Li Wen stood on a high place, looking in the direction of the church.
Although Victoria has stated that she will use means to get Investigation Bureau to use the people buried in Port Belen, but Li Wen is not the kind of person who will completely place her thoughts on others, so she has been waiting, waiting for the moment when the conflict occurs.
The wait was not long. Just as Li Wen was deep in thought, a dull loud noise suddenly tore apart Port Belen's relatively peaceful day.
The sound was heavy and distant, like the roar of a huge object being violently hit, or like some extremely violent explosion or... magic.
Li Wen suddenly raised his head and looked around. The loud noise seemed to come from the eastern direction of the port, where the shipyards are concentrated.
"Is that where it turned out to be? It's not unexpected."
She whispered.
If the explosion indeed came from the Investigation Bureau, then it seems that their first goal is to prevent the ship from sailing, which is consistent with those guys' usual style.
Even so, Li Wen didn't intend to wade in the muddy water in that direction, but wanted to take advantage of the chaos to go to Eternal Life Blessing Cult's base camp, or in other words, the church that looked unusually perfunctory under the guise of the chaos. She didn't believe that Eternal Life Cult would arrange for a transcendent from Stage Three to guard an insignificant building..
Thinking like this, Li Wen's body fell forward, and his petite body fell freely in the air. But the moment before it touched the ground, the magic of dusk boiled instantly, and the suspended Li Wen landed lightly and gracefully.
"Let me see what secrets this unknown Eternal Life Blessing Cult hides."
The figure of Li Wen walks through the intricate lanes of Port Belen.
The aftertaste of the distant explosion still echoed in the air, and the hustle and bustle of the port area was made even more chaotic by this sudden change. The traders closed their stalls in panic, sailors looked in the direction of the commotion in small groups, and a few sneaky figures took the opportunity to touch the goods on the stalls. The entire port was like an anthill that had been punctured, revealing its truest undertones in the chaos.
When the gray-white spire of the church was vaguely visible, Li Wen slowed down. Like an ordinary lost traveler, she naturally blended into the sparse flow of people on the street, but her eyes sharply scanned the target building.
Unlike the last time I visited late at night, the church door was closed now, and the rough red cross on the door looked particularly dazzling in the dim light. The surroundings were unusually quiet, with not even a single believer or guard standing guard. Obviously, the huge noise coming from the shipyard attracted away the few guards here.
Li Wen didn't hesitate, and in a flash he got close to the side wall of the church. When no one was paying attention, he flew into the air, broke open the window and got into it, and then landed lightly, all in one movement.
The interior of the church was emptier and colder than she remembered. The air is filled with a damp smell similar to rotting seaweed that cannot be concealed by cheap incense. The gray stone walls are without any decoration, the floor is paved with rough wooden boards, a few rows of benches are empty, and the huge red cross on the podium casts a distorted shadow in the dim light.
There were no guards, no traps, and the entire chapel was as silent as a cemetery.
It's too quiet... Li Wen frowned slightly. This does not meet the level of alert that a stronghold guarded by Stage Three extraordinary people should have. Or in other words, facing the pressure given by the Investigation Bureau, Eternal Life Blessing Cult's core strength may really be exhausted.
That's fine too.
According to the last memory, Li Wen came to the wooden door behind the cross, and after prying it open with a dagger, a secret passage leading underground appeared in front of her.
A salty and decaying smell that was stronger and more primitive than that in the church came to my face, carrying the dampness of sea water and the earthy smell of rocks. The passage is narrow and steep, and the excavation is extremely rough. The rock walls are covered with traces of condensation of water droplets, and the stone steps under the feet are extremely slippery. It is obvious that the natural geological structure is directly used.
Li Wen stepped lightly, alert for any possible traps or guards, but apart from the monotonous echo of water droplets falling into the puddles below, there was no other sound.
The passage is not deep, and after just descending dozens of steps, it suddenly becomes clear.
In front of you is a naturally formed cave. The space is not too big. There are a few strange-shaped stalactites hanging from the top. There is a shallow layer of sea water on the ground, which reflects the faint skylight coming from the entrance of the passage and barely illuminates the center of the cave.
There, there stood something that made Li Wen's pupils suddenly shrink.
Two-tailed Mermaid statue.
It was almost identical to the one seen on the Adventurer. It had a twisted and enchanting figure, its fine scales glowed with a dark blue light in the dim light, and its beautiful but endlessly greedy face, with a strange expression that seemed to be a smile but not a smile.
Why is it here?
Li Wen raised her eyebrows slightly, but she remembered very clearly that Moria's sword had clearly destroyed the statue in Joseph's hand into powder, or was the statue in front of her actually another replica?
According to Joseph, the Two-tailed Mermaid statue was originally the legacy of the great pirate Roberts. Now that the same statue appears here again, does it mean that there is a connection between Eternal Life Blessing Cult and Roberts's old department? Is their move to go out to sea to find Black Reef Bay related to this?
As we continue to explore, instead of being answered, the puzzles become more and more...
After confirming that there were no obvious traps, Li Wen stepped forward and carefully inspected the statue. Its material looks the same as the previous one, neither gold nor stone. Its tentacles are cold and smooth, like the hard bones of some kind of deep-sea creature. The base is mottled and engraved with ancient symbols that are difficult to identify.
The salty smell of sea water and the rotten smell of algae are emanating from it.
Li Wen's fingers brushed the cold surface of the statue, trying to sense more information. And the moment her fingertips touched the gaps between the statue's scales, an extremely weak and cold thought with strong malice and decay, like a cold poisonous snake, suddenly followed her perception!
The thoughts were greedy and malicious, with a crazy desire that had been imprisoned for a long time. It was not an attack, but more like an instinctive robbery or... resonance?
"Let me out!!!"
A horrifying scream that was extremely insane, heartbreaking, and piercing the soul kept echoing in Li Wen's mind.
Li Wen felt like she was being shocked by electricity. She subconsciously retracted her hand and instantly turned on Witch State. The power of dusk flowed through her body, forming an invisible barrier to isolate the disgusting erosion of thoughts. She stared at the statue with sharp eyes, her heart beating heavily in her chest.
This statue did not seem to be a relic of an ancient civilization as she had guessed. It contained some kind of autonomous consciousness that was highly related to Path of the Death Soul. Thinking of all that happened and experienced during this period, there is no doubt that this statue is probably the carrier of the extended power of Soul Lord, and what is sealed inside may even be his stripped Remnant Soul.
Its appearance here means that the core of Eternal Life Cult has probably established some degree of contact with this sealed terrifying existence, and may even be guided or used by part of its will.
If Li Wen hadn't been a player, she might have been usurped by the will dormant inside the statue the moment she touched it.
Wait, since that incomplete will is still trapped in the statue, does that mean...
Just as Li Wen was thinking, an extremely slight sound of anxious and urgent footsteps came from the direction of the church overhead.
Someone is coming.