Chapter 210

Chapter 208: Statue

Underground in the King Campus, within the interrogation area of the Eight Pinnacle Nest.

The sudden onset of darkness plunged the interrogation area into chaos. The prisoners screamed, and the guards panicked. The cultists wanted to relight the lights, but in this pitch-black environment where visibility was nonexistent, it proved exceptionally difficult.

Finally, after much effort, a guard found his matchbox, typically used for lighting cigarettes. After fumbling to strike it, a faint light flickered to life, illuminating the cold face of a stranger before him.

“Who are you… ah!”

Before the man could say more, a sharp blade pierced through his body, and with a terrifying scream, he fell. The only light that had just ignited was extinguished in an instant, and the entire space descended back into darkness.

After the first scream, second and third screams followed. Dorothy’s zombie puppet transformed into an assassin in the darkness, stealthily stabbing the helpless guards one by one. The vibrations caused by their panic betrayed their positions.

As the screams echoed, the number of guards rapidly dwindled until only two shadowy figures remained. Although they could not see in the dark, relying on sharp hearing and reflexes, they dodged the repeated assassinations from the zombies and even managed to counterattack, severing the head of one puppet.

For these two shadowy figures, Dorothy directly manipulated a zombie in the darkness to draw a g*n and fire continuously at the source of the disturbances.

The shadowy figures could evade bullets, but that didn’t mean they were faster than the bullets; they simply began dodging before the guns were fired when sensing the danger.

In this dark environment, evading close-range assassinations was already challenging. With their vision obscured, they failed to notice the guns pointing at them, so when the gunshots rang out, they had no opportunity to avoid them.

The intermittent gunfire rang through the small dark space, and the flashes from the g*n muzzles became the only flickering light in the darkness. As the gunfire subsided, the last two shadowy figures fell as well, leaving only the astonished cries of prisoners in the dark interrogation area.

After dispatching all the guards, Dorothy controlled one zombie to retrieve a pre-prepared gas lamp, using its light to relight the other gas lamps around the area, returning the entire interrogation area to illumination.

With the return of light, the prisoners trapped in segregated cells, their bodies marred with scars, shrieked at the sight of countless fallen bodies. They looked up in fear at the two bl**d-soaked men who stood before them, Dorothy’s two zombies.

“Please remain calm, gentlemen; we have no intention of harming you. On the contrary, we can save you.”

Observing the panic-stricken prisoners, the zombie Brandon pressed down his bloodied hat and continued speaking.

Brandon’s words left the prisoners momentarily stunned. At that moment, another zombie discovered keys from the fallen guard, and it began to unlock the doors of the cells one by one, releasing the wounded prisoners all at once.

Once freed, the prisoners, finally processing what had happened, erupted into cheers. Many of them gathered in front of Brandon, some expressing their gratitude.

“Oh… Holy Mother, I thought I would be tortured to d*ath by those fiends. Thank you so much! You must be angels sent by the Holy Mother! Angels rescuing us from these demons! How shall we address you?”

Looking at the emotionally stirred prisoners, the zombie Brandon lit a cigarette with his bloodied hand, took a puff, and smiled while replying.

“Rosy Cross… that’s all you need to know.”

“Now go back, prisoners; this path leads to the exit, to your freedom.”

After finishing, Brandon pointed towards the nearby exit. The wounded prisoners, bowing deeply in gratitude, supported each other as they moved toward the exit, soon disappearing without a trace. Once they had all left, Dorothy stepped out from behind an obstruction at the entrance to the interrogation area, gazing at the now empty space.

Having freed the prisoners, Dorothy wasn’t worried about them triggering alarms as they passed through the web corridor, since those who could respond to the web warning had already been eliminated by her.

After Nephnis successfully obtained the qualifications to enter the inner area, she received general information about the web corridor from Eli. Once the web corridor detects abnormal contact, it silently sends an alarm to the minds of the extraordinary beings affiliated with the Eight Pinnacle Nest.

This was why the Thistle was entangled by hunters from afar, yet Dorothy still needed Nephnis to carry her in because there were bound to be extraordinary beings left in the inner area, and she couldn’t trigger the alarm yet.

Now, having dealt with the two apprentice-level extraordinary beings remaining in the inner area, Dorothy no longer needed to worry about the web alarms.

After liberating the prisoners, Dorothy began swiftly cleaning the battlefield, controlling all the fallen guards’ bodies into the magic box for storage, replenishing her stock of corpses, and then she turned her attention back to exploration.

This time, Dorothy left a small zombie puppet to monitor the interrogation area while she had another small puppet lead the way, following behind as they descended further into the ruins from the interrogation area stairs.

Holding a gas lamp, Dorothy descended and quickly reached a new layer beneath the interrogation area. This layer was similar in size to the interrogation area, and although it was empty of people, the faint light revealed a large, fuzzy outline.

‘It seems… there’s something?’

Thinking that, Dorothy approached one of the stone pillars at the edge of the underground space. After a slight search, she found a gas lamp hanging above and discovered it could be lit.

‘A usable gas lamp; it hasn’t been long since it was installed… This suggests that those guys have been active in this layer as well…’

Upon this realization, Dorothy began lighting other gas lamps in this layer. After several lamps gradually illuminated, the scene of this layer began to reveal itself.

Then, she was immediately taken aback.

Unlike the interrogation area above, this layer appeared to be the ruins of a shattered altar.

This altar, built in some unknown era, had long since fallen into ruin, with all its ritual vessels and offerings vanished, leaving only the jagged elevated platform and cracked stone steps, along with vague carvings. The most striking feature within this altar ruin was a statue standing at the center, atop the platform.

The statue seemed to depict a slender young goddess, dressed in a simple and flowing garment, with both hands poised in front of her, holding a round shining mirror.

If one only viewed the bodily features, it was a dignified and serene statue of a beautiful goddess. However, this fine piece of craftsmanship had its head severed and replaced with one that had many eyes and a brutal, grotesque spider’s visage.

Staring at the stone statue before her, Dorothy widened her eyes in shock, stunned at the sight that seemed strangely familiar.

Just recently, while on the train to Tivyán, one of the items being transported by Sodod, who belonged to the Alster An Yin Bureau and was ambushed mid-journey, included a photograph depicting a scene almost identical to this one—a statue of a goddess whose head had been replaced with that of a spider.

‘Interesting… to find one in the Razorback Mountains and another so far away. What kind of deity is this statue of? Why are there versions of it in different locations like Prit? And one appears to be in the ruins of the Star Number Repair Association. Could this deity be connected to the Star Number Repair Association?’