man frowned, Jon was brought in by him, and if the secrets of the church were exposed because of Jon, then he would also be punished by the priest.

His tone was solemn, and his eyes were full of doubt, "Did they find you?" Did you leave any traces? ”

Jon quickly shook his head, "No, I was very careful along the way, and I was definitely not discovered, otherwise they would have chased me at this time!" ”

The middle-aged man thought about it for a while, and then he was a little relieved, and continued: "The other brothers and sisters have already arrived, and now it's just you." ”

Jon nodded, and walked after the middle-aged man towards the depths of the house.

The middle-aged man said as he walked.

"Tonight is a semi-annual meeting of the church, so the ceremony will be much more complicated, but then the priests will give more water from the deep sea, so that more brothers and sisters can embrace evolution and share the blessings of the Lord."

There was a bit of excitement in his tone.

"Besides, I heard that the Bishop will be attending this meeting!"

Jon was stunned, a look of surprise on his face.

"Really? I heard that the Bishop was conceived and raised in the ocean, and was noticed and blessed by the Lord very early, and has great power? ”

The middle-aged man laughed, "You haven't been in the church for a long time, so you don't know much, Lord Bishop not only has the power to turn the clouds and rain, but he can also contact the Lord regularly. ”

"Therefore, if we want to get closer to the Lord and want to receive the blessing of the Lord, then the best way to please the Bishop, maybe we will have the opportunity to see the majesty and face of the Lord."

The middle-aged man looked at Jon's expectant look and patted him on the shoulder, "As long as you are sincere to the religion and offer all your loyalty and faith, then sooner or later you will be blessed to get closer to the Lord and become a faithful believer under the Lord's seat." ”

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Jon nodded hurriedly, but he thought that if he could receive the blessing of the Lord, he would be able to gain great power, and he would be able to use this power to make his family's life better.

The two walked to a room in the depths, where the middle-aged man groped on the ground and lifted up a piece of the floor, and below it was a staircase that led to the underground.

Jon got inside, too, and came to the passage at the bottom, and took advantage of the light of the torches on the walls on both sides to enter into a rather spacious underground hall.

In addition to the one he came from, this underground hall had several passages, one of which led directly to the sea, allowing him to leave quickly in case of danger.

Hundreds of believers in black robes who couldn't see their faces clearly had gathered in the underground hall, waiting in a neat queue one by one, and there was no sound or movement in Nuoda's hall.

Jon watched this scene, his heart sank, he lowered his pace and lined up at the back, and waited silently.

Soon, the priest, dressed in silk black robes, walked out of a passage and came to the front of the hall.

Jon raised his head slightly, the priest had shared more blessings from the Lord, his neck was covered with blue scales, his face was full of gray skin, and compared to the middle-aged man who pulled him into the church, the priest had more power.

At first, Jon thought the scales and gray were very strange and abnormal, but now he feels that there is a bit of beauty, as if that is what humans should become, what they should evolve into.

As a fisherman, he has been dealing with the ocean for most of his life, and he knows how dangerous it is, but he also knows that the ocean is a huge treasure trove.

Before exploration and excavation, the necessary evolution is indispensable.

Only by receiving the Lord's gift can those of them who were born at the bottom have enough capital to embrace the endless ocean.

The priest looked at the hundreds of believers in front of him and said in a hoarse voice.

"Thank you brothers and sisters for being here and participating in this semi-annual gathering, I am deeply honored."

"But before the meeting begins, I need to tell you one thing of regret and anger, that there are traitors among us!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was in an uproar and talked about it.

The priest looked at the bewildered and angry believers, and lowered his staff heavily.

A dull voice echoed through the hall, causing all believers to retract their voices.

"I can honestly say that our former brother and sister, Baron Bezos, who is also one of the five deacons of Trins City, betrayed us!"

"He took the initiative to tell the enemy about the type of poison that the Bishop gave us, and helped the enemy to remove the poison!"

"Otherwise, the enemy would not have survived until now!"

Jon was shocked, and his eyes were full of confusion.

Enemy?

Does this church he joined have enemies?

Then he heard a believer in the middle of the line ask.

"Priest, who is our enemy?"

The priest looked at him, a gleam in his eyes, and said in a deep voice.

"Our enemies... It's the nobles and the Valencian family who rule over Inhardt! ”

As soon as these words came out, except for a few believers whose faces were not different, the rest were dumbfounded.

Wait, aren't we gathered together to help each other, just to offer our faith to the Lord for strength?

Why did you suddenly jump to such a point where you want to be hostile to the noble lord?

Most of the believers present were poor residents, and in this hierarchical world, the commoners had no capital or ideas to rebel against the aristocracy with unlimited resources and absolute force.

They just want to gain strength and earn more money to support their family!

The priest couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth as he watched the reactions of the believers.

Baron Bezos, one of their five deacons in Trins City, had been hunted down a few days earlier for poisoning the Grand Duke of Valencia.

According to the original plan, the toxins given by the bishop, the tribute mixed with the toxins should have been borne by Archduke Julius of Hart, as long as Julius was poisoned and died, then the whole of Inhart would be in chaos, and then they would be able to recruit believers on a large scale, and fulfill the decree given by the Lord, without having to recruit believers so secretly.

It's a crude and simplistic idea, but it's effective enough.

He knew the power of those toxins, not only were they colorless, tasteless and undetectable, but ordinary means could not detect the poison at all, as long as they drank it, they would probably die.

With the nobleman Baron Bezos paying tribute, Julius' vigilance would also be greatly reduced.

However, according to the reports of the believers in the court, the tribute originally given to Julius was eaten by the Grand Duchess, which caused the plan to fall short, and even Baron Bezos was arrested by Shun Teng.

He believed that Baron Bezos, who had been in the church for a long time and had been under the watchful eye of the Lord, would not reveal everything about the church, but the failure of the plan would inevitably lead to a huge impact on their missionary activities in the city of Trins.

Then the pace will naturally be accelerated.

The captured Baron Bezos will definitely not survive, so use him as a trigger to ignite the anger of the believers.

Looking at the performance of these believers, the priest was also mentally prepared and said immediately.

"That's right, our enemies are the nobles who occupy a lot of resources and exploit us from above, especially the Valencian family who rules here!"

"We are ordinary civilians, and it is not easy to support our family, but we have to be exploited and bullied by those nobles and their minions all the time, which makes our lives even worse!"

"Half of the money from the sale of the fish caught from the sea is divided into taxes, and the remaining half is stripped of by the rancid and despicable soldiers of the docks, and in the end we have only a pitiful half of the silver coins!"

"Is this fair!? Do we deserve all of this? ”

The priest's demagogic words sent a look of resentment on the faces of many believers.

"That's right, those soldiers at the docks always blackmail me by relying on their identities, and my one-year-old child starved to death because of this!"

"Those soldiers also shield bullies, and my poor wife has nowhere to complain after being insulted!"

"Those nobles look at us like animals..."

For a moment, in this closed and dark hall, "many" believers wept about the misdeeds of the nobles and their minions, and this anger and sadness infected the other believers, reminding them of the injustice they had suffered.

This made Jon's expression shaken, and the image of himself being bullied by the nobles kept flashing in his mind, and he couldn't help but curse, "Damn nobles!" ”

The priest looked at this scene with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Taking advantage of the increasingly strong emotions of the believers, he said loudly.

"But the appearance of the Lord has turned all this around!"

"The Bishop told me that the Lord is willing to give us enough gifts to give us the power to fight the nobles!"

"As long as the brothers and sisters here are able to receive the blessings of the Bishop himself!"

In a passage connected to the front of the hall, there was a sudden sound of squirming, and a tall figure walked out amid the anticipatory gaze of many believers.

However, his appearance took the believers away.

The humanoid body is a hideous and strange body, with white bones exposed, blue-gray muscles sandwiched between the bones, a pair of alienated hands with gray sharp nails, and the head has long been devoid of human facial features, replaced by several horizontal strips of flesh, and there are fish fins and other organs on the neck and body.

The creepiest thing is that it has no legs, and its movement rests on its waist with a skirt made of tentacles and flesh, this time staggering and squirming.

The priest said in a hoarse voice: "This is a gift from the Lord, and we should sincerely accept and praise the Lord's mercy!" ”

"Is this the Bishop?"

"Oh my God, it's disgusting and scary, I don't want to be a monster like this..."

Such an anti-human appearance made many believers suddenly feel repulsed, and the previous excitement calmed down in an instant.

"I don't want to gain strength anymore, I want to quit the church..."

A young believer, who was also a newcomer, wanted to leave, but as soon as he turned and ran towards the passage, he was knocked to the ground - the priest's hand turned into a tentacle, piercing the young believer's chest, and blood spread rapidly under his body.

"Disobedience to the will of the Lord will be punished."

The strong smell of blood sent chills down the body and mind of the other believers, and dispelled the idea of leaving.

Seeing this, the priest put a sneer on his face and turned to the monster, the Bishop.

"Your Majesty, please purify these lost believers and let them become us, into the arms of the Lord and the deep sea!"

The bishop squirmed the tentacle skirt to the front, and a large hole suddenly opened in his chest, and a small tentacle stretched out, piercing into the body of the first believer.

Seeing what liquid was poured in, this believer's face was distorted, and his mouth let out a howl of pain, only to see his body bulge with countless pimples, his skin fell off, his face changed, and tentacles stretched out from the pimples...

In less than half a minute, this believer had turned into a tentacle flesh monster.

This terrifying scene made the other believers tremble, and they couldn't help but want to flee from here, but without exception, they were all killed by the priest with their tentacles, and they were sent to the mutant tentacle monsters to be eaten.

The priest's eyes lit up with kindness, "Eat my brothers and sisters, embrace evolution with confidence, this is the gift of the Lord." We are destined to come into this world and fulfill the will of the Lord. ”

Just as the underground hall was undergoing a cult-like transformation ritual, there was a sudden knock on the door of the house overhead.

The middle-aged man guarding the door leaned against the door vigilantly and asked in a low voice.

"Who is it?"

"Open the door! Trins City Guards! ”