Chapter 128: Covert Initial Exploration

Lin Ke did not resist.

He quietly let Mo Li hug him for a while.

After her emotions settled, Mo Li secretly sighed; she had said she would be self-reliant and strong, but the result——

She left Lin Ke's embrace, turned around, and without a word, just lowered her head, her feet kicking the sand on the ground irregularly.

This scene was seen in real time by the five elder brothers and the socially anxious trio via the round flying saucer's surveillance feed.

Everyone had different thoughts and feelings.

"Finished, Big Sister Head is bewitched by Big Boss, lost in love, unable to extricate herself."

Ba Ke Watt spoke without thinking, and blurted out this sentence out of the blue.

Lin En Hewitt barely restrained his impulse, otherwise he would have strangled Ba Ke Watt; he only coldly said, "If you have the guts, say that to Big Sister Head's face."

Upon hearing that, Ba Ke Watt couldn't help but shiver.

"Big Sister Head" was originally just a spur-of-the-moment nickname the five elder brothers came up with in a hurry, meant as a teasing term.

Mo Li Kidman's most praiseworthy aspect is her academic performance.

After studying hard with Lin Ke for one and a half semesters, she ranked among the top in her first year.

However, her weakness is obvious: her overall wizard aptitude score is only Upper Third Tier.

The superiority or inferiority of wizard aptitude is not reflected in academic performance,

but rather in meditation speed, magic learning speed, mastery level, and magic strength.

Logically, Mo Li's meditation progress should lag behind that of the five elder brothers whose wizard aptitude is Lower Fifth Tier.

It is even less possible for her to surpass them in learning and applying magic.

But the actual situation is the opposite.

In the first two months of this semester, Lin Ke organized several magic combat drills on the top floor of the experimental building.

Each time the five elder brothers faced Mo Li individually, they failed to gain the upper hand.

Sometimes they not only failed to gain the upper hand but also got beaten up with bruised faces.

Even before the Two Districts Grand Comparison began, the five elder brothers had not managed to advance to Second-level Wizard Apprentice, yet Mo Li quietly achieved promotion.

This surprised and astonished the five elder brothers.

Big Sister Head's status also gradually became solid, no longer just a teasing nickname, and she naturally exuded an aura of authority.

"Don't let Big Sister Head know what I just said, brothers."

Upon being reminded by Lin En Hewitt, Ba Ke Watt couldn't help but recall unpleasant memories, his teeth aching faintly, and he hurriedly looked pleadingly at his four close brothers.

Because of his garrulous trait, Ba Ke Watt often speaks without thinking.

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, he ends up provoking Mo Li.

In each combat drill, Mo Li strikes Ba Ke Watt with extra vigor.

Naturally, Ba Ke Watt suffers the most damage.

"Rest assured!"

Aegio Leji firmly patted Ba Ke Watt's shoulder and made a solemn promise.

Ba Ke Watt couldn't help but show a look of joy on his face.

Aegio Leji is stern in character, usually quiet, but places great importance on reputation; whatever he says, he must follow through.

With Aegio Leji's promise, Ba Ke Watt feels much safer.

Who would have thought that the honest type, when playing mind games, could be even more ruthless.

All we heard was Aegio Leji saying with a stern face, "We will definitely let Big Sister Head know that Ba Ke Watt, you actually just teased her."

"No!"

Ba Ke Watt, overcome by dramatics, went weak at the knees, looked up and wailed, "Big Sister Head will kill me!"

His misery, sorrow, and various emotions were expressed very fully.

Those who hear it grin, and those who see it feel happy.

"Alright, don't let Big Boss and Big Sister Head wait too long."

Lin En Hewitt glanced at the socially anxious trio, who were not yet used to getting along with the five elder brothers, and spoke up to remind them that it was time to get down to business.

Ba Ke Watt led, Aegio Leji second, Di Jie third, the socially anxious trio in the middle, the nearly invisible Da Er Dun second to last, Lin En Hewitt bringing up the rear; they climbed the rope in order, crossed the great river, and arrived at the river's central sandbar.

"Big Sister Head, hehe..."

The moment Ba Ke Watt landed, he gave a foolish grin and an embarrassed smile as he greeted Mo Li.

"You're badmouthing me again?"

Mo Li's mood had already calmed; in front of Ba Ke Watt, she regained the gradually developing posture of a strong woman this semester.

"No…… no. How could that be?"

Ba Ke Watt has a bad habit: when feeling guilty, he tends to stutter.

Upon hearing that, Mo Li knew Ba Ke Watt had again committed his old fault of speaking without thinking.

However, she didn't mind it.

She merely followed Lin Ke's example, secretly noting it in her heart, planning to get revenge at the next opportunity.

Seeing this, Ba Ke Watt unconsciously touched his cheek.

Looks like you're in for suffering again.

"Big Boss, Big Sister Head."

The remaining four elder brothers and the socially anxious trio arrived one after another, greeting in unison.

Regardless of what the elder brothers do or say, the socially anxious trio follow along.

"Hmm."

Lin Ke nods.

He looks at the rope spanning the great river, considering how to deal with it.

Seeing Lin Ke thinking about serious matters, everyone stops their joking and stays quiet.

Leaving it, others will see and know that someone is active on the river-center sandbar, or someone has been active there.

Suspicion or curiosity together makes it highly likely someone will come to explore by landing.

At that time, the probability of conflict breaking out is extremely high.

If we don't leave it, we now retrieve it, and when leaving the river-center sandbar we'll have to think of another way.

After a moment, Lin Ke makes a decision, first attend to the present.

Don't let it happen that our own people are exploring ahead and get kicked in the butt.

He signals Dalton to operate the round flying disc to descend, slightly modified it, adding a winding and cutting device at the bottom.

After modification, Lin Ke personally controls the round flying disc, flies to the riverside hill, winds part of the rope, then cuts it, and afterwards recovers the rope.

Thus, only part of the traces remain on the hill.

The chance of exposure will be greatly reduced.

He gestures to the five brothers and the three socially anxious people to tidy the rope, Lin Ke looks at Mo Li and asks: "Can you now tell us your key discovery?"

Perhaps because they haven't seen each other for a long while, facing Mo Li, Lin Ke's attitude has also changed, his tone actually carrying some teasing.

Mo Li quickly realizes that Lin Ke is teasing her about her earlier meeting where she gave him a bear hug, then afterwards became shy and didn't dare to raise her head to speak.

She couldn't help but blush slightly, grit her silver teeth, and glare fiercely at Lin Ke, giving him a big white-eye.

What kind of person is this.

A shy girl, you don't show gentleness and thoughtfulness, but instead tease?

Wish you lifelong singleness.

After muttering a few complaints, Mo Li can't be bothered to deal with a blockhead like him,

deliberately raising her voice, putting on a businesslike manner, she says: "I dug a tunnel out of boredom, uncovered an iron gate hidden underground, opened it and saw a secret passage adorned with many murals. At the end of the passage is a bronze gate."

After a pause, Mo Li raises her voice: "The content recorded on the murals is exactly the process and cause of this world's impending destruction. The secret passage and bronze gate are somewhat sinister, amplifying emotions and tempting people to explore them."

Upon hearing, Lin Ke instantly feels strong curiosity.

Secret passage, murals, bronze gate—these are classic elements in adventure stories.

If we can uncover the secret hidden behind the murals and bronze gate, perhaps we can greatly advance the third main quest, namely the righteous faction's task: saving the world, progress.

"Boss, the rope is tidied."

Ba Ke, eager to perform, shouts a report the very second after the rope is tidied,

hoping thereby to deepen his good impression in Lin Ke's heart.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, we can ask the boss to step in and "restrain" the elder sister, so he won't be beaten too badly.

"Good."

Lin Ke acknowledges, then immediately makes arrangements: "We'll enter the tunnel right away, first rest for a while, recover our condition before acting. Your groupings remain the same, Mo Li and I as free agents."

Speaking, Lin Ke looks at Lynn and Dalton, emphasizing: "Your two tasks are very important; you must keep good watch. If someone lands on the sandbar, I hope you can detect it immediately and notify me. Also, I plan to dispatch two reconnaissance puppets."

"Yes, we'll all follow the boss."

Lynn, without a word, immediately declares his stance.

"Me too."

Dalton follows closely after.

"Lead the way, we'll go down the tunnel to rest."

Lin Ke gestures for Mo Li to lead the way.

The tunnel is what she dug; she knows the terrain best.

Mo Li, without a word, turns around, leads the whole team into the tunnel she spent over a day digging.

With no external enemies, when Mo Li dug the tunnel she didn't pay much attention to layout.

Except the transport trench being relatively standard, other aspects are barely passable.

The biggest advantage is that it's flat.

After all, Mo Li used inferior earth-stone technique, not an iron shovel.

Near the iron gate, Mo Li stops.

She points at the relatively obvious earth wall and says: "If we clear the section of tunnel I blocked ahead, we'll see that iron gate."

"Hmm. First rest."

Lin Ke takes the lead in setting down his big pack and begins to rest.

After rushing for nearly five hours straight, everyone on the team is somewhat fatigued.

About to embark on an expedition with unknown circumstances, restoring to full condition is extremely important.

The lighting tools used in the tunnel are discarded magic stones.

Runic items and magical devices are all driven by magic power.

Either slowly draw ambient magic from nature, or have wizard apprentices or wizards supply their own magic power, or source it from magic stones.

Some runic items and magical devices, used frequently, cannot wait for natural slow absorption to replenish magic reserves, nor is it suitable to consume one's own magic power to supply them, so magic stones must be used.

For example, the round flying disc and reconnaissance puppets.

Once the magic power in a magic stone is exhausted, it becomes a natural night-glow stone.

A thumb-sized discarded magic stone can illuminate a large area.

Its uses are extremely broad.

Mo Li uses it in the tunnel, which is just right.

Drinking water, eating, chatting idly, closing eyes to doze……

Each team member had their own way of resting.

Mo Li sat beside Lin Ke, and the anxiety, panic, worry and similar emotions of the past two days vanished completely.

Her mind was extremely calm.

It felt as if she had instantly gained a sense of security.

Noticing the change in her state of mind, Mo Li felt rather helpless.

She truly wanted to be self-reliant and strong!

Back at the academy, she hadn't felt anything unusual.

Having truly been apart from Lin Ke for less than two days, she showed extreme maladjustment.

Now thinking about it, her daring to engage in a tug‑of‑war with the witch Ela, maintaining an ambiguous attitude and delaying a definite reply, was also because Lin Ke was beside her.

She had indeed felt moved, thinking that if she successfully took charge of the Newblood Mutual Aid Society, it would boost her own and Lin Ke's development.

Later she came to realize the truth.

The Newblood Mutual Aid Society could only be the witch Paro's Newblood Mutual Aid Society.

Since she had already hooked up with Witch Paro, there was no need to get further involved.

No need to mention miscellaneous matters.

In the relatively comfortable atmosphere, everyone got sufficient rest and their condition returned to full.

Then they set into action.

Dalton and Lynn stayed behind to monitor the surroundings of the sandbank and did not join the expedition.

Lin Ke activated the active defense mode of the 'Defender 3202' set and walked in the front.

Mo Li followed half a step behind Lin Ke, walking to his left rear.

Dije led the three socially‑anxious members, positioning them in the middle.

Ba Ke and Aegio brought up the rear.

Several team members with earth‑element affinity successively cast lesser mud‑stone techniques, re‑digging the tunnel where the iron door was located.

Even though Mo Li had previously entered the secret passage once, Lin Ke still showed great vigilance.

He did not simply pull the iron door open by hand; instead he cast Thorn Whip, controlling the thorns to pull the door open.

The moment the door opened, Lin Ke sensed a change.

Benefiting from the highest level of the Brain Seal Technique, Lin Ke's perception of his own emotions was extremely keen.

He clearly felt an extremely subtle fluctuation tugging at his emotions.

It was as if a devil whispered in his ear, trying to stir his greed.

"Be careful, control your emotions; if extreme thoughts arise, inform everyone immediately."

Lin Ke had no immediate solution, so he could only issue a warning first.

"Yes."

Mo Li replied.

"Yes, boss."

The team members responded in that way.

Though the wording differed, everyone renewed their vigilance a bit.

Along the way, Lin Ke had issued similar warnings many times.

In fact, each warning had helped them avoid some unnecessary trouble.

Authority had been established without anyone noticing.

With a thought, Lin Ke threw several water‑system detox spells and wood‑system detox spells into the passage.

After confirming that the passage's air held no toxins, Lin Ke roughly figured it out in his mind.

This is an effect similar to that of mind‑type sorcery.

Mind‑type sorcery can only be countered by mind‑type sorcery.

Very troublesome.

Lin Ke could rely on the Brain Seal Technique to ensure he himself was unaffected, but he could not look after others.

This discovery made Lin Ke feel both thorny and delighted.

Where does the joy come from?

Even before entering the door, there is such a subtle 'defense' measure—could the secrets hidden inside be minor?

The faction mission might actually have a chance to advance.

He had his teammates retreat a distance, pushing beyond the unknown influence range just in case, and Lin Ke entered the passage alone.

Starting from the first mural on the left, he viewed up to near the bronze gate, then circled back to the first mural on the right.

Lin Ke spent a full half hour.

He missed no detail.

All twenty murals were firmly etched into his memory palace.

To be reviewed and checked later whenever needed.

After viewing them, Lin Ke had only one feeling: 'No action, no death!'

"How is it? How do you feel? Shocking, right?"

The reason Mo Li endured without telling Lin Ke and the others the mural's content was to see Lin Ke's shocked expression at that moment.

Holding it in until now has nearly burst her.

Lin Ke shook his head and remarked, "Only the unimaginable cannot be done."

This nonsensical conversation sparked the curiosity of the five brothers and the three socially anxious people.

What exactly is depicted in the mural that even the usually composed big boss is so shocked?

I really want to see it with my own eyes.

"Go take a look, there's nothing else to do."

While examining the mural, Lin Ke had already determined that what stirred the emotional fluctuations was the pigment used in the mural.

After being sealed for a long time, encountering fresh air, it emitted some odor.

Now after some ventilation, the odor remains but has become very faint, and its effect on emotions has greatly diminished.

As long as one doesn't do something like licking the mural with their tongue, basically no problems will arise.

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately filed into the secret passage to examine the mural.

Then they all exclaimed:

I ca!

It can still be like this?

(End of chapter)