The community church, which had been abandoned for an unknown number of years on the outside, was brightly lit, clean and bright inside. At the same time, in Duncan's eyes, the brightly lit church was clearly superimposed with dilapidation that seemed "like another fact"
scene.
This gave Duncan a feeling. He felt that this small church was like a "wrong space" superimposed on reality, or a forgotten place trapped in the gap between time and space. Two completely opposite histories had existed there.
Here they meet, but the church remains at the meeting point, and the time inside it has not moved forward since then.
It was neither destroyed nor survived the fire.
So...does the nun who is left alone in this church know anything?
"No one has visited this church for a long time," the nun wearing a black priest's robe repeated softly. She raised her head with a smile, but her eyes seemed to pass through Shirley and Duncan standing in front of her.
"Where are you from? Strange faces...you are not residents here, are you?"
There was a bright and warm scene in front of her, but Shirley suddenly shrank her neck under the smiling gaze of the nun. She felt a chill for some reason, and nervously whispered to Duncan: "I...why do I feel that this place is weird?"
It... looks so dilapidated from the outside, but inside..."
Duncan did not answer, but casually patted Shirley on the shoulder. From the girl's reaction, he had already guessed that the other party could only see "one side" of the church, and most likely the side that had not been destroyed.
But now he doesn't know how to explain his conjecture to Shirley - if Agou is released at this time, with the "eyes" of that mysterious hound, he should be able to see the real situation here, right?
But before she understands the details of the nun in front of her, it's best not to let Shirley summon Agou rashly.
"We passed by here," Duncan said to the nun calmly without changing his expression, just like a normal visitor to the church, "Have you been here all along?"
"Me? I have been living in this church," the nun nodded slightly. "I have been praying here, praying to the great existence."
"But people on the block said that the nuns in the church have not been back for a long time," Duncan added, while observing the reaction of the nuns in front of him, "They said that this church has been neglected and has been abandoned for a long time.
.”
The nun listened quietly to Duncan's words without any violent reaction, as if her heart had calmed down forever.
She just showed a faint smile: "Oh, really, but I have always been here... Maybe they forgot the day of prayer and thought the church was not open."
Duncan was noncommittal, but he had confirmed that there was a problem not only with this church, but also with the entire Sixth Street outside the church.
This abandoned church is deep in the neighborhood. From the outside, it seems that it has been abandoned for more than ten years! And for ordinary people in this world, churches are more than just a place that provides spiritual comfort—
—This is a functional facility used to maintain regional security and resist evil forces after dark. It is also a healing place for many civilians who suffer from mental problems or are troubled by nightmares... Such an important facility has been neglected for eleven years.
, the residents of the Sixth Block did not think anything was wrong, but simply said in an understatement that "the nun has not been here recently"?
Imagine that if a community has been without water and electricity for eleven years, the local residents do not feel anything is wrong at all, and when asked by outsiders, they just simply say, "The water and electricity department has not been working recently." What a strange situation it is!
As for the nuns in the church... Duncan is still not sure what kind of humanoid ashes that appear in his eyes from time to time. However, through preliminary conversations, he can feel that the other party does not seem to be hostile.
Not only was there no hostility, her thinking seemed to be in a very strange state. She could not be said to be irrational, but she was definitely not sane either.
Duncan asked a few circumstantial questions, and the nun in the church answered them calmly, and her calm answers themselves... were a manifestation of delirium.
Because under normal circumstances, if a stranger suddenly ran into the church and grabbed the nun on duty and asked him a lot of unrelated things, the nun should have felt baffled.
She has sense - but not much.
"Do you want to pray? Or do you need help calming the nerves and exorcising evil spirits?"
The nun asked with a smile and a soft voice.
"Thank you, but no need," Duncan shook his head, then looked around and asked casually, "By the way, where are the guardians of this church?"
Every church should have guards stationed there. Even the smallest community church in the slums has enough guards to deal with ordinary threats, and this church should be no exception.
"The guards...the guards are resting in the church. They will not show up until nightfall," the nun's smiling expression remained unchanged. "Do you have anything to do with the guards?"
Duncan did not answer, but slowly glanced at the benches beside the nuns.
In his field of vision, the fire burned everything, and the phantoms of collapsed and stacked ashes and ruins were superimposed in the brightly lit church like overlapping films. And in the other dimension of the superposition, there were some... burnt ones.
body.
"Are the guards resting there?" Duncan raised his hand and pointed not far away, but in Shirley's eyes, there were only two rows of empty benches there.
The nun was stunned for a moment and looked in the direction of Duncan's finger. After a moment, she said softly: "Shh... they are sleeping."
Duncan hummed and asked casually: "Can we look around?"
"Of course, the church is open for viewing," the nun nodded lightly, "Then you two, please help yourself. I will continue to pray - if you need help, you can call me at any time."
After saying this, this strange nun actually turned around and walked towards the statue of the goddess not far away, completely leaving Duncan and Shirley aside.
It wasn't until the nun left that Shirley, who had been nervous for a long time, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, she no longer cared about being afraid of Duncan, because the strange atmosphere everywhere in the church had already made the hidden dog agitated.
A strange sense of tension was being transmitted directly into her mind through spiritual contact, causing her to subconsciously move closer to Duncan: "What...what's going on in this place...why does this nun make people feel creepy, even though she looks normal?"
, but it seems that nothing is normal..."
"There seem to be two churches here," Duncan spoke softly, explaining simply and straightforwardly, "One has been burned, and the other is still intact. They are superimposed in this time and space at the same time, and the nuns in the church...are neither dead nor alive.
.”
Shirley was stunned for a moment. After half a minute, she whispered in confusion and shock: "What do you mean?"
Duncan glanced at her: "Let's read some books later - if it doesn't work, I can teach you."
Then, without waiting for Shirley's answer, he walked deeper into the church.
As the nun said, the church is open to visitors, so of course he should "visit" as he pleases.
Shirley was startled behind, and quickly followed Duncan's footsteps. They passed through the neatly arranged benches, and passed by the icon and prayer platform at the end of the benches.
The quiet nun was already kneeling in front of the icon of the Storm Goddess, pressing her hands lightly on her chest, praying to God sincerely, as if she had completely forgotten about the visitor, as if she had been kneeling here for the past eleven years, maintaining
Pray unceasingly.
Duncan blinked, and the nun turned into a wriggling humanoid ashes, piled up next to the charred and ruined prayer platform. Dots of firelight fell from the dome, like falling leaves.
He suddenly felt something in his heart and looked up at the statue of the Storm Goddess above.
The holy statue wearing a long skirt stood quietly on the high platform, with a crack suddenly appearing on the head of the holy statue!
In this brief moment, Duncan saw the truth superimposed on the core of the double church. He clearly saw that a dim crack opened on the head of the goddess statue, and there was a dim and chaotic light and shadow in the crack, as if
A terrifying horizontal pupil, the depth of which reflects a scene that should never belong to the real world, and the aura of "sacredness" that should have lingered on the statue of the goddess has long since disappeared without a trace. This strange figure
On the terrifying stone sculpture, there is only coldness and nothingness!
And in the next moment, that horrific scene disappeared without a trace. The icon of Gemona was still standing quietly on the high platform, majestically overlooking the surroundings, exuding a majesty that was reassuring and awe-inspiring.
The nun who was kneeling to pray in front of the statue of the goddess suddenly opened her eyes. She turned her head slightly and looked at Duncan calmly.