Chapter 166
"Not only that, they reached a tacit cooperation agreement with the Cathay without even meeting them in person? This..."
She was certain that Hebe had not contacted the Cathay side after the meeting.
Because Hebe immediately replaced the phone that had Tencent Meeting installed.
Even Mostima herself didn't realize that the smile on her face had somehow faded away.
But she faithfully followed Hebe's orders and uttered the words she had memorized perfectly, and rightfully received Wuyou amazement and praise.
"Even so, the 'water' that symbolizes your glimmer of hope is not me, but the master of all this, Miss Hebe Stanton, the Lord of Blankog."
Mostima kept this a secret, only habitually praying to that mysterious being in her heart.
She had been wary of this mysterious and great being, and had even consulted Hebe about whether this being harbored any goodwill towards her.
Of course, as the embodiment of her faith, Hebe naturally comforted Mostima.
Even now, with Hebe displaying a terrifying wisdom that allows her to "see everything without leaving home," Mostima still instinctively feels that the mysterious being who offered assistance at Cape of Birds is more suitable to be around...
On the other hand, fortunately, Hebe was not an enemy, but an ally.
Mostima imagined the consequences of being enemies with Hebe, and then genuinely felt that standing on Hebe's side was the best thing ever.
As Mostima began to pray, a dark green desktop, visible only to her, began to appear before Hebe's eyes.
"Excuse me, I need to rest for a bit."
On Crete, Hebe said to his colleagues at the Albion Archaeological Society.
"Of course, of course."
The Archaeological Association naturally dared not comment much on Hebe's actions; in fact, they were conducting the excavations on Crete entirely under Hebe's direction.
Archaeology is not like a group project in university.
The latter can take advantage of the chaos, while the former's progress is real and clearly visible.
Hebe returned to her tent and sat down, her finger adorned with the ring of the Secret Councilor — the Secret Councilor was responsible for revealing or concealing the secrets of the library.
Clearly, this ring was given to herself as a disguise for navigating the real world.
Thus, Metatron, the newly appointed Secret Councilor of the Silent Bookstore, made his grand entrance.
In Hebe's character design, Metatron is a blonde girl with a great figure, a somewhat lazy personality, and a sharp tongue at times, and her appearance is somewhat inspired by Joan of Arc of Arc.
Eris has suffered an unprecedented blow in the mortal world, and now is the perfect opportunity for Hebe to launch a full-scale counterattack.
The key to the counterattack was the Greek Civilization that had been completely swallowed up by Eris.
Yes, Hebe did not intend to go into Eris's belly herself; she believed that Greece was based on Eris, just as Albion was based on "Merlin," and the two were inextricably linked.
In other words, Greece is Eris's true home ground.
Hebe was not a god-king with a divine mandate. In this world, the only one qualified to contend with Eris in Greek Civilization was probably the Gatekeeper of the October Governor.
This was an experiment; Hebe was working on two fronts simultaneously, excavating both the Crete and Mycenae civilizations.
In Hebe's previous life, Crete was the earliest origin of Aegean civilization, and the Atinan / Athena faith originated there.
Subsequently, the Minoan Civilization transitioned into the Mycenae civilization.
Then came the Greek Civilization, which was swallowed up by Eris.
When Greek Civilization declined, Roman Civilization rose again.
Compared to Hebe's previous incarnation, this method of dating is not rigorous.
If Hebe's former advisor were to see this, he would probably faint from anger on the spot and announce that she would have to rewrite her thesis.
However, this method of dating is the easiest to implement in Closed Loop process.
Hebe took a deep breath and raised her fingers to press against her forehead.
History is like a chain, with Crete, Mycenae, Greece, and Rome being the four interlocking links.
Rome, having been saved by the gatekeeper, will now prove Crete and Mycenae.
She refused to believe that the goalkeeper could lose with such a huge advantage...
The phone screen lit up, the dark green desktop slowly unfolded, and a semi-transparent frame rose up, into which Hebe placed the card representing Mostima.
Deploy cards with the "Follower" attribute to explore the "Treasure Trove".
Your follower Mostima is exploring the treasure trove of Mycenae.
Nestled at the foot of ancient hills lies a legendary city, where heroes' tombs slumber silently. Rumors say the locals are still protected by Pure Water Spirit; given their extraordinary longevity, perhaps this is a plausible explanation?
The translucent clock began to tick, Hebe's gaze was fixed on the table, where new words gradually appeared.
Each time you use followers to explore, you will randomly encounter several types of "obstacles"... The current obstacle is a "guardian".
The guards are there to prevent your followers from entering. They are a group of locals, some drawn by their faith, others by temptation, and still others hired for profit... Your followers trample over their corpses with gunpowder, firearms, and knives.
A sense of doubt slowly surfaced in Hebe's mind.
Is Mostima usually this violent?
Even the dark green desktop seemed to freeze, with unloaded text flickering.
Then new text appeared.
The current obstacle is "unpredictable and ever-changing terrain".
[Pits, swamps, and cliffs. The land here is untrustworthy, the mud pulling us down, the cracks deceiving our eyes—the earth is eager to devour us. We need... Your followers to shatter the obstacles with fire, and in doing so, to open a path to the underworld.]
Hebe stroked her chin, realizing she had underestimated Mostima.
242 Historical Closed Loop Work
Mostima's boots trod across the blood flowing on the ground.
The Ascended cannot confront the violence of modern industry head-on, but that does not mean they should avoid gunfire like the plague.
There are too many ways to kill someone in this world, not to mention that Mostima had also systematically learned techniques for breaking limbs and snapping necks.
When she activated the mark, a halo, half dark and half bright, rose behind her head.
[First Imprint: Subjective Delay]
As this invisible and vast realm unfolded, everything illuminated by the halo inevitably slowed to an extreme degree, while Mostima's speed remained unaffected.
Mostima moved silently into the night, her figure flickering in and out of sight.
It was clearly just walking, yet it seemed to be teleporting, reminiscent of flickering ghostly figures captured on old film negatives.
But her dual-wielded guns began to roar, spewing scorching flames from their muzzles in the flickering light, and the guards surrounding Agamemnon's tomb fell one after another.
Their panicked expressions and chaotic footsteps seemed to Mostima like a video played in slow motion.
She could easily press the muzzle of a gun to their foreheads and calmly pull the trigger.
Within thirty seconds, the halo behind Mostima's head went out.
More than a hundred corpses suddenly appeared on the ground.
Mostima was not like the newly arrived archaeological team.
She arrived a week early and knew that these "guards" were not real Mycenae villagers.
The Mycenae villagers who were truly living in seclusion here have been taken into custody by the guards and imprisoned elsewhere.
The Mycenae village, which had already undergone a complete overhaul, became a trap, waiting for the archaeological team to unknowingly step into it.
Are these people members of a secret society, or mercenaries hired by someone? Mostima wasn't curious.
Whether as an inspector serving in the Special Inspection Department in the past, or as Communications Director at the Silent Bookstore now, Mostima is clear on one point:
In the hidden world, curiosity means walking alongside disaster.
Not everyone is like Miss Hebe.
She took deep breaths, completely oblivious to the strong smell of blood in the air.
[Subjective delay] is an extremely powerful imprint, which is why it places a great burden on Mostima's body.
The Celestial Flint, with its overwhelming power over the mortal world, has become a symbol of "mysterious decay" in general. Therefore, Ascendants like Mostima, who were born after World War II, are inherently weaker than Ascendants before World War II.
Given her current physical condition, the halo hanging high behind her head would drain her spirituality in at most forty seconds.
Looking back now, the magnificent halo within Cape of Birds must have been due to the extremely high status of the being I believed in.
Once he had regained some strength, Mostima prepared to break ground.
Mostima began setting up a large amount of explosives above the measured location.
She wasn't worried at all that doing so would affect the few people still buried alive underground.
As Hebe had arranged beforehand, once the observer from Cathay began casting divination and praying to the Pearl Empress, the June Archon had already turned his attention to her.
After the Fisher King became incapacitated, Pearl became the only ruler in the world with the function of "protection".
—To relieve suffering and distress, and to protect the nation and its people!
The moment the countdown reached zero, a tremendous roar came from above the tomb passage.
The already tightly sealed Water and Soil trembled and cracked under the force of the explosives, and the mud surged and stretched out like tentacles, because the spiritual dew had given it a false life.
But where the heat and fire of the explosives passed, the mud dried up and thorns flew everywhere. This land, which had only recently gained life, thus returned to silence.
Mostima waited until the roar subsided, then stepped straight across the hardened soil to the narrow opening that could only accommodate one person at a time.
Without hesitation, she jumped down and waved to Leμian and Fiammetta, who were both surprised and delighted.
"Haven't seen you for a long time."
Mostima and the others embraced, then looked at the bewildered Wuyou.
The other party only breathed a long sigh of relief when they saw the silver ring on Mostima's hand.
The two shook hands.
Of course, both Mostima and Wuyou knew that they were merely representatives.
This means that Blanckug has formed a silent alliance with Cathay.
"Where is the archaeological team?" Mostima asked knowingly.
"That's all that's still alive," Fiammetta sighed. "The rest are all down there... Wait, Mostima, you're not planning to dig them out, are you?"
"Hahaha." Mostima laughed heartily, without replying.
"We'll stay with you," Leμian said.
Wuyou then realized what was happening and hesitantly pointed downwards. "You guys really plan to keep digging...?"
He gritted his teeth and gripped the Luoyang Spade tightly in his hand.
"Very well, if it weren't for you, my life would have been in grave Cathay. How could China not repay such kindness?"
But to everyone's surprise, Mostima simply took the Luoyang Spade from his hand.
"You can leave from here." The woman with short, dark blue hair smiled and narrowed her eyes. "The original villagers of Mycenae are being held in cellars near this village. You can find them if you look carefully."
No wonder these "villagers" seemed so strange; they weren't actually indigenous people at all!
Leμian and Fiammetta exchanged a glance, feeling that many of their questions had been answered.
Wuyou frowned. "Ms. Mostima, you don't want us to release them immediately, do you?"
"Of course," Mostima replied.
"In that case, I have no further questions." Wuyou immediately turned and crawled towards the cave entrance. "I'll go first."
Then a low gasp of surprise came from above the cave.
"Be careful," Leμian whispered.
As former colleagues in the Special Inspection Department, they knew how reliable Mostima.
Since Mostima requested to explore alone, he must be confident of victory.
On the contrary, their presence here would only cause trouble. If they want to catch up, they can do so after everything is over; there will be plenty of time then.
Mostima smiled and nodded, watching them leave.