Under unclear circumstances, rashly entering the enemy's lair was unwise.
But since I've co all this way, and the child is still young... Besides, Ji Jue really had no leads on "Non-attack," and to keep exploring, he had to take such risks.
Moreover, with the Ghost Work Ball in hand, along with the little cow and horse, and even an ace bodyguard like Xiao An, they should be able to make a run for it when it mattered.
And so, following them, Ji Jue entered a ruin. After lifting a disguised plank, surprisingly, there was a descending path... The entire town's sewer system was incredibly wide, crisscrossed, and complex. Walking through it, magnetic interference seed to be affecting the compass, rendering it useless soon after.
Descending layer by layer, only at the depths of the sewer did they see a rust-pocked rolling shutter door.
But the space behind the door was shockingly large.
It was like a large camp; the originally useless sewage treatnt equipnt had been completely pushed aside, replaced by makeshift shanties and tents.
In contrast to the chaos outside, there was a vibrant scene inside.
All sorts of people bearing signs of mutations were traveling through the plaza; so were setting up stalls, but the stalls were filled with compressed food and various incomprehensible objects.
The camp seed to have sixty to seventy people, closely connected to one another. Upon noticing the outsiders, many showed a hint of vigilance or defensiveness in their expressions.
"Mama!"
A child's voice sounded, and the wheels of a small cart rolled over. But atop the cart was a figure, disfigured and incomplete, pushing the cart forward with one hand, eagerly hugging the middle-aged man leading the way.
After noticing Ji Jue's gaze, the child skittishly hid behind the middle-aged man, covering his slightly mutated limbs with a rag, cautious.
On his broken and indented face, a black glass bead served the purpose of an eye, carefully peering at Ji Jue and his companion. When he noticed Ji Jue looking back, he quickly hid again.
"Is little Jiu behaving?" The middle-aged man seed to smile, patting his head. "Go back first, I'll co to see you later. I'm taking them to et the Prophet."
After watching the child leave, the middle-aged man didn't explain anything and led them deeper inside, right up to a door guarded by two towering mutated figures.
"Please take out your weapons," the middle-aged man said. "Although it's quite offensive, we can't allow you to et the Prophet with such things."
Sensing the gaze of the people around him, Ji Jue didn't move.
"To be honest, I'm a bit afraid," Ji Jue tentatively asked. "Could the Prophet co out to et us?"
"Hey!" The gatekeeper reprimanded angrily: "Outsider, don't be too presumptuous!"
"No harm—"
Behind the door, a husky voice responded: "Whether you carry weapons or not, as Chosen Ones, you're unclear of the powers you possess. No need for such pretense.
Please co in, gentlen, my physical limitations truly prevent from going out, or it wouldn't be so troubleso."
After exchanging glances and hesitating for a mont, the guards finally opened the door for them.
The room behind the door was unexpectedly hollow.
There were none of the fanciful furnishings and decor one might have expected. Instead, it was desolate.
There were only two chairs.
One chair bore signs of wear and tear with traces of repair, while the other seed welded to the ground, wrapped in cables, with needle-like interfaces piercing through that sieve-like body, faintly sparking with electric arcs.
Atop the decayed and damaged body was a head barely maintaining its connection to the torso.
Shriveled, fragnted, the bald scalp revealed a tallic texture, the outco of innurable modifications.
The aged features vaguely hinted at a female identity.
"Hello, outsiders," she introduced herself. "I am the 'Prophet.'"
Ji Jue stood opposite her, not taking a seat, but carefully observing: "You don't seem to know everything."
"It's just what people call . Nas are just placeholders, no different from another." The Prophet's expression twitched, like a grin: "I suppose you have many questions right now."
"Indeed, there are so many questions that I don't even feel the urgency," Ji Jue replied, shaking his head. "You seem quite familiar with us Chosen Ones?"
"People like you co every few decades. They co here seeking treasures, hunting for gold and silver, or to capture trophies. n and won, they're all the sa. So leave, so die.
After interacting with them and seeing so many, I've grown familiar."
"What is Non-attack?" Ji Jue knowingly inquired.
"…The third probing and feigning, quite interesting. You're much more cautious than I thought—if you'd like, I could explain from the beginning.
Non-attack is a Matrix left behind by rcury, one of the few remnants of the 'Mo' that were left in this world. That's what you ca here for, isn't it?"
The Prophet's eyelids struggled to lift as she peered at Ji Jue: "For soone like you who is focused on the Embers Path and even without a Matrix, who dares to venture into the Crack Realm and even entered the old workshop—
If not for 'Non-attack', what else could it be for?
Are you satisfied with my answer?"
Ji Jue didn't say anything.
"There's no need for such caution. We who are old, infirm, and disabled are just parasites on top of the workshop system, ants fortunate enough not to be recycled and reset; we pose no threat to you.
Especially the one behind you who, from the beginning, has been searching for my weakness. It's truly unsettling."
The Prophet smiled, laboriously lowering her head, revealing a split in her skull and the dense maze of tiny gears hidden within, unabashedly exposing her vulnerability.
"Please rest assured, I have no intention of posturing or keeping anyone in suspense," she said candidly, "In the past few years, our people, while exploring outside, once found so traces of rcury in a side path of the underground passage. The danger, however, was too great to proceed any further.
"If you're willing to assist us, we can send soone to guide you."
She paused for a mont before concluding, "Just, if it's possible, I hope you could help us with so small things."
Ji Jue remained silent.
He didn't speak.
He just looked at her for a long ti, sighing without making a sound.
"I'm sorry, you may have misunderstood."
He explained seriously, "We brothers are actually just passing by and accidentally got swept up in this place, also clueless as to what's going on.
As for all this Non-attack and rcury stuff, we're not really clear, nor interested. I honestly don't know what you're talking about. So, let's forget about working together."
"Is that so?"
The Prophet paused, slightly astonished, but didn't beco angry or show any forceful deanor, simply nodding slightly, "Then I might have misunderstood."
She gave a light sigh, her gaze falling, "Although the camp is small, it's still enough to accommodate guests. You both can look around and stay or leave as you wish.
If you change your minds, you can co to at any ti."
Not urgent, or perhaps, she was confident?
Ji Jue couldn't read her, nor could he understand.
In the end, after one last glance at the Prophet, he left with Xiao An.
The camp people prepared a place for them to rest and even provided two packs of compressed biscuits from the outside world. Though the expiration date had passed by two or three years, they were still edible.
Xiao An didn't detect any poison either.
There were no bugs here, but who could say for certain that there weren't any alchemy tools secretly observing? After all, the entire Crack Realm was rcury's workshop. Nobody could be sure what kind of bizarre items these 'locals' had hidden.
The Ghost Work Ball temporarily opened a crack of safe space, allowing the two to communicate.
Xiao An was brimming with confusion, "Ji Jue brother, weren't you here for the Matrix?"
"Yeah, that's right."
Ji Jue nodded indifferently, "But just because I really want to get it doesn't an I can't say no, right? Accepting a gift doesn't an I agree, and even if I agree, it doesn't an I have to do anything, does it?"
"…Sothing just feels a bit off," Xiao An said, perplexed, seeming to sense sothing. Is this how adults talk? It's so hard to understand. I'll make a note and ask Hua Hua sister later!
And Ji Jue, once again, was lost in thought.
He may not understand the Crack Realm, but he knew just how terrible his own dog luck was.
He had nearly died in a direct fall at the start, confidently embarked on a treasure hunt with nothing to show for it, and managed to bring back sothing eventually, only to inexplicably get involved with the locals and now they were teaming up for so big undertaking?
What was he thinking!
Moreover, he really couldn't trust that abrupt... Prophet?
The na itself scread charlatan, right?
He'd sooner trust a refrigerator!
"Co with ."
He suddenly stood up, flipped open the tent's flap, and gestured to a middle-aged man who was dazing not far outside, his expression serious, "To be honest, there's sothing very important I haven't told you."
"Hm?" The middle-aged man looked bewildered, becoming tense.
Then he saw Ji Jue seriously say,
"—I can fix air conditioners!"
???
In that mont, confusion almost visibly crystallized on the middle-aged man's contorted face.
What the heck?
"I can fix air conditioners."
Ji Jue repeated, "Is there any need? For free, no charge! I just like to help people!"
In reality, he indeed could fix air conditioners, and not just those — from color TVs, televisions, washing machines, electric scooters, electric mopeds, tricycles, to vans; he could fix them all.
Regarding plumbing, plastering, electrical maintenance, and even maintenance of various large machines, he wouldn't claim expertise, but at least he knew sothing!
In short, he could fix anything!
Faced with such an original and unexpected offer, the middle-aged man took a long ti before turning to ask for instructions, eventually coming back and saying carefully, "The Prophet says as long as you don't damage the camp's equipnt, feel free to do as you please.
Be careful, I'll be watching you."
"What are we waiting for then?"
Ji Jue whistled, taking the lead, "Let's go!"
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