Start a core cabin

"Tick."

The cold water drops hit the girl's neck, and Shesta shuddered suddenly, then quickly opened her eyes and stood up. When she saw the surroundings clearly, she frowned immediately.

This is bad...

At the moment, Shesta and Mianmu Sanatori are not in the shabby double suite they had in that small town, but in a very obvious underground cave, surrounded by tides, and the wet water vapor rushes towards them. The whole cave looks extremely cold. Under the dim firelight, you can see that there are only a few pieces of straw on the ground, and Mianmu Sanatori is lying not far away, sleeping soundly.

"Yo."

At this moment, Duanmu Huai's voice suddenly sounded, and then Shesta saw the huge body appear on the opposite side of the dungeon fence, and waved to her with a smile.

"Did you sleep well?"

"I slept very well. How long did I sleep?"

"Five hours."

"Really... can you tell me what happened?"

"It's simple. These people didn't sleep at night and ran to the hotel. Then the front desk clerk opened the door with a spare key and brought you here who were unconscious."

Duanmu Huai spread his hands.

"Well, was what I said very clear?"

"Too clear, it makes me a little suspicious."

Xiesta frowned in dissatisfaction.

"First of all, in order to avoid this kind of situation, I moved the table to block the door before going to bed, and set a trap behind the door, so that they could wake us up when they rushed in. I think I am still very alert, and that kid is not a good person either."

"Oh, maybe they think the drugs they put in your food have taken effect."

"That's impossible."

Xiesta shook her head again.

"Although we did order room service to prepare meals, that was just to confuse them. We have only been drinking the mineral water we brought and eating the bread we bought for the past two days... You should be very clear about this, after all, you were with us when we prepared the food."

"Yeah, I know."

Duanmu Huai nodded.

"Then, what about the explanation?"

"Okay."

Duanmu Huai spread his hands.

"I knocked you out and then restored the things blocking the door to their original state so that they could come in. After all, you see...it's still the same process in the end, why should we make things complicated? I don't like to waste time. In fact, isn't everything going well? You were successfully locked up, and those guys began to prepare for the ceremony happily. It's good for you, it's good for me, and it's really good for everyone..."

"You...?"

It has to be said that Xie Sita was really surprised to hear Duanmu Huai's answer. She slightly widened her eyes, sizing up Duanmu Huai's 2.8-meter-tall body, and carefully imagined him curled up in a narrow double room holding a table and running around...

"How did you get in? Don't tell me you climbed in through the window."

"Trade secrets."

Duanmu Huai certainly wouldn't tell Xie Si Ta that he had been with them for the past two days, even following them to take a shower.

"Forget it, by the way, where are we?"

Xie Si Ta didn't seem to want to dwell on such details, so she decisively changed the subject.

"Underground of the church - this is also considered basic operation, as if the cultists can't show how capable they are without digging a hole under the church."

"That church."

Hearing Duanmu Huai's answer, Xie Si Ta frowned, and quickly recalled the church building they saw in this small town during their "travel". It stands on a hillside at the edge of the city. Shesta wanted to "visit" it, but was persuaded by the locals who were in charge of the guard to go back. She was told that the church was closed due to disrepair, so Shesta went back home with regret.

"I didn't expect to come to the church in this way... Did you find anything?"

"You will be shocked. There is a super sci-fi laboratory next door that looks completely out of place in this ghost place."

That's right, the whole town looks like an ancient design, and there is no means of external communication except for electric lights and wired telephones, but under this church, there is a very modern laboratory. This reminds Duanmu Huai of an old mansion and the huge beehive facility under it.

Do villains who want to destroy the world like this combination of old and new?

As for what is being studied here, Duanmu Huai has already investigated it through the scanning shadow.

"They are trying to find a reasonable and feasible way to summon beings from outer space."

To be honest, even Duanmu Huai was confused when he first learned this information and didn't know what to say.

In fact, there is no shortage of organizations, groups, and individuals in this world who try to explore the universe and connect with life forms in outer space. However, the method of this Universe Light Organization is indeed a bit unconventional, which makes Duanmu Huai a little unsure of how to evaluate it.

Their theory is this: if the records in those magic books are correct, humans can indeed establish contact with intelligent life forms in outer space or other dimensions through some kind of ritual, and summon them, and even negotiate with them, then these rituals must have some unknown rules, and if these rules can be analyzed scientifically, perhaps the effects of the rituals can be reproduced through technological means.

And their theory is not without foundation, because those magic books and fragments were handed down a long time ago. At that time, there were no electric lights, no wires, and no integrated circuits, so people could only use this ancient method to establish contact with alien creatures. But now the world has evolved, so they should also evolve and use a more "scientific" way to summon evil gods.

"What is the purpose of kidnapping us?"

"It's an experiment. If they succeed, then this place would have been full of monsters. However, their experiments are sometimes effective and sometimes not, so they need multiple experiments to increase the probability of success. Don't worry, you are not the first batch of sacrifices, and it looks like they will not be the last batch."

Duanmu Huai comforted Xie Si Ta, but from his appearance, it seems that he was just saying it casually.

"Is that so? Then I'm relieved. By the way, you don't plan to let us out, do you?"

"The fish hasn't been hooked yet."

There is only one reason why Duanmu Huai didn't rescue the two of them immediately. He learned from the researcher's shadow that the highest leader of the Church of the Light of the Universe would appear at the beginning of the ceremony, and the other party was the target Duanmu Huai was looking for. So in order to avoid alerting the enemy, he could only chat with Xie Si Ta here.

As for Mianmu Sanori, he was still sleeping there - well, he was sleeping soundly.

"So, you want to wait for the leader to appear?"

Xie Si Ta stared at Duanmu Huai quietly.

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if the leader shows up after we are gutted by those researchers?"

"Then... I'll have to inconvenience you."

Duanmu Huai acted quite calm. There was only one thing he had to do now, which was to capture the leader or scan him. At least, he had to get information from the other party so that he could figure out what this damn cult was doing.

And who the leader was.

For this reason, Duanmu Huai didn't mind sacrificing Shesta and Mianmu Sanatori - anyway, he could revive the two by going back in time.

As for whether they were willing... well, that was not within the scope of the Inquisitor's consideration.

"Haaa..."

Shesta sighed silently.

"It seems that I can't do anything now, so when will the ceremony start?"

"Tonight."

Time passed faster than Shesta thought.

When she and Mianmu Sanatori were taken out of prison by the cloaked natives again, it was already late at night the next day. Duanmu Huai ran away as usual. In fact, Shesta was also surprised that his huge body could sneak so cleanly without any flaws.

But Shesta didn't have time to think about it. The natives rudely pushed her and Mianmu Sanatori out of the dungeon, and the latter seemed quite excited. Shesta originally thought that Mianmu Sanatori would be nervous, uneasy or afraid after waking up. But in fact, Mianmu Sanatori was excited at the moment, just like a child who was about to see the night parade carnival in the park. She even walked faster than those natives in robes, as if she couldn't wait even more than them.

When the group walked to the top of the dilapidated mountain road, Shesta saw everything placed there—on the top of the mountain, a dilapidated, ancient stone altar was clearly visible. Under this ancient altar was a huge stone slab engraved with treacherous runes. Just by looking at it, Shesta felt that those strange symbols were crawling like twisted maggots, as if they were going to squeeze into her retina along her line of sight.

If that was all, then it would be understandable, but soon Shesta understood what Duanmu Huai had said to her before—around this ancient-looking altar, there were all kinds of modern technological instruments. Not only was the entire altar illuminated by searchlights, but there were also various sensors on the stone slab, and there was also a camera next to it.

There were even two natives in robes holding up background boards to reflect light!

"This is really interesting..."

Even Shesta couldn't help but sigh when she saw this supernatural scene in front of her.

So, where is the leader?

While pretending to struggle, Shesta twisted her body and stumbled in front, while quickly looking around. Except for the believers kneeling under the altar, she could not see anyone else, and the guy standing on the altar holding a strange dagger looked more like an executioner than a leader.

What a terrible situation.

In the movies, the mastermind always appears complacently before his plan succeeds and witnesses this historic moment with his own eyes. But here, Shesta could not find a reason for the leader to appear. He could watch the execution of himself and others through remote video instead of coming to the ceremony himself.

Modern technology is so hateful.

Staring at the laptop computer next to her, Xiesta turned her head, but she still couldn't find Duanmu Huai. The area around the altar was empty, not even a sapling, but Duanmu Huai still disappeared into the air like a ghost. Even with her ability as a famous detective, she couldn't detect his existence.

At this moment, the two were taken to the altar, and then the cultist holding a dagger came forward, muttering something loudly. He raised his hands and faced the moon. I don't know if it's an illusion. The moonlight should always be silvery white on weekdays, but it has turned into a dim green at this moment.

What should I do next?

Xiesta glanced at the sleeping bird next to her. The latter just stared blankly ahead, not at the cultist in front of her, nor at the altar, nor at the moon, or she seemed to be thinking about nothing, just in a daze.

At this moment, the computer screen placed next to the altar suddenly lit up, and then a figure appeared in it. The cultist next to him also bowed his head respectfully.

"Master, the ceremony is ready."

It was a man wearing a mask and wrapped himself in a funny black robe. His voice was not even identifiable as male or female. It was unknown whether it was intentional or distorted due to the transmission through the screen. He nodded with satisfaction and turned to the side.

"Advisor, do you think there is anything else that needs to be changed in this ceremony?"

Then, a figure appeared next to the masked man.

It was a man.

He had dark brown skin, a thin body, no hair, and no beard. It was hard to tell whether the face was young or old. He wore the same black cloak as the masked man, with a slightly raised corner of his mouth, with a confident and complacent smile. When she saw his figure, Shesta felt her heart jump...

At the same time, something strange happened.

"Bang!"

A whistling whirlwind suddenly broke out, and Duanmu Huai suddenly appeared behind everyone like an angry giant bear. He raised his war hammer and smashed it down with one hammer, instantly smashing the laptop to pieces!

I find pre-ordering and pre-downloading to be pretty useless, as you have to decompress the game after pre-downloading it. However, in many cases, the time it takes to decompress the pre-downloaded game is enough to just download and install the game... I don't know if this is just my computer.