The United Nations relief center is located on Rapa Island, the administrative center of the Bass Islands. Rapa is an island that is not much smaller than Tubuai Island but much more desolate, with a population of less than 500. On the bustling mainland, this population is equivalent to that of a village.
The rescue center is just a temporary command post here, with not many personnel stationed there. It mainly serves as a storage place for all the supplies that were transported in earlier.
Because participating in the search and rescue operation meant receiving free supplies, including fuel and food, the island's residents were happy to go out to sea in their own fishing boats of all sizes to help. So when Petru's boat entered Ahurei Bay, it was not stopped.
Rapa Island is a bird paradise, designated a key bird sanctuary by BirdLife International. A deafening cacophony permeates the air – the ubiquitous chirping of flocks of birds. Long-time islanders, unaware of this noise, might mistake it for a tranquil paradise. However, newcomers often find this white noise quite jarring, much like how a long-time resident of a café becomes desensitized to surrounding noise, while a newcomer finds it overwhelming.
Only the Boss Coal became cheerful as soon as they arrived on the island, as if they were wanderers who had been away from their hometown returning home and seeing their long-lost friends.
However, after flying around the island for a while, he returned to Qingmu's head, looking rather bored, and complained that not a single one of the thousands of birds on the huge island could understand him.
Qingmu laughed and said, "You're just a bird that speaks human language, of course they can't understand you. Can't you speak some bird language?" The Boss Coal replied, "It's not a language problem, it's an intelligence problem. The birds here are clearly an uncivilized group and can't understand what I'm trying to say."
The rescue center staff greeted them and briefed them on the latest developments in the search and rescue operation—which was making absolutely no progress.
The people here actually knew less than Qingmu and Su Huilan, because they hadn't read Captain Church's diary and didn't know what the research vessel had experienced.
Qingmu was merely Su Huilan's assistant, and Petru was simply a fishing boat captain they had hired, so the two of them rarely spoke, with Su Huilan handling the main communication.
Su Huilan did not tell the rescue center about the captain's log and nautical charts, because no one could guarantee that the people inside were not at fault.
Petru quietly told Qingmu and Su Huilan that there was also a Tapu on Rapa Island, but it was not as large and intact as the one on Tubuai Island.
Qingmu decided to go and take a look, and Su Huilan agreed. However, Petru didn't know how to get to the place from the pier in Ahurei Bay. The island's area was nearly forty square kilometers, and finding the place on foot wouldn't be easy.
They had a simple lunch on the island, refueled the boat, and then left Ahurei Bay. Petru sailed halfway around Rapa Island and found a very small bay where he could barely anchor his boat.
Petru lowered a raft from the boat, and the three of them went ashore on it. After walking about five kilometers, they arrived at the Tapu he had mentioned.
If you haven't seen the Tapu on Tubuai Island, that's fine, but after comparison, you'll find that the Tapu on Rapa Island can only be considered a ruin.
Here, shrubs and wild grasses abound, unlike the barren hillsides of Tubuai Island. A careless passerby would never notice any pattern among the scattered, exposed brown stones.
Su Huilan took a stroll around and shook her head at Qingmu, saying, "There are no Mental Power fluctuations here, but judging from the distribution of these stones, it does resemble that Tapu."
Qingmu approached a bare rock, pressed his ear to it, and listened intently, as if there was something inside. After listening for a while, he straightened up, took a deep breath, and said, "There is something, but it's very faint, like a dying old man."
Su Huilan frowned, closed her eyes to carefully sense it, then gave up in dejection, saying, "As expected, you are still better than me."
Qingmu laughed and said, "It's not that I'm stronger, it's just that we use different methods."
"Do you have some secret technique?" Su Huilan asked curiously.
Qingmu asked, "What do you think is the source of Tapu's Mental Power?"
Su Huilan said, "The hillside on Tubuai Island is barren. Judging from the topography, there is likely radioactive material underground. It is this material that, while releasing radioactivity, also releases spiritual energy."
Qingmu said, "You're right. Regardless of whether it's radioactive material or not, the vegetation on the ground will be affected. You sense whether the stone has any spirit, but I sense whether the spirit of the plants has been affected."
"You can already sense the Mental Power of plants?" Su Huilan asked in surprise, "This is the legendary Great Dream Mentor realm!"
"I just learned it myself, and as for any Great Dream Mentor,' I don't know him." As Qingmu spoke, he could feel the ever-growing greenness emanating from the willow branches in his backpack.
Su Huilan casually picked a wildflower from the side, smelled it, and ultimately gave up trying to appreciate the spirit of the plants.
She suddenly stared at Petru and asked, "Without the guidance of Mental Power, how did you find this place?"
Petru explained, "It was more of a coincidence. I followed the map, but didn't land in Ahurei Bay. After choosing an island, I just happened to find this place. The other islands weren't so easy to find; some were marked on the chart, but I couldn't find Tapu."
Su Huilan picked up a stone and pondered, "Perhaps it's not a radioactive element; otherwise, even if it decayed, it wouldn't have been covered by vegetation so quickly."
"And perhaps the books and illustrations haven't been emitting radiation for at least a thousand years!"
"This place isn't far from Tubuai Island, and the environment isn't that different. Assuming the Tapu was a project from the same era, it's impossible for their decay periods to differ so much."
"Regardless of whether it's radioactive or not, the gradual decay of spiritual energy is certain. I wonder how strong the spiritual energy was when these Tapu were first built, and how powerful the wizards were back then?"
Qingmu sighed and asked Petru, "Is the Tabuli you found on Tubuai Island the most complete and powerful one?"
Petru said, "There are at least two or three Tubuai Island, but they are very desolate and uninhabitable, so I only stayed on one of them for a while before finally choosing Tubuai Island. There's another island where the Mental Power emanating from the Tapu is the strongest. However..."
"But what?"
"That's a Ghost Island. When I first found that area of the sea using the map, the island wasn't there. I only discovered it on the way back. Tapu is right in the center of the island, where there's a hot spring, possibly a volcanic crater. I tried going into the water once and found a powerful Mental Power underwater, but I couldn't sense it on land. Maybe my awakening level isn't high enough."
"A volcano?" Qingmu and Su Huilan simultaneously thought of the inverted pyramid, which also seemed to be embedded in a crater.
"I'm not sure. Anyway, the Mental Power in the water was very strong; it almost made me faint. I didn't dare stay long and left. I went back again later, but I found that there seemed to be people on the island. I didn't know who they were, so I didn't dare get close."
Su Huilan looked at Qingmu: "Should we go take a look?"
Qingmu said, "Yes, of course I'll go."