Wen Yan ntioned it, but didn't say any more.
These days, for a lot of what he had to do, he needed Feng Wei to clear the way and get them there quickly.
He also needed Tong Si to co along as spotter—especially at night. Tong Si could see so many things no one else could, which was crucial.
Tong Si's field of vision was different from others, almost like Sympathy; he could see sounds and even auras.
When they exited the makeshift path, Wen Yan imdiately took out his phone to get their location.
This was the area near the third location he was after—the closest spot to that giant tomb in the Qinling Mountains, once the fiefdom of Shang Yang.
Before coming, Wen Yan had already tasked the Black Box to locate the White Fox Tribe Leader, but so far there were no results.
Those fox demons might have used so kind of transformation technique, disguising themselves as different identities and traveling outside.
After arriving, Tong Si glanced from a distance and didn't detect anything strange, which gave Wen Yan a new idea.
This was just a small town—neither a pri spot for migrant workers nor a trendy tourist destination, so the comings and goings of outsiders each day were few.
Wen Yan had the Black Box filter for anyone who'd been in the Northeast recently and was now in this small town beneath their feet.
Even with such broad criteria, there were only a few dozen people in the end.
Wen Yan added another condition: people who had lived in the Northeast for a long period before.
When listed alone, there were only a little over twenty.
He marked the positions of these twenty-sothing people on the map.
Soon, a cluster of tiny dots swept across the map. Eighteen of them were in the city—most either staying in hotels, or who'd rented earlier and been here before.
Another five were outside town, in a village that was neither a hotel nor any sort of farmhouse for tourists.
Wen Yan looked at the locations and decided to check that one out first; bringing Tong Si along for a look couldn't hurt.
...
In a small village on the outskirts of the town, most residents had already relocated.
This was because there'd been several mudslides here before; it wasn't safe, so compensation was offered and people were encouraged to move.
A few outsiders rented a local's old house at the foot of the mountain, claiming to be content creators doing house makeover videos.
The locals weren't too suspicious, since other vloggers had previously shot "Landlord Laughs Out Loud" content here.
So of the houses weren't actually bad, but living here wasn't very convenient, so most people moved out.
If soone was willing to pay and help take care of the renovations, the landlords were more than happy.
The people in the yard set up tripods and reflectors—it really looked the part.
But inside the house, it was a completely different scene.
Soone was brandishing tools, tearing apart a brick kang bed in one of the bedrooms; that kang had been built for free by a vlogger who ca here to film before.
The original owner had moved out, and now the newcors were digging up the kang and hauled out several jars that had been sealed shut inside.
The energy here had been masked by warmth from the kang and human presence, but now that it was dug up, a cold, eerie air, mixed with a sound like wailing, spread throughout the place.
A person who looked young but whose eyes were clouded with the haze of age gazed at those jars.
"The last of options, not really a solution at all. If this fails, it all cos down to this one shot."
"We can't wait any longer; according to clan records, this is the last chance."
"To restore our clan's glory—it must be tonight."
They'd added black shade nets in the yard, and under that sh, the ritual began.
One jar after another was opened—inside were tiny bones, blackened fur, desiccated flesh, and shriveled organs.
These were placed in the four directions. Four people each sliced open their own wrists, using their blood to trace out patterns.
As ti passed, under the shade net, eldritch runes and patterns spread, and the tallic scent of blood began to saturate the air.
The sun was blazing outside, yet beneath the net, it seed only more chilling and supernatural.
The White Fox Tribe Leader, seeing the ritual form, stepped forward and chanted ancient curse scripture—not a language of today, guttural and strange.
They'd always acted at night, so no one knew; this ceremony had to be perford during the day.
Unfortunately, there were no true tokens or living sacrifices, so they made do with old backup items.
The wicked power began to spread—light from the Great Sun seed to be devoured here, even the winter sun felt cold.
The fox demons standing at the four corners poured blood from their wounds as though it had gained spirituality, surging toward the ritual, staining the sacrificial materials used as conduits.
The mont the ritual began, at the very sa ti, in the Scorching Sun Headquarters—
On the Doomsday Computer that had been running this whole ti, a new icon appeared.
The icon: a black background with a red character, "荒."
Below it, two small characters:
Great Wilderness.
And below that, a progress bar.
The change in the Doomsday Computer instantly triggered the Scorching Sun Departnt's alarm system.
The General Director imdiately dropped what he was doing and rushed to the monitoring room outside.
"What's the situation so far?"
"The anomaly appeared three minutes ago. Comparing the past three minutes, we estimate it'll reach operational status in four hours."
"If it stays as is, it should be smaller in scale than the previous Cyber Netherworld incident."
"Based on our preliminary guess, and last ti's experience—"
"This version's core is small, but there's loads of associated data; it can run before downloading everything."
"Last ti, the core was massive, with zero optimization or extras; it wouldn't run without completing the download."
"So this seems like a progressive update: sothing's been triggered to unlock this chapter."
The General Director scanned the preliminary reports, his face dark, then pulled out his phone and made a direct call to the Old Celestial Master.
Based on the intel they had, there was only one place the Great Wilderness pointed to.
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