Reaping The Benefits

Tens of thousands of people congregated in the main square. The square was devoid of lights when night fell, and in their place were a great number of bonfires. An elderly guy in red robes was sitting on the platform of a pagoda, and the people below all bowed respectfully to him.

The elderly man talked carefully while casting his look across the audience. "The Lord has gone through the dream's floating ice, facing them in the far-off and barren land."

"The Lord has endured their disgraceful strength over the countless centuries."

"The Lord has witnessed several deaths and made them vanish forever."

The Lord is aware of our impending gladness, which we will construct with our own hands.

Although not particularly loud, his voice was quite ethereal and seemed to be ringing in his brain. Everyone in the tens of thousands-strong square heard his plea clearly. The elderly man with the crimson robes gently stood up from his seated position.

Everyone in the crowd believed it to be a miracle leaving the earth and began chanting the name of the God of Flesh and Blood. The large-scale sacrifice ceremony that lasted all night and into the early hours of the morning was performed by these nascent believers, who were on the verge of fanaticism.

The red-robed elderly man bowed to the sky and a scarlet rain began to fall as the ceremony came to a conclusion.

"You will be blessed, Lord."

...

It was the morning of the following day when all the believers dispersed. The elderly guy with the red robes stood calmly on the pagoda, concealing any expressions of happiness or rage. Those believers did not know his true identity; all they knew was that he was the Lord's messenger and a very strong mage.

He is none other than Nadox, the powerful warlock who stands for knowledge, insight, perception, and mystery, the new Sarkic Cults Leader and leader of the Four Saints of Lust for Flesh under the seat of the Great Warlock Saarn.

Nadox has gone through hardship. He's had his lips stitched together, his tongue amputated, and even been court-martialed. He traveled the globe as a messiah only to be scorned by temples and well-traveled paths. However, none of this broke him.

He finally met Saarn and came to the conclusion that Saarn represented the next group of saviors. He identified a Savior who is about to become the True God. There must not be anything more thrilling than that. Nadox observed everything with a very composed countenance.

He breathed in the smell of blood and flesh while closing his eyes. those tens of thousands of new converts he had just developed last night. These people would serve as Lord Saarn's initial sacrifices in order to become one of the gods.

He was still thinking along these lines when one of the Sarkic Cult members cautiously approached him and stated, "My Lord, that gentleman wants to see you."

"Bring him here." Nadox said, his gaze narrowing slightly.

A young man in a black suit walked over a little while later. "Father instructed me to bring you a good news, Lord Nadox, he added as he owed a little of his body."

Nadox nodded, but did not speak.

"Lord Nadox, although this city is entirely under the authority of the Sarkic Cults, both the SCP Foundation and the GOC are monitoring from the periphery, so until Lord Saarn's ritual is finally done, we still can't take it lightly." the young man said, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Nadox merely closed his eyes when he finished speaking because this was not a beautiful thing to say. The young man's heart burst with disgust at such a jerk. How could the Sarkic Cults' plans have worked out so well without the support of the Chaos Insurgency?

When you initially sought for assistance, you didn't behave in such a way!

The young man did not say anything, but his face had gradually turned ugly. It was only then that Nadox slowly spoke.

Although the young man remained silent, his appearance had increasingly deteriorated. Only then did Nadox begin to speak gently.

"Young Master Watts, Lord Saarn expresses his very sincere gratitude to the Chaos Insurgency for their assistance, and she promises that when she becomes a god, she won't treat any of you poorly from the Insurgency. However, right now is a crucial time for her to ascend to the gods and cannot be distracted, so those people outside, I still bother the Insurgency to help out.

"That's…"

Watts intended to remind the opposing party, but he didn't anticipate sparking a debate. He did not anticipate Nadox actually having the foresight to request assistance.

Watts didn't respond, so Nadox laughed in a similar manner "What? Can't even such a little issue be handled by Chaos Insurgency? How will you and Lord Saarn rule the Earth in the future, then?"

"Alright! I'll handle this situation!" Watts, who was enraged by Nadox's arrogant demeanor, concurred while still having a full mouth.

He needed to do it well and prove to his haughty brother who was his father's actual heir because his father had long ago promised him that he would be completely responsible for this cooperation with the Sarkic Cults.

Watts grumbled, "According to my insider's report, a nuclear bomb carried by the SCP Foundation in the nearby station is likely to blow up the city and disrupt Lord Saarn's ceremony. I will demolish it as a gift for Lord Saarn's ascension to God!"

"Then I shall wait for good news from you, Young Master Watts." Nadox said with a slender smile.

...

One blooms for each of the two flowers. However, Zhang Jue departed the City of Gears and landed on the American west coast. Old Smith welcomed them to a remote location after waiting there early. Zhang Jue quietly finished his meal and then called Hansen, who had traveled with him the entire time, to his side.

"I respect you." As he consumed his bun, Zhang Jue said.

Hansen raised his head and shown some confusion. "I'm relieved that you didn't do it," he said. "I know you have a signal transmitter hidden in the bottom of your shoe, and as soon as you touch the switch, the Foundation will be able to locate my position. Along the way, you tried to do so three times: once when I hijacked that ship, once when we reached the City of Gears, and the last time just as we landed time."

Hansen's eyes were wide with disbelief, and his pupils dilated. He had no idea why Zhang Jue knew things so well.

"You should not worry about It was deactivated, and I would have known the moment you pressed the switch, so I can assure you that it's a good thing you didn't do that."

Hansen wanted to speak, but ultimately he just sighed. "What are you going to do with me, Advisor Zhang?"

"Do not misunderstand, I do not intend to "dispose" you. You spied on me on behalf of the Foundation, as you claim, and even if you reported it to the Foundation, there's nothing wrong with that, but you didn't do it, so I want to talk to you and give us a chance to get to know one another." Zhang Jue stated.

"What chance?" gasped Hansen.

"Walk with me." said Zhang Jue with a cheeky smile, "A big gulp of wine and a big piece of steak, isn't that much better than working diligently at the Foundation to sell your life?"

Since Hansen had accompanied Zhang Jue the entire journey, he was aware of his strength and realized that doing so was far safer than performing missions for the Foundation alone. He didn't tell the Foundation Zhang Jue's whereabouts for that reason.

The fact that Zhang Jue stood apart from every other officer he had ever encountered led him to unconsciously defend the man. Zhang Jue never treated him like a bottom-feeder and didn't take a position. Everybody enjoyed his jokes. In the end, he didn't see any hierarchy at all. He would still make jokes even if he were an O5.

Thus, even after Zhang Jue arrived in Gear City, he didn't inform the Foundation of the situation. He gave it some thinking, and after Zhang Jue had extended an olive branch to him, he made the decision to join.

"How can I help?" In a raspy voice, Hansen questioned.

"Be less arrogant; from what I've seen, you're a capable agent who could serve as a guard commander or something equally as important. To be honest, I'll let you join Site-14 and the Foundation's Antimemetics Division in the future. There are numerous open positions, however that is really a secondary consideration. You now have a very significant task to complete."

"And that is?"

"You now inform the Foundation of my whereabouts, claiming that negotiations failed, members of the Church of the Broken God attacked us, SCP-271 was stolen from, and I was hurt and laying in the hospital. Stay put for the foreseeable future, and in the event that someone from the Foundation comes looking for me, you handle it by stating that I am too hurt to receive visitors."

"What about you, Advisor Zhang?" Hansen questioned.

"Me? I've heard that someone is going to rise to immortality, so I'm going to join in the fun and see if there are any advantages to be obtained by the way." Zhang Jue responded the question he shouldn't have asked while laughing.