Life Game In Other World
Chapter 779: The Church on the Inside (Super-sized - , Requesting Monthly Passes)

Chapter 779: Chapter 779: The Church on the Inside (Super-sized Chapter, Requesting Monthly Passes)

The vast and twisted chorus of praise filled He Ao’s mind, as if rending his entire soul apart, and dim tears of blood streamed from his eyes.

Yet this hardly affected He Ao’s thinking and judgment. He gazed at the light veiling his eyes, various thoughts quickly flashing through his mind.

He could distinctly feel that as he uttered the syllable "Atmolaya," from somewhere beyond the reaches of time and space, it seemed as if an immense and glorious gaze had been cast upon him.

And it was this projection of gaze that activated the power hidden within the pendant and further affected the space surrounding the church.

It seemed, perhaps, to be a "simplified" "ritual."

The syllable "Atmolaya" might originate from some esoteric language, its correct pronunciation alone achieving a certain mystical effect.

Moreover, it was highly likely related to the "Eternal Radiance," otherwise, it would not have attracted the attention of the Eternal Radiance’s gaze.

However, this long-distance projection of "gaze" was not as potent as a communion ritual and could not establish a stable "communication" link between the speaker and the divine being.

Its practical effect seemed to be merely drawing a momentary attention from the "Eternal Radiance," which then glanced at the speaker, its gaze sweeping over them.

Yet even such a simple "passing of gaze" carried an unbearable contamination for most ordinary people.

It seemed that the Eternal Secret Teachings must possess some technique to alleviate the effects of this contamination, but based on He Ao’s understanding of these cults of the Evil God, this technique was likely something only "believers" could use.

Perhaps the contamination itself was one of the methods to select core members of the sect.

If you can’t withstand the contamination from your own divine being, then how could you become a core believer?

This might also explain why the Eternal Secret Teachings believers He Ao encountered all seemed a bit mad.

In fact, most followers of the Evil God were somewhat mad, simply varying in direction according to the divine being they worshipped.

As He Ao’s thoughts rapidly flitted by, the twisted light that filled his vision gradually receded.

First to enter his sight were rows of wooden chairs, and directly in front of these wooden chairs stood an exquisite wooden cabinet.

Above this exquisite cabinet hovered a mass of light that was both invisible and seemingly tangible. Behind the light, two massive stained-glass windows stood, sanctifying the brilliance with holiness and majesty, compelling an irresistible reverence.

He Ao suppressed the odd urge to kneel rising within him and turned to look around.

The soaaring ceiling adorned with bas-reliefs, the mesmerizingly beautiful stained-glass panels.

The hazy brilliance passed through the partially transparent glass, shining into the interior of the hall from outside, forming columns of ethereal light.

A sense of sanctity and antiqueness emanated from this vast hall.

This place seemed still to be the same hall where he had stood before, but the stained-glass windows, which had been painted on stone walls, had now become genuine glass.

And the stone cabinet that was disguised as a gapless wooden piece had now become a real wooden cabinet that could be opened and closed.

He Ao glanced towards the direction of the small door through which he had entered. The door, once painted like a stone wall, was now completely solid stone.

He turned back and saw behind him a towering, ornately carved door standing with solemnity and oppression.

The "disguised" church hall had here become a genuine church hall.

Through the stained-glass windows, one could see no scenery outside, just the sanctified light that appeared constant and unchanging.

In He Ao’s perception, there was an evident "unrealness" to the "warmth" and "sanctity" of this hall.

Beautiful, indeed, but not real.

In He Ao’s additional layer of "Spiritual Vision," this perception was even more candidly reflected.

Through this vision, nearly everything in the hall including the hall itself, seemed constructed from layers of twisted patterns, with He Ao standing at the center as if floating in a sea of distorted designs.

Among these patterns, there mingled faintly twisted glimmers of light that swam through the twisted designs making up the hall, exuding a terrifying pressure from some unscrutable Higher Being.

At the "very bottom" of these stacked patterns, He Ao vaguely sensed some sort of "agonized screaming."

This did not align with any characteristics of the scenes He Ao had seen in the outside world.

This place might no longer be in the superficial world.

The hall might be a "special space" completely constructed by Transcendent power and those lights that could potentially come from the "Grace of the Divine Being."

He Ao was not unfamiliar with such spaces, as the "Mirror Shadow Coin," a Transcendent item obtained in his main world, created a Mirror Space that also seemed not to exist in the superficial world.

Only, that Mirror Space lacked the grandeur and wonder of this church hall.

He Ao’s gaze continued to sweep through the hall, which seemed to have no other "passages" leading elsewhere besides that door.

He came here to find his parents’ bodies. When he followed the redhead woman "touring" the church, he incidentally searched all over the main church in the superficial world.

The result was as he expected, the bodies of the Novis couple were not in the church of the superficial world.

Previously, Kate mentioned that Yiluo’s parents’ bodies had a higher "spirituality" and were sent to the main church, clearly indicating that the main church served some Transcendent purpose.

In the case of an Inner Church existing, placing the remains related to Transcendence safely within the Inner Church made more sense.

Thus, from the moment He Ao became aware of the Inner Church’s existence, he prepared to enter it.

Of course, entering the Inner Church would also allow him to gain a clearer understanding of some of the "secrets" of the Eternal Secret Teachings.

However, the ’specifications’ of this Inner Church exceeded his expectations.

The fundamental rule of this world is ’equivalent exchange’, and the ’price’ to be paid to maintain such a vast Inner Space must also be a significant figure.

He Ao gazed at the door, pondering whether or not to push it open and leave the hall to explore.

Clearly, there were no bodies of Yiluo’s parents in this hall.

There was a high probability that the church housed other spaces.

And within such special spaces, there should be some special rules.

For example, He Ao’s Mirror Space could be traversed using mirrors between various spaces.

Therefore, the gate might not be the only way to leave this church hall.

But He Ao was not entirely alone; he and the mysterious redhead woman had entered the space with only a small time difference, practically one after the other. If the redhead woman had not left the place, perhaps he could learn some information from her.

However, when He Ao had briefly surveyed his surroundings earlier, there had been no one standing around.

Well, it didn’t rule out the possibility that the redhead woman was hiding somewhere.

Although he felt it was unlikely, He Ao still lowered his head and carefully swept his gaze over all corners of the area.

Then, in the bottom of the last row of benches, he saw the redhead woman dressed in tight clothing, lying under a chair, her chest compressed and breathing somewhat labored.

The woman’s location was quite distant from He Ao, and with many seats blocking the view, she was hard to spot at first glance.

He Ao’s gaze found her through some narrow gaps, seeing the redhead woman lying there.

At this moment, He Ao also noticed that the chairs in the last row seemed different from the others.

All other chairs were open on all sides, supported only by a few legs, while the row where the redhead woman lay had wooden boards sealing both ends and the back, with only the front open.

He Ao carefully recalled that in the church at the surface world, the last row did not have such closures.

Then his gaze swept over the position of the last row of chairs again, hesitated a moment.

In the church of the surface world, there was no row of chairs at all; the one in front of this one was actually the last.

Meanwhile, the redhead woman also realized that He Ao had noticed her, and she too looked up at He Ao.

The two looked at each other, falling into a brief silence.

He Ao was somewhat surprised as to why the redhead woman was lying there; it was obvious that the cramped space under the chair was somewhat ’congested’ for her physique.

And the redhead woman seemed to regard him with, what was it, wariness?

He Ao distinctly felt that the woman’s muscles tensed up immediately upon noticing him, and at the same time, her hand was tightly gripping the compass-like disc.

She seemed somehow afraid of He Ao.

"Are you the church’s oddity?"

In the midst of their gaze, the redhead woman, seeing that He Ao made no move, shrunk back a little and carefully asked, "We shouldn’t have any grudges, right?"

Oddity?

He Ao startled.

What was that? Non-normal occurrences in the church?

Sounded like evil spirits or ghosts?

Why would she think of him as such a thing?

In that instant, something crossed He Ao’s mind; he reached out and touched his cheek.

A swipe of bright red with an orange glow appeared on his pale fingertips.

His face was still smeared with bloody tears that had flowed due to the influence of the contaminating power.

······

A little boy, red scarf, pale skin, dark pupils, blood tears dripping from his eyes.

Add to that He Ao’s mostly expressionless face when pondering.

It seemed a bit scary···

If a cold wind and dense fog were to come at this moment···

Well······

He Ao shook off these thoughts from his mind.

He shifted his gaze from the blood on his hand and looked towards the redhead woman.

That one look startled the redhead woman enough to make her shrink back under the chair, clutching the disc in her hand more tightly.

He Ao chuckled silently, wiped the blood from his face, and was about to speak.

’Sizzle——’

But in that instant, a shrill and eerie screech suddenly erupted throughout the entire hall.

Immediately following, the brilliance of the entire hall flickered violently like a lightbulb with unstable voltage, and a silent cold wind suddenly swept up from the corners of the hall, brushing past He Ao’s hair.

A deep and dense fog spread out from all around the hall.

······

So there really are cold wind and dense fog.

Sensing the fluctuations of the cold wind and dense fog, the red-haired girl sitting under the chair shrank back, and then she looked at He Ao, and after a brief hesitation, she shouted loudly at him,

"This fog devours people! It can’t be blocked!! Quickly hide somewhere with at least three sides shielding from the wind!!!"

Hearing her voice, He Ao looked up and saw the fog rapidly surging in from all sides.

In his Spiritual Vision, within this dense fog, there thrummed streaks of distorted light, bearing an aura of oppressive might.

These lights undulated within the twisted patterns that made up the fog, bringing with them painful screams and murmurs.

This fog must also be one of the bottom-level rules that make up the Inner Church, carrying the power of Divine Grace.

He Ao glanced around; he was quite far from the bench where the girl lay. The closest shelter from the wind was a wooden cabinet glowing beneath a light.

He took the Knight’s sword off his back, and as he dashed towards that cabinet, he shouted to the red-haired girl, "What’s the way out of this hall?"

The red-haired girl, confused by his question, finally confirmed that He Ao didn’t seem to be an ’aberration.’ As the fog was swiftly closing in, she didn’t have much time to think. She shouted back at He Ao,

"Hide!!! Beware of the aberration!!!"

As her words ended, He Ao had already pulled open the cabinet door and hidden inside.

The pervading dense fog obscured the entire space.

He Ao pulled the cabinet door shut, and everything around him plunged into darkness, save for a faint glimmer of light peeking through the cracks of the door.

Hide? What hide? Why would she say to hide when asked how to get out?

Sitting inside the cabinet, He Ao pondered the girl’s words.

Beware of the aberration?

Is it some kind of monster in this church or some kind of anomaly?

It seems the rules of this Inner Church are not so straightforward.

This group of cultists always come up with new tricks.

Of course, it was most likely not the normal operation mode of the Inner Church. If those cultists had to deal with this level of excitement every day at work, their mental state would probably be even more chaotic.

Most likely, this is some kind of special state in response to an ’invasion’ by the Inner Church.

Outside, everything seemed to have quieted down, whether it was the red-haired girl’s voice or the shrieking hidden in the fog, all had completely disappeared.

Such a shame; if he had a bit more time, he might have been able to get more information from the red-haired girl.

But the red-haired girl obviously had her guards up against him, and it was highly likely she wouldn’t be willing to divulge key information just like that.

"Huuu..."

Just then, a faint sobbing sound suddenly came from beside him.

He turned around and, using the light from his bracelet, shone towards his side, only to discover a little girl in a red dress sitting next to him, covering her face, her back to him, seemingly crying.

He Ao distinctly remembered that when he entered this cabinet, there was nothing inside.

And under Spiritual Sight, this little girl was wrapped in twisted patterns and extremely unstable shadows.

’Zzz—’

At that moment, a shrill scream came from the crack of the cabinet door, followed by a distorted phantom of a head that turned into a smoky tendril, slowly spreading into the cabinet through the crack.

It carefully skulked along the blind spot in He Ao’s field of vision into the darkness of the cabinet, then slowly approached He Ao.

Clang—

With a sound of a cold blade slightly drawn from its scabbard, the phantom head just happened to hit the edge of the sword that had been slightly pulled out and immediately shattered.

In that instant, the sobbing next to him quieted a bit.

He Ao stretched out his hand and pulled the cabinet door firmly shut.

After entering the cabinet, the dense fog that seemed to signify the bottom-level rules of this space and carried Divine Power apparently wouldn’t come in, but the entities similar to ’Evil Spirits’ within the fog could still enter.

Dealing with Divine Power might give He Ao a bit of a headache, but dealing with these Evil Spirits hardly required any effort from him.

After handling the Evil Spirit, He Ao turned his head to look at the little girl in the red dress sitting next to him.

From the girl’s initial reaction, she seemed to be someone he could communicate with.

He reached into his pocket, felt around, and pulled out the piece of paper that the red-haired girl had given him, sandwiched within the banknotes.

The piece of paper wasn’t small, roughly the size of a banknote, and was quite thick. However, the red-haired girl had folded it many times, leaving numerous creases. He Ao quickly took the paper, rubbed out the text the red-haired girl had written with some effort,

Then, using the glow from his bracelet, he carefully folded it along the original creases.

As a child, Yiluo often played with origami, a skill taught to him by his mother who showed him many interesting patterns.

Shortly, he folded a paper butterfly.

Then he started playing with it by himself.

The girl’s crying paused for a moment, apparently attracted by the paper butterfly He Ao had made.

But she couldn’t bring herself to turn around, so she just hunched over, continuing to cry. She cried for a while, paused, and then sobbed intermittently.

After a while, when she realized that He Ao seemed to have really stopped paying attention to her, her crying gradually subsided.

He Ao stopped his play and asked softly,

"My parents were murdered, and their bodies were brought here. I can’t find them. Do you know where they are? Or, do you know where the bodies brought in from outside are kept?"

The girl’s crying did not stop.

She seemed to not know the answer to He Ao’s questions.

"Then do you know which direction I might find them?"

He Ao continued to ask.

The girl’s crying paused again.

"You can’t leave this place?"

He Ao pondered as he asked.

The girl’s crying paused again.

He Ao paused, and then asked in a soft voice, "Can you point me in a direction?"

The girl’s crying softened a bit but did not completely cease. After a moment, it finally paused.

"Thank you."

He Ao smiled and handed the neatly folded paper butterfly to the girl, "This is for you."

This time, the girl’s crying completely stopped.

Immediately after, He Ao felt the paper butterfly in his hand gently move, then started to flap its wings and ’flew’ up.

The paper butterfly danced, landing on the girl’s fingertips that covered her face, and then on the tips of her hair.

She seemed to like this ’gift’ very much.

After a while, with a ’click’, the tightly closed cupboard door suddenly opened a crack.

A dim glow of light seeped through the crack of the opening door.

"Are you telling me to go out?"

He Ao looked at the door opened a crack and asked softly.

The girl covered her face, and this time she did not cry but nodded slightly.

He Ao pondered for a moment, then pushed the door open.

And at that moment, what met his eyes was no longer the vast hall but a narrow and dim small room.

He had left the hall.

It seemed this was the ’way’ the little girl had pointed out.

He Ao thought for a while, then slowly stepped out of the cupboard.

Bang—

The cupboard door behind him suddenly closed.

He Ao turned around and to his surprise, found that the ’cupboard’ he had just walked out of had become a compact nightstand.

He tried to open the cupboard door again, but the interior was very small; he could no longer ’squeeze’ back in.

It looked like he couldn’t ’return the same way’ he came.

He Ao stood up and took a glance at his surroundings.

It was a cramped small room with just an old, rusty iron bed, an antique nightstand, and a desk with a missing corner.

He Ao walked over to the desk.

The desk was in disarray with sundry stationery, and in the center of the desk lay a piece of paper that seemed to have been torn from a book, jagged at the edges.

On the paper in fresh and slightly inept red writing, it said,

[Both my brother and I are at home today, didn’t go out, very safe.]

Thump—thump—thump—

The crisp sound of knocking came from the weathered iron door.