Not long after, the commotion outside faded away. Several cultists covered in bloodstains entered the room and placed the sealed deity-containing items before Lin Ye.

The cultists lurking in this area had all been cleared out. The Parasitism Network was spreading outward, and it wouldn't be long before the entire city became part of the network.

"Oh? There are still people daring to come over?"

Through the Parasitism Network, Lin Ye sensed a squad of cultists approaching this apartment building. Some cultists following behind the squad were dispersing the surrounding civilians, as if they intended to fight Lin Ye to the death here.

Lin Ye also cooperated by dispersing the civilians. This was the first time he'd seen cultists with this much backbone, so he decided to give them a chance at a fair fight.

"There's a very strong cultist squad approaching. You can leave with your little sister, or you can stay here, though there might be some risk involved."

Lin Ye stretched his body. This Alienated Body was a custom-made new version, covered in Mutation Structures designed to enhance physical strength.

"We'll stay right here."

Catherine didn't think anywhere else would be safer than this. The deity's true body was right beside her—this was both the most dangerous and the safest place.

If the deity couldn't even protect His own body, then there was no point in her running. Those cultists would never let them go, and their fate would probably be worse than becoming sacrificial offerings.

"Alright, follow me. Let's not let them destroy your home."

Lin Ye led the two sisters downstairs. The cultist squad had already passed through the main gate of the residential complex.

"Why aren't you running? Is it to protect these civilians?"

Lin Ye looked at the squad's captain. He couldn't quite understand what these cultists were trying to do.

"Heh, protect these offerings? Are you joking? These offerings are like weeds in a field—cut one batch, and the next grows right back. There's no need to care about them at all."

Dunn said with undisguised disdain.

"Mayor Dunn?"

Seeing Dunn's face, Catherine, standing behind Lin Ye, let out a shocked voice.

"Catherine, hand over that box to me, or else I might have to discuss educational issues with your mother."

The old man standing slightly behind Dunn pulled down his hood and said with a smile.

"...Principal Duke, my mother is dead. She was killed by those cultists."

Catherine replied in a heavy voice.

"What a shame. But don't worry, I'll find a suitable foster family for you and your little sister, and when the time is right, I'll send you to complete the work that should have been done. Rest assured, there won't be any more accidents this time."

Principal Duke flashed a meaningful smile.

"Alright, we'll deal with the student issue later. Let's first talk about the matter between us, Mister Deity."

Dunn had been staring at Lin Ye the whole time, his cane pointed in Lin Ye's direction.

"...I am a deity, you know. Are you all underestimating me a bit too much?"

Lin Ye looked at these arrogant cultists. He couldn't understand what gave them the confidence to spout nonsense in front of him.

"Haha, a deity? There's a deity sealed inside this cane I'm holding. It's nothing special. You've caused a huge ruckus in my city—did you think I'd just let it slide?"

Dunn was carrying ten deity-containing items on him, each capable of releasing massive amounts of divine power. He didn't think this somewhat strange deity could handle so many divine items at once.

And he wasn't alone here. Every member of this squad was a pillar of this city, not much weaker than him.

"So that's how you see it. But you seem to have overlooked one thing: borrowing a deity's power and being a deity yourself are fundamentally different. Besides, are those messy things you have really deities?"

Lin Ye had long felt something was off. If every deity-containing item held a part of a deity, then the number of deities this Plane could access was far too many.

Yet these containers did have a faint trace of an aura similar to that Abyssal Evil God's, and each container held something with completely different properties.

Linye found it hard to understand what caused this situation. After all, having too many different properties wasn't a good thing—chaos only led to collapse.

'It can't be that these are different parts of a deity whose body collapsed from having too many attributes, can it?'

If that were really the case, then Lin Ye had finally met a deity even more pathetic than himself.

"Are you saying that you're different from these deities?"

Dunn gripped his cane tightly, his eyes locked on Lin Ye's expression. He wasn't stupid—Lin Ye's attitude was making him feel a twinge of unease.

"In terms of raw power, I might be a bit weaker than these deities. But I can think normally, and those divine items you're carrying would have a hard time hitting me."

Lin Ye replied calmly.

"Then what if we attack your true body?"

The entire squad turned their divine items toward Catherine.

"Despicable, but meaningless. You shouldn't have chatted with me for so long... Before you can make a move, I'll have killed all of you."

Lin Ye pulled a high-tier spiritual energy weapon from the waist of his Alienated Body—a ghastly white alienated bone blade.

"Are you talking about those little things parasitizing the offerings? They can't affect us. Each of us has divine items protecting our bodies."

Dunn wanted to strike immediately, but the moment Lin Ye drew the bone blade, he suddenly felt an extremely ominous premonition, as if making a move would result in his death right then and there.

"Those divine powers are indeed strong, but they're not beyond analysis. At the end of the day, they're just compressed spiritual energy mixed with mental impurities and rule power. That kind of power can indeed resist a mental defense system, but only for a limited time. If you had launched an attack the moment you confirmed my location, there might have been a chance to defeat me. But that chance is gone now."

Lin Ye had given them a chance at a fair fight, but they had completely failed to seize it. He was deeply disappointed.

Suddenly, Duke, standing behind Dunn, attacked Catherine. Divine power, which even Lin Ye was unwilling to take head-on, crossed space and struck... the empty ground beside Catherine.

Red Flash—Extreme Slash!

Boom!

The moment Duke made his move, Lin Ye also unleashed the technique he had been building up for some time.

The spiritual energy, compressed to its limit, erupted in an instant. Lin Ye crashed into the group of cultists like a volcano spewing magma. After he passed through, not a single intact corpse remained on the torn ground behind him.