Chapter 178
"When did you come back? Three in the afternoon?"
"It's still late. I came here through a secret passage." Li Yiluan pointed underground. "There's a place underground that leads directly to the altar. By the way, have you found a medium?"
Shen Yunzhe thought for a moment. "We only found something that looked like a medium, and the Virgin Mary's body was on the rooftop."
"That's definitely it," Li Yiluan nodded. "I started walking there last night. I walked for a long time before I saw an altar. Countless identical buildings surrounded the altar. I saw some of the things that happened there."
"Some men in white coats sacrificed a child, and that child was the Virgin Mary's child."
“The Virgin Mary should have opened an altar after that.”
Li Yuluan imitated the postures of the Virgin Mary and the female sculpture in front of him.
"Those female statues raise their hands to offer their children to the Virgin Mary, while the Virgin Mary raises her hands to welcome her child."
Shen Yunzhe was a little confused, "Welcome your own child?"
"Yes, the Virgin Mary's child was sacrificed and died, so she opened the altar again and sacrificed countless women's children in the hope of returning her child. That's roughly the process." Li Yiluan nodded. "So I think our mission goal this time might be to help the Virgin Mary find her child."
"How?"
"Bring the medium, that is, the body of the Virgin Mary, to the altar." Li Yuluan thought for a moment. "I didn't see much, but I did hear the Virgin Mary's voice at the altar. She cares deeply about her child, and that altar seems to be the only device that can bring her child back."
"Besides, we don't know anything right now, so it would be a waste if we don't try."
Shen Yunzhe nodded. He looked at Huang Yihua lying on the sofa and asked, "When are we going?"
"Let's do it tomorrow." Li Yiluan also looked at the unconscious Huang Yihua. "Huang Yihua is not doing well right now. I haven't slept all day and all night. Besides, going out at night is really dangerous. If we run into the fog again, all our efforts will be wasted. We'll set off tomorrow at five o'clock. If Huang Yihua wakes up, we'll join her. If she's still not well, we'll keep her."
"That's all we can do."
The community rules did not say that you could not stay overnight at your neighbor's house, so Shen Yunzhe left Huang Yihua there. There were two problems with sending her back. One was that they could not open Huang Yihua's door, and the other was that Huang Yihua was in no condition to protect herself.
After confirming the time, Li Yiluan left. He was so sleepy that he could fall asleep as soon as he closed his eyes, especially since his soles were sore after walking for a whole day and night.
No one came to knock on Shen Yunzhe's door anymore. The first floor was empty, and the neighbors on other floors were not fools. They didn't dare to come down and knock on the door. As for the strange foreign creatures that came in after ten o'clock in the evening, they looked at the open doors on the first floor in a daze. They got into these ownerless rooms and started fighting to occupy the houses.
But no one came to disturb Shen Yunzhe.
They waited like this until daytime. When the alarm clock rang at five o'clock, Shen Yunzhe got up and left the bedroom. Huang Yihua was sitting on the sofa in the living room. When she saw Shen Yunzhe, she smiled at him, but the smile involved the pinch marks on her neck, and her smile immediately turned into a grin.
Then she gestured at her neck, indicating to Shen Yunzhe that she couldn't speak now.
After the gesture, she opened her phone and typed something on the memo for Shen Yunzhe to see.
What's going on now? Did Li Yilun come back yesterday? I think I saw him.
"That's right, Li Yiluan has returned, and he's brought news," Shen Yunzhe replied. "There's an altar far away, and there's a secret passage underneath that connects to this place. Li Yiluan saw the Virgin Mary's dead child on the altar and heard the Virgin Mary's voice, so he figured a medium needed to be sent to the altar to help the Virgin Mary find her child."
"This is very likely our main mission."
Shen Yunzhe agreed with Li Yuluan's idea. The Virgin Mary cared very much about her children, and that place happened to be the place where her children were sacrificed. In addition, the altar still existed. The playground circled around the altar so many times.
That place is important no matter how you think about it.
It is extremely ironic that the Virgin Mary's child was sacrificed there, but she also wanted to use this altar to exchange for her own child.
Huang Yihua's eyes changed and she quickly started typing.
[I remember we speculated that the body of the Virgin Mary was most likely the medium.]
"Yeah, so we need to carry the body to the altar."
Huang Yihua was silent for a few seconds before typing.
[Then I might not be able to go with you.]
I was deeply affected by the Virgin Mary's corpse. Yesterday, even though I knew it was wrong, I still insisted on going up to search for her body. Hu Mingli interrupted me midway, and it was a near miss. I can't bear to see the Virgin Mary's corpse anymore. I can even say that I tremble at the mere mention of her name.
【Feel sorry. 】
Shen Yunzhe looked at these words and understood why she returned to her room and came out again last night.
"No need to apologize, this is a perfectly normal choice," Shen Yunzhe said. "Li Yiluan and I will move the bodies to the altar. You can stay here. It's best to confirm how many players haven't been replaced yet. Yesterday, I was hoping to tell you that more than half of the players weren't you anymore."
Huang Yihua made an OK gesture.
Ding Dong, the doorbell rang. Shen Yunzhe walked over and looked through the peephole, then opened the door. Li Yuluen walked in yawning.
After seeing Huang Yihua wake up, he greeted her, "You're awake? Good morning."
Huang Yihua quickly stood up and bowed to Li Yuluan.
Li Yiluan was startled and almost jumped behind Shen Yunzhe, "What, what happened? Why are you suddenly being so polite?!"
Seeing his reaction, Huang Yihua couldn't help laughing out loud, and then because of the injury on her neck, she turned into a mask of pain. She sat down and typed on her mobile phone. Finally, she raised her hand to let Li Yulun see, only to see two huge words "Thank you" typed on the phone.
Huang Yihua knew very well that the situation last night was extremely critical. If Li Yuluan had not suddenly appeared, she would have been strangled to death in the corridor.
Now that I'm still alive, the first person I want to thank is Li Yuluan. Of course I have to thank him for saving my life.
"We all agreed to come here together, so it's normal to support each other." Li Yiluan said, "Can't you speak now?"
Huang Yihua nodded.
"She won't participate in subsequent actions either." Shen Yunzhe helped Huang Yihua explain the influence of the Virgin Mary on her.
"Indeed, the Virgin Mary has a greater influence on women than on men." Li Yiluan nodded. "Because women can become pregnant, all women, like the statue, will have an extreme worship for the Virgin Mary. Those who have children will offer their own children, and those who don't will go back and get pregnant and give birth to a child to offer to the Virgin Mary."
Huang Yihua frowned, she seemed a little unable to accept it.
After all, in the background story, the Virgin Mary was such a kind and innocent person who suffered so much, which made Huang Yihua portray the Virgin Mary as a victim from the very beginning.
"Don't mind it." Shen Yunzhe noticed Huang Yihua's expression. "The Virgin Mary is still the same Virgin Mary, but she is dead. The dead will not be resurrected. If they were to be resurrected, they would not be called by their original names, but by strange things."
"The seemingly self-aware residents of this playground are merely freaks imbued with a memory of desire."
"Including Our Lady."
Huang Yihua looked at Shen Yunzhe in surprise. He didn't expect Shen Yunzhe to look at him that way.
But perhaps Shen Yunzhe was right, the Virgin Mary in this playground and the Virgin Mary in the background story were not the same person at all.
The pure Virgin Mary is dead, and now there are only the remains of the Virgin Mary, an extremely evil and strange creature.
After comforting Huang Yihua, Shen Yunzhe and Li Yuluan set off. They needed to go to the rooftop first to bring down the body of the Virgin Mary, and then go to the secret passage discovered by Li Yuluan, and follow the secret passage to send the body of the Virgin Mary to the altar.
Stepping onto the rooftop, Li Yiluan finally saw the body of the Virgin Mary.
The body was still the same as yesterday, lying there quietly, as if she was just asleep.
Li Yuluan hissed and took a breath of cold air.
"This feeling..." Li Yiluan frowned, "The female corpse in the mountain village is indeed incomparable to the corpse of the Virgin Mary."
If the female corpse in the mountain village could still give people a weird feeling, then the body of the Virgin Mary only had tranquility and holiness. She seemed to be able to bless the entire space by lying there. Her existence was like a gift from God. Li Yuluen even couldn't help but feel that she was right.
Whatever the Virgin Mary did, she was right. After all, how could such a beautiful and holy woman do such evil things?
"That's really exaggerated." Li Yiluan frowned.
Li Yuluan is a fortune teller. He can also see people's destiny. He will never combine a person's nature with his appearance and temperament in his life.
Don't judge a book by its cover; this is a big taboo for fortune tellers.
"How do we do this?" Li Yiluan looked at Shen Yunzhe, "Should we move her?"
Shen Yunzhe thought for a moment and said, "It might be dangerous to move the body directly."
"Yes, it's very dangerous."
Shen Yunzhe looked at the corpse for a moment before speaking, "Don't be surprised at that moment. As long as I don't tell you there's something wrong, don't worry about it. Then follow me."
Li Yiluan blinked, "What do you want to do now?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yuluan was horrified to find that the Virgin Mary's body moved. He saw the Virgin Mary's hands moving, and then the Virgin Mary slowly climbed up. She still had her eyes closed, and the white hood covered the upper half of her face. She stood on the rooftop with her head down.
Li Yuluan was startled.
Shen Yunzhe's fingers trembled, and the body of the Virgin Mary began to move.
"Li Yiluan, lead the way." Shen Yunzhe said.
Li Yiluan looked at the moving corpse, then turned to look at Shen Yunzhe, "...are you controlling it?"
"Yes." Shen Yunzhe nodded. "Marionette, isn't it very useful?"
"You should tell me in advance next time, otherwise I will really be scared to have a heart attack." Li Yuluan pressed his chest tiredly. He took a deep breath to steady his heartbeat, then turned around and walked downstairs to the corridor. Shen Yunzhe spread his hands, controlling the corpse and following behind Li Yuluan.
Fortunately, not many residents went out at five o'clock, so they left the rooftop smoothly. Li Yuluan took Shen Yunzhe to the loophole at ten o'clock in the evening. He lifted the floor under his feet, and the next moment a door leading downwards appeared.
Shen Yunzhe: ...
There is a hole on top and a hole on the bottom, it's quite symmetrical.
Li Yuluan was not wrong. The cave was really very long. They walked for a long time. Li Yuluan was walking in front, Shen Yunzhe was at the end, and the corpse was in the middle.
As he walked, Li Yiluan couldn't help but look back.
After a long time, he couldn't help it.
"Shen Yunzhe," Li Yiluan asked, "Do you think this body doesn't look like a body? I feel like there's someone following me, not a controlled corpse."
Shen Yunzhe actually had the same feeling. This corpse really didn't look like a corpse.
It is said to be controlled by a puppet, but in fact Shen Yunzhe feels that he can control it very easily, and this ease is far beyond that of other strange things. Shen Yunzhe has used this ability countless times and knows very well what it feels like.
It was as if his manipulation was auxiliary and the corpse was moving on its own.
Of course, this sentence cannot be told to Li Yuluan, as it will only increase his psychological pressure for no reason.
After discovering this, Shen Yunzhe observed the corpse to make sure there was no problem with it, or that if there was any problem he could deal with it immediately.
"It's okay." Shen Yunzhe said, "I'll take good care of it."
In this way, they finally reached the end in fear. Li Yiluan and Shen Yunzhe both breathed a sigh of relief. They climbed up together and then saw the altar.
The altar looked a bit shabby. Shen Yunzhe controlled the corpse to step onto the altar, and then carefully loosened the strings of the puppet.
But surprisingly, the body of the Virgin Mary did not fall down directly. It was still standing in the center of the altar. She stood quietly with her eyes closed, as if she was really still alive. The two people stood silently under the altar looking at the body. Her standing posture was too holy, making it difficult to doubt that it was a corpse. It also made them wonder if this corpse really followed them here?
"Nothing happened." Shen Yunzhe suddenly spoke.
Li Yiluan looked at Shen Yunzhe, "What did you say?"
"I said: Nothing happened. If sending the medium here is considered mission accomplished, why is there no notification that the mission is accomplished?" Shen Yunzhe opened his phone and took a look. The notice was still blurry, with only the Virgin Mary's name becoming more and more prominent.
"I guessed wrong." Li Yiluan sighed, "The condition for completing the mission is not to send the Virgin Mary's body here."
"No." Shen Yunzhe looked at the notice. He thought for a moment and glanced at the body of the Virgin Mary standing on the altar. "If we are really mistaken, the body of the Virgin Mary should not follow us here."
“Maybe we’re not doing it wrong, but we’re not done yet.”
Li Yiluan was a little surprised. "Not finished yet? Multiple main quests?"
"It's not that there are multiple main quests, but that the main quests don't have a single condition." Shen Yunzhe murmured, "Perhaps your speculation about helping the Virgin Mary bring back her child is correct, but your method is wrong. We sent the Virgin Mary's body here, but we can't be sure who the Virgin Mary's child is. Generally, sacrifices require the presence of both parties."
Li Yiluan's eyes widened. "You mean we should also find the body of the Virgin Mary and child?!"
"After all, the Virgin Mary's child is already dead. What she wants is for the child to be resurrected." Shen Yunzhe nodded. "Do you think that in order to bring a dead person back to life, a corpse is not needed?"
After a few seconds of silence, Li Yiluan squatted down and scratched his hair, "Ah, this is difficult."
"Where can we find the body of the Virgin Mary and Child? Besides, the Virgin Mary and Child have been dead for more than 20 years, and the body has long been rotten."
"I have a second idea." Shen Yunzhe thought for a moment, "Generally speaking, when a person's body is not found after death, a cenotaph is built. Perhaps we don't need the child's complete body, but only the child's information and some of his belongings."
"That's easy." Li Yiluan nodded. "Let's try it first. Let's go back and look for it."
The two of them quickly crawled back into the cave and headed back.
After they left, a gust of wind blew over the altar where no one was paying attention. The wind blew open the Virgin Mary's white hood, and it turned out that the Virgin Mary had her eyes open.
Her beautiful black eyes stared blankly ahead, and at this moment her head slowly raised itself.
She looked into the distance in the direction where Shen Yunzhe and the other man left, her beautiful eyes filled with tenderness.
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