The artworks on both sides of this corridor are exquisitely crafted, and just from their appearance, one can perceive their high value.

  Perhaps the price of a single piece could sustain a person from the lower strata for generations, making it hard to imagine that such accumulation could belong to merely the mayor of a water supply town.

  However, no one among them had any intention of lingering over these artworks, nor did they genuinely want to pocket such corrupted art from this environment to sell it later.

  After quickly passing through the corridor, the remaining four arrived at the elevator.

  Three of them spread out to maintain vigilance while Pastor Ryder pressed the elevator button.

  With a distinct sound of mechanical operation, the elevator doors, which had already been stationed on this floor, slowly opened.

  Inside, there were no other beings, revealing the mirror-like interior before the team.

  A small, enclosed space—a term fatal for urban combat, especially in such an environment—but there was no other choice at the moment. After letting the cross enter first as a means of purification, the four followed in succession into the elevator.

  After a quick inspection, Zhang Ge, who was closest to the right-side control panel, discovered that this elevator had only one option.

  It seemed to lead to the mayor's bedroom or something similar?

  There was no time for further thought.

  After pressing the button, the elevator doors closed, and as the mechanism operated, Pastor Ryder looked at the moving terminal before him and suddenly said:

  "The depth gauge shows that our depth... is decreasing."

  In other words, it didn’t seem to lead to a room like the mayor's office, unless that mayor lacked a sense of security and preferred to live underground.

  Zhang Ge shrugged and said, "In that case? At least if they want to catch up, they’ll have to take the elevator down in waves."

  "This should lead to the altar; there are usually some guards around."

  Sister Amelia interrupted the banter with a reminder.

  The political commissar remained silent.

  Although his expression didn’t change, the low mood was palpable.

  In the silence, the depth continued to decrease second by second, finally stopping just before reaching a thousand.

  This depth far exceeded the depth of nuclear defense facilities on Zhang Ge's previous planet.

  When the elevator doors opened, what lay before them was not an enemy but a vast, boundless void.

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  Aside from the light spilling from the elevator, the only source of illumination in this void was a harsh white light shining down from the cave ceiling, illuminating a central altar inscribed with blasphemous symbols.

  The altar seemed to be situated right in the center of the void, surrounded by six bodies, each dissected into six parts, with each part occupying precisely one-sixth of the whole.

  Zhang Ge glanced at the others, quickly assessing who would be best suited for reconnaissance, and then spoke up: "Shall I take a look?"

  The political commissar turned his gaze to Pastor Ryder, who paused for a moment before realizing what he meant and shook his head, saying: "This is just a standard instrument; the subspace readings have long been undetectable."

  Gaze into subspace, and subspace will gaze back at you.

  Due to the need for high-intensity exposure to the subspace environment, instruments used to detect subspace readings typically have a short lifespan. Once corrupted, they self-purge.

  Pastor Ryder hadn’t anticipated they would delve this deep before coming here.

  In other words, once they left the protective range of the cross, it was entirely possible to be corrupted into a chaos egg in the next moment.

  But Zhang Ge had no intention of backing down and continued to speak:

  "Sacrificing one of me is better than letting everyone die. If something goes wrong, remember to give me a quick end."

  However, Sister Amelia, who had been silent since she spoke a word at the beginning, raised an objection at this moment:

  "You are one of the sources of the miracle; your value is far greater than all of ours combined, at least until the cause of the miracle is determined."

  Upon hearing this, Pastor Reid wanted to voice his agreement, but before he could, Zhang Ge countered:

  "If the Emperor truly favors me, how can I tolerate a coward who only seeks to save himself, especially when that coward is me?"

  After saying this, Zhang Ge turned to look at the political commissar, and once he nodded, he stepped out of the elevator and further away from the area illuminated by the cross.

  That was close; he almost died.

  As for the discomfort... to be honest, it didn't exist. Aside from feeling a bit cold, Zhang Ge didn't sense any special changes in the environment.

  But this did not mean that the phenomenon of subspace corruption was absent.

  Zhang Ge took a flare from his waist, pulled the pin, and found that although it triggered normally and flew into the sky, the flickering crimson light did not illuminate the surroundings at all, as if it were a distant star embedded in the dark ceiling.

  After pondering for a moment, Zhang Ge decided to continue forward. After walking roughly another ten meters in the darkness, an anomaly suddenly occurred.

  From beneath his feet, a massive pink ring surrounding the altar abruptly lit up, followed by a second ring closer to the altar, encased within the first, and then a third ring, similarly shaped and even closer to the altar, all the way to the sixth ring, as the profane radiance began to fill the underground space.

  Before Zhang Ge could take a closer look, he felt an unimaginable force pulling at the back of his neck, and he was yanked off the ground, as if he were in a convertible speeding down the highway, being dragged back into the elevator amidst the howling wind.

  He steadied himself and turned to look back, only to see Sister Amelia with a blank expression.

  At the moment the anomaly began, she had dashed out of the elevator and, braving the external subspace corrosion, pulled Zhang Ge back, who appeared to be standing there in a daze. However, Sister Amelia was left with only one arm, forcing her to abandon the longsword she had never let go of, throwing it down where Zhang Ge had just been.

  Sister Amelia said no more than necessary and extended her hand:

  "Weapons."

  Zhang Ge sighed lightly. Seeing her like this, he figured he wouldn't be able to die before her for the time being.

  Reluctantly, he handed over the laser gun and several magazines he had been carrying on his back:

  "Thank you, but if you could let me die in glory, I would be even more grateful... produced by the Military Affairs Department; I hope you find it useful."

  In the brief exchange between the two, the sixth ring had completely brightened, illuminating the contours of the natural cave.

  Following that, a phantom gradually appeared in the center of the altar. It did not see the usual worshippers and seemed to express a momentary confusion, but soon noticed the people in the elevator.

  This was not a color sin; cultists of this level could not communicate directly with the subspace evil gods. But even if it was just a powerful demon's avatar, the emanating spiritual energy was suffocating.

  "Ah, you carry his scent."