Chapter 14: The Murderer (Edited)

"Mr. Ed, may I ask a question?" Drew said somewhat melancholically as he watched the taillights disappear into the darkness.

Hugging his wife, Ed turned his gaze back and responded.

"What question?"

"What is the name of the church where the priest is? I plan to go there to pray one day..."

"The church? Pluto Church..."

"..."

The conversation between Ed and Drew drifted away with the evening breeze, while Knight York was already allocating the points he had earned today.

He had a fruitful day, receiving a reward of +5 points for completing the mission and an additional +3 points from the blessing of the spirits, giving him a total of eight points to allocate.

[Knight York]

[Race: Human]

[Occupation: Priest, Professor of Pharmacology, Doctor…] [Overall Constitution: 24/24, (Note: The average for an ordinary person is 10)] [Life: 98.5/98.5 (Note: The average for an ordinary person is 10)] [Spirit: 83/83 (Note: The average for an ordinary person is 10)] [Magic: 134/134 (Note: recovers one point of magic every minute)]

[Item: Basic Priest Robe, Defense 6, Durability: 6/10]

[...]

Compared to the average for ordinary people, these eight points were not insignificant.

Like before, Knight York chose to add all eight points to his life value.

The other values seemed sufficient, but he always felt that his life value was never enough.

If he had a thousand life points, perhaps being shot in the chest would only result in a loss of a hundred points. If it were ten thousand? One hundred thousand? A loss of a hundred points would be insignificant. With millions or billions, he would be, in a sense, an immortal god.

[Point allocation successful] [Life value increased to 106.5]

[...]

Hearing the notification and feeling the changes in his body and internal organs, Knight York looked at the dashboard, clicked on a song, and increased the volume.

"Come on! Give it more energy!"

Due to the changes within him, Knight York felt as if he was floating and couldn't help but shout.

The song's lyrics conveyed, "Come on, come on, follow my lead, I've fallen for your graceful posture..."

"In our lingering moments, we attract each other like magnets..."

"Even though my heart has long been captivated by you, your body makes me yearn..."

"..."

As the song finally ended and the sensation inside him vanished, Knight York calmly turned off the music.

It was too explosive for his taste; he didn't like such intense songs.

Looking at the time displayed above: 22-51, Knight York pressed the accelerator again, aiming to get home a bit earlier than planned.

As Ed had mentioned earlier, this area was somewhat remote, and given the current time, there were hardly any people on the highway, so he had no concerns.

For a moment, under the cover of darkness, a beam of light moved rapidly along the highway until it slowed down and stopped at the edge of the Appalachian Mountains.

"Hey!!!"

"Hey!!!"

"..."

He stopped because Knight York heard a series of anxious shouts.

"What's going on?" He instinctively looked into the rearview mirror.

Through the taillights, Knight York saw two women with dirt-smudged faces, covered in wet soil, appearing on the edge of the highway in a panic and fear.

"Hey!!!"

"..."

Seeing the car stop, their faces lit up with surprise and urgency as they hurried towards the vehicle.

Importantly, one of the women seemed to have an injury on her foot, but with the support of the other, they moved quickly despite hobbling.

This made Knight York think they were running away...

"Running away?"

The thought crossed his mind, and Knight York slightly frowned, picking up his Winchester M1897 and stepping out of the car.

His tall figure and the priestly robe he wore became visible to the two women rushing towards the car.

"Hey!! Father!!" The one supporting, Jesse, wearing a white tank top revealing her fair skin, was visibly surprised.

But the next second, they were taken aback as the priest aimed a gleaming shotgun at them.

"Stop! Stay where you are!"

Seeing Knight York's actions and hearing his words, Jesse and Carly, the one with the injured foot, had no choice but to stop, daring not to move further under the gunpoint.

"Hey!!! Father!! We're not bad people, there's a group of murderers here..."

Seeing Knight York unmoved and on guard, Jesse had to explain loudly, her voice carrying a mix of crying and urgency.

"My friends have been killed!!! Only the two of us managed to escape!!!"

Hearing this, a question mark flashed in Knight York's mind, murderers? Suddenly, he recalled horror movies from his past life and the phrase "American specialty."

"They're still chasing us! Please save us, Father!!"

Jesse kept talking, her voice becoming more fearful and her body trembling.

"Please save us, please!"

As if fearing he wouldn't help, Carly also interjected with a crying voice.

"We have money, our families have money, as long as you can save us, we... we will give you a lot of money, so much money..."

Knight York slightly raised his eyebrows, looking at Jesse and Carly, who were trembling slightly, pondering that the murderers they mentioned must indeed be terrifying to have frightened them so severely.

"Come over here."

Confirming that the two were indeed not dangerous and were human, Knight York put away his shotgun.

As he spoke, Jesse and Carly's faces lit up with joy, and they hobbled over to Knight York, supporting each other.

Seeing this, Knight York instinctively glanced at the surrounding environment.

This was the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, a vast mountain range in eastern North America, indicating that the area was covered with dense forests.

In the darkness, the dense forest meant even deeper shadows. Aside from the car's headlights, everything was pitch black, not quite to the extent of being unable to see one's hand in front of their face, but certainly unclear beyond a meter away.

"If there really is a group of murderers, I wonder how these two delicate women managed to escape to here from the murderers' pursuit in such a hostile environment..."

Knight York pondered while cautiously stepping forward to meet Jesse and Carly, who were approaching.

"Sorry! You're a bit slow."

Jesse and Carly were clearly startled.

But after Knight York spoke, he stretched out his right hand and directly grabbed Carly's slender waist, lifting her up single-handedly.

"Uh, thank you..."

Jesse and Carly instantly understood the meaning of his previous statement.

"It's fine, can you still walk?" Knight York asked Jesse, who was exposing a lot due to torn clothes, without staring.

"Yes!" Jesse nodded.

"Good!"

Hearing the answer, Knight York, holding Carly, walked briskly towards the car.

And Jesse hurriedly followed...