CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER 268: REPAIRING THE BROKEN TELEPORTATION ARRAY

Jiang Yuan was sound asleep when he suddenly felt a cool sensation on his face along with a plaintive voice softly calling in his ear, "Jiang Yuan, Jiang Yuan, wake up quickly!"

He sprang up abruptly to find Zhang Qi visiting in the middle of the night without even knocking on the window, standing right beside his bed.

"Sorry for breaking in without knocking, but it’s an urgent matter, you need to hurry!"

Zhang Qi handed over a set of keys and relayed Liu Qiang’s words verbatim, "Currently, only two locations have been identified where his Origin is hidden; we need to resolve this quickly. The police are monitoring him on video, and if they send someone to check it out, it could be troublesome. Be very careful, that scumbag Liu Qiang is full of tricks, don’t fall for them."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan was no longer sleepy. He quickly agreed, got up, threw on his clothes without even washing his face, grabbed the car keys, and headed straight for the garage.

Fortunately, Liu Qiang, cautious and careful, chose secluded old houses in the old district to hide his secrets.

Also fortunate were the Yin Fiend female ghosts’ awareness, allowing Liu Qiang to intermingle the confession of his Origin with his self-exposure of the murder. The focus of the police was on investigating the case, and they did not immediately pay attention to his self-muttering "gibberish" unrelated to the case.

And the old, run-down houses concealed by the shiny, tall buildings had no cameras, populated only by busy, working-class people, greatly facilitating Jiang Yuan’s night actions.

With paper cutouts as cover, he quickly cleaned up all the little black fish at the two spots, gaining an additional three years of lifespan.

"Whew! Finally all settled, a total of forty years of lifespan from three hidden spots, how many people did Liu Qiang have to kill using Evil Techniques?" At dawn, he remotely controlled the paper cutouts to erase all leftover traces, sighed, and drove home to catch up on sleep.

In the following days, Liu Qiang confessed all the locations of his hidden Origins during his admission of guilt, and Jiang Yuan handled the aftermath by using the Heaven-Burning Flame to burn the little black fish, extracting experience and time.

By the time Liu Qiang had revealed all he could and was driven mad by the female ghosts, Jiang Yuan, reaping the fisherman’s advantage, had already refined all the divided eighty-year Origin into his system’s lifespan balance.

The Heaven-Burning Flame also grew rapidly through the repeated burning of the little black fish, officially leveling up to Level Eleven.

Initially planning to stay low in the real world for half a year to see if time reduced a few months, Jiang Yuan could not resist, for the Wilderness World on the other side had many pending matters, making him impatient to go over whenever he had downtime here.

Ensuring everything was ready without interruption, he lay on his bed and entered the Wilderness World again.

With night not yet fallen, Jiang Yuan got up, returned to his room, put the Phoenix Cloud Hairpin in the Storage Box, then turned to take out the Elixirs made in the Alchemy Room, meanwhile using the materials obtained from tasks to upgrade it to Level Three, clicked to craft Third Grade detox pills, and moved the scissors to the Treasure Forging Workshop for upgrading.

"Besides building a Textile Workshop, there are still plenty of leftover materials, which workshop should I upgrade next?" Placing the newly crafted Second Grade Spirit Core Pill in the store window to ensure it can sell for Spirit Stones once the Golden Carp Lake Market opens, Jiang Yuan stood at the door, contemplating which upgrade would be the most cost-effective among the busy workshops.

"Woo~"

A sobbing yet not sobbing, deep yet powerful wailing sound suddenly echoed behind him, akin to an ancient copper bell resonating through the heavens and earth!

"What’s happening?" Hu Zhile was startled and jumped up.

Bai Yunqi instantly flew out from the Spirit Pool, transforming into a silver ribbon darting towards the cliff cave.

Wan Mingchuan and Yun Mo reacted the slowest, both turning their gaze to Jiang Yuan.

"The sound of the Teleportation Array." Having experienced it twice, he remained calm, quickly walking over to indeed find the broken ancient Teleportation Array trembling.

[Limited Time Supplementary Task: Successfully repair the broken Teleportation Array within three hours. Reward: Ancient Treasure Chest +2]

"Venerable Family, this ominous vibration seems to be..." Bai Yunqi, with a furrowed brow, fixated on the "aftershock" of the Teleportation Array, speculated: "Something wants to teleport over, but the array here is broken, resulting in energy impact caused by teleportation."

He was utterly shaken inside, for this was an ancient Teleportation Array!

You must know that such Teleportation Arrays are usually activated between points to be usable, meaning the "person" on the other side wanting to come over is using the same ancient Teleportation Array, and very likely had been to this place before!

Something wants to teleport over?

Jiang Yuan’s eyebrows furrowed at this, can this thing be controlled? If not, then wouldn’t anyone be able to come once knowing the teleportation point?

Moreover, someone on the other side wants to come over, who could it be?

Friend or foe? Could it be the "Ya," who loves writing a diary, adventuring back?

"Should we repair it?" He was momentarily undecided, for the materials were ample, yet once repaired, if something troublesome indeed teleports over, how to deal with it?

Bai Yunqi was also unsure, but Hu Zhile, following afterward, leaned close to the Teleportation Array to sniff the remnants, reminding: "Venerable Family, this vibration doesn’t have Spiritual Power, it’s likely not something wanting to teleport over, rather more like...a rescue signal."

Both were perplexed, looking at her, "You can smell that?"

"I judged based on the aura." She patiently explained, "Venerable Family knows I am extremely sensitive to auras; having roamed far and wide working for the lady over the years, I often tread the knife’s edge, hence my judgment for danger is precise."

The vibration lacks any Spiritual Power fluctuations, indicating it’s not teleportation. Furthermore, no dangerous aura is present, feeling more like inviting other sides for teleportation, marking the location actively, but the broken Teleportation Array here cannot receive more information, so it seems like a rescue signal to me."

Jiang Yuan trusted her aura assessment, so he decided to repair it and try, given the system hinted that upgrading the Teleportation Array to Level Three would potentially offer cross-world teleportation, indeed a chance to step out of the Newbie Village!

"You all retreat first, I’ll repair the Teleportation Array and see. If anything indeed teleports over, regardless of what, we fight first!"

One snake and one fox retreated to the cave entrance, ready at any moment.

Wan Mingchuan positioned himself further back, peering curiously; Yun Mo’s large body couldn’t fit in, only extending his head inside, squeezing to watch.

[Would you like to consume materials to repair the broken Teleportation Array?]

Jiang Yuan clicked repair, filling all materials, and then chose "Yes," instantly enveloped in clouds as the whole Teleportation Array emitted clanging sounds.

Once the slow progress bar was completed, the clouds dissipated to reveal a complete, ancient, mysteriously textured Teleportation Array.

[Limited Time Supplementary Task completed, reward issued, please open building page for the Teleportation Array settings]

The system remained broadly controlling, providing a sense of reassurance.

Jiang Yuan promptly set the Teleportation Array to safety mode, ensuring no one could teleport without permission to keep the courtyard safe. After finishing the setup, as he was checking the usage details of the Teleportation Array, a sudden rumbling and shaking reoccurred!

[Teleportation Array has received a distress signal from the void transmission coordinates ???, would you like to mark a shortcut teleport location?]

"Coordinate...mark teleport location..." Jiang Yuan urgently searched for keywords.

Then he saw the detailed analysis indicating cross-world teleportation could be actively used upon Level Three. But if specific coordinates are marked and saved as a teleport location, Spirit Stones can be spent with no restriction for teleportation.

Distress signal from the void, should he go check?

He hesitated for a second, first choosing to save the coordinate on the off chance wanting to go but couldn’t be found, tossed it aside, and just stood on the Teleportation Array.

[Please choose a teleport coordinate to activate]

The system swiftly popped up a long list of grey buttons, each location varying in Spirit Stone consumption for activation, even several at the bottom showing substantial material usage required for repair before activation.

"Find the cheapest one!" Jiang Yuan glanced at his sparse Spirit Stone balance, choosing to activate Canglang Coast.