Yelan and Lumine, hiding beneath a low wall, were slightly startled to see all the guards on the right drawn away.
"Why did they all come out?"
"I don't know, but it saves us a lot of trouble. Let's hurry inside."
"Okay!"
In the dim light, the two darted forward, slipping into the ruins on the right like two dark shadows. Following the green-brick path, they soon approached the gate-
The guards were most numerous here, a full twenty of them.
"Let's make this quick."
Yelan flicked a coin into the air with her thumb, and the crisp sound immediately drew the attention of several guards.
"Who's there?!"
"Threads, intertwine!"
"Away with the wind!"
"What?!"
"Aagh!"
"Aagh!"
Without a moment's hesitation, the two unleashed their ultimate skills at the same time. The Treasure Hoarders had no time to react, their faces still frozen in shock and terror-
In just ten seconds, all twenty Treasure Hoarders were down.
"Done. Traveler, let's go-huh? What are you doing?"
Yelan watched Lumine repeatedly strike the fallen Treasure Hoarders and couldn't help wondering what she was doing.
"Oh, I ran out of elemental energy, so I'm getting some back. I'm stepping on them a few times to trigger the Favonius passive and recharge, but I haven't landed a critical hit yet. Wait a sec."
With that, Lumine stepped on them again.
Yelan looked utterly baffled.
What Favonius passive recharge? What is she doing?
She couldn't understand a word of it.
Could she have picked up some bizarre habit from spending too much time with someone?
But the situation was urgent, and they couldn't afford the slightest delay.
"Traveler, we're short on time. Hurry up," Yelan urged.
"Okay, okay, just another second. It'll be quick-yes! That five percent crit rate finally got me a critical hit!"
Lumine smiled with satisfaction.
White orbs of light emerged from the Treasure Hoarders she had stomped until they foamed at the mouth, then streamed into Lumine and Yelan.
"...What's going on?" Yelan felt the stamina she had expended in the fight suddenly recover as the orbs entered her body, and she couldn't help being startled.
"Favonius can recharge teammates too," Lumine said casually.
"I'll explain when there's time. Let's hurry inside."
"...All right." Yelan put her questions aside and composed herself.
The task at hand came first.
The two went through the gate and followed the map's directions to the entrance.
In an unnoticed shadow, a tiny surveillance camera glowed with a barely perceptible red light, taking it all in.
Deep within the ruins, cold, eerie green light illuminated the metal walls of a control room lined with holographic screens. Countless streams of data scrolled through the air, while the surveillance display was divided into dozens of squares, transmitting live footage from every corner of the ruins.
A single eye turned slightly within its mechanical chassis, its pupil reflecting two figures racing down a corridor.
"Heh heh heh..."
It gave a low, raspy chuckle and gently folded its mechanical arms.
"Have you finally come?"
"Did you really think your plan was flawless? Too bad. I could see everything clearly through the cameras there, so I know all about it."
"Hmph, laughable!"
It had learned everything from the restaurant at Yilong Wharf.
Tang Hao, Tsarevich, and Yinyue had been captured, the Emotion-Forsaking Beef Noodles plan had failed, and Yinyue had even revealed its secret and handed over a map of the ruins.
Now Yelan, Lumine, and Lan Yan had made a plan to capture it.
But it wasn't worried in the slightest. It was even sitting back and waiting for the show.
"Little mice, let me give you a proper welcome."
It swung a mechanical tentacle sharply, and all the screens switched at once. The once-spacious, level safe passage had been transformed beyond recognition: hidden floor panels opened to reveal sharp alloy spikes; a high-voltage electrical grid descended from the ceiling; and automatic tracking laser emitters were embedded every few paces along the walls on both sides, their blue points of light sweeping back and forth like the flickering tongues of venomous snakes.
"I redecorated the 'safe route' on that map long ago. Trap after trap, deadly danger at every step-even if the sea god came, they couldn't hope to walk out of here without losing a layer of skin!"
It swayed its mechanical body smugly, its tentacles tapping on the console.
"But... even if you're lucky enough to get past those little toys and fight your way here-"
It suddenly stopped, its single eye turning toward the floor in the center of the control room, a glint of frenzied excitement flashing in it.
"I have one more big gift saved especially for you."
A mechanical tentacle slammed down on the red button in the center of the console.
"Bzzz-"
A low hum vibrated through the room as the floor in the center slid apart. With the roar of hydraulics, a huge cylindrical nutrient tank slowly rose from underground. It was filled with viscous, fluorescent green liquid, and a tiny figure floated within-
A little girl wearing an oxygen mask.
Her eyes were closed, and her hands rested quietly together on her chest, like a specimen sealed in amber.
"With her here... even if you make it inside, you'll only-come in and never leave!"
"Kekekeke-!"
It spread its arms, mechanical tentacles thrashing wildly through the air.
Its laughter echoed through the metal chamber, tinged with a chilling madness.
"Ah, another one of its tricks?"
Alice kicked aside the miniature model still smoking at her feet and dusted off her hands.
"That's the fourth time." She sighed, her voice full of disappointment. "It's better at hide-and-seek than fighting, always using fake models to fool people."
Zhongli walked over slowly and looked down at the intricate mechanism on the ground, giving a slight nod.
"To have devised such a series of deceptions, this thing's intelligence truly cannot be underestimated. At every point, it anticipated the hunters' thinking and led us on one fruitless chase after another."
"It's just cunning." Alice pursed her lips and took a scroll from her robes. More than a dozen points of light were marked densely across it, nearly all of them dim. "There's only one left on the tracking scroll."
Zhongli glanced at her. "Where is the last one?"
Alice looked down at the scroll and tapped the still-glowing point at the very top with her fingertip.
"Cuijue Slope."
At that, Zhongli's expression shifted slightly, and he pondered for a moment.
"Cuijue Slope... with its many ruins and interlacing rock strata, it is a good place to hide."
"Let's go." Alice deftly tucked the scroll back into her robes and patted it. "This is the last time. If it's another dead end, I'm really going to get angry."
Even the gentlest witch mom would get a little temperamental after being toyed with again and again.