The horrifying cloning process continued. After replicating Ivy and Ni Lei, Hathaway dressed them and placed them in a bedroom, right within the manor.
When they awoke again, Hathaway gently told them that everything was over, that Elsa was gone, and they had been drugged to ensure secrecy.
"Why don't I have this memory, and Ivy never told me either?" Andrea stared at everything on the screen, speechless.
But what followed was even more unbearable. Hathaway continued her secret experiments. Council members visited a few times, but Hathaway merely placated them with some experimental data.
Over time, the council grew impatient and cut off her funding.
What no one knew was that Hathaway was constantly experimenting on Ni Lei, Ivy, and Edgar.
Upon their death, they would be "resurrected" using that device, with a different excuse each time.
Before the experiments, they lived as a normal family of four, and even hired many maids and servants. Ni Lei, the patriarch, was fascinated by ancient Egyptian culture, and even the maids began to study it.
The original manor was European in style; now, it had taken on a Nile-like aesthetic, merely wearing a European facade.
However, the maids and servants, who received high salaries, had no idea what the lady of the manor was truly doing behind the scenes, nor did they know their own fate.
Hathaway was unaware of the device's side effects. Each time a person was replicated from the same brain, remnants of the intermediate copied memories would linger.
Edgar was the first to notice something was wrong. Memories of his mother's brutal murders would surface intermittently, causing him immense pain.
When Hathaway took him to the base again, he erupted, revealing the truth. At this point, even Ni Lei and Ivy, who had accompanied her, backed away, no longer willing to believe her.
But it was all in vain. Hathaway's expression remained unchanged. She cruelly dragged them away, this time increasing the intensity of the experiment. She then divided the young Edgar into four parts, combining them with the created "immortal tissue."
These parts were scattered throughout the manor.
Ni Lei and Ivy were also modified with the "immortal tissue."
"From now on, let's name our church after things from ancient Egyptian mythology. What do you think, my dearest husband?
Hahahaha!!"
Hathaway, dressed in a nun's habit, laughed maniacally, as if recalling something amusing.
After her jest, the Church of Immortality was officially established, and began its mad revenge against the council. On one occasion, this led to the death of Carolanna's mother.
The scene ended, and the vision returned to darkness.
Lin Yuan's voice echoed in her ears.
"Andrea! Wake up!"
"Careful! I'm here to save you!"
Careful?
She forced her eyes open. In the dim light, Lin Yuan was frantically shaking her shoulder.
"Alright, Old Lin, stop shaking me. If you keep going, you'll shake me to death." She waved her hand weakly, feeling pain all over and no strength.
Andrea next to her also woke up, shaking her head.
Stones were rolling everywhere around them. The two of them were now locked in a cell, just like the one she had seen in that strange, dream-like memory.
"We need to get out of here quickly. This is no place to linger!" Lin Yuan said, looking back.
It seemed this place wasn't very safe.
Slowly straightening up, Wang Xiaoxin patted Lin Yuan's shoulder and leaned on it. She looked back. Andrea was in much better condition and could walk on her own.
"Let's go, Old Lin, let's hurry. The Holy Mother might be watching us somewhere. By the way, how did you know I was Wang Xiaoxin?"
"Andrea told me. I did some quick deduction," Lin Yuan replied without hesitation. After a pause, he asked, "Xiaoxin, what are your plans after we get out?"
Old Lin's question was a bit strange. This guy had a wife! And asking such things now seemed inappropriate.
Frowning, Wang Xiaoxin walked a few steps and suddenly asked, "Old Lin, do you remember when we were kids and we competed to see who could pee farther?"
"I remember. You won back then," Lin Yuan said, giving her a helpless look.
Wang Xiaoxin didn't reply, but just gave a cold smile.
Lin Yuan would never admit to losing in that regard in front of her! Moreover, his reaction was too calm, as if he had known she would ask this question.
But even if she confirmed this "Lin Yuan" was fake, how could she break free?
They were still in a dream-like mental world.
As she pondered, "Lin Yuan" had already led her quite a distance.
However, the path ahead was not towards increasing light, but towards ever-deepening darkness.
Wang Xiaoxin glanced at the torches on the wall, her heart stirring.
"Old Lin, let's stop for a moment. I want to rest."
"Okay, okay." "Lin Yuan" reluctantly put her down, appearing very anxious.
"Hurry up."
"Old Lin, look at that!" Suddenly, Wang Xiaoxin pointed behind "Lin Yuan" and said.
"Nothing. What's over there, Xiaoxin?" "Lin Yuan," who couldn't see anything after looking twice, froze the moment he turned around.
"Xiaoxin, what is this?"
At this moment, Wang Xiaoxin and Andrea were both holding torches, looking at her coldly.
"What is it? We're your dads!"
Before she could finish speaking, the torch swung at "Lin Yuan's" face. Sparks flew everywhere, and Wang Xiaoxin could even smell the scent of burning flesh.
But the struck "Lin Yuan" did not fall. Instead, he slowly turned his head, his entire body beginning to distort.
The surrounding environment also began to change. Brick walls seeped blood, and tentacles hung from the ceiling.
The view zoomed out from a close-up.
They finally broke free from their previous state and entered the mental world.
However, this did not mean they were safe, as they were now trapped in a cabin.
Andrea and Wang Xiaoxin knew what this was: a consciousness exchange device, one of the instruments Hathaway had been researching in the consciousness world!
And the Lin Yuan from just now had transformed into Hathaway's appearance, his head separated from his body and connected by some tissue, hanging outside the cabin.
Realizing her plan had failed, Hathaway's head returned to her body.
"My dear daughters, you should be grateful for the Holy Lord's (God's) favor, otherwise Mother would have already obtained your bodies, hahahaha."
Hathaway was on the verge of madness, her voice causing the entire ceiling to vibrate.
The base, originally constructed of metal, was now completely occupied by the flesh and blood of the monsters from the manor. Wang Xiaoxin could see some openings, and the view outside revealed not metal, but the bright sky.
Day had broken.
A cackling laugh rang out again, and Hathaway swung her head.
"Don't worry, my good daughters. Even if you don't obediently come to die, my plan is about to be completed. This world will soon be mine, hahahaha!"
No one responded.
"Damn it, why hasn't that Lia arrived yet! Can't she run faster even after merging with my baby! Stupid inferior beings!"
"Boom boom boom!"
Hathaway wanted to curse further, but three violent explosions sounded from the dome.
A hole was immediately blown through the flesh-composed wall, and debris rained down.
Attempts to heal it failed.
"Meteorite material?! Who stole my things!!!"
"I could hear your disgusting voice even outside your tortoise shell, you stinking bitch!"
Wang Xiaoxin looked closely. Standing on the cliff outside the hole were none other than Lin Yuan and Wu Tian!
"Stop wasting words with her, Lin Yuan. Hit her with another one!"
"Ahahaha, here comes the rocket!"
"WHOOSH—BOOM."
Direct hit!