The whole nation: You're put to survive on a desolate planet, you'll be running an alien b

The dim light in the sealed hall receded further outwards, its pale blue flames casting long, thin shadows on the runes on the stone walls. The mouth "nailed shut" by the black coffin remained silent in the deeper recesses, like a mouth that had been stitched up, temporarily no longer biting, yet not truly dead.

Li Haotian didn't look back a second time.

The window of opportunity is still open, but it's never for sightseeing; it's for evacuation, for clearing accounts, and for pulling your tail out through the crack in the door.

The tomb passage was damp and cold, and the sound of footsteps was mostly swallowed up by the deathly aura. Little Black followed behind him on the left, its body more compact than before, its black fur clinging to its skin, like a shapeless mass of night. It no longer "pounded its heart" like it did during its Silver Cocoon period; instead, it was excessively quiet, walking almost silently, only occasionally raising its head to sniff the air, letting out a very soft growl from its throat.

That wasn't acting cute; it was more like keeping accounts.

The tomb keeper walked at the front, his wooden staff tapping the ground, each tap pressing the dampness rising in the tomb passage back into the cracks. Qin Yue walked while looking at her wrist screen; the signal was intermittent, as if it had been chewed by something. Su Wan, on the other hand, stuffed several small beacons into the cracks in the corner of the wall as final "escape route markers."

"Don't stop before the exit," Li Haotian said in a low voice. "It's daylight outside, which makes it easier to be watched."

Liu Hu gritted his teeth and responded, his body still carrying the smell of gunpowder and blood from the previous battle, mixed with the tomb atmosphere, like an indelible mark.

As they reached the outer sealing gate, the tomb keeper paused for a moment, turning back to look at Li Haotian: "The black coffin nails are pressing down on the 'mouth,' not the 'path.' Its blindness won't last long."

"That's enough." Li Haotian twirled the token halfway in his palm. "We don't plan to spend the night inside."

The fog outside the sealed gate was thinner than when they entered, and the sky changed from inky black to grayish-blue. Dawn, like a dull knife, slowly emerged from behind the mountain ridge, illuminating the stone steps at the entrance to the imperial mausoleum with a chilling light. The temporary camp was set up behind the cordon, and a row of rain shelters rattled in the wind. Dragon Shield personnel patrolled the line at a distance, not getting too close, as if tacitly acknowledging that they were temporarily in charge of this area.

The tomb keeper planted his wooden staff on the edge of the stone steps and slowly exhaled, as if releasing ancient rules that had been weighing on his chest. He took out a hard leather box from his pocket; the box was decorated with pre-Qin patterns, but the edges had modern rivet repair marks.

"Final payment," he said, his voice low but steady, "as agreed."

Su Wan reached out first, not out of haste, but out of procedure. Wearing thin gloves, she opened the box, which had two layers: the upper layer contained sixteen alloy ingots neatly stacked, their color resembling gray gold, but with fine flowing lines on their surface, as if the metal had been quenched by fire and talismans long ago; the lower layer contained two ancient artifacts—a broken bronze ring and a palm-sized thin mirror with intricate, almost obsessive lines engraved on its back.

She stared at the alloy ingot for two seconds, her expression changing slightly: "Pre-Qin alloy... contains 'domain stabilizing factors,' can it be directly exchanged for God Coins?"

The gravedigger nodded: "Your people know the ropes. Take it to the city, and someone will buy it. It's not a large quantity, but it's enough to cover your expenses for this trip, and enough for you to continue your journey."

Su Wan took out the bronze ring and the thin mirror, looked at them from a different angle, and paused on the patterns with her fingertip as if she had been gently pricked: "Two 'edge-level' items, not touching the core item—you really follow the rules."

"The rule is to leave a way out for the living," the tomb keeper said calmly. "I don't want the imperial tomb to open its doors again, nor do I want you to enter again."

Li Haotian glanced at the two ancient artifacts but didn't touch them: "Tell me about the risks."

Su Wan put the bronze ring back into the box, but didn't close it immediately: "These kinds of things most likely have 'location' or 'echo' capabilities. Not GPS-like location, but... if you hold it, it will record you as a 'holder' in some kind of old rule. If someone knows how to follow the rule, they can find you."

Qin Yue frowned: "It's like walking in the dark with a lamp on."

"You might not have turned on the light yourself," Su Wan added, her tone cold. "It could have turned on by itself."

The tomb keeper looked at her and didn't deny it: "Things from the imperial tombs are inherently unclean. If you want to take them, you have to bear the consequences."

Li Haotian closed the box and pushed it towards Su Wan: "Seal it up first. Don't open it before we get back to the city, don't pass it around on the way, and don't let the Dragon Shield people find it."

Su Wan nodded, took out an insulating film, wrapped the box in three layers, and then attached a talisman before handing it to the logistics box and locking it. Her movements were swift and efficient, as if she were handling a talking bomb.

The wind picked up in the camp, and the dawn tore a hole in the distant fog, revealing a broken road at the foot of the mountain. Just as Li Haotian was about to speak, Qin Yue's wrist screen suddenly vibrated, followed by three encrypted notifications, like someone pounding on a door from the other end.

Her face instantly darkened, and she looked up at Li Haotian: "Urgent order from headquarters."

"Speak," Li Haotian said without moving an inch.

Qin Yue quickly deciphered layer after layer of encryption, her fingers barely stopping: "A 'New God Cult 2.0' has appeared simultaneously in multiple locations... The names are not consistent, but the rhetoric, ritual procedures, and the flow of supplies are highly consistent. The key point is—they are guiding public opinion and the underground world, tying the strings to us."

Liu Hu cursed, "Again? Didn't we interrupt these people in the imperial tomb?"

"It's not the same batch." Qin Yue's eyes were cold. "It's an upgraded version. It's more like a 'template' spread—someone is selling the methodology behind the scenes, or directly replicating the production line in various places."

Su Wan removed one side of her glove and tapped the screen with her fingertip: "Who are they targeting?"

Qin Yue paused, as if reluctant to say it aloud: "The urgent order specifically states: the other party is suspected of deliberately misleading clues related to the 'Disaster Chasers,' while simultaneously... forcing Li Haotian and Xiao Hei to expose more information."

The air suddenly became still.

Even the sound of the wind seemed to be suppressed.

Xiao Hei raised its head, its eyes like two dark ink dots in the gray light of dawn, staring at Qin Yue's wrist screen for a few seconds before turning its gaze away. Its tail gently swept the ground, pressing a shallow mark into the dust.

Li Haotian smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes: "Who do they want them to chase after?"

Qin Yue projected the attachments to the urgent order: several intercepted recordings of the gathering, a few blurry images, and several lines of keyword annotations. She read them quickly, but every word was clear: "'The Disaster Hunters are coming; only by sacrificing the Void Children can we obtain the protection of the New Gods'... 'The Black Disaster Beast is the key; we must force it to reveal itself'... Someone also mentioned 'Dragon Shield will assist in containment,' but the tone sounded like inducement."

Su Wan said coldly, "Using someone else to do the dirty work. Let the pursuers bite Xiao Hei, or let us make a big fuss to protect it and expose more of our cards."

The gravedigger stood to the side, and his eyelids twitched noticeably when he heard the words "Child of the Void." He didn't interrupt, but gripped his staff tighter, as if to confirm that he was still on the outside of the "rules."

Liu Hu swallowed hard: "If they manage to drive Xiao Hei out of control... wouldn't that just confirm the 'calamity' they're talking about?"

"Yes." Qin Yue looked up. "The most likely conclusion of the debriefing is that the cult wants to use the 'Disaster Chasers' to get rid of the Void Child, which is the easiest way; if they can't get rid of it, they'll force it out of control and make it a real calamity—then they can step in to 'contain' or 'sacrifice' it, and take the pot and the divine position with them."

Su Wan added, as if to deliver a veiled insult, "Incidentally, they can also turn us into 'accomplices of the calamity,' pushing Dragon Shield to the forefront as saviors. They'll profit from both sides."

Li Haotian looked at Xiao Hei. Xiao Hei also looked at him, its gaze calm to the point of indifference, as if that "second form" had folded away its emotions, leaving only extremely cold rationality. But Li Haotian could sense that the hunger for devouring rules within it had not disappeared; it was just that the "rules" had strangled it.

He reached out and patted Xiao Hei's head lightly, but it felt like stamping a seal.

"Trying to play mind games?" Li Haotian put the token inside his clothes, his voice laced with mockery. "Then let's follow the trail in reverse."

Qin Yue immediately followed up: "You mean—deliberately showing your nipples?"

"Even if you don't expose your true intentions, they'll still get tangled up." Li Haotian looked up at the fog outside the imperial mausoleum's exit. "Since they're replicating '2.0' in various places, they must have a coordinating layer. This layer needs funding, logistics, 'script templates,' and the endorsement to suppress the 'charlatans' in different regions."

Su Wan nodded: "We also need a controllable 'source of fear.' You and Xiao Hei are their best advertisement."

"Then we'll have the promotional video film them from the opposite direction." Li Haotian lowered his voice even further. "Qin Yue, arrange the locations in the urgent order chronologically and find the one that most resembles the 'transfer station.' Liu Hu, before returning to the city, clean up all exposed traces. If anyone dares to secretly film, confiscate their equipment as well. Su Wan—this batch of alloy ingots and ancient artifacts should go through your most reliable channels first, don't let any official hands pass through them."

Qin Yue quickly wrote it down: "Understood. I'll also have headquarters send over the personnel profiles and financial flow data for 'New God Cult 2.0'."

The tomb keeper finally spoke, his tone both a reminder and a clear demarcation: "You must move the fire away, but don't bring it back. The imperial mausoleum cannot afford to be 'named' a second time."

Li Haotian looked at him and said, "Don't worry. Once the debts are settled, the road will be clear too."

He turned and looked around the camp: under the rain shelters, people were counting ammunition, repairing talismans, and changing the wicks of the ghost lamps; the convoy's isolation compartments were locked again, as if locking the shadow of last night's tomb raiding back into a metal shell. The light of dawn fell on everyone's faces, but it couldn't warm them.

Qin Yue retracted her wrist screen, her voice even colder: "The cult isn't dead, it's just changed its skin. We need to be faster than them."

Li Haotian put his headset back on securely and took one last look at the line of fog at the entrance to the imperial mausoleum. Behind the fog was a "mouth" that had been nailed shut, the disaster pursuers who had temporarily fallen silent; in front of the fog was the "New God Cult 2.0" that had been copied and spread, a larger-scale lure and seed of revolution.

He scoffed softly, "They want to force me and Xiao Hei to become monsters."

Xiao Hei responded softly from the side, as if it understood the sarcasm hidden in the word "monster".

Li Haotian raised his hand and waved it as if cutting through the cold wind of dawn: "Then let them see first—who is the one who bites along the line."

The convoy started, tires crunching over the damp earth. The campfire was extinguished, the lanterns were packed away, and the exit of the imperial tomb gradually diminished behind them, like a closed eye.

But everyone knows that even when your eyelids are closed, your vision may not be completely cut off.

The aftermath has only just begun. The cult is not dead; it is simply waiting for the next opportunity, to use someone else to push the door open even wider.