Chapter 114: Church Stronghold

Looking up along the winding mountain road, the folded mountain walls and the wildly growing trees blocked the view, preventing a direct sight of the church. Yi Chen was quickly organizing the points of doubt in the case within his mind, 1. Even after killing the Village Chief and combing through every corner of the village with the help of the chickens, including the underground river, the missing Gentleman Team was still nowhere to be found. “In the memory of the Village Chief, any information related to the Church was blurred, which might also include information about the missing team. They were probably all captured and taken to the church. I hope they are still alive.” 2. The true purpose of the Regeneration Church remains unknown, with only a few keywords provided—”Fertility,” “Holy Embryo,” and “Umbilical Cord.” As of now, not a single member of the church had been seen in person. Currently, standing at the entrance of the slope, Yi Chen felt as if he was standing at the “Boundary.” The ‘Combination Disease’ that spread among the village stopped here. Neither the illusionary spores diffusing through the air nor the various bizarre animal combinations ventured beyond the foot of the mountain. “I suspect that the Church has intentionally confined this native illness to the village, using it solely for the birth of the Holy Embryo. The disease itself serves no purpose for them. It could even be assumed that the fundamental reason for the New Birth Church selecting Shebolt Village was the local disease related to fertility. They want to utilize this fertility combination disease to achieve some project within the church, and maybe it’s even their ultimate purpose in establishing the church. Meanwhile, the patients within the church correspond to a completely different and special illness related to new birth. They can even bestow ‘new birth’ to others through the ‘umbilical cord’ as an intermediary.” Once an individual uses the umbilical cord, they will likely exhibit a Hanging State similar to that of the Village Chief, where bodily injuries and even the damaged Pathogen can recover in a short period. But such a selfish group of individuals as the patients wouldn’t be merely giving and sharing. Those who receive the umbilical cord and experience ‘new birth’ will inevitably have to pay some price in the end. I even suspect that even if the Village Chief hadn’t been killed by me, he would still have ended up as some sort of sacrifice…” S~eaʀᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was not just wild speculation on Yi Chen’s part, Recalling the Village Chief’s near-cheating regenerative ability when using the umbilical cord, even his battered Pathogen heart had healed in a short time. By the effectiveness alone, it seemed too exaggerated. ????άΝ????ＢĘš And while using the umbilical cord, the Village Chief showed signs of hanging, more precisely, “Umbilical Cord Around The Neck Nuchal-Cord,” which directly relates to neonatal death. To bestow new life through an act symbolizing death seemed highly discordant, prompting Yi Chen to speculate, Does this mean that accepting the grace of new birth also entails offering one’s own life as repayment? Ending his brief contemplation, he adjusted his tie with one hand and carried his case up the hill with the other. Little Grape also became unprecedentedly serious, poking out now and then from a shoulder, half emerging from a sleeve, or peeking an eye from a trouser leg to ensure safety. However, the ascent remained eerily quiet. Not only was there no attack from any church personnel, but there wasn’t even the sensation of being watched. This, coupled with the Village Chief’s words that ‘you have come too late,’ made Yi Chen quicken his pace. At the top of the small hill stood the [Church] that the villagers had built for the church some months ago. To call it a church was almost a misnomer; it was more like a building of classical design. The main door, the ridge-shaped corridors, and the domed hall connecting at the end. The cold wind whipped through the sparsely leaved twisted tree trunks, the church-like structure, and the only living being on the mountaintop—Yi Chen. Cre-eak~ He pushed open the unlocked main door of the church, and along the spacious colonnaded corridor, whether it was the evenly spaced niches with new candles burning or the swept-clean gilded red carpet, it seemed to be telling Yi Chen that something inside was waiting for his arrival, waiting for his participation, and once he ventured further, there would be no turning back. Even so, Yi Chen’s expression did not waver as he resolutely stepped in and walked towards the deepest end of the colonnade. Tap! His leather shoes left the end of the red carpet, stepping onto the cold marble floor. The echo reverberated between the halls with their massive domed structure, At the top, the dome was filled with square, concave algae wells, gradually decreasing in size as they ascended to reduce the weight of the dome and serve a decorative purpose, A circular chandelier hung from the top, lit with 108 candles that illuminated the entire rotunda. A statue of the “Mother of New Birth,” commonly seen throughout the village, stood in the center, but this statue was several times larger than the small sculptures at the entrance of each house in the village, standing about four meters tall. The mother’s face, riddled with holes, cradled a newborn baby, its face buried in the mother’s bosom, invisible, With the umbilical cord still connecting the two. Engraved on the square stone plinth at the bottom of the statue was a line of text—”Those who offer Essence Blood may receive new life.” Before Yi Chen even got close to the statue, he already felt the aura of new birth emanating from within it. He approached the statue cautiously, reaching out to touch the inscribed text. Whoosh! The umbilical cord that connected mother and child suddenly came to life, snapping out from the baby’s navel, At the end of the umbilical cord appeared a round, toothy maw full of sharp teeth, lunging at Yi Chen’s abdomen. It seemed to want to extract the so-called ‘Essence Blood’ from inside his navel. Just as it was about to get close, whoosh! A flash of silver slashed down. The axe Yi Chen always carried on his back was held in anticipation of this very moment. As he chopped down the writhing umbilical cord that was trying to slither away and then stepped on it…crack! When Yi Chen looked up again, He found the statue’s mother and child in her arms had actually turned their heads, staring at him with faces full of holes. Although there was no mental impact, such scrutiny was quite uncomfortable. He continued to reach toward the base of the statue, vaguely feeling that something was powering the statue from below. “Something underneath?” Yi Chen raised his foot and kicked, yet the statue remained immovable. This sense of weight and hardness indirectly proved that there might indeed be something hidden underneath the statue. He stepped back, retreating to the front end of the colonnade, near the church’s main entrance. Bending over, he struck a pose similar to that of a sprinter at the start of a race, Inside, the plants covering his body concentrated upon his mobilization, covering his right shoulder and arm in response, Start! Yi Chen, with a physique upgraded to [4], accelerated beyond his past speed with the support of a temporary heart. As he charged into the rotunda, he veered to the side, his fully tensed right arm turned forward, ready to ram! Perhaps sensing the intention of its host, the gentleman’s clothes adapted on their own, thickening the fabric on the right arm to increase the buffering time during the impact. Boom! A loud noise erupted in the rotunda, as the statue’s base was utterly shattered, chunks of stone and blood and flesh scattered across… Yi Chen was right. The interior of the sculpture was filled with highly compressed blood and flesh, connected to a flesh tube that fed it nutrients from below. A secret passage leading to the depths was revealed before his eyes. As Yi Chen stared into the depths, his thoughts were strangely drawn in, and he even felt a sensation around his neck as if it were being strangled. Hastily shaking his head, he rapidly dispersed the invasive thoughts, Subconsciously touching his own neck, he actually felt a distinct ligature mark… as if he had just been freed from a hanging state.