Falling into the Abyss

Chapter 7: Atonement: Red Earth (V)

Samuel glanced suspiciously at Ethan. His mistrust was not directed at Ethan, but against the Eve priest, since he did not know why the priest would deign to help them. He asked Ethan, You mean, we might be eaten by the thing that you described just now?

Im not sure, but the people who were on that planet have disappeared, Ethan replied, raising his head and looking at Samuel seriously. After recalling the scene, the fear in his voice still hadnt subsided, I dont want to die, especially on such an inexplicable planet.

Samuel was puzzled when he saw Ethan speaking so fervently. He had participated in five atonement missions thus far. One time, he had to wear a very heavy thermal insulation suit and sit in a crowded and narrow underground submarine in order to descend 30 km to retrieve an underground generator. At that time, their small submarine had been seriously damaged during the diving process by rocks flowing in the magma stream outside the vessel. They were separated from a dark sea of fire that was hot enough to melt even the hardest rock by just a cracked outer shell and several layers of the inner shell. Three out of the five of them were horrified, directly fainting due to the unbearable heat and extreme terror. Only he and the other Alpha barely managed to maintain consciousness and endured the sensation of their skin burning as they breathed in the limited air. They contacted the command station aboveground through the intermittent radio to repair their submarine, not daring to think about what would happen if the vessel could not be repaired within an hour. After returning to the city, he learned that, once the damage exceeded the critical amount, if they were not engulfed by magma, then the terrifying underground pressure would have instantly crushed them into human meat patties.

He had been able to survive in such a horrifying situation. Now, even if he met any strange alien creatures, it would still be better compared to being stuck in that cramped lava hell.

Thus, he asked somewhat perfunctorily, What do you think we should do?

Only some of the 50 people on the atonement mission joined voluntarily. When we get to the Red Earth, you will probably be the leader. Tanisiel said that, if you are, he would like you to gather some of them to meet him.

Tanisiel? Is that the priest? Samuel frowned and asked, Did you agree?

Ethan pursed his lips and replied, Anyway, its not a bad thing to agree, right? When you watch that video, youll understand. Hes going to come down here secretly tonight.

Samuel rubbed his forehead as if he was suffering from a headache, before pointing fiercely at Ethan and threatening, Be careful not to make decisions for me in the future, because Ill motherfucking kill you.

Ethan shrugged. If it had been a few days ago, he would have been scared by Samuels expression, but after the past three days, he had become indifferent to it.

However, Samuel had already told the other eight volunteers about the matter before the sky darkened. Two of them didnt want to cooperate with the Eve priest, but in the end, they all gave Samuel face and agreed to gather in the evening. Among the nine of them, the red-haired Otto, who had a good relationship with Samuel, was said to have been a legendary thief. No matter how complex the lock was, be it personal identification lock, encryption lock, mechanical lock, or intelligent lock, he could open them all. Ultimately, he had been arrested when he snuck into a famous and rich businessmans home. He had gotten careless when he tried to steal a famed painting, remains from Earth. Since he had committed countless crimes, his moral value was finally depleted, and he was thrown into the Forbidden City.

Derek was the youngest of the nine people gathered. He was in his early twenties, but very smart. He was addicted to researching how to combine human consciousness with technology, which was banned by the Earth Unions government. He had thought that he could create a new and more evolved species by merging the best human consciousnesses together with technology. Eventually, he tried to merge his brothers consciousness with that of his robot dog and caused moderate brain damage to his brother. Therefore, he was sent to the Forbidden City.

After listening to Samuels brief introductions of these three people, who were comparatively better than the others, Ethan suddenly felt that his reason for entering the Forbidden City was extremely boring

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In particular, Chen Zeng was an Asian Beta man in his 40s, both plain-looking and shorter than himself. When he glanced at Ethan with a friendly smile, it was difficult to believe that he was the cult leader who had been widely-reported on news channels.

At the appointed time, when most of the nonhumans were laying down to rest, the nine men and Ethan climbed up to a wide iron bridge, high above the cargo floor. There were many huge machines surrounding them, like monsters breathing out fog. A tall, thin figure emerged from the fog with light steps. Tanisiel was still wearing his usual uniform, with his scepter in his hand.

In the face of the ten diabolical nonhumans, he did not show any hints of fear. He displayed a polite smile, choosing to stand a few steps away from them.

Samuel had his arms crossed and asked impatiently, Say what it is you want from us. We are very busy.

Going straight to the point, I like it, Tanisiel did not say much, and directly took out his ten thousand function sphere, playing the short video.

After the video ended, the whole area descended into silence. Ten seconds later, Chen Zeng suddenly made the sign of the cross, and began to mumble and pray.

The others whispered, mostly swearing at the government. Samuel suddenly raised his hand and shouted, Dont fucking cause a scene! before looking at Tanisiel and saying, We understand what you mean. Do you think there is a way for us to survive?

Its not a foolproof method, but it may save some of you. Tanisiels hand waved in front of the ten thousand function sphere, and the image suddenly changed, showing a rotating milky way nebula. He continued, With our strong perception, we Eves can perceive some energy fluctuations that are invisible to the naked eye. After entering the interstellar age, space travel caused this perception to grow even stronger. These sorts of fluctuations often come from fluctuations in the balance of the universes energies as they contest each other. One type of energy comes from maintaining the delicate order formed by all stars and celestial bodies in time and space, while the other comes from the chaos of chance and disorder. Its just like the balance between opposite spirits such as Apollo and Dionysus. Our faith also reflects this ideology. Our God of Order is just like your Earthlings Apollo, or Jehovah. They are the source of all order and control, contributing to and maintaining all existing. And our God of Disorder is like you Earthlings Dionysus

Tanisiels voice halted, and he suddenly said, Maybe using another god as an example is more suitable than Dionysus. How many of you know about the religion that was widely spread in ancient Earth, worshipping the evil godCthulhu?

Most of them were in a daze, but Ethan cleared his throat and replied, I do, they were an evil god invented by a man named Lovecraft in ancient times, with an octopus-like head and bat-like wings.

All the nonhumans glared at him with, as if they were looking at some alien creature from outside of the Milky Way.

Tanisiel smiled approvingly at him. Although Ethan pushed his glasses up in a calm manner, he secretly felt happy since he was in the limelight.

Ive always believed that the ancient myths and legends were not completely fabricated. Some Earthlings thousands of years ago may have had better perception than ordinary Earthlings nowadays, or they may have sensed the God of Disorder through some other channel. Looking at the thing in this video, maybe it could be the God of Disorder, a source of chaos that transcends all races.

You call that a God? You, Eves, believe in this stuff? Your tastes are quite heavy, Otto asked in disbelief.

Tanisiel was not angry when he was insulted, but his smile was filled with hidden meaning. He replied, How would we know what a god looks like? Maybe what is beautiful to our eyes is just as disgusting to their eyes. Andto put it lightly, not all priests agree with me. Or else I wouldnt have to work with you all secretly.

Everyone looked at each other and inwardly regretted volunteering for this mission. Although the points given were very high, if they had to face that kind of thingwouldnt it be better for them to stay in the Forbidden City for ten or twenty more years.

Im not interested in your fairy tales. I just want to know how to avoid disappearing due to this things manipulation.

If thats really the God of Disorder, then hed like something filthy, like rotten corpses, a putrid smell, or a dying person. If you smear a dead animals carcass on your body when it appears, you may be able to save your life. Tanisiels fingers whirled, and the scene in the sphere changed again.

It was a vast wasteland, and the field of vision was composed of a sky and earth, both tinted a rustlike red. A huge red sun occupied the upper left corner, which was the Red Earths sunHera. There were strange dark blue plants densely packed together on the slightly undulating land, about as tall as an average person. Countless branches emerged from the conical trunk, appearing to be slightly spongy. There were huge nodules growing on the branches, and sometimes black sap sprayed out and scattered into the air.

Ethan had been to several planets in the milky way on vacation. Most of them were originally inhabitable but were transformed into livable conditions. However, such a planet could, at most, give someone the feeling that its barren and desolate. However, although Red Earth was suitable for human habitation, the ominous rust color and the plants that looked like creatures from a nightmare made people inexplicably feel disgusted.

Tanisiel turned the ten thousand function sphere in his hand and switched to displaying several holographic projections. He explained, According to the information sent back by the developers previously, this plant is very common on Red Earth, and its sap has a rotten scent. When you get to the Red Earth, you can collect its sap and apply it over your bodies when that thing appears. Additionally, stay away from anything that appears too neat and standardized, such as the developers base or farm fields. The God of Disorder seeks to destroy everything thats in balance. If he hasnt made a move against the base now, it is likely that its being used as a decoy to purposefully lure more people in.

Ethan suddenly interrupted, What if those men on the mothership order us to go in? Didnt they plan to observe what would happen when that thing appears? as he was speaking, he pointed to the electric shock collar around his neck.

According to the information we received before, the microwave frequency seems to be affected when it appears. So, at least when it appears, you will have a short period of time where you will be out of the supervisory scope of the mothership, Tanisiel said with a chuckle, Oh, I seem to have leaked some confidential information. If I was part of your Earth Union, Im afraid I would lose a lot of moral value points, right?

After he spoke, several nonhumans eyes lit up. However, Derek sneered, Whats the use of telling us this. Obviously, they know that there will be no need to control us when that thing appears since no one will be able to escape.

Once again, the crowd fell into silence. Ethan thought that this childs words were really like an arrow through their heartshe didnt even want to leave them with a glimmer of hope.

The silent pastor Chen Zeng suddenly asked, What do you want from us in exchange for helping us survive?

Tanisiel looked at him with his clear gray eyes, with a pure and innocent expression on his face as he replied, As a servant of the Goddess of Mercy, I simply cant bear to see all of you die in vain.

Chen Zengs eyes curved up, and he laughed, Were in the same line of work, so there is no need to speak in riddles, right? I praise the name of my Lord because everything I have is a gift from Him. What my Lord wants in return is our gratitude. If you are going out of your way to help us, why would you want nothing in return?

Tanisiel pinched his left index finger and thumb together and held his other three fingers together near his heart while leaning forward slightly. It seemed to be how the Eves salute. However, when he stood up straight again, there were more hints of cunning in his dignified smile as he replied, I perform compassionate acts for the herders to adhere to the divine law, butI would appreciate it if all of you could get me a little sample of that thing. Maybe we could even negotiate with your ministry of foreign affairs, and give you five extra points as a reward.

T/N: Please note that the depictions of various religions in this novel is not an accurate depiction of the actual religion.

And I think one of you (or a few) mentioned Cthulhu, so yes, youre right ^^.

Thanks for reading !