Chapter 242: Solidified

After knocking Moers unconscious and locking him inside the cage, Lei Yin led the eight women out.

Some of the women wanted to run, but he stopped them, fearing they would alarm the people in the church. He knew there had to be surveillance cameras or security devices in the building, and even a minor mistake could get them caught. If he were alone, he could easily slip in and out, but with so many women to escort, the situation became significantly more troublesome.

A few days ago, upon learning from some police officers that Kurata Ryoko and her two friends had gone missing, Lei Yin immediately sent people to investigate their whereabouts.

After days of thorough searching, his team finally located the taxi driver who had driven them that night. The driver recalled that the three women had gotten off at Heian Street in Shinjuku and entered an apartment building.

Following this lead, Lei Yin discovered that the apartment belonged to a university doctoral student named Muraten Masao. However, according to neighbors, the man hadn’t been seen at home for half a month. If Muraten Masao wasn’t home, then who had let Ryoko and her friends into the apartment?

Lei Yin’s team spent two days investigating Muraten Masao’s recent call records and other information, uncovering that he had been in frequent contact with an Italian man named Andrei, who was also his former advisor. Strangely, Andrei had mysteriously disappeared a month earlier, and the police were already searching for him.

Faced with this complicated string of disappearances, Lei Yin had his team dig deeper into Andrei’s background and whereabouts. They found that the Italian man had joined a new religious group called Andes six months ago. Furthermore, in the weeks leading up to Andrei’s disappearance, he had been frequently visiting the Andes church.

The simultaneous disappearance of so many people was no coincidence, nor something achievable by just a few individuals. Lei Yin’s investigation eventually zeroed in on the Andes cult.

Completely unfamiliar with this emerging religious organization, Lei Yin decided to infiltrate it for further investigation. However, the cult had an extremely stringent recruitment process for new followers, and Lei Yin didn’t have the luxury of time to waste. Thus, he opted for another approach.

Through his connections, Lei Yin learned that Daimon Nagatomo, a deacon of Andes’ Tokyo branch, was recruiting bodyguards. While their purpose was unclear, Lei Yin seized the opportunity, adopting the identity of “Yagami Iori,” a Japanese mercenary who had fled to America years ago due to debt. He staged a bar fight to catch Daimon Nagatomo’s attention, and as expected, he successfully infiltrated the group.

What Lei Yin hadn’t anticipated was witnessing the so-called “miracles” performed by the cult’s leader, Messias. Even now, he hadn’t been able to identify the flaws or tricks behind those illusions.

As they ascended the stairs, one of the women suddenly collapsed. Two others walking beside her quickly helped her up, whispering anxiously, “Sui, are you okay?”

With their support, Tachibana Sui struggled to stand.

“Your hand is burning. Are you feeling unwell?” Yamaguchi Tomoko asked worriedly.

“I’m fine. Let’s keep going,” Sui said, determined to leave this dreadful place.

But after only a few steps, her vision darkened, and she collapsed again.

“Sui!” Tomoko immediately grabbed her arm to support her.

“What’s going on?” Lei Yin asked as he walked over.

“She suddenly fainted, and her body is burning up. It feels like she has a fever,” Tomoko replied.

Due to Lei Yin’s disguised appearance, Kurata Ryoko and the other women didn’t recognize him. To them, he remained a mysterious figure, and they couldn’t understand why he was rescuing them. However, none of that mattered—what mattered was that he might actually lead them out of this nightmare.

Lei Yin touched Sui’s forehead and, without a word, hoisted her onto his back.

As he prepared to continue down the stairs, he suddenly stopped and said, “Tie a handkerchief or something similar over your mouths. If anyone makes a noise, none of us will make it out. Hurry.”

Desperate to leave, the others complied, tearing off sleeves or using handkerchiefs to gag themselves.

Once everyone was ready, Lei Yin quickened his pace up the stairs.

After leaving the basement, Lei Yin pulled out a pair of goggles resembling a diving mask and put them on. Then, he cautiously led the group toward the main entrance.

Unlike the basement, Lei Yin knew that this area was equipped with security systems, so he moved with extreme caution.

When he reached the hallway entrance, he spotted, through his goggles, the red beams emitted by the infrared alarm system that Moers had mentioned.

The alarm system, located at the exit, wasn’t a typical crossbeam barrier but instead used a wide, fan-shaped sensor area. This made it impossible to pass through without triggering it.

Lei Yin had no choice but to check the situation upstairs. He gestured to the women to follow him as he led them to the second floor.

Seeing him move upstairs instead of continuing forward, the women were filled with doubt. However, they had no choice but to follow.

When they reached the second floor, Lei Yin noticed that the balcony he had climbed in through earlier was now covered in a faint red glow. It was clear that the church had activated the alarm system across the entire building. Lei Yin couldn’t help but feel a bit lucky for arriving earlier—if the alarms had been on while he was outside, he wouldn’t have been able to enter, even with the goggles.

Although the infrared alarm system’s design was relatively simple, it was quite effective against intruders. As long as there were no blind spots during installation and the power supply to the main control unit wasn’t interrupted, there were only two ways to bypass it: avoiding contact with the beams or disabling the main unit.

Since the infrared alarms had been activated on this balcony, it was likely the same for all other exits and windows. In other words, it was now impossible to leave without triggering the alarms.

Lei Yin quickly calculated. If he forced his way out, there was only a 50% chance of escaping safely with all eight women. He no longer regarded this group as an ordinary cult, so it wouldn’t surprise him if they were armed. At this point, the safest option would be to call the police, although he wasn’t keen on doing so—it would create significant trouble for him.

After weighing his options, Lei Yin decided to prioritize safety.

Just as he prepared to lead them back to the basement exit, he suddenly noticed that two women were missing.

“Where are the other two?” Lei Yin asked in a low voice.

“I don’t know…”

“I don’t know when they left,” another woman whispered.

Realizing the situation had taken a turn for the worse, Lei Yin immediately set Tachibana Sui down, asking Kurata Ryoko and Yamaguchi Tomoko to support her. Then, he quickly ran downstairs.

From the staircase, he could see two women at the main entrance, frantically trying to open the door. However, since the door was locked, they couldn’t get it open.

Apparently, they had misunderstood his actions. When Lei Yin had gone upstairs instead of leading them out, their desperation and trauma made them think he was colluding with their captors. Seizing a moment of perceived opportunity, they had tried to sneak away and open the door to escape, unaware that they were triggering the alarm system.

“Those idiots,” Lei Yin cursed under his breath before rushing back to the second floor to bring the others down to the entrance.

When they reached the door, Lei Yin angrily shoved the two women aside. However, he quickly realized that the main door was equipped with an electronic keypad lock. Lei Yin couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. Breaking through this lock would take him at least ten minutes, but time wasn’t on their side—he and the women could already hear hurried footsteps and shouting from the second and third floors.

“Everyone, follow me,” Lei Yin said decisively. He knew there was no way out now except to retreat toward the basement and find a place to hide.

“Who’s there?”

“Turn on the lights, now!”

“Don’t let them escape!”

In the pitch-black church, shadows flickered as figures darted around. Several men who had run down to the staircase shouted loudly.

The commotion outside interrupted Messias, who was in the middle of his “ritual.” Annoyed, he tossed aside the whip he had been holding and draped a blanket over Kikuji Himeyama, who lay on the floor covered in glaring whip marks. He then opened the door and stepped out.

“What’s going on?” Messias demanded as he reached the staircase and grabbed one of the followers.

“A thief has broken in, sir. We’re trying to capture him,” the follower replied respectfully.

Messias’s expression darkened. “What? A thief? What did he steal?”

The follower was about to answer, but Messias suddenly rushed up to the third floor.

At the end of the third floor, he stopped in front of a room, pulled out a card from his pocket, inserted it into a card reader, and typed a password on the keypad.

The door opened quickly, and he pushed it open, stepping inside.

A moment later, Messias emerged from the room, his face now calm.

When he returned to the staircase, he angrily asked one of the followers, “Where is Deacon Moers?”

“I haven’t seen Deacon Moers, sir,” the follower answered. “Should we call the police?”

Messias was about to nod in agreement but quickly changed his mind when he remembered the women locked in the basement. “It’s just a thief. There’s no need to alert the police. We have plenty of people here. Surely, we can capture one thief,” he said firmly.

“Understood, sir. I will ensure this blasphemer is caught,” the follower responded confidently.

“Good,” Messias replied with a satisfied nod.

The follower performed a ceremonial bow before enthusiastically joining the search efforts.

A short while later, another follower hurried over and reported, “Sir, the intruder has taken Deacon Moers hostage. He’s demanding we open the door immediately and let them go, or he’ll kill Deacon Moers.”

“How did Moers end up in his hands? How many of them are there?” Messias frowned.

“There are nine of them in total. One man and eight women. The man is the one holding Deacon Moers hostage.”

“Eight women?” Messias’s face changed as he suddenly realized something. He shouted, “Under no circumstances can we let them escape! Shoot if necessary!”

The follower was stunned by the command. “But sir, Deacon Moers is in their hands. Shouldn’t we call the police and let them handle this?”

“No! The police must not be involved. Turn on the signal jammer immediately! We can’t risk the intruder contacting any accomplices outside. Hurry!”

“Yes, sir!” Although he felt something was amiss, the follower didn’t question the order and quickly ran to the inner hall on the first floor.

“Moers, you useless pig!” Messias cursed through gritted teeth.

The situation had become far more complicated. He knew very well that the women now involved were the ones he had personally ordered to be locked in the basement. This made it imperative to avoid any police involvement. However, with so many followers watching, he couldn’t openly disregard Moers’s safety.

After a moment of thought, Messias headed back up to the third floor.

At the basement entrance, Lei Yin was standing off against a group of more than ten followers blocking the way.

“Release Deacon Moers!” several of them repeated the demand, lacking any originality.

“Please, let me go! I’m begging you, let me go!” Moers, now awake but with his hands tightly bound, had abandoned all pretense of dignity and was pleading incessantly.

“Shut up,” Lei Yin snapped, punching Moers in the stomach, making him double over in pain with a wail.

Hearing Moers’s cries, the followers outside became even more agitated.

“Did you get through?” Lei Yin asked Kurata Ryoko, who was holding a phone and attempting to make a call.

“I managed to connect just now, but the call suddenly dropped. I’m trying again,” Kurata Ryoko replied, listening intently to the phone.

Lei Yin frowned and said, “Give me the phone.”

Although puzzled, Kurata Ryoko handed it to him.

Lei Yin glanced at the screen and cursed under his breath, “No signal at all. Those bastards must have turned on a signal jammer.”

It was normal for the phone to lose signal while they were in the basement, but being completely cut off even after leaving was unreasonable. Lei Yin also knew that using signal jammers in places like large churches or conference halls was not uncommon. After all, nothing could ruin a solemn ceremony more than a sudden phone ringtone. While these devices weren’t cheap, they were a trivial expense for a group as wealthy as Andes.

“What do we do now?” Kurata Ryoko asked anxiously.

“There’s always a way. Besides, we still have this respected deacon in our hands. Everyone, stay close behind me and follow my lead,” Lei Yin said. With his left hand, he locked Moers in a chokehold, and with his right hand, he pressed a handgun against the man’s temple as he slowly moved forward.

As Lei Yin stepped out, the gathered followers immediately surrounded him. However, none dared approach too closely, fearing the gun and the hostage.

“If anyone tries to stop me, I’ll kill your esteemed Deacon Moers right here!” Lei Yin shouted, his voice echoing through the space.

Seeing him approach, the followers hesitated, unsure of what to do.

When Lei Yin and his group were less than three meters away from the followers, he barked, “Step back immediately!”

Instinctively, the followers retreated a few steps.

Minutes later, Lei Yin and the eight women finally reached the church hall.

Although they were surrounded by the watchful and hostile followers, the sight of the church’s main entrance filled the women’s eyes with hope and excitement.

At that moment, Messias appeared from the crowd. He scrutinized Lei Yin carefully before exclaiming in rage, “Yagami Iori, it’s you! You shameless traitor!” Though Lei Yin had masked his face, Messias recognized him by his physique and distinctive, prominent eyebrows.

Lei Yin chuckled, his laughter muffled beneath his face covering. “Master Messias, I think you’ve misunderstood something. I was never one of your followers, so how could I possibly betray you? Now, let’s not waste time. Open the door and let us leave.”

Messias narrowed his eyes. “And if I refuse?”

Lei Yin smirked coldly. “So, in your eyes, Chief Messias, capturing me, a simple nighttime visitor, is more important than the safety of your esteemed Deacon Moers? What a surprising priority. Deacon Moers, it seems you’re a truly pitiful man, being sacrificed so readily by your superior.”

Messias’s eyes burned with malice as he replied icily, “Release Deacon Moers, and I’ll let you leave.”

“I’d love to trust your word, but first, kindly open the door. We’ll release him once we’re safe,” Lei Yin said with a sharp edge in his voice.

“You arrogant blasphemer! You’ll regret this,” Messias snarled. Suddenly, he opened a briefcase he was holding, revealing a strange, black device inside.

Sensing danger, Lei Yin immediately fired at the device.

“Damn you!” Messias roared as the gunshot rang out.

Then, a bizarre beam of light, somewhere between blue and purple and resembling a laser, shot out from the device, enveloping Lei Yin, the women, Moers, and several nearby followers.

“Get out of the way!” Lei Yin shouted as he instinctively leaped to the side, sensing something ominous about the beam.

But before he could move further, an indescribable, excruciating pain surged through his brain, paralyzing him completely. In that instant, Lei Yin found himself utterly unable to move, as if his body no longer belonged to him. Worse still, he couldn’t even make a sound.

It wasn’t just him. Moers, the eight women, and the nearby followers were all frozen in place, their bodies locked as if solidified by the strange light…