Chapter 1658: Chapter 698 The Bishop’s Madness_2

“Very, very brave.” Wang Tao chuckled and went on, “But in the apocalypse, nothing surprising happens. For example… let’s see what secrets you have hidden in your mind. Even though it might turn you into an idiot, as long as I get what I need, I don’t mind getting my hands a little bloody…”

Actually, Wang Tao was trying to scare him.

Unless absolutely necessary, Wang Tao didn’t want to use spiritual power to control him. After all, the Bishop is a Sixth Rank Awakened and possesses four awakenings: light system, dark series, system, and psychic system.

Wang Tao could clearly feel that his spiritual power was very strong, the second strongest he had ever seen, the strongest being Wang Tao himself.

Although Wang Tao was Seventh Level, his Law Domain was not of the psychic system, so even though his spiritual power was strong, it wasn’t strong enough to easily manipulate a Sixth Rank Awakened, especially not the Bishop whose spiritual power was also substantial.

In such a situation, forcibly controlling the Bishop wouldn’t affect Wang Tao, but it might very likely turn the Bishop into an idiot.

Apart from using spiritual power to control the Bishop, making him speak voluntarily, there was another method, which was Qu Shilin’s [Memory Search]. This ability could directly explore a target’s memory, seemingly simpler than Wang Tao’s approach.

However, the problem is [Memory Search] can only work on creatures with weak spiritual power, low intelligence, or those who haven’t been dead for long. The memories obtained are fragmentary and very vague.

The Bishop is Level 6, his spiritual power strong, and he’s smart. Qu Shilin is also only Level 6, so the Bishop clearly doesn’t meet the condition of “weak divine power, low intelligence.” Thus, for Qu Shilin to search the Bishop’s memory, there’s only one way — kill the Bishop, allowing Qu Shilin to search the memory from the corpse’s spiritual power.

But this poses another issue, which is that Qu Shilin’s searches don’t retrieve complete memories; they are fragmentary. If they manage to find the desired memories after killing the Bishop, that’s good, but if not, they’ll never have another chance…

This is why Wang Tao deliberately tried to scare the Bishop into surrendering willingly.

“…”

The Bishop, hearing Wang Tao’s words, instantly flashed a hint of fear in his eyes; he was indeed scared.

He himself was an awakened of the psychic system, aware of the wonders of spiritual power. Although he didn’t possess the ability to search memories, he knew such abilities must exist! If Wang Tao used such measures on him, he’d be doomed!

“You can’t do this to me! If I die, knowing the method won’t help you! At that time, all of you will perish!”

The Bishop stared intently at Wang Tao.

“Oh? What do you mean?”

Wang Tao raised an eyebrow, feeling the Bishop wasn’t lying.

The Bishop hesitated, but to avoid becoming a fool at Wang Tao’s hands, he finally gritted his teeth:

“You know, I’ve had the Church believers drink a lot of Holy Medicine. These medicines not only slow their power enhancement but also bind them to me! As long as I die or become an idiot, they’ll die too! And of the ‘force that destroys everything,’ it requires these believers’ help! It’s one of the reasons I founded the Dusk Church!”

“You’re saying you’re bound to the entire Dusk Church personnel?” Wang Tao doubted the Bishop was deceiving him, but he didn’t look like he was lying, “How did you achieve this?”

Wang Tao had seen the Dusk Church believers, and their attributes were intact, showing no signs of being bound. However, based on his apocalypse experience, not everything appears directly, if it’s not shown, he can’t see it…

“It’s one of my abilities, unreplicable by others. Anyway, I’ve bound myself to all the Dusk Church members! They die, I don’t die, but if I die, they certainly die! And once they’re dead, there’s no way to change the current situation forever!”

The Bishop spoke firmly, noticing Wang Tao still appeared unmoved, he continued.

“Besides, you don’t think the Dusk Church is only this small number of people, right? This is just the headquarters, we have many branches across the country, totaling over a million members! Only through the efforts of these million people together can the crisis be resolved! Not one less!”

Originally, Wang Tao felt somewhat at a loss about handling the Bishop, but after hearing his latter words, Wang Tao suddenly grinned.

“Do you mean that a hundred million people together could use your method?”

“… What do you mean?”

The Bishop’s heart sank, suddenly sensing a bad omen.

Wang Tao smiled and explained:

“Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Wang Tao, the highest authority of the Changhe Survivor Base, with a population of over a million, all following my orders. We also have an ally, the New Red Maple Base, with nearly a million. Together, that totals two million people! These two million people all follow my commands. So even if I search the memories in your head, even if your million believers die out, what difference would it make? I still have people to use!”

“…”

The Bishop was somewhat stunned. He knew Wang Tao certainly wasn’t alone, likely having his own Survivor Base, but he hadn’t anticipated Wang Tao having so many people under him! Two million people combined indeed outnumbered his million!

Of course, there’s a chance Wang Tao was bluffing, but he didn’t dare gamble, considering his own life was on the line.

The Bishop immediately shouted:

“No way! Even if you have two million, or even five million, ten million, it won’t work!”

“You certainly are good at finding excuses!” Wang Tao shook his head, appearing somewhat disappointed, “Alright, let me give you one last chance to convince me. If you can’t persuade me, then I’ll proceed according to my own plan, okay.”

Speaking simultaneously, Wang Tao directed his vast spiritual power towards the Bishop.

Boom–

The Bishop suddenly felt dizzy, sensing the terrifying spiritual power from Wang Tao; he had no doubt Wang Tao possessed memory search capabilities!

“Wait! I’ll speak!”

The Bishop took a deep breath, easing his tense emotions, and slowly spoke:

“You think this ‘force that destroys everything’ is easily triggered? Even if you find that thing, it can’t be triggered directly. There’s only one way to trigger it, and that’s sacrifice, using human lives for sacrifice…”

“What… do you mean?”

Wang Tao suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck.

“Yes, exactly what you’re thinking.” The Bishop gazed at Wang Tao with deep eyes, “To trigger that thing, at least tens of thousands of human lives must be sacrificed at once. A hundred thousand is the safest! And they must willingly give their lives.”

“The Holy Medicine I’ve long been giving them not only suppress their powers and bind their lives to mine but also possesses one ability: mind control! So they can willingly die for me!”

“Even if you have hundreds of millions under your command, can you persuade them to willingly offer their lives? Obviously not, as everyone has self-interest, even if sacrificing oneself can save others, how many would sacrifice themselves for others? So even if you have hundreds of millions, you still couldn’t find a hundred thousand willing to voluntarily sacrifice!”

“…”

Wang Tao never thought the Bishop founded the Dusk Church, developed a million believers, just to have them willingly sacrifice their lives.

And Wang Tao could vividly sense the Bishop’s true intent behind this was not purely selfish, he genuinely seemed to want to save all of humanity!

“Madman, a complete madman…”