Forty-five. The fourth believer

The curtains fell within the church.

Lu Lili took a deep breath, left her seat with the oil lamp in hand, and turned to face the tightly shut wooden door.

The state of the pathway would reveal the "girl's" ultimate fate.

She pulled open the door, and everything appeared before Lu Li's eyes.

The fragmentary walls struggled to hold together, and through the floating rubble, the maddeningly dark abyss was laid bare before Lu Li without any reservation.

The way back had been completely cut off; there was no possibility of return.

The uneven stone steps were hard to navigate, and Lu Li had to avoid the parts that revealed the abyss, moving down on the still intact steps with a calm expression, as if the surging darkness outside the broken pathway had nothing to do with her.

On the fourth floor, that unchanged carved wooden door appeared.

Crossing the missing steps, Lu Li opened the door and stepped into the Confessional.