I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

"Then let's continue," Alice said. "The operation plan needs to be changed."

She then looked towards the cabin: "How much holy water is left on board?"

"Ignoring each person's quota, fifteen bottles of intermediate holy water and twenty bottles of beginner holy water," Leonard said at this moment.

"Move everything down and give it to the church."

"We will set up purification barriers along the way," Philip continued, turning to the two deacons. "No more than twenty steps apart, and don't be stingy with the holy water. We need a stable escape route, but more importantly—"

He paused, then looked towards the beach.

"We can't let these things spread, and we absolutely can't let them get close to the Abyss Hunter."

The deacons obeyed and turned to follow Leonard to carry the holy water.

"Leave one of the reborn on board," Alice said, looking at Marcus. "Once the cannons have cooled down, be ready to fire and provide support. Your Ascension should have long-range communication capabilities, right?"

"We'll proceed along the tunnel created by the blast. If the situation gets out of control, we'll bombard the tunnel again."

"Don't they care about their own people?" one of the newborns rarely spoke.

"Kill him if you hit him." Alice said expressionlessly. "Any objections?"

The newborn was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

Marcus smiled slightly upon hearing this, gesturing for one of the newborns to stay.

"Okay, I'm fine with it."

"The formation will remain as agreed before," Alice continued. "The Ascension will clear the way, and your people are best suited to deal with this kind of environment. The Night Watch will be in the middle, and the Church will be at the rear to purify the area."

"Dr. Lu is with me," Philip suddenly said.

Alice glanced at him.

"I've seen his file; he's one of the more knowledgeable people in the group about this island," Philip said calmly. "And it's safer for him to be in the back."

Clearly, the reasons given by the church are insufficient and even somewhat strange.

However, Alice did not answer for Lu Yuan, but only indicated that Lu Yuan should make the decision himself.

Lu Yuan nodded, indicating that he had no objection.

Because when Philip spoke, Lu Yuan saw a blue color appear in his hand, which was 'deep blue,' the ore brought back by the Iron Whale.

Clearly, this old charlatan from the church wanted to say something to him.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the church members have something they want with him, but the exorcism gunpowder in his arms is not to be trifled with, and he has not used the time-giving function even once.

If it's just about self-preservation, that's more than enough.

"Then let's go." Marcus stepped forward at this moment, leading two borns and judges, and leaped off the Abyss Hunter.

Afterwards, the group lined up in formation and advanced along the path created by the artillery fire.

The charred sand, covering the burnt remains of the tentacles, emitted a pungent, fishy stench.

Two church deacons stopped every twenty steps, sprinkled holy water on the ground, whispered prayers, and then made a few strokes.

Then golden light spread across the ground.

The still-wriggling tentacle fragments recoiled as if burned upon encountering the golden light.

The further inland you go, the thicker the tentacles become.

From the thickness of a finger at the beginning, it has now grown to the thickness of a forearm.

Meanwhile, the church at the back of the group gradually fell behind the Ascension Society at the front because they needed to set up a purification barrier.

"This distance is fine, High Priest Philip. What are you trying to say?"

Lu Yuan cut to the chase and asked directly.

Philip looked at Lu Yuan and took out a thumb-sized piece of ore from his sleeve. It was deep blue and faintly glowed.

"Dr. Lu, you're infected with the alternate dream," Philip asked directly, making no attempt to hide it. "Have you seen this in the alternate dream?"

Lu Yuan looked at the ore but did not answer immediately, because a line of gray text had already appeared.

High concentration of dissimilar condensates detected.

【Characteristics: ██ Deep tissue secretions, which can delay the progression of strange injuries to some extent.】

[Warning: Prolonged exposure may lead to changes in mental structure]

Lu Yuan memorized this information and asked in return:

Aren't you afraid of getting infected?

"The spread of the dream is limited," Philip said calmly. "As long as you don't deliberately come into contact with the source of infection, it's almost impossible to get infected. And those who are infected can only infect once at most."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"You were infected by Leisen, so it's almost impossible for you to be contagious again."

Lu Yuan remained silent for a moment upon hearing this, realizing that the church's investigation was more thorough than he had imagined.

"...I've met some."

Lu Yuan did not disclose the specific details.

But Philip frowned upon hearing this, and his expression turned grim.

"What's wrong?" Lu Yuan asked.

Philip did not answer immediately, his gaze fixed on the ore in his hand, as if he was hesitating about something.

A few seconds later, he spoke.

"This thing...is not a mineral."

Lu Yuan was taken aback. He had come into contact with it once before. It was an "asset" that the Ascension Society had escaped from. At that time, the ore was embedded in a mechanical organ. Since he could not touch it, Lu Yuan did not know what it was.

The limited information available is mostly summaries from the Night's Watch archives.

It now seems that apart from the Night's Watch not having studied this in depth, the Ascended Order and the Church both know something... No wonder this operation doesn't seem like a rescue mission at all.

"The archbishop told me," Philip said, ignoring Lu Yuan's silence. "This thing is related to the supernatural."

Lu Yuan looked at Philip, his gaze slightly narrowed.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Philip shook his head and said nothing more.

Because he himself didn't know why.

If it weren't for the archbishop's instructions, he wouldn't even want to get involved in this mess.

"We're here, hurry up and catch up."

Alice's voice came from ahead, interrupting their conversation.

Philip put away the ore, and piety returned to his face.

"Let's go."

Lu Yuan glanced at him, but didn't ask any further questions or offer to touch the ore.

Lu Yuan still remembers Morgan's warning: if he didn't want to deepen his strange dreams, he should stay away from those pollutants, and "Deep Blue" was the most direct form of pollution.

Ahead, abandoned wooden houses appeared on both sides of the road.

Crooked and decaying, just like in the dream, the only difference is that the wooden house here is covered with bright red tentacles. These tentacles are rooted in the ground, huge in size, each the size of a bowl, densely packed, and trembling faintly.

In the distance, rusty railway tracks stretched out from the dark cave and came into view.

The wooden support structure at the entrance of the cave was largely rotten and covered with tentacles of varying thicknesses.

When Marcus, who was walking at the front, saw the cave, his eyes flashed red intensely, because he knew that they had arrived at their destination!

The moment the group appeared at the cave entrance, a deep rumble came from the depths of the cave.

Lu Yuan instantly became alert, because the sound was almost identical to the heartbeat that Yi Meng had heard...