This is a nightmare.

Wandering among the buildings filled with death and blood, Fang Zheng finally discovered the darkest secret of the Healing Church hidden here.

Here, Fang Zheng discovered that besides the hunters, the majority of the people were "patients". Their common feature was that everyone's head was wrapped in a cloth bag, and it was impossible to see what was inside. However, Fang Zheng could tell from the movement of the cloth bags that what was inside the bags was definitely not the "head" he knew.

As for what their heads looked like... Fang Zheng wisely chose to ignore it.

From the information in the experimental building, Fang Zheng finally understood what the Healing Church was doing.

Although Lawrence and William broke up due to ideological differences, it does not mean that Lawrence disagrees with William's approach. He just doesn't want to give up everything just because he says "I'm afraid of the blood of the ancient gods" as William said. In fact, Lawrence's thinking is consistent with William's. He wants to elevate humans to a higher level by improving the "inner eye" in the human brain.

In other words, Lawrence's core ideas are still William's.

To do this, they injected some people's brains with... some kind of drug.

Of course, these people were not chosen at random, and through long experiments, Lawrence found that some people showed good adaptability after being injected with the blood of the ancient gods. Not only that, their blood seemed to be able to blend well with the blood of the ancient gods, producing a very strange and powerful healing effect.

Therefore, the Healing Church gathered these people together, injected them with the blood of the ancient gods, and extracted "improved" blood from their bodies after merging with the blood of the ancient gods as the main source of "blood therapy."

After seeing this, Fang Zheng finally understood why the Healing Church had so much blood for blood therapy... It took them so long to get a bunch of human blood banks!

It makes sense when you think about it. After all, humans and ancient gods cannot understand each other. If you keep pumping blood, you never know when the ancient gods will give you a slap in the face and you're done for. But pumping blood from a human body is obviously safer and more controllable.

However, for those in the Healing Church, those people are not just wasted as blood banks. Their good adaptability to the blood of the ancient gods means that they can better feel the knowledge and mysteries that the blood of the ancient gods brings to them. They can listen to the voices from the depths of the blood of the ancient gods and feel the realms and levels that mortals cannot understand...

From one of the big heads that could communicate, Fang Zheng learned that these people were once called "Blood Saints". They were the source of the human blood bank, and they were very sure that they could use these powers to become higher-level beings.

According to Big Head, after they first showed their adaptability to the blood of the ancient gods, they would be named "Blood Saints" by the Healing Church and become human blood banks, donating blood for others for free. In return, these Blood Saints would be eligible to be injected with more blood of the ancient gods, and they could feel the existence, sounds and images that others could not feel.

However, as the blood of the ancient gods increased, these blood saints began to change. Their heads became larger and larger, becoming "indescribable", and at this time, they could no longer continue to live and work outside. They would come here as "patients" and then become experimental subjects of the Healing Church.

According to the records Fang Zheng had found, the heads of these blood saints would grow larger and larger, eventually separating from their bodies and becoming independent lives... Of course, they were also unsuccessful failures.

In addition, Fang Zheng learned two more things.

The first thing is that there seems to be a person in charge here named Maria. Logically speaking, these blood saints became test subjects of the healing church, so they should hate the church. But this is not the case. The big heads that Fang Zheng met, whether they were rational or not, all respected and loved a person named Ms. Maria. From what they said, it seemed that Ms. Maria had been trying her best to soothe their pain and calm their hearts and souls...

Well, it's like a doctor taking care of mental patients in a mental hospital.

The second thing is that... these big heads all mentioned the sound of "deep sea", "deep dark place" and "tick-tick-tick" and other sounds of water. They were attracted by this sound and were completely addicted to it, unable to extricate themselves.

It seems that if you want to know the secrets and truth of all this, you have to find the lady named Maria.

And she is right before my eyes.

"Bang."

A swollen, blue monster fell in front of Fang Zheng. It had almost completely lost its human shape. Its head and body were completely fused together, turning into something that looked more like a rectangular rice cake with hands and feet.

Failure...

Looking at the monsters in front of him turning into pus and blood, Fang Zheng muttered to himself. He had learned from the information that these four strange monsters were the final messengers used by the Healing Church to contact the ancient gods, but unfortunately they also failed. While transforming and losing their human forms, their thoughts also transformed into existences that humans could not understand.

And this sunflower field on the rooftop is their final destination.

Fang Zheng glanced at the completely dead failure and retracted his gaze. Whether this was a nightmare or not, he had seen enough monsters along the way. Although Fang Zheng still didn't know why he came here, according to William, he should go to the center of the lake to eliminate Rom and end the endless hunting night.

But here, it is obviously a completely different world.

Perhaps the biggest secret of the Healing Church is hidden here, but what does it mean to Fang Zheng? He is not interested in the secrets of the Healing Church. In fact, any organization has its dark side, and no matter how noble the ideal is, it is inevitable to be stained with blood and darkness. The same is true for Fang Zheng's Tiandao Palace. He basically leaves all the dirty work to the Zerg. In fact, what the Zerg do in the Iron Blood World is not more noble than the Healing Church, nor will it be greater because of this. In essence, there is no difference between the two sides, except that Fang Zheng did not choose his own people as experimental subjects like the Healing Church did.

After all, it's all over.

“Squeak—”

Fang Zheng reached out his hand, pushed open the door in front of him, and walked into the room. In front of him was a wide hall with candles lit on both sides, and on the wall in front of him was a huge metal clock. A woman wearing a hunter's suit and with beautiful blonde hair sat on a chair, staring at Fang Zheng quietly.

"A visitor? How unexpected."

Her voice was calm and steady, sounding like the warm spring breeze. Looking at the woman in front of him, Fang Zheng asked tentatively.

"You are...Ms. Maria?"

"Yes."

The woman nodded slightly, then she looked at Fang Zheng.

"Welcome to this nightmare. What do you think of those bestial patients and the filthy wards in the church? I know what you did to them. It's not your fault. The nightmare controlled them, and now they are finally free. What about you? How do you feel about all this?"

"Thoughts...?"

Hearing Maria's question, Fang Zheng thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders.

"I think... it's OK."

"……good?"

Maria was stunned by Fang Zheng's unexpected answer. She had been prepared for the angry accusations or scoldings about the dirty and dark secrets within the church, but she never expected that the young man in front of her would give her such an unexpected answer.

"Alright...what do you mean?"

"It's just OK."

Facing Maria's question, Fang Zheng spread out his hands.

"Every organization has its dark side. Only naive children think that everything is bright and beautiful. But we are immersed in the darkness, aren't we protecting those children's beautiful expectations of the world? And, to be honest, I have seen experiments that are more cruel than the Healing Church. Maybe to you, what the Healing Church does is unacceptable. But in my opinion, at least all of this is based on the consent of both parties. It may be crazy or ugly, but at least the people who make the decision are adults with self-judgment, right?"

"this……"

Hearing this, the woman was speechless.

"That's true, but...the suffering they endured..."

"The pain they endured was also the result of their choice. To be fair, at least this choice was made by themselves. Madam, your so-called evil and darkness are nothing compared to what I have seen. Have you ever seen those innocent children being sent to the operating table in the malice of adults? In order to record the process of their transformation into monsters, these adults will hurt their bodies again and again, and torture them in various ways, just to record some data? Those children suffered torture and suffering, but they did not get even the slightest sympathy. Not only researchers, but even ordinary people could abuse and hurt them at will without worrying about any punishment? Those children's cries and prayers were only exchanged for repeated injuries? Have you ever seen this?"

“…”

Maria was completely stunned after hearing this and didn't know what to say.

Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders.

"So you see, compared to what I said, this is nothing."