Long-term salvation

"Look at these holes—brick and stone structures, shaped like vertical shafts, originally covered with stone slabs. The insides of the holes are smooth, and a few have been opened... probably by that last Umbrella soldier. I think I faintly hear human screams."

Half-kneeling on the ground, Laura stretched out her hand and ran it over the stone slabs. After wiping off the dust, she saw different patterns carved on them - beetles, jackals, alchemical vessels, unknown plants... Some of them had no patterns carved on them, but only had hideous scratches like the claws of wild beasts.

"According to the description in 'The Divine Comedy', wait, there doesn't seem to be any description related to this kind of tomb," Laura scratched her hair, then reached into the bag on her waist and took out a fluorescent stick. After breaking it open, she threw it into one of the pits.

The bright blue light fell rapidly, landing on something soft—something that squirmed and uttered a faint whine. It looked like a man, having fallen from a great height, squeezed into the narrowest part of the hole—or rather, he was squeezed by the slowly shrinking hole, and could only listen in despair as his bones were crushed bit by bit.

A glow stick falling from above? This isn't salvation, but the beginning of a deeper despair:

He gave a glimmer of hope when death approached, but he and everyone else knew that there was no possibility of him surviving.

A faint puffing sound was heard, and the light from the glow stick was swallowed by the darkness. As if burping after a meal, the hole expelled a small amount of fishy-smelling gas, then returned to its original state, waiting for the next fool to step into this place.

"Well...it doesn't look like this is the hole. We can't jump in. How dare he jump in so easily? Is it because he thinks he's reached a dead end?"

"Or maybe it was a hallucination," Lupo sneered subtly.

"Okay, okay, you are the strongest."

Laura muttered as she covered the slab with the jackal carved on it. She was slightly stunned by the pattern on the slab, then looked around and saw the planetary symbols carved on the central stone pillar. With a planet as the center, the sun and other planets formed a ring around it.

"So... this is a tomb built in the Egyptian style? But in 'The Divine Comedy'..."

"Laura," Rhodes warned, "Don't take my words as the truth. The other world is an unpredictable existence. It will present the things you are familiar with in countless details, and in this way lead you into the darkest ending. But think carefully, did you say anything before you embark on this adventure?"

"It was just briefly mentioned that we were looking for something."

"The Philosopher's Stone, Nicolas Flamel's ultimate creation, a miracle that transforms base metals into gold, cures all diseases, and grants immortality. Looking at the sun and seven planets on the stone pillar, he most likely believed in Ptolemy's geocentric theory. Consider also the myths of ancient Egypt."

As Rhodes spoke, he stroked the earth on the stone pillar with his fingers, looked at Laura, and said with a smile:

"Okay then, let's put aside the hints in 'The Divine Comedy' for a moment and think in a new direction. Let's ask: What does the scarab represent in Egyptian mythology?"

"Khepri, symbolizing sunrise and rebirth, is often considered an incarnation of the sun god Ra."

"That's right," Rhodes said, moving the stone slab with the scarab carved on it. "That means this is the path to continue on... Let's go, toward the sunrise and the deeper hell."

After saying that, Rhodes jumped forward into the dark hole.

Chapter 201: The Alienated Person (3K)

[Pollution in the Otherworld Rises 1]

[Pollution in the Otherworld Rises 1]

[The other world...]

Rhodes fell in the darkness, his black cat cloak rustling in the strong wind.

After a few seconds, Rhode, who could vaguely see the ground, suddenly stretched out his hands and rubbed the rock wall to slow down his descent. After barely stopping, he put his arms away and jumped to the ground below.

Here is another tomb.

Looking around, Rhode raised his head and shouted:

"Come down, this is indeed the passage, it's safe!"

"...I'll go tie the rope." Laura and Lupo exchanged a glance, then pulled a bundle of nylon rope from her bag and tied it to the stone pillar in the center of the tomb. "It's about two-thirds of the way down. The rest of the way down, we'll need to hold on to the rock wall with our hands and slowly descend."

"That's not necessary!"

Rhode's shout came from the hole below. He shone the flashlight upwards and continued shouting:

"Pickman will catch you—don't bite me! I'll give you the best steak! Okay, okay, we'll eat it in secret without Abigail."

"..."

Laura thought for half a second, then retracted the rope in Lupo's regretful eyes and jumped into the hole. Before she heard the sound of the wind as she fell, she felt her body being caught by something soft. The thing was furry, warm, and made a gurgling sound - just like falling on a Totoro - Laura remembered that Japanese animation, she liked it very much.

The warmth gradually faded away, and Laura immediately noticed that she was standing on solid ground. In front of her was Rhodes, who was looking at a corpse, and behind her was Lupo, who was looking around with some curiosity.

Laura approached and saw the undecayed body of an old man lying on a stone platform. He was wearing chain mail and a cross-robed robe. He had been lying in the darkness for who knew how long. The entire tomb was nothing special, just cold stone walls and dust. The only noteworthy things were a few 14th-century-style vertical braziers in the corners of the room, with only a handful of gray embers left in them.

"This man is... Nicolas Flamel?"

"It's obvious," Rhode said, reaching out and lightly touching the corpse. It turned into ashes and gradually dissipated. "But unfortunately, there's no Philosopher's Stone here that can grant immortality or even bring back the dead. I just think this great alchemist must have synthesized something else."

"Something else?"

"We keep moving forward,"

Rhodes didn't say much, but quickly circled the tomb to look around. Half a minute later, he found a pool of water with a faint bright yellow glow coming through it.

Without hesitation, Rhodes dived into the pool and reached another room - still a tomb, but it was still extremely dark, with ancient murals engraved on the surrounding walls. In the center was a fireplace separated by iron bars, filled with burnt broken charcoal.

Laura and Lupo swam through the channel, and just as they left the water, the girl exclaimed:

"There's actually fire here! And there are so many coins?! The Philosopher's Stone really still exists... Can I have a gold coin as a souvenir?"

Rhodes was startled and looked around, but saw nothing.

Gluttony Prison, Greed Prison.

Everything you see is false, and wherever you go, there is no hope.

Thinking of this, Rhode quickly grabbed the two women who were eager to try and said unhappily:

"Wake up! Think about where you are and strengthen your minds!"

After sending the two to stand aside, Rhode reached out and took off his cloak. In front of their astonished gazes, he transformed into a black cat. The adorable cat stretched out its paws, then scurried over to Laura and Lupo's feet and bit them hard!

A sudden surge of pain tingled with mysterious power jolted them awake from their illusions. Looking around, they saw only a silent tomb and eerie murals. Broken charcoal piled up in the fireplace, and a gentle breeze, coming from nowhere, blew through the cracks, stirring up fine carbon dust that mocked human greed and delusion.

Ignoring Laura and the others' shyness and attempts to tease Black Cat Pickman, Rhode carefully examined the murals in the tomb with his all-seeing eyes:

In the original movie, the heroine Scarlett Johansson did get the "Philosopher's Stone" itself, but when trying to escape in the lower levels of hell, she realized that she needed to return it. Finally, in the process of returning it, she realized that she had become the "Philosopher's Stone" itself - the movie itself is still based on "The Divine Comedy" and tells a religious story.

But here, Rhode reached out and placed his hand on the mural, slowly stroking it until the All-Seeing Eye's sign surfaced. Then, he grasped the protruding stone, his fingers rippling into the mural like water, gripping it tightly and reaching back... Couldn't get it out? Someone else must have been holding the stone at the same time!

Without any hesitation, Rhodes drew his gun and fired. The bullet, which was enhanced to damage the creatures in the inner world, knocked open the mural, which then made a crisp sound like a broken mirror, revealing a corner of the world behind it - a white shadow tightly grasped the stone, and in the other hand also held a pistol, but now the palm and the revolver were both shattered.

Rhodes kicked the white shadow away and took the stone into his arms.

"Sorry, I'm the only one. This is the privilege of a savior."

Rhodes spoke slightly frivolously, raised his gun and took a few steps back, seeing three figures in the mirror world opposite. Laura and Lupo in the opposite world were looking at this place in surprise, and they were immediately frightened by the white shadow.

The shadow shattered and merged into the ground, and the world quickly vanished along with it. A black-robed figure gradually rose from where the shadow had disappeared, and it spoke:

“You are the Son of Man, the Son of God, a false Savior, a true authority, an empty man.”

"...Nicholas Flamel?" Rhodes raised his eyebrows slightly. "It seems that the stone has kept you alive until now. And your action just now was not to snatch the stone - you want to occupy my body to escape from here?"

"I am Satan, the original serpent," the black-robed figure replied, pulling out a juicy apple from his sleeve. "But I simply wish to make a deal with you, a hollow being. Since you are unwilling, then use one of the people behind you as a bargaining chip. I will possess that body so I can leave this place and return to the human world."

The objects of human desire immediately emerged on the surface of the apple - Laura saw the adventures she had with her father, Lupo saw a happy and complete family, and Rod... he saw nothing. The parasites in a small area of ​​the other world were far from comparable to the temptation of Nyarlathotep.

After facing the indescribable and unspeakable great existence, Rhodes' mental resistance had already undergone a round of strengthening, and the fear, despair and hesitation seemed to be eliminated from his soul.

"So, I will prepare for you..."

"Shut up, you're the real fake. Satan doesn't exist in this world yet, but 'Baal' is real, and very cute—Nicholas, you want my body? Then come and take it!"

Rhodes sneered and shot the apple out of the black-robed man's hand. The apple quickly decayed on the ground and turned into filthy mud.

The enraged man in black robe roared angrily, and the shrill sound of wind came from every gap. When the volume of the sound reached its peak, the floor of the tomb where Rhodes and the other two were suddenly collapsed, and they fell down into the turbid water.

In the murky water, Rhodes vaguely saw some mud-covered bodies roaring, beating and biting each other, leaving each other's bodies in tatters. This was the scene described by Dante in the Prison of Fury in "The Divine Comedy".

The water quickly receded, and he climbed out of the water and saw Laura and Lupo coughing not far away.

"Are you two okay?"

Rhode asked, wearily rising to his feet. He immediately noticed the ground was heating up and cracking, with crimson flames faintly visible through the cracks. The temperature around him rose rapidly, quickly soaring from around ten degrees Celsius to over thirty, and still slowly rising!

"...Heretics Prison?" Rhode frowned slightly. He took a step forward. With each step, he saw the cracks in the ground close up, the flames receded, and no more strange phenomena appeared.

At this moment, Rhodes finally confirmed that this otherworldly area was created by the emotions of humans who died and were buried in the Paris catacombs. It coincided with every detail in the religious texts and imprisoned the great alchemist who discovered this place hundreds of years ago... That person has become a part of the otherworldly world, and if he wants to escape, he can only occupy a suitable body, a body that can carry the energy of the otherworldly world.

The man in black robes was just an echo of Nicolas Flamel, his last obsession before his death... From this, it can be seen that the great alchemist was obviously a powerful clairvoyant, just like the directors of the Cogito Foundation.

Now, extreme human emotions reverberate within this catacombs, intensified by the tidal energies of the otherworld and finally unleashed by the turmoil in Paris.

Thinking of this, Rhode covered his eyes with his hands and asked himself in a low voice - asking the system that brought him into this world:

"What am I? What have you prepared for me?"

After a few seconds, Rhodes removed his palm and exhaled slowly, letting determination and fearlessness return to his soul.

"I am the savior of mankind, the mighty one who wields iron."

then.

Amidst Laura's exclamation and Lupo's gunshot, Rod spun around and pulled out his revolver.

He pointed at the human creation running towards him, and at the weapon named "Tracking".

A shadowy black robe enveloped the twisted and blasphemous muscular body. A vast energy from the otherworld poured into it, completely shredding the fragments of the soul within and combining them with the remaining emotions, becoming the guardian of this hell.

This place is the prison of violence!

Chapter 202 From Death to Life (3K)

"We climbed up, he in front and I behind, until I could see through the circular hole that the sky was loaded with beautiful things. We walked out and saw the countless 'stars' again."

—Dante and Virgil leaving Hell, from The Divine Comedy.

The glaring white light of headlamps, the red glow of gunfire, the glimmer of eyes, the sparks of metal clashing—all of this blended together, fighting against the vast darkness. The wind howled, echoing in the rising dust and lingering in the crisscrossing footprints.

Dodging the heavy blows nimbly again and again, Rhodes threw away the cylinder of his revolver, poured out the shells, quickly loaded the bullets with his fingers, and then fired six shots at the tall body that was filled with another twisted existence!

The six bullets exploded with almost overlapping noises, blasting bloody holes in the flesh and spilling foul blood. But the next second, they quickly returned to their bodies, trying to fill the ugly and bloody holes - but it was no use. After the tracker's body was occupied by the final echo of Nicholas Flamel, it had become the best enemy of the revolver in Rhodes' hand.

Amidst the rising and falling gunfire, the dark tomb crumbled completely, its walls slowly falling away, transforming the surrounding area into a wide, downward-spiraling pit. The spiral pit resembled a theater staircase bisected by a cross, its gaps opening into an unfathomable abyss.

Thousands of hideous reliefs were etched into the rock face, as if living people were embedded within, suffering eternal torment. When a breath of alien life entered, the reliefs suddenly broke free, baring their sharp teeth and fangs, and charged at the three like wild beasts.

This place has become a prison of betrayal, guarded by the devil Satan himself, and those punished here are sealed in ice and stone, while Judas, Brutus, and Cassius are bitten by Satan's three mouths respectively.

You are in the middle level of the fallen city.

"Break those reliefs and continue down!"

Rod yelled at Laura and Lupo, ducking to avoid a sweeping blow.

The monster's body was now slowly expanding. The genetic mutations of the real world and the supernatural energy of the other world were rapidly combining to create a new weapon. Its arms suddenly stretched out, turning into giant arm blades wrapped in black robes. Rhodes didn't want to be hit by that thing, so he had to keep backing away.

The energy in the inner world was so active that Rhodes' ears were almost flooded with system notification sounds, so he had to block them out temporarily.

After a brief thought, Rhodes did not continue to tangle with the monster. Instead, he threw two smoke bombs to block the monster's sight and immediately turned around and ran.

Only a fool would go head-to-head with a monster that constantly strengthens itself in the enemy's home turf. Its strengthening level may have an end, but before that... Rhodes still refused any possibility of being beaten into a meat pie.

The arm blade sliced ​​through the smoke, revealing the monster's body. An angry roar erupted from between its completely mutated teeth:

"Son of man, stay! Suffer this cruel punishment for the world!"

"I'm so sorry, my heart is about to run away."

Rhodes laughed loudly without even turning his head. When he heard a shrill scream from behind him, he rushed forward and fell straight to the next level of the spiral pit.

As he climbed to his feet, he saw Laura kick a relief sculpture into the darkness below. Lupo's movements were more concise. She stepped back half a step and slammed the butt of her gun into the relief's mouth, shattering the stone fangs. She then reached out to control the momentum of the relief and pushed it to the lower level, shattering it.

"Keep going down, to the bottom of the pit," Rhodes said. He turned around and fired a few more shots at the monster to attract its attention, ensuring that it would continue to follow him. "Remember how Dante and Virgil left Hell at the end of 'The Divine Comedy'? They went all the way down!"

"There's no end in sight to this spiral, Mr. Rhodes," Laura gasped. She was exhausted from the intense fighting and running. "I don't even know if the next level has shrunk, and my strength... I'm running out of energy."

"Me too, and I'm running low on bullets. Give me two more magazines."

Lupo also gasped, removing her gas mask and breathing in the murky air that had come from nowhere. Behind her, the reliefs on the rock wall continued to come to life, one after another, seemingly endlessly.

It's not just fatigue, the evil sounds are coming from all directions, and the fragments of human emotions echoing here are constantly repeating the way they died - some people will tell it with words that are quite black humor, but more people utter painful curses filled with anger and unwillingness. These voices are like tangible big hands strangling the throat, making the living feel suffocated.

Laura and Lupo felt a stabbing pain in their brains, as if needles with their tips pointing outward had gathered into a ball and rolled wantonly. The world before their eyes began to spin, and the hazy sensations drove them to scream and run, completely sinking into this eternal darkness.

"In that case, let us jump into the abyss."

Rhodes stood up straight and faced the slowly approaching monster. The latter's body seemed to be stabilizing from the mutation. The hooded black robe covered the whole body, leaving only the white, blood-soaked sharp teeth outside, the pure white color standing out in the darkness.

Surprisingly, the monster didn't attack. Instead, it stood there, stretching its arms, opening and closing them, punching and retracting, the sound of punches breaking through the air echoing in the darkness. Then, it placed its hands before its eyes, examining them carefully, feeling the surging power returning from this body.

"This body... is this the perfect body in every way? It suits me better than I imagined—what was originally a makeshift solution has become the best option."

The monster, or "Flamel," was now intoxicated by its own power, but soon it no longer felt satisfied. Empty hunger and resentment quickly filled its entire body, from its feet to its head, from its soul to its brain.