Lan Ji pondered for a moment and then explained: "This basement... has a special situation. It has been said to be haunted before. After the light broke, in order to avoid hiding big rats down there, I also sent people to repair it, but they said

I heard a strange noise and everyone was frightened out, so the lights in the basement have been broken for almost half a month now."

After saying that, Lanji started to turn a clockwork-like mechanism under the base of the lantern. Listening to the "click, click" sound, it should be that the mechanism inside the driving base was igniting.

"Then why is Lana's body in the basement?"

Regarding the boy's question, Katiss answered for Lanji: "To be precise, it is in the underground cemetery connected to the basement. She was buried the day before yesterday. The main entrance to the underground cemetery is under the temple. Unless you arrive there,

The festival is not open on weekdays."

The young man can understand the latter things, but not the former.

He looked confused and asked: "The basement of the brothel is actually connected to the cemetery... Is there any reason for this?"

Lan Ji, who successfully lit a lantern, led the way and introduced: "As far as I know, Tieyu City was attacked by many tribes in the past. The city lord at that time ordered the construction of many underground facilities to protect the residents."

"However, after the soldiers and civilians in the city persisted for nearly a year, some insiders surrendered and rebelled. The city was still captured. Then, because the army had accumulated too much hostility these days, they carried out attacks on the residents of the city.

Massacre, even those hiding in the underground city are no exception."

"It is said that the massacre lasted for seven days. At that time, the above-ground city was almost in ruins, and the underground city became a dead place. The underground city in the latter area was changed into an underground cemetery because it was too uninhabited.

.”

"Huh? Then the underground city where I live..."

Listening to ghost stories.

It just so happened that the boy also lived in the underground city, which made me feel a little creepy.

"No, the part you live in was renovated from ancient ruins."

Realizing that the young man seemed to have no intention of following, Lan Ji stopped in front of the entrance of the passage and continued to introduce:

"The excavation site where you are working now is actually developing underground ruins. However, it seems that slave workers dug out 'bad' things a few days ago. For this reason, the priests were invited to suppress it. I don't know.

Is it related to the situation in the basement?"

"I see."

The young man nodded slightly and understood a little.

The Tieyu City area is full of loose loess, which is suitable for underground construction. In addition, it has a long history and the city has been destroyed many times. No one knows what is buried under this thick loess.

"So we didn't go down there to see Lana's body, right?"

"Well, I would like to ask you to go to the basement with us. After all, we don't know exactly what is going on down there."

Lanji brought the boy here this time to take precautions. After all, the commotion in the basement did not come out of nowhere. If not handled properly, it might leave a lot of hidden dangers to the brothel.

But this matter is a bit evil after all. Lan Ji also tried to ask other capable warriors, even Mayena, but they all refused without exception ("I hate ghosts who do not comply with the element theorem").

Something." A certain elf said at the time.).

At the moment, this young man was the only one who had the possibility to help her, so she used Lana's incident as a guide to bring the young man here, which also meant deception.

"Will you help us?"

Lan Ji's voice was slightly trembling, and her helpless expression was pitiful.

"If I don't agree, do you also want to go down by yourself?"

The young man sighed. He would not simply be led around. This matter was not within the scope of what was agreed. There would be certain dangers in exploring the basement. There was no need to be such a good person.

"Is there nothing we can do about it?"

Katis held the lantern tightly, and she said a little out of control:

"Because of this rumor of being haunted, the business and reputation of the brothel are deteriorating. Coupled with Lana's incident... there are even rumors that 'evil ghosts kill prostitutes'."

"We can't go if we don't go. This matter has already caused a lot of impact. If it doesn't calm down, it may affect the entire brothel. Worse, it may even affect the entire city. But if we don't find out the situation, it will

No one will believe what we prostitutes say, so we have to go down and have a look."

"Actually, I was the only one who insisted on going."

Lan Ji interrupted Katis's speech, and she continued: "Sister Katis will follow me for my safety, but it is indeed risky for the two of us to explore the basement alone, so I hope you can help us.

.After all, your injury has not healed yet, so we can understand if you don’t come.”

To help or not to help?

They all say that the matter is none of their business and they should be ignored. In fact, this matter will not affect me no matter what.

Do I need to take risks for someone I don’t know well?

You really won't come?

Seeing the indifferent attitude on the young man's face, Lan Ji sighed secretly in her heart, while Katis also had some disappointment in her eyes.

Although Lan Ji wanted the other person to help her and even tried to fool him before, this young man was very keen and would not listen to her words.

But now there is no other way, and now I can only rely on myself.

Just as the two of them were taking steps to step onto the stairs, a young man's voice suddenly came from behind them.

"I'll do it."

The young man pretended to smile relaxedly.

"Of course I'm coming. Besides, if I hand you such a heavy bucket, you won't be able to lift it, right?"

At this time, the boy once again thought of the prostitute who tried to protect him in a critical moment, and the scene of the mother and daughter shouting across the fence. These prostitutes are also human beings. They need help, and he owes them a favor, so it is time to help him a little.

.

Although he has no rules in how he behaves, he only wants to have a clear conscience.

If you let these two weak women go to the basement where there may be unknown risks, if something happens, you will definitely regret why you didn't follow them.

Lan Ji and Katis looked at each other, and finally said together: "Thank you very much!"

The atmosphere on the way to the basement was inexplicably tense, and because words would echo loudly in the narrow corridor, the boy, Lanji, and Katis didn't raise any more topics.

The stairs to the basement were longer than he thought. Of course, it might be because everyone in his group was walking very slowly. In short, the young man felt that he had not reached the end even after walking for a long time. It was as if he was leading to the underworld.

generally.

As it got deeper and deeper, the light from the lantern in Lanji's hand was no longer enough, so Katis, who was following the boy, also lit a lantern.

Because the young man followed the others one after another, and because he was bold, he didn't feel uneasy and had the leisure to observe the surrounding situation.

There are torch racks installed at intervals on both sides of the walls, and looking at the soot beside these torch racks and the age of the racks themselves, you can tell that this place has at least several decades of history.

However, since Lanji and Katis both have lanterns, torches are naturally not needed, and the invention and popularization of kerosene lanterns seems to have happened more than ten years ago, which means there should be...

.

"Okay! We're here."

Lanji's clear voice interrupted the boy's random thoughts. The boy quickly looked ahead, but because the lantern was not bright enough, he could only see an iron door with rivets, iron chains and three large locks.

The young man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Well, what do you usually put in this basement? Why is it so well protected?"

"I don't put anything there. I just put wine at most and rarely pile up clutter."

Lan Ji answered as she took out a set of keys and unlocked the door.

"Then why install this kind of door? I thought this kind of thing would only be seen in prisons."

Katis, who had been smiling all the time, now looked very serious. She answered for Lan Ji who was busy: "You will know after you go in and take a look."

"Okay, it's open."

Lan Ji opened the big lock on the iron door, but she didn't rush in. Instead, she leaned the lantern against the crack of the door to see what was going on.

"Huh? Could it be..."

Seeing this, the young man couldn't help but put down the oil barrel in his left hand, put his palm on the hilt of his sword, and got ready for battle.

"It should be fine, come in first!"

They observed it for about two or three minutes, during which Lan Ji tried to knock on the iron door, as if to lure something out. However, in the end, nothing came close to the iron door, and no so-called strange noise came out, which made everyone relax.

Take a breath.

I hope that the so-called "haunting" is just a rumor.

The young man followed Lan Ji and Katis into the basement, and suddenly felt a strong cold air, as if his bones were covered with frost.

Lanji and Katis lit the remaining two lanterns respectively, and then placed one of them on the extinguished lamppost next to them, illuminating the dark basement.

"This...this is the altar??"

Under the light of four lanterns, the young man could clearly see the situation inside.

This basement is completely arranged like an altar. The central stone base is painted with complicated runes. On the central platform is a half-human statue of the goddess of light. Next to the statue are many dried tributes.

.

However, because Lanji had always sent people to clean the place before, even if no one came here for a week or two, there was still no dust.

Lan Ji corrected: "To be precise, it is the Demon Sealing Altar. It is said that it was installed here by a bright priest ten years ago to suppress the dead souls below."
To be continued...