One hundred and twenty-three. The only gathering place
Collapsed stones buried half of the church. Colorful fragments were scattered around the faded red pews. The broken statues had pitiful faces. Glimmer light fell from the damaged walls and dust drifted.
Lu Li and Anna entered the church through the collapsed door. After bypassing the ruins and piles of stones, the intact stone door leading to the basement appeared in front of them.
"There's a ghost in there," Anna said.
Lu Li raised his hand and patted the stone door.
"Who?" After a moment, a gentle and peaceful voice sounded from behind the door.
"Tesla asked me to come to the church," Lu Li said.
Soon, a beautiful woman with an illusory figure walked through the stone door and appeared in front of them.
"You must be Lu Li and... Anna." The woman said softly, her gentle eyes falling on Anna. "Michael often mentioned you to me. Are you hurt?"
"Small problem." Lu Li said, telling Adangfuya Tesla's letter and hidden information: "He is hiding your information, why?"
"Because of the refuge." Adang Fuya lowered her eyes with a sad expression.
"Do you know the situation at the evacuation site?"
Adangfuya nodded and said: "Only part of it. Michael lost contact before he had time to know more. The servant told me that the refuge point had been blocked and sent me here according to Michael's previous arrangement."
On the eve of the opening of the shelter, Tesla was keenly aware of the true meaning of the shelter - if it was really just for people to hide, there would be no need to keep the location of a shelter a hundred meters underground, as huge as a manor, with several meters of deep-sea stone walls.
, and the shelter is constantly expanding.
The Demon Slayer Association, which came up with the Sanctuary Plan, has other arrangements here.
For example, the meaning of the "Tinder" plan itself.
Tesla entered the shelter about two weeks ago, around the time he lost contact.
The shelter sent a letter to the effect of inviting Tesla to choose his room, but he could only go there secretly.
As Tesla's wife, Adangfuya has the qualifications to settle in the refuge, even if she is a ghost. So the actions of the refuge made him feel strange.
So Tesla told his wife and old servants at home that if something happened to him after entering the shelter, take Adang Fuya to Lu Li and he would protect you.
But early the next morning, when he was getting on the carriage and preparing to set off, Tesla seemed to have a vague foretelling of something, and instead took Adangfuya to the church basement in Shadow Town.
He said that if he couldn't come back, he would find a way for Lu Li to pick you up there.
Tesla left, and as he feared the worst, the shelter was officially locked down.
Realizing that something had happened, the old servant prepared a carriage overnight and sent his wife to the church. It was not until two weeks later that Lu Li arrived here after receiving Tesla's letter.
Everything makes sense.
Tesla had already planned to hand over his wife to Lu Li, so he asked Adangfuya to go to the edge of the Shadow Swamp and hide in the church basement.
Tesla knew about the relationship between Swamp Mother and Lu Li, and also knew that Lu Li had stayed in the basement.
"Where is the servant who sent you here?" Anna suddenly asked.
Adang Fuya lowered her head and her breath became unstable: "We encountered a group of wandering ghouls at night... they... ate..."
Adangfuya did not lie. Souls that have preyed on humans will be infiltrated by evil, and her soul is very weak and very clean.
This shows that Adangfuya can be trusted.
"Is Michael back?"
After patiently answering what Lu Li wanted to know and his questions, Adamfuya couldn't bear it anymore and asked.
"No." Lu Li shook his head. Then he told Adangfuya, who was feeling disappointed, about what happened outside.
She hid here for two weeks and knew nothing about what was going on in the outside world.
"Belfast..."
Upon hearing the news of the destruction of the city, Adangfuya was stunned.
Taking advantage of this break, Lu Li thought about the "fire" plan for the shelter.
As Tesla said, the ancient Demon Slayer Association, which has the longest history and has always fought against weirdness, cannot possibly pay such a high price just to save a group of people.
The most likely purpose that Lu Li could think of was that the refuge was a Noah's Ark.
The flood devoured the earth, and only those who boarded Noah's Ark survived. After the flood receded, they boarded the ark and started a new life in a messy new world.
What Lu Li couldn't tell was whether the Demon Slayer Association knew that the "flood" would eventually recede, or whether they were also gambling on the fate of mankind.
If the weirdness never goes away, the shelter will eventually be reopened due to lack of resources, which will be meaningless. At most, the "Tinder" plan will only allow the residents of the shelter to live in relative comfort and safety for a period of time.
If it's the former, did the Demon Slayer Association discover anything?
Lu Li knew of more than one shelter, one of which was on the Allen Peninsula.
But like other exorcists not associated with the Vault Project, he had no idea where the Vault was located.
"Can I leave with you?"
Adangfuya asked, she was not worried about her husband's safety, but worried about whether they could see each other again in the future: "There is nothing here except the monsters who want to come over from the other side of the passage at night."
"I'm afraid not. We are going to King Allen's City in the Main Familiar Continent and cannot take you with us. But we will take you with us when we come back."
In case anything happened to Adang Fuya before returning, Lu Li added: "The Mother of the Swamp knows us. If her servants appear and mention me, she will know."
Adangfuya nodded gently. This ghost was as gentle and peaceful as water. This may be why she stayed with Tesla as a ghost for a long time and did not become a wraith or evil spirit.
After a brief meeting, Lu Li and Anna left the ruins of the town.
Before leaving, Anna left a book for Adang Fuya to kill time, which also represented her acceptance - because of Lu Li.
The more weird things there are on the top of the cliff, the easier it is for Lu Li to hide and the safer he is.
Arriving over the swamp road, sparse convoys of people were walking on this straight road.
They invariably stick to the left side of the road and are very taboo about the Northern Shadow Swamp on the other side. Although the Southern Shadow Swamp also has rumors of monsters that make them uneasy.
The jungles had long since died, but I don't know when they began to grow strangely - towards the Swamp Road and towards the South Shadow Swamp.
The terrifying withered trees were like countless pairs of withered claws, slender and dense, almost covering the gloomy sky, and almost half of the swamp road was shrouded in this terrifying strange shadow.
If the approaching danger of the Arran Peninsula had not been clearer than this scene, no one would have dared to set foot on the moor road.
From the depths of this swamp, Anna felt the same obscure and terrifying aura as Agate Lake. Something had awakened and was invading the territory of the Swamp Mother.
At times like this, it's not just humans who can't protect themselves.
