Unexpected

The explosive news came so suddenly that I had no idea how to react. It hit me even harder than when Pandora told me that broken metal plate was a "Null Beacon." I couldn't help wondering whether the author even knew what they were writing... No, wait! That was a slip of the tongue...

I looked around and found that there was no light source in this underground space, yet it was as bright as day. We could clearly see everything in the hall.

The entire hall was roughly the size of a football field, constructed entirely from massive stone blocks. Strange patterns and designs covered the square stone tiles on the floor, while meaningless reliefs adorned the walls beside us. They looked like scenes from some sort of ritual. Thick square stone pillars supported the ceiling at intervals of around twenty meters throughout the hall, and these pillars were likewise covered in marks resembling pictographs.

Apart from the entrance through which we had come, there was an exit of roughly the same size in the wall on every side of the hall. Including our own, four passageways connected to this hall.

As an Ancient Relic, this hall's architectural standard could already be considered extremely high, yet it had nothing in common with the futuristic Shilin Architecture I had seen before.

"Pandora, are you sure this is the Shilin Warrior's Tomb? There isn't a single piece of advanced equipment here."

"This place is indeed full of the atmosphere of an ancient carbon-based civilization, but this architectural layout is exactly the same as a Shilin Warrior's resting place. Although the reliefs and writing throughout this place have been freely altered by Carbon-Based Lifeforms according to their own understanding, traces of the original Shilin Language can still be seen... More importantly, there is also an active Shilin device here..."

"What?!" Startled, I was about to press for details when Lin Xue cried out in surprise, "Everyone, close your eyes!"

Although we had no idea what Lin Xue meant, we trusted her and all closed our eyes.

"Ah—"

"What's going on...?"

"How is this possible...?"

"I can still see..."

"...Stop padding the word count... mmph..."

All sorts of startled cries rose and fell.

To our amazement, even with our eyes closed, the scene in the hall remained clearly visible before us.

Almost at the same time, we all raised our hands to touch our faces, making sure our eyelids still existed.

"The Mind Imaging System can feed images directly into the thought circuits of biological entities within its effective range. Its fidelity can exceed ninety-nine point nine percent. We usually combine this technology with virtual reality technology to conduct special combat training for soldiers..."

"So everything here is an illusion?!" My heart tightened, and I was about to warn everyone.

"No... The Mind Imaging System installed here seems to exist only so that those who enter can clearly see the hall. The transmitted images are exactly the same as the hall's actual condition."

At that moment, Lin Xue also discovered this through her own ability. She waved to calm the uneasy group and said, "Don't worry, everyone. This isn't an illusion. Some device in this relic seems to be letting us see the hall without relying on normal means."

"...Is this place really an Ancient Relic?" Lin Feng voiced what most of us were thinking.

The strange nature of the relic made everyone more cautious. Lin Xue pushed her perception to its limit. Zheng Yiming moved to the front of the group to deal with any danger that might appear at any moment. A faint ring of azure Wind Blades circled Lin Feng's right hand, while Sikaro carefully hugged the bag full of pirated discs to his chest...

...Sir, were you really not an undercover agent sent by some hostile force to cause trouble? Or was your real purpose here to expand the customer base for your pirated discs to include ancient tomb zombies?

"Wait..." Qian Qian, who had barely spoken since the beginning and had only been carefully following behind everyone, suddenly warned us. We turned around and saw that the hexagonal metal plate she had been holding all along was trembling slightly. One of its edges was also emitting a dim red glow.

"It suddenly turned into this..."

We exchanged glances, and then I suggested, "Try turning that thing around."

Qian Qian did as told and rotated the metal plate. We saw that the glowing red edge shifted along with it, just like a compass.

"Follow the direction indicated by the red light."

Lin Xue gave me a rather surprised look and said, "I didn't expect you to have a decent brain as well as strong destructive power."

...If you had a living instruction manual for a "Null Beacon" like little Pandora beside you, you could easily have made that suggestion too.

Following behind Lin Xue, we arrived near an exit on one side of the hall. A pitch-black corridor appeared before us.

Through the Spiritual Connection, I complained to Pandora, "Which stingy Shilin Apostle built this place? Would it kill them to install a few more Mind Imaging Systems? If not, a light bulb would have worked too..."

"If Brother is dissatisfied, we will find the builder of this underground tomb and administer the appropriate punishment."

"Uh... Couldn't you tell I was joking?"

"Wait!" Just as we took out our cold light tubes and prepared to enter the pitch-black corridor, Lin Xue suddenly shouted.

"What is it, Older Sister? You nearly scared me to death!" Lin Feng almost stumbled over in fright and said with some irritation.

Lin Xue stared uneasily at the dark corridor ahead and said in a low voice, "I suddenly have a very bad feeling..."

My heart skipped a beat, and I immediately raised my guard—I had no doubt whatsoever about Lin Xue's words. Even Pandora called that ability powerful!

"Everyone, be careful!" Zheng Yiming barked. A translucent protective layer swiftly enveloped everyone. Almost simultaneously, hundreds of dark red beams shot out from between the square stone tiles of the hall floor and moved toward us along the seams between the tiles.

"Quick, everyone retreat into the passage! I can't block all the attacks!" Zheng Yiming saw that his protective layer was already on the verge of collapse after blocking the first few beams, and hurriedly shouted.

"No... We can't get in!" Qian Qian tried to duck into the corridor behind us, only to discover that an invisible barrier was blocking her way. She cried out in alarm.

"Pandora," I immediately asked through the Spiritual Connection, "what is this?!"

"Analyzing—confirming attacker identity—EL-305 Automatic Defensive Counterattack System. Requesting connection—request denied—submitting high-authority marker—the other party refuses authority verification... Brother, this is a commonly used interception-type defensive counterattack system. It appears to have malfunctioned due to the passage of time. I cannot perform a termination operation through normal means."

"Do you have any solution?" Seeing obvious cracks appear in Zheng Yiming's Defense Barrier, I began to panic.

"Unable to accurately locate the host of this defensive counterattack system. There are two response plans: the Sikaro Legion's Defender Battle Tank can completely defend against this type of energy attack; my Reconfiguration Photon Drone Array can stop the attack by completely destroying this relic. Both plans will produce massive energy fluctuations and clearly observable phenomena. The probability of being observed by the Carbon-Based Lifeforms of this planet is ninety-nine point nine one five percent."

"...Do you have a more discreet option?"

Although the situation had become extremely critical, Pandora's voice remained calm. "There is an alternative plan, but it may produce unforeseeable consequences—use the Null Beacon I carry to teleport everyone out of this place. However, I cannot determine whether there is a spatial interference system here, so the teleportation may not succeed."

"Try it first. If the teleportation fails, then use your super weapons."

Pandora nodded, then closed her eyes to conceal the color her irises were about to change.

At that moment, I saw the nearly scrapped Null Beacon in Qian Qian's hand—the one obtained from Gu Zhengfeng—suddenly flare with a dazzling red light!