Vanna stood silently in front of the staircase leading to the underground sanctuary, looking at the black door that had just been restored before everyone's eyes.

Three hours earlier, she had led the group to the deserted church, where they saw the warm and bright lights, the main hall as usual, the nuns praying quietly, and the clean pulpit.

Two hours earlier, she had gotten rid of the nun who had clearly been wrong, and led the Guardians to the underground sanctuary, where she opened the door to see the truth inside—the darkness of the subterranean space, which seemed to be the sword-wielding nun who had just been killed in battle, the traces of battle all over the basement, and the intruders who had disappeared without a trace.

Two minutes earlier, she had completed a detailed investigation of the Underground Chapel and, together with her men, had taken the nun's body out of the Underground Chapel to be sent to the Central Cathedral for an autopsy and burial.

Then, the body of the nun who had been taken outside the sanctuary turned into ashes scattered in the wind, and the basement door, which had been violently broken two hours earlier, returned to its original state in the blink of an eye, and now stood silently at the end of the staircase, as if mocking the explorers standing on the staircase.

"Inquisitor ......" a short-bearded Guardian warrior approached Vanna's side, his voice low, "There seems to be some kind of space-time closed-loop ...... here"

Vana nodded lightly and said nothing.

What came to her mind was the terrifying dream of last night, and "Captain Duncan" that invaded and polluted her dream.

Captain Ghost's words echoed in her mind in her dream: "...... If you're really concerned about the city-state, why not go to the Sixth Block and check out the chapel......

"I'm looking forward to what you'll find there......"

That's what "Captain Duncan" wanted to see? A closed space, a chapel polluted and isolated by some unknown force, a nun who fought and died fighting a mysterious intruder? Why did he allow himself to see this? What does everything mean here?

Vana frowned tightly, as she set out this morning, her mind was full of thoughts about the plot of the Lost Country and the ghost captain, and whether the other party was directing her to the chapel to corrupt and attack her own Inquisitor in some way, but now, she suddenly had doubts about her own judgment in the first place.

Could it be ...... Is that Captain Ghost really just trying to give himself a clue? Like an enthusiastic passerby...... Are you reporting heresy in the city-state to yourself?

The thought crossed Vanna's mind—she had said the same thing to Bishop Valentine in a joking tone not so long ago, but now she couldn't help but revisit the subspace joke in her mind.

In the next second, the young inquisitor shuddered, and his expression flew.

I was actually associating that ghost captain in the direction of "harmless", this must be the other party's mental pollution at work! You can't go on thinking about it......

"Inquisitor?" The voice of his subordinate came from the side again, waking Vana from her distraction, and the short-bearded guardian had a worried expression on her face, "Are you...... Did you hear or see something? ”

“…… No, I'm sane. Vanna shook her head, and said to the seemingly reliable subordinate that she knew that this subordinate had been in contact with Bishop Valentine before leaving, and that he was most likely tasked with "supervising" her own commander, and she had no complaints about this—after all, she had been polluted by Captain Duncan, and it was normal to go out in shackles at this time.

"The plane has reset here, shall we go down and take a look at it?" The subordinate asked again.

Vanna groaned slightly, turned her head and asked, "What is the 'nun' doing in the main hall?" ”

"She's still praying," said one of the guards who had just returned from the main hall, "and it seems like any of our activities outside of the main hall won't attract her attention." ”

"Hmm," Vana nodded slightly, her gaze falling on the door at the end of the stairs before biting her lip for a long time, "go down again." ”

She led the guards to the entrance of the underground sanctuary again, pushed the door, and felt the familiar resistance again—the body of the nun was pressed against it on the other side of the door.

Last time, she had her subordinates pry open the door shaft with a crowbar, opening the passage without trying to break the runes of the door.

This time, she pressed her hand against the door, took a light breath, and then suddenly clenched her hand into a fist and knocked on the door very quickly.

Within a hundredth of a second, the entire door shook in an imperceptible way to human senses, and then the sturdy door suddenly shattered into an endless cloud of dust, and sawdust and metal dust fell in a flutter, and were repelled and blown open by the aura around Vanna.

The nun's body collapsed behind the door, undamaged beyond the original injuries on her body.

It was only then that the on-site guards heard an extremely low humming sound, which seemed to penetrate into the human brain and then dissipated in the blink of an eye.

The warriors cast awe-inspiring glances at the young Inquisitor, and Fanna, accustomed to them, slung her sword on her back, removed the lantern from her waist in her left hand, and strode forward as the gate shattered.

The glow of the lantern once again illuminated the dark underground space, and the scene that came into view was exactly the same as the one I saw when I first entered, and as expected, the time and space here had returned to square one.

After another meticulous investigation, Vana and the warriors returned to the dead nun.

Not long ago, Vanna had tried to take the nun's body out of the underground sanctuary, but now she realized that the body had become part of a "circular lockdown" like the mutant planetime here, and that it would no longer be able to leave the place.

Quietly staring at the nun's bloodstained face, Vana pondered for a long time before she suddenly whispered, "...... Are you still fighting in this cyclical plane......"

There was a brief silence in the Underground Sanctuary, until the voice of one of the Guardians suddenly broke the silence: "Inquisitor, what do you think...... What the hell is she fighting against? ”

Vanna thought quietly, and after a long time, she raised her head thoughtfully and analyzed the information she had one by one:

"The Underground Sanctuary is a great environment for sealing, and it's a cage when the doors are closed;

"The whereabouts of the Church's Guardian Force are unknown, but it is clear that they were not involved in the fighting in the Underground Sanctuary;

"The nun locked herself here, and came in with a weapon, which shows that she had foreseen a fight before she entered here;

"There are no traces of intruders here, and considering that the time and space here are closed structures, the intruders should also be circulating here, no matter how fast the intruders run, the moment we open the door, it is impossible for TA to have time to erase all the clues......"

The guards next to them listened to the chief's analysis, and one of them suddenly reacted: "There is only one situation in which the clergy will take the initiative to seal themselves off and prepare for the 'final battle' like this......

"Yes, there is only one scenario," Vana whispered, slowly standing up, "when the cleric finds that a subspace door is about to open in his soul. ”

"Subspace Invasion!" One of the guards exclaimed in a low voice, "She's fighting ...... here Is it your own shadow?! But...... But how is this possible, it's a church, and it's ......"

"And no one has ever received an alert from this church," Vanna said in a deep voice without waiting for her subordinates to finish, of course she knew how much was wrong here, "The clergy who are completely polluted by the subspace will become carriers and open the door to the subspace in their souls, but usually there is a process, especially in an environment like the church, even if the matter is urgent, the guards here should have the opportunity to raise the alarm outside, but now it seems that the contamination of this nun is progressing very quickly... … Even so fast that she only had time to grab a long sword and lock herself here......"

Speaking of this, she paused, and then said thoughtfully, "...... It is also possible that the alarm went out, but due to interference from the subspace, the alarm did not reach outside the church. ”

“…… But this is not a ship sailing on the sea," the Guardian warrior next to him muttered in disbelief, "This is land, and the church is under extensive protection, how can the power of subspace corrupt a priest so quickly and cut off the entire region's external communication?" ”

"You're right, it's not right, there's nothing wrong here, but what's even more wrong is ......" Vanna whispered, looking around the underground sanctuary, the light of the lantern illuminating the dark walls and pillars, and the light and shadow seemed to hide a myriad of sinister secrets, "If the subspace has polluted this place, where has it gone now?" ”

(End of chapter)