Chapter 621: Escape Route

"Uh... were you also brought in by those people?"

If it had been anything else beside her, Catherine probably would have screamed in terror. But seeing Little Guardian, she actually felt a sense of relief.

"No. Those cultists captured you to use as a sacrificial offering for a ritual to a deity, and I happen to be one of the deities that ritual is meant to reach."

Lin Ye stated it very bluntly.

"...Are you joking with me?"

Catherine's face stiffened into a forced smile.

"Of course not. I rarely joke with people I'm not familiar with."

Lin Ye calmly looked at the young girl before him. This was the first time he was using the mental defense system to influence someone else, but Little Guardian was handling the actual effect. He himself didn't know the specifics of how the mental defense system worked.

"I've been useless my whole life. I'm definitely not qualified to be a sacrificial offering. Can you let me go, deity? In the future, I'll offer you something more valuable."

"First of all, I'm male. The owner of this body is technically my subordinate. Second, my situation is pretty much the same as yours—I've also been locked up in a cage by this cult organization."

Lin Ye answered truthfully.

"Huh? Even a deity can be imprisoned?"

Catherine asked, confused.

"Deities aren't omnipotent. At least, I'm not."

Lin Ye was currently just a parasitic worm hiding beneath the prison cell. This exploration mission was turning out to be far more troublesome than he had anticipated.

"Then why did you come to me?"

Catherine quickly grasped the main point.

"I need you to do some things for me. If you can complete the tasks I give you, I'll let you leave this place alive."

Lin Ye needed someone to cover up the noise when he made his move. After all, there were many strong individuals here, and right now, he was just a parasitic worm.

"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

Catherine didn't want to die here. For now, she could only cooperate with this somewhat strange deity.

"Good. The lock on your cell door is already broken. You can escape now."

Lin Ye had used the Severing rune to destroy the lock. He needed these sacrificial offerings to create some chaos for him.

"Alright."

Catherine carefully got up and pushed open the prison cell door. The corridor was empty and completely silent.

"Go left. There's only a low-level guard over there."

Lin Ye led the way. He had already mapped out the terrain in this area.

Catherine followed behind Lin Ye. Soon, she approached the guard room at the end of the corridor. A man stood outside the guard room door, staring at her with a strange expression.

"How did you get out?"

The man asked curiously.

"...Heh heh. The lock was broken, so I just came out."

In Catherine's field of vision, Lin Ye walked over to the man and brought his hand close to the man's head.

After a few seconds, the man suddenly walked toward the prison cell on his own, muttering something incoherent under his breath.

"Keep going straight. Turn right up ahead, and there's a lounge with some resting guards inside."

Lin Ye began constructing the mental defense system. This was his first time using it, but he picked it up quickly because Little Guardian handled most of the work.

"Alright."

Catherine cautiously approached the lounge. She pushed open the door and found Lin Ye already inside the lounge, while the guards were still chatting.

"Who's there!"

Several guards looked at Catherine in surprise. Before this, they hadn't noticed anyone approaching the lounge at all.

Lin Ye took the opportunity to use the mental defense system to influence these low-level guards. After a moment, they dismissed what had happened and went back to their conversation.

"That scared me to death."

The guards had just aimed their weapons at Catherine's head. If she hadn't been a sacrificial offering, she would have been shot dead on the spot.

"It's fine. It's tougher at first, but it gets better once you develop more subordinates."

As the mental nodes of the mental defense system increased, the system's strength also grew, allowing it to influence stronger enemies.

"That's good to hear."

Catherine continued forward following Lin Ye's guidance. But before long, she was surrounded by a group of high-level spiritual energy users in protective suits.

"Oh, this is getting a bit troublesome."

Lin Ye walked over to one of the high-level spiritual energy users in a protective suit. Right now, he couldn't handle these people either.

"How did you get out?"

Soon, Catherine was sent to an interrogation room. A high-level spiritual energy user in a protective suit sat down across from the interrogation table.

"You can tell the truth. I'll handle the rest."

Lin Ye sat at the side of the interrogation table and said to Catherine.

"The lock was broken, so I thought I'd try to escape from here."

Catherine answered nervously.

"Tell the truth."

The interrogator snapped off Catherine's right index finger.

A few seconds later, Catherine realized what had happened. She frantically pressed down on the top of her finger, trying to stop the blood spurting from the severed area.

"They can tell when you're lying. Besides, keeping the truth from them is pointless. These people should be able to guess that your escape was connected to a deity."

Lin Ye took out a roll of bandages and expertly bandaged Catherine's wound.

"Doesn't it hurt? The wound stopped bleeding that fast?"

The interrogator looked at Catherine with a very interested expression. It was the first time it had seen such an interesting sacrificial offering.

"This is the power of a deity. I'm just following the deity's instructions to complete my mission."

Catherine didn't want to lose another finger, and since Lin Ye had said she didn't need to keep secrets, she answered the interrogator's question.

"...That's the truth this time. Where did you encounter this deity? What form did it take?"

The interrogator glanced at the one-way window on the interrogation room wall before continuing.

"I encountered the deity in the prison cell. It looked no different from a normal human."

Since lies would be seen through, Catherine had no choice but to tell the truth.

"Is it still in the prison cell? What did it ask you to do?"

Hearing that the deity had a human form, the interrogator visibly tensed up a bit.

"It's not in the prison cell... It just told me to run."

Catherine didn't want to reveal that Lin Ye had been sitting right next to her earlier, and that Lin Ye was now standing behind the interrogator.

"...Is it still following you?"

The interrogator suddenly turned his head toward the one-way window. By now, several layers of mental barriers had already been set up there.

"...Yes."

Catherine could only answer.

"Where is it right now? Give me a specific location!"

The interrogator nervously gripped the weapon at his waist. He wasn't sure if it could handle this unknown deity, but at least it made him feel a bit safer.

Catherine didn't answer. She just lowered her head and stared at the floor.

"Speak!"

The interrogator growled.

"Tell him. It's not like they can do anything about it."

Lin Ye said with a smile.

"Behind you."

Catherine could only answer.