Chapter 87: The Gathering of the Wealthy

Steve, currently deployed on a field mission, remained engaged in his clandestine operation. As a super-soldier, he deemed the task of planting location beacons along the continental borders a waste of his capabilities, so he continued his pursuit of the missing persons cases.

Drawing on his past experience tracking down Hydra bases and aided by a stroke of unexplained luck, Steve always managed to uncover subtle clues. At this very moment, he was at a church in North Carolina. Situated near the coast, it was the closest house of worship to the beach and served as a local tourist attraction.

However, not long ago, a wealthy capitalist had purchased the church for an exorbitant sum and strictly prohibited outsiders from entering for worship. This piqued the interest of Steve, who had tracked the trail to this very location.

Through various investigative methods, Steve discovered that after the church was sold, an out-of-town renovation crew had remodeled the interior. Since then, the owner had barred everyone else, leaving the state of the interior a complete mystery.

Following this, other wealthy individuals frequently visited the site. Based on his investigation and calculations, the next gathering was scheduled for today. Steve quietly crouched in the nearby shrubbery, waiting for the assembly to begin.

It was six o'clock in the evening, and a veil of darkness originating from the direction of Bermuda had already shrouded the land, providing perfect cover for Steve’s surveillance.

Before long, a fleet of luxury cars pulled up to the front of the church. Several prominent local moguls stepped out, and through the glow of the streetlights, Steve observed the distinct, unnatural smiles on their faces.

"Something is definitely wrong here," Steve thought to himself. His intuition told him that these smiles were far from normal.

Once the last tycoon had entered, the church doors were firmly bolted. This only deepened Steve’s sense of unease; typically, churches do not lock their doors during prayer.

Using his expert skills and the assistance of J.A.R.V.I.S., Steve successfully bypassed the guards stationed outside and slipped to the back door, peering through the corridor into the brightly lit hall.

As expected, the interior had been altered. Eerie murals greeted his eyes, instantly reminding him of the carvings he had seen in Antarctica.

"So, it really is a cult gathering. What are they trying to do? Are they responsible for the missing persons? And what is their purpose in kidnapping them?" As Steve pondered the cult's conspiracy, he was suddenly reminded of the hallucinatory space he had been pulled into by the murals. There, he had witnessed priests performing ritualistic dances, with the sacrifices being living human beings bound and held captive.

Clutching his shield tighter, Steve realized that if his suspicions were correct, the missing people had likely been offered as sacrifices. It was, after all, a common thread among the world's most notorious cults to rely on blood rituals; the missing were likely beyond help.

What Steve couldn't fathom, however, was that many of these wealthy attendees had children of their own who were also reported missing. Yet, looking at the scene, they appeared jubilant. Could they be unaware of the fate awaiting their own offspring?

Steve couldn't believe they were ignorant, but he also struggled to understand why they would gather so joyfully. Were they being coerced by threats against their children? Or had they been mentally corrupted? According to Tony’s previous research, the symptoms of current mental contamination should still be relatively mild; it was unlikely these individuals could have succumbed to a level of corruption far exceeding that of S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel in such a short time, unless they had made direct contact with an eldritch god.

Regardless of the circumstances, Steve knew he could not risk exposing his identity. Just as he was contemplating his next move, he heard a voice.

"Rejoice, my brothers and sisters! Rejoice for our gods! The Great Ones have descended upon this world. The Eternal Night shall soon shroud this lowly planet, and we shall become the immortal gods of this new world." A bizarre voice drowned out all other noise in the hall, causing a wave of revulsion in Steve’s heart. He immediately realized that the voice itself carried a blasphemous power.

He quickly donned the specialized isolation earplugs Tony had worked overtime to create. Although the digitally filtered sound still carried a degree of mental corruption, according to the threat levels defined by Qu Yizhi, these devices could significantly mitigate the impact.

With the earplugs on, he felt much better and steeled himself to continue eavesdropping.

"The Great Ones are watching us, and we are but one step away from divinity," the voice continued, dripping with seductive malice. "Once the gods' bounty descends upon this land, all our desires shall be fulfilled."

"Praise be to you, Great Father Dagon. Praise be to you, Great Mother Hydra. Praise be to you, Great Father of All Gods, Cthulhu. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in R'lyeh as it is in Innsmouth." As the cultists began their ritual, the words sent a jolt of horror through Steve.

He had heard the name Hydra. Could the organization be part of this cult? But Steve quickly realized this was no time for hesitation. Whatever this "bounty" was, it was certainly not benevolent. He decided he had to stop them.

Steve contacted Tony, who had returned to the Avengers base, and informed him of the cultists' existence and their objective.

"Gods? Eternal Night? A new world? Immortality? A bounty?" Tony instantly grasped the gravity of the information embedded in those brief phrases. Ignoring Steve’s warnings, he demanded that Steve relay the names of the deities he had heard.

Reluctantly, Steve recited the three names. The moment Tony heard the third, he felt an immediate, violent reaction. He felt as if he were suffocating, drowning in the depths of an endless ocean.

The voices of Steve and J.A.R.V.I.S. became distant and muffled, and Tony collapsed onto the floor of his laboratory.

Fortunately, Qu Yizhi, who had been urgently recalled, had already arrived at Avengers Tower. Receiving the emergency alert from J.A.R.V.I.S., Qu Yizhi dropped his book, rushed to the lab, and used his abilities to awaken Tony.