The church was not lit, and the scene inside couldn’t be clearly seen in the pitch-black through the crack in the door.
Third Flora’s butterflies flew into the shadows along the door crack, and inside, it still looked the same as when they visited before. A ray of moonlight peacefully shone through the stained glass windows into the church. The butterflies gathered at the feet of the merciful Virgin Mary statue, fluttering their wings in the shadow of the statue, tentatively launching attacks.
In an instant, brilliance filled the space as the phosphorescence of butterfly wings painted the entire space into a world with nothing but butterflies. The loud noise of the wing flapping drowned out all other sounds. The butterflies’ mouthparts pierced into flesh and soul, attempting to suck out the sweet nectar.
However, they didn’t suck anything. The statue made of marble was a lifeless object, and no matter how many butterflies there were, they couldn’t extract honey from the stone. The commotion only left the butterflies tired with no effect.
Third Flora was unwilling; it said that this was not just a statue but a well-disguised prey. This prey was even more skilled at camouflage than any prey it had encountered before. It seemed to sense the butterflies, it quietly disguised itself as a statue, not giving Third Flora’s butterflies any chance to attack.
Only when Third Flora focused all its attention and the butterflies concentrated on sensing, could they catch a faint, extremely sweet scent from the deepest part of the statue. Even just smelling it made them imagine how delicious it would be to taste, and they stubbornly insisted on trying to devour the prey.
For a moment, the buzzing of butterfly wings echoed, and countless phosphorescent butterfly illusions danced in the church. If one didn’t know the situation and pushed open the church doors, they would see the silent church bathed in the moonlight, the dreamlike butterflies, and the butterflies complementing the increasingly merciful Virgin Mary statue. One might feel as if they were in their own dream, yearning for the merciful gaze of the Virgin Mary, unable to resist the desire to worship.
Even without the butterflies, the lifelike Virgin Mary statue itself exuded an unforgettable charm. All the troublesome matters seemed to dissipate when gazing into those gentle, lowered eyes, sometimes unnoticed from morning until dusk.
—This is what Kama Zuozi said when she called Qiao Ou.
Qiao Ou, like his father, didn’t quite believe in such things. However, after Qiao Ou’s mother took him to a church ceremony once, he knelt at the feet of the compassionate and merciful Virgin Mary.
“It’s like that figure is engraved in my mind,” Qiao Ou described his feelings at that time, “When I looked at her, I felt she was also looking at me. She got closer and farther away from me, as if she wanted to take my soul away.”
Qiao Ou asked worriedly, “Is there a problem?”
Kama Zuozi laughed, “It’s nothing, just casual inquiry. Speaking seriously, can you have someone temporarily block the roads near the church, and tell people not to pass? There’s a small issue here with the town mayor, and we need to handle it.”
“The church… You really give me a headache,” Qiao Ou sighed, saying that Kama Zuozi’s reassurance was perfunctory, but her request had no ill intent. It might even be a way to help him.
After listening to the situation caused by the town mayor’s family that Kama Zuozi told him, Qiao Ou felt a bit suspicious about everything.
“I’ll try my best, but it can only last until dawn.”
“Enough.” Kama Zuozi thanked Qiao Ou, put away her phone, glanced at Xu Yintang and Xiao Qing checking the body, then sneered at the unattended crack in the church door, making a mocking light laugh.
With a creak, the pitch-black door crack had a terrifying effect on its own without any wind. But if it was left aside for a while without anyone paying attention, even with the most horrifying effect, it would turn into a joke. So much so that the viewers watching the live broadcast, while trembling with fear, also showed a bit of sympathy towards the neglected door crack.
[My cat pancake is embarrassed again [doge]]
[It’s like being left aside at a gathering, scratching my toes out of three rooms and two halls QAQ]
[Scared and curious about what’s behind the door, tell me I’m not alone]
[After all, this is like a real-life horror movie, wife, hurry up and go in, I’m very brave!]
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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However, both Xu Yintang and Xiao Qing didn’t even glance at the live broadcast screen; instead, they were busy examining the mayor’s naked corpse.
There were very few wounds on the corpse, and it didn’t reveal how the mayor was killed—in other words, it didn’t reveal the statue’s method of attack.
Kama Zuozi poked Xiao Qing, “How about I go bring Silence first?”
Xiao Qing nodded, “Be careful on the way… cough, take this with you. You should be able to communicate with those statues if you encounter them.”
He took out a talisman, from which he summoned a feeble and lifeless mature ghost. It was none other than Lei Bo, the ghost captured in the Fair Hotel. Although it was later identified as a high-fidelity simulation created by Fair’s seed, it should still be usable.
Lei Bo bowed weakly, “I am honored to serve you.”
This was Kama Zuozi’s first time meeting Lei Bo. After all, this ghost had weak abilities and wasn’t very enthusiastic about work. Xiao Qing used him more as a companion to hang out with Xu Yintang.
She looked Lei Bo up and down, and with a mocking smile, she said to Xiao Qing, “Xiao Qing is good to me.”
Xiao Qing shivered in disgust at her tone. He waved his hand to quickly send this person away.
Once Kama Zuozi left, Little Darling immediately extended its tentacles to wrap around its mom and Xiao Qing, ready to respond to any attacks. Meanwhile, Second Treasure stood on Little Darling’s body, occupying the high ground.
Its five eyes extended, emitting dazzling colors of opal. It seems as if one can see its true form from the consciousness realm that was gradually revealed, with countless eyeballs rotating, surveilling Mom’s surroundings in a 360-degree angle without any blind spots.
Stay vigilant!
“Xiao Qing, take a look at this.” Xu Yintang called Xiao Qing, opened the eyelids of the mayor’s corpse, and Xiao Qing casually brought the live broadcast camera closer for the brave and unparalleled viewers to observe together, causing an immediate outcry.
In the chaotic and scattered pupils of the corpse, it seemed to reflect something.
“Huh?” Xiao Qing observed from a different angle and then said to Xu Yintang, “This looks a bit like…”
He pointed in the direction of the church, and Xu Yintang nodded, confirming his guess—the reflection in the corpse’s pupils was indeed the appearance of the Virgin Mary statue.
And as he stared at that reflection for a long time, he also felt a strong sense of being watched. It was as if the Virgin Mary in his pupils made eye contact, and for a moment, his eyes ached unbearably. Suddenly, as if invaded by a foreign object, he couldn’t open his eyes, and the things he saw became shaky and shattered. In the blink of an eye, the face of the Virgin Mary appeared in front of him, and then it suddenly became hazy and dark, as if everything disappeared.
[Player suffers spiritual attack, value check in progress…]
It seemed that Second Treasure emitted an unusually sharp howl, but Xu Yintang’s senses were all focused on his eyes, unable to distinguish the meaning behind Second Treasure’s howl.
In a certain moment, a blood moon hanging high in the sky suddenly flashed before him, casting a crimson veil over the pure and delicate marble statue.
Under the illumination of the blood moon, a cool and moist feeling surged into Xu Yintang’s eyeballs. After squeezing out a few tears, the discomfort of pain and bitterness, which made it impossible to open his eyes, gradually disappeared.
The follow-up results of the system’s value check drifted out slowly.
[Successful resistance against spiritual attack, player sanity -0]
[Sanity: 79]
Xiao Qing anxiously looked at Xu Yintang, and a bottle of universal potion was already brought to his mouth. The unique bitter and sour taste of the potion rushed to his nostrils. Xu Yintang tightly closed his mouth, shaking his head to refuse the potion. He asked, “Did you smell or hear anything?”
Xiao Qing’s nose and ears quickly turned black, maximizing his sense of smell and hearing. He could even hear the fluttering wings of Third Flora’s butterflies and smell Second Treasure’s true form squeezing into the boundary between reality and consciousness realm. The smoke billowed, emitting a nightmarish aura.
But apart from that, he didn’t sense anything unusual. He could only furrow his brow and shake his head, asking, “What did you see just now?”
“Like.” Xu Yintang fixed his gaze on Xiao Qing’s eyes and suddenly said, “Don’t move, look at me.”
Xiao Qing blinked twice, suddenly guessing some kind of ability. This guess made his scalp tingle, and he began to feel a stinging pain in his eyes as if something had entered them.
He subconsciously wanted to avoid Xu Yintang’s gaze. This avoidance was even beyond his control, like a reflex to close his eyes when something attacked him. He blinked rapidly, turning his eyeballs as if Xu Yintang’s gaze were a flood beast.
His tone, however, was calmly different. “Something is in my eyes, right?”
“Yes.”
Xu Yintang had to use both hands to forcefully fix Xiao Qing’s face, making him turn towards himself.
“It’s like how Silence can move in mirrors. I guess it can parasitize its own projection into the eyes of those who look at it. It’s probably parasitizing the entire town, and it doesn’t need to do anything in the church. The mayor died on his own.”
—Found it, it seems that there was no mistake just now.
In the depths of Xiao Qing’s pupils, there was a blurry shadow, faint as if it would disappear with a breeze, but it still stubbornly existed.
Xu Yintang thought that the same thing just now tried to enter his eyes.
He blinked, keeping his eyes fixed on that shadow, and his face gradually approached Xiao Qing. Xiao Qing couldn’t avoid Xu Yintang’s gaze. The shadow in his eyes had nowhere to escape, only the distance at which he could make eye contact with Xu Yintang.
[Use skill “Blood Moon Gaze.”]
A red blood moon rose in Xiao Qing’s consciousness.
At the same time, Xu Yintang’s eyes felt a pain much stronger than before. The shadow in Xiao Qing’s pupils became fainter, and he had to focus all his attention on staring at it without letting it slip out of his sight.
The more focused he was, the more unbearable the pain in his eyes. His eyes sparked from friction, producing splashes of fire.
However, he seemed completely unaware, as if he had no sensation at all. His eyes didn’t show the slightest hint of movement, letting everything in his field of vision burn and gradually become blurred and blackened. The dark and red colors spread from the edge of his vision like a burning and desolate landscape until the elusive shadow solidified into a burnt and desolate black-red color.
The pure white shadow of the Virgin Mary became so clear and fragile under the black-red backdrop. Xu Yintang felt that with just one thought, the shadow would grow and the desolate blackness would completely engulf it.
He indeed did so.
As if a knife had gouged out his eyeballs, the entire world turned into a black-red expanse. Xu Yintang’s consciousness came to an abrupt stop for a moment. He felt a viscous, pungent, scorching, and painful substance spreading up from his lower abdomen, entwining a strand of silk deep within his soul.
[Skill “Blood Moon Gaze” data updated.]
[Skill Name: Blood Moon Gaze]
[Skill Effect: This skill forces the target you make eye contact with into a state of fear. In this state, they cannot move or use skills. At the same time, it inflicts soul damage on the target, and the damage persists until the eye contact is broken.]
[Notes: When using this skill, it no longer affects the player’s regular numerical assessments. Players can use it with confidence.]
This time, Xu Yintang couldn’t escape the sour and bitter universal potion again. Second Treasure skipped over and gently applied a cold and soft flesh pad to his face, carefully soothing his consciousness. Xu Yintang leaned on Xiao Qing’s shoulder for a few seconds. The viscous rolling black-red gradually faded away, returning to a normal field of vision.
“I’m fine; the skill just upgraded a bit.” Xu Yintang wiped the mess on his face with his sleeve and turned around to check on Xiao Qing. “Are you okay?”
Xiao Qing nodded, “Other than things being a bit blurry, I need to be at this distance to see clearly.”
He approached and touched Xu Yintang’s forehead, squinting to carefully examine Xu Yintang’s eyes. After confirming that there was nothing unusual in Xu Yintang’s eyes, he breathed a sigh of relief. “If my condition spread to you again, it would be an endless loop.”
“It would be too busy then.” Xu Yintang picked up the phone that fell to the ground in the chaos. “Tens of thousands of people just encountered it at the same time.”
Xiao Qing raised an eyebrow, “Everyone who encountered it…”
“At least now it’s clear.” Xu Yintang, looking at the barrage discussing what the ghostly figure in the mayor’s eyes was, smiled faintly. The number of viewers had already exceeded three hundred thousand. “If it weren’t for so many people encountering it, dealing with this projection wouldn’t be so easy.”
Normally, the more people encountered this multiplying skill, the more dangerous it would be. However, when the number went from a few to several hundred thousand, the parasitic power would dilute instead. If only he and Xiao Qing encountered it, he might not even pass the first round of confrontation.
“Why are there so many people encountering it?” Kama Zuozi’s voice sounded faintly nearby. She folded her wings and hugged her arms, smiling at the two who were discussing with a face full of concern. Her tone became even softer, “Tell me so that I can listen too.”
At the same time, the demonic statue Silence emitted a hoarse and low buzz.
“Good evening… Little, little obedient one.”
Ah, the glossy sheen of the tentacles under the moonlight was so beautiful, along with the bright and glittering polarized light.
Little Darling didn’t understand why Silence stuttered, but as Xu Yintang had taught him to be the most polite and obedient child, Little Darling extended one tentacle, friendly touching Silence.
“Sister, good evening (>v<)”
Thank you for the update!! I wonder if they’re going to crumble the Virgin Mary statue or recruit her somehow
Little Darling is so polite! 😆
New skill level is intense and timely. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
That smile 🤣
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
Oh my gosh that description and writing about the way the Virgin Mary paritizes the people and how there is a reflection of her in the eyes.
I feel like this will be one of the best writing of horror I have ever read.