"If, by any chance, if there is still an opportunity... please show mercy on us once more."

In a moment of distraction, the words from Melting Furnace surfaced once again from his recollections.

"It seems that I am quite taken care of."

Ji Jue sighed lightly, "Someone told me to show mercy to more, but I don't know what my mercy means, nor what my sympathy is worth.

Prophet, I am just a small fry. Compared to Saints, I don't even count as a blade of grass. We are not even the same kind. Why place your hopes on me?"

"I was merely planning to try a small experiment, but after meeting you, I became even more certain," the Prophet laughed hoarsely. "You truly are the type who would show mercy to us non-humans."

"Thank you, Mr. Ji Jue."

She said, "You seem to really consider us out-of-control tools as human beings."

"Is that wrong?" Ji Jue countered.

"Perhaps."

The tool known as the Prophet smiled, "I am not sure if this will lead to some misunderstanding, but please rest assured—"

She solemnly promised, "Before my life ends, I will do my utmost to help you retrieve Matrix·Non-attack, until we truly free ourselves from the cycle of reincarnation."

No need for Tian Yuan's pact, no need for Heart Core's guarantee.

This was all the recompense that a tool could offer.

In the center of Crack Realm, the former site of the bell tower.

The tower had collapsed, and bricks and dirt piled up into a mountain, creating a huge pit in the square.

Day after day, the roaring noises continued without pause.

The fierce and formidable Returning Knights, now carrying large baskets, emerged from the pit looking disheveled like workers covered in soot, in a sorry state.

"Mr. Lou, we've dug down more than fifty meters already, and we still haven't found anything! The brothers are almost unable to hold on."

Slan, who had temporarily taken on the role as construction foreman, tentatively asked from outside the tent, "Is there a possibility... your instrument, could it have made a mistake?"

"Impossible!"

Lou Feng glared and retorted decisively.

After days of grueling labor, the once delicate and pristine young master was now covered in mud, though his hair remained meticulously groomed.

"Absolutely impossible!"

He stood before the observation instrument, even larger than himself, pointing at the complex data on the screen: "See? According to statistics, one-fifth of the spiritual flows in the entire Crack Realm are here. There's definitely an important node here. If it's not above, then it must be below.

I won't be stingy with the reward, Mr. Slan, we must accelerate our pace."

"Uh..." Slan hesitated briefly, not minding the increase in payment—after all, it was clear which was more dangerous between fighting and menial labor, and he was happier doing the latter. What difference did it make how he went about it?

However, as an experienced explorer of the Crack Realm, he couldn't help but make a suggestion to his employer, "Um, this node you mentioned, could it have been taken away by that kid with the surname Ji earlier?"

In an instant, the color drained from Lou Feng's face. He subconsciously wanted to curse in anger, but his throat was unintentionally in pain from shouting too much.

In fact, he hadn't ruled out the possibility that Ji Jue might have tampered with something. However, he had already searched the bell tower—it was just an abandoned old workshop with nothing of value. What could he possibly have taken? Could he have carried away Melting Furnace right under his nose?

Moreover, the flow of spiritual matter was undeniable. This was definitely the key clue.

That damn Ji Jue, thinking he got one over on him, even if he really did obtain something from the workshop, it was merely a case of buying a casket and returning the pearl.

The real key was firmly in his own hands.

"Continue!" he forced out between clenched teeth, "I want to see just how deep it can be buried—"

Before he could finish speaking, a thunderous noise suddenly erupted from the pit.

The ground trembled.

Deep fissures appeared on the square.

It was like an earthquake.

"It's through! It's gotten through!!!"

Cheers erupted from the pit, and Lou Feng quickly arrived at the scene.

Below the earth, after a long distance of over seventy meters, there was a pitch-black expanse that seemed endless, an unexpected vast void.

After dropping a glow stick, the immense contours resting in the darkness could be faintly discerned, much like the inside of some precision instrument.

Just a brief observation revealed that the underground space was in no way inferior to the surface.

Without the flashy deceits of appearances, Lou Feng forcibly penetrated the barriers of the workshop, opening the path to the operational layer.

The structures and mechanisms that supported the entire functioning of the Crack Realm, including the workshop modules left by Saintly Mercury, were all located there!

"Ha ha, ha ha ha, I knew it!"

Sliding down the zip line, Lou Feng surveyed the vast facility bathed in darkness and light, and couldn't help but laugh loudly: "It really was further down!

Prepare to keep moving forward, Mr. Slan.

This time, we are leading the way!"

Brushing off the air of decline from the past few days, Lou Feng was radiant with excitement, nearly uncontrollable: This time, he didn't believe that damn Ji Jue could get ahead of him!

Boom!

The loud sound echoed from the distance once again.

Vague and blurry, it sounded like another building collapsing, turning to ashes.

Collapse and destruction silently spread from the surface...

Like a machine on the brink of being scrapped, it gradually moved towards extinction.

.

.

In the same underground, deep within the inaccessible sewers, a barely noticeable shelter existed.

At this moment, it was a complete mess.

After the screaming, roaring, and furious shouts had dissipated into a deathly silence, only intermittent sobs remained.

"Stop, outsiders, please!" A figure as ugly as a worm crawled on the ground, despairingly kowtowing. "There's nothing left here; we have nothing left."

No one responded.

Only the husks that resembled walking corpses persistently swept through the entire crude camp, chopping heads from corpses to present them before the Dominator.

Suspended in mid-air, an indistinct crimson figure held half of a damaged skull.

Invisible pinched his nose, scavenging memories from the remains, gradually understanding.

"So, deeper underground, huh? I see now..."

He indifferently tossed the head he was holding, looked down, glanced at the few Puppets in front of him who had no ability to resist, and suddenly smiled,

"Not bad, Saint. Even a bunch of tools can be molded to seem alive. Though they're not qualified as food, as materials, they're just perfect—"

With that, he carelessly pointed a finger.

A scream rose from the ground.

The figure begging for mercy convulsed violently, its body shaking crazily, swelling, mutating—under Invisible's control and deliberate intensification, its consciousness rapidly split and became deranged, completely transforming into chaos, until, in the end, even the body completely burst.

Only countless fragments and viscous fluids splattered.

Among the corpses, a crimson figure slowly arose, wandering around, its hollow eyes opening, hungering for victims.

Accompanied by continuous, exploding sounds, one after another semi-transparent crimson shadow emerged from the corpses.

They had become the Shepherd's cattle and sheep.

"Let's go."

Invisible grinned, beckoned a hand, pulling the unseen reins, and led the vast herd into even deeper darkness.

.

.

"Where exactly are we going?"

On the other side of the Crack Realm, a figure who had wandered amidst the ruins for three or four days sighed in despair; an elderly white-haired woman carrying a huge backpack, much like a sightseer, faced the complex path ahead, unsure of where to start.

"Shouldn't there be a road ahead?"

She stared at the map in her hands, flipping it back and forth, comparing it with the fork in front of her eyes, but no matter how she looked at it, it didn't match up at all, not even close.

After careful thought, thorough analysis, and serious consideration for half an hour,

She had to admit that she was lost.

And it seemed that ever since she entered the Crack Realm, she had never found the right place!

"What a lousy map!"

She threw the map on the ground in frustration and scolded, "Not even marking north, south, east, west, just telling you to come running and find it yourself, what the hell am I supposed to find!

You old dog, you're probably fooling me into coming here to paper a grave, aren't you?!"

In the dust, the tattered map seemed to rise on its own, suddenly flew up, folded into a long strip, and unceremoniously slapped her forehead.

Twice.

Just as she was furiously about to tear the map apart, the map unfolded again, and in front of her eyes, it flipped over, drew a circle, and marked an arrow pointing straight ahead.

[If you can't understand the map, don't badmouth me!]

Then, she finally understood... This broken map wasn't flat, but structured vertically?

The white-haired woman paused, her expression twitching, then twitching again, and she snatched the map back, "Wasting so much time, you should have said so earlier!"

[Sorry, I didn't expect you to be this bad]

"Shut up!" she shouted angrily. "What era is it? Still using hand-drawn maps?! No navigation function or voice broadcast function, you don't even know how to use a smart device, do you?"

The map was silent, seemingly hitting a sore spot.

"Humph, let's go."

The proud elderly woman strutted off with a smug laugh after gaining the upper hand.

[You're going the wrong way, to the east.]

"Shut up, I'm scouting! Do you understand scouting?"

Her expression stiffened, she looked around, hesitating for a long time, "Let–let me ask you a question, which way is east?"

[...]

Thus, the map also fell silent.

Only a bleak autumn breeze blew past, the overburdened map fluttering in the wind, making one last suggestion: [Anyway, we're here to pay respects to Mercury... perhaps, you should just burn me?]

.

.

At this very moment, on the other side of the town, an earthquake roared, collapsing ruins, awakening a group of Chosen Ones from their slumber.

A series of cracks spread across the ground along with the earthquake.

A deep, shifting glow emerged from within.

"Old Four, Old Four!"

The first person to notice turned back, calling his companion's name. "Look, what is this?"

"Indeed."

The Chosen One of the Embers, through a brief exploration, with the transforming glow reflected in his pupils, couldn't contain his ecstasy.

Underground!

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