Chapter 39.1

P.S. Here’s an extra release to thank dear Mello xoxo 🤗

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At this time, a full moon hung high over the small town. However, the cold, pale moonlight had no way of penetrating the interior of the church. Xiao Tangqiu turned on his flashlight and found that the murals inside the church had also changed.

Originally, the murals were all portraits of Lili Marlene. They still depicted Lily Marlene but the contents of the murals had changed. In the first mural, Lily Marlene seemed to be floating in a river while many people with blurred-out faces stood along the riverbank. In the second one, Lily Marlene was placed in a huge fire with more than half her body engulfed in flames. The group of people with blurred-out faces were also gathered around her.

“What is this?” Tang Mianmian was very surprised. These two murals were different from all the paintings they had seen before. They seemed to contain stories… However, it was impossible for them to understand the whole picture.

Xiao Tangqiu continued to shine his flashlight on the huge statue in the center of the church. Sure enough, the statue had also changed. Originally, it was a sculpture of “Madonna and Child,” but now it had become the image of Lily Marlene being tied to a cross and burned alive.

The huge statue of Lily Marlene being submerged in huge flames was very shocking. The statue itself was lifelike and the facial features were violently contorted in pain, just like a real person would.

The others were also startled by the huge statue. Tang Mianmian murmured incredulously, “Never mind the murals, but how did the statue change in such a short time? It doesn’t make any sense… Forget it, why am I even talking about logic in this world…”

“Burned alive…” The aloof woman frowned slightly. “Was Lily Marlene a witch?”

The other woman also nodded. “It makes sense. I remember a long time ago, Europe dealt with witches this way. At the time, what was it called… what was it…”

“The era of witch hunts.” Xiao Tangqiu explained what these two murals meant, “At the time, people would force those they suspected to be witches to be tested. One method was waterboarding, that is, throwing a woman into the river. If she sank and drowned, it would prove that she wasn’t a witch and was innocent, but if the woman floated up, it would prove that she had used magic and was a witch.”

Tang Mianmian burst out, “Fuck! Isn’t that too cruel? What’s the use of sinking and drowning to prove that she isn’t a witch since she’ll end up dead?! If she floats up and proves that she is a witch, then she will be dragged to be killed anyways. No matter what she does, there’s only a death at the end!”

Xiao Tangqiu nodded. “Even if that was cruel, there was another kind of punishment, which was to burn the woman at the stake. If she burns to death, it proves that she’s not a witch, but if she survives, then that proves that she is one…”

Tang Mianmian continued cuss on end. “Then whatever she does, it’s a death sentence anyway! If she’s burned to death, she’s innocent, if she’s not, they’ll continue to torture her… In that case, anyone could just accuse their enemy of being a witch. That way, they can deal with all their enemies!”

Xiao Tangqiu looked at the murals and then at the huge statue in the center. “Lily Marlene must have been tortured before. She was suspected to be a witch, so she was first subjected to waterboarding, but she didn’t die. She floated to the surface and was then subjected to fire…”

Tang Mianmian suddenly found something wrong with the whole story. “The housekeeper of Lippinobert clearly said that many years ago there was a demon causing trouble in this small town. She said something about a fire that burned for three days and three nights. Then, Lily Marlene stepped forward and sacrificed her own life. After her death, a clear spring gushed out of her body and finally put out the fire… Damn it! Even an NPC can lie?”

Duan Hongzhen listened with relish. When he heard this, he played with his scalpel, smiling as he said, “Who told you that NPCs won’t deceive players?”

Tang Mianmian was dumbfounded, but Xiao Tangqiu seemed to have vaguely grasped some of the so-called rules. He frowned and went on to say, “It seems that NPCs can give information to mislead us, but I don’t think the housekeeper lied to us completely. There should be some clues in her words. The fire that burned for three days and three nights may not really be a big fire. During the witch hunt era, the reason why witches were blindly hunted and killed was because people at the time were ignorant and believed that natural disasters and diseases were caused by witches. Once there was any natural disaster or plague in a small town, they would madly hunt these so-called witches.”

“We can assume that there was a plague many years ago in Daemon Town. Many people died and the townspeople were in a panic. In order to end the plague, they captured Lily Marlene, a witch, and tortured her…”

Lu Si’er was slow to respond. “So this Lily Marlene is a witch?”

Xiao Tangqiu shook his head. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“If she’s not a witch, but just an ordinary woman, then isn’t she so pitiful…” Tang Mianmian blinked sadly. “That’s not right! If Lily Marlene was a pitiful woman, who was suspected to be a witch and burned to death by fire, then she should have been dead for a long time, right? How could she be the wife of Lippinobert?”

“Yes, the witch hunts took place roughly during the Renaissance period, at least a few hundred years ago.” Xiao Tangqiu frowned, “So Lily Marlene should have been dead for hundreds of years.” Lippinobert and Maria’s marriage happened in the early 20th century so there was too much of a time gap.

Tang Mianmian let his imagination run wild. “Could Lippinobert be a vampire? Maybe he’s lived for hundreds of years? The love between a vampire and witch! Wow, how romantic!”

Xiao Tangqiu was about to say something when he noticed that the statue of Lily Marlene had suddenly opened its eyes. He was startled and exclaimed at once, “Its eyes!”

Everyone immediately discovered Lily Marlene’s line of sight. Its head had originally been hanging down with its eyes closed as it was tied to the cross, but the statue had actually opened its eyes while they weren’t paying attention. It was looking straight at them, its eyes dark and sinister.

Xiao Tangqiu’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. “I have a bad feeling…”

Tang Mianmian yelled, “Fuck! Don’t you dare raise another Flag!”

However, it was too late. Right when the statue opened its eyes, the church doors suddenly closed. The heavy wooden door made a shrill creak, and slammed shut.

In the next moment, the statue’s eyes shed a teardrop, which pattered onto the church floor. It was a huge teardrop.

Soon, more and more tears poured out from its empty eyes, just like a faucet… No, it was more like a dam that had opened its gates, and the flood spread instantly.

Within a few seconds, the water in the church had already submerged their ankles. Xiao Tangqiu immediately understood. “It wants to drown us to death!”

Shen Yuan issued a command and Duan Hongzhen immediately turned around and pushed the door while the other two women pushed the windows. However, something strange happened. The big wooden door became as heavy as a thousand pounds and couldn’t be opened no matter what he did. The windows were obviously broken but were firmly fixed in place.

They couldn’t escape!

They all felt anxious at once, but were powerless to do anything else. Tang Mianmian immediately joined in pushing the door. But no matter how hard he pushed, even using his entire body weight to violently impact against it, the big wooden door wouldn’t budge.

Duan Hongzhen even used his flying scalpel. However, his sharp tool, that could cut through gold as if it were mud, was useless against the big wooden door. On the other side, the two women took out their weapons as well. The aloof woman took out a Tang sword, while the other took out an oddly shaped umbrella. The two women hit the window glass with their weapons at the same time. Even though their strength was obviously substantial and their weapons didn’t look like just a normal weapon, it was impossible to break the glass windows.

At this time, the water in the church hadn’t yet reached their calves but it seemed to be rising faster and faster. It wouldn’t be long before the whole church was submerged.

Lu Si’er and the little boy were standing on the church bench and couldn’t do anything to help. Faced with such a horrible situation, they could only hold each other, shivering and too afraid to even cry.

Xiao Tangqiu waded through the water trying to find if there was any other way out of the church. The church itself wasn’t big. He searched the entire place but found nothing.

In the blink of an eye, the water reached Xiao Tangqiu’s waist. It became increasingly difficult for him to move and he couldn’t help feeling more and more anxious.

But more than the fear, what he felt was guilt and remorse. He was the one who had suggested for them to go to the church. If they weren’t able to make it outside, it would be all his fault…