Chapter 387: The High Priest's Troubles

“What is it? Did something go wrong with the Bihai City plan?” The High Priest asked calmly, seeming unconcerned about the Bihai City operation.

He truly didn’t care. Bihai City was just a side move in his plans. If successful, they would take over the Bihai Branch. If unsuccessful, they would receive a large sum of death compensation.

It was a no-lose situation.

Church members fought and died for their deity, proving their devotion.

Naturally, they would want this death compensation donated to the church and their god.

“We’ve recruited a group of people, planted some moles, and sent reinforcements. Everything is proceeding according to plan. Theoretically, we should be able to take over the Bihai Branch.”

The High Priest chuckled coldly: “Theoretically? In theory, ice-based superpowers could freeze time, getting stronger when hit could mean infinite growth, and illusion powers could trap all humanity in fantasies. If theory was always reliable, why bother with practice?”

“If you enjoy theorizing so much, I can arrange for you to teach at a university.”

“No no no, that’s not what I meant,” the Superhuman Cult higher-up quickly corrected himself.

“Just say what you mean. I don’t like excuses or empty talk.”

“For our Superhuman Cult to succeed, we need real effort, not wordplay.”

“Make mistakes? Reflect on them. Find faults? Correct them. Understand?”

Of course the higher-up understood this basic principle, but since the leader said it, he could only agree: “Understood.”

“Then tell me, what happened inside the Bihai Branch?”

“Well… two or three newcomers took action and handled everyone.”

The High Priest turned, eyes bright, rubbing his ring: “Do tell.”

“All our infiltrators were captured. We couldn’t get direct accounts, but we’d previously hacked into the Bihai Branch’s cameras and saw what happened.”

The higher-up led the High Priest to the screening room.

There, the High Priest witnessed Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu displaying extraordinary abilities – multiplying themselves, raining sword energy, effortlessly resolving the situation.

And they didn’t kill anyone – all were captured alive by the Bihai Branch.

“Interesting.”

“These two might possess unknown superpowers. If we can identify them, they won’t be a threat.”

“And the third one, Peng Lianghai. As part of their trio, if the other two are this strong, he can’t just be an ordinary enhancement-series superhuman.”

“I suspect Peng Lianghai might be the strongest of the three, despite not taking action.”

The High Priest glanced at him and uttered two words:

“Idiot.”

“Please enlighten me, High Priest.”

“These two are indeed powerful, but not in the way you think. They might come from another world.”

The higher-up was stunned.

“With your intellect, you couldn’t possibly understand. Don’t strain yourself.”

“But you’re right about one thing – this Peng Lianghai is suspicious.”

The higher-up stared blankly as the High Priest actually grew excited.

In his forty years with the cult, he’d never seen the High Priest like this.

“No, I don’t have enough intel on these three. I need more preparation.”

The High Priest always trusted his intuition, which now told him that obtaining these three’s powers could make him unprecedentedly strong – perhaps even making his “Superpower Completion Project” unnecessary.

He believed each superpower represented a world’s origin. Combining them all might achieve world-creation.

Then he would become the universe’s sole ruler, with no one daring to oppose him.

There was basis for this – possessing tens of thousands of superpowers, he’d already brushed against world-creation’s threshold.

“Almost there. Just a few rare ones left.”

He’d been waiting for historically recorded but currently absent superpowers.

As an all-attribute superhuman, he had secret troubles too.

“What kind of superpowers are ‘Zero Female Appeal’ and ‘Zero Male Appeal’? Why did I absorb these?”

For his world-creation goal, he’d endured humiliation absorbing these, leaving him perpetually alone.

He nearly developed social anxiety.

Once he fell for a female believer, but due to Zero Female Appeal, she immediately dumped him and quit the cult.

“And this damned Word as Law ability always triggers the ‘Shut Up’ superpower when activated.”

Thus he could never use Word as Law.

He spent days learning ventriloquism to bypass it, only for “Shut Up” to silence even that.

He finally abandoned Word as Law entirely.

“Then there’s the healing power and ‘Baldness Equals Strength’.”

Normally, awakening “Baldness Equals Strength” makes one permanently bald.

But the High Priest also had healing powers.

His healing was too strong, automatically treating any injury – including baldness as injury.

So his hair kept growing and falling out faster than leeks.

He had to wear a hood.

But there was an upside.

With “Injury Equals Strength”, his constant hair loss counted as injury, providing continuous strengthening.

The boost was minor, but still comforting.

Once, curiosity made him watch horror movie “Fright Night”, giving him nightmares. His “Photographic Memory” superpower didn’t help.

Fortunately, he also had “Memory Erasure”.

He erased the movie memory.

So thoroughly that he forgot watching it, and watched it again out of curiosity.

Then erased again.

After days of this cycle, he realized something was wrong. Recording himself revealed the truth.

“I’ve sacrificed so much for world-creation,” he mused, impressed by his own dedication.

Standing before the Three-Eyed True God statue without reverence, he said: “You’d better help me succeed. If I become ruler, I’ll promote you worldwide. If I fail, I’ll smash you to pieces.”

When cult members discovered this statue, they rejoiced at finding such a fitting deity. In truth, the High Priest had fabricated the Three-Eyed True God, perfectly calculating superhumans’ psychology.

He founded the Superhuman Cult not to build power, but to gather superhumans together.