Footsteps quickly stopped in front of the prison door.
Chen Lun saw a tall middle-aged man flanked by two guards holding torches, blocking the prison's iron gate.
Floey followed at his side, her head slightly bowed.
The man was clad in a deep red Monk robe, and the short cape around his neck and elbows, as well as the black rectangular panel with white edges that hung from his chest to his crotch, and in his hand, he held a large tome.
"Just these few?"
The middle-aged man with brown hair furrowed his brow, glanced over the situation in the cell, and turned to question the guards with small mustaches.
His tone was deliberately arrogant, tinged with impatience and anxiety.
"Yes... yes, Monk Will."
"Sturton and his bunch of good-for-nothings, the offerings they find get fewer each time!
If that damned fat pig could spend more effort on the Church's intentions rather than on eating, drinking, and making money, I'd have been able to leave this godforsaken town long ago!"
Monk Will showed great anger, Chen Lun could even see his spit flying everywhere, landing on the faces of the guards with small mustaches.
The corners of the mustachioed guard's eyes twitched, but he dared not say anything.
"He should repent! Kneel in Lady Rose's garden and repent!"
Monk Will grew increasingly irate as if he'd been holding back for a long time and now was erupting.
"Hurry up! Take them to Chamber No. 7!"
"Yes, Lord Will."
The mustachioed guard immediately entered the cell with the torch and raised a hand to whistle at the group of sacrifices.
Chen Lun noticed a simple Red Apple tattoo on the back of his hand, perhaps an identifier of the Church's guardians.
Whoosh—!
The whistle sounded as if it had some magic power, making the foolish young men and women laugh stupidly as they lined up and walked out of the prison door one by one.
Seeing this, Chen Lun couldn't help but sigh in relief, grateful for Floey's warning not to eat that apple.
Otherwise, with his miserly 5 points of Willpower, he definitely couldn't have passed the test.
He would have ended up as an easily manipulated fool, obediently queuing up for death.
Bang!!
Chen Lun suddenly felt a huge force and pain, followed by him falling to the ground face first like a dog eating dirt.
His face hit the hard floor, nearly knocking out his front teeth.
"Damn it! Playing dirty, huh!?"
Although he didn't check with his hand, Chen Lun was certain his teeth were loose, and he couldn't help but curse inwardly.
The intense pain was one thing, but what was unbearable for him was that those damned Church guards never wiped their boots.
The ground was full of cow dung and dog feces brought in by their shoes, even building up in thick layers!
He forced himself to suppress the urge to vomit and continued to act the fool, maintaining a stupid grin and vacant gaze.
"Move quicker! You damn clod!"
Monk Will vented his anger on Chen Lun, who was at the very end of the line.
He kicked Chen Lun in the stomach twice more, nearly vomiting out his gall.
"Just you wait..."
Chen Lun gritted his teeth in silence.
Enduring the severe pain, he picked himself up and continued to follow the line forward.
Along the way, Chen Lun noted that this underground prison was vast, with at least a dozen cells.
But it seemed to hold not many prisoners, with many empty rooms.
This didn't mean that the Church had victimized fewer people, on the contrary, it was because there were too many that they now faced a supply and demand crisis.
After several twists and turns, the group of sacrifices, including Chen Lun, arrived at the door of a huge underground chamber.
On one side hung a wooden sign smeared with blood, on which a number "7" could be vaguely seen.
Entering the chamber, the scene inside appeared very spacious.
Apart from the torches hanging on the walls all around, there was only a large square Altar in the center.
On the Altar lay an old leather-bound notebook.
Three or four guards wearing leather coats and brimmed hats saluted Monk Will with torches in hand, then Monk Will gestured with his hand:
"We can begin now."
The mustachioed guard nodded, then blew his whistle again.
The man at the front of the sacrifice line walked straight onto the Altar, flipped open the leather notebook, and began reading.
The environment was incredibly quiet, except for the faint noise of the torches burning, only the rustling sound of the notebook pages being turned could be heard.
But suddenly, a painful and loud wailing broke the silence.
"Ah!! Ahhh!!"
Chen Lun only saw that the man appeared to have seen the most terrifying scene in the world.
He straightened up, his hands covering his eyes and his mouth wide open to an exaggerated degree, as he let out a piercing scream.
Suddenly, he tilted his head back and fell straight backward, his arched body no longer moving, dead with its limbs twisted in an unnatural pose.
Chen Lun couldn't help but shudder at the sight.
"Goodness, Sanity straight down to zero, ruled an instantaneous death…
What on earth is the level of this 'Mysterious Object'? It's not another one on the level of the 'Sun-avoiding Potted Plant', is it?"
He secretly wiped sweat from his brow, as there were only a few people in their team, and it was almost his turn.
The first man's death didn't cause any stir, the rest of the group was indifferent to the sight, still with the same dumbfounded expressions.
Floey merely lifted her eyelids to glance at the scene and then lowered her gaze again as if she had long since become numb to it.
Monk Will seemed increasingly impatient, making several hand gestures to signal the man with the mustache to quickly continue.
Whew!
The mustachioed man whistled, and the next woman stepped forward to flip through the notebook.
But, predictably, within a few seconds, she fell to the ground screaming like the previous sacrifice, dying painfully with her hands covering her eyes.
"Ah ah!! Ah!"
"Ah ah ah!!"
The young men and women in the same room with Chen Lun, one after another, read the weird leather notebook, all without exception experiencing a terrible, invisible assault.
Their Sanity Values dropped to zero, and they died on the spot, mad.
One man even became uncontrollably deranged due to the mysterious contamination.
He trembled uncontrollably as if he were a gravely ill old man.
His muscles and bones scattered like a disrupted jigsaw puzzle.
But instead of dying immediately, he turned into a writhing mass of flesh that even tried to attack those around him.
Luckily, Monk Will reacted in time, commanding the Guardians to hack him to pieces, then stuffed the remains in a sack and dragged it away.
Only a pool of corrupt blood remained, evidence that what had just happened wasn't an unfounded nightmare.
"Damn it! Useless! Total mess!"
Monk Will cursed furiously.
The unsuccessful sacrifice had made him lose all patience.
The pressure from the Church and the Priest, along with the torment of having no hope of leaving, made him extremely frantic.
"You!"
Monk Will pointed at Chen Lun, his gaze full of malice enveloping the latter.
"It's your turn now, the last sacrifice!"
He strode up to Chen Lun.
Seeing the latter with a foolish look on his face, his collar soaked with drool, Monk Will couldn't help but recoil in disgust and covered his nose.
"If you fail again, I'll chop you to pieces and bury you in Lady Rose's garden! Do you understand?"
Chen Lun grinned foolishly, as if he heard nothing.
Monk Will seemed to realize it was useless to talk to a fool and took a deep breath, instructing the man with the mustache to whistle.
Whew!
The whistle sounded the very next second.
Chen Lun's heart tightened suddenly.
What should I do! Should I make a move?
No!
"My Sanity Value can't sustain the continuous use of the Hypnosis Necklace, and with my current condition, I wouldn't survive two strikes from a Guardian, there's just no chance of success…"
Run?
That won't work either!
"There are several Great Gates in the underground prison, and without keys, they can't be opened. Not to mention the unknown number of Guardians outside, I probably wouldn't even make it out of this dungeon…"
He fought back the urge to bolt and slowly lifted his foot.
Then he moved laboriously towards the Altar.
With each step, the altar loomed larger in his vision.
The weird leather notebook lay quietly on it, waiting for Chen Lun to open it, to leaf through it.
And then to die miserably like the previous sacrifices!
Chen Lun knew that with his paltry 5 Points of Willpower, he wouldn't withstand the contamination; there was no chance of surviving!
Finally, with trembling hands, he picked up the notebook…