The underground was dim, and the passage twisted and turned.
Gu Zhan decided to check above ground.
When they had previously fled through the passage, he had paid special attention to its layout and had memorized it.
Before long, he found an exit and emerged from the underground passage, finding himself in a long corridor that led to the church's garden.
However, once above ground, he realized that the sunlight was excessively bright.
It had reached a blinding level.
Moreover, the sunlight not only brought brightness but also heat and scorching warmth.
In just this short time, the plants in the garden had already wilted under the sun.
Wasn’t Kripper claiming to love flowers and plants the most?
The sunlight seemed to be intensifying.
What did this mean?
Gu Zhan turned to find Garen inside the church, but as he turned, he bumped into Garen coming out of a side door.
The youth was momentarily stunned and, as if seeing a lifeline, “plopped” down to his knees before Gu Zhan.
Gu Zhan: “…”
There was no need for such a grand gesture.
Garen was crying and laughing, “You finally came! Are you okay? Help! I’m so scared! The people in the church suddenly turned into stone.”
Gu Zhan bent down to help him up, asking, “What do you mean, stone?”
“Just now, I was almost caught by them, but then they suddenly became motionless and turned into white plaster statues.”
From what Garen described, it seemed that Gu Zhan had placed the city lord on the formation, starting the reversal of the energy transfer.
However…
“Hmm.” Garen repeated, raising his hand to shield himself from the sunlight. “It’s too bright. What’s going on?”
Gu Zhan pulled him along, saying, “Let’s talk inside.”
They entered the church, and Gu Zhan quickly drew the curtains.
This thin layer of curtains couldn’t block out the sunlight entirely, but at least it was less blinding.
Inside the church, there were indeed many white plaster statues.
The texture of these statues resembled that of the previous Kripper statue, but they were dressed as the church’s people.
The details were incredibly lifelike, even the expressions on their faces were strikingly realistic.
Perhaps these were indeed once living beings.
Garen was still very frightened. Witnessing this transformation, he was unable to stabilize his spirit and, upon entering the church, hid behind Gu Zhan. “It was them; they were chasing me just now and then suddenly turned into this.”
Gu Zhan said, “On my way here, I also noticed that the passage to the church was very quiet. I thought they had gone out to chase us, but it seems they’ve all turned into plaster statues like this.”
The events of the past few days had completely exceeded Garen’s understanding.
He was even more frightened. “So what do we do now?”
Gu Zhan didn’t answer. Instead, he walked towards the plaster statues to inspect what kind of creatures they were.
Naturally, Garen dared not approach and stood at the door.
Watching Gu Zhan approach, he wanted to remind him to be careful but hesitated, thinking Gu Zhan was much more capable and surely knew his limits, so he fell silent again.
As Gu Zhan walked closer to the statues, he discovered that while they appeared to be plaster, their surfaces were covered in tiny cracks.
He reached out and gently touched one of the plaster statues. The statue began to crack at the point of contact and, in the blink of an eye, collapsed into a pile of white ash.
From a distance, Garen let out a short, frightened gasp, “Ah!”
Gu Zhan said, “Their life force has been drained.”
“Why?” Garen asked. “Now that you’re here, doesn’t that mean the formation next door has been resolved? Could it be… that it was that guy, Mo Tuo?”
Gu Zhan immediately denied it, saying, “He wouldn’t make a mistake.”
Mo Tuo’s help was supposed to be part of the “setting” for this quest.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to complete a two-month journey as just a player, even if he used all the magic spells in his spatial runes.
The quest wouldn't set up an absolutely unsolvable puzzle.
If the altar wasn't the issue, then the solution they had was the problem.
Watching the light outside grow increasingly bright, to the point that even the curtains couldn't block it out, Gu Zhan said, "Let's check the city lord's mansion."
He wanted to see if there was a problem with the formation he had reversed.
It was too bright outside, and Garen suggested, "Let's take the underground passage!"
They made their way to the entrance of the underground passage.
However, when they reached the entrance, they found it completely blocked by church personnel, who had all turned into white statues.
These people were covered in cracks, and even a slight touch would reduce them to powder.
Perhaps because there were too many of them, as they crumbled, the entrance to the passage began to tremble and, eventually, collapsed with a resounding crash.
Garen's expression turned grim as he pulled Gu Zhan away, saying, "There are other entrances!"
But just as they turned, an even louder rumble echoed, shaking the ground beneath them.
Garen's face suddenly paled, and he rushed toward the next underground entrance, only to find that it had collapsed as well.
He wanted to look for another entrance, but Gu Zhan stopped him.
"Don't bother; it's a waste of time."
Garen hesitated. "But..."
It was so bright outside that it had reached a point where they could barely see the road.
Gu Zhan said, "All the passages should have collapsed. I'm going to the city lord's mansion; you stay here."
With the underground passage collapsed, the only way to reach the city lord's mansion was to go above ground.
The church and the city lord's mansion were two separate buildings; they had to leave the church first and then enter the mansion.
But it didn’t matter; Gu Zhan was already very familiar with this route. He casually ripped a strip of fabric from the nearby curtain to cover his eyes. He then took a rug and draped it over himself like a parasol to shield himself from the sun, and walked out of the church hall.
Behind him, Garen called out, "I'll go with you!"
Gu Zhan didn’t look back and replied, "Stay in the church and see if there are any other changes."
It was as if he had assigned Garen a task, and since Garen was already hesitant to oppose him, he found it hard to take a step away from him.
Gu Zhan moved cautiously through the courtyard alone. The sun was indeed hot, but aside from being uncomfortable, it didn’t pose any real threat to him.
However, he felt uneasy as the intensity of the sunlight continued to escalate.
Was Kripper trying to bake everyone in Hasan to death?
At this point, realizing something was off would be a bit foolish.
Mo Tuo... he had manipulated him.
The church group had indeed occupied the sun god's territory, conducting rituals to resurrect shadows. But Mo Tuo's move to reverse the energy was aimed at seizing all the energy meant for resurrecting shadows for himself.
Gu Zhan even understood why he had collapsed the underground passages.
It wasn’t just to prevent him from using them; it was because there were some books about him in the passages.
Next to the book Bloodline Inheritance, there was another one titled The Radiance of the Sun God, which introduced the sun god.
When checking the Bloodline Inheritance, Gu Zhan had kept an eye out and glanced at The Radiance of the Sun God. He had been shocked to read that "The Sun God values cause and effect, is merciful and loving towards the people, and shows no mercy to evildoers; he can control the sun to turn them into ashes."
These were translated and embellished by the followers, but on closer inspection, wasn’t it just a case of "an eye for an eye"?
Would Kripper let them off for using the sun god's statue and territory for such purposes?
Many in Hasan had been misled by the church to turn to worship the shadow god, and many had been infected with the black spot disease.
Would Kripper let them off?
The answer was clearly no.
Gu Zhan had been pondering how Kripper would deal with these people, but he hadn't anticipated that Kripper would directly interfere with the transformation of the formation's energy. Once he seized the energy, he would unleash his powers to kill everyone!
This outcome was no different for Gu Zhan than if the shadow god had been resurrected!
These gods were fighting; could they not just handle it themselves? Even if their battle destroyed the world, it had nothing to do with Gu Zhan.
But could they not drag him into it?
The further Gu Zhan walked, the hotter the sunlight felt. That familiar laughter echoed in his ears again, but this time Mo Tuo sounded much more smug.
"How is it? Do you like the great gift I sent you?"
The sunlight outside was so bright that even with his eyes closed, Gu Zhan still found it blinding.
If he opened his eyes here without any protection, he would probably go blind.
Yet even now, he felt a burning pain in his eyes, tears uncontrollably streaming from the corners of his eyes, escaping from the fabric covering them.
To Mo Tuo, this scene was pitiable.
In the holy, radiant light, a beautiful and delicate figure was walking. With his eyes covered, he stumbled around, white hands gently touching the buildings beside him as he cautiously made his way through the gaps.
His skin was so fair, his limbs slender and exquisite; in the intense light, he seemed almost transparent.
Such a beautiful and alluring figure could be melted by the sunlight at any moment, turning into a pool of filthy blood, yet he was still fighting for survival.
This was indeed a beautiful yet lamentable sight.
Because of this twinge of regret, Mo Tuo slowed down his movements.
He leaned closer to Gu Zhan's ear and asked, "Don't you like it?"
Gu Zhan: “…”
This monster had some schemes, but his incessant chatter was truly annoying.
He wouldn't give up because he believed there was still hope.
He still had a trump card.
The city lord was still in the wardrobe of the city lord's mansion.
He was the core of the formation and must be extremely important to the entire setup.
Before setting off, Mo Tuo had specifically instructed Gu Zhan to dispose of the core after completing the formation.
So, this person must be useful.
As long as he could reach the city lord’s mansion.
Gu Zhan quickened his pace, but the mocking voice of Mo Tuo grew increasingly distinct in his ears.
“Stop struggling…”
“You don’t want to be a monster; you could always become my follower. I'm very good to my followers... much better than you struggling for survival every day.”
“Don’t you like that feeling? Powerful, invincible, with the lives of those players in your hands—if you want them to live, they live; if you want them to die, they die.”
After listening for a while, Gu Zhan found that this sun god was incredibly chatty and retorted, “You don’t seem very free either. The rules of the quest don’t apply to players, but you have to follow them.”
Mo Tuo: “…”
The sun god suddenly fell silent.
After a moment, the sun grew hotter! It was as if someone was angry and embarrassed.
Already sweating profusely, Gu Zhan couldn't help but smack his forehead.
“Serves you right for being a smartass.”
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