Chapter 114: The First Angel
Yu Sheng had naturally anticipated a reward—whether for providing intelligence, assisting in missions, or outright “contracting” certain tasks. Submitting extraordinary artifacts or completing work for the Special Affairs Bureau typically earned Spirit Realm Detectives and Investigators a standard payment. For “independent supernatural figures” like Little Red Riding Hood, this was among their most stable sources of income.
What Yu Sheng didn’t expect was for the Special Affairs Bureau to hand over the money directly, and for the compensation to exceed his expectations.
Clearly, this bonus had something to do with the danger posed by the Angel Cultists.
As Yu Sheng recalled Little Red Riding Hood’s parting words of warning, he became increasingly aware of just how serious the Special Affairs Bureau considered the Angel Cultists.
Song Cheng gave a slight nod as Yu Sheng accepted the envelope, casually remarking, “Normally, the payment would go straight to your account through the Border Communications platform. But since this is our first collaboration, I figured a little ceremony was in order. More importantly, I wanted to use this chance to talk to you about the Dark Angels and the Angel Cultists. After all, it’s rare for Spirit Realm Detectives or Investigators to come into contact with those lunatics on their very first mission.”
Yu Sheng adjusted his posture, showing a more serious attitude. “I did see that so-called ‘angel’ in Night Valley. Honestly, it was nothing like what I imagined an angel to be.”
Song Cheng’s voice deepened. “But you felt its overwhelming presence, didn’t you? That sense of being observed from a higher dimension… the ‘holiness’ that lurked behind its grotesque form?”
“Holiness…” Yu Sheng recalled the sensation he had when he saw that enormous eye in the sky. He started to understand what Song Cheng meant. “If you’re talking about that irrational coldness… then yeah, it did feel that way. That creepy Door thing was terrifying, but when it hovered overhead, it did give off a sort of twisted ‘divinity.'”
“That’s precisely where the word ‘angel’ came from,” Song Cheng nodded. “The first Investigator who encountered a Dark Angel wrote the first report before succumbing to madness. In the throes of fear, they described it like this:
‘It looked down upon me, as if it hailed from some higher, detached place. Mad thoughts swirled in my mind… It was a Messenger, a herald of a vast and immense power. I could almost hear it speaking to me—phrases I couldn’t comprehend, conveying a will far beyond Human understanding. In the most extreme and purified thoughts, I saw a shadowy future… as all things perished, they ascended into the sky…’
Song Cheng recited the account in a slow, grave tone, then pulled out a thick stack of documents from his briefcase, selecting one sheet and placing it before Yu Sheng.
“This is the Investigator who wrote that report. We call him the ‘Contact Zero.’ This is what he looks like now.”
Yu Sheng took the photo curiously and stared at it. What he saw was a bizarre and twisted “tree,” standing alone in a pure-white hall.
The tree was rooted in a massive cultivation pool, its roots and branches matted and tangled like hair. The overall form subtly resembled a hunched, struggling Human. From its darkened crown hung suspiciously colored “vines” that, upon closer inspection, revealed themselves to be swollen, grotesque blood vessels.
“He’s currently held in a high-security containment facility of the Special Affairs Bureau. We trim the new branches from his crown every three days to prevent him from losing control,” Song Cheng continued. “He didn’t turn into that overnight. The transformation took ten years—a horrifying process. During that decade, Contact Zero would occasionally regain lucidity, only to descend into hysteria again with terrifying realization.”
Irene peeked at the file in Yu Sheng’s hand, then shrank back with a shudder. “That’s worse than death… If it were me, I’d give the poor guy a swift end. That’s just torture.”
“We thought so too,” Song Cheng replied calmly. “After his final moment of clarity, when he begged his overseer for release, we carried out the execution. We are certain we killed him—or at least, ended his suffering soul. But his body, though severely damaged, survived. After thorough deliberation, the Special Affairs Bureau decided to preserve the body as a critical specimen for studying angelic influence.”
Yu Sheng frowned deeply and was silent for a long time before asking, “Just seeing it for a moment can cause that? But we saw that giant eye too, and we seem fine.”
“First, brief exposure doesn’t leave irreversible effects. Contact Zero was trapped near the First Angel and was exposed far too long,” Song Cheng explained slowly. “Second, each of the Dark Angels has different ‘traits.’ Some cause severe psychic corruption. Others are overtly destructive. And some… appear harmless, with no signs of direct aggression. The giant eye you saw likely belonged to one of the inert types—less aggressive.”
“Are there many Dark Angels?” Yu Sheng lifted his head with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
“There are already confirmed to be in the double digits,” replied Song Cheng, handing over another dossier. “This is the ‘First Angel.’ It was the one witnessed by the Zero Contactee—recognized as the first Dark Angel to invade our world.”
Even Foxy, who had been calmly grooming her tail nearby, couldn’t resist leaning over to take a look, joining Yu Sheng and Irene in poring over the documents.
“The First Angel, also known as the Forest Angel, or the Inverted Tree, appeared in the form of a colossal plant suspended upside-down in the sky,” Song Cheng explained at a steady pace. “Its canopy stretched nearly a kilometer wide, and its height was about the same. It grew out from a swirling vortex structure that hovers in the sky—a phenomenon that manifests 24 to 72 hours before its ‘descent.’ This vortex is a critical signpost used to detect and issue early warnings about the Forest Angel.”
Yu Sheng stared intently at the image in the dossier—of that vast, inverted tree looming against a cityscape backdrop. Below the image, further descriptions of this Dark Angel unfolded:
“…It does not actively move or attack but constantly emits intense psychic interference. Observers are involuntarily compelled to raise their heads and gaze at its canopy. They begin to hear massive, chaotic voices until their minds are entirely overtaken—some even come to believe they are also ‘trees.’ In some accounts from survivors, they described seeing a vast Forest, and themselves nestled at the base of the ‘Mother Tree’ in the form of saplings…
“At present, no effective method has been found to resist this ‘compulsion to gaze.’ Even those with the most unyielding minds cannot avert their eyes once the Forest Angel has descended. This influence is similar to that of the Goddess of Beauty and the Silent Sun… Currently known protective measures include voluntary blinding, deep hypnosis, and consuming the Serpent Venom Wine from the Desert Court beforehand—strategies aimed at forcibly blocking vision or suppressing cognitive activity…”
“The Forest Angel first appeared above the Silent City in the Otherworld,” Song Cheng continued. “It triggered the full activation of that realm. Multiple investigative and Scholar teams operating within it were annihilated—only the Zero Contactee survived. Its most recent appearance was three years ago, above a remote alien planet where it directly invaded the Real World. Though it lingered in the sky for only a few dozen minutes, the damage was catastrophic. The planet was backward and unprepared to confront a Dark Angel. In the aftermath, over ten thousand perished directly, tens of thousands more were affected, and many are still suffering to this day.”
Yu Sheng felt a profound… shock.
When he saw that colossal single eye in the Valley, the reality hadn’t truly struck him. But now, faced with a concrete case, he finally understood just how perilous the Dark Angels were.
“This thing… it can manifest in the Real World?!” he asked, looking up at Song Cheng with disbelief.
“In general, Dark Angels tend to descend within the Otherworld,” Song Cheng nodded, “but in truth, they can appear anywhere. They are not bound by time or space. Their arrivals and departures are utterly unpredictable—they are true ‘Free Wanderers.’”
Yu Sheng remained speechless for a long moment. Beside him, Irene, after a brief stunned silence, muttered under her breath, “…Holy shit.”
“Where the hell do these things even come from?” Yu Sheng asked after a thoughtful pause.
“No one knows,” Song Cheng sighed, “but the most widely accepted theory now is that all Dark Angels originate from our own Beyond The World. They are a legion of Intruders—here to assault our universe.”