Soon, under Little Black's continuous detection, Jiang Lin delved deep into the mill's interior.
In a pile of weeds, they found a concealed passage.
Descending through the passage, he saw a familiar array rune.
It was exactly the same as the one he had seen in the warehouse's secret room.
This array core was unguarded. Inside the empty secret chamber, only the dark red magic crystals flickered with a faint light.
After confirming that no one was around and there were no traps or alarms, Jiang Lin quickly traced with his fingertips, recording the array nodes and orientation.
Meanwhile, Little Black began detecting again based on this formation.
After a moment, Little Black locked onto a new direction.
Little Black sent a telepathic message from his arms:
"The next one... is not far from here, to the south."
"Let's go."
Jiang Lin didn't delay. His figure turned into a blurred shadow in the night, sweeping toward the south of the city.
About five minutes later, after weaving through various turns, Jiang Lin arrived at the area indicated by Little Black.
This was a low-lying shanty area. The houses were tilted and crowded, the alleys narrow and filthy, and the air was thick with the sour stench of garbage and excrement.
A few drunks leaned against corners, snoring like thunder, while stray dogs scavenged for food in the shadows.
"Over there."
Little Black pointed toward an ordinary-looking adobe house deep within the shanty area.
From the outside, there was nothing unusual about it; it looked like a normal residential dwelling.
Furthermore, not a single trace of energy fluctuation leaked out.
At least in Jiang Lin's perception, this was a perfectly normal adobe house.
Jiang Lin approached quietly.
The doors and windows of the adobe house were tightly shut, letting out not a single sliver of light.
"Is anyone inside?" Jiang Lin asked.
Little Black hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
"No."
Jiang Lin then tried to push the door, but found it was locked and wouldn't open.
So, he circled to the back and found that this adobe house actually had windows. He gave one a push; though it was jammed, Jiang Lin sent magic essence through the gap to move the latch.
Then, he skillfully flipped inside the house.
The interior was pitch black, containing only some simple furniture, with no signs of anyone living there.
Under Little Black's guidance, Jiang Lin once again found a loose floor tile.
Upon prying it open, a hole just large enough for one person to pass through was revealed.
A cold, damp breath mixed with a faint scent of blood surged out from the hole.
Jiang Lin held his breath and listened intently for a moment. After confirming there was no movement below, he carefully crawled inside.
Beneath the opening was a roughly carved set of stone steps extending downward at an angle.
The walls on both sides of the steps were damp and covered in moss; clearly, this place had been here for some years.
A faint point of holy light lit up at Jiang Lin's fingertip, barely illuminating the path ahead.
After descending about twenty steps, the space suddenly opened up.
This was a space slightly smaller than the mill's underground chamber, about ten square meters.
The walls were similarly engraved with dark red sacrificial array runes, but they were slightly different from the previous two—the runes here were more complex.
There was also a shallow pit in the center of the floor, with dark brown, dried blood stains remaining at the bottom.
"The array runes here... seem a bit more 'complete.'"
Little Black poked his head out from Jiang Lin's arms, his cat eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Look here, here, and here—"
He used his paw to point at several nodes on the wall.
"These connection points are in an active state, which means this array core has already been 'preheated.'"
Jiang Lin's heart jolted.
"Preheated? What does that mean? Has the other side already prepared to start the sacrifice?"
"No," Little Black explained.
"It's a test. It's like building a machine and plugging it in to see if it turns. This array core has been tested, proving it can indeed be used. And the testing time should have been within the last few days."
At this point, Little Black paused.
"Wait, you probably wouldn't understand that analogy. After all, your planet hasn't developed the technology for electricity..."
At first, Jiang Lin didn't react when he heard Little Black talk about a machine being powered, as that was common knowledge to him.
But hearing the other party mutter to himself, Jiang Lin's eyes widened.
Wait a minute, what did Little Black just say?!
Technology for electricity?!
Does that mean there are other planets in this world that develop technology?!
Did he just accidentally hear some vital information??
For a moment, Jiang Lin set aside the issue of the array core and instead became concerned about the technological planets Little Black had just mentioned in passing.
"Wait, wait, wait! Senior, can you tell me about those planets that develop that electricity technology?"
Little Black was stunned for a moment by Jiang Lin's sudden use of 'Senior.'
"Now is not the time for that, is it?"
Little Black's main attention was still on this 'array core,' which was clearly different from the other two.
However, Jiang Lin remained persistent in his inquiry.
"Senior Lilith, can you please tell me?"
Seeing that Jiang Lin had even called out the name Lilith, Little Black was even more shocked.
This kid didn't usually have such strong curiosity, did he?
After thinking for a moment, he still gave Jiang Lin a simple explanation:
"The development paths of some worlds are different from yours. They don't believe in gods, nor do they study magic. Instead, they research the fundamental laws of matter and manufacture various tools and machinery. Many times, just through some simple machinery, they can unleash power beyond your imagination.
"But worlds that develop technology like this generally have low magic essence levels, unable to provide the means for the creatures within to upgrade their life level. That's why such technology has the soil to develop.
"In addition to this type of technology, there are other planets that develop different kinds of tech. In my memory, there seems to be a planet covered by a massive living entity, which through evolution, seems to have things like flesh-and-blood spaceships."
Hearing this, a picture formed in Jiang Lin's mind.
For a moment, he felt an infinite longing for the vast starry sky above his head.
At the same time, he asked Little Black again:
"Then why didn't our planet develop technology like that?"
Little Black remarked nonchalantly:
"Because you guys are backward."
Jiang Lin fell silent.
After a thought, Little Black offered some comfort:
"But you guys are developing technology too. Their technology belongs to the categories of physical or biological tech, while your world's technology belongs to the category of magic technology.
"If your category develops, it could be far stronger than those planets that develop physical technology.
"Magic essence is a resource that can be called one of the highest-quality energy sources in the world.
"It's just that it's harder to develop."
Hearing this, more thoughts popped into Jiang Lin's head:
"Little Black, if the strong experts of our planet reach a certain level, can they leave this planet?"
Hearing Jiang Lin call him Little Black again, Little Black fell into a brief silence.
However, after a moment of thought, he said:
"In theory, it is possible to leave. But simply leaving this planet isn't enough; if you want to see other intelligent civilizations, you must have their coordinates.
"The starry sky above your head is massive, but there aren't many planets suitable for life.
"While some gods or civilizations can manually create habitable planets, they are a minority in the end.
"Before the sheer scale of this starry sky, they are smaller than a single grain of sand."
Hearing this, Jiang Lin asked:
"Then do you have coordinates for other planets?"
Little Black nodded, then shook his head.
"I do, but these coordinates of mine are from who-knows-how-many years ago. Even I don't know how many years I've been asleep. Whether these civilizations still exist, whether they've migrated, or whether they've met with some disaster, I haven't the slightest clue.
"My intuition tells me that among these civilizations, if one out of ten has remained, it would be a stroke of great luck."
Jiang Lin continued to ask:
"Is it easy for civilizations to disappear? Or is there some other reason?
"Invasions from other civilizations? Depletion of the planet's magic essence? Blowing themselves up?"
Little Black stopped entertaining Jiang Lin's questions; he felt the boy was asking too much today.
"These aren't things you should be concerned about.
"Worry about whether you can survive this time first."
With that said, he continued to study and observe this array.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lin began to drift into infinite fantasies:
Since this world had purely technological planets with scarce magic essence, could the Earth he came from in his previous life be among them?
If he had the ability to cross the void, could he find the Solar System in the emptiness?
By then, maybe another civilization would be invading Earth, and he would happen to return, directly waving his hand and shouting in his familiar hometown tongue:
"Bold thieves, how dare you invade my home planet! I alone shall destroy you!!"
Then, countless Blood Demons would swarm out from the passage behind him, fighting the enemy civilization for three hundred rounds. Finally, he would defeat the entire civilization single-handedly, manifesting his divine power before his fellow countrymen, and say in his familiar hometown tongue:
"I am Jiang Lin! The Jiang Lin who vanished xx years ago! Today, I have torn through the Great Dao and tread upon the void, finally finding my way back..."
"What the hell are you smirking at?"
Little Black jumped up and smacked Jiang Lin's knee.
Only then did Jiang Lin shift his attention back to the array before him.
"Besides it being 'preheated' in the last few days, are there any other discoveries?" Jiang Lin asked.
Little Black's expression turned somewhat heavy.
"Kid, it seems your guess was correct."
"This should be a double-layered array.
"After all, the specific locations where arrays can be placed in a single city are limited, so this is an unavoidable overlap where the cores of two great arrays meet.
"The outermost layer is the array from your previous investigation, while the inner layer is one of the cores for another array.
"And what was preheated a few days ago was the second-layer array.
"It's fortunate we came early. I estimate that if we had come even one day later, this 'preheating' trace would have completely vanished."
Hearing Little Black's words, Jiang Lin let out a long sigh.
Though his deduction had come true, it also increased the pressure on him.
Because this proved that the opponent was definitely a devious schemer.
Actually, he had originally thought that since he had the title to impersonate the Pope, he could bluff his way through.
But seeing this double-layered array now, he felt that his plan to fake being the Pope would likely fail against such a crafty opponent.
After all, if he were the opponent, facing someone who suddenly appeared claiming to be the Pope but was suspicious in every way...
He would definitely strike first to test them.
If the person didn't die, it meant they really were the Pope; if they died, it meant they were a fake.
The only rhetoric he could think of now was that he was a clone of a certain Pope, that this clone had taken a new path, could become an apostle of god, and was an important member of the sanctuary.
And now he had received the quest to 【Eliminate Emerald City Cultists】, which put him in conflict with them. He hoped the other party could give him face, and he would promise them the usage rights of another kingdom's city for the cult...
But the risk of doing so was also too great.
Just think, would a cultist who dared to use such methods as trapping and killing reinforcing experts in the Saintas Kingdom be scared by a "Pope" whose existence couldn't be confirmed?
Even if it were the real Pope, Jiang Lin felt the other party might dare to kill him anyway.
After all, if he really were the Pope, then their sacrificial menu could probably feature yet another ninth-rank expert.
They would be more than happy...
The more he thought about it, the more Jiang Lin felt this trip to Emerald City was incomparably dangerous.
Teacher, I want to go back and take the placement test!
Is it too late for me to request support from Radiant Magic Academy now?
Jiang Lin remembered that before he left, the vice principal of his school had told him to request support from the school if he encountered trouble.
But he just didn't know if the school's teachers would be interested in participating in this time-limited event against the secret cult.
With his thoughts wandering, Jiang Lin pulled out the short-range communication crystal.
First, he exchanged the code with the other party to confirm that the person holding the crystal was indeed himself and had not been kidnapped or threatened. Then, Jiang Lin told the big man about the discovery of the second set of sacrificial arrays.
And when the big man heard this deduction had been verified, he was also greatly shocked.
At this moment, a girl's voice came through the crystal:
"There's really a second set?! We're doomed... I'm not going to die here, am I..."
"Don't lose heart. Think of your master. What would your master do at a time like this?"
"My master? If it were my master, she would have directly gone to their door and blasted them into dust..."
"Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything...
"You really have no way to get your master here?"
"My master isn't even in the Saintas Kingdom. If I die this time, she might not even make it back in time to avenge me. I hope she can find my soul fragments and resurrect me, ugh..."
"Don't say such unlucky things, quick, say 'ptui ptui ptui'!"
Then there was another bout of noise.
Finally, the noise quieted down, and the big man said to Jiang Lin:
"Brother Matthew, stay where you are for a while. I'll bring this reinforcement over. She's an array master and should be able to deduce more array positions based on these formations."
Soon, the big man arrived with the reinforcement at the underground secret room in the shanty area where Jiang Lin was.
This was a girl who looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old.
Before she even had time to disguise herself as the "attack helicopter," she had been dragged here by the big man.
Her light brown curly hair was a mess, as if she had just been pulled out of bed and hadn't had time to tidy up.
That made sense; it was currently the early hours of the morning. Before being called over as support, she had probably been sleeping in bed.
How lazy!
To spend such a precious time of night sleeping?!
Rate on N.U.
