Catastrophe Containment Facility
Chapter 615 - 604: Endless Stairs

Chapter 615: Chapter 604: Endless Stairs

As long as chains bound her within, Tao Qingqing remained under Wen Wen’s surveillance; if she tried to attack someone to drink their blood, she would be immediately pulled into the Sanctuary.

So, Wen Wen confidently left Tao Qingqing behind to investigate the suicide case on her own, while he proceeded to the edge of the town, where an abandoned church was located.

This church had a history of over a hundred years, but it seemed to have been abandoned for nearly that long as well....

Creation Church was the largest religion in the Federation, but before the Federation was established, the Capital District had no belief in Creation Church.

At the dawn of the Federation, the wealthy and powerful Creation Church built chapels in every township of the Capital District, dreaming of encompassing the Capital District’s faith within its fold.

As for the outcome, one could tell from this abandoned church that Creation Church had not realized their vision, and in turn, they had lost a significant sum of money....

The church had been silently sitting here for a hundred years, but since it was constructed with high-quality stone at the time, it did not collapse despite the lack of maintenance.

The miraculous Endless Stairs were also located within this church; it was said that the stairs originally led to the basement. Some children playing here once discovered that no matter how far down they walked, they could never reach the end.

Later on, Demon Hunters from the Association came to investigate and found that after descending about fifty meters, a guardian monster would appear.

After defeating the monster, one would receive certain rewards; although not valuable, most were considered intriguing.

When Wen Wen received news of the Endless Stairs, more than a dozen Demon Hunters had already explored the place.

However, due to the tiger-like incident, nearby Demon Hunters had been conscripted to Yueshan City, and in recent days no Demon Hunters had explored this place.

As Wen Wen arrived at the entrance, he found an old man with graying hair sitting there.

Upon seeing Wen Wen, the old man put on his reading glasses and asked, "Young man, this isn’t the place for you."

This old man bore traces of Supernatural Power, likely a Demon Hunter sent by the Association to guard this place. Containment Items that couldn’t be moved had to be under Demon Hunter surveillance.

Therefore, Wen Wen took out his Demon Hunter ID and said, "I am a Demon Hunter, wishing to explore this place."

As soon as the old man saw that Wen Wen was a Demon Hunter, he laughed and said, "Of course, you can enter to explore, but it’s two thousand Demon Hunting Coins for one trip."

"You’re charging money?" Wen Wen frowned, as he hadn’t heard of such a rule before.

The old man earnestly replied, "This land belongs to my family. The Association put me in charge here. Every time you enter, you may cause damage, so I can’t let you freeload without paying."

Wen Wen raised an eyebrow, almost wanting to hit someone, but upon checking with the Ranger Terminal, he realized the old man was telling the truth.

The old man was indeed a native Demon Hunter of Tian Family Town who was about to retire, so he had spent money to buy up the nearby land, which included this church.

Moreover, this business was allowed by the Association, and the old man had to hand over half of what he earned to the Association....

The old man tempted Wen Wen, saying, "Don’t find it too expensive. There’s a chance to stumble upon good things when you defeat the monsters here. Plus, for the first ten floors, for each floor you pass, I’ll give you 200 Demon Hunting Coins back."

"What about after the tenth floor?"

"After the tenth floor, there will be no refund. You can’t expect me to run my business at a loss, can you?" the old man said, chuckling.

Wen Wen was quite displeased, feeling as though he had been duped by the old man. However, he had come for the Endless Stairs, and making the trip for nothing would be even more annoying.

So, with great reluctance, Wen Wen transferred two thousand Demon Hunting Coins to the old man and walked into the dilapidated church.

As Wen Wen went inside, the old man reminded him from behind, "The deeper you go into the stairs, the stronger the monsters you’ll encounter, and the environment will also erode your mind. If you can’t handle it, run back immediately—the range where the monsters operate here is very limited..."

Once Wen Wen’s figure had disappeared, the old man’s face broke into a sly smile:

"Of all the Demon Hunters who have been here, the strongest was a Ranger in the Assimilation Mid-Sequence, who only made it to the thirteenth floor at most. You, a kid who hasn’t even reached the Assimilation Realm, probably won’t be able to go down more than five or six floors, hehehe."

Wen Wen had a habit of hiding most of his qi signature, so the old man was unaware of Wen Wen’s true strength. Had he known, his price would not have been so low.

Pushing open an old wooden door, Wen Wen saw the descending staircase. Oil lamps were lit next to the stairs so one could see the path below, yet the dim light added an eerie atmosphere to the stairs.

Wen Wen carefully sensed his surroundings; the supernatural aura here wasn’t too strong, equivalent to other parts of the town, at most this place had a slightly denser aura than the rest of the town.

Having descended about ten meters, Wen Wen discovered that each section of the staircase, every oil lamp, and even every brick on the walls was unique.

In other words, the Endless Stairs were not created by spatial manipulation to make an endless loop but were truly extending downward continuously.

Now in the heart of winter, the further down he went, the warmer it got. At a depth of fifty meters, the temperature was almost twenty degrees, and Wen Wen saw the first monster guarding the staircase.

At the end of the stairs, a platform with a diameter of ten meters appeared. The stairs continuing downward were on the opposite side of the platform.

In the middle of the platform stood a Wandering Spirit donned in ancient armor, who mechanically said to Wen Wen, "Challenger, let me see your moves..."

After speaking, it attacked Wen Wen.

However, such a low-level Wandering Spirit was hardly stronger than Qin Shuang initially had been. Wen Wen was too lazy to move; with a flick of his finger, he shot out a ray of light that dispersed the spirit.

Wen Wen sneered, "Is this the first monster guarding the gate? It’s far too weak..."

"But I heard that even after I kill it, the next challenger will still encounter the same monster. So, did it really die, or not?"

From the dissipating Wandering Spirit, a broken piece of iron fell, which seemed to be an Ancient Coin. Although it was useless to Wen Wen, he picked it up anyway.

"Turns out there are actually drops. This is an antique coin, it’s probably worth a few bucks at least. Who knows what will appear after the tenth level."

Wen Wen chuckled and continued to delve deeper.

This time, he didn’t walk down slowly but ran, quickly covering the fifty-meter distance and smoothly reaching the second layer.

The monster guarding the second layer was a zombie wielding a long blade, speaking the same words.

"Challenger, let me see your moves."

As usual, Wen Wen shot a ray of light, but to his surprise, the zombie actually blocked Wen Wen’s ray with its long blade.

"Tsk, this is getting interesting," he remarked.