Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
I received this explosive news all of a sudden and out of nowhere; I had no idea how I was to respond. The blow that this news dealt to me was even greater than that when Pandora told me that rotten metal plate was an ‘Ethereal Beacon’. I began to suspect if the author even knew what he or she was writing. Nonsense! I’ve said the wrong thing…
I looked around me and realized that there was no source of light in this underground space, but it was still well-lit as if the sun was shining in. We could clearly see everything inside this hall.
The entire hall looked almost as big as a football field. It was made completely out of huge stone slabs, and there were strange patterns and diagrams engraved into the cubes on the ground. On the wall beside me, some sculptures obviously had meanings that I did not understand. The entire place looked like some sort of sacrifice was taking place. Even the stone pillars were covered in what looked like letters.
Apart from the entrance we entered from, the hall also had an exit or entrance of about the same size on each wall. Including the one we entered from, there were a total of four passageways connected to this hall.
These were ancient remains, but the standard of this structure looked very advanced. Still, what I was seeing here looked nothing like the Xyrin buildings that I saw were to be built in the future.
“Pandora, are you sure this is the graveyard of a Xyrin Warrior? There isn’t a single piece of advanced equipment here.”
“This place is indeed filled with the aura of the ancient carbon-based being’s civilization. However, the set-up looks exactly as the resting places we create for our Xyrin Warriors. The sculptures and words here have all been edited by carbon-based beings, based on their own understanding; but I can tell that these are Xyrin words. Most importantly, there is a Xyrin device here that’s still working…”
“What?!” I exclaimed, wanting to ask for more details. However, before I could do so, I heard Lin Xue shout, “Everyone, close your eyes!”
Although we did not know why Lin Xue was asking us to do that, we did not doubt her even for a second. Instead, all of us closed our eyes.
“Ah!”
“What is happening…?”
“How can this be…?”
“I can still see…”
“Don’t count the words anymore… Wu…”
All sorts of shouts echoed throughout the hall.
We realized in shock that even though our eyes were closed, we could still see the image of the hall very clearly in our heads. At the same time, we lifted our hands and touched our faces to check if we still existed.
“The Mind-Imaging System can cause scenes to cut right into the minds of living beings, in order to cause an effect. It can look up to 99.99% similar to the original scene. Usually, we combine this technology with virtual reality technology in order to put our soldiers through special combat training…”
“In other words, everything here is an illusion?!” My heart skipped a beat, and I immediately wanted to convey this news to everyone else.
“No… this Mind-Imaging System seems to have been placed here purely to help visitors see everything in this hall properly. The image we receive in our minds is exactly the same as the actual appearance of the hall.”
At that moment, Lin Xue discovered the same thing using her own skills. She waved her hand, gesturing for her uneasy companions to calm down. “Everyone, you don’t have to worry. This is just an illusion. It seems like something in this ancient remains is allowing us to see the hall without using our ordinary senses.”
“…Is this place really just ancient remains?” Lin Feng’s words echoed many other people’s thoughts.
The strange remains caused everyone to be on their toes. Lin Xue maximized the sensitivity of her own senses while Zheng Yiming walked right to the front of the group so that he could be the first to tackle any sort of danger. Lin Xue’s right hand made one circle in the air, and green wind blades appeared in his hands. Sicaro carefully hugged his bag, which was full of pirated discs, closer to his chest.
…Uncle, are you sure you’re not a spy sent by the enemy to cause chaos among us? Or is your real purpose here to expand your consumer-base of pirated discs to the zombies in the tomb as well?
“Wait a moment…” Qianqian, who had been silently following behind the group from the beginning, suddenly called out. All of us turned back and saw the hexagonal metal plate, which Qianqian was holding, vibrating slightly. One of the edges was even emitting a dim red light.
“It suddenly became like this…”
We all exchanged meaningful looks. At last, I suggested, “Why don’t you try changing the direction of the plate?”
Qianqian turned the hexagonal metal plate as I suggested, and all of us saw the red light move to another edge. It was almost acting like a compass.
“Move in the direction of this red light.”
Lin Xue unexpectedly turned to me and said, “I didn’t think that apart from being so destructive, you would also be so smart.”
…If you had a living instruction manual for the ‘Ethereal Beacon’ like Pandora next to you, you would easily make that suggestion as well.
We followed behind Lin Xue and came to one of the exits of the hall. A dark passageway stood in front of us.
I used my spiritual connection to complain to Pandora: “Which Xyrin Apostle built a place like that? Would it have killed them to install more ‘Mind-Imaging Systems’? Otherwise, couldn’t they have installed more lights…?”
“If Big Brother is unhappy with this, we can think of a way to look for the person who built this grave and give him or her an appropriate punishment.”
“Er… couldn’t you tell I was joking?”
“Hold on!” Just as we switched our cold light tubes on and got ready to walk through the dark passageway, Lin Xue suddenly shouted.
“What’s the matter, Big Sister? You almost scared us to death!” Lin Feng said frustratedly, having had the fright of his life.
Lin Xue looked through the dark passageway uncomfortably and said in hushed tones, “I suddenly feel very uneasy…”
My heart skipped a beat. Immediately, I became more cautious. I did not doubt Lin Xue’s words at all; she had what even Pandora called powerful skills!
“Everyone, be careful!” Zheng Yiming whispered. Then, a translucent protective layer suddenly wrapped around everyone. At about the same time, hundreds of red light beams shout of the stone bricks in the ground, moving along the cracks towards us.
“Quick, move into the passageway! I cannot block off all these attacks!” Seeing his own defensive layer becoming somewhat unstable after only blocking off the first few beams of light, Zheng Yiming quickly hurried everyone along.
“No… we can’t go in!” Qianqian tried to hide in the passageway behind her but found that an invisible barrier was stopping her.
“Pandora,” I immediately called out using my spiritual connection, “What exactly is happening?!”
“Resolving… confirmed the attacker’s identity: Automatic Defense Counter-Attack System EL-305. Requesting connection… request denied… submitting higher-authority signals… recognition of higher-authority rejected…
“Big Brother, this is a system that the Xyrin Empire often uses for defense and counter-attacks. I guess that too much time has passed, and it has malfunctioned. I cannot stop its operations using normal methods.”
“Can we do anything?” Seeing that Zheng Yiming’s defensive layer was already cracking apart, I began to feel anxious.
“I cannot accurately locate the position of this Defense Counter-Attack System’s host machine. There are two solutions: Sicaro Corps’ Protective War Chariots can completely fend off attacks of this energy-level or my Reshaping Floating-Photon Cannon Array can terminate the attack by completely destroying these remains.
“Both of the above solutions would produce huge energy fluctuations and obvious observable phenomena. There is a 99.915% chance that this planet’s carbon-based beings would observe these happening.”
“…Is there a more subtle solution?”
Although we were in a very precarious situation, Pandora’s voice still sounded calm as ever. “There is a set of alternatives, but there may be unpredictable consequences. I can use my ‘Ethereal Beacon’ and send everyone out of this place. However, I cannot tell if this place has a Spatial Interference System so I cannot confirm that we will be able to completely teleport out.”
“Let’s give it a shot. If we fail at teleporting, we can use your super weapons.”
Pandora nodded and then closed her eyes to hide the change in her pupils’ color.
At that exact moment, I saw the Ethereal Beacon in Qianqian’s hands—which she got from Gu Zhengfeng and which had already been declared useless—emit a blinding red light!