Setting Out

As the sun set, Lynch stood by the window, watching the busy scene outside. A dozen carriages were parked in the manor's courtyard, and workers were busily carrying supplies and equipment onto them in endless trips, creating a bustling and lively atmosphere.

It was already the evening of June 19th. Two days had flown by, and the time of departure had finally arrived.

The night before last, Lynch had rejected Walker's request without a second thought.

The world of the evil gods was not a place one could enter and leave at will. Without absolute certainty, Lynch had no intention of stepping foot in there again.

The excuse was perfectly reasonable: he was different from them, he could not return home using their methods, traveling back and forth consumed an immense amount of energy, and once he went back, it would be virtually impossible for him to come out again.

Lynch was not actually worried about raising suspicion because of this. What he found tricky was a different issue altogether.

He had not expected that when the operation began, Walker and Moliere would be leading the internal group into that world. This meant Walker would directly interact with the followers of the evil gods, which obviously increased the risk of Lynch's identity being exposed. It all depended on whether those cultists inside would cooperate.

This essentially left his fate in the hands of others, making Lynch very reluctant and rather uneasy.

Fortunately, after Walker left on the 18th, he returned that very night with the gem. He reported that everything was going smoothly and they could set out on the evening of the 19th.

There was absolutely no mention of Lynch's identity. It seemed the Swelling Daughter and her Swelling Daughters had indeed kept their promise and had not exposed his background.

However, such smooth progress actually made Lynch a bit uneasy instead.

Evil gods were not easy to deal with, especially insane ones like these. Whether their willingness to cooperate was a good or bad thing was hard to say. They might very well be brewing some sort of conspiracy.

But things had already reached this point, and there was no reason to back down now. Even if there was a conspiracy, it was worth taking the risk. In any case, the current situation was favorable, and everything had gotten on track according to Lynch's plan.

What he needed to do next was to facilitate the smooth progress of the ritual. As long as the ritual's effects manifested without actually transferring the mirror to the mortal world, it would be a complete success. With ironclad evidence, Mayor Howard and Walker, who were pulling the strings in the shadows, would definitely not escape. This long-term mission of Lynch's since his transmigration would finally be fully accomplished.

May the neighbor bless me. I hope everything goes smoothly without any unexpected incidents.

Yet even Lynch himself did not believe in such prayers. Everything going smoothly? Was that even possible?

Howard and Walker were no fools; they certainly had backup plans. Just like the two powerful, prying wills that had swept over upon his arrival last night—one was Judy, but the other's identity remained entirely unknown. It had been lurking in the manor all this time, likely serving as Howard's contingency force.

“Knock, knock, knock.” The sound of knocking snapped Lynch out of his reverie. Karl Jones's voice came from outside the door. “Ms. Selene, how are your preparations going? Do you need any help?”

“I'll be right out.”

Right, there were also those six teammates, each harboring their own secrets.

After so many days, if they were going to leak secrets, they would have done so long ago. Besides, Howard was not afraid of leaks in the first place; what he feared was the moles causing trouble after entering the ancient tomb. But now that Lynch, acting as the representative of an evil god, was going in with them, Howard had absolutely nothing to worry about. The headache had now been pushed over to Lynch's side.

Not knowing their true intentions was the most terrifying part.

Over the past two days, Lynch's investigation into them had not made much progress. Everyone hid themselves deeply, yet on the surface, each appeared more normal than the last. This left Lynch with no way to start. He was tempted to just ask them directly, but that would probably be useless. He could only endure it for now and observe their behavior during the mission.

In any case, as long as they did not affect the ritual, it was fine. Lynch did not care about anything else.

Sighing, Lynch pulled a thumb-sized glass bottle from his long skirt and shook it against the light. Inside, a golden beetle fluttered its wings. Hmm, looks like it's still alive.

The Lover's Beetle, a classic rare mystery creature. They grew in pairs, sharing a single life and death, and could sense the direction of their partner no matter how far apart they were.

The other half was, of course, in the hands of Miss Diana and Officer Natalie. When the time came, they would use it to find his location—the site of the ritual. Until then, he was entirely on his own.

It was time to set out.

Stowing the beetle away, Lynch carried his round fan down the stairs. The other six members of the external group had already gathered in front of the carriage convoy.

Based on Lynch's understanding of archaeology and his two days of familiarization, he had figured out that Howard had not gathered this group of high-risk professionals to have them fight to the death. Rather, he had organized a high-spec archaeological team—or more accurately, a grave-robbing team.

It seemed entering the tomb was the greatest difficulty, while the ritual was secondary. Otherwise, they could have just found any random people to perform it.

The core of the team was the archaeologist, Dr. Jenna. This woman, who appeared to be in her thirties, was currently checking her equipment. Her preparations were highly professional. A quick sweep of Lynch's gaze over her revealed four mystery relics, which very much carried the signature style of those lunatics from the Archaeological Association.

【Ocean Currents in a Dream】, 【Eyes Peering Through Walls】, and 【Terrain Listener】.

One could tell just by their names that they were all archaeological tools, but that other one...

【Rick's Carbon Paper: A tool used by Rick to convey his love to his sweetheart thousands of miles away. Write down your thoughts, and the lover on the other end will know them instantly.】

Tsk. Carrying relics belonging to the Archaeological Association while also bringing a spy relic clearly meant for passing messages. Doctor, you really aren't afraid of exposing yourself, are you? Even I can't bear to watch this.

Forget it, I'll just close my eyes to it.

Turning his head aside, he saw the explorer, Karl Jones, who had just gone upstairs to call him.

The core of an archaeological team was the archaeologist, but the commander was often the explorer. Ruins and ancient tombs were fraught with dangers, and their experience was often the guide to survival. At this moment, the handsome explorer, Karl Jones, was holding the hands of two maids as he bid them a warm farewell. A large patch of roses suddenly bloomed at the feet of the two ladies, filling them with pleasant surprise.

However, putting aside whether his behavior was unsightly, looking at the grass under his feet that stretched all the way to the river, and then looking at his ability to control plants... didn't he think the so-called locked-down management was completely meaningless to him?

The cautious ancient book broker, Rooney, was much more prudent. He was responsible for avoiding and deciphering mystery documents, ensuring the team would not be wiped out because of them. He was currently looking down to check a pocket-watch-style locator. The cover of the instrument was a mirror, and as the sunlight hit it, a beam of reflected light pointed directly toward the river, swaying seemingly intentionally or unintentionally with the movement of his wrist.

Sigh, I can pretend I didn't see that the light was bent, but could you please not use sunlight to transmit messages? Doing this makes me strongly suspect you are the guy colluding with the Church of the Sun. Be careful, or I might charge the entire bill for the Valente house's damage to your account.

The bearded antique hunter was responsible for defending against the relics in the ruins, neutralizing the threats from the guardian relics as much as possible. At this moment, he was not busy preparing like the others. Instead, he had a cigar in his mouth and held a small piece of cheese in his hand. Over twenty small gray mice were lined up in front of the carriage, nibbling on the cheese one by one. Watching this made Lynch sigh inwardly, as he had already roughly guessed why Judy said this man could bring things back from the outside. Lynch even suspected that the Ocean Currents in a Dream in Jenna's hands had been brought in by his mice, which was why they pretended to have a grudge against each other.

The epigraphist, Judy, was in charge of deciphering the textual information in the tomb, with the exception of mystery documents. As for the part-time fraud and folklorist, Salin, he was responsible for providing support in occult knowledge, making him an indispensable part of the team as well.

However, unless this man was disguised under another identity, as long as he showed himself as Salin, he barely interacted with anyone else. Only when he transformed into someone else would he use that person's identity to interact normally with the outside world.

Therefore, over the past few days, Lynch had barely had any communication with this tall, thin fraud. On the contrary, he could actually chat a bit with him when he was in his identity as Tom the bartender. With such a bizarre personality, Lynch found it hard to imagine that he was actually an informant for the Rangers. He just wondered how the man planned to control the team.

Thus, at exactly six o'clock in the afternoon, with the blow of a whistle, everyone boarded the carriages. A large convoy of over a dozen carriages departed from Riverside Manor in a grand fashion, continuing their journey northward.

As the convoy set out, by the distant riverbank, two ladies lowered their monoculars.

Miss Diana and Officer Natalie looked at each other, nodded, and then hurriedly ran off in different directions.

Further away in the city, at the Scarecrow Club, the Archaeological Association, the Cathedral of the Blazing Sun, the Duke's mansion... who knew how many people's minds had already drifted alongside the carriage convoy.