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As the locked black journal in the corner of the cellar entered Lin Jie's field of vision, it immediately became the priority target of this silent infiltration operation.

The only written record in this underground workshop that was kept with such solemnity must surely hide a great deal of important information.

However, crossing the nearly fifteen-meter distance under the noses of those seven or eight vigilant organization members to snatch that journal from the desk without being noticed was an almost impossible task.

Because although the entire workshop was filled with deafening noise, it was brightly lit, meaning there were basically no visual blind spots; any movement that defied logic would immediately draw everyone's attention.

Not to mention that these members were mostly distributed around the desk, blocking all viable paths.

Lin Jie's gaze began to quickly analyze every element within the workshop, searching for "variables" that could be exploited.

If the ground is impassable, then...

His gaze swept over the cultists busy crafting alchemical explosives and the large cauldron emitting green steam, finally settling on the complex ventilation system composed of pipes and valves at the top of the cellar.

It was an ancient system originally used for ventilating the castle's wine cellar, now repurposed by this organization, and it was currently emitting a faint "whooshing" sound as it vented the toxic gases produced in the workshop out of the castle.

And Lin Jie noticed that one of the thickest main pipes happened to run directly above the desk, not far away.

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

He turned his head and used a whisper and simple tactical hand signals to quickly convey his plan to William and the scholar beside him.

"...Create a distraction... feint to the east, attack to the west... we need three minutes, perhaps less, William, you handle the action."

After hearing the complete plan, a flash of madness appeared in the eyes of the veteran William. Although he knew that if there were any slip-ups in this plan, all three of them would be buried here, he ultimately chose to trust him unconditionally.

He pulled out a modified alchemical flashbang that would produce sound and light upon impact, handed it to Lin Jie, and nodded.

As for Alistair, the scholar, his face turned deathly pale after hearing Lin Jie's outlandish plan, but looking at the firm eyes of Lin Jie and William, he could only grip his oak cane tightly and nod as well.

The operation unfolded in an instant!

The scholar acted first; he threw a small cloth bag he carried, filled with dried plant specimens, with all his might toward a shelf in the distance of the workshop that was piled high with empty glass bottles!

"Clatter--!"

The crisp sound of shattering glass immediately broke the established rhythmic noise of the workshop, and the attention of all the members was drawn in unison to the direction where the sound originated!

A man who looked like a minor leader immediately shouted, "Who's there?!", while raising the steam weapon in his hand.

Just as they all looked over there, Lin Jie moved. He threw the special flashbang William had given him at an extremely tricky angle toward the area where the members around the desk were concentrated!

"BOOM--!!!"

A blast far more violent and shocking than the sound of breaking glass rang out, and a blinding, dazzling white light instantly illuminated that area, causing the retinas of the organization members to be blinded!

As for the veteran William, he had already leaped out from the dark stairs three seconds before the explosion occurred, climbing onto a row of storage racks two people high against the wall!

Amidst the absolute chaos caused by the intense light and deafening noise, his figure climbed onto the ventilation pipe running across the top of the cellar.

While those members were waving their weapons around blindly in their blinded and ringing state, they had no idea that the real intruder was right above their heads.

William held his breath, his hands and feet clinging tightly to the pipe like a gecko. He could feel the coldness and vibration of the metal, and he could smell the faint stench leaking from the gaps in the pipe, while directly below him was the desk where the black journal lay.

He waited patiently for the best moment.

When all the organization members were plunged into complete chaos, William released his arms, using only the strength of his legs to swing downward silently like a pendulum!

His body traced a graceful arc in the air, and his fingers finally touched the leather cover of the black journal with pinpoint accuracy.

Got it!

He didn't linger for a second. The moment he grabbed the journal, he used his core strength to swing back up to the ventilation pipe, then returned the way he came at top speed, finally sneaking back into the shadows of the stairs where they had first hidden.

The entire process was smooth and seamless.

Seeing William return successfully, Lin Jie immediately gave the order to retreat. He and the scholar covered each other as they retreated toward the cellar exit quickly and in an orderly fashion.

As for those members who had been led around by the nose, they still had nothing to show for their efforts after a futile search. They cursed a few times and ultimately could only send some members to continue searching the castle while others stayed behind to guard the spot.

They never realized that the operation journal containing the secrets had already vanished.

When the three of them hid in a remote and concealed corner of the castle again, all three felt a sense of lucky exhaustion; the scholar's legs even gave out, and he slumped directly onto the ground.

But they had no time to rest. William immediately began to work on picking the copper lock on the journal. It was a combination lock with a somewhat complex structure, but for a professional veteran who was proficient in everything, the difficulty was not high.

After more than ten minutes of operation with a metal hairpin borrowed from the scholar, accompanied by a "click," the journal finally opened before them.

The pages of the journal were high-quality parchment, and the handwriting was a type of mystical-looking Latin cursive.

To Lin Jie and William, this was no different from a heavenly book.

But sitting beside them was a living "decoder," the scholar Alistair.

When he saw the handwriting, his pale face was immediately replaced by fanaticism. He tremblingly took the journal and began to read it aloud in a low voice, word by word, by the light of Lin Jie's Carbide Lamp.

"...The seventh blasting 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 people call the 'Guardian Deity'; we call it the... 'Primordial Dragon Species'. Its vital signs are even more vigorous than we expected..."

Lin Jie and William looked at each other, both seeing immense shock in the other's eyes, and asked in unison: "Primordial Dragon Species?"

The scholar Alistair's voice became even more tremulous with excitement as he continued to read:

"...According to the cult's oldest 'Gnostic Codex', the Primordial Dragon Species are the last batch of ancient creatures on this planet that have not been polluted by the material world and possess pure 'divinity'."

"Their blood flows with the most primitive life force from the beginning of creation, and the ultimate goal of our 'Eternal Serpent' is to use a great atavistic ritual to re-implant this 'divinity' into the bodies of us fallen mortals who are imprisoned by 'matter', thereby achieving the ultimate spiritual evolution of the human species!"

"To achieve this grand goal, we must capture this Primordial Dragon Species alive, use the Giant's Web and the Dragon-Binding Chain to restrain its body, and then extract its dragon blood."

"Then, using the dragon blood as the core, supplemented by the 'memory essence' of those 'empty-shell' mortals extracted from the Paris Catacombs and the vast mental energy radiated by the millions of 'non-believers' at the World's Fair as fuel, we will surely be able to ignite the eternal, inextinguishable sacred fire of human evolution in the heart of the world, Paris!"

Seeing the Paris World's Fair, Lin Jie suddenly remembered the Black Lotus organization that Karl and he had inadvertently thwarted in the translated diary; such an unprecedented event was indeed easily targeted by those with malicious intent.

The last few pages of the log were torn out and appeared incomplete, but these remaining words were enough to plunge Lin Jie, William, and Alistair into terror!

This group of lunatics, these fanatics of the Eternal Serpent, their goal was not simply to hunt UMA, nor was it to acquire some wealth or power.

What they wanted was to capture an ancient creature.

And then, at the Paris World's Fair, the pinnacle of human civilization that was about to gather the eyes of the entire world, they intended to use the "blood of a god" to hold an evil sacrifice sufficient to overturn the entire history of human civilization!