Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

The night was as dark as ink, shrouding the silent camp. Most people had fallen asleep, only Lin Yi and Jerry remained awake.

When his breathing became even and deep, Jerry stood up from the bed lightly and made a gesture to Lin Yi.

Lin Yi rolled off the bed silently, and even the dust was not disturbed when the soles of his boots touched the ground.

He noticed the bulge at Jerry's waist - the half-moon stock of a modified flintlock rifle.

The two of them were sneaking along the damp brick wall, and Lin Yi suddenly grabbed Jerry's shoulder to stop him.

Just around the corner three meters away, the sound of metal armor plates colliding was crisp and harsh. Two patrolling guards walked slowly by holding whale oil lanterns engraved with the church's emblem. The light reflected a cold glow on their armor.

The footsteps of the patrolling guards gradually faded away and finally disappeared into the night.

Lin Yi's nose suddenly caught a strange smell - the smell of blood, but not the fresh, warm smell of blood, but the old smell of blood rust mixed with sulfur.

"Something's wrong..." Lin Yi murmured in a low voice, his voice almost inaudible.

Jerry reacted faster than him. He grabbed Lin Yi's arm and the two of them quickly slipped into a room nearby without making any sound.

The room was dark and damp, and the air was filled with a musty smell.

Through the wooden bars of the window, Lin Yi saw eight men in black robes carrying an iron cage passing by.

A humanoid creature was curled up in the cage, its body was melting in a strange way, like a wax figure being roasted by high temperature.

The sticky liquid dripped from its body surface and fell on the stone floor, making a "sizzling" sound.

Just as the two were about to step out the back door, a cold sense of crisis crept up his spine.

Lin Yi pushed Jerry towards the pickle barrel beside him, and slid into the shadows along the wall like a ghost.

"Dong-dong-dong" the sound of silver boots stepping on stone slabs could be heard clearly.

Archbishop Mike stood at the intersection, holding an exquisite lantern in his hand, and the dim light shone on his gloomy face.

"Sir, have you discovered anything?" an attendant asked in a low voice, with a bit of flattery and fear in his tone, as if he was trying to please a poisonous snake that might bite at any time.

Archbishop Mike did not answer immediately, but slowly raised the lantern, and the dim light swept across the shadows around him, as if looking for something.

Lin Yi's body was tense. He could feel Jerry hiding behind the pickle barrel, also holding his breath and deliberately slowing his heartbeat.

"Nothing." Mike's voice finally rang out, as harsh as snake scales rubbing against glass, "It's just that the sacrifice tonight is not fresh enough."

As soon as he finished speaking, the followers behind him immediately dragged out two unconscious believers. Their bodies hung limply, like puppets with their souls sucked out.

"Before you draw out their spinal fluid, remember to inject a double dose of magic mushroom extract first."

The follower nodded and bowed in response, then dragged the two believers into the darkness with skillful movements.

Archbishop Mike's eyes swept around again, and the light of the lantern stayed for a moment on the edge of the shadow where Lin Yi was hiding, as if testing something.

After a moment, Mike finally turned and left. The sound of his silver boots gradually faded away and finally disappeared into the night.

"Fortunately, the other party didn't find out."

Jerry crawled out of the pickle barrel, his movements were a little awkward, and the pickle juice on his body gave off a pungent sour smell.

"I know what you're planning," Jerry lowered his voice, with a hint of helplessness and sympathy in his tone, "but don't expect those guys to solve your physical problems. If they really had that ability, there wouldn't be so many Deviants in the camp."

"According to my last investigation, two conditions must be met in order to resolve the anomaly."

"First, enter the ruins and find a special medicinal ingredient. I don't know what it is. Second, you need to sacrifice three polluters."

"That's why the church took such great pains to send us here." Jerry smiled bitterly, his eyes revealing a deep sense of helplessness. "In their eyes, we are just a group of lambs to be slaughtered."

Jerry also wanted to leave the church, but the Red Sky Continent had been eroded by the ancient gods and was riddled with holes. Apart from the church, only the territory of the Wall of Living Beings could provide a lingering shelter.

Jerry's alienation is so deep, yet he still maintains his sanity. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that he is closely related to the Church of the Lord of Pollution.

Staying in the territory will lead to death sooner or later.

Instead of sitting and waiting for death, why not come here and give it a try?

"Do you have a way to enter the ruins?" Lin Yi asked directly, not caring about what Jerry said before.

Jerry frowned, and his alienated arm twitched involuntarily.

He lowered his voice with a hint of caution in his tone: "No. Although the perimeter of the ruins is vast, the fog is no joke. That thing... is not ordinary fog at all, but some kind of living thing. It will devour the minds of all intruders and even distort their bodies. If there is no special guide, people who go in will most likely lose their way and never get out."

"It is said that only the Archbishop is qualified to use that thing. We are not even qualified to take a look at it."

Just then, heavy footsteps were heard in the distance, accompanied by the sound of metal armor rubbing against each other.

The two looked at each other, shut their mouths tacitly, turned around quickly, and returned to the room quietly.

Jerry is still thinking about pulling Lin Yi into his camp. For him, having one more helper is equivalent to having one more strength.

Moreover, in Jerry's eyes, the character played by Lin Yi is stupid, and if anything goes wrong, he can push Lin Yi out and escape in time.

Thinking of this, the corners of Jerry's mouth slightly raised, and his alienated arms trembled slightly under the cloak, as if he had already seen the scene of himself escaping unscathed.

While Jerry was relaxing, Lin Yi left a soldier from the Black Shadow Corps lying on the bed and escaped.

Without Jerry, the drag, Lin Yi's actions became more secretive.

Every time a patrol team approached, he could always sense it in advance and blend into the shadows.

Lin Yi’s target was very clear—the villa area where Archbishop Mike lived.

As one of the twelve archbishops in the church, Mike holds an important position.

Even in this barren place invaded by ancient gods, he was treated much better than most people in the territory.

The villa area surrounded by high walls and the gorgeous buildings form a sharp contrast with the dilapidated environment around it, as if they were two completely different worlds.

In order to avoid making any noise, Lin Yi installed a special device on the sole of his shoe, which could completely absorb the sound of broken glass even if he stepped on it.

Arriving at the villa where Mike was, Lin Yi noticed that there were three teams of guards patrolling outside the villa area.

Even though he was in the center of the church's camp, Archbishop Mike did not let down his guard.

Instead, he stationed a large number of elite church forces near his residence.

This almost paranoid defense is obviously not without reason.

Before becoming archbishop, Mike offended too many people.

His road to power was filled with blood and betrayal. Countless people fell at his feet and became stepping stones for him to climb to the pinnacle of power.

Those who were stepped on by him, their relatives, friends, followers, and even some surviving enemies, still hate him to the core.

Even though he is now an archbishop, it is difficult to avoid people who want to find an opportunity to kill him.

Lin Yi's sight first locked onto the first team - this team was mainly responsible for patrolling the front of the villa and the courtyard.

Their actions were extremely regular, and they would conduct a thorough inspection every five minutes, like a sophisticated machine.

Lin Yi noticed that this team was extremely vigilant.

Just now, an insect flew from somewhere and landed on a leaf in the courtyard, causing the leaf to shake slightly.

Such a trivial movement immediately caught the attention of one of the soldiers.

The soldier carefully checked the area until he was sure there was nothing unusual, then he returned to the team and continued patrolling.

The other team is stationed at the back door of the villa as a fixed post.

There are a total of twelve people in this team, divided into three shifts, with four people in each shift, taking turns on guard duty.

Each sentry period lasts half an hour, with almost no gaps during the handover, apparently to ensure that the backdoor area is always under strict surveillance.

There is also a patrol team specially arranged by the camp to patrol this area. Their mission scope is wider and the patrol frequency is relatively low - they will only come to the villa area for patrol once every hour, and each stay will last about fifteen minutes.

This means that within forty-five minutes after this team leaves, there will be a short "window period" in the Villa area's defense.

Lin Yi's gaze lingered for a moment in the direction of the back door of the villa.

Although the members of the fixed sentry team would not move at will, Archbishop Mike had obviously designed the back door defense to be watertight.

All the windows were sealed by some special means, leaving not even a crack.

What's more troublesome is that Lin Yi noticed that there were a large number of scattered purple particles scattered on the ground near the back door.

Lin Yi was very familiar with this thing - it was explosive spores. Once someone stepped on it, the spores would explode immediately.

Lin Yi had suffered several losses in previous battles, and his memory of this kind of thing was particularly deep.

Just as Lin Yi was thinking about countermeasures, suddenly, there was a slight commotion in the woods not far away.

A few birds were startled and flew up, flapping their wings and rushing into the night sky.

Lin Yi's pupils shrank slightly. Relying on his intuition from years of fighting, he immediately determined that someone was approaching.

So Lin Yi chose to retreat a few dozen meters to avoid being discovered by people coming from afar. Sure enough, not long after, several figures in black tights appeared from the woods.

They moved extremely cautiously, taking every step carefully, and it was obvious that they were heading for Archbishop Mike's villa.

Lin Yi's heart moved and he followed quietly.

He found that these people acted in perfect harmony with each other and were obviously well-trained killers.

"It seems that I'm not the only one who wants Archbishop Mike's life."

Lin Yi followed this group of people, ready to follow their route.

The group quickly arrived at the side of the villa area, but the killers did not rush to act. Instead, they crouched in the dense grass tacitly, as if waiting for a certain opportunity to come.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the night became darker.

About thirty minutes later, the patrol team in the camp arrived as expected and slowly approached along the designated route.

One of the patrol team briefly looked at the leader of the killer team, then nodded, as if they had reached some kind of tacit understanding.

Immediately afterwards, the patrol team continued to move forward along the established route and came directly to the side of the villa area.

The sentry in front of the villa noticed the patrol's movements, and the originally tight surveillance suddenly relaxed a lot.

Apparently, the presence of the patrol led the sentry to mistakenly believe that the area had been fully patrolled, and thus he relaxed his vigilance.

The patrol team's captain's eyes flashed, and he quickly met the killers lurking in the dark.

The next moment, a member of the killer team suddenly raised his hand and threw a package of objects into the villa.

A deafening explosion suddenly sounded, flames shot up into the sky, and the hot air waves swept around, causing a corner of the villa area's wall to collapse.

The huge explosion echoed in the night sky, instantly attracting the attention of the other two patrols.

"who?!"

Lin Yi noticed that there were only four guards at the back door, and the other eight were still at the back door without moving.

At the same time, the guard team at the front gate sent most of their forces to the explosion site.

The patrol team leader deliberately shouted loudly, pointing at a killer who was fleeing quickly in the distance, and shouted: "Chase him! Don't let him get away!"

There was a hint of urgency in his voice, as if he was really trying his best to hunt down the killer.

Under the cover of the team leader, the other guards did not notice the killers who were still lurking under their noses.

The guards at the front door left a few people to guard the scene, and the rest followed the patrol team to chase the "fugitive".

Soon, the aftermath of the explosion dissipated, the flames gradually died down, and the area fell into silence again.

Six guards stood beside the collapsed wall, their faces filled with fatigue and helplessness.

One of them couldn't help but complain in a low voice: "This is the third time this month. How many people has Archbishop Mike offended? If this continues, our lives will be in jeopardy!"

The other person sighed and shook his head, saying, "Say less. Who asked us to do this? Be careful and don't let those crazy people take advantage of you."

Just when a few people relaxed their minds, the killers lurking in the dark suddenly attacked!

There was a flash of cold light, and the six guards fell in a pool of blood without even having the chance to scream.

The killers' movements were clean and neat, without any delay.

They quickly cleaned up the scene, dragged the body to the bushes nearby, and covered the bloodstains with dead branches and leaves.

The whole process went smoothly, and it was obvious that they were already familiar with this kind of task.

After doing all this, the killers continued to move deeper into the villa.

Lin Yi used the power of shadow to cover his own tracks, and then followed this group of people into the villa area.

The group soon arrived in front of the main building of the villa. The killers stopped and the leading killer took out a crumpled blueprint from his arms and studied it carefully in the faint moonlight.

The drawings were densely marked with the internal structure of the villa, and there were even several routes marked in red pen, which were obviously carefully planned attack routes.

"The target is on the third floor, and there are guards on the second floor. Remember, once you are surrounded, commit suicide immediately and never fall into the hands of the enemy." The captain of the killer team repeated to his men.

These killers are obviously not ordinary mercenaries, but death warriors carefully trained by a big shot in the camp.

They have only one goal - to kill Archbishop Mike at any cost.

The gate of the villa was closed tightly, and the heavy wooden door looked particularly solemn in the moonlight.

This was a piece of cake for the killers. One of them took out a sophisticated tool from his waist and inserted it into the keyhole with skillful movements.

After just a few seconds, there was a slight "click" sound and the door lock opened.

The killer gently opened the door a crack, listened for a moment, and after confirming that there was nothing unusual, he quickly gestured to his companion behind him.

After the last killer entered the villa, Lin Yi flashed and followed quietly.

As soon as he stepped into the villa, Lin Yi's attention was attracted by a corpse on the floor.

He was a servant in a servant's uniform. His head was twisted 180 degrees and there was still a trace of confusion on his face. At the moment before his death, he still couldn't understand what was going on.

Lin Yi pricked up his ears, but found that he could hardly hear any footsteps.

Every step these killers took was extremely light, for fear of making any sound.

When the killers arrived at the stairs, the leading killer suddenly raised his hand and gestured to stop.

He made a few gestures, signaling two of his men to go up to the second floor to explore the way first.

The two killers nodded, walked up the stairs silently, and disappeared into the shadows of the second floor.

But a guard on the second floor happened to get up to urinate and unexpectedly ran into two killers. The sound of fierce fighting immediately alarmed all the guards on the second floor.

"Enemy attack! There is an assassin!" the guard shouted loudly, and his voice echoed in the silent villa.

When the killers on the first floor heard the noise, their faces changed suddenly. The leading killer signaled everyone to support the second floor immediately.

The killers quickly rushed up the stairs, trying to turn the situation around.

But there were too many guards on the second floor. Even though the killer team was more skilled, they were still defeated by this group of well-trained guards.

"Mission failed." Looking at the guards around them, the killer team already knew that this mission had failed.

Before it finished speaking, it pulled out a bag of explosive spores from its arms and detonated them.

In an instant, a dazzling white light accompanied by a deafening explosion swept across the entire second floor.

The blazing air waves instantly engulfed the surrounding guards and assassins; the walls were shattered into pieces, with debris flying everywhere.

The corridor on the second floor turned into a hell on earth, with blood, flesh and debris intertwined into a horrifying picture.

Four charred bodies of killers were entangled with the remains of the guards, forming a strange symbiotic organism.

The purple mycelium squirmed like living things, madly devouring the surrounding organic matter, making a creepy "hissing" sound.

The killer captain who was blown to pieces was actually a sixteen-year-old girl who was still surviving in the camp a year ago.

When her father was publicly executed by the church for offending the archbishop, the knight used a heraldic iron to burn the mark of eternal slavery on her collarbone.

And the "someone" who trained the death squad was the warden who was in charge of the execution at that time.

He took advantage of these hopeless children and trained them into cold-blooded and ruthless assassins, becoming the sharpest blades in his hands.

Although the warden holds a high position in the church camp, compared with the archbishop, he is still like an ant looking up at an elephant.

The position of the archbishop has long been firmly controlled by the power, and the warden has no choice but to take risks if he wants to take the position.

To this end, he was willing to pay a huge price and vowed to get rid of Mike.

Mike's identity was originally a scapegoat pushed forward by the church's top leaders. His enemies were everywhere. Killing him would not alert other archbishops and would clear the way for the warden.

After all, given Mike's background and abilities, he is not worthy of the position of archbishop.

"This is the third time this month. I wonder who the Archbishop has offended." A guard said with lingering fear as he looked at the corpse on the ground.

As soon as he said this, he was slapped hard by the captain behind him.

"Stop talking nonsense. Don't let anyone else hear you saying this, or you'll end up like those test subjects in the basement." Upon hearing this, the guard who had been complaining just now immediately shut up.

"Okay, the others stay here to clean up the scene. I'll go up and report the situation here to the adults." The captain of the guard sighed.

To be honest, he didn't want to get involved in Mike's troubles, but he had to obey the church's orders, otherwise his own fate would not be good.

Hearing the captain of the guard say this, Lin Yi followed him to the third floor.

As soon as he stepped onto the third floor, Lin Yi noticed that the other party took out a token and stuck it on the wall. Then, a formation pattern flashed on the ground on the third floor.

It seems that Mike has taken more than one level of security measures, and has also made many precautions on the third floor. (End of this chapter)