Wasteland Lord: Starting from Thirty Days to Live

He pushed open the church door abruptly and stepped inside.

As people entered, they could see reliefs depicting the story of the River Goddess performing miracles carved on both sides of the church corridor, but those reliefs were now in ruins.

Further inside, you can see the light falling through the stained glass windows of the church, but because the church has been in disrepair for many years, the colored light falling on the scattered benches on the ground only feels eerie.

But what attracts the most attention is the statue in the center of the church.

It was a female statue draped in a light veil, head bowed and turned to the side. The woman's long hair fell down, and she held a pottery jar in her hand, from which water flowed. Her graceful figure was hidden under the stone veil, revealing her gentle beauty.

This should have been a very sacred scene.

What's disgusting, however, is that there is a ball of flesh hidden in the pottery jar in her hand, with wispy, blood vessel-like tentacles protruding from it. The pottery jar happens to be near the lower abdomen of the goddess statue, giving people the illusion that the goddess is carrying a bastard child in her womb.

Apart from a strange statue, there is no one here; Lina is not here.

An eerie silence.

Vittorio simply spread his hands and loudly announced.

"I'm here, where are you?"

No one responded to him, but the jar in the goddess statue's hand seemed to be moved, trembling slightly, and then a streak of blood flowed from it.

The bloodstains dripped down the stone carving, eventually landing on the instep of the goddess statue.

As the drop of blood fell onto the goddess's instep, it was as if some kind of consecration had been activated, and the goddess statue emitted a slight "click" sound.

The goddess statue appears to have undergone some kind of change, but no one has noticed.

Vittorio, full of energy, taunted the church for a long time, but no one paid him any attention.

"What do you mean? I came to find you and you're hiding? Are you scared?"

Vittorio envisioned several scenarios of facing Lina head-on, such as a verbal battle or a fight upon meeting, and he made corresponding plans for each.

But to my surprise, Lina didn't even show her face.

This is like sprinting at full speed towards the finish line in a 100-meter dash, only to find that the finish line has disappeared when there are still 20 meters left.

He drew his sword and looked around at a loss.

Vittorio was so angry that he kicked the overturned stool on the ground.

"Spread out and search everywhere, make sure to search every corner carefully."

The soldiers responded and scattered to search in all directions.

However, the church is only so big, you can see the whole thing at a glance, it's hard to hide anyone or anything, so Vittorio didn't hold out much hope.

Three or four soldiers gathered together and headed towards the most suspicious goddess statue.

They first carefully examined the goddess's face and found that it was just a statue. Then they focused on the jar in the goddess's hand.

The jar was the strangest; the filamentous tentacles inside seemed to float and wave in the air like seaweed.

The three soldiers exchanged a glance, and one of them, mustering his courage, thrust his spear violently into the jar.

In an instant, a small, sharp scream came from the jar, like a baby being stabbed by a spear.

Upon hearing this voice, the soldiers trembled.

The seaweed-like tentacles retracted abruptly as the soldier thrust the spear in, disappearing into the darkness.

"Is he...dead?" one of them asked the other two.

The other two shook their heads uncertainly.

He swallowed hard, lit the torch, and a mixture of curiosity and fear welled up inside him. He bent down by the firelight, his entire head facing the mouth of the jar, and tentatively stuck the torch inside.

Nothing happens.

He then moved the torch away, squinted his right eye, and peered into the jar through the opening with his left eye.

Just as this soldier was peering inside, another soldier's gaze was drawn to something else.

A red, seaweed-like tentacle flashed past behind the goddess statue.

He curiously peered over, only to find nothing behind the statue.

So he pursed his lips in suspicion, raised his spear, and walked behind the statue.

Vittorio stood there, completely baffled as to where Lina was, when suddenly two screams rang out simultaneously, interrupting his thoughts.

"ah--"

"Aaaaaaah!!!!!"

Vittorio looked sharply in the direction from which the screams came, and saw two crazed figures at the statue.

Something was hugging his head, and he tried desperately to shake it off, but to no avail. He could only shake his head in vain and scratch frantically with his arms.

Another figure emerged from the statue, in a similar situation. The two figures intertwined, their screams and frenzied appearance contrasting sharply with the River Goddess statue standing calmly in place.

Vittorio was about to order everyone to check what was going on.

However, the stained glass window next to the church suddenly shattered, and countless pieces of glass shattered and fell into the church.

As the stained glass windows shattered, the interior of the church was plunged into complete darkness.

Suddenly, screams, terrified inquiries, and attempts to maintain composure... the entire church was filled with all sorts of sounds, turning into complete chaos.

Vittorio groped in the dark, trying to find a torch; he remembered there was one right next to him.

After groping for three seconds, he finally found the wooden stick of the torch. He took out a tinderbox from his pocket and lit the torch.

However, the first thing he saw after gaining access to the light made him stop breathing and his heart almost stop beating.

A face appeared before him, the face of a stone sculpture, a work of art, the very same as the River Goddess statue.

The statue appeared in front of him at some point.

Vittorio took a sudden step back, and seeing that the statue did not move, he wiped his face and finally regained his breath.

"Don't panic! Light the torches! Gather around me!"

Soldiers came in twos and threes to the torches for protection and lit their own torches, but for some reason, the darkness here was exceptionally thick.

A torch can only illuminate a limited area; beyond that, there is only deeper darkness.

Therefore, although everyone gathered together by the fire, they could not see the scenery in the deeper darkness.

"Holy Light." "Peace."

Eileen's voice rang out, and a sense of relief flowed through everyone's hearts. They were finally able to huddle together and discuss what had just happened.

"Who was playing a prank just now? Who moved the idol in front of me? And those two people who screamed just now, does anyone know what attacked them?" Vittorio asked a series of questions.

However, no one answered.

"The statue is made of stone. No one here could possibly move it in front of you in a few seconds, not even me," Edmund said, leaning against Vittorio.

"What happened? I know perfectly well that the statue was at least twenty paces away from me, but as soon as I raised my torch, it was right in front of me, almost kissing me." Vittorio was still a little frantic when he thought about what had just happened.

"Ah, could it be that the statue is also captivated by the lord's handsomeness and has actually come to stand before him?" Eileen retorted expressionlessly, still holding up the holy light.

Only Isolde didn't laugh, and even spoke cautiously.

"Is it possible that the problem really is with the idol? I suggest you check that thing; I have a bad feeling about it."

Vittorio had the same idea, and opened the system, where he saw the description of the stone statue opposite him.

His expression changed in just a moment.

[River Goddess Statue: A monster created by Thelma followers through a sacrificial ritual; a near-level 3 monster.]