Enlightenment: Attaining the Dao at Age 8

Chapter 119: Chapter 100: Bloody Ritual

Wipe out the gangs, eliminate the evil…

What gangs? What evil?

’Right now, aren’t the biggest gang and the greatest evil in all of Taiping State you and this pack of lunatics from the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team behind you?’

’The biggest gang in Night City.’

’And the greatest evil… isn’t that your old man, Charles?’

Anderson cursed endlessly in his heart, but he didn’t dare let it show on his face. He could only lower his gaze deferentially and say, “Lord Little Charles, since this happened in the district under my jurisdiction, why don’t you let us at the NCPD coordinate with you on a joint operation!”

After realizing he was powerless to stop Li Chang’an, Anderson had a change of heart.

Rather than hesitating and ending up pleasing no one, it was better to just send some men to follow the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team. That way, he might even be able to seize the opportunity to score some significant political achievements.

Even if someone blamed him afterward, he could just claim he sent his men merely to monitor the situation and fulfill his duties. He most likely wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire.

Hearing that he was actually offering to send men with him, a strange look appeared on Li Chang’an’s face. After a moment, he chuckled. “Director Anderson, I’m impressed by your awareness. The people of Taiping State are truly fortunate to have a police chief as principled as you!”

Hearing Li Chang’an’s rare words of flattery, Anderson’s old face bloomed into a wide smile, and he looked as if he’d shed ten years.

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries.

Anderson immediately dispatched five hundred officers from the precinct, preparing for a joint operation with the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team.

…

* * *

In Taiping State, on a remote, abandoned basketball court far from any residential areas.

Hundreds of fully armed Voodoo Gang members, carrying live ammunition, guarded the perimeter of the basketball court.

Down the narrow, winding path they had cleared, nearly a hundred men and women adorned with strange patterns surged forward like a tide, trekking toward the basketball court.

Eventually, everyone gathered in the center of the court and knelt in unison, praying piously to the statue of the Witch God placed a short distance away.

Beside the dilapidated statue of the Witch God stood a young girl, her body bound by barbed steel wire. With a dazed and numb expression, she gazed at the crowd in the court.

The massive, dark crowd knelt before the Witch God statue next to her.

The Archbishop, dressed in a gray Voodoo Robe, was the first to rise. His voice carried a trace of excitement as he announced, “Everyone, look! This is the Witch, the unclean one of legend, tempted by the Devil! She is the embodiment of worldly depravity and evil!”

Following his introduction,

the eyes of everyone present fell upon the girl. A few of the followers’ eyes held a mixture of fear and curiosity.

Most of the followers, however, wore expressions of undisguised resentment and loathing, as if the person tied up before them was not a girl, but a baring-fanged Devil ready to pounce and devour someone at any moment.

The girl bound by the barbed steel wire had dull, yellowed hair.

She was so thin it looked as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

It was late autumn, yet she wore only a single layer of clothing. Her slender arms and feet, exposed to the cold, had long since turned pale and bloodless.

The searing gazes of the crowd seemed to stir a flicker of hope within her. But as she widened her crystal-clear, sapphire-blue eyes and tried to ask for help, she saw a young couple kneeling and praying at the edge of the court.

The expression on the girl’s face instantly dimmed again, and she resembled a discarded doll.

Beside her, the Archbishop in the Voodoo Robe continued to preach the doctrine to his followers, all the while displaying the young girl from various angles as if she were an object.

Finally, he paused, his gaze falling upon the young couple in the crowd. “This Witch was discovered and turned in by two of our own from the Witch God Sect,” he declared. “You have done well. From now on, the Witch God will be with you!”

Hearing the Archbishop’s words, the young couple prostrated themselves, kowtowing on the ground and muttering the doctrines and Spells of the Witch God Sect.

Seeing everyone kneeling, a savage smile crept onto the Archbishop’s face.

He shot a look at a Voodoo Gang member beside him, who understood immediately. The man pulled a razor-sharp blade from his clothes, walked up to the girl, and plunged the long knife into her heart.

Instantly, blood gushed out.

The girl’s brow furrowed in pain, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably, but she never made a sound.

However, as her Life Force drained away, the girl’s spirit seemed to fluctuate violently. Ripples suddenly spread through the air around her, and wisps of bright yellow flame materialized out of thin air, incinerating everything flammable nearby into a pile of ash.

The Archbishop and the Voodoo Gang member were clearly prepared for this. They ducked to the side, and the Archbishop chose that moment to shout, “Did you see that? This is a Witch, a person cursed by God! In the future, if any follower discovers another such abnormal person, bring them here for judgment, and the Witch God will be with you!”

Witnessing such a miraculous and bizarre scene with their own eyes, the surrounding followers all stared wide-eyed. Their emotions instantly reached a fever pitch, and hundreds of them began to chant in unison, “Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!!!”

Pairs of crimson eyes.

Chilling, terrifying words.

Together, they created a truly horrifying scene.

After the roaring flames around the girl died down, the Archbishop shot another look at the Voodoo Gang member, who instantly understood.

He strode over to the girl, pulled out the sharp blade deeply embedded in her chest, and the girl’s crimson blood stained its edge.

As the man pulled it free, droplets of blood rolled down.

The girl’s gaunt figure now looked like a shredded piece of paper, with only remnants left. The Archbishop once again seized the moment to roar, “Followers! We have killed a Witch! The Witch God will send down an oracle to reward you!”

As he spoke, he pulled a large handful of pills from his pocket and scattered them over the crowd below.

The moment they saw the pills, the crowd’s eyes turned red as they scrambled and fought for them. Even as they snatched them up, they didn’t forget to praise the Witch God. The entire court descended into chaos.

After one last glance at the followers, who were like dogs fighting over food, the Archbishop clapped his hands in satisfaction. He was about to order someone to carry the little girl’s body away.

“BOOM!”

A massive explosion thundered nearby.

The Archbishop frowned. He gestured with his eyes to a subordinate, signaling him to guard the girl’s body, then strode quickly to the gang’s defensive perimeter. “What happened?” he demanded. “Don’t tell me those muscle-heads from the Animal Gang are here to cause trouble again?”

Hearing his voice,

several Voodoo Gang members responsible for securing the basketball court snapped out of their daze as if waking from a dream.

When they finally turned around, they all had expressions like they’d seen a ghost. They stammered, “Deputy… D-d-d-deputy Leader, it’s bad! The NCPD and… and… members of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team have us surrounded!”

Hearing this, the Voodoo Gang’s deputy leader, disguised as an Archbishop, widened his eyes and grunted nasally. “Hm? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

Clearly, in his mind, the most likely group to cause trouble for the Voodoo Gang at a time like this would be those brainless brutes from the Animal Gang. It could also be those persistent bastards from NetWatch, or even some corporate-hired mongrel mercenaries.

But the least likely to show up here were the NCPD’s officers.

Let alone the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team—Night City’s ultimate weapons who couldn’t be bothered to move unless the wanted level hit five stars.

After all, while they often held rituals here, they had never caused a large-scale bloody incident. Plus, everyone who came here was a faithful believer; no one would call the police.

The NCPD had no reason to come all the way out here looking for trouble just for the hell of it.

The Voodoo Gang’s deputy leader was unwilling to believe it. He shoved his men aside and personally checked the surveillance feed to see the situation below.

When he saw the foot of the hill teeming with NCPD officers and countless members of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team, the deputy leader’s face went pale.

’Who the hell did we piss off?’

’Why would the NCPD and the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team mobilize on such a massive scale?’

In a flash of insight, the Voodoo Gang’s deputy leader felt he had grasped the key point.

He turned his head to look at the girl tied to the post, then at the young man and woman nearby who were still taking the drugs. He rushed over, grabbed them both by the hair, and snarled, “I’ll give you one chance. Tell me, where did that girl really come from?”

Under normal circumstances, he could kill every follower here, and the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team wouldn’t lift a finger.

But now, they were swarming all over the mountain.

He couldn’t think of any other reason for such a severe outcome, except that the girl brought here for ’judgment’ had a powerful background.

The young man and woman were stunned by his sudden action. The pills they had fought so hard to grab fell and scattered on the ground.

As they fumbled on the ground trying to pick up the pills, they replied, “Lord Archbishop, Anna is our daughter, our own flesh and blood! She doesn’t have any special background!”

Seeing them still denying it with death at their doorstep, the Voodoo Gang’s deputy leader went berserk. “Fuck! Motherfucker!” he snarled, grinding his teeth. “Are you taking me for a fucking fool?”

He reached under his robe, pulled out a cold pistol, and aimed it at the young couple. “Next time you lie, you’d better watch who you’re talking to! Who the hell gave you the balls to lie to me?!”

After two gunshots, the young couple collapsed into a pool of blood.

The Voodoo Gang member tasked with guarding the girl also sensed the gravity of the situation. “What do we do now?” he asked.

The deputy leader didn’t hesitate. With a determined look, he said, “Fuck, what else can we do? Have the others cover our retreat. With our strength, the two of us should be able to break through!”

The Voodoo Gang member nodded, then his gaze fell on the blood-soaked girl. He hesitated. “What about this little girl? She’s the Transcendent seed with the most potential we’ve found all year. If we take her back and train her properly, she could be of great use…”

Seeing that his subordinate still didn’t get the point even with death at their doorstep, the deputy leader’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you a fucking idiot?” he raged. “This girl’s background is obviously extraordinary! She could be that bastard Charles’s illegitimate daughter for all we know! Do you know how many NCPD cops are down that mountain? They’re everywhere! Even the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team sent more than one squad! You still want to fucking bring her along? Are you trying to get us killed faster?”

After being furiously berated by the deputy leader, the two finally reached a ’friendly’ consensus. They chose an escape route they had prepared long ago and attempted to break through the encirclement.

…