Chapter 164: 161 Seeking Help

Jinma Mountain was sealed off, and under the guidance of the information provided by Li Duojin, members of the Xuanmi Group arrived at the underground cave that Li Duojin and Chen Xiaolin had once visited together.

However, what was eerie was that the Giant Corpse, the several bodies waiting to be drained of blood and flesh by the Giant Corpse, and the countless withered bones sitting in meditation that Li Duojin and Chen Xiaolin had described had all miraculously vanished without a trace.

Nevertheless, the Xuanmi Group did not suspect that Li Duojin and Chen Xiaolin were lying; they indeed discovered frozen blood and traces left by some unidentified corpses that had remained fixed in various places for a long time within the empty stone chamber of the cave. Furthermore, there were several huge claw marks in the stone chamber that likely did not belong to any known animal.

Various phenomena indicated that some kind of Abnormal factor had indeed existed in this stone chamber not long ago.

"The magnetic field here is very chaotic; it is entirely possible, just as Li Duojin said, that a gateway to another dimension was opened here," a Mysterious Investigator responsible for surveying the magnetic field reported to Yu Lianyun.

Yu Lianyun nodded. Others might not be clear about the "intimate relationship" between her and Li Duojin, but she had actually never doubted Li Duojin's words from beginning to end.

Because they were both people who possessed the same destination, and they had already met several times in the Forest Cabin, it would be no problem to call them friends rather than just acquaintances.

Therefore, Yu Lianyun was not concerned with confirming whether an Abnormal event had occurred here; what she truly paid attention to was the whereabouts of those corpses.

Li Duojin had said that when he arrived at the Forest Cabin, he had seen Lin Laoban feeding the bones of those corpses to the Strange Octopus in the small shop and the Stone Leek on the table. He had asked Lin Laoban if he had taken down the Vessel of the Empty Demon, yet Lin Laoban had denied this, even saying that the bones were actually brought back by his cat and that he had never left the small shop.

"Is Lin Laoban also wanting us humans to solve this matter on our own this time?" Yu Lianyun could not help but think this to herself after hearing about it.

In her impression, Lin Laoban might provide guests at his shop with magical items like "Consecrated Dharma Artifacts," or sell some kind of special ability to intervene in events, but he would not take the field himself. Once the items or skills were given, whatever choices were made thereafter were for the parties involved to decide themselves.

And the reason Lin Laoban did these things was simply because he looked forward to seeing all kinds of reactions from humans after they gained the ability to shake desperate situations, and when they faced power that human strength could not overcome, watching the eerie changes in the situation eventually evolve into all sorts of results.

Lin Laoban said that when looking at ordinary people, he only felt they were like stagnant water; only when seeing those things could he feel the rhythm of life.

Yu Lianyun was actually very curious about what kind of existence Lin Laoban was. Of course, it was limited to curiosity; she did not want to delve into the answer one bit, and it would be best if she never knew for her entire life, until she took the secrets of the Forest Cabin to the grave.

"The Vessel of the Empty Demon is gone, but its presence cannot be found. Could it be that it can fly?" Yu Lianyun walked out of the stone chamber, looking at the sunlight and the greenery of the trees outside the sinkhole, and could not help but think this in her heart.

As for what kind of existence the Empty Demon was, even if one searched through the entire database of the Xuanmi Group, there was not much relevant information. It was only known that the Ancient Book described the Empty Demon as follows: Empty Demon, Molting One, grower of strong desires...

These were all her titles; her physical form had never been described clearly and completely. It was only known that when her physical form appeared, one would see a black ball of light surrounded by several deep blue crystal rings arranged in a regular pattern. Beyond that, there were no records, because those who looked any closer either went mad or died. In normal times, the Empty Demon would hide in the Vessel it created, relying on the Vessel to act, and would only reveal its true form when necessary.

The Empty Demon was obsessed with the growth and changes of living things, yet she herself seemed unable to grow, just like the Vessels she created. Therefore, she could only complete the process of "growth" by recreating Vessels and changing them; her behavior was like a snake molting, and the name Molting One likely came from this.

The number of times the Empty Demon had appeared in the world was very few, so written records about it were naturally even scarcer, and its pattern of action was completely unpredictable.

The current situation was like a monster worse than a fierce tiger having escaped its cage and hiding in the world where humans lived in some unknown way. Because of this, the world metropolis of Modu had become fraught with crises. No one knew at what moment in the night, in some corner of the city, an innocent life would be hollowed out from within, silently becoming a Vessel that had lost its vitality.

"The situation in Modu now is no better than Cuizhu two years ago..." Yu Lianyun thought to herself.

"To celebrate your narrow escape, this glass of 'Lucky Goddess' is on me." Drake pushed a freshly mixed cocktail in front of Chen Xiaolin.

Chen Xiaolin had a strange expression, looking at the other person with complex eyes. After a long while, she hesitantly raised her glass to drink, licked the lingering fragrance of the wine on her lips, and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Thank you for letting me know again that I wasn't dreaming that time, Siji Ge."

"The feeling of being alive is better than anything, isn't it?" Drake smiled.

Chen Xiaolin did not echo him immediately; after a few seconds of silence, she spoke: "Now, the shadow of that thing seems to be carved into my brain. Every time I close my eyes, I seem to see the outline of that thing. Even though I can't see it clearly, the longer I look, the clearer I feel I see it. Only when I stay awake can I get rid of it. I'm almost being driven crazy..."

"Perhaps it's just a psychological trauma; you'll walk out of it slowly," Drake comforted her. Although he did not know the experiences of Chen Xiaolin and Li Duojin, he resonated with some of Chen Xiaolin's emotions.

"Siji Ge, can you do me a favor?" Chen Xiaolin took a deep breath. "I came to find you today not just to have a drink or to confirm my eerie experience from you again; I also want to ask you to help me."

"Tell me about it." Drake did not refuse Chen Xiaolin's request immediately. His attitude toward Chen Xiaolin was clearly much more cordial and enthusiastic than last time, just like a helpful senior in the workplace patiently caring for a beautiful new colleague.

Chen Xiaolin: "I want to ask you to help me find an organization."

As she spoke, Chen Xiaolin took a sticky note out of her pocket with the clean side facing down and slowly pushed it in front of Drake.

Drake took the sticky note, flipped it to the front, and saw a symbol composed of a triangle and several unknown hieroglyphs. His eyebrows twitched a few times, and he asked seriously: "What does this mean?"

He was very familiar with this symbol, because the sign of the bar where he worked, including the wall behind him right now, was engraved with this symbol.