"Calling you?" Hao Ren frowned at Vivian's words. "Was it a voice?"
"I can't tell." Vivian's gaze wandered around the giant mountain of steel. "It was just for a moment, like someone was reminding me to look in that direction … But there's nothing now."
A few thoughts flashed through his mind, and Hao Ren could vaguely guess what it was. "A divine relic. Looks like at least half of the legends are true."
There were not many things that could trigger such a strange reaction in Vivian, and the most likely one was a creation left behind by the Goddess of Creation. In the legends of the Ark Survivors, there was a divine relic that protected the entire world, and now Vivian was beside the Furnace of the Ancestors, and she felt an inexplicable call. Anyone could not help but link the two together. It seemed like the fleet had received some sort of protection, and this protection … came from the Goddess of Creation?!
Willy did not understand what Hao Ren and the rest were talking about, and asked curiously, "What's wrong with you guys?"
"You're a local, do you know how to enter the Furnace of the Ancestors?" Hao Ren asked directly.
"A local? I'm not a local, I was born and raised in Hearthfire … "Willy answered the first half of the sentence, and then he realized something." The Furnace of the Ancestors?! What did you say? You want to enter the Furnace of the Ancestors?! "
"Can't we?" Nangong Sanba raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we come here to solve this problem?"
Willy's expression changed. He had a lot of guesses about this group of unknown people, but he did not expect them to be so crazy as to want to enter the Furnace of the Ancestors. "That's a fantasy! The Furnace of the Ancestors is a place only the dead can enter. I've never heard of a living person entering that place! Those who step into the furnace will be cursed by the power of the Underworld. Their entire body will be burnt, their skin will fall off, their organs will bleed, and they will be burnt to death. You want to go in?! "
Hao Ren was shocked to hear that. He did not know that the generator was so dangerous, and he did not know if it was the local myth or the energy furnace of the ship itself that prohibited visitors from entering, but he still had to go in. "Is there no other way to get in?"
Willy shook his head vigorously. "Impossible, impossible. This is suicide. Furthermore, even if a fugitive wanted to break into the Furnace of the Ancestors, it would be impossible. There were Blood Wardens guarding all the entrances and exits day and night. The soldiers did not even listen to the King's words, they only followed their orders. Are you crazy enough to want to go there? "
The young man seemed to be frightened by Hao Ren's plan. After he desperately tried to dissuade Hao Ren, his face gradually became bewildered. Looking at the indifferent expression on Lily and Vivian's faces, Willy suddenly remembered their 'witchcraft' and some dark and terrifying legends. His body trembled. "What … What are you trying to do?"
"Relax, relax, kid." Vivian's eyes glowed with a faint red light. She used the power of her Blood Magic to forcibly calm Willy down. Her voice was slow and carried a mysterious magical power. "Don't you want to stop the winter? And look at the state of the Furnace of the Ancestors … It's broken, very broken, and we know how to fix it. That's why we're here. "
Vivian's Blood Magic only had a few tricks that could affect a human's mind, but Willy was a normal person who knew nothing about magic and had a weak will, so he was easily appeased without any resistance. His eyes turned cloudy. "But you can't enter the Furnace of the Ancestors. There's the power of the Underworld inside, and the Blood Wardens will not let you …"
"Then how is your king going to solve the reactor's problem after summoning the scholars here?" Lily asked curiously. "They don't know how to fix it from the outside, and they can't get in either. Are they going to just stand there and watch?"
Willy mumbled a bunch of random conjectures, mixed with messy witchcraft, misinterpreted technical terms, specious mechanical knowledge, and a little bit of resignation. There was no need to ask him, Hao Ren himself knew that the people of this world would not know how to fix the reactor. Just like in the past, whenever the reactor shut down, the scholars would gather to chant and bow to the ancient circuit diagram and circuit board, but in the end, the people still had to rely on the ark system's tenacious self-repair to survive every winter. But this time, the Furnace of the Ancestors had a crack several kilometers long, and this was not something a system reboot could fix.
Hao Ren had originally planned to let Willy and Master Orrow lead the team, and then find a chance to sneak past the guards to enter the reactor. This way, it would be a no-brainer and avoid any accidents, but now it seemed that the locals' knowledge of the Furnace of the Ancestors was worse than he imagined, and in the end, he still had to force his way in.
"Go back to your place to rest, we still have things to do." After inquiring about the 'Blood Wardens', Hao Ren patted Willy on the shoulder and let the young man leave. He then walked towards the high wall on the side of the royal city. He had observed the terrain, and thought that the crack there was leading to one of the entrances to the reactor. "Let's go check it out."
The group made their way through the bustling streets of the royal city towards the crack.
The streets were still bustling, and even though a terrible incident had happened here not too long ago, and everyone in the royal city had witnessed the reactor explode at close range, the streets of the city were still as lively as ever. The people of this world seemed to have gotten used to the world around them from time to time, and even though the crack in the Furnace of the Ancestors was a little unprecedented, but after the shelter's backup power was reactivated, the civilians calmed down. Men, women, old, and young were talking about the previous explosion. Some people were telling some strange legends to explain the phenomenon. Pessimists and optimists gathered together, but everyone's actions were the same: everyone gathered together and talked loudly, using words to dispel the haze.
Of course, the damage that the explosion had caused to the city was not negligible: when the lightning and fire tore through the outer shell of the reactor, some of the shrapnel was blown off, and these shrapnel followed the direction of the artificial gravity and landed at the edge of the city, destroying a few houses. After that, the electrical system malfunctioned and caused a series of small scale fires, and the royal city was in a mess. The soldiers and craftsmen were cleaning up the damaged areas, and the closer they got to the Furnace of the Ancestors, the worse the damage.
Thanks to the chaotic social order of this world, and the chaos of the destroyed streets, Hao Ren and the rest passed through all the intersections without attracting any attention. Finally, they arrived at a special exit at the corner of the royal city, and just as Hao Ren had guessed, after exiting the crack and walking up to a high ground, he could see one of the entrances to the Furnace of the Ancestors in the distance.
But the entrance was indeed surrounded by layers of guards, and some strange-looking soldiers were guarding the place. The soldiers wore simple leather armor, and their upper bodies were exposed to the cold air, as if they were not afraid of the low temperature. Their skin was pale and sickly, and their muscles were exceptionally well developed. Dark red veins could be seen through their almost translucent white skin, like strange red tattoos. These soldiers walked around the entrance of the reactor, and from time to time, they would mumble some weird sentences, and their voices sounded like a mixture of beasts and humans. As they spoke, saliva even dripped down their chins to the ground.
Hao Ren mumbled, "Are these the Blood Wardens that Willy mentioned?"
"… Radiation symptoms." The MDT sneaked out, its surface glowing. After a brief inspection of the facilities behind the soldiers, it understood what was going on. "I forgot to check the radiation levels in this area. The reactor is leaking, and the radiation levels behind the metal walls are frighteningly high. And these soldiers have been guarding the entrance of the Furnace of the Ancestors all year round, and they are all severely infected!"
The Blood Wardens were the chosen ones to guard the Furnace of the Ancestors. They were selected from the strongest warrior families in the Four Kingdoms, and were the bravest and most skilled in battle. These soldiers were ordered to guard the entrances to the Furnace of the Ancestors, and their bodies were bathed in the light of the gods and ancestors, which gave them special traits. Although their lifespans were short, their lives were filled with glory. This was how the locals explained the 'Blood Wardens', and the truth was that they were just a bunch of poor radiation patients. Their greatest combat power came from their damaged appearance, and the people of this world would not dare to make an enemy of people with such appearances.
"They chose the strongest and healthiest people to guard this place, and in fact, they wasted their precious strength in the radiation." Lily's eyes were wide open. "This is … ridiculous."
"At the height of the Black Death, people were passionate about burning women who knew how to cure diseases with herbs to stop the plague," Vivian said expressionlessly. "And the guards here were at least a little bit necessary. Those doors are indeed not a place for the living. No matter what the first person who discovered this thought, at least he was right to lock the doors."
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