As the Data Terminal flew into the air to scout, Hao Ren began watching the movements of the "stone statue legion." Even now, the Data Terminal was still flying high above, and the black statues' movements were laid out before him in perfect detail, like pieces on a chessboard. While observing them, Hao Ren noticed something:
The ancient city was dotted with temples of all sizes. Outside nearly every one, stone statue soldiers were assembling and moving out. But the Great Temple in the center of the city remained quiet. What was more, as the stone statue soldiers gathered at the other end of the city and moved in to surround them, they seemed to deliberately skirt the Great Temple in the center. They wouldn't even set foot on the massive stone staircase leading up to it.
Was the Great Temple some kind of "forbidden ground" to these stone statues?
Hao Ren didn't know whether the stone statue soldiers would still obey this "prohibition" once intruders entered the Great Temple, but for now, at least, the area around it seemed to be the only safe place in the entire ancient city.
To get there, they first had to break through the growing number of stone statue soldiers sealing off the area around the Great Temple.
Hao Ren told the others what he had discovered. They barely discussed it before reaching a consensus: head for the Great Temple!
The Data Terminal hovered over the city, continuously sending an aerial view to the holographic projection in front of Hao Ren, like a reconnaissance satellite. A "best route" that avoided most of the Giant statue soldiers was clearly marked on the projection. They still couldn't avoid running into small groups of enemies, but at least they could minimize the risk of being surrounded