The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 108 The Ghost Cathedral (Part 4)
Funi's gaze swept over Song Hu, Lian Xinyi, and Ying Gu in turn.

Finally, Su Ninglong was chosen: "Could you keep this for me temporarily? Just for a little while, is that alright?"

Silent neglect is even more hurtful. Even Xin Yi comforted herself, saying that she was also a combatant and not suitable to keep anything safe.

Su Ninglong agreed and took the divination board.

Phoenix's tense state of mind finally eased. "Thank you. This thing is restless; it's trying to break free from me, and I'm constantly worried about losing it. This is clearly not a good sign."

One sentence was enough to elevate Su Ninglong's goodwill towards Funi to a new level. Funi's self-control was terrifying; she could make a clean break without being swayed by others.

Like an ascetic walking through a sea of ​​poppies, untouched by a single petal, such a person will succeed in whatever they do.

The moment Su Ninglong touched the divination board, she knew why Funi was acting this way.

It was heavy. It wasn't a mystical spirit, nor did it murmur. Nor did it possess the warm, smooth texture of anything extraordinary.

It was unremarkable, yet a certain vibrant will permeated it, like a bone-deep infection.
It evokes a strong urge to cherish it, making one unconsciously treat it as something important.

But it was sending a signal to Su Ninglong that it wanted to break away, indicating that it didn't want to fall into her hands.

It was somewhat like a magical artifact, but lacked its true spirit. It was more like a worm tamed by evil magic, constantly scratching at her heart and conveying a twisted resistance.

Very peculiar! It's quite different from any sacred artifacts or magical treasures I've encountered before.

Su Ninglong chuckled. If it weren't for Funi's request, who would want to take this ugly thing?

After thinking for a moment, Su Ninglong opened a waterproof transparent bag and put the divination board inside.

The transparent bag was inlaid with countless fine gold threads, making it much prettier than a fortune-telling board.

Secure the bag with a metal buckle and hang it on your backpack.

The bag swayed as she walked, and Funi's heart couldn't take it; she felt like she would lose it if she didn't hold the fortune-telling board in her hand.

But she forced herself to endure it and walked in front of Su Ninglong. It was so much better that she couldn't see her.

"Thank you, Ninglong!" Funi smiled broadly.

She's only 1.3 meters tall, and when she walks next to Su Ninglong, they look like two children.

Su Ninglong waved her hand: "You're welcome!"

Because of their low center of gravity and low line of sight, they saw many handprints on the walls on both sides, about half a person's height.

Funi immediately reported the matter to Yunfei.

"Could it be another hallucination?" Lian Xinyi said mysteriously, "It could also be a ghost. Do you know what a ghost is?"

Lian Xinyi, who tried to scare Su Ninglong, received a pair of big eye rolls from Su Ninglong.

This is what the protagonist of a horror movie might think.

However, Su Ninglong sincerely believes that everything can only be described as having traces.

She patted Lian Xinyi with pity, "When you see a handprint, the first thing you should think of is to gather evidence."

Lian Xinyi: "..." It was precisely because she knew that she was hard to fool that she talked nonsense, but in the end, she was the one who suffered.

Funi has already taken the initiative to make several palm prints. Every citizen's palm print is entered into the database. As long as the person entering the passage is not a "Star Drifter", they will inevitably be caught in the Star Alliance's grasp.

"The data is being transmitted to you. Search for the identity of the person who entered the passage as soon as possible." Yun Fei scanned the palm print and handed it over to the logistics team for analysis.

When Yun Fei's cold voice rang out, Tong Zi asked, "Your signal was lost for five minutes. Where are you now?"

"I accidentally got lost underwater."

Tong Zi warned, "Be careful, there are more parasites than expected, the intelligence is wrong."

"receive."

Soon after, they reached the end of the passage and finally saw the culprit that had caused their hallucinations: the fleshy tumor of the Convergence Throat.

A mouth grew on the tumor, opening and closing strangely, as if to prevent outsiders from invading.

Upon entering within three meters of the sarcoma, the test instrument readings spiked to 80; within one meter, the reading jumped to 120, indicating a heavily contaminated area.

The six people bent over, holding their breath, and carefully passed under the tumor.

The walls were covered with a network of sensory organs resembling blood vessels, and no one held us back at this moment, so we crossed safely.

Next up is a spiral staircase, which they will have to climb. Each step is at least 20 centimeters high, which is really unfriendly to short people.

As I approached, I stepped on something sticky. "Uh... what is this?"

Use a dagger to pick up a bit of the eagle bone; it's stringy.

The ground was covered with what looked like melted grease, and the stench was overwhelming.

“Parasitic remnants.” Funi covered her mouth and nose. “After the Mystic Spirits devour the parasites, they are forcibly left in the mortal world. As you know, the Mystic Spirits’ strength is greatly reduced in reality. They cannot resist and will become nutrients for the Throat of Aggregation along with the parasites, which will then be consumed by the Throat of Aggregation. What remains here are just remnants.”

"So, is the tumor we see in the present world or in subspace?" It was Song Hu who asked such a profound question.

“I don’t know.” Funi couldn’t give a definite answer either: “The entire cathedral is now the lair of the Convergence Throat. It can make the subspace overlap with reality, so the tumor we see should be somewhere in between. It has a physical form, but it can also be a phantom. However, no matter how powerful the Mystic is, it cannot take over reality, so there’s no need to worry too much. We are not parasites, so it cannot take whatever it wants from us. If it wants to kill us, it will definitely pull us into the subspace first.”

What's even more unsettling is that the conditions for entering subspace have disappeared, meaning they could be passively drawn into subspace at any time.

I just stepped onto the first step.

Lian Xinyi, curious about the height of the spiral, turned up the light of her lighting tool and shone it upwards.

He gasped. At the top of the spiral staircase, hanging upside down on the surrounding walls were more than a dozen parasites. Their faces had no features, only mouths covered with sharp spikes, and their grayish-red bodies blended into their surroundings.

If the walls weren't smooth and the lighting wasn't bright enough, it would be difficult to spot them.

No wonder there's so much residue here!
Either capture them all in one fell swoop, or leave them completely undetected.

Just as Yun Fei was about to say something, a loud roar came from above.

The parasitic organism, which resembled a sculpture, moved slightly, and a few wisps of dust fell from its body.

They stretched their necks, like wolves in a pack, responding to the howl, "Woo..."

The wailing sounds rose and fell.

Lian Xinyi wanted to turn off the flashlight and step back, but Yun Fei stopped him.

As soon as the response ended, all the parasites poured out of the stairwell, and the last parasite disappeared.

Su Ninglong exclaimed, "You're so lucky, aren't you?"

Yun Fei smiled and said, "That's right." He wanted to call Lian Xinyi by her code name, but forgot for a moment. "Lian Qiuqiu, continue leading the way."

Lian Xinyi: "???" Are you all bullying me?

However, the code name Canary was not as easy to remember as Lian Chiu Chiu. Lian Xinyi could not make a fuss in the current environment and continued to lead the way with a wronged expression.

They climbed the spiral staircase as quickly as possible, a total of more than 500 steps. After reaching the top, they opened the ventilation valves of their gas masks. The last section, where the parasites had been, had an extremely foul odor, as if the walls had been cured like bacon, except the curd was so pungent that even the gas masks couldn't filter it out.

Su Ninglong's knees trembled uncontrollably.

"Are you alright?" Funi asked. "If you're too tired, you can have Yunfei carry you."

"It's okay, I just rarely climb stairs when I exercise." After stepping onto flat ground, Su Ninglong used her spiritual power to soothe her knees, and the fatigue gradually disappeared. "Alright, which way should we go now?"

You'd have to ask Furni.

“As you know, we’ve used up all our divination attempts,” Funi emphasized again, adjusting her glasses.

Yun Fei turned his gaze to Lian Xinyi, but Lian Xinyi looked completely bewildered as she climbed up the passageway, surrounded by books.

The air is filled with the scent of aged wood and smoke, like the natural oils in leather gradually evaporating, leaving behind the gentle, oily fragrance of beeswax.

Judging from the surrounding environment, it is elegant and grand, and may be the office of a high-ranking figure in the religion.

If you come in from the outside, you will never be able to tell that there is a secret passage hidden under the desk.

They entered the church in search of the remaining parts of the divination board. Yunfei knew its location but couldn't determine where to go; the cathedral was too large.

"If you don't know which way to go, why not ask it?" Su Ninglong held up the divination board.

“But it can’t do divination anymore.” Furney was smart, but sometimes she could be stubborn. “Forcing divination will shorten its lifespan.”

"No, no, no, who said we need to do divination? It needs to find the remaining parts of its own body, so of course it should find them on its own." Su Ninglong said to the divination board, "After you go out, if you go left, it will show the front; if you go right, it will show the back."

The divination board was tossed into the air like a coin, spun around, and then fell to the ground.

Su Ninglong looked at the result: "Back side, right side."

Ying Gu and Song Hu were seeing such a hardcore divination method for the first time. Isn't the divination board an antique?
Furney, who also looked surprised, quickly picked up the divination board and patted the dust off the plastic bag. "Thank goodness, it's not broken."

"Isn't it supposed to automatically find the fragments? It certainly won't break that easily." Su Ninglong asked, "Teacher Funi, are you going to hold it yourself?"

Funi's pained expression vanished abruptly. "No, you take it." She acted as if she couldn't bear to part with it, seemingly completely swayed from the allure of the fortune-telling board.

Su Ninglong silently mourned for it, "Rest in peace. In our hands, you were destined to be nothing more than a guiding tool."

Stepping out of the room and turning right until the end of the road, they were once again awestruck by the sheer size of the cathedral. The midday sun shone down from the dome, and layers of small rooms were scattered around, with hundreds of tiered platforms suspended in the hollow center.

Having lost their power, they silently floated in mid-air in a stair-like sequence.

“This is a private confessional for believers,” Funi deduced from small details such as the kneeling cushion, the idol on the small table, and the microphone in the prayer room.

"What exactly should I confess? Why do we need to build a separate confessional room? Wouldn't it be enough to just silently confess in my heart?" Su Ninglong didn't understand.

"Confessions usually involve things that violate the canon. For example, some canons require believers to be honest, but if a believer lies about something, then the believer will go to the confessional on the day of worship to tell the Lord about the violation and hope to receive His forgiveness."

This process seems so familiar.

However, it can also be seen as a way to constrain people's morality.

Su Ninglong suddenly realized that DI Company's practice of only apologizing without taking any real action was inspired by these religions.

They confessed to their clients. Whether the clients forgave them or not was not important; what mattered was that they confessed and the clients heard them.

"Speaking of which, where did all the tumors go?" Lian Xinyi looked around, lifted the curtain of the nearby confessional, and looked up. The huge tumor was throbbing, and below it sat a headless white skull.

"I'm sorry, I was being presumptuous."

Su Ninglong is using a divination board for a hardcore fortune telling session again: "Go up or go down?"

The divination board cleverly indicates that you should proceed downwards.

There's no road above; this level is the highest point.

The usually taciturn Song Hu broke his usual aloofness and took the initiative to ask, "What if I guide you to move upwards?"

Su Ninglong bluntly stated, "That proves it doesn't have any divination effect. Anything it divines is unreliable and can be smashed."

Divination board: "..." Damn it, I was waiting for it here. Luckily it didn't break down.

Phoenix suddenly felt pity for the fortune-telling board, a pity tinged with schadenfreude.

What others see as a precious fortune-telling board is nothing more than a toy in Su Ninglong's hands, and she is determined to break its proud record of being able to perform fortune-tellings a certain number of times.

If you can divine, then divine; if you can't, then smash it.

Even Xin Yi had gotten used to Su Ninglong's fierceness. Ying Gu thought Su Ninglong was quite amazing, a rare boldness among children.

In this situation, any child would snuggle up to an adult, but Su Ninglong did the opposite and became the one making the decisions.

To go down, they need to jump along the suspended platforms.

The height was dizzying. Yun Fei jumped up first to test the stability of the levitation. Once he was sure he wasn't falling, he reached out to Su Ninglong.

“I don’t need it, Ollie can take me down,” Su Ninglong said. “I can cover the rear.”

The little girl said "I'll cover the rear" in a very serious tone, which made Funi unable to suppress a smile.

Yun Fei gave a wink, and Lian Xinyi cheerfully picked up Su Ninglong and jumped onto the floating platform together.

An accident occurred. The suspended platform could not withstand the gravity and fell rapidly, colliding with other suspended stair platforms. After the collision, the platforms rotated and then plummeted.

At this speed, all three would be crippled. Yun Fei, carrying Su Ninglong, nimbly leaped to another platform, and only then did the descent stop.

Everyone stared at the disrupted floating staircase, wondering how they were supposed to get down. Were they supposed to just drop down safety ropes? They hadn't expected the cathedral to pull this stunt.

"Quickly, come in!" came an unfamiliar shout from below. Yun Fei and Lian Xinyi squatted down, and the other three also stepped back.

The heavy door slammed shut, and seven men dressed in hunter combat gear passed by the confessional.

As dust fell in a flurry, they looked up warily, fearing the parasites might follow them.

"When did these floating staircases get so messed up? Without power, they should be arranged in a spiral staircase pattern." One of the hunters, with dreadlocks, looked up in confusion, trying to see if anyone was on them.

"How would I know? There are so many parasites here. Maybe they're the ones who messed it up."

The confessional was spacious, and even the slightest sound from below could be clearly heard upstairs.

"So, there are parasites here too?"

"The Ghost Cathedral has turned five thousand believers into parasites. There is no safe place here. Hurry up, the parasites that have been attracted away will soon return, and then we will all be doomed."

(End of this chapter)