Lin Jie's newly ford "Iron Triangle" team did not recklessly charge into that unknown darkness imdiately.
For the entire next day, they remained in Julian's "fortress of knowledge" beneath the Louvre, conducting the most crucial and ticulous pre-mission preparations.
Julian, this living "database," pushed his formidable knowledge reserves to their absolute limit.
From tens of thousands of collections, he retrieved all ancient texts and association records potentially related to "sound-based UMA" and "ntal seduction" for the team.
Together they studied the Greek myth of Sirens luring sailors with song, analyzed curses in the Egyptian Book of the Dead about "stealing souls' true nas," and examined a dieval alchemist's mad manuscript on using "harmonic scales" to counter "chaos sounds."
Lin Jie systematically integrated and analyzed all these seemingly chaotic information fragnts from different civilizations and eras using his powerful tactical mind.
He discovered all such "intangible" attacks shared a common core weakness—they required a dium for transmission and heavily relied on the victim's own "ntal state."
A person with firm willpower and a mind free of distractions could resist such ntal temptations far better than soone filled with desires and regrets.
William imrsed himself completely in physical preparations.
He ticulously inspected everyone's weapons and equipnt, replacing their revolver ammunition with "purified" gunpowder he personally mixed with trace silver powder and consecrated oil.
He also prepared nurous phosphorescent glow sticks usable in damp environnts, and an alchemical ointnt that effectively masked living human scent when applied—though it slled absolutely foul.
By the ti all preparations were complete, night had once again fallen over Paris.
They chose not to enter through the crowded main entrance on Rue Denfert-Rochereau, which might attract the Eternal Serpent cult's attention.
Julian, leveraging his intimate knowledge of Paris's underworld, led them to an ancient monastery in Saint-Germain-des-Prés that had been abandoned for decades.
In a spiderweb-covered wine cellar underground, Julian moved a wine rack aside, revealing a hidden door nearly fused with the wall.
"This is a secret ergency escape passage built by the Knights Templar in the 13th century to evade Philip IV's persecution," Julian's voice carried a historian's pride and respect for predecessors.
"Forgotten for over five centuries, it will let us bypass all known entrances, like three cunning mice burrowing directly into the heart of Paris this great cheese."
When the heavy stone door slowly opened, a cold breath spilled out—mingling millennia of dust, bone decay, and pure "death."
This atmosphere felt purer than London's sewer filth, more soul-crushingly oppressive.
Their first team investigation officially began along this death shortcut forgotten by history.
The passage interior was absolute darkness.
Julian took the lead, carrying a specially modified "focused" carbide lamp with extrely concentrated light that cut through the darkness ahead without disturbing distant presences.
His other hand held a parchnt route map he personally drew, integrating countless ancient maps, with fluorescent ink marking every branching path and potential danger zone—he was the team's most reliable "navigator."
Sergeant William brought up the rear, his Winchester rifle muzzle perpetually alert, pointing into the equally bottomless darkness behind them. His steady footsteps provided the team's first security—he was their most trustworthy "guardian."
The Cursebreaker Vambrace rested quietly on his arm, while his other hand gently gripped the Serene Heart revolver.
He could feel a faint forcefield woven from "guardian" and "zen" energies emanating from the gun, like a thin eggshell isolating his mind from the surrounding negative atmosphere.
He was the team's most sensitive "detection radar."
This was the Iron Triangle's first display of perfect teamwork.
No excess words or even eye contact needed—each mber understood their role with absolute clarity and perford to their utmost.
They traveled through the catacombs for nearly an hour.
The surrounding walls gradually shifted from hand-carved rock to "bone walls" neatly stacked from human skulls and leg bones with a Gothic horror aesthetic.
These dead, silent for centuries, watched the three intruders disturbing their rest through hollow eye sockets.
Just then, Lin Jie—who had been silently perceiving their surroundings—suddenly raised his hand in a "stop" gesture.
"What is it?" Julian imdiately halted, whispering.
"Sothing..." Lin Jie's brow furrowed tightly. Though his Reverberation Touch hadn't directly contacted anything, his extraordinary perception had caught an extrely faint spiritual fluctuation that didn't belong here.
Julian imdiately cast his focused carbide lamp's beam toward the branching path Lin Jie indicated.
It was a narrower, terrifying passage stacked with countless skulls, with a small chamber resembling a shrine at its end.
William instantly raised his rifle, muzzle aid into that unknown darkness, ready to fire at any mont.
In an instant, the trio's formation shifted from "travel" mode to "combat alert" mode—so fluidly and seamlessly it seed they'd fought together for years.
When they finally reached the end and cast light into the small "shrine," even accustod to bizarre scenes, they collectively gasped.
At the chamber's center lay a long-cold corpse dressed in holess clothing.
His death was peculiar—no visible wounds, face showing no pain or fear, instead bearing a serene smile as if peacefully asleep in the sweetest dream.
Around this corpse and across the shrine's walls, densely packed evil-reeking symbols were drawn in mysterious liquid flowing like silver rcury!
These symbols emitted faint light, forming a slowly rotating "alchemical array" with the smiling corpse at its center.
"This is... a 'mory Stripping Array'!" Julian the living database instantly recognized the array's origin, his voice furious. "An ancient, vicious black magic!"
"Just as I suspected—the Eternal Serpent bastards are using this place as their temporary workshop for 'raw material processing.'"
Then Lin Jie's sharp perception caught another anomaly!
"Watch out! Above!" he shouted, simultaneously shoving Julian aside with force!
As he yelled, the ceiling above them—stacked with countless bones—actually "lted"!
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