Roaring Heartbeat

"Then let's continue," Alice said. "The operation plan needs to be changed."

Then she looked towards the cabin. "How much Holy Water is left on board?"

"Ignoring each person's quota, fifteen bottles of Intermediate Holy Water and twenty bottles of beginner-level holy water," Leonard said at this moment.

"Move everything down and hand it over to the church."

"We will set up Purification Barrier along the way," Philip continued, turning to the two Deacon. "The intervals will not exceed twenty paces. Don't be stingy with Holy Water; we need a stable escape route, but more importantly—"

He paused, then looked towards the beach.

"We can't let these things spread, and we absolutely can't let them get close to the Abyssal Hunter."

The Deacon obeyed and turned to follow Leonard to carry the Holy Water.

"Leave one of the Born on the ship." Alice looked at Marcus. "Once the cannons have cooled down, be ready to fire and provide support at any time. Your Ascension Society should have long-range communication methods, right?"

"We'll proceed along the tunnel created by the blast. If the situation gets out of control, we'll bombard the tunnel again."

"Don't they care about their own people?" one of the Born rarely spoke.

"Kill him if you hit him." Alice said expressionlessly. "Any objections?"

The Born was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

Upon hearing this, Marcus smiled slightly and gestured for one of the Born to stay.

"Okay, I'm fine with it."

"The formation will remain as agreed before," Alice continued. "The Ascension Society lead the way, and your people are best suited for this kind of environment. The Night Watcher will be in the center, with the Church at the rear to provide Purification."

"Doctor Lu is with me," Philip suddenly said.

Alice glanced at him.

"I've seen his file; he's one of the more knowledgeable people in the group about this island," Philip said calmly. "Besides, it's safer for him to be in the back."

Clearly, the reasons given by the church are insufficient, and even somewhat strange.

However, Alice did not answer for Lu Yuan, but only indicated that Lu Yuan should make the decision himself.

Lu Yuan nodded, indicating that he had no objection.

Because when Philip spoke, Lu Yuan saw a blue color appear in his hand; it was "Deep Blue," the Ore brought back by the Iron Whale.

Clearly, this old charlatan from the church wanted to say something to him.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that these people from the church have their eyes on him for something, but the Exorcism Gunpowder in his arms is no joke, and he has not used the Time Bestower even once.

If it's just about self-preservation, that's more than enough.

"Then let's go." Marcus stepped forward at this moment, leading two Born and Judge, and leaped off the Abyssal Hunter.

Afterwards, the group lined up in formation and advanced along the path created by the artillery fire.

The charred sand, covering the burnt remains of the tentacles, emitted a pungent, fishy stench.

Two church Deacon stopped every twenty steps, sprinkled Holy Water on the ground, murmured prayers, and then made a few strokes.

Then, golden light spread across the ground.

The still-wriggling tentacle fragments recoiled as if burned upon encountering the golden light.

The further inland you go, the thicker the tentacles become.

From the thickness of a finger at the beginning, it has now grown to the thickness of a forearm.

Meanwhile, the church at the back of the group gradually fell behind the Ascension Society at the front due to the need to set up Purification Barrier.

"This distance is fine, Priest Philip. What are you trying to say?"

Lu Yuan cut to the chase and asked directly.

Philip looked at Lu Yuan and took out a thumb-sized piece of Ore from his sleeve. It was Deep Blue and faintly glowed.

"Doctor Lu, you're Strange Dream Infected." Philip didn't hide anything and asked directly, "Have you seen this in the Strange Dream?"

Lu Yuan looked at the Ore but didn't answer immediately, because a line of Gray-White Text had already appeared.

[High-Concentration Alienated Condensate detected]

[Characteristic: ██ Deep tissue secretions, which can slow down the progression of strange injuries to some extent.]

[WARNING: Prolonged exposure may lead to changes in mental structure]

Lu Yuan memorized this information and asked in return:

Aren't you afraid of getting infected?

"The spread of the Dream of the Strange Dream is limited," Philip said calmly. "As long as you don't deliberately come into contact with the source of infection, it's almost impossible to get infected. And those who are infected can only be infected once at most."

He paused, then continued.

"You were infected by Laisen, and it's almost impossible for you to be contagious again."

Lu Yuan remained silent for a moment upon hearing this, realizing that the church's investigation was more thorough than he had imagined.

"... I've met some."

Lu Yuan did not disclose the specific details.

But Philip frowned upon hearing this, and his expression turned grim.

"What's wrong?" Lu Yuan asked.

Philip did not answer immediately, his gaze fixed on the Ore in his hand, as if he was hesitating about something.

A few seconds later, he spoke.

"This thing... is not Ore."

Lu Yuan was taken aback. He had come into contact with it once before; it was an "asset" that Ascension Society. At that time, the Ore was embedded in a mechanical organ, and since he couldn't touch it, Lu Yuan didn't know what it was.

The limited information available is mostly summaries from the Night Watcher archives.

It now seems that apart from the Night Watcher not having studied this in depth, the Ascension Society and the Church both know something... No wonder this operation doesn't seem like a rescue mission at all.

"The Archbishop told me," Philip said, ignoring Lu Yuan's silence, "That this thing is related to the supernatural."

Lu Yuan looked at Philip, his gaze slightly narrowed.

Why are you telling me this?

Philip shook his head and said nothing more.

Because he himself didn't know why.

If it weren't for the Archbishop's instructions, he wouldn't even want to get involved in this mess.

"We've arrived ahead, hurry up and catch up."

Alice's voice came from ahead, interrupting their conversation.

Philip put away the Ore, and piety returned to his face.

Let's go.

Lu Yuan glanced at him, but didn't press the matter or ask for permission to touch the Ore.

Lu Yuan still remembers Old Morgan's warning: if he didn't want to deepen his Strange Dream, he should stay away from those Contamination, and "Deep Blue" was the most direct form of Contamination.

Ahead, abandoned wooden houses appeared on both sides of the road.

Crooked, decaying, exactly like the one in the Strange Dream, the only difference being that the wooden house here was covered with bright red tentacles. These tentacles were rooted in the ground, huge in size, each the size of a bowl, densely packed, and trembling faintly.

In the distance, rusty railway tracks stretched out from the dark cave and came into view.

The wooden support structure at the entrance of the cave was largely rotten and covered with tentacles of varying thicknesses.

When Marcus was walking at the front, saw the cave, his eyes flashed red intensely, because he knew they had arrived at their destination!

The moment the group appeared at the cave entrance, a deep rumble echoed from the depths of the cave.

Lu Yuan instantly became alert, because the sound was almost identical to the heartbeat that Strange Dream had heard...