True Apocalypse Game

The moment the words were spoken, both Pablo and Martin Benitez froze, their bodies trembling as if they had heard the impossible.

Martin Benitez's face filled with disbelief. He turned to Shen Feng and roared with laughter.

"Kid, are you really one of Ye Zhenli's Witch Doctors? Have you lost your mind? Before you stands the King of Colombia! The most powerful businessman in the world! A hero that even the Eagle Country Government can't touch—the immortal Mr. Pablo Escobar! This... Cthulhu you speak of—no one has ever heard of him. Who could possibly compare to Pablo Escobar!?"

He had originally thought the mention of Cthulhu was just a casual question, or perhaps a diversionary tactic. He assumed the man was simply an assassin sent by Ye Zhenli.

But he never expected the man had genuinely come for this "Cthulhu," and had somehow concluded that Pablo *was* Cthulhu. It was utterly ridiculous.

Shen Feng ignored Martin Benitez, a faint smile playing on his lips as he watched Pablo Escobar.

The Colombian drug king, once the seventh richest man in the world, who commanded his own fleet of fighter jets and hundreds of thousands of men, had built the largest narcotics empire the world had ever seen.

This man was right in front of him, but Shen Feng already understood that "Pablo Escobar" was merely a false identity.

Or rather, Pablo Escobar was just one of his countless cover identities. He was like a giant spider, lurking in the center of a web woven from lies and hypnosis, waiting for the right moment to strike and prey upon all of human civilization.

Pablo's face still held that wicked, cunning smile. He stroked his mustache and said to Shen Feng:

"Cthulhu? I've never heard that name... As for you, kid, if you're here for Ye Zhenli's few hundred million US Dollars, I suggest you show some sincerity. If you're here for something else, you'd better demonstrate your capabilities. Otherwise, the Cocaine jungles of Colombia are about to get a new pile of fertilizer."

His eyes were vicious, and his words dripped with undisguised killing intent, sending a chill through his surrounding men.

Such was the fearsome presence of the Colombian drug king.

Shen Feng smiled faintly and continued.

"Now that we're face-to-face, there's no need to be coy. It's beneath you. After all, I am the Antichrist hand-picked by your Purification Society... To be honest, I'm a little surprised I managed to find you myself."

The moment the word "Antichrist" was spoken, the smile on Pablo's face vanished. The temperature seemed to plummet. The armed gang members' eyes narrowed, and a few core members exchanged glances, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

Pablo sat up bolt upright, his body radiating an immense pressure. Yet, in that same instant, an air of scholarly refinement settled over him. Merely by changing his posture, he seemed to have transformed into a completely different person.

If the Pablo from moments ago was a savage beast prowling the jungle, ready to pounce and devour, then the Pablo now was like a sovereign monarch, exuding an almost transcendental aura. He looked at Shen Feng and spoke slowly.

"Antichrist… Antichrist…"

His gaze was like a sword, threatening to pierce Shen Feng through. In a deep voice, he said:

"I never imagined the Antichrist would be just a child... Still less that we would meet in such a fashion... How did you find me?"

Though he still wore Pablo's face, the feeling he gave off was that of a completely different person—a superior being who could see through all worldly matters!

Beside him, Martin Benitez was trembling, his eyes wide with utter disbelief.

He was an intelligent man, so he naturally understood that Pablo's words were a tacit admission: he was, in fact, this Cthulhu.

'Pablo Escobar, the leader of the Purification Society? Cthulhu, the Master Hypnotist who supposedly burned himself to death!?'

'What kind of joke is this!'

Shen Feng gave a dry chuckle and sat down cross-legged inside the steel cage.

"To be honest," he said, "I found it hard to believe myself at first. The idea that Cthulhu, who supposedly burned himself to death, was actually Pablo Escobar, who was supposedly gunned down by the Colombian military and police…"

After getting the number connected to Martin Benitez from Musk, Shen Feng had started investigating the entire Columbia Medellin Group.

In this day and age, no matter how careful you are, you're bound to leave some digital breadcrumbs.

After all, even if someone completely disconnected from the information society and lived like a hermit, some of the people they contacted would inevitably have an online presence.

And where there's a connection, there's a clue.

Soon, with Jingwei's help, Shen Feng uncovered several leads on Martin Benitez. He learned how, almost immediately after Pablo's death, Benitez had gained the support of Pablo's former network to build his own power base. He mapped out the Medellin Group's current sphere of influence, and even found that Martin Benitez's one-time helicopter pilot made frequent flights to the mountains north of Medellin. Everything was investigated thoroughly.

At first, Shen Feng hadn't confirmed that Pablo was still alive, let alone that he was Cthulhu.

At the time, he simply thought Martin Benitez was loyal to Cthulhu, who must be hiding somewhere in the dense Colombian jungles.

But as the investigation deepened, he soon discovered that Martin Benitez revered Pablo with an unusual intensity and would often disappear for a couple of days with his pilot whenever a major decision had to be made.

Coupled with snippets from online and phone conversations—where others mentioned hearing a drunk Martin Benitez ramble about how Pablo would rule the world—Shen Feng became almost certain: Pablo was still alive.

His investigation into the archives of the Eagle Country's Central Intelligence Agency and the DEA corroborated this.

A report in their files noted that the DNA from the corpse didn't perfectly match a genetic sample of Pablo's taken from when he was in prison.

However, this discrepancy was dismissed as sample contamination and the report was shelved.

After all, taking down Pablo Escobar was an unparalleled victory, a monumental achievement for the Eagle Country Government. They weren't about to undermine that accomplishment by contradicting themselves so many years later.

Besides, with no further signs of Pablo, he was as good as dead.

Once he knew Pablo wasn't dead, Jingwei made another startling discovery by cross-referencing historical records.

Cthulhu's various public appearances back in the day were perfectly staggered with Pablo's.

Furthermore, right after Pablo was reported dead in the news, Cthulhu began a period of frequent public appearances.

The Purification Society seemed to have acquired a massive fortune out of nowhere, and they began spending lavishly to build their influence.

The amount of money Cthulhu spent was roughly equivalent to the estimated value of Pablo's hidden fortune.

And after Pablo's "death," the Columbia Medellin Group didn't cease its activities; it became even more active.

At the same time, certain individuals connected to the Purification Society, such as Cheney, also had close dealings with the Columbia Medellin Group. At the very least, they had all visited the jungles in the mountains of northern Colombia.

After Cthulhu disappeared in his fiery "suicide," the activities of both the Purification Society and the Medellin Group simultaneously went dark, as if they were exercising greater caution and going underground to lie dormant.

When all these pieces of information were strung together, no matter how bizarre the conclusion, it had to be the truth.

The leader of the Columbia Medellin Group, the deceased Pablo Escobar, and the head of the Purification Society, Cthulhu, who died in a fire, were one and the same person!

Shen Feng hadn't been a hundred percent convinced of this theory, but seeing the spider motifs decorating the hall's walls just now had sealed it for him.

After hearing Shen Feng's deduction, the man before him, Pablo, clapped his hands softly in admiration.

"Brilliant! You are truly worthy of the title Antichrist, the one and only enemy of the Master of Whispers!"

He then leaned forward, a smirk on his lips. A violent aura erupted from his body as he unleashed a powerful Consciousness Field that enveloped the entire ancient ruin. He spoke to Shen Feng, his voice grim.

"That's right. I am Cthulhu, the sole agent of the Master of Whispers in this world, the first Prophet to accept humanity's destiny... As for you, Antichrist, do you really think *you* found *me*? You found me only because I allowed you to!"

As he spoke, he casually tossed out a piece of paper. On it was a clear sketch.

Inside a heavy alloy cage, an Asian youth sat cross-legged, imprisoned. That youth was Shen Feng, and that scene was this very moment!

It was a prophecy from a Spiritual Child!

Cthulhu's expression remained unchanged as he continued.

"The Nanomechanical Cluster is indeed a rather tricky thing. That's why I've spent so much money over the years on power storage. This ancient city of ruins now holds enough electricity to power half of Colombia."

The moment his voice fell, arcs of electricity erupted from the floor, which was apparently laced with conductors. Arcs crackled inside the alloy cage as well, and a powerful electromagnetic pulse instantly surged, annihilating all of the Gray Tide Shen Feng had secretly deployed!

In the blink of an eye, Shen Feng's greatest trump card, his main advantage, was utterly neutralized!

All he could rely on now was his own mind and his own body!

"Antichrist, I understand. You see yourself as an equal to the Whispering God, and so you look down on me. You think I'm just an ordinary human, a charlatan spouting grandiose lies…"

Looking at Shen Feng, trapped in the alloy cage, Cthulhu rose to his feet and stared directly at him.

"That contempt, that arrogance—that will be the reason for your death. After you die, no other arrogant insect will dare to block our god's path. The Whispering God will destroy this world, setting everything back on its proper course, returning it all to dust. And I... I will become eternal with my god."