Enforcer Manual
Chapter 287: Your Faith is in Arrears_1

Chapter 287: Chapter 287: Your Faith is in Arrears_1

Song Lan’s observation continued.

After watching for a while, he tended to believe that this midlife novice boxer was just an ordinary man crushed by life, who, after learning of the high prize money, joined the underground boxing tryouts like a moth to a flame.

In fact, there was nothing special about it.

Lu Xiang had mentioned that most of the participants in these boxing matches were poor souls crushed by life, hoping to maintain their lives through this life-risking method. In the end, ninety percent of them died in the ring, or were beaten into a vegetative state, lying in the hospital bed with tubes inserted, becoming the "waste" of society.

This brought up the sinister aspects of "Viper".

He was not just a street gang member managing the venue, but also had a very sharp business mind. To attract more people to participate in the underground boxing matches, he constantly hired people to promote online how many penniless individuals had gotten rich by participating in underground boxing matches.

Shortly after the newcomers joined, he would deliberately increase the promotion, arrange a few "warm-up" actors as opponents for the newcomers, and create an illusion for the audience that they too could do it. The newcomers’ process of earning their first pot of gold and gradually becoming addicted was also the process of their step-by-step descent into the abyss.

Underground boxing matches were so prevalent in District 17 thanks to the indispensable role played by "Viper".

In Song Lan’s view, this was indeed a gang member with vision.

He cleverly integrated commercial elements into this project of violence, blood, and revelry. Had it not been for his accidental death, it was very likely that he could have created a programme similar to WWE2166 in District 17 in the near future.

As long as you give the people of District 17 a dream, even an illusory one, they will flock to it.

Nashi was one of them.

The biggest difference between him and those who were eliminated early in the tryouts was that he clicked on a promotional website called "Lunar Eclipse, Making Your Life Better" before participating.

The prosthetic hospital’s test results proved that the two boxers hadn’t died from external injuries but from sudden death, which was very likely related to some kind of ability.

Nashi seemed to be a medium spreading this ability, and what was truly terrifying was that they had no idea how many people in District 17 had been exposed to this website so far, nor how many had died of this unknown cause.

Clearly, this was not Nashi’s first visit to the website.

He opened his profile with practiced ease, a feverish zeal flickering in his eyes.

Initially, he didn’t believe in the motivational quotes that popped up on the site by chance, but as he followed the website’s guidance, his life did indeed get better day by day.

Win another match, two matches...

No, just by winning the prize money of this one underground boxing match, he could give his family a decent life.

No longer would he have to act according to his boss’s mood, no longer would he have to run around for a meager salary barely enough for the three of them to subsist on...

However, in the next moment, Nashi’s pupils shrank, and his brain entered a brief blank state. During this blank spell, the mouse kept restlessly clicking on the hyperlink named "Prayer".

Initially, he thought it was a network lag, until a black dialog box suddenly popped up in the middle of the screen:

"Sorry, your faith is overdrawn, and we cannot provide any additional prayer services for the time being."

No prayers could be missing!

Nashi became increasingly agitated; without that unexplainable force by his side, he was certain to die in the next match on the ring.

He was absolutely sure of this; he hadn’t done any systematic training before this, nor had he implanted any combat prosthetics. In the electronics factory, he was the kind of introvert who would not lay a hand on anyone.

He had won these two matches because of that mysterious force.

And just as Nashi’s restlessness and panic were about to peak, a clergy member who claimed to be customer service found him.

"You used the power of prayer to kill a person, and that’s not part of our usual business."

The clergy seemed to know everything about his current situation, "You killed two people, and this sin will be forever branded onto your soul."

Nashi’s hands flew over the keyboard, but soon he deleted the words he had typed out.

It was as if the other party could see through his heart, "You must atone for what you’ve done, or this sin will sooner or later befall your family."

"...How can I atone?"

He typed out these four words with trembling fingers.

For he could not deny the truth, although he tried hard not to think about it, fooling himself into believing that the two people had merely fainted, he had actually heard the audience’s discussions.

The first boxer he fought had died.

Dismantled by the prosthetic hospital into parts, the subdermal armor flowed into the black market, and God knows which unlucky amateur would have it installed in their body.

"The Moon God will guide you on the path."

After leaving this ambiguous message, the chat box disappeared.

The light from the computer screen refracted into Nashi’s eyes, making them look empty, and soon after, as if he had received some kind of calling.

Under this calling, he stood up and walked towards the tool room.

The sound of rummaging through the boxes woke the child in the bedroom, who sleepily came to the door of the tool room and pushed open a crack.

"Dad?"

The light from the living room caught Nashi’s attention.

Hearing the call from behind, he stood up, with a hammer and nails found during the rummaging in his hand, and his chilling gaze landed on the child at the door.

"Come here for a moment."

His tone wasn’t that of a father calling his child, but rather that of someone treating a prey. Sensing the danger, the child did not step forward but instead took a few steps back.

"Come here quickly, Dad is calling you."

In front of the child, Nashi hid the hammer behind his back, revealing a smile that he thought was gentle but extraordinarily eerie in this environment, "Don’t wake your mother, or the disaster will spread to her."

The standoff between father and son lasted for about ten seconds, until Nashi finally lost patience. His eyes flashed fiercely as he took awkward, discordant steps forward.

The child turned and instinctively tried to run, but collided with someone after taking the first step.

Looking up, the child saw a familiar ballroom mask.

The first edition of the Law Enforcement Handbook, collected by his mother, had this person in it. He remembered his mother saying that because of concerned citizens like this, the city was becoming better and better.

"Don’t be nervous."

A reassuring voice came from beneath the mask, "Your dad just wants you to go to bed early, and doesn’t want you to see him working overtime—I’m right, aren’t I?"

Song Lan looked at Nashi, whose gaze was still hollow and empty. He seemed to want to swing the hammer in his hand, but the suppression of Spiritual Energy made him have to stand still.

"Go back to your room and rest."

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