Starting as a prodigy wanting milk? A world-destroying deception in the opposite direction.

The call grew clearer, seemingly coming from below the altar.

Shen Zhen and Chen Xi strolled slowly around the altar and discovered a hidden entrance behind it, half-hidden by several huge rocks.

Shen Zhen pushed aside the boulder, and the two walked along the passage. As they went deeper, the feeling of being called grew stronger.

Finally, they reached the end of the passage.

This is a small, secret room with only a stone bed, on which sits a complete skeleton.

The skeleton was in a seated posture, its bones were translucent white, and it was unknown how many years had passed.

It was wearing a wide robe that had long since faded, but whose original dark gold color could still be vaguely discerned, and which was embroidered with intricate geometric patterns.

Shen Zhen saw several lines of writing carved on the ground in front of the skeleton. It was an extremely ancient script that he did not recognize.

But strangely, as he gazed at those words, their meaning naturally surfaced in his mind:

[Those who come after... I am Ning Anran, the 'Night Watchman of Return to Silence'...]

[...Uncovering the secrets of the "Origin Remains" brings about a curse...]

[...My comrades have all gone mad, so I have sealed myself away here...]

The writing behind it is blurry and indistinct; only one or two characters can be vaguely discerned, and they are far apart, making it difficult to interpret them coherently.

"Ning Anran?" Shen Zhen frowned.

There's also the "Silent Night Watchmen," a name I've never heard of before. Could it be some ancient organization that existed even before the Temple of Remembrance?

Just then, the pale white skeleton seemed to be startled by Shen Zhen's approaching aura, and made a soft "clicking" sound, turning its head slightly to face Shen Zhen.

At the same time, a barely perceptible glint of dark light flashed deep within the hollow eye socket.

Shen Zhen and Chen Xi both took a step back, fully alert.

But the skeleton made no further movement, simply maintaining that posture.

After a flash of dark light, the empty eye sockets transmitted a fragmented and chaotic mental message, which directly flooded into Shen Zhen's mind.

Fragmented images kept flashing:

Endless mountains of corpses and seas of blood... The sky is dark red...

A colossal skeleton, towering to the heavens, roared to the sky, its eyes gleaming with golden light...

Countless people dressed in robes similar to those on the skeletons were fighting against the monsters...

A huge door...

"This door... cannot be opened." A terrified roar exploded in his mind.

"what!"

Shen Zhen groaned and clutched his head. The chaotic images and sounds assaulted his consciousness, turning his face ashen. The remaining mental energy around him also fluctuated violently.

Chen Xi quickly helped him up: "Captain Shen! What's wrong?"

It took Shen Zhen a while to recover, her face even paler.

He pointed to the skeleton: "It...is strange."

He looked at the skeleton again and suddenly noticed that on the right parietal bone of the skeleton's skull, there was a piece of bone whose color and texture were different from the surrounding bone, and there were unnatural seams at the edges, as if it had been inserted later.

Chen Xi carefully touched the skeleton with her weapon. As soon as the weapon left, the entire white skeleton seemed to lose its last support and collapsed to the ground with a clatter, turning into a pile of ordinary bone dust.

However, among that pile of snow-white bone powder, only the unusual skull fragment he had just noticed remained intact, lying there quietly without being shattered.

Shen Zhen's heart stirred.

He bent down and picked up the peculiar skull fragment. The fragment was heavy, unlike the light and brittle feel of ordinary bone.

Just then, the sealed room began to shake slightly.

Chen Xi immediately sensed something was wrong and quickly pulled Shen Zhen aside, saying urgently:

"Captain Shen, get out of here quickly, it's going to collapse."

As soon as the two rushed out of the secret room, the room behind them collapsed with a loud crash, raising a cloud of dust.

Shen Zhen looked down at the skull fragment in his hand. The heavy touch seemed to contain some unknown power, which, combined with the lingering pain in his sea of ​​consciousness, made him frown and his breathing become somewhat unsteady.

"This fragment...does it hold some kind of secret?" he muttered to himself.

Chen Xi glanced at Shen Zhen, her expression grave:

"Captain Shen, we shouldn't stay here any longer. Let's get out of this awful place first."

Shen Zhen nodded slightly, carefully put away the skull fragments, and the two quickly returned along the way they came, back to the hall full of strange statues.

"Chen Xi, let's split up and search to see if there are any other passages."

Shen Zhen's gaze swept quickly across the main hall, his tone tinged with weariness. The mental shock and the depletion of his mental energy had slowed his movements slightly.

"We were only focused on exploring downwards before, and didn't thoroughly search the palace chambers."

Chen Xi responded, and the two then separated to search carefully in a corner of the main hall.

Half an hour passed, but they still found nothing.

"It seems this palace wasn't meant for passage," Shen Zhen said, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes as he looked around.

"We have no choice but to get back to the ground first, and then think of another way."

The two arrived at the passage that had previously separated the lake, but their hearts sank. The original passage had been completely sealed off by a stone door.

Shen Zhen mobilized the last bit of mental energy he had recovered and, together with Chen Xi, bombarded the stone door, but the stone door remained unmoved, not even leaving a trace.

"There's something strange about this stone door. With our current strength, we can't open it at all," Shen Zhen said, frowning.

"Presumably, the collapse of the secret chamber triggered some kind of mechanism, sealing off this passage."

Chen Xi looked around at the eerie statues and said worriedly:

"Are we going to be trapped here?"

"Don't panic, there must be something we've missed."

Shen Zhen took a deep breath and slowly scanned every corner of the hall again. Apart from the secret passage she came from and the sealed lake mouth, there were no other exits.

Altars, statues, cold-light crystals... this place is like an exquisite prison.

Suddenly, his gaze fixed on the altar in the center of the hall.

Shen Zhen arrived at the central altar, his brows furrowed.

He took out the skull fragment from his pocket. It was after he came into contact with this fragment in the secret chamber that the skeleton disintegrated and the chamber collapsed.

Could it be...?

He tentatively brought the fragment close to the indistinct engravings on the altar's surface.

Om-!

A deep tremor emanated from both the fragments and the altar.

The natural patterns on the surface of the fragments, almost invisible to the naked eye, echoed a certain incomplete engraving on the altar, causing them to glow faintly.

Immediately afterwards, the entire altar burst forth with a blinding white light, carrying a certain desolate and ancient feel, instantly engulfing Shen Zhen, who was closest to it, and Chen Xi, who rushed over in a hurry.

The moment Shen Zhen was engulfed by the light, the spatial power he had stolen from the cycle rules of Qingwu Town suddenly trembled slightly, forming a strange three-way linkage with the skull fragment in his hand and the energy bursting from the altar.

This connection was like building an invisible information bridge, instantly binding his consciousness and the light together, and countless fragmented images, sounds, and emotional pieces surged forth.

The world spun around.

He felt as if he had been thrown into a rushing river of light, his consciousness being violently washed away by these fragments.

...On the clock tower, a solitary lamp burns eternally...

...A figure knelt before the lamp, his back hunched, murmuring softly, "At the third quarter of the hour of Chou...He's coming again...The lamp can't hold on any longer," his voice filled with despair and helplessness...

...The man in black robes and the barbarian warriors appeared outside the town. The man in black robes raised his hand, and invisible ripples spread out, causing the light of the blue lamp to flicker violently...

...The kneeling figure suddenly coughed up a mouthful of black blood, his head drooped, his eyes filled with grief, indignation, and resentment...

...The light of the blue lamp gradually dimmed, and a cyclical power carrying the aura of "echoing obsession" spread out from the lamp, enveloping the entire town...

These fragmented images flashed by quickly, finally settling on an old-fashioned oil lamp with a strangely bluish flame.

The light faded.