Chapter 173: Cannibal
Gideon's expression didn't change.
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel—and drove straight into it.
Bang!
A human figure rolled up over the hood and flew backward, cracking the windshield as it fell.
The vehicle lurched violently, instantly on the verge of losing control.
Gideon held the wheel with both hands, forcing the front of the truck to stay steady.
The impact pitched Nina forward in her seat, while Jake's upper body nearly slammed into the driver's side.
Gideon tapped the brakes repeatedly.
After skidding forward for several meters, the vehicle finally came to a controlled stop.
"Oh my God! We hit someone!"
Nina gasped, her face drained of color.
Jake glanced through the rear window.
Sure enough, a figure lay motionless on the road behind them.
"Father…" he turned his head—
only to find Gideon calmly pulling out a pair of binoculars from his satchel and scanning the surrounding area.
Jake and Nina exchanged puzzled looks.
"We have to go check on him," Nina said.
She reached for the door handle—
locked.
"F-Father Gideon…" Nina swallowed.
There were only the three of them here.
And the priest was carefully surveying the environment instead of rushing to help.
She was beginning to understand his line of thinking—and it made her uneasy.
"According to Virginia law," she said carefully,
"a hit-and-run doesn't just put the driver in prison. The passengers can be held liable too."
She shot Jake a pleading look.
She'd come to this godforsaken place to make money—not to be dragged into legal trouble.
Jake immediately caught on and joined her in persuading him.
"On the Lord's name," Gideon replied gently, wearing a perfectly harmless smile,
"I am a man of the cloth. How could I possibly do something as immoral as fleeing the scene?"
Then why did you lock the doors and scan the wilderness like a tactical officer?!
Both of them screamed inwardly.
Click.
The doors unlocked.
All three stepped out of the vehicle.
Jake and Nina hurried toward the fallen figure.
Gideon, meanwhile, removed the keys from the ignition, locked the doors and windows again, and only then followed behind them.
Halfway there, his eyes flicked—subtly—toward a certain direction.
"Hey! Are you okay?"
Nina sounded flustered.
She wanted to check the person's injuries, but was afraid of making things worse.
Caught between hesitation and anxiety, her voice trembled.
"Why didn't you dodge?"
There had clearly been time to brake or swerve—yet the priest had driven straight into him.
Jake looked equally confused.
"With a pickup like this, a sharp turn at speed would've made us lose control instantly. We'd be the ones hurt."
Gideon answered calmly.
"And you don't know whether another vehicle might've appeared from behind us. If that happened, the outcome would've been far worse."
His reasoning sounded cold—borderline selfish.
Under normal circumstances, slowing down should have been the first response.
But Gideon had done this on purpose.
Nina and Jake opened their mouths, then closed them again.
At the very least, they were unharmed—and that was thanks to him.
"This is bad…" Nina muttered dejectedly.
"We're going to have to pay a lot of money."
Seeing that the man still hadn't moved, she'd already prepared herself for the worst.
"The truck's insured," Gideon said flatly.
"Although… I doubt he—or his family—will need it."
"Hey! That's cold, Father!"
Jake protested, his voice tinged with disbelief.
Nina's expression hardened with anger.
She hadn't expected the priest to be this kind of person.
"Jake, help me hold him down. I'll check his breathing," she said, deciding not to argue with the priest anymore.
Jake nodded and immediately stepped forward, bending down—
but the next instant, a tremendous force struck the back of his neck, yanking him violently aside.
"What the f—are yo—"
He was about to curse when the man on the ground suddenly sprang upright.
Tangly hair.
Jagged, yellow-stained teeth.
A twisted, grotesque face.
The sudden movement shocked Jake senseless.
"Damn!" he screamed.
At the same time, a shoe came down from behind and smashed onto the creature's face.
Bang!
A dull thud echoed from the asphalt.
The ugly thing let out a shrill, agonized cry.
Cold sweat broke out across Jake's forehead.
The creature had lunged for his neck—trying to bite him.
If he hadn't been dragged away in that split second, he didn't even dare imagine what would've happened.
"Th-thank you…" Jake said shakily, turning toward the priest.
Then it clicked.
From the moment they'd stopped the vehicle, this priest had shown clear hostility toward the figure on the ground—and the timing of his rescue had been far too precise.
"Father Gideon… did you already know something was wrong with him?" Jake asked carefully.
"Yeah. More or less."
Gideon tossed several holy artifacts around the cannibal, then pulled out a length of rope.
"So what is this… thing?" Jake asked uneasily.
"Locals call them 'Mountain People,'" Gideon replied calmly.
"Monsters that survive by feeding on human flesh."
Both Jake and Nina recoiled.
"Father Gideon, you could've just told us," Nina said, brushing her hair back.
Gideon looked at the two of them, then recalled the countless classic horror scenes where people refused to believe the warning signs.
He shook his head.
"Words convince no one. Experience teaches fastest."
"Since you're planning to participate in wilderness survival… consider this advice free of charge."
Jake and Nina thought it over—and quickly realized he was right.
If the priest had simply said the man was dangerous, they would've assumed it was an excuse to flee the accident scene.
"I'm sorry," Nina lowered her head, clearly ashamed.
"I blamed you unfairly."
"Knowing when you're wrong is a rare virtue," Gideon nodded.
"Since that's settled, I'll give you a second piece of advice."
Nina lifted her head—
and was suddenly yanked sideways by the priest.
The next moment, a furious roar erupted behind her.
A heavy axe chopped down where she'd been standing.
The blade grazed her cheek, so close she clearly saw the dried blood caked along its edge.
Nina couldn't breathe.
Boom!
The asphalt cracked, revealing a shallow crater—and the owner of the axe.
Filthy denim overalls.
The same hideous, misshapen face.
Jake roared and charged, trying to slam into the creature with his shoulder.
The Mountain Man didn't budge.
Instead, Jake felt an explosion of pain—like crashing into solid concrete.
The creature snarled, shoved him aside effortlessly, and raised its axe again.
Jake collapsed onto the ground, scrambling backward in terror.
Before the axe could fall—
Gideon appeared.
He kicked the creature's wrist, forcing it to drop the weapon, then swiftly wrapped the rope around its body.
The monster struggled—but realized in horror that this human was unnaturally strong.
It couldn't move.
It could only watch as the priest bound it and slammed it facedown onto the road.
Gideon planted his foot on the creature's face and raised two fingers.
"Never ignore what's behind you."
Jake and Nina swallowed hard.
They were beginning to understand that this priest was anything but ordinary.
After some effort, Gideon dragged both Mountain Men to the roadside, parked the vehicle nearby, and began setting up layered defensive formations.
Jake and Nina had never seen anything like it.
They didn't even dare suggest getting back on the road.
Gideon opened a small cloth bundle, revealing an array of metallic tools.
"Before I start," he said calmly, looking down at the two captives,
"do you have anything you want to say?"
In the original cases, these creatures showed limited communication abilities.
If these two were the same, perhaps he could extract information about the forest.
But they only snarled and howled like wild beasts.
"Have you seen her?"
Gideon placed Jenny's photo in front of them.
No response.
Then he used [Psychological Counseling].
This time—he got something.
The Mountain Man who had wielded the axe repeatedly gestured toward the forest.
Gideon followed the direction with his eyes.
There, faint traces of strange energy lingered—something he had already sensed earlier.
Farther in, the forest became shrouded in a murky haze, beyond even his sight.
"Is the girl in the photo still alive?" he asked again.
No answer.
When Gideon tried to force the creature to act as a guide, it immediately panicked.
Their brains have been restricted somehow, he concluded silently.
There was nothing left to learn.
Still, Gideon didn't purify them.
He picked up a dagger.
Jake and Nina watched in horror as he plunged it into one Mountain Man's arm.
Squelch.
Blood poured out.
The creature didn't scream in pain—only roared in rage.
Gideon twisted the blade, examining skin, muscle, bone—methodically dissecting.
And the results were clear.
A faint, dark power flowed through their bodies.
It dulled pain, enhanced strength, and even allowed short bursts of regeneration.
As Gideon studied the wound, it began healing in real time.
Yet a mere three-year holy artifact was enough to cleanse that energy.
He frowned.
These creatures weren't nearly as dangerous as the commission described.
They had powerful bodies—but disabling key joints rendered them helpless.
And destroy a vital organ, and they died like anything else.
Gideon pulled the dagger from the creature's skull.
It went still.
The remaining Mountain Man let out a mournful howl.
"Oh? So you do feel grief."
Gideon wiped the blade clean with a black cloth.
"Ugh—!"
Nina dropped to her knees and vomited.
She'd eaten a full meal earlier to prepare for her survival show—now it all came back up.
Jake barely kept himself together.
Both stared at Gideon as if he were the monster.
Wasn't the Church supposed to preach gentleness and mercy?
This man reeked of neither.
Calm amid blood.
Unflinching before a live dissection.
Was he really a priest…?
Or something far worse?
As that thought crossed their minds—
Gideon turned toward them.
Cold eyes.
Dagger in hand.
Fresh from killing a living… thing.
"Please—don't kill me!"