Hell walked out of the apartment building where Luna lived. The night wind hit him in the face, carrying a hint of chill.
He stood downstairs and looked up at the window on the seventh floor, where a faint light still glowed. A very quiet laugh came from beneath his mask. Then he turned and walked into the depths of the night.
It was already very late.
In the early hours of the morning, the streets were empty, with only an occasional late-night vehicle passing by in the distance.
The streetlights cast dim yellow light on the road, stretching his shadow long.
The trains had already stopped running at this hour, so he could only go back on foot.
‘I really envy those Goddess Angels,’ Hell silently sighed to himself.
‘They have the Teleportation Protocol bestowed by the Goddess, ignoring space, able to go anywhere they want. One second they’re on the battlefield, the next second they’re back in a warm home. Not like me, I have to walk back step by step.’
Hell turned into a small alley. After making sure no one was around, he raised his hand and gently took off the white mask on his face.
The moment the mask left his cheeks, his pale, weary face was exposed to the night.
He worked his slightly stiff jaw, then stored the mask in the inner pocket of his trench coat.
Next, he took off the black trench coat, shook it out casually, folded it neatly, and put it away.
Now he had returned to his usual appearance—an ordinary black-haired teenager wearing casual clothes.
He pulled earphones from his pocket, put them in, and opened his music player.
A soft melody sounded in his ears, making the late-night solitary walk feel less lonely.
Then, with his hands in his pants pockets, Hell followed the street at a leisurely pace toward the neighborhood where his home was.
The light and shadow of the street lamps flowed over him.
The music from his earphones played softly. His steps were neither fast nor slow, just like an ordinary student returning from a late-night jog.
The streets were very quiet in the dead of night, only the sound of Hell’s footsteps echoing. After walking for about ten minutes, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.
Hell stopped, took out his phone, and looked down at the screen. A message was quietly sitting there.
The sender’s profile picture was a pure white mask with a striking letter outlined in bright red lines—“X.”
Hell’s expression instantly became serious.
His eyes, always carrying a hint of fatigue, narrowed slightly. A complex emotion flickered in the depths of his pupils.
X. Adjudicator X.
It had been mentioned before that in the Eternal Night Gospel, an organization where every member had their own hidden agenda and selfish motives, everyone used the organization to satisfy their own desires.
Just like T, whose head was full of pornographic waste. Just like Adjudicator G from the Factory, who used Crystal Husks to satisfy his own ambitions.
Precisely because of this, this factionalized, internally conflicted organization had been able to wage a centuries-long war against the equally “shoddy” Goddess Angel Alliance.
Neither side was any good, so neither could defeat the other.
But there was one exception. Adjudicator X.
Hell stared at the white mask avatar on the screen, recalling the description of this person from the original work. He was the strongest Adjudicator in the Eternal Night Gospel.
Apart from the Agent, he held the highest status.
He was responsible for arranging the tasks assigned by the Agent, distributing tasks to other Adjudicators, and coordinating various internal affairs of the organization.
Unlike the other Adjudicators who all had their own ulterior motives, this guy was the only one in the entire Eternal Night Gospel who wholeheartedly and one hundred percent worked to fulfill the grand goals of the Agent and the organization.
He wasn’t greedy for money, didn’t lust after women, didn’t vie for power, didn’t scramble for profit. He just faithfully, efficiently, and by any means necessary executed the organization’s tasks.
A person like that was the most terrifying.
Hell stared at the message, his fingers tightening slightly.
A message from X was never anything good.
He took a deep breath and opened the message. The faint light of the screen illuminated his pale face.
It was a mission notice.
The format was standardized, the content clear, exuding X’s usual rigorous style.
“Joint Mission Notice”
“Execution Time: Tomorrow 20:00”
“Execution Location: Eden City’s neighboring city ‘Canaan’ suburbs. Coordinates attached.”
“Mission Objective: Eliminate the Goddess Angel stronghold in the Canaan area. Seize the Crystal Core Samples stored within the stronghold.”
“Participating Adjudicators: H, G, S, V”
Hell’s gaze swept over those lines, his eyes narrowing slightly.
A joint mission.
A large-scale mission requiring several Adjudicators to execute simultaneously. The location was in the city next to Eden—Canaan. The distance wasn’t too far, but it wasn’t close either. At his speed, it would probably take two to three hours to get there.
Because he was a “nearby” Adjudicator, he had been assigned as well.
Hell’s fingers quickly tapped on the screen, replying with only two words.
“Understood.”
Then he carefully looked over the list of Adjudicators participating in this mission.
Hell raised his eyebrows slightly.
Of these four people, he had met two.
Adjudicator G—the person in charge of the Crystal Husk Factory tonight, the one who had released “Proliferating Z” and nearly killed Luna.
At this moment, he should be frantic about the destruction of his factory, complaining to X and trying to shift the blame onto others.
Adjudicator S—the one he had cooperated with on a mission before.
Although they had never met face-to-face, they occasionally exchanged messages on the app after that, and their relationship was pretty good.
As for Adjudicator H… Hell thought back to the description in the original work.
That one was a quiet, powerful guy who rarely showed up in the organization and always acted alone on missions.
For X to send him on a joint mission this time meant his abilities were indeed trustworthy.
Just as he was thinking, his phone vibrated again.
It was a reply from X.
“How is the investigation on Artemis going?”
Hell’s gaze sharpened slightly.
X continued sending messages.
“A factory located in the Eden suburbs was destroyed by a sudden attack tonight. The attacker was the Annihilation Angel Artemis.”
“Adjudicator G came to complain. He believes this is a dereliction of duty in your area of responsibility and wants to get involved in the mission to investigate Artemis.”
‘That guy G… his own factory gets destroyed, and the first thing he does isn’t self-reflection but trying to shift the blame to someone else, and even wants to use this as an excuse to meddle in my territory?’
Hell frowned slightly. ‘Even though I leaked the location, brought Artemis there, and contacted the subsequent Goddess Angel reinforcements—doesn’t this guy bear any responsibility at all?’
Hell gave a cold laugh. His fingers flew across the screen as he replied.
“I already have some leads. It won’t take long to finish.”
He paused, then added another sentence.
“Also, please tell G—don’t interfere in my area.”
Soon, X replied.
“That’s good.”
Only two words, as concise as X’s style.
Hell was just about to put away his phone when another message popped up.
This time it wasn’t X.
It was S. The Adjudicator S with whom he had a decent relationship.
“We’re executing the joint mission tomorrow.”
S’s message came with its usual hint of familiarity.
“Looking forward to cooperating again. Please take care of me, V.”
Hell looked at this message, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. He replied politely.
“Please take care of me too.”
Then, he finally put away his phone and resumed playing music.
Hell put his hands in his pockets, lifted his head, and looked at the night sky.
The stars filled the sky, twinkling overhead. The streets were empty, with only the streetlights casting dim yellow light, stretching his shadow long.
He walked unhurriedly like that, his footsteps making soft sounds on the concrete pavement. The night wind blew, lifting the fringe of the young man’s hair.
This mission might be a good opportunity to strengthen Luna’s obedience.
What should he have her do?