This time, the corridor had returned to normal.
The scorching heat behind him rushed forward, making Mu Xuan stumble.
Instinctively turning his head, he saw Father Ande standing within the flames, his figure now taking on a translucent state.
Seeing Mu Xuan turn, Father Ande revealed a smile. Then, a burning wooden plank happened to fall right above Father Ande’s head.
It passed through Father Ande’s body and hit the ground.
And Father Ande’s body, too, slowly disappeared amid the burning flames…
Recalling Father Ande from the afternoon—the one who was endlessly devout to the Goddess, endlessly yearning for miracles—Mu Xuan felt a sourness in his heart.
Even in that state of utter despair, at the very end of his booklet, Father Ande still believed the Goddess would come to save him…
Alas, it was a pity…
In the end, he too became an obsession shackled by these rules…
Yet this also confirmed Mu Xuan’s speculation.
The confessional really was the locus of Father Ande’s obsession. The confessional’s destruction did not restrict Father Ande—it released him from his fixation.
One could say, what happened in the confessional was Father Ande’s strongest obsession. Once that place was destroyed, Father Ande also left the confessional, in a sense finding release.
Mu Xuan turned away, no longer looking at the burning confessional behind him. In his heart, he kept murmuring the names of Chatute and Mosen.
Let’s see just what they’re up to.
What he’d learned from the booklet had left Mu Xuan rather angry. He disliked such disregard for human life.
Calming his emotions, Mu Xuan recalled the rules posted on the wall at the time.
[Rule 1: Please keep quiet at night. The priest dislikes any sound.
Rule 2: No one but church staff should appear in the church at night.
Rule 3: The prayer room is normally open at night. If you find the statue bleeding, leave immediately.
Rule 4: The nuns go to rest at night. If you meet a nun, state your intention to pray and go to the prayer room to pray.
Rule 5: If you encounter difficulties, you may seek the help of the Silver Moon Knight. She has accepted the instruction of â– â– to protect everyone.
Rule 6: Do not sleep at night; it will only make you more exhausted.
Rule 7: Do not go to the confessional!!!
Rule 8: Do not stay too long in any room.
Rule 9: Wherever you are, if someone knocks, open the door immediately.
Message: Please hold on, ■■will surely come to rescue this place…]
The priest dislikes speaking, the nuns hope for prayer, you can seek help from the Silver Moon Knight, do not sleep at night…
In his mind, Mu Xuan kept piecing together the church’s core clues from Father Ande’s recorded events.
Perhaps, the statue was the real core.
At first, he thought the confessional was the core. But on reflection, in a church, the most important places were the prayer room and the statue.
If one had to find the core, these were truly the places to search.
Mu Xuan was silent for a moment, glancing at the Silver Moon Knight behind him, who still showed no signs of waking.
After a bit of hesitation, he carried the Silver Moon Knight back to his original room. After tossing her onto the bed, Mu Xuan left decisively and hurried toward the statue.
But before he even entered the prayer room, he ran straight into the elderly nun.
Unlike the nun from the afternoon, who wore a pious smile, the elderly nun before him now was somewhat flattened, her internal organs dangling outside her body through numerous hideous wounds, her face grotesquely twisted.
“Now… forbidden to enter…”
“Do not enter…”
The nun stared at Mu Xuan, repeating over and over that entry was not allowed.
Millie might have had her eyes gouged out, but what was with this nun… How did she end up like this…
Mu Xuan frowned, feeling a bit nauseated at the sight of the nun before him, but still said, “I wish to pray to the Goddess…”
Sure enough, upon hearing Mu Xuan’s desire to pray, the nun hesitated for a moment before slowly moving aside.
“You are a believer, not one of them… you may enter…”
Them?
Mu Xuan immediately thought of what had happened in the confessional.
Most likely, this nun too had been harmed by city guards sent by Chatute.
But why such a death?
Without getting hung up on it, since she’d made way, there was no reason not to go in.
Mu Xuan promptly followed the path the nun had cleared, entering the prayer room.
The prayer room now was nothing like the tidy place it had been in the afternoon. A faint light shimmered at his fingertips, revealing a floor covered in blood.
And countless rotting corpses…
He looked toward the place where the statue had stood. Just a moment ago, the statue was upright, but in the blink of an eye, it had fallen to the floor, soundless.
In such an environment, honestly, it was impossible not to be afraid.
Gritting his teeth, Mu Xuan nevertheless forced himself to inch toward the fallen statue.
The core isn’t here!?
Sensing no trace of power from the statue, Mu Xuan’s brow furrowed tightly.
Impossible. If the core wasn’t in the statue, where could it be?
“Buzz———”
Sensing the statue shudder, Mu Xuan quickly withdrew his hand and stepped back.
A pungent smell of blood wafted from the statue.
Seeing crimson blood constantly seeping from the statue, Mu Xuan hurried to distance himself.
Rule Three had stated, if the statue bleeds, leave the prayer room at once.
Mu Xuan immediately associated the elderly nun with this rule.
As expected, the nun was the anomaly triggered by this rule.
The next second, the nun’s shrill scream rang out on cue.
“Leave here!!!”
Immediately after, the nun suddenly appeared behind Mu Xuan, sharp claws swiping fiercely at him.
Instinctively, Mu Xuan used his light power to fend off the nun’s claws and bolted toward the corridor beside the prayer room.
Though the prayer room connected to the outside street, Mu Xuan was certain—without the core destroyed, he could never get out.
Since the core wasn’t here, there was no reason to risk staying and suffering the nun’s attacks.
But the anomalies within the rules defied common sense. Even as Mu Xuan gave it his all, the nun quickly caught up, blocking the corridor exit.
“You blasphemed against the deity! You must die!”
With a shrill howl, the nun swiped at Mu Xuan again.
Mu Xuan had no intention of fighting her to the death; he just needed an opening to leave the prayer room.
Thinking this, he dodged to the side, then thrust out his palm, gathering a large amount of light power and slamming it hard toward the nun’s waist.
But the nun’s figure flashed, suddenly appearing behind Mu Xuan, causing his attack to hit nothing.
Without hesitation, Mu Xuan let himself fall forward.
A gust of wind swept past the back of his head, the nun’s claws narrowly brushing his clothes.
Tilting his head back slightly, Mu Xuan quickly scrambled up.
Pouring all his strength, with a burst of light power accelerating him, he dashed out of the prayer room before the nun could react, slamming the door shut behind him.
A barrage of pounding sounded at the door, but there was no sign of damage.
Seeing this, Mu Xuan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
As expected, the elderly nun could not leave the prayer room.
Though he was safe for now, Mu Xuan had no idea where the core was.
Apart from those he’d never seen—those not among the church staff—and Millie, he’d already met the priest, the Silver Moon Knight, and the elderly nun.
He’d also visited the confessional, the prayer room, and his own room.
There were plenty of rooms in the church; searching them all would only waste time and increase his risk.
If Millie was the prime suspect, he still didn’t know which room was hers.
Or he could wait for Millie to appear… but the chances were too slim.
Forget it, better to search one by one.
Rather than betting on running into Millie, Mu Xuan felt methodical searching was more reliable.
Still, he could rule out a few places first. Or maybe, he could start with one side.
If he remembered correctly, when he saw Millie leave the room from inside the door, she went left.
He hurried toward his own room, catching glimpses of several figures moving in the corridor.
But as he approached, there was nothing.
Staying alert, Mu Xuan cautiously made his way to his room’s door. Thinking of the Silver Moon Knight, he opened the door to check on her condition.
“Where is she!?”
Seeing the empty bed and no sign of the Silver Moon Knight anywhere, Mu Xuan felt a faint sense of unease.
No, he couldn’t waste any more time!
Snuffing out the thought of looking for the Silver Moon Knight, Mu Xuan rushed out toward the left.
The chance Millie’s room was this way was high.
No! Something’s wrong!
Mu Xuan’s steps faltered, and he calmed himself.
Under the cover of light power, his skin already stung from friction, especially at his chest. But this discomfort helped him regain composure.
Forcing himself to ignore the abnormal sensation in his body, Mu Xuan swept his gaze all around.
The doors he’d seen earlier had now all turned into bare walls.
Meanwhile, the previously pitch-dark corridor was now bathed in a faint, eerie blue glow. Under this light, Mu Xuan could see shadowy figures passing across the walls.
But there was not a single soul actually around him.
The corridor, once again, just like when he’d exited the confessional, seemed infinitely stretched, ending in a darkness that led to a bottomless abyss.
Turning around, his own room’s door had disappeared.
Was he now trapped in this corridor?
Thinking for a moment, Mu Xuan turned and walked back the way he’d come. Staring fixedly ahead, he did his best to ignore the figures on the walls.
It was too bizarre… His heart was pounding, and he could clearly feel his own tension.
If he only had a living companion by his side, he wouldn’t be so terrified.
After mumbling inwardly, Mu Xuan noticed the rules on the wall.
The wall that had faced his room was covered with rules, but now the words were fading one by one, as if an invisible eraser were wiping them away.
When all the rules had been wiped clean, a new line of bloody text floated up on the wall.
[Run!!! This place has become hell!!!]