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Once the locked black journal in the corner of the cellar came into Lin Jie's view, it immediately became the top priority of their silent infiltration.

The only written record in the underground workshop that had been so carefully secured was bound to contain a wealth of important information.

However, crossing the nearly fifteen meters beneath the watchful eyes of seven or eight alert members and taking the journal from the desk without being noticed was almost an impossible task.

The workshop was brightly lit despite its deafening noise, with virtually no visual blind spots. Any movement out of the ordinary would immediately attract everyone's attention.

To make matters worse, most of the members were stationed around the desk, blocking every viable route.

Lin Jie's gaze quickly analyzed every element in the workshop, searching for a "variable" they could exploit.

"If we can't go across the floor, then..."

His gaze swept over the cultists making alchemical explosives and the huge cauldron billowing green steam, finally settling on the complex ventilation system of pipes and valves running along the ceiling.

It was an ancient system originally installed in the castle to ventilate the wine cellar. The organization had put it back to use, and it was now giving off a faint whooshing sound as it vented the workshop's toxic gases outside the castle.

Lin Jie noticed that one of the thickest main pipes ran directly above the desk, not far from it.

An extraordinarily bold and dangerous plan took shape in his mind.

He turned and quickly explained his plan to William and the scholar beside him in a whisper and a series of simple tactical gestures.

"...Create a diversion... draw their attention elsewhere... We need three minutes, maybe less. William, you're up."

A glint of madness flashed in the old soldier William's eyes as he heard the entire plan. He knew that the slightest mistake would mean all three of them would die here, but in the end, he chose to trust Lin Jie without reservation.

He pulled out a modified alchemical flashbang that would produce a loud noise and a flash of light on impact, handed it to Lin Jie, and nodded.

After hearing Lin Jie's far-fetched plan, the scholar Alistair turned deathly pale. But seeing the resolve in Lin Jie and William's eyes, he could only grip his oak cane tightly and nod.

The operation began in an instant!

The scholar made the first move. He took a small cloth pouch containing dried plant specimens from his belongings and hurled it with all his strength toward a rack piled with empty glass bottles at the far end of the workshop.

"Crash!"

The crisp sound of breaking glass immediately disrupted the workshop's steady din, and every member turned toward the source of the noise as one.

A man who looked like a minor leader immediately shouted, "Who's there?!" as he raised the Steam Weapon in his hands.

The moment every one of them looked in that direction, Lin Jie moved. He threw the special flashbang William had given him at an extremely tricky angle, aiming for the cluster of members around the desk.

"Boom!!!"

An explosion far more violent and deafening than the sound of shattering glass rang out. A dazzling burst of white light instantly illuminated the area, blinding the organization members.

Three seconds before the explosion, old soldier William had already leapt out from the dark stairwell and climbed onto a row of storage shelves more than two meters tall.

Amid the utter chaos caused by the blinding light and deafening bang, he climbed from the shelves onto the ventilation pipe running across the cellar ceiling.

As the members flailed about with their weapons amid blindness and ringing ears, they had no idea that the real intruder was right above them.

William held his breath, clinging tightly to the pipe with all four limbs like a gecko. He could feel the cold metal vibrating beneath him and smell the faint stench seeping through its joints. Directly below him was the desk with the black journal on it.

He waited patiently for the perfect moment.

When all the organization's members had fallen into complete disarray, William released his arms and used only the strength of his legs to swing silently downward like a pendulum.

His body traced a graceful arc through the air, and his fingers landed precisely on the leather cover of the black journal.

He had it!

Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the journal and swung back up onto the ventilation pipe, then made his way back as fast as he could and slipped into the shadows of the stairwell where they had first hidden.

The whole thing had gone like clockwork.

The moment Lin Jie saw William return safely, he ordered the retreat. He and the scholar took turns covering each other as they withdrew quickly and methodically toward the cellar exit.

After a futile search, the members who had been led in circles still found nothing. They cursed a few times, then sent some of their number to keep searching the castle while the rest stayed behind to guard the area.

They never noticed that the confidential operation journal had vanished.

When the three of them reached a secluded corner of the castle, they were all overcome with the shaky relief of having narrowly escaped disaster. The scholar's legs gave way, and he slumped straight to the floor.

But they had no time to rest. William immediately set to work picking the journal's copper lock. It was a somewhat complicated combination lock, but it posed little difficulty for a professional old soldier who knew a bit of everything.

After more than ten minutes of work with a metal hairpin borrowed from the scholar, a click sounded, and the journal finally opened before them.

Its pages were made of fine parchment, and the writing was in an ornate Latin script steeped in mysticism.

To Lin Jie and William, it was utterly indecipherable.

Fortunately, a living "decoder" was sitting right beside them: the scholar, Alistair.

At the sight of the writing, his pale face immediately lit with fervor. He took the journal with trembling hands and began to read it aloud, word by word, by the light of Lin Jie's carbide lamp.

"...The seventh explosive test is complete. The 'Inert Spirit Field' at the bottom of the lake has been successfully activated. The target is the creature the local ignorant folk call their 'Guardian Deity.' We call it the 'Primordial Dragon Species.' Its signs of life are even stronger than we anticipated..."

Lin Jie and William exchanged a glance. They saw the same shock in each other's eyes and asked in unison, "The Primordial Dragon Species?"

Alistair's voice grew increasingly unsteady with excitement as he continued reading:

"...According to the cult's most ancient Gnostic Codex, the Primordial Dragon Species are among the last primeval creatures on this planet untouched by the material world and possessed of pure 'divinity.'"

"Original life force from the dawn of creation flows through their blood. The ultimate purpose of us, the Eternal Serpent, is to carry out a great rite of ancestral return and implant this 'divinity' back into the bodies of us fallen mortals, imprisoned by 'matter,' thereby achieving the ultimate spiritual evolution of the human species!"

"To achieve this great goal, we must capture the Primordial Dragon Species alive, bind its body with the Giant's Web and Dragon-Binding Chains, and then draw its blood."

"Then, with the dragon's blood at the heart of the ritual, and the 'essence of memories' extracted from those 'empty shells' in the Paris Catacombs, along with the vast spiritual energy given off by millions of 'infidels' at the World's Fair as fuel, we will surely be able to kindle the eternal, undying sacred fire of human evolution in Paris, the heart of the world!"

At the mention of the Paris World's Fair, Lin Jie suddenly remembered the Black Lotus organization from the translated journal—the one Karl and he had accidentally stopped. A grand event on this scale really would attract the attention of ill-intentioned people.

The last few pages of the journal were incomplete, having been torn out. But what remained was enough to fill Lin Jie, William, and Alistair with dread!

These madmen, these fanatics of the Eternal Serpent, weren't simply hunting UMAs, nor were they after wealth or power.

They wanted to capture an ancient creature.

Then, at the Paris World's Fair, the grandest celebration of human civilization, about to draw the attention of the whole world, they would use the "blood of a god" to perform an evil sacrifice capable of overturning the entire history of human civilization!