The distant and mysterious bell suddenly rang in the small town. Even the archbishop of the Eternal Sleep could not help but feel nervous because of this sudden change. The three archbishops, including Daniel, raised their heads at the same time, looking for the direction of the bell. Selena immediately noticed the change in the small town.
Starting from the distant end of the street, the originally closed doors and windows of the houses were suddenly lit up one after another with the continuous ringing of the bell!
It was as if the abandoned houses were suddenly filled with residents. It was as if the lifeless town was rapidly waking up.
Seeing that the lit houses were quickly spreading in this direction, Selena Geer reacted immediately and shouted at the small house behind her, "Retreat immediately!"
The three priests who were investigating the situation in the small house did not seem to have heard the bell ringing outside, but after Selena's loud order, they immediately rushed out and returned to the street with a trace of confusion, and watched the lights quickly spread from afar.
In just a few seconds, the small house they were investigating previously also lit up with soft and warm lights, and the door that was opened just now seemed to be pushed by an invisible hand, and slammed shut.
Faint sounds of conversation, footsteps, and the sound of tables and chairs being moved faintly came from the small house.
This strange and frightening scene made the people on the street look at each other in dismay. The three high ranking Priests wearing owl masks couldn't help but pull on their collars, revealing a trace of fear.
Gwen frowned and came to the window of the small house that had just lit up, and looked inside through the gap of the window planks.
A priest of the Eternal Sleep wearing an owl mask also came over, as if he also wanted to observe the movement in the house through the gap of the window. Seeing this, Gwen slightly moved to the side and looked inside the house with the priest.
The priest of the Eternal Sleep knew nothing about this.
In the small house, the lights were warm and bright, but there was no one in sight. There was only a bright lampstand placed on the square table in the center of the central room, and in the empty house, there were all kinds of faint sounds echoing.
Very strange, Gwen thought.
"Very strange," the high-ranking priest who was observing the situation in the house with Gwen retracted his gaze and reported with a trace of nervousness and vigilance. "Except for a light in the house, there are no residents, and the sound came out of nowhere."
"… It may be an echo of memories. In the abandoned spiritual space, there are remnants of the collective consciousness' memories of voices and incomplete scenes, which are played in a loop with the flow of time," Archbishop Yuri calmly analyzed. "Considering that this is a contaminated area, such a situation is very likely to occur."
"There seems to be no additional changes." After listening to Archbishop Yuri's analysis, Selena Geer nodded and turned to look at the street. Warm and soft light spilled out from every window and the gap of the door, and the iron-black street lamps on both sides of the road were all lit up at some point. This abandoned town shrouded in dark clouds was still empty, but it was already illuminated by the lights. However, the seemingly warm lights did not bring the slightest sense of security. Instead, it sent chills down the spines of every visitor.
But apart from these lights and various inexplicable sounds, there were indeed no more changes in the town, and there was nothing dangerous.
Selena retracted her gaze and asked the high-ranking priests who went to check the house, "Did you find anything inside?"
"There is no one inside, Archbishop, and there is a long-abandoned 'atmosphere' lingering. We suspect that it is some kind of residual emotional resonance …"
"There is almost no dust on all the utensils, there is still clear water in the water bottle, and the flowers have not withered. It seems that there was someone living in it a moment ago, and the next moment, it suddenly disappeared. This is somewhat contradictory to the long-abandoned 'atmosphere', but we don't know the reason."
"The light is suppressed inside. The illumination spell can only illuminate a few meters away, and the edges are blurry."
"The dark shadow in the corner of the room is very strange. We can't see any details in the shadow. It feels like there is nothingness hidden in it, and it is a bit like the undefined areas in the City of Dreams."
Listening to the priests' report, Selena nodded and turned her gaze to the other side of the street.
Her gaze suddenly froze.
"The church over there …" She frowned and pointed the lantern in her hand to the small square at the end of the street. "Was it there before?"
Several pairs of eyes turned to the direction that Selena was pointing at. Everyone's eyes widened in astonishment.
A gray-white church with a simple shape, a spire, and two small towers was quietly standing in front of everyone. The church was dark and quiet, a sharp contrast to the lit houses around it. But the church did not seem to be completely dark. Through a glass window in front of the church, Gwen seemed to vaguely see a faint light in the depths of the church.
The appearance of the church itself was not important. What was important was that before the bell rang, it did not exist at all!
That place was originally just an empty square!
The three archbishops could not help but exchange a look. Yuri immediately reached out his hand and pressed in the air a few times. A shimmering rune appeared around him. When Gwen wondered if the rune was some kind of more powerful psychic protection spell, he heard the elegant archbishop speak. "Monitoring team, are there any new psychic fluctuations around us?"
The rune group rippled in a circle in the air. A young female voice came from the faint light. "Reporting to the Archbishop. No new psychic fluctuations have been observed."
Yuri nodded to Selena beside him. "It seems that this thing was not sent in from the outside, and there is no new overflow."
Selena frowned. She stepped forward and asked the runes, "Did you observe the awakening of consciousness or the second dream?"
"Reporting to the Archbishop. No. The monitoring shows that there is no large-scale psychic fluctuation on your side."
Selena pondered for a few seconds before responding. "Got it. Continue to monitor."
After dispersing the runes, Yuri asked hesitantly, "Should we check the church?"
Selena looked at her men and the lantern in her hand. After weighing the pros and cons, she nodded. "Let's check. We have never seen such abnormal changes in the overflow projection, and it is a 'church' … That thing may reveal the current situation of Sandbox One to us."
The team of Eternal Sleepers began to cautiously move closer to the church not far away. Gwen blinked behind them.
This … So when they were moving, there was a team in charge of monitoring the situation at the back as support?
With a sigh in his mind, Gwen shook his head and stepped forward to catch up with Daniel and the rest who were almost at the entrance of the church.
The small church with its grayish-white exterior stood quietly at the edge of the square. Behind the dim windows, a faint illusory light flickered. The Eternal Sleeper team came to its door and found that the door of the church was ajar, revealing a gap.
All the houses in the town seemed to have their doors and windows closed. Only this church, its door was ajar.
This unusual situation raised their vigilance. Selena and the rest did not rush in. Instead, they began to gather information about the church from the outside and tried to guess its situation.
Selena shook the lantern in her hand slightly. The mysterious and elegant lantern emitted a white light that calmed the mind. With the illumination of the white light, she approached the door of the church and carefully observed the patterns on the ancient door and the patterns on the walls on both sides of the door.
Gwen looked a little curious. Daniel immediately came forward and asked, "Archbishop Selena, what are you looking for?"
"A sacred mark," Selena replied indifferently. "This is a church. There should be a sacred mark to indicate which god it worships. Perhaps, we can use this to figure out where the contamination of Sandbox One came from."
Gwen instantly understood Selena's intention and learned a new piece of information. It turned out that the Eternal Sleepers had not figured out which god had contaminated Sandbox One.
He could not help but be curious. He began to follow Selena to check the patterns and symbols on the door and walls.
Sandbox No. 1 was designed to be a "world" where no gods existed. The minds that entered the sandbox had been strictly adjusted and had their memories erased to ensure that no one would retain any memories of the gods or have any thoughts of worshipping them. Therefore, theoretically speaking, it was impossible for there to be a "church" in Sandbox No. 1.
In other words, as long as there was a church or other similar 'sacred elements' in the projection leaked from Sandbox One, it must be related to the contamination of the sandbox by the gods.
However, after some inspection, he and Selena did not see any sacred mark that matched their memory.
They only saw a mural on the side wall of the church. The mural depicted a palm covering the sky and the earth below the palm.
This mural also appeared on the wall of every house in the town.
Gwen could not help but frown. Could it be that this picture was actually a 'sacred symbol', a religious symbol of the 'residents' in this town?
While he was thinking, Selena and others had finished their investigation of the outside of the small church. After some discussion, they decided to enter the church.
Gwen had to temporarily put aside his doubts and stepped forward to follow Daniel and others.
They pushed open the half-closed door. The wooden door that seemed to be old did not make any sound. Daniel followed Selena and Yuri into the church. He only heard a few footsteps echoing in his ears.
The old mage looked up and saw the 'extraterritorial wanderers' walking leisurely in the dim church next to him. He was slightly relieved.
Several high-ranking priests wearing masks walked around the three archbishops. Some of them lit up the illumination spell, and some activated the mind protection spell. In the hazy flickering light, the scene in the church was reflected in everyone's eyes.
Rows of empty seats were arranged in the small church. The old wooden floor was slightly bumpy. At the end of the seats was a platform that was one step higher than the ground. On the platform was a wooden desk used to read sacred books. Next to the desk was a black lamppost. A candle that seemed to be about to go out was placed on the lamppost. It was burning quietly, illuminating a small area around the pulpit.
In the flickering candlelight, Daniel and others saw a figure in a gray robe kneeling in front of the pulpit. It seemed that he was praying silently.
Due to the dim light, no one had noticed that there was a figure that looked like a priest kneeling there!
Everyone immediately became vigilant. A pale golden rune appeared beside Archbishop Yuri's hand. A quaint staff also appeared in Daniel's hand. Several masked priests of the Eternal Sleep either took out their staffs, magic balls, silently prepared spells, or opened spellbooks that recorded spells. Although they only saw a lonely prayer in their line of sight, in this strange 'overflow projection', everyone was on guard.
But under the necessary caution and restraint, no one attacked rashly.
Selena gestured to the others to stay vigilant. She held the lamp and slowly walked towards the figure kneeling in front of the pulpit.
The latter only reacted when Selena was only a few steps away. The gray robe swayed, and the prayer in the robe slowly stood up. While everyone was tense, the figure turned his head and saw the uninvited guests who had entered the church.
It was an ordinary and kind-looking old man. His hair and beard were white, and his face was full of wrinkles. He did not seem to feel the tense atmosphere around him. He was just a little surprised, and then he smiled happily. "Ah, so there are guests. On the day when the bell rings, there are not many visitors in the church."
"Suspected to be a communicable mind," Archbishop Yuri, who had summoned the golden rune, said in a low voice as if he was talking to himself. "Pause the reset process."
Gwen looked at Yuri indifferently.
On the other side, Selina stood calmly in front of the old man in a gray robe. The lamp in her hand emitted a gentle light that made people immerse in it. She asked in a natural tone, "What church is this?"
The old man in the gray robe seemed to be confused for a moment. Then he said, "Of course … a church dedicated to the gods …"
Selena frowned. "Gods? Which gods? "
The old man's eyes were even more confused. It seemed that someone asking this question had greatly violated his worldview. But after a brief hesitation, he slowly answered.
"Gods … of course … the upper narrators …"
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