Besides the tangled chains, the room was covered in countless bloodstains on the walls, the floor, and even on the girl's body.
She remained unmoved even when she heard the elevator doors open, not even lifting her head. She sat there lifelessly, more like a dead object than a person, devoid of any vitality, blending into the cold, gloomy room.
"Is that your high priest?" Zhong Mu was stunned, incredulous.
He had at least met the high priests of both the Forgotten City and the Twin Cities. Even though the one in the Forgotten City didn't have a good living environment and was in poor health, he was far from being in such a state. As a former representative of the gods, he was living worse than the residents outside.
"Hmm..." The divine messengers, feeling guilty, turned their heads away. "It was the city lord who locked her up here. The city lord also ordered us not to come up here normally."
"Because she is useful to the City of Fallen Life, and the High Priest is immortal, we don't even need to worry about her daily needs. We only need to come up and see her briefly when we are working."
Zhong Mu frowned. "Work?"
The divine messengers slowly lowered their heads. "It's... when limbs are needed..."
"But we haven't seen the High Priest for a while now. We heard from other people in the main city that the High Priest seems to be seeking death and his body has stopped healing itself. We don't know if it's true or not."
Zhong Mu remained silent. The people in this city were truly terrifying. Not to mention those outside the main city, there were quite a few divine messengers within the main city as well, yet not a single one of them showed any compassion for the High Priest.
The one imprisoned here is neither a person nor a high priest to them, but merely an indispensable tool for the City of Fallen Life.
If even one person had a kind heart, or even a compassionate heart, this City of Fallen Life wouldn't have remained completely undisturbed.
"Unlock it." Zhong Mu no longer wanted to condemn their indifference, and simply nodded.
"Would the High Priest be willing to help us summon the god? The High Priest must hate us, right?" The messengers of the gods stepped forward hesitantly, none of them daring to look at the girl inside.
With the city lord dead, their guilt lost its fig leaf, and facing the high priest meant directly confronting their sins; their voices all lowered.
"I'll go in and talk to her. I'm afraid she'll be upset, so you all shouldn't come in," Zhong Mu instructed the divine messengers. Once the lock was opened, he led Mu He inside.
Although he could smell the blood even through the iron bars, once he stepped inside, the even stronger stench of blood assaulted his senses, causing Zhong Mu to frown. He couldn't imagine how anyone could survive in such a dark, cold place filled with the smell of blood.
"Doctor, please check on her first. I'll go open a window." Zhong Mu didn't dare to approach the girl rashly, fearing that her clothes were tattered. He turned around and pulled back the curtains through the iron bars.
The light from outside the window shone into this dark and cold place, and the cold iron bars reflected the merciless light in the sunlight.
Sensing the change in light and shadow, the locked-up girl moved slightly and slowly raised her head.
It was a pale face, with no color in its cheeks or lips, and the whole face was extremely thin, full of haggardness and sickness. There was no vitality in its black pupils, only a dazed and lifeless look.
She raised her head, not looking at Mu He in front of her, but slowly turning her head to look at the source of the light, which was Zhong Mu's direction.
The black curtains that blocked out the light and shadow were lifted, and looking out through the narrow window, the bright sunlight and clear sky were incredibly dazzling and beautiful, as if they were another world in her eyes.
Standing by the window against the light, Zhong Mu moved around in front of the window, pulling open all the curtains that covered the entire room, as if tearing away the gloom.
"God... has he returned?" the girl murmured weakly and silently, never imagining that she would see the sun again one day.
Her light, airy voice rang out, and she immediately received a reply: "No, God won't be coming back."
"But we will get you out of here."
The high priestess was in a daze for a while. Her gaze slowly shifted from the figure by the window to the person in front of her. When she saw the person in front of her, she smiled palely. "You...aren't you the gods who came to save me?"
Every minute she spent there, she prayed for God's return, for her beloved God to rescue her from this place.
But the more they prayed, the more disappointed they became, because God did not appear.
The gods abandoned this place, which is why she became the target of everyone's hatred, why she suffered unbearable pain, and why she became a victim of the City of Fallen Life.
She hated God, and she hated those who perished in the City of Destiny, cursing this place with an incomparably deep resentment.
But whether she hoped or resented, nothing could change anything. She would still be tormented here for a long time, unable even to die.
God was once an incomparably noble and sacred being in everyone's hearts, representing hope and beauty. But for the high priest at this moment, the two people who brought her light also represented hope and beauty; they were no different from God.
"I have no interest in becoming a god." Mu He replied with a smile, then slowly lowered his head and reached for the girl's hand, which was bound by chains. After touching the unusual sensation on her arm, he remained silent for a few seconds, then continued to feel his way up her arm.
"Are the scars on your body permanently permanent, or are they all recent additions?" Mu He had a rough idea of what was going on, but still asked politely.
"I don't know either…" The high priest slowly lowered his eyes to his arm. "In the days before, people came to cut them down every day, and I couldn't tell which ones were eliminated and which ones were newly added."
"I understand." Mu He nodded, and fearing that the other person was too depressed, she immediately added, "Don't worry about these, I can use ointment to remove them for you."
The high priest reluctantly forced a smile. "Alright."
Zhong Mu, who overheard the conversation, was puzzled. He peeked out from a few steps away and was stunned by what he saw.
The high priestess's arms, which were almost skin and bones, were covered with crisscrossing scars, almost layer upon layer, covering most of her skin. It looked extremely horrifying. And it wasn't just her arms; her neck, ankles, and everywhere else that could be seen were covered with such marks.
Even if the scars on the skin are removed, the scars in one's heart will likely be difficult to erase.
Being locked up here every day, constantly providing the limbs needed by the residents of Fallen City, dying and being resurrected using the regenerative power of the gods, this body has probably had every cell replaced.
What's the difference between this unbearable pain, this endless suffering, and torture?