CH 181

The two men continued to move through the passage.

There were many guards along the way and they met other "people" along the way.

These men also appear to be in a more or less alienated condition physically, just like the priests before them.

But invariably, they don't seem to be capable of thinking.

It seems that every one of them has become a tireless patrolling machine, wandering this dank underground day after day.

They expel intruders and defend the altar that belongs to Sara.

Xiao Lan feels that it is difficult to say whether these 'people' can be considered alive or not.

This way, just from the looks of it, there were several people without mouths and noses. If normal people were like this they would have died long ago, but it was very unscientific that they could still move.

After long training and combat, Xiao Lan's movements had become so swift that he dodged the not-so-vigilant guards silently and was gone like a breeze before they could react.

Luo is like his shadow, following silently behind Xiao Lan.

And so they proceeded, quietly, through this underground passage full of spooky guards.

The two had been walking in the passage for some time.

The interior of the passage curves around and seems to have a random feeling of digging wherever you want, making it almost disorienting.

Fortunately, the passage was cut in a hurry and there were no switchbacks in it, so the going was quite smooth.

Soon they came to an open area.

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Xiao Lan noticed a lot of white debris coming out from under his feet and was about to bend down and pick it up to have a look.

Luo, however, reached out to stop him, and the dark shadow wrote in the void: [These are human skeletons]

Xiao Lan looks at the shattered bone fragments spreading across the ground.

How many people have died in this ......? And what happened to make these bones so broken?

Before they could examine it closely, there was a shuffling rustle not far away.

The sound was like the footsteps of the guards we had heard before, but the difference was that this time many voices appeared, overlapping densely, mixing with the echoes in the passage.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the two of them hurriedly found a recessed stone wall to the side to hide in.

There is a large rock nearby that happens to block the view coming from the front.

Xiao Lan also switched off the [nuclear torch] to avoid detection.

Without the torch, only the sporadic bright light from certain plants in the tunnels could illuminate, making everything in sight blurred and seemingly more eerie.

With limited space behind the stone wall, Xiao Lan had to crouch down and press her back against Luo's body.

He could clearly perceive his opponent's breathing and heartbeat, which imitated those produced by humans, with a ripple-free frequency, and he could also feel the heat and the lines of muscles coming from Luo's body.

Suddenly, Xiao Lan feels a weight on her shoulders.

With a slight turn of his head, he could see Luo's face leaning in extremely close.

Although the light was extremely faint, with the excellent eyesight of an advanced player, the face looked as handsome as ever to Xiao Lan, even as the light was different and gave off a demonic feeling, like a ghost out of the night.

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Luo felt Xiao Lan's gaze and smiled at him slightly, mouthing: What is it? Mister.

Bending at a right angle, Xiao Lan suddenly felt her heart beat a few beats faster.

He averted his eyes a little uncomfortably, damn, this guy cheated.

The inhuman, who had learned a lot from his time on earth, didn't stop there, he took advantage of Xiao Lan's turn to pursue him and landed a kiss on his cheek.

Faced with Xiao Lan's "Damn, you can kiss in this environment" look.

Luo curled his mouth and held out his hand in front of his lips in a shushing gesture, as if he hadn't been the one who had made the mess.

It is true that thick skin is the only truth that runs rampant on earth.

A certain non-human gave a mental nod to human intelligence and felt that he had more to learn from humans.

Unfortunately, the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer interrupted the somewhat charming atmosphere between the two.

Gradually, the source of the sound came into their view.

Both men diverted their attention.

It was a densely packed group of perhaps hundreds of people, both men and women, of all ages.

Roughly distinguishable from the clothes they wore were either priest and nun styles, or ordinary styles.

The style of clothing on these people looks somewhat old.

However, these men are not very different from the guards in the other passages.

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They still look numb, their movements are stiff and odd, and their limbs have various disabilities and alienations.

So many people came along and not a word was said.

Most unusual was the man in the lead, who looked the least human and had the most magnificent looking clothes left on him, like a bishop's uniform.

He seemed to have a little consciousness left and could even command the rest of the men.

Xiao Lan speculates that perhaps these are the people who participated in the rituals in the town of Mo Na.

Something happened to them after they entered the underground to perform the ritual that turned them into this odd state of wandering around and refusing entry to others.

The crowd gathered in this open area, with a clearing in front of them and no sign of an idol or altar.

All raised their hands stiffly and began a mechanical prostration.

They all move almost in unison and look as if they have been programmed in unison.

Xiao Lan observes their movements.

Suddenly, he noticed something odd about the way the men were standing.

They seemed to be standing in some sort of pattern, but there were extra strange gaps in them, as if there were supposed to be individuals there, but those were absent.

He had observed several places within sight, and it was indeed so.

There are so many vacancies in the neat queue.

Where have all these people gone?

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Xiao Lan's eyes couldn't help but fall on the broken bone fragments on the floor.

He recalled that one of the items in the information he had obtained stated that two private detectives hired by Mr. B had died in a fratricidal death.

Were all the bones on the ground the result of these kneeling people?

If so, it would explain why these bones are so broken.

These people probably came here often to kneel after killing some of their compatriots, and naturally the bones could no longer remain intact under their long years of trampling.

What kind of cruelty and insensitivity is this?

What has become of these people affected by Sara's song?

Are they ...... really still human?

The kneeling of the crowd continued.

Suddenly, however, the bishop who had led the way had risen to his feet.

He left the crowd alone to walk in another direction.

There was still a monotonous sound of kneeling and rubbing of clothes around him, and the others seemed to be used to his actions and did not react to them.

Xiao Lan and Luo are about to get up and chase after them.

Suddenly, Xiao Lan heard a small, unidentifiable sound from behind her.

He pauses in his movements and turns his head to look over at Luo, who nods back at him, apparently both having heard the voice.

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Xiao Lan gazed towards the darkness behind him.

A human face hanging upside down slowly descends from above.

The face was withered and creased, and the sockets of the eyes were deeply sunken, as if they were a black hole.

His mouth opened and from it protruded a long, root-like tongue, which danced like a snake and looked distinctly eerie.

On the other side it was as if his body had grown into the wall, the lower half of his body almost blending into the stone wall.

I don't know when he appeared here, but he didn't let the two people with keen senses ahead of him notice the slightest difference.

At the sight of the two men spotting themselves, the upside-down man's mouth grew as if to let out a scream to warn his companions outside.

Xiao Lan instantly lunged forward, and at the same time, the [Bone of Paradox] appeared in his hand and was swung towards his opponent.

No sooner had the inverted hangman's voice been uttered than a club had landed violently on his head.

It was an extremely skilful and decisive knock, full of professionalism and craftsmanship, a model of behaviour in the world of boredom.

The upside-down man's body slides down the wall and is caught by a ready Luo with one hand before it hits the ground.

Luo pulled his tongue like a root in a familiar way, trapping his body in a firm grip, as if he were Mr. Wang, unable to move at all even if he was awake.

After tying him up, Luo manipulated the dark figure to dig a silent hole next to him, put the bound man in and fill it with earth, giving him the high standard of service of a professional funeral procession in one step.

When this was done, a thin layer of black shadow appeared on Luo's hands, wiping away the dirt that had been stained.

The whole process was a snap and the volume was kept to a minimum with Xiao Lan and Luo working together.

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The long-standing partnership has allowed the two to work together without having to communicate in advance to achieve just the right match.

After gathering up this sudden hiccup, the pair quietly slipped out from behind the stone wall.

The kneeling crowd was still repeating their stiff movements, oblivious to what had just happened.

The two men carefully passed around their outside and headed in the direction in which the bishop had disappeared.

The passage the bishop took was a little narrower than the previous one, and the floor was paved with stone slabs, which made it look slightly more refined.

This means that the place to which the passage connects should be quite important.

Shortly after walking, another open space appears.

This area was smaller than the area where the crowd had knelt before, with a very rudimentary altar built out of stones right in the middle.

The stones that make up the altar seem to have some kind of black mark that cannot be removed, running down to the ground around them.

Although it was difficult to see clearly from a distance, Xiao Lan surmised, based on what he had seen earlier, that it was probably blood that had dried up long ago.

He quietly surveyed his surroundings, the floor and walls also bore a number of blood spatters, and it was not difficult to imagine how bloody and crazy the images must have been back then.

This is probably the altar that was mentioned in the sources.

The bishop is standing alone at the altar, dancing his hands in a silent ritual.

His movements looked insane, accompanied by his root-like limbs and bark-like face, making him look more like a monster than a human, but it was just as well that he was actually originally a human.

The bishop switched his movements and just happened to be facing the two men with his back to them.

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As he moved, the torn clothing on his back floated up.

It was then that Xiao Lan noticed a huge hollow in his back, so empty that no trace of his internal organs could be seen.

This guy should be dead by now!

Probably even the "people" outside are the same, without food and water it is impossible for people to survive.

They are, simply, a bunch of living dead.

They may have all died in the ritual thirty years ago, but some of these bodies have acted again, thanks to Sara's influence, and are as mad as they were in life, clinging to their faith in Sara day after day.

Suddenly, Xiao Lan's eyes were drawn to the stone at the Bishop's feet.

In a chamber with only a little vegetal shimmer, some stones are flickering red from time to time as if they were breathing, the light is faint, but becomes a little more conspicuous against the background.

Xiao Lan was about to give Luo a sign when the bishop, engrossed in the ritual, jerked his head around.

As if sensing something, his face, like old bark, turned straight in the direction where Xiao Lan and the two men were, and a red glow welled up in his hollow eyes.

Discovered.

For a moment, the thought flashed through Xiao Lan's mind.

As the Bishop raised his root-strewn hand, the [Bone of Disobedience] in his hand had instantly switched to a blade.

Xiao Lan rushed out without hesitation, his blade pointed straight at the Bishop.

" Luo, clear the field." Xiao Lan said softly.

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"Yes, sir." Luo replied with a smile.

At the same moment, a dark shadow spread out from under Luo's feet.

It instantly covered the entire space in which the altar stood, like a black cage that sealed everything in.

This is Luo's new ability, after absorbing more pieces of his body, to temporarily block off a space so that the prey inside cannot escape and the noise from the battle does not get out.

Xiao Lan's blade has been swung at the bishop.

The bishop's attack was no weaker, the roots coming at him hard as steel and so fast that they even made a sharp cracking sound.

Xiao Lan dodged and dodged while slashing at the incoming roots and beards without mercy.

"Ding..."

The roots and the blade collide, but they make a sound like metal clashing.

But as hard as the roots are, they still cannot resist the sharpness of the [Bones of Disobedience].

After a single sound, the roots were severed with a single slash, and the severed parts fell to the ground, where they immediately began to decay and give off an unpleasant smell.

The bishop opened his mouth and growled, and the sound he made was no longer raspy and human-like.

But the part of him that had been cut off grew again.

Spurred on by the injury, he seems to feel angry and more roots come violently towards Xiao Lan.

The attacks come with greater ferocity, but Xiao Lan dodges them with ease, as if he were a phantom.

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"Another regenerative type, I hate unscientific beings like you." Xiao Lan said while the sharp blade in her hand moved faster.

He simultaneously turned on the skills of

[Title: Poverty Can't Limit My Imagination]

[Ability: Flame manipulation]

Once the skill has been upgraded to level 5, Xiao Lan can control a different kind of flame.

It is now a near-white but fiery fire, more powerful than the old Dalet flame.

A light flashed across the blade and a flash of flame attached to it.

The fiery flames were accompanied by the unmistakable sharpness of the blade once more falling on the Bishop's body.

The plant-like tentacles burst into flames in the face of the flames, and the fire spread wildly and quickly down his parched body.

At the same time, Xiao Lan's chopping did not stop there, the blackened blade falling in a steady stream of fiery flames.

With each slash, he cut off a number of his roots and added to the already rapidly developing fire.

Soon the bishop was almost a ball of fire.

But he still tried to drag Xiao Lan to his death.

From each of his limbs sprang a number of burning roots, all of which rushed in the direction of Xiao Lan, ready to envelop him.

Xiao Lan, however, nimbly dodged his attempt to grab his roots and then, with a slight shift of his feet, stood behind the Bishop and raised his blade once more.

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The blackened blade passes.

The blazing head flew up, arcing through the air before landing with a crash.

With that, the body engulfed in flames also collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.

Soon, both the head and the torso were engulfed in hot flames and burned violently.

The system prompt appears.

"You have killed Jack Manson."

This was probably the name of this bishop during his lifetime, a name which unfortunately no longer means anything to him.

Xiao Lan puts away his knife and turns off his skills.

He points to the burning bishop and turns to Luo, "Can you eat this? It's grilled."

Luo seemed to be used to his boyfriend's unconventional ways as he smiled, "I'm a picky eater, sir."