The four of them drove straight toward the church in a vehicle Hu Tingting had procured from the roadside - a local brand resembling an off-road car. Xu Changnian was behind the wheel, with Zhou Wen navigating. Xu floored the accelerator, making the fog-shrouded streets feel like a highway.
Hu Tingting asked, "Should we test the waters first or charge in recklessly?"
Lin Ye replied, "A calculated charge. Best to finish them in one strike." Concentrating, he took out his CL0 pistol and pressed it against his forehead with closed eyes.
Though the CL0's internal mechanisms were complex, Lin Ye quickly located the fully mutated flesh projectile in the flesh extractor. He began carving temporary collapse runes onto the bullet - his first attempt at engraving in such a complicated environment. He had to etch the runes without disrupting the pistol's existing functions, which was why he didn't remove the bullet first.
Zhou Wen warned, "Brother Lin! There's a complex spiritual energy shield around the church!"
"Ram through it!" Lin Ye commanded. "Crash through the main doors! Prepare for combat!"
Hu Tingting gasped, "What?"
"Understood!" Xu Changnian responded.
Completing the final stroke of the collapse rune just as the mutated bullet reached critical instability, Lin Ye fired at the church entrance.
The bullet struck an immensely powerful spiritual barrier. The collapse rune activated, causing the shield to disintegrate outward from the impact point. The SUV plowed unimpeded into the church, its momentum crushing debris into powder that scattered like confetti.
They abandoned the vehicle just before an invisible force pulverized it completely. At the church's center stood a priest in black-and-white vestments, who had only destroyed the incoming car without further action.
Lin Ye likewise held back, instead quietly carving runes into the church walls - inferior spiritual material compared to the theater, but serviceable.
"What a pity," the priest said mournfully. "I planned to let you die painlessly tonight. Yet here you are - such is the tragedy of humanity, no?"
"Humanity isn't tragic. Only brain-dead morons are," Lin Ye retorted while continuing his runework and scanning their surroundings.
"That pistol should be useless now, yes?" the priest probed. "I meant to trap you outside until nightfall for material conversion."
"Maybe it's spent. Maybe it recharges. Who knows?" Lin Ye rested his hand on Red Blade's hilt, poised to strike.
Thick mist poured into the church, bringing with it two grotesque mutants. "My masterpieces - the essence of this town's life. I awaited their arrival. What are you waiting for?" The priest directed the creatures to attack while beginning mutation runes on the church floor. This sanctuary was the town's only safe zone - had they not forced entry, he could have easily worn them down.
The monstrosities were patchworks of highly mutated organs and tissues, every inch bearing traces of their human origins.
Lin Ye ordered: "Zhou Wen, stop his runes. You two handle the mutants. I'll control the battlefield."
"Understood," Zhou Wen acknowledged.
"No problem," said Hu Tingting.
"Copy that," Xu Changnian confirmed.
Zhou Wen retreated behind Lin Ye and activated his innate talent - the ability to disrupt others' spiritual energy, with effectiveness depending on the target's power. The priest's mutation rune carving halted midway.
When the priest looked toward Zhou Wen, he found only Lin Ye poised to strike.
Though the two mutants were formidable and hard to kill, they were ultimately mindless brutes. With Lin Ye's runic support, Hu Tingting and Xu Changnian held them off easily.
Seeing how tanky the mutants were, Lin Ye abandoned plans for a quick priest kill, instead focusing on saturating the church with runes to exhaust his opponent.
"I'm waiting for your next move," Lin Ye said calmly. "If these are your only cards, I suggest suicide. Saves us effort and spares you torture."
The mutants could last perhaps ten more minutes - only because Lin Ye's focus remained primarily on the priest.
"...Never imagined first-tier investigators could push me this far," the priest admitted. "I concede your current superiority. Yet even so, I must save you - this is the Redemption Church's purpose."
Shedding his vestments, his symmetrical form twisted into a three-meter-tall, one-meter-wide cylinder of flesh covered in writhing tendrils. "Apologies - I was never skilled at combat, hence this form. You may attack. As I said, fighting isn't my forte."
Lin Ye's spiritual energy blade struck the priest's surface, only to be blocked by an odd barrier that left no scratch. Simultaneously, intricate mutation runes appeared across the priest's body - their presence accelerating bodily corruption for anyone using spiritual energy within the church.
"Brother Lin, I can't affect the runes on him," Zhou Wen reported.
Hu Tingting added, "The mutants are mutating further! At this rate we'll transform before killing them!"
Xu Changnian said, "I can take one down, but then I'm spent."
"Unnecessary," Lin Ye decided. "Prepare to focus fire on the priest with me." He blocked the mutants' attacks with a spiritual shield while rapidly carving mutation runes into the walls.
The difference between mutation and evolution lay in stability. Mutants existed in perpetual instability - the priest's creations especially, being amalgamations of mutated parts. This instability was intentional - the priest needed vessels capable of unleashing power that stable systems couldn't contain.
As a mutation specialist, he controlled these volatile forces. But what if Lin Ye interfered?
Though no expert, Lin Ye could still employ mutation runes. By saturating the church with them, he'd disrupt the delicate equilibrium. The mutants would erupt with final explosive power while the priest's defenses faltered from imbalance.
The priest, being an expert, noticed Lin Ye's scheme too late. He desperately tried deactivating his surface runes, but the process had already passed the point of no return.