The Dead Sea Scrolls Are Ours! (Seeking Follow-ups!)

"Catalog Number F-375611 Black Box, [Fragment Echo], Status Stable, Ready!"

Before the densely packed tombstones in the Resting Mausoleum.

Several researchers in white coats were carefully operating a very old-looking projector on a stand.

A clear image appeared before everyone—

GOOGLE SEARCH TWKAN

"Slash!"

Accompanied by a soft shout.

A blinding light screen appeared before everyone.

Even the Major, wearing sunglasses, couldn't help but close his eyes against the intense light.

As the light slowly faded, the scene that came into view was Deputy Han, arm severed and fallen, and...

the figure of a young man with a delicate face.

—To everyone's surprise, what the young man held in his hand was not a knife, but a...

fire poker?!

The image cut off abruptly here.

"—That kid from Evening City?"

An officer couldn't believe it, "How could it be him?"

"Are there any other images?"

The officer turned to the researchers.

The researchers shook their heads one after another.

"As you know... the fragments projected by [Fragment Echo] are uncontrollable."

As they spoke, the researchers carefully disassembled the old camera again and put it back into the black box.

"Perhaps..."

The Major's expression was grim, his gaze behind the sunglasses chilling, "All of our eyes have been gnawed by rats."

"We actually let someone like this in!"

"Is it the Blood Worship Cult...?" an officer asked in surprise.

"An Extraordinary of this age must be at least Level 2, they couldn't have no foundation in the Blood Worship Cult."

"To send a genius who could potentially be promoted to a titled Level 6 to go undercover? Are they crazy!"

"Is it a special trial, or is it... he's targeting our industry chain?"

Hearing this, the Major shook his head.

"No, just based on that pure white Holy Light..."

"He's definitely not from the Blood Worship Cult!"

But the Major didn't relax because of this.

His expression became even more solemn, and he murmured with uncertainty:

"Summoning Holy Light, a weapon without a blade... these sound more like the style of the [Holy Relic Institute]?"

"[Holy Relic Institute]?"

The officer was stunned for a moment, then it took him a while to recall the origin of this name from the depths of his memory, his eyes gradually becoming shocked.

Because this name was too ancient.

So ancient that it only existed at the bottom of dusty archives, or in the marginal notes of some documents.

But their signature seemed to be indeed Holy Light in the left hand and a weapon without a blade in the right hand...

"The Sun Knights of the [Holy Relic Institute], according to records, bore striking similarities to the characteristics displayed by that kid."

The Major said coldly:

"Otherwise, I can't think of anyone else in Tinghai who has mastered an Extraordinary path of using Holy Light!"

Those monsters who preached mercy and benevolence, in a past era, were once the dominant force on the orderly side of Tinghai City.

Many Extraordinary societies were wiped out by them, acting as official duties on a semi-civilian basis.

But their active period was too long ago; they had disappeared fifty years ago, long before the current Special Management Department existed.

"This Bai Zhou, maybe he is, maybe he isn't... but it doesn't matter anymore."

"Even if the so-called [Holy Relic Institute] truly still exists, they are all old things that have long been swept into the trash heap."

"The times have long changed."

The Major pushed his sunglasses up, his tone decisive and unquestionable.

"—What matters is, Bai Zhou must die!"

"And, it needs to be done quickly!"

--Because Deputy Han's account book is missing!

As the last person to have contact with Deputy Han, Bai Zhou was obviously the prime suspect.

Not only that, Bai Zhou escaped through a secret passage from the Resting Mausoleum.

Before he left, every tombstone showed signs of being disturbed...

--Clearly, Bai Zhou knew too much.

Without the Major needing to say it, the officers understood the gravity of the situation and felt a chill.

"This is a great humiliation, isn't it?"

The Major surveyed the officers, his voice cold as he reprimanded them, "He deceived all of us, and unknowingly gained control of many of our secrets..."

"Yet, we know nothing about him!"

The Major's scolding made the officers unable to lift their heads; no one dared to cross him at this moment.

But...

Didn't you personally recruit this person?

Some officers grumbled inwardly.

"Rest assured."

At this moment, an officer stepped forward, volunteering:

"I will personally lead the team to apprehend him, and bring the Sword Bearer along!"

The Major's cold expression softened slightly.

"Fine."

"But, it's not enough."

He shook his head, "We need to ensure it's foolproof..."

Suddenly, he turned to the officer in charge of the logistics department beside him, "Where was Bai Zhou's dormitory assigned?"

The Major asked abruptly, "Before we set the Heavenly Net for him, I need to know what he did here, and..."

"What kind of person he truly is."

No one had any real understanding of Bai Zhou.

The only person in the base who knew him somewhat had already died.

After all, before today, no one had ever paid any attention to a mere Bai Zhou.

The last time they heard his name was when Deputy Han chose Bai Zhou as his "New Sheep."

--But no one could have imagined.

The lamb they thought was weak had, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a Black Goat, writhing with tentacles and standing upright...

And devoured the shepherd instead.

"To ensure the death of a person, one cannot be ignorant of them."

"Bring the best profiler here. Within half an hour, I want Bai Zhou's psychological profile!"

The Major waved his hand, instructing the logistics supervisor to lead the way, "Take me to see it!

Tinghai City.

Bai Zhou blended into the bustling crowd.

He held a map, trying to find his way, and it took him a long time to determine his current coordinates.

Then, he discovered a problem--

He only knew that on a map, north was up, south was down, west was left, and east was right--

But he couldn't recognize the actual directions of east, west, north, and south.

Fortunately, there was Ya.

Bai Zhou turned his head to the side.

The petite Ya was walking along, completely unfazed, flipping through the account book with intense focus, her head bowed.

--Bai Zhou was very worried she would walk straight into a utility pole.

Most of the account book's contents were encrypted.

After a moment, Ya closed the account book with a "snap," his expression chillingly blank.

"But within it, I identified several project names for budget allocation."

"The Shepherd Plan, the Talent Cultivation Plan, the Park Construction Project, and..."

Ya glanced at Bai Zhou, as if choosing his words carefully, "The Late City Material Ward Experiment!"

"..."

Bai Zhou's heart sank.

His worst guess had come true.

In the alleys of Corner Street were people who had watched him grow up.

Uncle Xiang, and the others... how were they now?

"As for the so-called 'park,' it should be an important component of their industry chain."

"...I can move around more easily, and I have some guesses. I might as well go investigate."

She turned to Bai Zhou, "The pursuers won't catch up for a while. You can find somewhere to eat first."

"Later, let's meet at the intersection of Dongxing Road, the one you mentioned."

"Okay," Bai Zhou nodded.

Eat something?

He was indeed a little hungry.

But now was not the time...

As he was thinking, in the blink of an eye, Ya had vanished.

Being elusive was her trademark, and now that she was out of the base, she was like a fish in the sea.

But...

Bai Zhou scratched his head.

A stray lock of hair on his head stood up like an antenna.

On the bustling, brightly lit street, Bai Zhou stood at the entrance of a convenience store, blinking.

But--

Not knowing the way, how was he supposed to get to Dongxing Road?

In the end, Bai Zhou was forced to overcome his social anxiety and introversion, and asked a strange couple by the roadside for directions.

During the conversation, because the girl's clothes were quite unique, Bai Zhou couldn't help but look a couple more times out of curiosity.

The girl rolled her eyes, but also felt a hint of pride in her charm, and tugged at her clothes.

After sincerely thanking the kind couple, Bai Zhou left with his briefcase...

After Bai Zhou had walked far away, the girl finally noticed something and turned to yell at her boyfriend beside her:

"--Why didn't you tell me my clothes were on inside out!"

"Ugh, it's so tight."

Bai Zhou, hurrying along, grimaced slightly.

The dark gold ring, with its twelve spikes digging into his flesh, the thorn-like band tightly encircling Bai Zhou's index finger.

--He was, of course, that mysterious Crown of Thorns.

But now, it had temporarily become the "Thorn Ring."

Originally, Bai Zhou had planned to risk it all and steal the crown directly.

But when he took the crown out in the Black Room, the Sea of Ignorance within him had vibrated, and the light runes had flickered, causing the crown to react slightly.

--A slight reaction, but not much.

It probably just trembled twice as a formality.

That was all.

--But this also showed that Bai Zhou's previous line of thought was correct.

If he wanted to solve the problem with the crown, he had to go to those Battlefield Ruins to find it!

But just as Bai Zhou fished the crown out of the water tank, lamenting how large it was and difficult to hide--

The Crown of Thorns suddenly shrank, becoming as small as a ring and fastening itself onto Bai Zhou's index finger.

--Can it be like this?

This anomaly made Bai Zhou both happy and surprised.

The twelve "Not Recognized" pronouncements never sounded again...

This indicated that the Crown still did not recognize Bai Zhou at all.

But the existence of "Light" seemed to make the "Crown" willing to observe Bai Zhou.

Perhaps, in a sense, the existence of "Light," or Laia's protection, was also a form of "qualification."

Although this "qualification" was very, very small, so small that it was only enough to enter the threshold for observation candidates.

--But Bai Zhou was the only observation candidate.

This was already very good.

But the problem was...

After wearing it out, he found that the ring was like it had grown onto his flesh, and he couldn't take it off.

Unless he was willing to chop off his own finger...

Without understanding the specific situation of the Crown, wearing the Crown on his person made Bai Zhou feel uneasy, as if he were carrying a time bomb.

From Ya's strange question before, he knew--

Ya had never seen such a situation either.

Fortunately, for some reason, Ya had always mastered the conventional sealing methods for the Crown of Thorns.

It seemed that Ya had some understanding of the Crown of Thorns... but not much.

It was estimated that she also didn't know about the so-called twelve "Not Recognized" pronouncements.

Then, for such an arrogant person, she had probably never been denied so many times in her life.

--This Crown has a bit of a personality disorder, to be honest.

It was only Bai Zhou, with his thick skin and good mindset.

This time, it concerned his own safety. When Ya returned, he would have to ask her more about the Crown.

He hoped to gain something--

Walking for an hour, Bai Zhou passed several street corners.

Emerging from the bustling commercial district, the street became increasingly deserted, with fewer and fewer pedestrians.

The air grew colder, and even the light diminished.

Walking on the dark, empty road, Bai Zhou felt less like a stranger and more familiar.

Evening City's nights were much darker than this.

It was just that the moon here was too white, making it seem desolate.

Not red enough, not festive enough, so Bai Zhou couldn't quite adapt to it.

After a while.

At two-thirty in the morning, the heat of White Day had completely dissipated, and mist began to rise in the distance.

The traveler in the midnight fog finally reached his destination.

Dongxing Road, here we are.

This place was like a remote semi-suburb. Not only were the roads not clean or flat, but there were very few shops with signs along the street, and none of them were open.

Bai Zhou searched along the roadside and took a long time to find the "Yongning Life Care Center."

Actually, before this...

Bai Zhou had always thought that this "care center" should be a place like a nursing home.

But what appeared before Bai Zhou was a closed Great Door and a black sign.

"This is...?"

[Yongning Life Care Center]

[Funeral Services · Cremation · Cemetery Customization · Terminal Life Talk Show Planning]

On the door, there was also a GG slogan posted:

"Enjoy the final eternal peace, customizing the last page of your life for you!"

--Bai Zhou was dumbfounded.

So, this was Yongning's "eternal peace"? And this was "life care"?

Eternal peace? Funeral services and cremation?

Bai Zhou was very familiar with this.

People from Evening City understood this best.

"Is this how Blue Star people name things?"

--No wonder the street it's on is so remote.

But this actually made things convenient for Bai Zhou.

No living person would be strolling near a funeral home at this hour, right?

Amidst the rising mist, Bai Zhou looked around and walked to the big tree in front of the door, glancing at the tree pit.

Then, he took out his Black Short Club...

Half a minute later.

Bai Zhou really dug a book out from under the tree.

With two "pats," he shook off the dirt, and Bai Zhou's spirits lifted.

"Whoosh..."

The air seemed to turn into flowing water, with a slight sense of viscosity, as if the book was resisting being picked up.

The heavy Mysterious Book wasn't a perfect rectangular prism in the conventional book shape; some parts were inexplicably irregular and asymmetrical, causing a sense of spatial displacement if stared at for too long.

Along its spine, several thick, dark metal chains seemed to have grown from within.

And its cover was a mysterious leather, almost metallic, a deathly cyan-blue that reflected a strange luster under the pale moonlight, like abyssal seawater or aged copper rust.

A huge, incomprehensible Composite Symbol was etched onto it.

At first glance, it looked like an eye.

"..."

With a rhythmic pulse, like breathing, the smell of earth and the scent of Deep Sea Silt from an unknown source emanated faintly from the book.

It was as if Bai Zhou hadn't dug up a book from the soil.

--But had dug up a living corpse!

Something like this absolutely shouldn't have been casually buried in a tree pit in front of a funeral home...

Instead, it should have been enshrined on a mysterious and grotesque Altar, or simply buried as a taboo within some grand ruin!

Undoubtedly, the moment he held it, he could feel the overwhelming pallid stillness and the vicissitudes of time flowing through the world, knowing it was no forgery.

This was what the Special Management Department and the Blood Worship Cult, and even more people, fought and killed for...

The Dead Sea Scrolls!

"Finally, I have it!"

Taking a deep breath, under the bright moonlight, Bai Zhou opened the book's cover.

The text on the Title Page met his eyes.

It was a kind of Ornate Script, almost like symbols, that wouldn't seem out of place in any mysterious ritual.

But the moment he saw it, Bai Zhou's mind was greatly shaken, and a distant, dreamlike solemn whisper inexplicably echoed in his ears.

Then, he inexplicably understood the meaning of the text on the Title Page, because the text perfectly overlapped with the whispering that kept echoing in his ears...

It said:

[Those who cross this page shall know that "understanding" is the beginning of "annihilation."]

[This is not a realm for fools to know; this is the truth of Myriad Phenomena Crawling...]

It also said--

[Thousand-Faced Moon, Waiting For You To Enter Dream.]