The ruins were discovered while excavating deeper into the shelter.
After moving to this new shelter, they never stopped exploring the underground in search of new territory. Neither supporters nor opponents objected—it was common knowledge that the deeper one went, the fewer anomalies there were.
These ruins were discovered in just that way a year ago.
They bore so connection to the ruins on the surface. The sa marble columns, the sa statues—but the underground ruins were better preserved, including the faces of the statues that were unearthed.
Aileen ordered them to abandon the ruins and seal the excavated passage with stones and mud. Fortunately, nothing happened; the ancient being slumbering in the ruins was not awakened.
"What's inside?" Lu Li asked.
"Us, or as you call them, guardian statues."
Aileen had found information about the ruins in docunts dating back to the shelter's founding; the creatures within were recorded there.
The exorcists who cleared the ruins called them guardian statues, to distinguish them from the ancient statues that could yield artifact shards.
They attacked anyone who entered the ruins at night, but if their bodies were damaged or their faces were dug out, they would lose their anomalous nature and revert to ordinary statues.
The inverted day-night cycle in the shelter prevented attacks on residents who might accidentally wander into the ruins.
"If you're going into the ruins, now is the ti, but there might be other dangers."
"What dangers?"
"The docunts don't ntion any. This is just my guess," Aileen said, turning her head toward Lulu, who had returned with a stack of parchnts.
"Although the two sets of ruins are connected, they are clearly different. Otherwise, why would one be on the surface and the other hundreds of ters underground?"
"Information about the rchant's body," Lulu said, handing the parchnts to Lu Li.
Lu Li's gaze fell upon them; the yellowed parchnts detailed how the shelter's inhabitants had discovered the rchant's body.
It had suddenly appeared in the forest on the edge of the ruins. A resident nad Vianni Simons had discovered it. He'd had the good fortune of being chosen to observe the outside world and had set out early in the morning for the observation post closest to the surface.
This was the sa road Lu Li and his companions had taken.
Thus, Vianni Simons discovered the body at the edge of the forest—or rather, the conspicuous, dark green, enormous backpack on the rchant's back.
The shelter identified him but took no action, simply continuing its observation.
The rchant's body did not decompose over the next three months, gradually gathering dust until the inhabitants of a settlent hiding in the forest discovered it and dragged it deeper into the woods. The observation ended there.
Turning to the next parchnt, he found observation records of the settlent in the Forest of Silence.
They had migrated here after the Age of Anomalies, hiding deep in the forest and exploring the surroundings during the day. At first, they skirted the ruins, heading to the coast to fish and forage, but after discovering the ruins were safe, they stopped taking the long way around and began passing straight through them.
Unaware of the shelter's presence, the settlers lived beside it for half a year before suddenly vanishing one day.
This happened five months after they found the rchant's body.
At the end of the parchnt was a note from the resident who had kept the records. He expressed hope that the settlers had simply moved on, rather than t with disaster.
"It's noon now. You still have ti to go and explore the ruins," Aileen told Lu Li, who handed the parchnts to the rchant.
"The shelter will help you too—or rather, help ourselves," Aileen's hoarse, lazy voice didn't lose its directness.
"After all, these ruins have blocked our path for a long ti. If we can occupy them, we'll have more territory."
"Alright."
Perhaps the ruins foretold by the Everlasting Drear are these very ones, deep underground.
"Lulu, tell Finn that we're resuming the exploration of the ruins. As for anyone who objects... you'll handle them," Aileen sighed with faint relief and leaned back in her chair.
She knew Lu Li was not fond of talking, and only in the overseer's cabin could he be left undisturbed.
Lulu left again.
Katerina, having finished her steak, set down her knife and fork, wiped her lips, and remarked,
"You have so many artifacts, yet you still need outsiders to solve your problems?"
"The situation in the shelter is very complicated... As a spark, we must preserve the purity of human blood." Aileen's gaze fell on Lu Li.
"We fear contamination more than people on the surface do. For you, the side effects of a lowered Mind Level are rely visual and auditory hallucinations. For us, it also ans an increased frequency of deformities in our offspring."
The accumulation of these consequences would eventually lead to the shelter losing its purpose.
While they waited for the passage to be reopened, Lu Li and Aileen spoke of many things from the past—mostly Aileen spoke while Lu Li listened. Katerina and the others could barely get a word in. Only Ophelia, who belonged to the sa era, would sotis haltingly join the conversation. Her erudition always made the discussion interesting, but her difficulty with speech limited her.
In the afternoon, Lulu returned to the overseer's cabin with news that the passage to the ruins had been opened.
That afternoon, Lu Li and his companions appeared before the residents of the shelter once more.
Aileen had changed back into her shelter overseer's uniform, though she kept her stunning makeup. Lulu wheeled her along beside Lu Li.
The adults pulled back their insistent children, who were pressing forward, and watched warily as these outsiders followed the lady overseer.
"How unpleasant."
The looks of disgust, wariness, and anger made Katerina mutter involuntarily.
Even the cheerful Prusius tucked his tail and hid behind Lu Li.
But all the way to the entrance of the newly opened passage, not a single fool jumped out to challenge them.
A middle-aged man nad Finn was waiting for them in front of the ruins' entrance, his hair, face, and body covered in dust. As a supporter of Aileen, he held no prejudice against Lu Li and his companions.
Before entering the passage, Lu Li and his companions took the Mind Level counters, artifact daggers, and the shard of an ancient statue that the shelter had prepared.
As before, Ophelia was the first to step into the dark subterranean space, with Lu Li following right behind her.
Bright torches illuminated the imdiate surroundings, but darkness reigned beyond.
The counter on his wrist was silent. Lu Li raised his hand, clutching the shard of the ancient statue.
A warm light, like that of the sun, seeped through Lu Li's fingers, illuminating the entire underground ruins.
The shelter residents in front of the passage stared at the light in stunned silence, tears streaming down their faces.
Was it because of the dazzling light, or because of the sunlight stored deep within their mories?
"Lady Overseer..." Finn suddenly exclaid, noticing Lulu wheeling Aileen into the ruins.
He gritted his teeth, grabbed a Mind Level counter, and followed them.
The light that fell upon the ruins revealed everything: the almost-intact marble columns, the tower-like platform they surrounded, and a tall, desiccated mummy lying atop the platform, which resembled an altar.
"That corpse... it, it wasn't there last ti!"
Finn's exclamation drew Lu Li's attention; holding the light source high, he turned his head and asked,
"What do you an, 'it wasn't there last ti'?"
"The corpse... it used to be lying under the platform!"
Lu Li frowned, his gaze returning to the desiccated mummy on the platform.
The light filtering through his fingers cast a huge, long shadow of the mummy against the rock wall.
"Did soone co in here?" Aileen approached Lu Li.
"Absolutely not. We spent a lot of effort just to break through the passage again."
"But what could have made the corpse change its position?"
"Resurrection of the dead..." Lu Li whispered.
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