The violent collision caused the front of the car to cave in severely. The cars in front kept pushing Wei's car into the woods with full force until they hit the trees and finally stopped.
When the cars in front collided, Wei, trapped in the middle, quickly grabbed the arms of Joey and Peter on either side to avoid being thrown out, but the violent impact still caused some minor injuries to those in the back seat.
The most severely injured was Jack, who was driving. His face was covered in blood, and the front of the car was so deformed that he was trapped in his seat.
Jack tried to struggle free, but it was futile. He turned slightly, extending his bloodied hand to Joey and Peter in the back seat, hoping they could pull him out.
"Joey, Peter, get me out! My legs are stuck. Hurry!" Jack urged, seeing the two in the back seat unmoved, growing impatient.
When they still didn't move, Jack started cursing, struggling harder, and finally looked at Wei for help.
Wei shrugged, indicating he couldn't help.
Ignoring Jack's curses, Joey and Peter watched the cars in front through the window. The three cars had blocked their path, but the people in them had not yet gotten out, seemingly waiting for something.
Peter speculated that the other party might be unsure of their condition and wanted to observe first before acting. Joey nodded in agreement, then exchanged a glance with Peter, signaling that they needed to act quickly. They were outnumbered, and time was running out.
Realizing Joey and Peter might leave him, Jack began to plead, "Joey, Peter, please don't leave me. Get me out, and I'll give you all my money."
Joey looked at Peter, then shook his head. Jack would be a burden, even if they got him out; his leg injuries meant he wouldn't get far.
With one less person, they could split the money more easily between the two of them.
Seeing Joey shake his head and Peter staring coldly at him, Jack knew they would abandon him. He began to curse, eventually even turning his anger toward Wei.
Tired of Jack's noise, Peter shot him an irritated look before stepping forward and covering Jack's mouth. Jack struggled, but Peter snapped his neck with a sharp twist.
Afterwards, Peter told Joey to count to three, then open the door and run with Wei down the wooded slope. He would stay behind to distract the others with gunfire, meeting up later at their rendezvous point.
Joey patted Peter's shoulder, wishing him safety.
When Peter counted to three, Joey flung open the door, fired a few shots at the cars in front, then grabbed Wei and rolled down the slope.
Peter hadn’t even exited the car when he saw people from the opposing vehicles aiming at him and firing.
Cursing under his breath, he realized Joey had left him with the brunt of the attack. Peter managed to leap out and take cover behind a tree, firing back and hitting a few opponents.
As his position became the target of concentrated fire, Peter moved to another tree, trying to hold his ground. He retreated towards the edge of the woods, shooting in the dark, and heard Wei shout before rolling down the hill.
Looking back, Peter saw Joey lying still on the ground, presumably dead, and Wei was nowhere in sight.
"My chest was hit by a bullet, and I rolled down the slope, running towards the city streets, hiding in Charing Cross Street. You know the rest," Wei concluded his story to Lam.
"Do you have any idea who the other group was?" Lam asked, now understanding the sequence of events but still puzzled about the other party's identity.
"I don't know, but my intuition tells me it might be related to that eye," Wei suggested after some thought.
Lam nodded. It was possible. The eye might want Wei dead because he discovered its existence. But why had the eye been chasing him too, in Longland? Could Longland be its stronghold? But it had also appeared in Shanghai.
The situation was complex with many unanswered questions, giving Lam a headache.
Unable to find a solution, Lam decided not to think about it further, advising Wei to stay within the embassy and be ready to return to Hua country.
Wei was right. The other party was indeed sent by the eye. Unbeknownst to Wei, after he escaped into the city, Peter couldn’t hold off the attackers and was shot in the head at the edge of the woods.
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Before dying, Peter's eyes met Jack's lifeless eyes in the car, which seemed to be staring at him with a mocking smile. Reaching out as if trying to grab something, Peter died.
Seeing Peter and Joey dead, the leader of the other group signaled his men to check on Wei's situation while he approached the injured members on the ground.
"For the faith!" he proclaimed, making a strange gesture with his hand. The others echoed, "For the faith!" before making the same gesture and shooting themselves.
Their bodies slowly dissolved into puddles, forming a glowing blue eye in the darkness. The leader quickly set fire to the puddles, causing them to disappear.
Afterwards, the men reported that Wei had fled to a nearby street. The leader nodded and ordered them to pursue Wei.
After an unsuccessful search, they returned to the woods, dealt with the bodies of Jack and the others, and left the area.
In Vatican City, the grand cathedral stood quietly in the city center. Sunlight poured through the rose window in the dome, filling the cathedral with a luxurious and sacred atmosphere, enhanced by the choir's melodious singing.
Since 756 AD, Vatican City had been a religious state for over a thousand years, with faith in God ingrained in its people's blood.
In 756 AD, Pope Stephen II received the city of Rome and surrounding areas from Frankish King Pepin, establishing religious and secular authority over the region, leading to the creation of the Papal States in central Italy. In 1929, Mussolini and Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty, officially recognizing the Vatican City as a sovereign state, with the Pope as its ruler.
Pope Gregory XVII stood in the cathedral, hands clasped in prayer before the large crucifix, bathed in the luxurious light from above.
A group of people entered quietly, stopping behind Gregory XVII, heads bowed. After finishing his prayer, the Pope turned and kindly asked, "How did it go?"
The leader of the group looked up, shaking his head, "The operation in London last night failed. The target disappeared."
Gregory XVII, showing no emotion, nodded slightly, saying he understood, and dismissed them.
He turned back to the altar, opening the Old Testament and reciting, "Daka, thou who hath tried to touch it... Who hath first given to me, that I should repay him..."
After reciting, Gregory XVII found himself in the familiar space, soon joined by the angel in a gray mist.
People often imagined angels as human figures with wings, but according to the prophet Ezekiel's writings, angels had white eyes and blue pupils, encased in four azure wheels full of eyes.
According to other Vatican records, angels were also depicted as giant eyes, capable of overseeing the world and discerning good and evil. Seeing the giant eye confirmed to Gregory XVII that he was indeed in the presence of a true angel.
Gregory XVII reported the failed operation, looking remorseful and pleading for the angel's forgiveness.
The giant eye moved, and a mechanical, ethereal voice echoed in Gregory XVII's mind, "Eliminate the person quickly. I do not wish to be discovered before my full awakening. Let this be a warning; I do not want a repeat."
With that, the giant eye faded, leaving Gregory XVII alone, chanting praises to the angel's mercy and greatness.
After a while, Gregory XVII returned from that space, slowly opened his eyes, and glanced at the staff on the altar, marveling, "What a miracle!"
Gregory XVII still remembered that day vividly. He was praying as usual when, unexpectedly, the staff began to tremble slightly. It felt as if something was calling to him in his mind.
For a moment, Gregory XVII didn't know how to react, but then he remembered the incantation and the legends passed down by previous popes. He instinctively recited the incantation and entered that space where he met the angel.
Blessed by the angel, he was fortunate to become one of its servants and received the divine water from the angel. This divine water could grant eternal life to any faithful believer.
When he emerged from that space, Gregory XVII was still immersed in excitement and disbelief. He hadn't expected the records buried deep beneath the church, unknown to most, to be true.
Looking at the elixir of immortality in his hand, Gregory XVII felt that his faith had never been more devout than at that moment.
In the cathedral's underground library was an ancient parchment, documenting the angel's descent to Earth in a language lost to time. Detailed explanations from previous Popes helped Gregory XVII understand the contents.
One account described how the angel, after an unknown period, fell into a deep sleep in the Pacific Ocean. Humans built a divine kingdom on the angel, living in peace and immortality under its protection. However, when someone desecrated the angel, it awakened in wrath, destroying the kingdom and forcing the survivors to migrate to Europe.
To appease the angel, the survivors established a religion worshiping it and God. Over time, this evolved into the current faith system.
The parchment also mentioned five scrolls documenting the angel's deeds, one of which described the desecration, filled with slanderous lies.
Followers were instructed to kill anyone possessing this scroll to purify the faith. Strangely, the scroll also contained the incantation to enter the angel's space.
As for the whereabouts of the remaining four pieces of parchment, there are no detailed records. However, the parchment notes that after the angel fell asleep, five keys were left on Earth, one of which is the staff currently held by the church.
By reciting the incantation to the key, one can enter the space where the angel resides and receive the angel's blessings.
The incantation is clearly recorded on the parchment, specifically a passage from the Book of Job in the Old Testament: "Lay your hand on it; remember the battle, and never do it again! Any hope of capturing it will be disappointed; were not even the gods overwhelmed at the sight of it? Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me." The parchment also emphasizes that before reciting this incantation, the angel's true name, Daka, must be invoked.
Gregory XVII gradually awoke from his reverie and coughed softly towards the door. The group that had entered earlier quickly returned to his side. Gregory XVII whispered a few words to the leader and then closed his eyes, continuing to pray before the crucifix.
The angel had instructed him to spread the true faith across the European continent as quickly as possible. He had already spread the faith to the UK and Western Europe, but there was still a long way to go to cover the entire continent. It seemed he needed to hasten his efforts; otherwise, the faith would not appear devout enough.