Typhon, deep in the secret underground palace of the Eternal Sleeper's headquarters.
Archbishop Yuri, who was dressed in a white robe and had a gentle temperament, led a team of clerics through the deep and long corridor.
The magic crystal lamps in the corridor shone brightly, but it seemed unable to dispel the haze that had gathered on the archbishop's face. His face was gloomy, and his eyes were exceptionally solemn. The sound of his leather boots hitting the ancient corridor was like a tight drum beat, echoing in the hearts of the clerics who accompanied him.
Amid the slight friction of mechanical devices, the magic door leading to the deep prayer hall opened on both sides. Yuri Chalvin entered a half-moon-shaped hall with various mysterious ancient runes on the walls. His eyes quickly swept across the hall.
Dozens of priests in white robes or long skirts were scattered across the hall on cushions. They were all young priests, but their bodies were surging with very obvious and vaguely uncontrollable powerful magic. Each of them looked a little dispirited, as if they had suffered varying degrees of mental damage. Beside them, there were people taking care of them.
An Eternal Sleeper priest, who was waiting in the hall, noticed Yuri and immediately came up to him. "Archbishop …"
Yuri waved his hand to interrupt the priest's greeting. He quickly said, "How is the psionic choir?"
The Eternal Sleeper priest looked back at the scene in the hall and said with a worried tone, "All members of the psionic choir have left the network and returned to the real world. They are all here. The good news is that there are no casualties. The bad news is … they were mentally contaminated when they were covering the retreat of the vanguard."
Archbishop Yuri's brows instantly knitted together. "Mentally contaminated? All of them? "
The members of the psionic choir were all powerful masters of mind. They were especially good at fighting against mental contamination and protecting their companions in various dream worlds. But now … the entire psionic choir had gathered together and all of them were mentally contaminated?
Yuri and the accompanying priests did not want to believe it, but the truth forced them to accept the situation.
"All of them were contaminated. No one was spared," the priest in charge of the deep prayer hall said in a low voice. "Including Her Excellency 'Spiritsong' Venti, who is at the peak of the senior order."
Yuri Chalvin could not help but take a deep breath. After a full two seconds, he slowly exhaled and asked in a low voice, "How serious is the contamination … No, just tell me the truth. How many believers of the upper-level narrators are here?"
The priest in charge of the hall shook his head. At the same time, Yuri's eyes had passed him and looked at the psionic choir members who were being taken care of in the back hall.
Among the 'singers', a young lady with delicate features in a gorgeous gold-patterned white gauze dress noticed Lucien's gaze. She looked up and showed a gentle and quiet smile. Then she raised her right hand and put it horizontally in front of her with her palm facing down as if covering the invisible earth. Her magnetic voice sounded as if it went straight into people's hearts. "Sir, please allow me to take some of your time to introduce our omniscient and omnipotent Lord, the salvation of all beings in the world, the upper-level narrators —"
Before the beautiful lady could finish her words, the priests of the Eternal Sleepers, who were responsible for taking care of and monitoring the lady, had already rushed up to her. Some held her shoulders, some opened her mouth, and some quickly poured some kind of potion into her mouth. There was also a strong priest who held up a golden spike and did not hesitate to stab the back of the lady's neck while shouting, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency Wendy!"
Yuri could not help but close his eyes. For him, this scene was even as terrible as' spiritual song 'Venti suddenly spreading the faith of the upper-level narrators.
In this short riot, a few more psionic choir members seemed to be influenced by Venti and suddenly spread the faith of the upper-level narrators enthusiastically to their compatriots around them. They were immediately dealt with by the people around them. Some of them were forcibly interrupted by magic spikes, some were forced to the ground and forced to drink potions, and some were directly hypnotized to sleep by powerful curses.
Because of the prompt treatment, the chaos did not spread.
At this moment, a female voice suddenly came into Yuri's ears. "It seems that the runes in the deep prayer hall cannot suppress their mental corruption. Letting these corrupted compatriots stay together will only worsen the situation."
Yuri opened his eyes and saw that Selena Geerfen had come to the hall without him noticing. At this moment, she was standing beside Yuri. The lamp in her hand emitted an unpredictable light, which calmed down Yuri's somewhat impetuous mind.
The priests around them either already knew the real state of Selena or felt that Selena's "sudden appearance" was only natural. At this moment, they all saluted and saluted. "Archbishop Selena."
Selena simply nodded and turned her eyes to the psionic choir members in the hall. She sighed softly.
"Carry out the highest level of 'containment'. Transfer all the mentally corrupted people to separate compartments in the deep level of the palace. On the premise that the environment is comfortable and their mental state is good, they are not allowed to contact or talk to any unrelated people.
"The caregivers will rotate every six hours to prevent long-term contact from causing contamination. Under any circumstances, the caregivers must be in groups of three. One person will be in direct contact with the patient, one will assist from the side, and one will observe from outside the cubicle. Contact alone is absolutely prohibited. If there is contact alone, no matter how long the contact has been, no matter whether the parties have talked or not, the contact will be subject to the same level of containment.
"From now on, the underground palace will implement dream control. Unauthorized dream wandering is prohibited. Except for the containment targets, no one is allowed to fall asleep in the deep level. If you fall asleep accidentally, you will be subject to the same level of containment regardless of whether you are dreaming or not.
"These are the orders of His Holiness the Pope."
Selena distributed the orders from Meghul III one by one. The severity of the measures made Yuri's face change a little. But in the end, he did not question the orders at all.
He knew very well that this was an extraordinary time. Any strict containment and control measures were necessary because …
The influence of the Narrator on the upper level was gradually breaking through Sandbox No. 1. He had begun to break the wall and enter the real world.
The eternal sleepers in the hall began to carry out the orders from Pope Meghul III. The members of the psionic choir, who were in a trance and had been contaminated by the Narrator on the upper level, accepted the orders in a daze. Driven by the remaining rationality, they made the greatest effort to cooperate with the 'containment' that they were about to face.
Selina, on the other hand, turned her eyes to Yuri. "Have you figured out what attacked the vanguard now?"
Yuri sighed and shook his head. "I have just returned from the Knight's resting area. Thanks to the psionic choir's protection, they were not contaminated. But their cognition and memory were seriously misplaced. A few who could barely recall the situation described a very strange scene: they said they were attacked by their own shadows."
"Their own shadows … sounds like mind backlash …" Selena pondered. "What else? Are there any other details? "
Yuri thought for a moment and nodded. "There is a detail that I don't know if it can be used for reference. The advance team was attacked after nightfall in Sandbox No. 1."
Nightfall … The 'nightfall' in Sandbox No. 1 seemed to have a special mystical significance. Previously, the phantom town was shrouded in an abnormal nightfall. Now, Sandbox No. 1 seemed to show a similar strangeness.
The hall was quiet for a moment. Selena stood quietly with her head bowed. She seemed to be in deep thought, and also seemed to be making a difficult choice.
A minute later, she looked up and stared into Archbishop Yuri's eyes. "Call for an emergency meeting. Gather all the archbishops who are still able to move. We … I'm afraid we have to make some difficult choices."
Yuri looked into Selena's eyes.
A moment later, Yuri nodded. "Understood. I'll arrange it."
…
In Cecil City, Gwen stood on the balcony at dusk, overlooking the scenery of the Dark Mountain Range in the distance. But suddenly, a familiar consciousness surged in the depths of his mind, interrupting his rare moment of leisure.
A major accident happened in the exploration of Sandbox No. 1? The highest bishops of the Eternal Sleep called for an emergency meeting?
Gwen stood quietly, but deep in his heart, he was listening to the report from Daniel. A moment later, he slowly exhaled, turned around, left the balcony, and returned to his room.
Betty, the maid, came bouncing up to him.
"Betty, inform the other attendants that there will be no more visitors tonight," Gwen said to the little maid in front of him. "When Heti and Rebecca come back, tell them that I may not leave the room tonight."
After Betty left, Gwen turned to the air beside him. "Guard the door."
Amber's voice came from the air. "Aye, understood!"
After everything was arranged, Gwen did not waste any time. He stepped onto a soft couch in the room, adjusted himself to a more comfortable position, and soon fell into a deep 'dream'.
In the changing light and shadow, he had passed through the invisible mental barrier and arrived at the City of Dreams in the depths of the mental network.
The dazzling, gorgeous, and magnificent Dream City was unusually deserted.
Gawain immediately sensed the unusual atmosphere around him. He stood at the edge of a square and looked at the street not far away. He saw that there were only a few clergymen patrolling the streets, and there was not a single person in the square that was used as a gathering place. There were only guards near the soul crystals that usually required queuing up. There were no "visitors."
A familiar breath appeared beside him, and Daniel appeared beside Gwen.
As soon as he appeared, the old mage bowed and saluted. "Salute, my Lord."
Gwen looked at him. "Daniel, where are the people here?"
"The mental network has implemented an emergency security policy. All middle- and low-level users have switched to a basic connection mode. They only have limited access to the network to provide the necessary computing power, and no longer directly immerse their consciousness into the City of Dreams," Daniel replied, bowing his head. "This is to prevent the contamination of the higher-level narrators from spreading and entering the real world."
Then, he paused and explained, "The advance team encountered a serious crisis during the exploration of Sandbox No. 1. One of the archbishops was even mentally contaminated and became a believer of the Narrator in the real world. Now, the entire Church has entered a state of emergency."
"… It seems that the situation has deteriorated very badly," Gwen said, shaking his head. "When will the meeting begin?"
"In five minutes," Daniel replied, nodding. "We have reset the virtual port of the central temple according to your order and arranged a 'seat' for you."
At this point, Daniel paused for a moment and could not help but confirm again. "My Lord, do you really want to 'sit in'?"
Gwen looked at Daniel. "First of all, it depends on whether the 'seat' you set up is hidden enough to block the vision of Meghul III."
"Don't worry about this. As the situation becomes more and more tense and I have proved myself several times, I have taken control of all security permissions of the mental network. I am also personally responsible for the rewriting of the central temple. You can get an absolutely safe 'seat'."
"Then don't worry." Gwen nodded. "In this situation, of course I want to sit in."
This time, the highest bishop meeting of the Eternal Sleep Congregation would be attended by 'extraterrestrial wanderers'.
(I recommend Lan Bai's new book, I Have Survived 999 Heavenly Tribulations, by the author of the Dungeon Players. As always, his imagination runs wild. Of course, this is not important. What is important is that he has healed the heavens.)
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