Within the Ruins

Ah, I accidentally put on quite a show. Yu Lian looked at the Bearman bowing to him, then at the soldiers around him with awe in their eyes. He felt like a clown on a cannon, so embarrassed he wanted to prostrate himself.

"No kneeling!" Yu Lian fired a shot into the sky, then thought it was useless. He went up and kicked the Bearman in the butt.

In short, after a round of kicking, hitting, and shouting, the soldiers were still a bit cautious, but at least they weren't looking at him like a pilgrim anymore. However, only the Bearman Sergeant Major remained respectful, volunteering to scout ahead with his battle axe. Youyou also put on its precious Power Armor and followed.

There wasn't really any danger here, but Yu Lian felt he shouldn't dampen their enthusiasm, so he let them go ahead and scout.

Yu Lian took one last look at the magnificent glowing gate, then jumped onto the turret of the Frankenstein Tank and set off second.

Actually, he knew this glowing gate was the legendary Misa Crystal, or "Moonstone" for short. It was one of the two main culprits behind the "Gift of the Gods," which had skewed the technological development of this universe, making its style very strange, or a mysterious substance known as "Zero Element."

These so-called "Zero Elements" came in crystalline, metallic, liquid, and even dust and gaseous forms, naturally possessing different physical, chemical, and even "mystical" properties. However, their greatest commonality was that even the most advanced instruments could not replicate their molecular composition.

Thus, they could only be mined, not manufactured. Their properties could be utilized, but their principles could not be analyzed. Consequently, the technologies born from their properties were less like science and more like alchemy.

More importantly, the things produced by "alchemy" were often incredibly powerful. Who could resist that? It's no wonder everyone was so superstitious.

Yu Lian knew that if he could pry all the Moonstones from this glowing gate, melt them down at high temperatures, reshape them, and find a reliable "tech master"—in simpler terms, a superstitious "alchemist"—he could actually forge Psionic Treasures.

...Uh, but it felt a bit like burning the zither to cook the crane, a sense of guilt similar to melting down Rhode Island's Sun God Statue to make bullets. And he really didn't have the time for that right now.

Stepping through the gate, they entered a spacious, artificially carved passage. The walls of the road were made of a peculiar material that was warm to the touch yet incredibly sturdy. Touching it, instead of the coldness of stone, there was a pleasant warmth, as if a hearth had been lit within the walls. Yet, even with so many people, including the heavy wheels of Tanks and armored vehicles, pressing down on it, the floor showed no signs of cracking. The "Frankenstein" Tanks and Black Panther War Chariots were amphibious, able to hover on flat ground, shallow seas, and beaches, but they needed wheels to climb mountains.

Faint lights flickered in the passage, like stars occasionally twinkling in the vast sky. Though their source was unseen, they cast a soft, diffused glow throughout the entire corridor.

This environment made it difficult to feel tense, and everyone relaxed a bit. However, Yu Lian knew that Ina, who remained inside the Tank, must not have let her guard down, likely keeping her eyes glued to the Ion Cannon's targeting scope and her hand never leaving the trigger.

They walked for another ten minutes, and the scenery ahead opened up even further. Directly in front of them stood a statue over ten meters tall, also made of an unknown material, neither gold, nor jade, nor stone, nor wood. It had an ancient and weathered bronze color.

The statue was a seated human figure, posed elegantly and casually, clad in a robe adorned with intricate patterns, as if it had stepped out of a legendary tale. A smile graced its face, its expression detailed and lifelike. More importantly, its appearance was strikingly similar to humans... or rather, if humans had been handsome and beautiful for eight generations, with no flaws passed down, they might look something like this.

"Enlighteners..." Uncle Karl murmured.

"Thump!" Baka knelt down, continuing his superstitious chant: "Great Enlightener, apostle of the Spirit of the Universe, guide me, my..."

Yu Lian wanted to kick him again, but considering the Bearmen's widespread superstition, he decided against it. Besides, even though this was his second time here, seeing this statue again still filled him with awe. It was the natural appreciation of pure magnificence that any intelligent being with normal values and aesthetics could not avoid.

"The Imperials and the Commonwealth believe that all humans are direct descendants of the Enlighteners... that we are all seeds of life scattered by the Enlighteners in the galaxy, brothers and sisters," Ina said softly. She had emerged from the Tank at some point and stood behind Yu Lian.

"Perhaps. But the Direrlo (main Imperial race) and Gabeia (main Commonwealth race) don't lack affection for their kin; there are very deep political reasons for it. Since we are all supposed to be loving brothers and sisters, why form separate nations? This is one of the reasons for so many collaborators. Furthermore, while human supremacy might be acceptable in the martial Empire or the technologically and financially dominant Commonwealth, in the weak Commonwealth, it would directly tear our society apart," Yu Lian said with a cold laugh.

Ina blinked, looking a little confused.

"Woooah, humans really are the greatest race!" Youyou exclaimed instinctively, looking at the statue.

Sergeant Major Baka, still prostrate on the ground, glared fiercely at Youyou. Startled, Youyou quickly added with a smile, "Buddy, hey, Bearmen are also part of humanity, right?"

The Bearman Sergeant Major sighed, his expression darkening as if lost in thought.

The Sergeant Major, Miss, finally understood a little and felt a bit annoyed.

"So, Commander, where do we go from here?"

She was referring to the two passages that split behind the statue. The right one led to a hall, visible from outside the entrance; the left one was further away, leading to an unknown destination.

Yu Lian hesitated. He knew where they should go. If he led everyone down the left path, they could exit the mountain in half a day with no danger. If they went right, that was the core of the ruins, and correspondingly, the greater the reward, the greater the risk – a balanced design, wasn't it?

"According to the 'Treasure Raiders Alliance' storyline, every Enlightener ruin must have a final boss."

"...That was a TV show!" Not every ruin has a guardian, otherwise archaeology would be a high-risk profession. However, this one did. Of course, if his memory served him correctly, as long as you didn't court disaster, the guardian here was generally quite friendly. After all, based on the clues left by the Enlighteners (at least so far), they seemed to hope that their successors would inherit their legacy, so they wouldn't leave behind a deadly killing machine. Moreover, if the contents of the ruins were the same as in his memory, it would be of considerable help in the subsequent Battle of Tulon.

But he had no reason to ask everyone to risk their lives with him, did he? How about leading everyone out of the ruins first, setting up camp in a safe place north of the mountain, and then he could come back alone.

As Yu Lian was pondering this, he suddenly heard Ina's confused voice from the other side: "Wooo... um, Commander, did you hear something?"

"A sound? Here... Wait, Ina, you don't mean...?"

At this point, Ina's expression became completely dazed and vacant, like a walking corpse. She took a step forward, almost falling off the Tank, but Yu Lian quickly grabbed her.

"Ina, Ina? Hey, hey, wake up. What's the number? Look at my eyes and tell me what number it is."

"I, I heard it..."

Just as Yu Lian was about to say, "Heard what?" and add a soul-awakening palm strike, Ina shivered, her vision refocusing. In the next second, she regained her alertness and raised her gun.

"There's something strange over there!"

Nonsense, all Enlightener ruins seem strange to ordinary people! Yu Lian thought.

"Something is luring me... I feel like I'm falling... Ah, that's it!"

The less educated Sergeant Major was just a drama fan; she had no literary talent and didn't know how to describe her experience.

Just as Yu Lian was about to ask for details, he heard a rolling sound of metal scraping the ground from within the hall. A massive sphere, over three meters in diameter, rolled out.