From God of Lies to Lord of All Worlds

Chapter 9: Attention from the Federation

"Boss, I heard Vespucci has good seafood. Why don't we stop here for the night?" FBI agent Austin Nash said casually.

They parked in the town's public parking area, then followed the directions on their phones toward their destination.

"Focus on the job—you're still only an A2 agent after five years!" Captain Gallo Simmons said.

Austin shrugged. "Sir, you know San Diego. Our department has no budget and not many people. We can't even handle the gangs—where would real assignments come from?"

Gallo nodded helplessly and glanced at the dossier in his hand. "Fine. It's just a routine inquiry. Let's go."

Austin agreed. "But these people don't even bother making their stories believable. Seventy-Two Demon Gods and archangels showing up? If anything like that existed, our satellites would have picked up something long ago!"

They had come because of a report—probably because it involved a church, the bureau had sent them. Both men took it lightly. These so-called "miracle" reports happen twenty thousand times a year across the country; not a single one is real. Cults used such tricks to make money; that was the IRS's business. Today was just a routine response.

Gallo glanced at the surrounding houses. "Isn't today Tuesday? Why is nobody around?"

"Who knows? Maybe everyone’s at the beach or the farms," Austin said casually—he didn't know the town well.

They kept walking. The map showed their target church in the middle section of this street.Just as they were about to reach the church:

Suddenly, a streak of dark light sliced across in front of them and slammed into the cliff at the end of the street!

"My god... what was that?" Austin exclaimed, looking at his captain. "Sir?"

Gallo nodded. "I saw it... it flew out from the church, right?"

"Yeah, it came from the church!" Austin nodded. Both men immediately drew their sidearms, exchanged a wary look, and headed toward where the dark light had landed.

The light hadn’t traveled far—only a few hundred meters—and they were getting closer as they walked.

They reached the impact site quickly.

There they saw a crater as tall as two men, and inside the pit a dark shape they couldn't make out clearly.

Both guns pointed at the shadow. In the next second, the shadow moved!

It shot up from the pit and transformed into a bipedal "bird-man"!

"What kind of monster is that?" Gallo said, frowning. Their pistols were already cocked and aimed at the bird-man.

Austin didn't know either, but he shouted, "Unknown creature! Drop to your knees with your hands on your head! Do not make any movements!"

"Any movement will have serious consequences!"

At his words, the bird-man turned toward them, looking surprised, then glanced down at itself.

A sharp, piercing cry filled the air and stunned the two men!

Bang! Bang! They didn't hesitate and opened fire. The smell of gunpowder filled the air as a dozen bullets were fired!

Within two seconds they had emptied their magazines.

But the bullets left no marks on the creature. They sounded like they had struck metal and fell to the ground with a clinking clang.

The bird-man raised its wings and beat them violently. Its black feathers shot toward the two agents like lethal arrows!

Instinctively the agents ducked behind a nearby rock. The feathers struck the stone and sent splinters flying, one of which scored a cut across their faces.

"Sir, this is..." Austin was stunned. He’d thought this would be another boring fake alarm. He hadn’t expected a supernatural creature to show up right in their faces the moment they arrived in town.

They took cover for a while and tried to think of a solution.

"Cut the crap—we're marked by this monster!" Gallo shouted. "I'll create a chance; you run our car over here!"

Then he stuck his head out and opened fire again while yelling, "Get in the car and call the bureau. I want the whole San Diego branch here!"

"This could be our chance for promotion and a raise, as long as this fucking monster stays!"

But there was no reply from Austin. Instead he said, "Sir, somebody's coming!"

Gallo spun around and saw townspeople approaching, led by a priest and the sheriff, standing right in front of them.

Sheriff Franz had already drawn his Remington and aimed it at the two. "Who are you? Why are you shooting up Vespucci?"

"We're FBI agents, just came from San Diego!" Gallo replied quickly, flashing his badge and handing it to them. "But now's not the time for that—didn't you see the monster?"

"A monster?" Father Angus and Sheriff Franz looked puzzled. There was nothing in front of them. "Where's a monster?"

The two agents peered again and found the bird-man had suddenly vanished, as if it had disappeared in an instant!

A scream rose nearby. "Shit! Martin! Father, it's Martin!"

A young man's voice pulled everyone's attention.

They moved around the obstructing boulder and saw the crater. Jameson had jumped in and was shaking something black.

"That's the monster!" Gallo said at once, taking back his badge from Sheriff Franz. "Do you know him?"

"He's a local kid, Martin Delasso!" Father Angus said, stepping forward. "I need to see what's wrong..."

"Don't go—he resisted bullets and fires feathers more terrifying than bullets!" Gallo grabbed him.

Father Angus smiled. A silver cross on his chest floated up and white light shimmered through his body.

"Don't worry, agent. The Lord will protect me."

Saying that, combined with the white light he was emitting, made him look like a divine messenger—some people might even believe it.

Gallo and Austin were even more shocked. They had assumed the so-called "divine visitation" was just a con. Instead of a fake monster, they were now seeing a real priest!

Their heads spun. Is this world... right? Isn't this a materialist world? Where did these things come from?

They weren't the only ones stunned—so were the townspeople who had followed. Everyone stared in amazement. Both the black-feathered "Martin" and the radiant Father Angus challenged their understanding of reality.

...

"Your Grace, acquired Wish Force 23,469!" Alvin said excitedly. "We now have 24,769 Wish Force points. We can smelt two points of Divine Power!"

Not everyone in town had been here yesterday—only some stayed home. After yesterday's events fermented overnight, more people knew about it today.

And the Wish Force they contributed felt more genuine and abundant!

Compared with yesterday's dreamlike spectacle, today's reality was far more shocking!

"Excellent!" Bai Yang said with a smile. "Let this little story simmer a bit longer. For now, let's head to San Diego."