Chapter 56

(Seeking recommendations and favorites)

"Do you know about the Flying Dutchman?" Beside Chu Nan, the old man with gray temples stared at the ship slowly disappearing into the fog, muttering as if asking Chu Nan or talking to himself: "There is no more famous ghost ship than the Flying Dutchman. Legend has it that this was a ship that set sail from Amsterdam, with Captain Van der Decken. While sailing to the East Indies and passing the Cape of Good Hope, they encountered extreme weather. The captain ordered the ship to冒险前进，even killing a crew member. He even shouted, 'Even if God lets me sail to the end of the world, I will do my utmost!' However, the ship was ultimately sunk by the storm."

"Legend has it that Van der Decken and his ghost ship will forever curse the seas, sailing until the end of the world, as he swore to God..."

Chu Nan glanced at the old man. He had also heard of the legend of the Flying Dutchman. This legend has been used multiple times in paintings, horror stories, movies, and even operas. In the famous movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" that he had seen before, there was a description of the immortal Davy Jones sailing the "Flying Dutchman," which was derived from the historical legend of the ghost ship "Flying Dutchman."

However, Chu Nan did not think that the ship he had just seen, being dragged by chains, had any connection to the famous "Flying Dutchman."

As the ghost ship gradually disappeared into the thick fog, Chu Nan and the others finally relaxed their tense nerves. Many people, unable to withstand the series of shocks, collapsed on the ground.

The fog outside was rolling, with black shadows occasionally passing by. No one dared to leave the church. Chu Nan turned around and finally had the chance to look around the interior of the church.

The church's hall was large enough to accommodate hundreds of people. Now, it was crowded with many people. Above, there was a statue of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross. Many people clasped their hands, silently praying, believing that the power of God had protected the church and them.

Otherwise, why didn't the thick fog and skeletons enter the church?

Even those who originally did not believe in Catholicism were shaken, even doubting whether God really existed in this world.

Including Chu Nan, he also had such thoughts. As he slowly approached, he suddenly noticed that next to the statue of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross, there was a carved statue of an open Bible, with densely written words on it.

"God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being, named Adam."

"God planted a garden in Eden in the east and placed the man there."

"God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh."

"God made a woman from the rib he had taken from the man and brought her to the man."

"The man said, 'This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.'"

"Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living."

"God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.'"

"So God drove him out and placed cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life."

This recorded the story of Adam and Eve from Genesis. Chu Nan, seeing this, felt a sudden shock in his mind, instantly recalling the voice that had spoken to him in his sleep after the earthquake.

"Adam... Eve, a new world... new humans..."

"Is this just a coincidence? Or..."

Chu Nan looked up, gazing at the carved page of the Bible, then at the statue of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross, suddenly feeling an inexplicable chill.

Since last night, first the attacks by the undead and the zombies, then the thick fog and the skeleton monsters, followed by the Gaia's Monument, and now being forced to flee into the church, the series of events had left everyone almost sleepless.

Now, in the church, they were temporarily safe. Many people had collapsed to rest on the spot. Even Chu Nan, after staring at the Bible and the statue of Jesus Christ, felt drowsy.

He was extremely tired, not physically but mentally.

Chu Nan slowly sat down, wanting to rest for a moment. In the church, almost everyone had closed their eyes to rest, including Su Yao, Tang Sanli, Shen Mo, and others.

Exhausted, Chu Nan leaned against the wall and soon fell asleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept when suddenly, the magnifying glass in his pocket became slightly warm, then scorching hot.

"Ah—"

Chu Nan almost jumped up from the heat.

He woke up, feeling the magnifying glass in his pocket, but it was still normal, not hot at all.

"What's going on? Was it an illusion? Or a dream?" Chu Nan rubbed his eyes, feeling very strange. He couldn't believe he was so tired that he could fall asleep just by leaning against the wall.

With a bitter smile, he looked up and was suddenly stunned.

The church hall, which could accommodate hundreds of people, was unusually quiet.

It was so quiet that it was scary, with no sound at all.

Because the hundreds of people who had crowded into the church were all lying around, asleep.

Only he was standing inside.

Tang Sanli beside him, Su Yao on the other side, and the familiar Shen Mo, Nan Gong Xiong, Tao Zhi, and the old man with gray temples, everyone was asleep.

"How could they all be asleep?" Chu Nan frowned, feeling something was wrong. He pushed Tang Sanli.

"Tang, wake up!"

Tang Sanli remained motionless with his eyes closed. If it weren't for the fact that he was still breathing, Chu Nan would have thought he was dead.

"This situation is a bit off..."

Suddenly, Chu Nan's muscles began to tremble, and he finally fully woke up, looking in horror at the end of the hall.

At the end of the church hall, there was originally a statue of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross, with a carved Bible next to it.

Now, the statue of Jesus had been moved to the side, and on the cross, a bloody person was nailed.

Her hands and feet were nailed with large iron nails, and she was a woman, with her throat torn open and most of her clothes ripped off, exposing most of her body. Her white skin was covered in blood, and she was nailed to the large cross, with blood dripping down, making a dripping sound.

In this sacred church, this bloody scene suddenly appeared, and everyone except him was sound asleep, even the woman nailed to the large cross, whom Chu Nan recognized as Zhou Yun, the owner of the wolfhound, who had arrived with them in Jiangtian City.

A chill ran down his spine, and the hairs on his body stood up. His right hand gripped the spider claw, and the golden power in his right leg was ready to burst out at any moment.

The church, which was originally safe, had become a terrifying ghost domain.

"While we were asleep, someone moved the statue of Jesus, killed Zhou Yun, and nailed her to the cross. Who did this? No, we weren't just asleep; some force made us all fall into a deep sleep. I woke up because of the magnifying glass... That wasn't a dream; the magnifying glass woke me up. Otherwise... perhaps we would all have been killed in our sleep."

Sweat dripped from Chu Nan's forehead as he searched for the possible culprit. This unknown terror was the most frightening.

His hearing and vision, enhanced by adrenaline, began to improve dramatically.

Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from a distance. Almost instantly, Chu Nan's figure darted out like lightning, turning and rushing forward.

In the shadows at the church entrance, something darted out.

Chu Nan missed it, and the thing darted out of the church at incredible speed.

Chu Nan leaped out of the church and found it was a rat, possibly mutated, with a body and tail about one to two feet long.

Startled by Chu Nan's pursuit, the rat darted into a pile of ruins and quickly disappeared.

Chu Nan was helpless, watching the rat disappear and hide, with no way to catch it.

Outside the church, he noticed the fog had thinned, and the skeleton monsters that had appeared in the thick fog were gone. The area was now covered in a light mist. If it weren't for the ruins of collapsed buildings around, it would have looked ethereal and beautiful.

Chu Nan looked around, squinting his eyes. He was certain that the rat that had just escaped could not be the culprit.

The rat, with its head and tail combined, was only one to two feet long. How could it move the statue of Jesus, kill Zhou Yun, tear off her clothes, and nail her to the large cross?

"It's not the rat. Who is it? Could it be one of the people in the church? A killer who pretended to be asleep and, while everyone else was truly asleep, killed Zhou Yun and did all this? But because I woke up unexpectedly, the killer pretended to be asleep again?"

Chu Nan pondered, "If that's the case, how did the killer make everyone fall into a deep sleep? Could it be that the killer has something like the spider claw or magnifying glass in my hand, with a special ability to make others fall into a deep sleep without them realizing it?"