"Mr. Ed, can I ask a question?" Drew asked with a hint of melancholy as he watched the taillights flash and disappear into the darkness.
Ed, who was embracing his wife, withdrew his gaze and replied, "What is it?"
"What's the name of the church where the priest is? I plan to go there to pray sometime…"
"The church? Pluto Church…"
"…"
Ed and Drew's conversation drifted away with the evening breeze, while York was already allocating the points he had gained today.
He had quite a haul today: a +5 point reward for completing the mission, plus +3 points from the Blessing of the Undead, giving him eight points to allocate.
"[York]"
"[Race: Human]"
"[Profession: Priest, Professor of Pharmacy, Doctor...]"
"[Overall Physique: 24 / 24, (Note: Average for ordinary people is 10)]"
"[Life: 98.5 / 98.5 (Note: Average for ordinary people is 10)]"
"[Spirit: 83 / 83 (Note: Average for ordinary people is 10)]"
"[Magic Power: 134 / 134 (Note: Recovers one point of magic power every minute)]"
"[Items: Basic Divine Robe, Defense 6, Durability: 6 / 10]"
"[...]"
Compared to the average person, these eight points were quite a lot.
As before, York still chose to add those eight points to his Life value.
His other stats were probably sufficient, but for Life, he always felt it wasn't enough.
If he had thousands of Life points, a bullet to the chest might only cost him a hundred or so. What if he had tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? A loss of a hundred points would be a drop in the ocean. Tens of millions, hundreds of millions—then he would be an immortal god in some sense.
"[Points added successfully]"
"[Life value increased to 106.5]"
"[...]"
Hearing the prompt and feeling the changes in his body and internal organs, York looked at the central console, clicked on a song, and turned up the volume.
"Come on! Go harder!"
Due to the changes within his body, York felt like he was floating and couldn't help but exclaim.
The lyrics roughly meant: "Come on, come on, listen to my command, I've fallen in love with your graceful figure…"
"In our entanglement, we are drawn to each other like magnets…"
"Though my heart has long been captivated by you, your body makes me endlessly yearn…"
"…"
Finally, the song ended, the sensation in his body disappeared, York returned to calm, and he casually turned off the music.
It was too intense; he didn't like such intense songs.
Looking at the built-in time: 22:51, York pressed the accelerator again, aiming to get home a bit earlier.
Just as Ed had mentioned earlier, this area was already somewhat remote, and given the current time, there was hardly anyone on the highway, so he had no concerns.
Suddenly, a beam of light was rapidly moving on the highway under the dark curtain, only slowly decelerating until it stopped at the edge of the Appalachian Mountains.
"Hey!!!!"
"Hey!!!!"
"…"
He stopped because York heard an anxious cry.
"What's going on?" He instinctively looked at the car's rearview mirror.
Through the lingering light of the taillights, York saw two women with dirty faces, covered in wet soil, appearing panicked and terrified at the edge of the highway.
"Hey!!!!"
"…"
They saw the car stop, and with looks of surprise and urgency, they hurried towards the back of the car.
Importantly, one of the women seemed to have an injured foot, but supported by the other woman, they hobbled along, yet their speed was not slow.
This made York feel like they were running away… "Running away?"
The word suddenly came to mind, and York frowned slightly, picked up the Winchester M1897 beside him, and got out of the car directly.
As he got out, his tall figure and the divine robe he was wearing were revealed to the two girls hurrying towards the car.
"Hey!! Priest!!" Jessie, who was supporting her and wearing a white camisole revealing her fair, round breasts, was visibly surprised.
But the next second, they were a bit stunned, because the priest actually picked up a gleaming shotgun and pointed it at them.
"Stop! Stay where you are!"
Seeing York's action and hearing his words, Jessie and Carly, whose foot was injured, could only stop, no longer daring to advance under the muzzle of the gun.
"Hey!!! Priest!! We're not bad people, there's a group of man-eating demonss here…"
Looking at the unmoving, somewhat wary York, Jessie could only explain loudly, her voice filled with a crying tone and urgency as she spoke.
"My friends were all killed!!! Only the two of us escaped!!!"
Hearing this, a question mark flashed in York's mind: man-eating demons? In that instant, he suddenly recalled the American horror splatter films he had watched in his previous life and the phrase he had heard: [America's specialty].
"They're still chasing us! Please save us! Priest!!"
Jessie continued to speak, and the more she spoke, the more terrified her tone became, and her body began to tremble unconsciously.
"Please save us, please!"
Besides this, as if afraid he wouldn't save them, Carly, with her injured foot, also interjected with a crying voice.
"We have money, our family has money, as long as you can save us, I… we will give you a lot of money, give you a lot of money…"
York raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Jessie and Carly, whose bodies were trembling slightly, and pondered. The man-eating demonss they spoke of seemed genuinely terrifying, having scared these two quite badly.
"Come here."
Confirming that the two were indeed not dangerous and were indeed human, York put away his shotgun.
As his words fell, Jessie and Carly looked surprised and quickly hobbled towards York, supporting each other.
Seeing this, York instinctively glanced at his surroundings.
This was within the Appalachian Mountains, located in eastern America, a vast mountain range in eastern North America, so it was certainly covered in dense forests.
And in the dark night, dense forests meant even darker conditions. Here, apart from the car's headlights, everything visible was pitch black. One couldn't say it was impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face, but at least beyond a meter, nothing was clear.
"If there really is a group of man-eating demonss, I wonder how these two delicate girls managed to escape from their pursuit in such an environment and make it here…"
York pondered, while also remaining vigilant, striding towards Jessie and Carly, who were approaching.
"Sorry! You're a bit slow."
Jessie and Carly were visibly stunned.
But after York finished speaking, he extended his right hand, directly wrapped it around Carly's slender waist, and lifted her up with one hand.
"Uh, thank you…"
Jessie and Carly instantly understood the meaning of the previous sentence.
"It's fine, can you still walk?" York asked, looking at Jessie, whose torn clothes revealed a large amount of her skin, without averting his gaze.
"Yes!" Jessie nodded.
"Alright!"
Hearing her reply, York directly embraced Carly and strode towards the car.
And Jessie also quickly followed…