The room was dimly lit. The candle flames gradually turned red, and an unsettling aura that made one’s hair stand on end began to gather.
Soaked in sweat, Qian Li knelt on the ground, her eyes darting around.
Apparently convinced that their prey inside had no power to fight back, the heretics had left the doorway unguarded.
Several long swords lay around the round table.
A trace of regret flashed through Qian Li’s eyes.
The slender blades were clearly designed specifically for rituals. They were useless to her.
The pressure weighing down on her body grew heavier and heavier. Qian Li gritted her teeth when, all of a sudden, a sound like a balloon bursting rang out behind her.
Pop!
Yet the people who had already gone mad merely clasped their hands together in prayer, their expressions devout. No one cared about what had just happened.
A strong, foul stench crept into Qian Li’s nostrils. Enduring the pressure, she cautiously glanced over.
Judging by the positions of the people during the worship ceremony, the person who had died was Lord Aaron’s butler.
His lifeless body lay in a pool of blood. Dark red blood had soaked the entire thick carpet beneath him.
Lord Aaron was one of the most powerful men on the planet, a man whose word was law. Naturally, his butler was no ordinary person either. He must have been carrying something like a defensive shield or an energy gun.
Qian Li felt her consciousness beginning to blur. She pinched herself and forced herself to look carefully, noticing that the man’s left hand was positioned near the base of his thigh.
It seemed he had triggered something just now…?
Noticing that the heretics and the chief priest merely sneered before turning away, Qian Li slowly shifted to the left while remaining on her knees, inching closer to the butler.
She kept moving her body little by little.
Bang!
Suddenly, a series of thumping sounds erupted beside Qian Li. Several members of the congregation opened their bloodshot eyes and fixed their gazes on her.
Qian Li’s body wanted to tremble, but almost instantly, she suppressed the reaction. Her muscles became as hard as stone.
“Cuckoo! Cuckoo!”
A woodpecker popped out through the glass window of an old fashioned grandfather clock, calling out again and again.
“Silence! Be devout!” the archbishop shouted.
The worshippers withdrew their gazes. Qian Li clenched her teeth and inched toward the corpse, one small movement at a time.
Just as her hand reached for the butler’s body, the chief priest suddenly stood up. He raised his face, spread his arms, rose onto his tiptoes, and cried out loudly.
“My Lord! Please open the eyes of these stubborn people and let them see clearly! What, exactly, is true happiness?”
The words, shouted with almost heartbreaking desperation, brought Qian Li’s drifting consciousness crashing back down to earth.
The people around her began exploding one after another. Using every ounce of strength she had, Qian Li quickly rummaged through the butler’s pockets and pulled out their contents.
An energy gun and a dagger for self defense.
The chief priest and the worshippers were devoured by the red threads.
Nourished by flesh and blood, the threads surged toward her in dense masses, gathering into grotesque, blood red worms.
With no time to think, Qian Li bit the tip of her tongue to keep herself alert, grabbed the energy gun, and began firing wildly in front of her.
Soon, she dragged her heavy body to the door.
Qian Li twisted the handle.
Just as she had expected, the door was locked.
She had brought some wire with her and could pick the lock.
She had never handled an energy gun before, but one thing was certain.
There had to be a limit to how much energy it could fire!
Qian Li bit down hard on her lower lip, picking the lock with one hand while continuously firing with the other.
No… No…
The wire she was using to pick the lock had failed to catch the right position.
The red worms kept drawing closer, writhing like a vast red ocean. Every single one of them had a gaping mouth filled with razor sharp white teeth, dotted with tiny flecks of dried blood.
Hurry! She had to hurry!
Click!
A crisp sound rang out.
The lock was open!
Qian Li’s eyes lit up, and a sudden surge of strength flowed into her exhausted body.
A flash of white light seemed to pass behind her. Desperate to escape, Qian Li had no time to think about it. She stumbled straight toward the other end of the passageway.
The sea of blood behind her pursued the scent of flesh and rapidly caught up.
But soon, she was stopped at the exit of the passageway by a transparent membrane!
It seemed to be an energy shield designed for defense!
Damn it!
She slapped the thin membrane and tried firing a shot from the energy gun.
The protective barrier remained completely unmoved.
A shield like this could only be destroyed with overwhelming energy or unlocked through biometric identification.
But the energy gun in her hand was probably almost out of power.
No, even a fully charged energy gun would not be able to break through the shield so easily.
Qian Li took a hurried breath.
The worms surged forward, rushing toward her like crashing waves.
The energy gun fired another shot.
But soon, the crystal indicating the gun’s remaining energy went dark.
Was she going to die here?
Qian Li stared at the energy supply settings of the shield.
She might not be able to break through it by force. Even if she somehow managed to destroy it, the resulting explosion would be equivalent to a small bomb.
If she had to die, she could not die for nothing!
Her death had to mean something!
A ruthless determination flashed through Qian Li’s eyes.
Three meters.
She aimed the gun at the control panel.
Two meters.
A blinding white light began gathering at the muzzle of the energy gun.
One meter.
Qian Li’s gaze turned fierce as she gritted her teeth.
Bang!
The energy projectile struck the control panel, but it did not produce any reaction…
The sea of worms was about to swallow her whole.
As her consciousness grew hazy, a beam of white light suddenly burst open before her eyes.
The energy shield behind her suddenly shattered. A crisp, cool fragrance reached her nose, driving away the stench of decay.
She seemed to have fallen onto a frozen stone. It was hard and cold…
Wait…
Before she could figure out what was happening, the mutated creatures that had just hatched after devouring the flesh let out violent, piercing roars.
The force of their cries even shattered some of the white marble pillars inside the temple.
They gathered into a red wave seven or eight meters high and swiftly surged toward her.
Another beam of white light exploded among the creatures.
Countless of them were killed or injured.
“Stay awake. Move to the rear. It’s safe there.”
Qian Li blinked and heard a cool, jade like male voice above her.
She did not speak. Dragging her injured leg, she hopped on one foot toward the rear and leaned against a marble pillar.
The man looked like a young adult. His perfectly sculpted face, as though carved with a knife and axe, was utterly expressionless. His waist length silver hair fluttered in the wind, and a crown made of silver leaves rested on his head. His white garments, resembling a Greek robe, billowed in the breeze, giving him an otherworldly, divine appearance.
His movements were clean and decisive. He drew his bow and fired arrows without the slightest hesitation, every motion swift and precise.
The light arrows exploded one after another among the swarm. The red sea of worms recoiled, hesitated, and then retreated like the ebbing tide.
The man turned around. His beautiful, clear, platinum white eyes, resembling luminous stones, swept over Qian Li.
With a flick of his hand, the bow disappeared. He walked up to Qian Li, grabbed her hand without changing his expression, clasped it tightly, and pulled her into his embrace.
Qian Li froze for a moment, then pressed one hand against the young man’s chest to push him away.
Wait! What kind of unexpected development was this?!
Why was he standing so close?!
They weren’t that familiar with each other, were they?!