We never should have trusted Uncle Zaku’s promises, especially when he declared this rickety old airship to be in good working order. It turned out that after a decade of corroding in the underground warehouse, having beco a heap of scrap tal by the ti Milia was four or five years old, it no longer served any function other than growing mushrooms, which was much more reliable than Lin’s big-mouth landing technique.
But at least Uncle Zaku wasn’t completely wrong about one thing: the engine system of the Radiant Glory indeed burst with the enthusiasm of its heyday. Such fervor soared so high that ten minutes later, it took out the main engine’s cooling system. As we ascended thousands of ters into the sky, the old flying device began to emit a miserable wail; the temperature inside its engine room was rising, while the power output slowly approached that of a battery-operated golf cart. The off-color projection screen on the driver’s seat showed the state of the engine room, much like the inside of an electric oven.
The piercing alarm had been sounding for two minutes; it was the only thing on this airship that seed to be working properly.
"I’ve always said that anything to do with relics is bad business," Uncle Zaku wailed as he let go of the control stick. "The engine will stop in five minutes. If we’re lucky, we’ll fall into Wan Lake; if not, we’re dood—You guys are way too calm, though!"
To his surprise, Uncle Zaku noticed sothing among us twenty-sothing passengers on the airship. Even Biluna, usually the most composed and steady among us, looked nervous, yet the rest of us were more relaxed than ever. Qianqian even had the leisure to press her face against the porthole and draw figures with her breath. On the other side, Bubbles was teaching Yakumo Lan—one of the performance artists in Uncle Zaku’s eyes who he still couldn’t believe existed on this planet, as the concept of Miss Fox was clearly absent from this world—how to calculate the gravitational constant of the planet based on our current rate of descent.
Even Milia, who should have been screaming at a ti like this, was calr than he was; she was busy listening to a lecture with Yakumo Lan.
"Hey hey, this is going to be dangerous, right?"
When Milia heard Uncle Zaku’s words, she glanced up at . Clearly, knowing our true identities, she had no fear of the current situation; she just felt even more embarrassed by her uncle—who couldn’t even fix the airship!
I nodded, grabbed a small dwarf who was scurrying around, and tucked him under my arm, ignoring his crying and howling protests as we headed toward the engine room. Soon after, the airship’s alarm was silenced and the monitoring display showed all engines rapidly returning to normal.
I had tied Chiruno to the heat-dissipation grille.
The details of the following journey are unnecessary to elaborate. The odd airship continued to work fairly well; we first soared through the high atmosphere until the auxiliary engine ceased thrust, then we rocketed in the opposite direction for half an hour under misdirected rudder guidance. Passing through a thundercloud, I thought the airship was done for, but the cloud only took away two boosters. Later, we chased a military flying device for fifteen minutes until, after several warnings to cease and prepare to open fire, Uncle Zaku fixed the rudder. What should have been a short trip ultimately lasted a full ten hours. Since there were no flight als prepared, a starving Sandora ended up eating all of the airship’s seats; if not for considering Milia’s intolerance to thin atmosphere, I suspect she would have taken a bite out of the airship’s hull as well. Yakumo Lan’s face was pale, each of her tails curled up as she smartly rolled herself into a fluffy ball with her large tail to lessen impact damage, resulting in her rolling around the cabin to near shock. Yelsen was tied to the floor by his sister; after witnessing the plight of the Nine-tailed Fox, we all felt it would be disastrous if this iron canister began rolling around the cabin. Everyone ignored the possibility of a well-trained War God making such a rookie mistake.
This hellish journey finally ca to an end in a Gobi-like desert, as we safely crashed into a pile of gravel: although Uncle Zaku repeatedly claid it was actually a safe landing.
"If we actually had any decent deceleration, I’d believe you," Lilina said with a dark expression, staring at Uncle Zaku as Milia retched behind us.
"You know, the near-earth deceleration system was broken from the start."
Uncle Zaku was similarly pale-faced, but he still managed to stand firmly, which showed that the physique of an old adventurer indeed could withstand such trials.
At this mont, Lin weakly interjected, "I think I fly better than this thing..."
Bingdisi and I involuntarily stared at the Dragon God Girl who had finally found so confidence, and Lilina delivered her precise criticism, "At best, that thing is like a stay of execution, while yours is more like imdiate enforcent!"
After all that turmoil, night had fallen, and the sky was adorned with three moons arranged in a horizontal line. A small contingent of the Imperial Army was stationed on two of them, while the glowing Star Ring was slowly gliding across the eastern sky. It orbited around the Mobra Planet, rising and setting in the sky four tis each day. We looked at the desolate Gobi desert, then turned our exploratory gaze toward Biluna.
"The information about the relics is nearby, of course, underground."
As Biluna spoke, she rummaged through a large suitcase, taken from the airship, that contained all sorts of odd-looking equipnt. "Exploring ancient relics has always been a popular occupation, but the number of relics is ultimately finite. By now, the easily found ancient relics have mostly been discovered. The remaining relics are mostly located in places that are not easily thoroughly explored, like under the sea or underground. Generally, only after significant geological changes can these ancient relics be exposed to the world. There was an earthquake here not long ago, and then soone found sothing. Unfortunately, that person was a novice, who probably confused the entrance to the ancient relics with old mine shafts. That makes our job easier."
Sandora’s eyes twinkled with a faint golden light as she scanned the substance beneath the Earth’s crust. She discovered a large cavity, obviously the supposed relic was indeed real. However, I still waited patiently for Biluna to conduct her detection with her pile of bizarre instrunts, and finally, pointing in a direction, she said, "It’s likely over there."
The direction was correct. Although I didn’t quite understand it, those devices she fiddled with, resembling so sort of triangulation stands, seed to have the function of detecting alien energy. With the aid of these devices, she located the nearest crevice that led from the large underground cavity to the surface.
Uncle Zaku, who had just been sitting on the ground sighing, contemplating how much money it would take to repair his beloved Radiant Glory, now lazily raised his head, "Oh? It looks like there are indeed ancient things nearby?"
"The signal is weak, but the atmospheric conditions today are good, with almost no interference," Biluna responded seriously to her partner’s lax behavior, casually pulling Zaku up from the ground, "We’d better set out now. The instrunts predict strong winds in three hours, so we need to find the entrance to the relics before then, or set up a camp nearby."
"Actually, I’d rather turn around and go back to sleep on the airship—you forgot, there are Horror Scorpions on the Gobi desert at night."
Uncle Zaku grumbled but dutifully followed along.
As the airship had almost fallen apart, along with the two transport vehicles it was carrying losing their wheels, everyone had to proceed on foot. Luckily, the signal indicated that the distance wasn’t too far, which dissuaded from the idea of summoning seventy billion. The experience of twenty or thirty people walking through the Gobi desert by lantern light in the middle of the night must be rare; on Earth, absolutely no one would do this, but on Mobra, apart from hurricanes, it seed nothing could stop these already evolved strange indigenous creatures from engaging in outdoor activities. Uncle Zaku, wearing a small vest in the freezing desert, complained loudly about the stupidity of this trip, and even Milia, who appeared frail, was unaffected by the environnt—of course, we were even less affected, but this incidentally proved one thing: any creature that could grow robust under the radiation of the Imperial Heritage was far from ordinary.
Along the way, we kept waiting for the appearance of the Horror Scorpions that Uncle Zaku had ntioned in passing since Sandora was curious about their taste, but the biggest creature that appeared before us ended up being a mosquito that was nearly frozen to death. I suspected that Magni’s persistent singing along the way might have been the reason we were not disturbed by wild beasts on the road.
Biluna periodically stopped to adjust her detection devices, and through start-and-stop progress, she finally pinpointed the location where energy was leaking from the underground cavity. After walking for over an hour, we found a landmark exposed on the surface:
That was a tal pipe nearly weathered clean, with its lower half buried in gravel and the upper half emitting a low moaning in the faint night breeze against the sky. Just a few hundred ters away from this most obvious artifact, we found what might be a passage to the underground: a mine entrance half buried in rubble.
"I’m starting to believe in the existence of the relics," Uncle Zaku judged in a low voice, "A normal abandoned mine in these Gobi deserts, prone to strong winds, would be buried under rubble and gravel within just a month or two. However, the gravel near this mine entrance is fresh, and the wind strength nearby has obviously been suppressed, preventing the entrance from being covered."
Biluna nodded, "Maybe so kind of device inside the ruins is still operating, altering the energy field around the mine. What was its original design purpose?"
"Just to save so effort when cleaning the ventilation shafts," Sandora said indifferently, then took the lead into the deep tunnel. We followed closely behind, with Uncle Zaku complaining at the rear, "Hey! Don’t rush into the tunnel! Let the detector go down first to check the oxygen and... never mind, wait for !"
The scan results showed this "mine" continued nearly a kiloter underground, where there was an obvious fault line. The fault line was not very stable and had a large displacent from the nearby geological structures. We initially judged it must have been caused by the earthquake Biluna ntioned, which had occurred here not long ago. After proceeding for a while, we confird our guess: a severely collapsed and slanted tal structure presented itself at a 45-degree angle before us, making the once spacious mine path narrow to only allow two people through.
"This place must have been completely sealed off once," Uncle Zaku observed the twisted and broken supports in front of us. It looked like the cross-section of a tal corridor, and behind the heavy tal plates, one could see shattered pipes and cables, "It was first sealed by long-term geological changes, and then a crack opened up in the recent earthquake, with the energy seeping from the crack affecting the properties of the tal sensitive to energy on the surface—many of the tal plates used in ancient relics and the tunnel shields of the Hundred Years’ War are not much different. If you can’t detect this residual energy, even a veteran can be confused."
This was all experienced talk from adventurers. They could spot the speciality of a piece of scrap tal from a few simple patterns, determining from the residual energy radiation whether it ca from a relic or an ancient battlefield. However, when it ca from Uncle Zaku’s mouth, it always seed a bit unreal to : Could this unreliable and lazy uncle really have such experience? I thought he was good for nothing but slacking off!
"Even you, little girl, are giving that look?" Zaku suddenly slapped Milia on the head, "Even though I haven’t been very active these past few years, I used to be a famous adventurer known wide and far!"
"Just these past few years you haven’t been very active?" Milia muttered quietly.
"The instrunts have finished scanning," Biluna interrupted the "father and daughter" quibbling. She looked up at the dark collapsed corridor ahead, the powerful shoulder-mounted spotlight swiping through the darkness and briefly revealing strange, jagged shadows, "About 500 ters ahead, there is a tal partition, then a large void. But we can’t guarantee the stability of the strata here. This place, long neglected, could collapse at any ti."
"Well, we can’t go back now anyway," chuckled Uncle Zaku, this ti taking the lead. A large group of us followed close behind; I wasn’t worried about the underground tunnel collapsing. According to Sandora’s scan, this place was much sturdier than expected. The corridor had not been completely torn apart by tens of thousands of years of geological activity—it wasn’t going to collapse any ti soon.
As we moved forward, we observed the surroundings. This twisted tal corridor showcased extrely high technology. Despite its long exposure to the elents, the main parts still shone like new, reflecting a silvery white cold light under the illumination of our lamps. Exposed in the faults on the ceiling were so broken pipelines, wrapped in a translucent crystalline material, very similar to the energy conduits I had seen on Imperial Battleships. Clearly, the lost ancient civilization was intricately connected to the Imperial Heritage. Sandora, frowning, walked beside , seemingly deep in thought at the sights around her. She might have been reminded of things from the Old Empire, and I didn’t dare disturb her.
In fact, I had no ti to bother her either; I was too busy dealing with a certain dimwit Ice Fairy. Chiruno, after being tied to the airship’s radiator grill for ten hours, had made an outstanding contribution to everyone’s journey. But the little dwarf obviously did not want to be an unsung hero; she tried to fight all the way, her current record standing at forty losses, zero wins, and zero ties. I didn’t dare tell her that we might have to ride that airship back soon—Uncle Zaku had sworn that with a bit of rest, the Radiant Glory was still capable of flying. Chiruno would surely flee for her life.
But before that, let the Ice Fairy go crazy for a bit longer.
In the end, a heavy alloy door blocked everyone’s path, also interrupting Chiruno’s actions of shaving ice from my head with her Ice Sword.
"I feel there are Ghost Energy fluctuations behind this," Sandora whispered, the first words she had uttered since we entered the underground tunnel.
I didn’t find it surprising, "The civilizations of this world all sprung up from the Imperial Heritage, and the ancient civilizations did the sa."
"But... it’s different here; I care a lot about this place," Sandora murmured, reaching out to touch the alloy gate that, despite the passage of countless years, still glead. She gently stroked its surface, which was etched with neat patterns left by the ancient civilization. Uncle Zaku studied them intently for a while and deciphered a phrase: Push the door outward, beware of collision.
Damn it! I’ve been pushing for ages!
The power supply to the ancient relics had been cut off, so of course the gate wouldn’t open automatically. Thankfully, we had a strongman with us. Ibuki Suika suddenly felt herself lifted off the ground; it was Lin, holding her by the waist as one would a city-breaking hamr, stepping forward. I watched in shock as the Dragon God Girl, who was possibly having a brain aneurysm, ignored Cui Xiang’s protests and slamd her – unicorn horn and all – into the gap in the gate, then leveraged it open.
It opened... opened... opened...
Similarly used as unconventional tools, Yichui Xigua and Chiruno hugged their heads and wept, announcing an utterly dood revenge plan through their tears. Uncle Zaku had developed a tolerance to the astonishing behavior of our odd group. Although he stood agape for a mont, he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut and led everyone into the vast underground cavern that might not have been visited for tens of thousands of years.
"Whoa... I think we’re about to strike it rich."
Uncle Zaku, changing from his previously incessant complaints, stared at the spacious hall before him and the corridors leading off in all directions, murmuring excitedly to himself.
The relic wasn’t as damp and gloomy as expected, nor did it have a shortage of oxygen or accumulations of toxic gases (not that those things would affect us anyway). Just as initially assessed, despite the cessation of operations for many years, the mysterious technology from the ancient civilization was still radiating residual heat. The cavernous space, a kiloter beneath the surface, was well ventilated, dry, and clean. Certain unseen air passages might have extended from other places above ground, allowing us to even sll the dry, sandy scent of the Gobi Desert, indicating that the air underground had been freshly drawn from the surface. The lighting system had stopped working, but the underground space was still faintly illuminated. The light ca from blue crystals embedded in the ceiling and walls — these were Ghost Energy Crystals that had depleted to the point where they could no longer provide standard energy output to the devices, yet still retained a certain amount of energy!
Were they actually using Ghost Energy Crystals as decorations here? Did the ancient civilization have so many Ghost Energy Crystals that they were as cheap as cabbages?
"Blue Light, hey! We’ve struck it rich!"
Uncle Zaku exclaid in a hushed tone and then took out a bunch of tools, cautiously crawling over to the nearest and largest Ghost Energy Crystal, seemingly ready to pry a piece off.
He was careful enough, but sotis, the stuff in ancient ruins isn’t sothing you can handle just by being careful: The mont Uncle Zaku’s hand touched the crystal, a deep rumble ca from beneath the relic. (To be continued. If you like this work, please feel free to visit Qidian (qidian) to cast your recomndation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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