Chapter 14 The Church and the Truth (Thanks to 'Nuanyang1314' for the silver alliance)

The dead townsfolk staggered forward, their bodies rigid as if all moisture had been sucked out of them in an instant, leaving them withered, hard, and utterly devoid of any sign of life.

Because there was none, they were eager, and Wayne and William became the primary targets for the surging mob.

Wayne couldn't figure out how to describe these people, undead or zombies. If the Death Walkers ceremony had succeeded, it would be too sinister, not only killing the entire town in an instant but also erasing all traces of life, even erasing the scent of the living from the air.

The horde of corpses swelled, numbering over a hundred, including domestic animals like chickens and dogs.

Wayne weighed his crowbar in hand, compared the fighting strength of the two sides, and decided to follow his instinct, closing the door and starting the sedan.

"Where are we going?" William asked as he sat in the passenger seat.

"Find Veronica and get out of this damned place as soon as possible."

Wayne's expression was solemn; zombies moved slowly and were fragile. With a crowbar, he could fight until dawn, nothing to fear.

For example, give a mischievous child a wooden sword, and no rapeseed field within ten miles would stand taller than a meter.

But the warnings from Supernatural Sensing weren't false; something terrible pervaded the town, omnipresent, posing a severe threat to his life.

Wayne had limited understanding of supernatural magic, tentatively defining it as a curse.

"Do you know where Veronica is? The town is so big. Why don't you retreat first, and I'll go find her and Monica," William suggested.

"I know, just follow the scent," Wayne replied.

Wayne reversed the car a little and then shifted gears, accelerating as he drove the sedan into the horde of zombies.

The family sedan had a low chassis, and its decent cost-performance ratio indicated it wasn't built to withstand impacts. The tires rolled over the dried-out zombies, the car jostled and shook, and it stopped moving after only a short sprint.

That was enough!

The sedan broke through the encirclement, successfully forging a path and fulfilling the task Wayne had entrusted to it.

William was the first to rush out of the car, his crowbar whirled through the air, and the approaching zombies shattered, none could stay intact under his crowbar.

Out of respect, Wayne kept a certain distance, swinging his crowbar while shouting, "Veronica is in the church, we don't have much time, let's hurry over and get her out."

William grunted, with the crowbar in hand, he was unstoppable, mowing down the zombies effortlessly.

For Wayne, zombies and Drifting Ghosts were two different creatures; he was far from panicked. After the initial chaos, his dormant muscle memory was awakened, his body subconsciously used some basic power techniques, ensuring he could save energy while being effective.

Experience points up, +1, +1, +1…

Passing by the town's inn, two withered and hunched figures blocked the way, resembling mummies with hideous faces, their appearance obscured by death.

Wayne recognized the clothes on their bodies, the rich and generous sisters; the money in their collars was still what he had put there.

The sound of their laughter still lingered, Wayne thought it was a pity, he swung his crowbar tearfully, picked up the money, and quickly caught up with William.

Flames soared into the sky throughout the town, the sweltering air intensified the evaporation of moisture, and oddly enough, no matter how fierce the fire, it could never completely consume the wooden structures, nor could it ignite the flammable zombies.

Panting, the two reached the church at the end of the street, the only building not surrounded by flames in the town—compared to the hellish surroundings, the quiet church seemed out of place.

A gunshot sounded; both Wayne and William were startled, they rushed over the fence and the lawn, and together they forced the church doors open.

The chairs inside were neatly arranged in rows, and in front of the Crucifix, the candlelight cast dim, flickering shadows.

The priest, in his Black Robe, was dressed immaculately, every corner crisp and neat, but his withered face was beyond flattery, indistinguishable from the chaotic zombies outside.

The priest, too, had lost his life due to the sacrifice.

Veronica held a pistol, confronting the priest. She had just fired a shot, hitting the priest's chest and leaving a visibly large hole.

"There's no need for you to stop the ritual. This town has been dead for many years, and it's time to let the townspeople rest," the priest's jaws opened and closed as he uttered a decayed voice, as though it arose from deep underground.

Veronica called out to William, who immediately caught on and strode forward, swinging a crowbar towards her from above.

At Veronica's feet, a white halo bloomed, enveloping her in a sacred aura, marking a prison that prevented her from leaving and also from using magic within its confines.

The prison was a magic cast by the priest, also referred to within the Holy See as Divine Arts—powers bestowed by the divinity to constrain evil and keep it quiet to listen to the Lord's glory.

It sounded formidable, but it could be broken from the outside and wasn't invincible.

Moreover, it hadn't been updated in ages. Firearms had received several patches, but the Holy See's Divine Arts were still the same old story, not keeping up with the times at all.

Thanks to William's efforts, Veronica quickly escaped the cage. With a punch to the side, she shattered the white light, freeing Monica who had been imprisoned separately.

The black cat blended in with the surroundings; if she didn't speak, she was utterly invisible.

"What do you mean the townspeople have been dead for years?" Monica demanded coldly. The eerie moon made her uneasy, suspecting it of blaspheming against the Moonlight Goddess, and she had to clarify.

"Fifty years ago, Caforno Town was cursed, and its inhabitants became the living dead. They don't know they're dead. They can breathe, have heartbeats, bleed if injured, and still grow old and bear offspring. Everyone is still alive..."

"But the dead are still dead. Members of the Nelson Family discovered the truth. The townspeople in the know were invited to a meeting, and I was one of them at the time..."

"The Nelson Family are followers of the Goddess of Death. They insisted on holding the ritual immediately to return the dead to the embrace of death. The mayor and council disagreed; nobody wanted to give up life, nor did they have the right to end others' lives. Moreover, everyone wasn't truly dead, and could live out their lives like normal people."

"I supported the mayor and the council..."

"But the Nelson Family stuck to their views, with a very aggressive attitude. They called in family members from afar, intending to go through with the ritual, and that night, a massacre took place..."

"We won, swore to bury the secret of that night, and agreed: as long as the truth was hidden, the townspeople wouldn't know they were dead, and everyone would live and die like normal people until the young took over the town."

The priest recited the past fifty years like an NPC, his mastery of magic allowing him to retain his obsession, hoping the Nelson Family's heir would complete the ritual.

But that was all; the priest's mind was decayed long ago. He answered whatever was asked, without reservation, revealing everything.

"Time has proven we were wrong, every year on this day, flames would sweep over the town, taking it back to that night..."

"The dead would crawl out from their graves, and the living would reveal their true selves. The town has no future, as newborns lose their lives the moment they are conceived, and outsiders also become cursed as soon as they enter this place..."

"This isn't a curse, it should be considered a constant state of death, a certain law that torments us and won't let us rest."

"I gradually realized my mistake; in order to let the festering wounds survive, we cut out the healthy tissue..."

"Hold on a minute!"

Wayne interrupted the narrative with a grave expression, "What do you mean outsiders will also be afflicted by the curse?"