Natalia Eilenko stepped aside and opened the door behind her, ushering Yang Xiyi inside. To his surprise, beyond the very unassuming little door and a passage no more than twenty or thirty meters long, the view suddenly opened up.
It was a hall as large as two basketball courts put together. Various electronic devices were running inside.
At the far end of the hall stood a row of devices with a quaint, elegant design, their style at odds with the cold, hard electronics around them. A rhythmic, mysterious glow shimmered across their outer walls, soft and warm.
If not for the cold light flickering from the devices, gathering in midair to form a long string of panels and windows filled with data that looked distinctly high-tech, someone might have mistaken them for some kind of particularly prestigious ancient treasure.
Of course, that was typical of artifacts from the Enlighteners' era. An object as solemn and ornate as an emperor's seal might turn out to be a razor. A device as sharp and elegant as a hero's sword was, more often than not, a toothbrush.
Anyone with experience exploring Enlightener ruins had grown accustomed to this sort of thing.
Workers in military uniforms and civilian clothes bustled about, carrying notebooks and terminals as they recorded data or operated instruments. They were clearly highly educated, well-trained researchers, but the atmosphere was still as lively as a busy construction site.
Yu Lian had once said this was the kind of atmosphere he liked best. Yang Xiyi hadn't understood him back then, but now he could see what he meant.
He wanted to greet everyone, but no one seemed to notice their commander's presence. Slightly wounded, he scratched his head, then went straight to the row of ancient devices at the back of the