A pale blue crystal lay deep within the great hall.
Inside the dim secret chamber, there was only this crystal inscribed with strange characters. Reaching this place through the winding passage required tremendous effort.
Outside the secret chamber stood a heavy G-class Metal door.
This was not metal originally belonging to the Thunder God Hall, but something installed by the strange race from long ago—the Lorlori Race. Layer upon layer of Secret Runes reinforced the outside of the door.
Zhou Lin was certain that this crystal held an unknown secret.
It might even concern the existence of the main hall.
The treasures connected to the Thunder God Hall Main Palace would undoubtedly draw the pursuit of Venerables. If word got out, Venerables from across the entire Primordial Universe would swarm this secret realm.
Suppressing his excitement, Zhou Lin began moving deeper into the Thunder God Hall. He walked through the Void Realm, where no one could detect him.
"Was that an illusion?"
Purple Zinc King, a Limit of Immortal King, rubbed his nose. He had just felt as though someone had passed by him, but for someone to escape even his notice was nearly impossible.
To achieve that, one would at least have to be a Universe Venerable.
Purple Zinc King did not dwell on it and continued searching near the passage.
Teleportation was completely impossible here. An inexplicable restriction pressed down on the area, and there were too many Thunderfall regions. Even within the Void Realm, Zhou Lin could only advance slowly.
A full half hour later...
"The Void Realm really is useful for treasure hunting." Zhou Lin easily passed through the door. No matter how sturdy the metal was, it could not obstruct the Void Realm.
The instant he entered the secret chamber, Zhou Lin condensed a Void Realm clone to touch the crystal. To his surprise, it picked it up effortlessly.
There were no traps.
"Unknown writing." After confirming it was safe, Zhou Lin finally took the crystal with his True Body and rubbed it between his fingers. The material was familiar—it was made of Purple-Blue Thunder Glass.
To carve words onto such a substance, one needed at least the strength of a King Immortal.
The universe was simply too vast. Even the Virtual Universe Company's database could not claim to contain every script, much less that of a race long extinct.
Zhou Lin poured divine power into it and dripped blood onto it, trying every method he could think of.
Yet the crystal merely continued to emit its purple-blue glow, without the slightest further reaction.
For the moment, he had reached an impasse.
"Could this race be like those natives of Yanji Continent?" Zhou Lin began to wonder whether there might still be surviving remnants within the Thunder God Hall Secret Realm.
But even if there were, he had no way to find them.
This Cosmic Secret Realm was more vast than the Milky Way. Countless continental fragments floated through it, alongside intact planets and innumerable Thunderfall regions.
Within the dim secret chamber, Zhou Lin paced back and forth irritably, considering how he could uncover this race's written language.
Zhou Lin repeatedly studied the Virtual Universe Company's intelligence. He carefully reviewed every piece of information regarding the race that had originally inhabited the Thunder God Hall.
That race had been exterminated by the Mechanical Race. Its wealth had not been transferred in time, and many of its people had been captured. Therefore, the only race currently likely to understand their writing...
Was the Mechanical Race.
"Looks like I'll have to make a move against the Mechanical Race, or one of their subordinate races." After making his decision, Zhou Lin maintained his Void Transformation state and left the Branch Hall.
The other wealth within the Branch Hall was unimportant. What mattered was the secret on this piece of Purple-Blue Thunder Glass.
Perhaps because of the Purple-Blue Thunder Glass Token, this Branch Hall had not stored any other high-value items. Even if those Kings searched to the very end, they would only come up empty-handed.
Zhou Lin had already snatched away the most valuable token.
"There aren't any Mechanical Race members within the Thunder God Hall Secret Realm." The information Zhou Lin had obtained was quite detailed and comprehensive.
It clearly stated that the Mechanical Race rarely came here.
Moreover, Zhou Lin could not target members of the Mechanical Race. They were exceedingly difficult to enslave, and their communication methods were advanced enough that they would have ample time to send out warnings.
Therefore, his target could only be one of the Mechanical Race's subordinate races.
After consulting the information for quite some time, he was fortunate that humanity had recorded such extermination events in considerable detail.
Which Universe Venerables had acted, and which subordinate races they belonged to, were all clearly listed.
"The Wuhong Tribe, the Boer Ya Tribe, the Emmonka Hunstan Tribe."
After giving it some thought, Zhou Lin decided to target a member of the Wuhong Tribe. They had once participated in the war against the Lorlori Race.
Races with Universe Masters were relatively safe. Those exterminated were almost all Venerable races, so many subordinate races had taken part.
They handled the dirty work and the exhausting work, while the Peak Races took the greatest share of the spoils.
If humanity wanted to exterminate some weak race, the forces participating might all be subordinate races such as the Tiwala Tribe or the Golden Horn Tribe.
Although the Wuhong Tribe was a subordinate race of the Mechanical Race, it occupied an enormous star region. Its internal expanse was no less vast than a human Universe Country.
Zhou Lin first Teleported away from the Thunder God Hall, then used Divine Kingdom Teleportation to return to the Human Territory and contacted an Immortal who specialized in helping others with Divine Kingdom Teleportation.
Then, through that Immortal's Divine Kingdom Teleportation, Zhou Lin arrived in an uninhabited region nearest to the Mechanical Race Territory.
This journey alone cost a full twenty Hun Yuan units.
After reaching the vicinity of the Mechanical Race Territory, Zhou Lin began rushing onward with frantic Teleportations, without using a spaceship or flying.
He completely merged into the Void Realm. Ordinary detection instruments had no possibility of discovering him.
In terms of level, Zhou Lin's Teleportation was comparable to that of a Venerable.
When Universe Venerables who had mastered the complete Law of Space Teleported, they did not trigger violent spatial fluctuations. Instead, they blended in perfectly.
When Immortals Teleported, the fluctuations they produced were easily detected.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The place where the Virtual Universe Company's Immortal had brought him was a full thirty thousand light-years from the Mechanical Race Territory, so the trip took no short amount of time.
"So this is the Mechanical Race Territory?" After his final Teleportation, Zhou Lin finally arrived at Star Region No. 320 within Mechanical Race territory.
The Mechanical Race Territory was divided into star regions, each comparable in scope to a human Universe Country. They also had a Virtual World within every star region.
However, these Virtual Worlds were all separate. Once one left, one had to reconnect to an entirely new world, making them far less convenient than humanity's system.
The sight before Zhou Lin was utterly different from the Human Territory. Although the Mechanical Race was inferior to humanity in the Virtual Universe...
Their technological power was stronger. Every planet before him had undergone special modification, and their surfaces were covered in all kinds of strange metals.
After Teleporting several more times, Zhou Lin finally reached the depths of this star region.
"The Wuhong Tribe is in Star Region No. 277." Zhou Lin considered how to get there. He had come to this place to obtain information.
If the Mechanical Race discovered that he was searching for writing related to the Lorlori Race, someone might connect it to the Thunder God Hall Main Palace.
The treasures in every Branch Hall had once been worth the entire fortunes of several Kings. If the main hall appeared, even Venerables would likely be tempted.
That was why he had been Teleporting frantically the entire way, without even using a spaceship. He did not want there to be any possibility of information leaking.
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