In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

Luo Sheng thought for a moment, then shook her head: "No. Every day is the same: shopping, taking walks, taking care of the kids. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just asking." Lin Qiye didn't continue the topic; he didn't want Luo Sheng to worry.

But after sitting in the inner courtyard for a while, he got up and went to the cultivation room in the third courtyard to find Shuang'er.

Shuang'er was sitting on a futon in the corner of the cultivation room, her eyes closed, regulating her breathing. Her lower abdomen was already slightly protruding, but her posture remained upright, her breathing steady and long, and the fluctuations of her Origin Qi were more concentrated than before. Hearing footsteps, she opened her eyes and saw Lin Qiye standing at the door. Her gaze flickered slightly: "What is it?"

"Have you noticed anything unusual while walking around the arena lately?"

Shuang'er was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Yes."

"What's wrong?"

"There's something wrong with these people." Shuang'er's voice was soft, but every word was clear. "About two weeks ago, I noticed some people on the street whose eyes were off. Not the kind of fierce or wary look, but a kind of...empty look, like their souls had been ripped out of their eyes. Their movements were normal, and their speech was normal, but it just felt like something was missing."

She paused, then added, "At first I thought it was just my imagination, but then I paid special attention and found that there are more and more people like this."

Lin Qiye frowned slightly: "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"You were in seclusion at the time, and I didn't want to disturb you." Shuang'er looked at him calmly. "Besides, I wasn't sure if there was really a problem. After all, the arena is a mixed bag of people; all sorts of people can be found there."

Lin Qiye was silent for a moment, then nodded: "I understand. Keep an eye on things, and let me know immediately if you find anything else unusual."

Shuang'er nodded, closed her eyes again, and continued to regulate her breathing.

Lin Qiye stepped out of the training room and stood in the third courtyard, looking up at the gray sky. His gaze pierced through the clouds, looking towards the distance beyond the arena—there lay the Array Master Guild's complex, which, under the gray sky, resembled a group of silent behemoths, lurking in the shadows of the city.

He closed his eyes and expanded his perception to its limit. This time, instead of just making a rough scan as before, he spread his perception like a fine net, layer by layer, covering every inch of the arena's core area.

His perception penetrated the high walls of the mansion, through the gray stone buildings on both sides of the street, through the bodies of the pedestrians, deep underground, through the walls, and reached every corner.

Then, he saw it.

Deep beneath the arena, an immense and ancient consciousness is slowly awakening. As if stirred from the depths of time, this consciousness is seeping towards the surface at an incredibly slow but irreversible pace.

Its aura was completely identical to that of the runes on the chest of the corpse that Shao Yuan had brought back.

Lin Qiye suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of dark golden light passing through his pupils.

He turned around and strode back to the inner courtyard, stopping in front of Luo Sheng: "I have to go out for a bit. If I'm not back before dark, take the children to the cultivation chamber, activate the defensive formation inside, and don't come out. Wait for me to come find you."

Luo Sheng's expression changed slightly, but she didn't press for details, simply nodding and saying, "Be careful."

Lin Qiye didn't say anything more, turned around and strode out of the mansion.

He walked north along the streets of the core area, passing through several bustling commercial streets and a low-rise residential area, finally stopping in front of the gray-white building of the Array Master Guild.

At the gate of the Array Masters Guild, two guards stood with composed expressions. Upon seeing Lin Qiye approach, one of them stepped forward and bowed slightly: "Steward Lin, may I ask what brings you here?"

"I want to see Chairman Luo Song."

The guard looked troubled. "President Luo Song is conducting an important experiment and has instructed that no one should disturb him—"

"Get out of the way."

Lin Qiye's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable power. The guard's body trembled involuntarily, and his feet instinctively took half a step back. Then, as if controlled by something, he forcefully stopped his retreat and stood up straight again.

"Deacon Lin, please don't make things difficult for us."

Lin Qiye's gaze lingered on the guard's face for a moment, and then he saw it—in those seemingly normal eyes, deep within the pupils, there was an extremely fine vertical slit that was slowly rotating.

He didn't say anything more, but simply raised his hand and slapped the guard in the chest.

The guard's body was struck as if by a charging rhinoceros; he was sent flying backward, crashing into the door behind him and smashing the two heavy wooden doors open with a loud bang. He fell into the hall inside, rolled a few times, and lay motionless on the ground.

In shock, the other guard reached for the knife at his waist, but before his hand could touch the hilt, Lin Qiye appeared in front of him and delivered a chop to the side of his neck. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed limply to the ground.

Lin Qiye stepped over the two people and strode into the hall of the Array Master Guild.

The hall was empty.

The reception desk, which should have been staffed with several clerks, was completely empty; even the teacups on the tables were still steaming, but no one was there. The corridors on both sides of the lobby were also unusually quiet, a quietness that sent chills down one's spine.

Without hesitation, Lin Qiye headed straight for the stairs leading to the underground laboratory.

He had visited the Array Masters Guild several times and was familiar with its layout. The underground laboratory, located two floors below the main building of the Array Masters Guild, was a place specifically used for handling high-risk items and conducting forbidden research. The corpse that Shao Yuan brought back should have been sent to the underground laboratory according to procedure.

The stairwell was dimly lit, and his footsteps echoed through the narrow stairwell, each step exceptionally clear. He reached the entrance to the second basement level and pushed open the heavy iron door.

Behind the door was a long corridor, with several source energy lamps embedded in the walls on both sides. The pale light made the corridor look like a passageway to hell. At the end of the corridor, a half-open door could be vaguely seen, with a faint fluorescent blue light shining through the crack.

Lin Qiye walked forward along the corridor, his steps light, his dark golden source energy circulating silently within him, suppressing his aura to the extreme.

He walked to the half-open door and peered through the crack.

Behind the door was a spacious laboratory. In the center of the laboratory stood a huge metal testing table, on which sat an open, empty sealed chamber. Five people stood around the testing table, all dressed in white lab coats, their backs to the door, motionless, as if waiting for something.

In a corner of the laboratory, an elderly man in a gray robe sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands forming a complex hand seal as he chanted incantations. Above his head floated a fist-sized, fluorescent blue crystal core, which emitted a soft light that enveloped him in a blue halo.

The old man was none other than Luo Song, the president of the Array Masters Guild.