The four of them were very close to each other, and Xing Ye and Lu Mingze both heard the conversation between the two.
Xing Ye's face was expressionless, revealing nothing of his thoughts. Lu Mingze, however, recalled the incident at the airport. Like Cao Qian and Guan Ling, they had both encountered something slightly odd involving Xing Ye.
"Do you... remember something?" Lu Mingze asked hesitantly.
Xing Ye said, "Time is running out, let's go into the church first."
After saying that, a pen appeared out of thin air in his hand. This seemed to be his initial skill.
Guan Ling and Cao Qian could only see Xing Ye waving a pen in the air, not knowing what he was drawing. Lu Mingze, bound to Xing Ye, saw countless small squares appear in the void, and Xing Ye was lightly drawing something within them with his pen.
After more than ten seconds, Lu Mingze realized that Xing Ye was drawing a QR code.
The pen in his hand was very thick. With just one click, a square would be filled in. He drew the QR code very quickly. After more than 20 seconds, a QR code appeared in front of Lu Mingze.
Xing Ye put away the pen and tapped the QR code on the church door. After a while, the church door slowly opened. There was no one inside; the door opened by itself.
Seeing Lu Mingze's puzzled expression, Xing Ye explained, "My QR code is called 'You are already a mature xx.' It's a QR code that grants autonomous consciousness to inanimate objects. I ask that the church door open naturally and safely for us, without destroying the original structure."
"What a magical QR code." Lu Mingze said.
"My initial skill allows me to use more magical QR codes," Xing Ye looked at Lu Mingze intently. "As long as your favorability towards me exceeds 80, a QR code will appear on every page of the book. If your favorability reaches 100, it will also activate my special ability."
Lu Mingze blinked and walked into the church without saying anything. He didn't know how to respond to Xing Ye.
Cao Qian and Guan Ling didn't dare to say anything and silently followed Lu Mingze into the church.
They took two oil lamps when they came out of the City Lord's Mansion. The church was very dark. Cao Qian, as usual, drilled two sticks together to make fire and lit the oil lamps. In the dim light, everyone saw that on the inside of the automatically closed door, there were countless symbols painted on it that they could not understand.
Not only the gate, but also the walls, windows, and the ground are all covered with these symbols, forming a seamless whole, like some kind of barrier or formation.
"If we destroy the door or the wall, these patterns will become incomplete," Cao Qian said as she looked at them. "No one knows what will happen then."
"Anyway, it's not a good thing," Guan Ling agreed. "Although I don't have much faith, I feel that these patterns are full of holiness."
Guan Ling had this feeling, not to mention Lu Mingze. He walked forward along the pattern and saw a sword stuck in the ground in the center of the church. There was a QR code drawn on the ground, and the sword was in the middle of the QR code.
The hilt of the sword was held by a man, but now this man had become a skeleton, wearing a gorgeous garment and a crown on his skull.
"It should be someone like a bishop or a priest," Xing Ye said. "When disaster strikes, they take the holy sword, seal the church, and set up a barrier to protect the town."
"This QR code..." Lu Mingze pointed at the QR code on the ground and said, "Isn't it too abrupt?"
"The special abilities in the game world are all displayed in the form of QR codes. This is probably the magic that the statue tells you," Xing Ye said. "You can scan the QR code with your bracelet and put it away."
Lu Mingze had an inexplicable sense of trust in Xing Ye. He obediently scanned it with his bracelet, and a QR code appeared on the bracelet. When he absorbed the QR code, the pattern on the ground changed and became a symbol integrated with the wall.
"After the QR code is absorbed, it will return to its original form." Xing Ye explained, "We shouldn't leave the church right away. There must be clues about the day of disaster here. Let's try to find them."
"You seem to know a lot of things." Cao Qian looked at the chairman of her company bravely and said.
She thought the company boss wouldn't remember a simple probationary employee like her. Even if she returned to the real world, Xing Ye wouldn't bother her as a small employee. Furthermore, with her pink hair now, she looked very different from her real-world appearance. The boss wouldn't remember her.
Lu Mingze also said: "The reward for my game this time is memory. We all feel like we've lost a memory, but it doesn't seem like that to you. Do you remember anything?"
Xing Ye placed his finger on Lu Mingze's lips and whispered, "Don't ask, and I can't tell you."
Lu Mingze stared at Xing Ye blankly, feeling the warmth of his fingers and looking into Xing Ye's eyes.
Those eyes seemed to be filled with unspeakable stories. Under the gaze of those eyes, Lu Mingze's heartbeat gradually accelerated.
If they really experienced such a magical world, everyone lost their memory, and only Xing Ye remembered everything. He looked at his former teammates from afar, bearing all the memories alone. Wouldn't he be lonely?
"you..."
Just as Lu Mingze opened his mouth to say something, Xing Ye suddenly disappeared, and a book fell at Lu Mingze's feet.
After 5 minutes, Xing Ye turned back into a book.
Lu Mingze picked up the book that was covered in dust from the ground, gently blew away the ashes for him, held the book in his arms, and was a little dazed.
Cao Qian patted Lu Mingze's shoulder and said, "I'm as curious as you are. I want to know what happened. Just complete the task."
"Okay." Lu Mingze came back to his senses, "Just like Xing Ye said, let's look for it in the church."
The three of them put aside their doubts and searched carefully in the church, trying not to touch the pattern as much as possible to avoid destroying the barrier.
After searching for a long time, I found nothing. There was a skeleton in the corner, holding a parchment scroll in its arms and a feather pen in its hand, but there was not a single word on the parchment scroll, as if the person had died before he had time to write.
"I can't find it." Guan Ling sat on the ground and sighed.
Lu Mingze stood in front of the holy sword, looking at the standing dead skeleton.
He held the hilt of the sword with both hands, and even though it had turned into bones, he still held it so tightly. If several people wanted to take the holy sword from him, they would probably have to break his finger bones to do so.
"I'm not sure if taking the holy sword directly will destroy the barrier here." Cao Qian frowned.
Lu Mingze kept looking at the skeleton, and suddenly performed a kind of etiquette he had never seen before. This was something he had just seen on the parchment scroll. It was equivalent to three bows and nine kowtows, representing the highest respect.
When the disaster struck, this skeleton took the holy sword, carved a barrier in the church, and used his life to protect the townspeople and the main buildings of the town. He is truly worthy of respect.
Just after Lu Mingze saluted, the robe on the skeleton suddenly moved.
There was no wind in the church; the robe moved by itself.
Lu Mingze squatted down, lifted the corner of the robe, and found that the inside of the white robe was covered with bloodstains.
Guan Ling thought there were words under the robe, so he squatted down to help Lu Mingze hold the lamp. When he came to Lu Mingze with the oil lamp, Lu Mingze suddenly felt a bright spot opposite him. He turned his head and found that there was a full-length mirror embedded in the wall directly opposite the skeleton and the holy sword. The bright spot Lu Mingze felt was the light of the oil lamp reflected in it.
Lu Mingze walked to the mirror and frowned, "Strange, I didn't find it when I checked the mirrors in the church before."
"We didn't see this mirror when we were searching for clues inside the church just now," Cao Qian said. "I'm sure I looked carefully at this wall just now. It was just a plain wall, with no mirror."
"The mirror didn't appear until I saluted the skeleton and lifted my robe," Lu Mingze said. "It seems the salute is the key."
He placed his hand on the mirror and used the initial skill of "Magic Mirror of Truth".
This time the skill took effect and the mirror lit up.
The "Magic Mirror of Truth" cannot hear any sound, but strangely, when the mirror lights up, a sound comes from the church, as if someone is playing back on a tape recorder.
"Your Excellency the Bishop!" a panicked voice cried, "Divine punishment! It's divine punishment! Greed and sin have finally brought divine punishment upon us. This town is doomed!"
"Don't worry," a steady voice said, "Deacon, please help me close the door."
"Close the door? When divine punishment comes to the world, the whole town will become a dead city, all life will disappear, and the town will become a hell where monsters breed. You'd better come with me as soon as possible!" said the deacon.
"It's not hopeless yet, Deacon," said the Bishop. "Please just close the door and leave."
"You... you hold the Holy Sword? The lost Holy Sword is with you?" the deacon exclaimed in surprise. "Bishop, what are you going to do?"
"All I can do is wait," the bishop said, "buy time for this city, wait for the arrival of someone who can provide the Diamond Heart to the Son of God again. Deacon, I have no strength left. Please help me."
"Bishop, your body...the pattern on the ground, were they drawn with your blood?" the deacon asked in surprise.
"I have no strength left. I need someone to help me lock the door and use my last blood to draw the final stroke of the spell on the door. But if I do this, you will also stay in the church and will never be able to leave. Are you willing to help me?" The bishop's voice became weaker and weaker.
The mirror faithfully reflected this scene. The deacon in the mirror said nothing. He took the bowl of blood and the pen from the bishop and rushed to the door.
The bishop smiled and looked directly into the mirror. It was unclear whether he was speaking to the mirror or to Lu Mingze through the mirror and twenty years of time: "If one day, someone with a steadfast and kind heart can enter the church, you can take the holy sword. But please leave my bones at the center of the formation. This way, the barrier can last for three days, but that's only three days. During these three days, if you need to, use my bones to activate the formation, but the remaining energy can only be used once."
The scene ended here. Lu Mingze and others walked to the skeleton again, looking at the bishop holding the holy sword and the body of the deacon who died in the corner.
Lu Mingze placed his hand on the bishop's hand bones and solemnly promised: "I will rebuild this city, not only for you, but also for our memory. Please believe me."
As soon as he finished speaking, the bishop's skeleton, which still maintained its human form, scattered. Lu Mingze drew his holy sword, wrapped the bishop's bones with his white robe, and placed them in the center of the formation.
The white robe released a faint light, which seemed to be the last rays of light of the bishop.
At this moment, Lu Mingze heard the prompt that the mission of finding the holy sword was completed, and the mission progress became 1.56.
The three of them left the church and closed the door again.
Lu Mingze was silent for a moment, then gripped the hilt of his sword and said, "Let's go and kill the bandits!"
"Okay." Cao Qian pinched her fingers.