CHAPTER 675: CHAPTER 80: ANCIENT RUINS

After passing through the dense jungle, the expedition team arrived at a hidden entrance concealed beneath vines and dead branches.

Clearing away the debris at the entrance, a thick metal door blocked the expedition team’s path. Under the illumination of their lights, the door emitted a faint blue glow.

"There’s lanthanum metal mixed in here," one of the expedition team members said.

Lanthanum metal is a special mineral in this world, known for its considerable anti-magic properties and its ability to significantly hinder spiritual power.

This unique property has led the Four-Eyed People to widely use it in safes, vaults, and some secret locations.

Even before the Great Cataclysm, lanthanum metal products were widespread across various important sites in this world.

"Measure the content," the leader said.

A team member stepped forward, holding a device resembling a camera. He pointed the device at the door and switched it on.

A purple laser shot out from the device, striking the door.

Soon, a reading appeared on the monitor behind the machine.

[30%]

"Thirty percent?"

Upon seeing this data, the members of the expedition team exclaimed in surprise. While lanthanum metal is widely used in many places, it is not an ordinary material.

This metal has only a few veins in the Four-Eyed People World, most of which were mined before the Great Cataclysm. The lanthanum metal currently used by the Four-Eyed People largely comes from the recovery of abandoned metals from pre-cataclysmic ruins.

Generally, even the lanthanum metal content in bank vaults is only around ten percent. Compositions exceeding fifteen percent are used only by some unknown and confidential organizations.

For instance: the Control Bureau.

Yet the lanthanum metal content of this door had reached thirty percent. Even if there is a margin of error due to portable instruments, a thirty percent reading, at best, would only drop to twenty percent.

Twenty is an exceptionally high figure too.

"We’ve come across something big this time," murmured a team member.

The leader, looking at the instrument’s data, cautiously measured twice more, and from different locations. But the results were the same each time.

"Still thirty percent... damn, this relic is really tricky," the leader muttered.

Anyone able to lead a private expedition team of over a hundred people in the Awakener world is generally a prominent figure. In ancient times, such people would have been known by a more recognized title—Mercenary Corps Leader.

But being prominent also made the leader aware of how problematic this relic was. Although people often say there are no laws in the Awakener world, those who’ve mixed at a certain level know better.

The Awakener world is not without rules.

A massive shadow perpetually watches over each Awakener who stands out. If anyone crosses the line, all that awaits them is death and disappearance.

And unfortunately, this shadow has a keen interest in historical relics from before the Great Cataclysm.

Rumors circulate in the Underworld of individuals who, after obtaining a pre-cataclysmic relic, found themselves visited at night, relieved of their items—and their lives.

But as the expedition leader, he knew he had no choice. He had already signed a contract and spent the sponsor’s money. Backing down now would mean decades of debt repayment.

"Let’s hope the sponsor has a solid background,"

the leader sighed, slowly walking towards the door. The team members, seeing this, moved back. Those unfamiliar with the leader, though unsure of his intentions, also retreated.

"Loren, what is the leader doing?"

In the crowd, Bal asked Professor Loren, who looked a bit pale.

Professor Loren was a long-term collaborator with this expedition team, and he knew much more about them than Bal did.

"Unlocking it," Loren replied weakly.

Suddenly, Bal felt a sensation like a breeze passing over him.

He glanced at the leader, who was pressing a disc-shaped device against the door, his eyes shut tight, and eyebrows twitching. It seemed as if light was flowing within him.

"Could this be a Source Energy wave?" a thought suddenly popped into Bal’s mind.

He couldn’t find any other explanation.

The leader’s expression changed continuously; initially, his brows were just furrowed, but as time passed, he looked increasingly strained. Eventually, his expression was nothing short of agonized.

His features were almost contorted.

Suddenly, a dull sound came from deep within the door.

The leader released his hand, letting the device drop to the ground. He was drenched as if he’d just emerged from a sauna, sweat pouring from every inch of his body.

"Phew, this door was no joke. Good thing I’m one step ahead."

The lanthanum metal door slowly opened, yet no foul air emerged from the relic’s interior. Quite the contrary, besides some dust, the passage beyond showed almost no signs of a thousand years of abandonment.

It seems as if the passage of a thousand years is just a breeze.

Before long, the leader recovered, stood up, and called out to everyone, "Let’s enter. Professors, we’ll be counting on you shortly."

They entered the ruins, and under the protection of the guards, the two professors, along with a few of their students, entered the site.

The interior of the ruins was dark, even though the walkway lights on the walls were perfectly functional—without civilization-level technology, creating a power source capable of stable functionality for thousands of years would be a fantasy.

The guards led the way with flashlights, with the safety on their source energy weapons off. While most ruins didn’t house otherworldly creatures, nobody could say for sure whether this base might be one of the rare exceptions.

And among the guards, the two professors and their students—mostly students of Professor Loren—were trying to determine to which pre-cataclysm dynasty this ruin belonged based on its characteristics.

The ruin was enormous, with many layers, each with tightly closed doors. Most puzzling was the absence of corpses inside the ruins.

Not a single one.

"Professor, come check this out."

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Suddenly, one of Professor Loren’s students exclaimed. The group gathered to see a row of almost obliterated darkened text at a corridor’s fork.

"This is... Kelvin!"

Seeing the text, Bal immediately shouted in shock. Professor Loren took a magnifying glass for a closer look, his face also reflecting the same astonishment.

"It really is Kelvin! I never expected this region to be part of the Kael Dynasty’s territory!"

In pre-cataclysm history, the Kael Dynasty was the most enigmatic dynasty.

The extent of its territory was unknown, its scripts incomplete, and its ruins scant. Yet, in the numerous documents discovered from before the cataclysm, the Kael Dynasty was acknowledged as a powerful dynasty that subjugated the Four Barbarians.

There was even a hypothesis in historical circles that before the cataclysm, there was only the Kael Dynasty. The remaining ones were merely tributary states of the Kael Dynasty.

Of course, historians usually treat this hypothesis as a joke.

"What does this text say?" the leader leaned in and asked.

Professor Loren looked over it again and said uncertainly, "Lighthouse... off."

"Lighthouse?"

The group was puzzled, as they were inland. How could there be a lighthouse here? And if it were a metaphor, what does the lighthouse represent?

Bal had no objections to this translation but still couldn’t guess what the lighthouse symbolized.

"Let’s press on," Professor Loren said, "This one phrase doesn’t tell us anything."

As they continued, they passed many rooms. All the doors were shut, and upon opening them, they found they were all dormitories. After checking through each one, the exploration team found two diaries with legible text.

According to the contents of the diaries, the current site was a branch of the Supreme Research Institute. In this branch, they were studying an ancient relic known as the Supreme’s artifact.

"The Supreme!?"

Reading the diary, both professors exclaimed. They didn’t know what the term represented, but they realized this discovery hinted at an even more distant history before the cataclysm.

This was a massive find, significant enough to secure their place in future textbooks.

"Let’s continue, continue!"

Professor Bal’s face had an unnatural pale blue hue; he had fallen ill during the journey in recent days and hadn’t fully recovered. Faced with such a significant discovery, he appeared slightly dazed.

"Ahead is the research area," the leader said with a tense expression, "Professors, I must inform you. We might encounter danger. Stay close to us and don’t wander off."

"Understood."

Continuing downward, they soon descended a staircase into the research layer. The door here was sturdier than those of the dormitory layer above, and the leader exerted considerable effort to open it.

As the door opened, a breeze-like energy wave instantly swept over everyone in the exploration team.

"What is... this?"

Bal was dumbfounded by the sight before him.

A giant Crystal Ball hovered in the air, pulsing with a soft glow like a heartbeat. However, beyond it, countless flesh-like tendrils extended from the Void, seemingly attempting to seize and devour the Crystal Ball.

But as the Crystal Ball’s brilliance intensified, all these tentacles were annihilated by the seemingly gentle glow.

Suddenly, the flesh seemed to notice the exploration team who had opened the door. One tendril emerged from the Void and, instead of entwining around the Crystal Ball, lunged like a viper at a nearby team member.

Its speed was so swift that even the Second Level being leading the team didn’t react in time.

The next moment, the team member’s body began to swell rapidly, energy from the air converging on him.

He seemed to be... growing!

"Retreat!" the leader shouted urgently.

Simultaneously, a flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from behind them.