As the sun dipped below the horizon, Lynch stood by the window, watching the bustling scene outside. Over a dozen carriages were parked in the manor's courtyard, with workers busy hauling supplies and equipment onto them, creating a scene of lively activity.
It was already the evening of June 19th. Two days had passed in a flash, and the time for departure had finally arrived.
The night before last, Lynch had refused Walker's request without a second thought.
The world of an evil god was not a place one could simply come and go as one pleased. Without absolute certainty, Lynch had no intention of entering it again.
The reason he gave was logical: "I am not like you. I cannot return home using your methods. The cost of traveling back and forth is immense; once I go back, it would be impossible for me to come out again."
Lynch was not actually worried that this would invite suspicion. He found the situation tricky for another reason.
He had not expected that when the event began, it would be Walker and Moliere from the other side leading the internal group into that world. This meant Walker would have to have direct contact with the followers of the evil god, which would obviously increase the risk of exposing Lynch's identity. It all depended on whether the followers of the evil god inside would cooperate.
It felt like handing his fate over to the other side to decide, something Lynch was very reluctant to do, and it left him feeling uneasy.
Fortunately, after Walker left on the 18th, he returned that very night, bringing back the gems and indicating that everything was proceeding smoothly, allowing them to set off on the evening of the 19th.
There was no mention of Lynch's identity at all. It seemed the Swelling Daughter and her Swelling Daughters were indeed keeping their promise not to expose his secrets.
But such smoothness actually made Lynch feel somewhat anxious.
Evil gods were not reasonable entities, especially those that acted like lunatics. Whether their willingness to cooperate was good or bad was hard to say; they might well be brewing some conspiracy.
However, things had reached this point; there was no reason to back down now. Even if there was a conspiracy, it was worth a shot. In any case, the situation was not bad, and everything was already on the right track according to Lynch's plan.
What needed to be done next was to facilitate the ceremony. As long as the ceremony produced the intended effect without actually transferring the mirror into the real world, the mission would be considered a success. With solid evidence, Mayor Howard and Walker, who were causing trouble from the shadows, would never be able to escape. Lynch's long term mission since he crossed over would then be completely finished.
May the neighbors bless me. I hope everything goes smoothly and no accidents occur.
Yet, Lynch did not even believe in this kind of prayer himself. Could everything really go smoothly?
Howard and Walker were not fools; they surely had backups. Just like the two powerful wills that had probed them upon arrival last night—one was Judy, but the other had remained unidentified and had been lurking in the manor the entire time, likely being Howard's reserve force.
"Knock, knock, knock." The sound of knocking startled Lynch out of his daze. Karl Jones's voice came from outside the door, "Ms. Selene, how are your preparations? Is there anything you need help with?"
"I will be right there."
Right, there were still the six teammates, each hiding their own secrets.
After so many days, if they were going to leak information, they would have done so already. Besides, Howard was not afraid of leaks; what he feared was the internal mole causing trouble after entering the ancient tomb. But now, with Lynch, the representative of the evil god, going in with them, Howard no longer had to worry. The annoyance had been pushed onto Lynch's side.
Not knowing their true motives was the most terrifying part.
In nearly two days, Lynch's investigation into them had not made much progress. Everyone hid themselves quite deeply while appearing more normal than the next. This left Lynch with no way to start. He was tempted to ask them directly, but he guessed it would be useless, so he could only endure and watch their performance during the mission.
In any case, as long as it did not affect the ceremony, Lynch did not care about the rest.
Sighing, Lynch pulled a thumb-sized glass bottle from his long dress and shook it against the light. Inside, a golden beetle fluttered its wings. Well, it seemed it was still alive.
The Lover's Beetle, a standard rare mysterious creature, grew in pairs and lived and died together. No matter how far apart they were, they could sense the direction of the other half.
The other half was, of course, in the hands of Ms. Diana and Officer Natalie. When the time came, they would use this to find his location—the site of the ceremony. Until then, everything would depend on himself.
It was time to hit the road.
After putting the beetle away, Lynch held the round fan and walked down the stairs. The other six members of the external group were already at the carriage train.
Based on Lynch's knowledge of archaeology, after two days of familiarity, he had figured out that Howard had not brought together this group of high-risk professionals to raise 'gu-poison,' but rather to organize a high-end archaeological team, or perhaps a grave-robbing squad.
It seemed that entering the tomb was the biggest hurdle, while the ceremony was secondary. Otherwise, he could have just found anyone to perform it.
The core of the team was the archaeologist, Dr. Jenna. This woman in her thirties was counting her equipment; her preparations were professional. With a glance, Lynch spotted four mystery relics on her, which were very characteristic of that group of lunatics from the Archaeological Association.
【Ocean Currents in a Dream】【Eyes Peering Through Walls】【Terrain Listener】
One look at the names told him they were all archaeological tools. But that other one...
【Rick's Carbon Paper, a tool Rick used to send love to his lover thousands of miles away. Write down one's feelings, and the lover on the other end would know instantly.】
Tsk, holding a mystery relic belonging to the Archaeological Association while carrying a spy relic clearly meant for passing messages—Doctor, you really aren't afraid of being exposed. I can't even bear to look.
Forget it, I'll just close my eyes.
Turning his head, he saw the explorer Karl Jones, who had just come upstairs to greet him.
The core of an archaeological team is the archaeologist, but the leader is often the explorer. Ruins and ancient tombs are full of dangers, and their experience is often the signpost to survival. At this moment, the handsome explorer Karl Jones was holding the hands of two maids, bidding them a diligent farewell. A large patch of roses suddenly bloomed at the feet of the two ladies, much to their surprise.
However, not to mention whether his behavior looked greedy, just look at the grass stretching all the way to the riverbank at your feet, and then look at your ability to control plants—don't you think the so-called closed management is meaningless to you?
The cautious rare-book broker Rooney was more steady. He was responsible for the avoidance and decryption of mystery documents, ensuring the team would not be wiped out. He was lowering his head to check a pocket-watch-style locator. The instrument cover was a mirror, and when the sunlight hit it, it reflected a beam of light pointing straight to the river, swinging with his wrist as if intentional or otherwise.
Sigh, I can pretend not to see that the beam of light is bending, but could you please not use sunlight to pass messages? You make me highly suspicious that you are the one colluding with the Church of the Sun. Be careful, or I will put all the bills for the Valente house on your account.
The bearded antique hunter was responsible for the defense against relic artifacts in the ruins, trying to offset the threats from the ruins' guardian artifacts as much as possible. Unlike the others, he was not busy preparing, but was chewing on a cigar while holding a small piece of cheese. Over twenty small gray mice were lined up in front of the carriage, gnawing on the cheese one by one. Seeing this, Lynch sighed; he had already guessed why Judy said he could bring things back from the outside. Lynch even suspected that the Ocean Currents in a Dream in Jenna's hand had been brought in by his mice, which was why they were pretending to be enemies.
The philologist Judy was there to crack the textual information in the tomb, excluding mystery documents, while the folklorist Salin, who was a part-time swindler, was responsible for providing support in occult knowledge, making him an indispensable part of the archaeological team.
It was just that unless this person disguised himself as another identity, as long as he presented himself as himself, he almost never had contact with others. Only by turning into someone else would he use that person's identity to have normal contact with the outside world.
So, during these past few days, Lynch had almost no interaction with this thin, tall swindler, whereas he could still have simple chats with the identity of the bartender, Tom. With such a bizarre personality, Lynch found it hard to imagine that he was actually an informant for the Rangers. He just wondered how he intended to control the team.
Thus, at six o'clock in the afternoon, with the sound of a whistle, everyone boarded the carriages. A large fleet consisting of over a dozen carriages departed from the Lakeside Manor in a grand procession, continuing to head north.
And as the team departed, by the river in the distance, two ladies retracted their binoculars.
Miss Valente and Officer Natalie looked at each other and nodded, then hurriedly ran off in different directions.
In the city further away, the Scarecrow Club, the Archaeological Association, the Cathedral of the Blazing Sun, the Duke's mansion... no one knew how many people's thoughts had already drifted to the side of the carriage fleet.
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