Lorice seems to believe this is a base camp for a demigod lich.
So she desperately wants to escape from here.
However, Shawn does not agree; he feels that Lorice's judgment might not be entirely correct, and there might be some truth to what the Butcher says.
Lorice's sense of urgency is increasingly evident as she said solemnly, "We must escape."
"As soon as possible!"
Fear.
Upon confirming the presence of a demigod lich, Lorice clearly felt fear.
Shawn softly asked, "How do we escape?"
"Where to escape?"
After pondering for a while, Lorice said solemnly, "First, escape the high walls. As long as we get out, I can arrange the ritual to summon the Celestial Divine Envoy of my master."
"Then open a teleportation gate on a plane, and find a way back to the normal world."
The identity of the opponent seems complicated.
In Lorice's eyes, this is not the mortal world but rather a layer of the Netherworld.
Shawn asked suspiciously, "Why not set up the ritual here?"
Beyond the high walls is extremely dangerous.
Shawn still believes the Butcher on this point.
Otherwise, there would be no need to build such a magnificent high wall, just to imprison these otherworld spirits, it wouldn't require constructing such a spectacle.
Lorice shot Shawn a slightly odd look but it quickly vanished, she explained, "A space anchor has been set here."
"Any teleportation spell is ineffective, and it's very easy to alert them."
Shawn's previous words seemed to reveal something, but Lorice concealed it very well.
Lorice knows many things that Shawn does not know.
She was revived earlier than Shawn, and her strength might be greater than his.
After thinking for a moment, Shawn asked, "Do you have a plan?"
Now Shawn faces a choice, to trust the Butcher or to believe Lorice.
Actually, he doesn't trust either fully.
He wants to see what lies beyond the high walls.
In Shawn's perspective, whether it is the Butcher, Ms. Hecate, or the Corpse Demon Wizard he met that day, none appeared other than monstrous; comparatively, Lorice seems somewhat normal, though surrounded by a circle of black aura.
No one can be fully trusted.
But Shawn wants to know the truth.
He must take a gamble.
If what Lorice says is true, then his destiny might have been clearly arranged.
He doesn't believe anyone would be so good without a reason.
Especially in this insane world.
This has already become a very terrifying matter.
By comparison, Lorice, who wants to escape, longing to return to the normal world, seems the most genuine.
"It isn't hard," Lorice appears confident, slowly saying, "I know a place with a secret passage, a way to escape."
"But I need a helper."
Secret passage?
Shawn quietly placed his hand on the pocket, feeling the cold gun barrel, his expression calmed a lot, he asked in a low voice, "When to act?"
Lorice urgently said, "Tomorrow, at dawn."
"We all need to cleanse the soul worms, it's the best opportunity."
Outside the room.
Shawn saw the busy Butcher, still seriously chopping meat, those massive pillars of flesh and blood, seemingly never finished.
During the daytime today, both the Butcher and Ms. Hecate were occupied elsewhere, which is quite intriguing.
Yet, Shawn still needs to make a choice.
Because Lorice is the only somewhat normal person he has seen until now.
If Lorice can really escape, it means everything here is a deception, all lies, and Shawn staying here is more dangerous.
"Dinner." The Butcher put aside his work.
Tonight's dinner is beef stew with potatoes, paired with dry bread, plus a side of vegetable salad, but the Butcher remains consistently vegetarian.
Night fell.
Shawn lay in bed, pondering for a very long time, only slowly falling asleep when the night was deep and silent.
The next morning, Shawn arrived at the agreed location.
There were indeed very few living people here, and the dead were very quiet. The magnificent buildings looked like tombs for the dead from a distance.
Lorice appeared somewhat anxious and said in a low voice, "Follow me."
"We must escape before dawn."
Shawn turned his head to glance in the direction of the monastery, moved with some confusion, paused for a moment, and then followed the figure of Lorice.
The high wall was just ahead.
After becoming a Transcendent, Shawn had realized that his physical fitness was gradually improving, but he was unsure if he would eventually turn into a monster like the Butcher.
This was why he needed to take a gamble.
When he approached the high wall, this majestic and magnificent wonder appeared before his eyes. The towering walls seemed like unending mountains, making him feel insignificant in front of this spectacle. From a distance, Shawn saw some strange human-like silhouettes below the high wall, not sure if they were living beings because they had been standing still for a long time.
Lorice glanced at them and whispered, "Undead Puppets."
"Creations of those Undead Wizards, they have been using the corpses of mortals to create these terrifying flesh golems."
"Have you been to the morgue?"
"It's full of mummies and Skeleton Guards, all crafted from mortal remains!"
Shawn's eyes narrowed slightly. Not only had he been to the morgue, but he had also almost been turned into a mummy.
Lorice was right about one thing; this place was indeed full of dead and monstrous beings.
"Be careful," Lorice whispered, "Don't alert them. They're difficult to deal with."
As they got closer, Shawn could also see the flesh puppets clearly. They were about three and a half meters tall. From a distance, he could smell the scent of preservatives, just like in the morgue. Their faces were terrifying and grotesque, somewhat resembling abominations but not as disgusting. The stitched skin was well-covered, seemingly pieced together from different corpse parts, some showing signs of decay, exuding a dangerous aura. Most of them were in a dormant state, but some flesh puppets were patrolling.
Everything he saw here further strengthened Shawn's determination to take a gamble.
Clearly, there were no living people here, but why were there so many corpses in the morgue and those mummies? Shawn almost became a mummy himself.
"Let's go," Lorice urged.
After figuring out a way to bypass the flesh puppets, Shawn finally understood why Lorice was so anxious to act now.
Because he saw a damaged area, as if an extremely brutal battle had erupted here before.
The earth was pitted, with craters everywhere from heavy blows.
Below the high wall, tunnels appeared one after another, with a diameter of about five meters. Although they couldn't shake the solid wall, the ground had been drilled full of holes. These foul-smelling slimy tunnels made Shawn think of the columns of flesh and blood cut by the Butcher.
Shawn placed his hand on his gun's handle, eyes fixed on Lorice ahead.
He no longer trusted anyone now.
Lorice took out a slightly glowing light stone for illumination. She turned to Shawn and said, "We have at most five minutes to escape."
"There are still plenty of monsters inside the tunnel."
"Let's solve them together."
Shawn nodded silently.
Lorice took out a bag containing a few stone-like objects. She said seriously, "Throw them out at critical times; they will explode."
"Go."
In the pitch-black tunnel, Lorice led the way, moving swiftly, with Shawn following closely behind. He smelled a nauseating stench, and the tunnel was covered in slimy substance, black in color, spreading like moss.
The tunnel was about a hundred meters long. Ahead, sounds of movement from Lorice could be heard, along with some eerie noises, as if something was writhing on the ground.
Shawn saw the monsters.
They were writhing masses of flesh and slime, resembling meat jello, dark red in color like blood stains. There were quite a few of them, surging madly upon hearing the sound, nearly blocking the path ahead.
Boom!
Firelight appeared in front of Lorice, followed by the sound of an explosion.
"Go. Rush out!"
Lorice grabbed Shawn, pulling him into another tunnel before the monsters surrounded him. The tunnels were crisscrossed, seemingly tunneled through by some eerie creature.
Shawn didn't know how long they had run.
The two were almost surrounded by those flesh jellies multiple times. It was Lorice's timely actions that forcibly carved out a path for escape.
"Even without me, she would still have a chance to escape."
Shawn had already used up three of his explosive stones. These things were like grenades, powerful, with flames rising after the explosion.
Finally.
The two escaped the underground tunnel in a rather disheveled state. The only drawback of those blood-stained gels was their slow movement, making it hard to catch up if they weren't surrounded. At this moment, they were both covered in filthy blood, looking as if they had crawled out from a pile of corpses.
......