The Venomous Snake in the Church

They passed through the collapsed corridor and entered the monastery's Main Cathedral.

The place had long since fallen into ruin. Huge cracks split the towering dome, shards of stained glass lay scattered across the floor, dust-covered pews stood crookedly in rows, and the candleholders had rusted away, with melted, dried wax drippings hanging from their blackened metal branches.

The wooden door of the confessional was tightly shut, but intermittent sobbing came from inside. The sound rose and fell, like someone suppressing their cries in unbearable pain, or the mournful wail of an injured beast. At times, it dissolved into indistinct murmurs.

Harry's small body suddenly shuddered. He stared fixedly at the confessional, unable to understand what could make someone produce such a terrifying sound.

The scar-faced man threw the two children onto the floor, then assumed a respectful posture and lowered his head. "My Dark Lord, Wade Grey and Harry Potter have both been brought here."

Harry's knees struck the stone slabs, and the pain made his vision go dark. But he bit his lip hard, refusing to make a sound.

Wade instinctively turned his head, his gaze swiftly sweeping over the confessional as his heart tightened.

The door to the confessional seemed to have been pushed open by a narrow crack. Wade vaguely saw a blurred figure curled up inside, seemingly bound in heavy shackles.

A nauseating blood smell filled the room. The shackles made faint scraping sounds, as though someone was dragging chains and struggling to move their body.

Suddenly, something shifted at the edge of Wade's vision—

A blood red eye abruptly appeared behind the crack in the door, staring unblinkingly at Wade. It was filled with pain and despair; looking at it felt like staring into an abyss.

Wade shuddered all over, cold sweat instantly breaking