CHAPTER 378: CHAPTER 336: SECRETS OF THE RUINS

"Hello, everyone, ahead is Yanshi Mountain."

The pretty tour guide transmitted her sweet voice to each tourist through a wireless connection.

"Why is it called Yanshi Mountain? It’s because the ruins of a Mechanical Civilization were discovered here. Yanshi is the first documented mechanical master in ancient times who created robots..."

The tour guide gestured toward Yanshi Mountain outside the car window, introducing energetically, "Yanshi Mountain is three thousand meters high, not a blade of grass grows on it, making it look like an iron mountain from afar. Thus, it is also known as Iron Mountain. The ancient Mechanical Civilization ruins are inside Yanshi Mountain, with a complex architecture resembling a maze."

The tour guide especially emphasized, "Due to Yanshi Mountain’s unique structure, it strongly interferes with wireless communications. Everyone must follow the planned route to avoid getting lost. Every year, someone disappears in the ruins. Exploring ancient civilization ruins is fascinating, but there’s no need to take risks..."

Lan Tianshou, Bai Yunfeng, and their group listened obediently; if it weren’t for Gao Xuan, they would have already flirted with the tour guide.

Now, however, they didn’t have the guts to show off. Besides, the tour guide frequently looked at Gao Xuan, with eyes for no one else.

Including the other women in the bus, they tried various ways to get a glimpse of Gao Xuan. Even those accompanied by male partners couldn’t suppress their curiosity and admiration.

With sunglasses on, no one could see that Gao Xuan’s eyes were closed. He seemed simply too handsome.

To ordinary people, Gao Xuan’s looks were too dazzling. They didn’t dare to look straight yet couldn’t resist glancing at him.

Not only women, but men were also similarly affected.

Compared to the Yanshi ruins, everyone found Gao Xuan evidently more attractive and more of a spectacle.

Once the group entered the Yanshi Ruins, they instinctively followed Gao Xuan and his companions.

The tour guide was especially eager, standing next to Gao Xuan, explaining to him personally.

"As everyone knows, the most important metal for humans today, titanium steel, was derived from the metal formula obtained at the Mechanical Civilization ruins and then improved... The Mechanical Civilization ruins are like a treasure, of immense value to humanity..."

The internal structure of Yanshi Ruins resembles a deserted gigantic industrial complex with steel everywhere, featuring some old machines with unknown purposes. Their shapes are somewhat bizarre, yet maintain industrial precision.

Many tourists couldn’t understand much, at most just enjoying the spectacle. Taking photos in front of strange machines to mark the occasion concluded their visit.

Some people wanted to try their luck, touching and searching everywhere, hoping to find something valuable.

Every few years, tourists at Yanshi Ruins discover special items left by the ancient Mechanical Civilization and strike it rich.

Although the odds are minimal, everyone wants to try their luck. This is what makes the Yanshi Ruins so captivating.

With virtual reality technology now very advanced, the virtual worlds designed by VR architects are far more exciting than the real world.

Many feel bored when visiting in person.

The attraction of the Yanshi Ruins, however, is something that cannot be experienced in virtual worlds.

After a brief tour, the group unanimously requested that the guide take them deeper into the Yanshi Ruins to try their luck.

The group took an old mechanical elevator down to the bottom of Yanshi Ruins. It was an enormous depth of twenty thousand meters from the surface. The old mechanical elevator moved very quickly, with intense tremors, resembling a thrilling roller coaster ride.

After getting off the roller coaster, most tourists were not in good spirits.

Lan Tianshou and his team seemed indifferent. Although this Sword Team was weaker than Gao Xuan, they were much stronger than ordinary people.

The guide’s face was slightly pale, but she professionally instructed the tourists to adjust their bodies and put on warm clothing.

At a depth of twenty thousand meters underground, the temperature dropped to minus twenty degrees, extremely cold. There weren’t many installed lighting sources in this layer, making the environment cold, dim, and rather oppressive.

The tour guide repeatedly reminded everyone not to run around. Stay within the illuminated area. Gather again in two hours.

After giving all these instructions, the tour guide earnestly found Gao Xuan, "I’m very familiar with this place; let me show you around."

She then whispered mysteriously, "This place has already been officially explored countless times; there’s no chance of finding anything. Those machines are all replicas.

"However, there are still some interesting things on this lower level. Like the mechanical battle dolls, which were later restored; they’re fun to play with..."

The tour guide liked Gao Xuan’s looks so much that she revealed the truth about the Yanshi Ruins.

"Thank you, we can wander on our own."

Gao Xuan politely declined the tour guide’s offer; he didn’t need anyone to accompany him.

The tour guide was very disappointed, but she couldn’t insist on following Gao Xuan, so she gently reminded, "Although the ruins have been completely excavated, this place is vast, and it’s easy to get lost. Without a wireless signal, it’s even harder to contact anyone. You’ve signed the safety contract, so there won’t be any rescue help in case of an accident..."

"I know. Don’t worry."

Gao Xuan smiled, waved, and led Yun Qingshang deeper into the passage.

The tour guide watched with a full face of concern, but she had said everything she could; if Gao Xuan insisted on going deeper, she couldn’t do anything about it.

The entire underground ruins of Yanshi are enormous, with only a tenth open to the public, with some modern auxiliary facilities like lighting, wireless signal relay stations, and so on.

The undeveloped areas of the ruins have nothing, only the empty ruins themselves. If someone gets lost inside without search and rescue help, it’s very easy to perish there.

After two hours of waiting, everyone had returned except for Gao Xuan and Yun Qingshang.

This made the tour guide even more worried; she said to the group, "There are still people who haven’t returned; let’s wait a while."

When the others saw that Gao Xuan had not returned, the group of women showed worried expressions. On the other hand, a few men displayed obvious schadenfreude.

Someone like Gao Xuan, surely countless men are envious and jealous of him.

Lan Tianshou and Bai Yunfeng, among others, sneered. How could Gao Xuan get into trouble in a place like this?

He told the female guide, "No need to wait for Gao Xuan. He told me in advance that he wanted to stay at the ruins for a few days."

Gao Xuan did indeed inform him beforehand and asked him to pass on the message to the head coach Ji Xiuying.

Although the female guide wanted to wait a bit longer for Gao Xuan, since Lan Tianshou had already said so, she couldn’t delay everyone any further. She could only leave with a mix of regret and unease.

By this time, Gao Xuan and Yun Qingshang had already reached the deeper layers of the ruins.

There was no lighting here, nor any modern equipment. Only endless darkness and coldness.

Traces of violent exploration were everywhere on the metallic walls and floor of the Yanshi Ruins.

It was clear that over the millennia, the Yanshi Ruins had been explored and excavated many times. The traces of destruction varied in age, with clear intervals of time.

The Yanshi Ruins had a metal structure that provided an extremely strong shielding effect against spiritual power.

Even Gao Xuan’s spiritual power couldn’t envelop the Yanshi Ruins. Especially in the deeper layers, the multiple metal structures further constrained the roaming of spiritual power.

Gao Xuan was quite satisfied with this; he needed an environment like this. Stay hidden in a corner for a few days, and no one would find him.

On another note, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the Yanshi Ruins, probably due to the Mechanical Battle Cicada.

"Maybe, I can discover something here..."

Gao Xuan wandered through the deeper layers of the ruins, following that subtle sense of familiarity.

He quickly noticed the problem: the rooms in the core area deep underground in the ruins were unusually orderly, with each being a standard cube, and every layer had nine cubes arranged in a grid pattern.

There were three such layers, forming a gigantic Third-Order Rubik’s Cube.

The twenty-seven cubic rooms were severely damaged, with big holes dug out in the ceiling, walls, and floor, allowing the rooms to connect with each other.

Clearly, there were many intelligent people who realized there was something wrong with this gigantic cubic array.

The identical cubic rooms differed only by the spherical central control on the walls.

The basketball-sized iron spheres were engraved with strange symbols of the mechanical civilization, with half embedded in the wall and half exposed. Adjusting the iron spheres could align the symbols to the center.

There were 96 symbols on the iron spheres in total, and the twenty-seven rooms, adjusted in different orders, could form a password.

Once Gao Xuan figured out the cubic room structures, he immediately understood how to use the cubes.

The Six-winged Celestial Cicada emitted a clear cry, and a set of complex passwords instantly appeared in his mind.

Gao Xuan quickly calculated that with ninety-six symbols and twenty-seven rooms in random sequence, the number of combinations was terrifying. No wonder no one had been able to crack it for thousands of years.

If it weren’t for the memories left by the Mechanical Battle Cicada, no matter how strong his spiritual power was, he couldn’t unlock the cubic room password.

Following the sequence, Gao Xuan entered the rooms one by one to lock the password. Some rooms had the iron ball password locks shattered, and some locked spheres were even removed.

Fortunately, he could replace the iron ball password with the spiritual power imprint left by the Mechanical Battle Cicada.

In fact, the key was not the iron ball password lock, but the spiritual power imprint left during unlocking, which must match the spiritual frequency set by the mechanical civilization.

This one design alone prevented other civilizations from cracking the cube through brute force methods.

Gao Xuan was very curious about what the mechanical civilization put inside the complexly protected cube.

He was also a bit worried whether the destructive exploration of the cube by humans would ruin its secret.

With all room passwords aligned, Gao Xuan sensed a sudden shock from the depths of the Sea of Source Power. It was like a gigantic object emerging from its depths.

After waiting for more than ten seconds, the cubic rooms began to emit a rumbling vibration.

The sound was deep, heavy, and sluggish, like an old machine slowly starting up.

The clicking and clattering noises sounded choppy, seemingly ready to stop at any moment.

This intense shaking caused the entire Yanshi Ruins to vibrate violently. People inside the ruins thought it was an earthquake, and many screamed in fear, frantically running around.

The female guide and others were just leaving the Yanshi Ruins and had not yet boarded the vehicles, and they were terrified because the entire Yanshi Mountain was shaking.

Lan Tianshou, Bai Yunfeng, and others were also full of unease, unsure of what was happening.

At this moment, Jin Guangshan inside the Yanshi Ruins first looked puzzled, then realized the change was coming from the depths of the ruins. Clearly, some crucial mechanism inside the ruins had been activated!

Jin Guangshan originally followed Gao Xuan to find an opportunity to deal with him, and he didn’t expect such an event. He couldn’t help being overjoyed in his heart: "Such a stroke of luck!"

(Only one update today~)