The ritual began!
Searchers were conducting searches in all the rooms along this row of tunnels.
However, just like the first room Shen Hui and his group entered, it was completely empty.
There were only some simple furniture and household items; nothing particularly noteworthy was discovered.
Just then, someone outside shouted, seemingly having discovered something and urging everyone to come out and see.
Everyone left the room and returned to the tunnel.
Shen Hui and Ye Long also arrived at the tunnel, and there was a corner not far ahead.
A man stood there waving and shouting, "Come and see! We've found something here!"
Everyone walked towards that direction, including Shen Hui.
When we reached the corner, we saw that what lay beyond was an incredibly spacious and enormous space.
Furthermore, there were carvings on the ground and other objects placed on it.
It seems this is the activity area of Laughing Moon Cult, and there don't appear to be any other roads or passages ahead.
This outpost appears to be only this big.
They all exchanged glances, then nodded and walked inside together.
As they advanced, someone set fire to the burning materials on the wall.
The firelight flared up, illuminating the vast space.
This is a spacious room, roughly the size of two basketball courts.
A formation was created on the ground using circular, semi-circular, and crescent-shaped patterns, and above that was something else.
Everyone who saw it frowned and felt a wave of nausea.
Fragments of flesh, jaggedly fractured bones, and tangled internal organs...
And on top of that, a head with a fanatical smile.
It's like turning a person into a pot of mush and putting it all together, then using a human head as a garnish.
It was placed at the points where the patterns that make up the formation intersected.
Although the creator present had witnessed all sorts of bloody events during the development of the world.
But even now, in the Real World, I can't help but feel a sense of nausea.
Surprisingly, these human corpses did not emit any bloody smell or other strange odor.
Everyone carefully examined the scene before them.
"The markings on this formation are still very clear; it was obviously completed just two days ago."
"These people must be from the Laughing Moon Cult. I never expected their cult to be so cruel. I'm afraid all the members of this stronghold have died here."
"They must have been used as sacrifices, for some kind of ritual?"
"But we haven't received any news about the Laughing Moon Cult these past two days. Could it be that their ritual failed?"
Everyone made their own speculations based on the situation at the scene.
Ye Long then pointed to a group of people behind Shen Hui and said, "Brother Shen, look at those heads, don't they look a lot like the people in the photo you just found?"
Shen Hui looked at it and saw that although the photo showed a child, the corpse was an adult.
However, based on the outline and some unrelated characteristics, it is still possible to tell that it is indeed the other person.
Shen Hui recalled the words on the back of the photo once again.
"In the Black Night, He watches over us like a warm mother; today, I will follow my mother."
It seems that what the other party meant by "following" was indeed just as Shen Hui had thought.
It's the same as throwing oneself into the embrace of the Lord of the Earth.
It is death, but it has a different meaning for the loyal believers of these churches.
But Shen Hui found it ridiculous.
If death truly leads to another place, then what is the meaning of death?
Death should be simply disappearance, non-existence, born from nothingness, and ultimately returning to nothingness.
Did the ritual performed using the array that the other side had drawn up truly fail?
Shen Hui witnessed this ritual that used human beings as sacrifices.
Back in the Nascent World, the Giant God Cult piled up the corpses of the creators they had killed.
This was used as a sacrifice to bring the Colossal Creature World to the Nascent World, and to occupy it as a springboard.
Many people have confirmed that apart from the formation and the corpses, there is nothing else unusual here.
They found no way to continue forward and breathed a sigh of relief.
They believed that the investigation had come to an end.
"This mission was quite simple; there's nothing more to investigate. Preserve the scene, let's go back, and report what happened here to our superiors."
"I just earned 200 points and some resources, that's great! I wonder how the others who went to the other outposts are doing."
"Stop talking, let's get out of here. I really don't want to stay here for another second. It's like being a rat, so stifling and miserable."
Many people nodded in agreement.
However, Shen Hui felt that something was amiss. Had the ceremony, which the other party had prepared, really failed?
Ye Long noticed something was wrong with Shen Hui and asked in a low voice:
"Brother Shen, have you discovered anything else?"
Shen Hui said, "I don't know what kind of ritual the Laughing Moon Cult was holding, but I don't think it could have failed. However, these offerings are still here..."
Ye Long listened to Shen Hui's words and said, "We don't have any leads right now, let's leave here first and see if the other teams have made any discoveries after we get out."
Shen Hui nodded.
They prepared to leave this place with the others.
Everyone prepared to return the way they came, but when they turned around, the passage that had been illuminated by the burning materials was plunged into darkness once again.
"Huh... could it be that all those things have gone out?"
"It's gone, so what? It's not like we can't see anything. Let's go."
But at that moment, the darkness began to extend forward, like a curtain, plunging the covered areas into darkness.
So it wasn't that the fire went out, but rather that it was covered by darkness.
Everyone was thrown into a panic, having no time to react to this sudden turn of events.
Darkness then enveloped them.
And this darkness was truly black; once it enveloped them, even those in their Creator Form could not see anything.
"What happened?!"
"What's going on? Is everyone still here?"
"Did you encounter any danger?"
Everyone shouted, and some even felt fluctuations from the Creation World emanating from their bodies.
I plan to immediately deploy the Creation World if I encounter danger, even if the space here is unstable and has spatial rifts that could damage the Creation World.
But then everyone's voices came from the darkness one after another, and some even touched each other.
"I'm here, it's nothing."
I'm fine too.
"What exactly is this darkness? Could it be related to the darkness that appeared in the Water District a few days ago?"
Shen Hui, shrouded in darkness, naturally knew that it was irrelevant.
This darkness is simply darkness, incomparable to my own darkness.
In this darkness, Shen Hui experienced no visual disturbances.
Therefore, Shen Hui clearly saw the changes around him.
Behind them, the massive array depicting flesh and human heads began to melt into pools of blood.
The ceremony has not failed; it is only just beginning!