Chapter 39.3 (1/2)

The entrance was dark and deep, completely bottomless, but there was a small wooden staircase that made it accessible.

Tang Mianmian shivered uncontrollably, “But we don’t know where this secret passage leads to…”

“We’ll know when we get there.” Duan Hongzhen objected, appearing eager to enter.

The two women looked at each other, and at Shen Yuan who was sitting on the bench who was still resting.

Moments later, Shen Yuan opened his eyes, “Let’s go down.”

Lu Si’er was obviously a little scared. “But… what if this secret passage leads to another dead end… Or if there’s another flood once we go down… Then aren’t we bound for death?”

Duan Hongzhen smiled and said, “You can choose to stay here alone.”

Lu Si’er’s face turned ashen. She looked like she wanted to say something else but Tang Mianmian suddenly took a sniff and asked, “Do you smell something?”

“What smell?” Xiao Tangqiu followed with a sniff and as expected smelled something strange. “Like something is burning…”

“Yes! The smell of something burning!” Tang Mianmian clapped his thigh.

Xiao Tangqiu burst out, “Wait! Why would there be the smell of something burning here?”

Everyone turned around, faces turning ugly at the same time. The church had started burning God knows when, and the flames were surging in their direction, the air filled with smoke that choked them at once.

“Fire!” Xiao Tangqiu reacted immediately. “After drowning is burning at the stake…”

“Fuck! You’re right!” Tang Mianmian responded, “They suspected Lily Marlene was a witch, so they first tried to drown her, then set her on fire…”

At this moment, they didn’t have the time to hesitate whether to use the secret passage under the statue or not, because they only had one choice left.

The door of the church had been completely engulfed by the raging flames and so were the surrounding windows. They couldn’t escape from the door or windows at all and could only head towards the secret passage.

Shen Yuan was the first to go down, followed by two women, then Duan Hongzhen. Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian, who insisted on the principle of giving priority to women and children, let Lu Si’er and the little boy go down first before they finally retreated to the bottom.

Xiao Tangqiu went second last with Tang Mianmian jumped down right behind him.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch! The fire is burning my ass! Hurry up!”

Xiao Tangqiu was in a hurry and didn’t have any time to waste. He had directly jumped into the secret passage. Tang Mianmian didn’t bother with the stairs as well and rolled down to the bottom.

Tang Mianmian had reached the bottom when the fire spread to the entrance of the secret passage but the flames seemed to be unable to leave the church and stopped at the entrance of the church and the secret passage.

However, before Tang Mianmian and Xiao Tangqiu could breathe a sigh of relief, the fire suddenly acted like it had self-consciousness, condensed into the shape of a hand and swept at Xiao Tangqiu.

Xiao Tangqiu subconsciously rolled on the spot, the flames sweeping over his head instead. He suddenly felt his scalp grow hot and smelled his hair burning. However, at this point, he had already neglected his hair. What’s the use of having any hair if he were dead?

He rolled around several times, narrowly escaping the flames. Countless holes were burnt through his clothes. Naturally, Tang Mianmian, who was at the back with him, was not much better off. The two behave like they’re jumping through rings of fire, bouncing up and down, rolling left and right on the ground. They had a hard time catching up with Shen yuan and others who were ahead of them.

Before the two could catch their breath, they looked back and felt almost powerless. The flames, which seemed to be self-conscious, was burning even more fiercely as if in retaliation for not being able to catch up with anyone. With a whoosh, it angrily crossing the border of the church and the secret passage, and quickly making its way in as it swallowed up everything in sight.