absurd deduction game.

Actually, after the stained glass shattered, revealing a dark entrance behind it, there wasn't the overwhelming sense of danger I had imagined; it seemed rather peaceful.

Since there was an extra entrance, Yu Xing didn't hesitate and stepped in first, followed closely by Qu Xianqing and the musician.

After walking through this room, which is neither too big nor too small, and pushing open the door, the interior of the church appears even more spacious than the outside, as if the space itself has been distorted and stretched.

The towering dome is gone, replaced by a fleshy membrane structure that pulsates like the walls of a biological chest cavity, covered with throbbing blood vessels and occasionally open, malevolent eyes, much like the one on the street.

The bench was long since decayed and deformed, like twisted bones scattered on the ground.

The ground was covered with a thick, sticky substance, like semi-dried blood, which made an unpleasant, slimy sound when stepped on.

A low, chaotic sound, like the murmurs of countless people in their dreams, echoed in the air, trying to penetrate the mind and disturb the intellect.

The white light emanating from the Sanctuary Badge became extremely weak here, like a candle flickering in the wind, as if it had been specifically suppressed. All three of them could feel a heavy pressure acting directly on their minds and bodies.

No more "memories" of Edgar appeared in the hall. Yu Xing looked up and gazed into the depths of the "dome," which resembled the walls of a biological cavity.

Their original goal was the top of the church, where they planned to climb up and survey the surrounding area to find the center of the city of terror. Yu Xing manipulated the branches to explore for a moment, then led the two people beside him to a corner.

There is a passageway leading upwards.

There seemed to be a structure resembling stairs or a passageway, but it had been twisted into the shape of some kind of monster's esophagus or intestines.

"The layout here isn't quite the same as a real church," the actor commented after observing for a while. "It's just borrowing the shell, like those merchants who use a brand's name to sell completely unrelated products..."

"You know this too?" Qu Xianqing was genuinely surprised to hear this. The deducers, especially those in their strong teams, often lied about the age of their members. Many of them looked to be about the same age as her, but if you were to investigate, she would have to call them her great-grandfather.

While these guys have adapted to life here, they've lost interest in learning about the inside stories of brands. Among the Broken Mirror team, only she and Zhao Mou know a lot about these trivial matters.

The performer sensed her surprise, sighed inexplicably, and subconsciously straightened the hem of his clothes to keep them neat.

Yu Xing scoffed: "This man used to be an actor and suffered a lot of 'humiliation' from powerful people. Regardless of whether they actually humiliated him or not... in short, he values ​​his reputation very much."

"If I'm not mistaken, he probably wants to use the best of everything, including food, clothing, and daily necessities, to pretend that he is also a respectable person."

He originally wanted to tell Qu Xianqing that next time he wanted to mock the actor, instead of calling him a perverted beast, he should say that he was like a beggar, and that he was still a low-class person even though they had long since stopped distinguishing between upper and lower classes. The actor would probably break down if he heard this.

But Yu Xing thought again. It was one thing for him to mock the actors, but if Qu Xianqing and the actors were not by his side in the future, and the actors really broke down, Qu Xianqing might be in mortal danger.

Forget it.

Qu Xianqing was unaware that she had missed the tutorial on how to break down the performer's defenses. She only saw the performer's eyebrows twitch slightly after Yu Xing finished speaking, as if she had indeed been hit where it hurt, but she quickly concealed it and smiled again.

He chuckled twice: "As expected of Ah Xing, you really understand me."

The actor tried to appear nonchalant, sharing, "About five or six years ago... I casually asked a flower picker to buy me a refrigerator for my new place. He didn't know any of this and ended up buying a 'Nanji Ren' brand one."

He rested his hand on his chin, pondering, "But it's a brand of thermal underwear..."

Qu Xianqing's usually expressionless face twitched slightly, wondering how the topic had shifted to this.

Hearing actors say these things is just... so jarring...

But Yu Xing still asked, "And then?"

The actor said, "Then, I killed the flower seeker."

The refrigerator was naturally thrown away and replaced.

To him, the Flower Seeker was just a consumable. The Flower Seeker of that time was too stupid. He later studied several versions before he came up with the Flower Seeker who could face Hua Su Bai directly.

Although the last flower seeker didn't achieve anything and even lost himself in the process.

But he then iterated on and released a new version.

Qu Xianqing couldn't help but interrupt this strange conversation: "That's enough, we should move on." Although it seemed like she was the one who started it.

The actor snapped out of his reverie and chuckled twice: "Oh dear, this church may seem harmless, but it actually has a great influence on people."

Why did he have to bring up so much gossip?

Yu Xing also realized that the influence of the church—or rather, the city of terror—on people was subtle and gradual. Under normal circumstances, he would never have been so easily distracted.

He coughed lightly, having to admit that Xiao Ququ had a natural advantage in terms of resistance, and silently shut his mouth, indicating that the topic was over.

"Go up."

Without another word, the three of them climbed up the twisted, slimy, and wriggling "stairs".

The process is not easy. The "steps" underfoot are soft and elastic, and sometimes they may even suddenly contract or bulge, requiring a strong sense of balance and reaction speed to keep one's balance.

Tiny, parasitic creatures occasionally poked their heads out from the "walls" on both sides, hissing threateningly, but quickly retreated back into the darkness after sensing the dangerous aura emanating from the three people.

After climbing for an unknown amount of time, as if they had passed through the body of some kind of creature, they finally reached the "top".

This is not the expected spire, but a relatively open platform, resembling the interior of some giant creature's skull, quite different from what is seen from the outside.

The platform's edges are formed by a rigid, rib-like structure, creating a relatively safe observation point.

Standing here, the view suddenly opens up.

The distorted scene of the entire city of terror was like a painting of hell, spread out before our eyes.

The writhing, dark purple sky seemed almost within reach, and the pale "stars" were like cold pupils, watching everything below. Twisted buildings, like rotting viscera, covered the city's body, and on the streets, shadowy figures moved silently like flowing pus.

However, almost simultaneously, the three people's attention was drawn to something in the city center—

At the heart of this eerie town stands a massive building that is absolutely not found in the real-world town of Yolikev.

It was a library.

Why can you recognize the building's function at a glance? Because the building is enormous, with a twisted and bizarre outline, as if it were made of countless huge, rotten books, with the edges of the pages like sharp blades and the spines covered with writhing, eerie symbols like movable type.

The sight of it immediately evokes the image of a library.

The walls of the library were a sickly grayish-white, covered with cracks from which a ghostly green light emanated, as if knowledge itself were decaying.

Countless thick, tentacle-like vines spread out from the base of the library, deeply penetrating the surrounding urban "body," as if drawing nourishment from it, or as if firmly controlling the area.

An aura far older, deeper, and more unsettling than that of the church emanated from the library, exuding a vast and profound oppressive feeling, as if it were an unquestionable truth, as if it held the terror and mystery of all things, drawing everyone to step inside.

“A library…” Qu Xianqing murmured, “There’s no library in the real town of Yolikev, right? The biggest bookstore is called ‘Lighthouse’.”

Wait, the lighthouse.

It seems there's a guiding meaning behind it.

Looking at the location, it seems to match the location of the Lighthouse Bookstore. So, the real Lighthouse Bookstore must also have some issues!

"The graveyard of knowledge, the wellspring of madness..." The musician narrowed his eyes slightly. "If Edgar were alive, he would definitely go. No, judging from his experience of being corrupted by the stars, he might be special. The ancient gods and the esoteric religions might have hoped that he would spread the corruption through his writings as a travel writer. So, he definitely had a chance to reach there alive back then."

However, things clearly went wrong again later; Edgar's name never appeared in reality again, and no new chapters of his travelogue were ever published.

Yu Xing stared at the eerie library. Although his senses were severely suppressed, he could still clearly feel that the pollution and distortion contained in the library were of a much higher level than the surrounding buildings, and even faintly resonated with the cold "stars" in the sky.

Taking advantage of the panoramic view from the vantage point, he devised a new, easier route, ensuring he wouldn't be in such a passive position this time.

This route cleverly utilizes the connections and shadows between buildings to avoid the areas with the densest shadows on the street below, as well as those living structures that clearly exude a dangerous aura.

"follow me."

Like three streaks of light disappearing into the shadows, the three leaped from the edge of the platform and moved swiftly along the path planned by Yu Xing, moving quickly on the tops and sides of the twisted buildings. This time, they had a clear goal and acted swiftly, no longer passively responding to the environment, but actively traversing the fabric of this living city.

The closer you get to the city center, the clearer the cold and vast sense of oppression emanating from the library becomes.

The cloying, fishy stench that permeated the air seemed to have faded somewhat, replaced by a smell that was... similar to old parchment and dry dust, yet mixed with a certain spiritual "decay" odor.

Soon, they arrived at their destination.

The library of the city of terror is right before my eyes, its size and bizarreness far exceeding what I imagined from afar.

The “books” piled up to form walls were all enormous. Their covers were not made of leather or cardboard, but of some kind of treated, taut skin with tiny pores and textures, ranging in color from pale white to dark yellow. Some even had distorted facial features or limb outlines protruding from them. The spines were made of white bones pieced together, with strange, writhing symbols carved on them, like movable type, emitting a faint phosphorescent glow.

The library entrance is a huge, jagged, gaping wound with dry, tendon-like fibers hanging from it.

The inside of the rift was pitch black, with only a faint, unsettling green light emanating from its depths, as if leading to the belly of some greedy, knowledge-devouring behemoth.

This is a complete monster.

"It's truly... a completely disorderly distortion." Qu Xianqing frowned slightly as she gazed at the temple of knowledge constructed from skin and bones. Even though she was used to bizarre scenes, she felt an instinctive aversion to this way of desecrating and distorting the combination of knowledge and life.

The actor laughed and said, "To solidify, desecrate, and display the thirst for knowledge along with life itself... isn't this madness a kind of ultimate aesthetic?"

His words inevitably reminded Yu Xing of the curse experiment she had experienced, and her tone turned colder: "Take your aesthetics to heart."

The actors readily fell silent, readily accepting the advice.

Yu Xing then went to observe the library. His senses were suppressed like never before, and he could hardly extend into the dark crack. But he could clearly "hear" a low, muffled murmur, as if composed of countless overlapping voices, coming from the depths of the library.

The chaotic chatter, interspersed with broken sentences, incomprehensible formulas, and frantic deductions, attempts to connect with the intruder's mind and forcibly instill that chaotic, polluting "knowledge."

"The mental pollution inside is very strong and of a special nature," Yu Xing warned in a deep voice. "Guard your mind and don't let those whispers lead you astray."

He took the first step, stepping into the fissure that resembled a wound.

Stepping inside felt like entering another dimension.

The sights and sounds of the terrifying city outside were instantly shut out, replaced by an absolute, suffocating silence—all “sounds” transformed into a torrent of whispers that directly affected thought.

The interior of the library was far more expansive than it appeared from the outside, seemingly without end. Towering "bookshelves," constructed from countless skeletons, pierced the endless darkness above.

The bookshelves were crammed with “books” made of human skin. They moved on their own, opening and closing slightly as if breathing, the pages rustling as they rubbed together, mingling with the ever-present whispers.

The three walked carefully on the ground, which was made of some kind of hardened organic material. The ground felt cold and slippery under their feet.

The whispers were relentless, like icy tides, constantly assaulting their mental defenses. The protective badges could only cling to their bodies, offering barely any protection.

No one has set foot here for who knows how long.

Tick, tick.

The sound of dripping water came from somewhere. Just as Yu Xing looked over, an unusual, sharper, and more focused whisper came from the shadow of a bookshelf in front of him.

Then, something slowly "flowed" out of the shadows. (End of Chapter)