True Apocalypse Game

A chill ran down Brendan’s spine, but he reacted in the next instant, shouting:

"Antichrist!?"

He drew his gun to shoot.

The man before him, who looked exactly like him, grinned and said:

"It’s me."

As soon as the words fell, a silver-gray tentacle shot out from his back and wrapped around Brendan’s pistol.

Then, Brendan watched as the gun in his hand melted away like a candle, disappearing completely!

His neck tightened as the tentacle clamped around his throat. Then, he heard his own voice come from the other man’s mouth:

"This is Brendan. Cease the attack immediately and await my command."

The voice boomed through the monitoring room’s broadcast system, echoing throughout the entire underground laboratory. The men who had been approaching the cell door froze in surprise, but they faithfully followed the order and halted.

David, holding an automatic rifle in the center of the group, frowned. He first raised his hand in a stop gesture, then spoke into his microphone through the smoke:

"Mr. Brendan, what’s going on? Why are we stopping? We were about to breach. Those three hick cops have no fight left in them."

Brendan’s voice came again:

"Hold your positions. I just received orders from headquarters. The situation has changed. We must ensure these people are kept alive. I’m on my way now."

David was taken aback. He muttered to himself, ’Headquarters? So the Purification Society has a headquarters...’

Inside the cell, Joey lay on the floor, peering out through a cracked section of the wall. He could only see a thick cloud of smoke and some shadowy figures.

"Chief, why’d they stop? I thought I was a goner for a second there," Thomas asked, his voice shaking with lingering fear as he glanced at a bullet mark on the floor right next to him.

"Are those sons of bitches trying to negotiate now? No, that can’t be right. If that were the case, they wouldn’t have attacked in the first place," Aili said, confused.

Joey listened intently to the sounds from outside and said:

"Don’t make a sound. Be careful. I’m guessing they want us alive. Maybe we’re still useful to them for something? Or maybe they want to use us as goddamn test subjects."

Hearing that last sentence, Thomas shuddered and said with a pained expression:

"If that’s the case, I’d rather die. If they actually capture us, you have to put a bullet in me."

After seeing the pitiful, tragic state of those children and the inhuman treatment they had suffered, and recalling scenes from the terrifying conspiracy-theory horror movies he’d seen, Thomas had no desire to become a test subject living a fate worse than death.

"Quiet! Footsteps!" Joey suddenly said, raising a hand.

Meanwhile, out in the smoke-filled corridor, David and the others were also feeling confused. Footsteps approached, and Brendan emerged from the smoke to stand before them.

He seemed to be dragging something behind him.

From its shape and silhouette, it looked like a person.

"Mr. Brendan, what the hell happened? And what are you dragging? Is it reinforcements for those three hick cops?"

A cold sweat broke out on David’s brow. ’I can’t believe they had backup,’ he thought. ’Good thing this Brendan isn’t completely useless. He actually caught one. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.’

Brendan gave a slight smile and said:

"This is my prey. You might even know him."

’Know him? Who is it? An FBI agent?’

Confused, David walked over to the person being dragged and leaned down to take a look.

The person was bound head to toe with metal cords, their face pressed to the ground, obscuring their features.

David forcefully flipped the person over. The moment he saw the face, his eyes went wide, and the hair on his body stood on end.

The person tied up and dragged here was Brendan!

The real Brendan’s eyes were filled with terror. His mouth was also sealed with a metal cord, making it impossible to speak, but he desperately tried to signal David with his eyes.

’Who is the Brendan that’s standing there!?’ David trembled, immediately swinging his gun around while yelling, "Watch out! This guy’s an imposter!"

But it was too late!

The "Brendan" standing there let out a sinister laugh. His body suddenly writhed like melting wax, and a dozen tentacles shot out, wrapping around the weapons of all the armed men present. At the same time, even more metallic tentacles emerged, binding their bodies tightly!

"Agh! What is this thing!"

"A monster! It’s a monster!"

"My gun! My gun is melting!"

"Dammit, use a grenade!"

Hiding in the cell, Joey, Aili, and Thomas could only hear a series of curses and screams from the corridor outside, mixed with the dull thuds of bodies hitting the floor. For a moment, they had no idea what was happening.

But soon, the thinning smoke parted, and a person wearing a hood and a mask, hands in their pockets and a smile in their eyes, slowly walked out.

Seeing this person, the three officers froze, unsure of who this newcomer was.

At the same time, the smoke cleared a little more, revealing the scene behind the figure.

Behind him were a dozen metallic tentacles, each one holding one of the recent attackers.

Among them were Brendan from the Rattlesnake Company and the FBI agent, David!

"V... Venom? Or Dr. Octopus?" Thomas stared blankly at the figure, muttering to himself.

Joey and Aili were still holding their guns, but they didn’t point them at the newcomer.

After witnessing the conspiracy in this underground lab and the darkness within the Eagle Country Government, they felt they could accept anything at this point.

Besides, this person had easily taken down Brendan and his dozen men. Clearly, the enemy of their enemy was a friend.

But just to be safe, they kept a tight grip on their guns and shielded the children behind them.

Brendan, now bound hand and foot by Gray Tide tentacles and unable to move, was dragged across the floor. Staring at the figure’s back and the tough tentacles, he said in a trembling voice:

"Antichrist... You... you actually came here... The prophecy has been fulfilled... The prophecy has been fulfilled..."

But then he suddenly burst into crazed laughter and yelled:

"Do you really think you, the Savior, can save this world? This world cannot escape its fate of purification! Even if you save these wretched mortals for now, you can never stop the advance of the Whisperer! Purification is this world’s destiny, and the destiny of this Cosmos!"

Shen Feng ignored Brendan, acting as if he hadn’t heard his ravings at all. He smiled slightly at Joey, Aili, and Thomas, and said:

"To the three of you, honorable police officers, thank you for your bravery in protecting these children."

Joey, Aili, and Thomas had heard Brendan’s words, and their minds instantly filled in the blanks to form a version of the truth.

Obviously, it was just like a story from Marvel or DC. Brendan and his people represented a crazed, evil force, and this person before them—whose age and gender were impossible to discern—was the antithesis of that evil force. A savior, a hero!

As people of Eagle Country, they had been immersed in superhero stories since childhood. Conditioned by this and combined with their recent experiences, accepting such a premise required no effort at all.

Joey quickly said:

"No, we should be thanking you for saving us. If it weren’t for you, we’d have been turned into Swiss cheese by now... What on earth is going on?"

Shen Feng glanced at the children huddled in the corner, trembling and covered in wounds. A flicker of rage crossed his eyes as he said:

"These people belong to the Purification Society. They were planning to use these children for some kind of experiment to predict the future. I’ve been tracking them and happened to find one of their strongholds here."

He naturally wouldn’t elaborate on his own origins, but these three police officers had faced death without flinching and risked their lives for the children. They deserved at least a brief explanation.

"It seems... it seems the FBI and State Police are involved in this too? God, what is happening?" Thomas asked Shen Feng, his voice trembling. Although he couldn’t see the person’s face, their eyes put him at ease.

"The details of who’s involved will have to be coaxed from the mouths of these people." Shen Feng smiled slightly and said, "If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask them a few questions now. Could the three of you keep watch for me?"

His main purpose in coming to Eagle Country was to dig out some of the dregs of the Purification Society and carry out the next phase of his plan.

He had been keeping an eye on this Brendan from Rattlesnake Company for a long time, and now he was officially activating this lead.

Shen Feng said it calmly, but Joey understood that "asking a few questions" inevitably meant brutal interrogation.

Having survived a near-death experience, the three of them were more than happy to see it. They exchanged a look and nodded repeatedly.

"No problem. Be our guest. We won’t let anyone in."

With that, they picked up a few of the children and headed for the monitoring room.

The process of Mr. "Savior" asking his questions was clearly not something the children should hear.

Besides, some of the children were injured and needed immediate medical attention.

Shen Feng was also very pleased with their cooperation. He smiled slightly, and with a wave of his tentacles, tossed the guards, along with David and Brendan, into the largest cell.

Then, to their horror, the surrounding walls began to be rapidly sealed and replaced by the Gray Tide, transforming the cell into a sealed interrogation room in the blink of an eye.

The walls were smooth as mirrors, reflecting their figures. At the same time, all sorts of bloody and terrifying apocalyptic scenes began to flash across the surfaces, accompanied by a rhythmic CLICKING sound.

Brendan was strapped to an examination table. He looked around, and when his eyes landed on a certain object, his expression first went blank, then turned to wild joy. A wicked smile spread across his face as he said:

"Antichrist! Everything you do is futile! You’re nothing but a plaything for the Whisperer, and you can never escape your destiny of failure! Just as I cannot escape my fate today!"

As he spoke, he struggled and squirmed violently, and a piece of paper fell from his torn pocket, fluttering to the floor.

A tentacle of Shen Feng’s whipped out and picked up the paper. His eyes narrowed.

It was a sketch.

It depicted a person hidden under a hood, wearing a large backpack. Their face was obscured, and behind them writhed enormous tentacles, like a Devil from Hell.

He had seen this sketch before.

But the last time he saw it, it was a photocopy. Back when he had just returned from the Gray Tide apocalypse, members of the New York Emperor Gang had come to assassinate him, carrying a copy of this very sketch.

But this sketch was clearly the original, drawn in pencil.

In the bottom right corner of the drawing, there was a signature:

Claudius Brendan, age five.

Just then, Brendan suddenly laughed maniacally and said:

"That’s right, I drew that! I was one of the Purification Society’s Spiritual Children! I foresaw this scene long ago, just as Martha foresaw your death!"

Shen Feng followed his gaze and saw another hastily drawn sketch on a nearby drawing board.

It showed a person who looked like an Asian teenager lying on the ground. A good portion of their head was blown open by a bullet, brains splattered everywhere, their body twisted. Surrounding them was something that resembled waves.

From the half of the face that remained, the person’s features were still clear.

This drawing must have been unconsciously made by the little girl named Martha during the final moments of her electroshock treatment.

The face was Shen Feng’s.