Chapter Sixty-Four: The Abandoned Research Facility

Suburbs of Floral Capital.

After acquiring the [Certification Card], Xiuxian first took a vehicle out of the city of Floral Capital, and then walked into this area on foot.

Xiuxian was currently walking through a dense oak forest, following a narrow woodland path. During his journey, he happened to encounter a pack of clueless hyenas.

Just as the hyenas were banding together, intending to tear Xiuxian apart for a meal, he directly used siliconization to summon a barrage of silicon-based spikes, turning them all into meat skewers—impaling them completely from the inside out.

Once pierced, blood gushed wildly from the hyenas, and within a short moments, the indigo-blue crystals were stained into bloody crystals.

After that, no other ignorant beasts came to disturb him.

Following a long walk, Xiuxian arrived at a pool.

The pool appeared exceptionally clear, its surface acting like a mirror, reflecting the azure blue of the sky.

"This is the place."

Xiuxian stopped in his tracks and carefully scrutinized his surroundings.

It seemed that neither Dīva nor the [Orthodox Gear Church] had obtained even a shred of information about this place, not even before the "Reprise Performance."

And that made sense; after all, the ancient Dīva's protective concealment measures were extraordinarily powerful.

The place where Xiuxian currently stood was an ancient Dīva military research facility. Furthermore, this institute was a collaborative product between ancient Dīva and the [Orthodox Gear Church]. Housed within it was a piece of military weaponry: an external thaumaturgical system weapon. This weapon was precisely the "old friend" Xiuxian had come to retrieve.

Xiuxian rolled up his sleeves and pant legs, beginning to forage around the edges of the pool. After a busy spell, he finally gathered the items he was looking for.

They were four stones, each of different shapes, resembling the four thaumaturgical sigils: [Sharp ◇], [Blunt △], [Square □], and [Smooth ○].

Xiuxian picked up the stones, found a patch of sand, and casually grabbed a withered tree branch to draw a border-inlaid structure on the ground.

————Border-Inlaid Structure————
Radiant Connection: Yes
Stellar Connection: Possible
Composite Connection: Possible
——————————————————

Upon finishing the required thaumaturgical array, Xiuxian placed the four uniquely shaped stones onto the four corresponding rings of the border-inlaid structure, and then stepped into the center of the array.

With a solemn expression, Xiuxian faced the direction of the pool and began to chant in a low voice:

"What you cannot touch, consider it a thousand miles away,
What you cannot grasp, treat it as entirely non-existent,
What you have not calculated, assume it is purely fictional,
What you have not weighed, say that its weight is very light,
What you have not forged, deem it impassable."

As the final verse of the incantation was recited, the ground shook violently, and a stone altar protruded from the ground ahead of Xiuxian. On the surface of the altar was a single slot.

Xiuxian approached the altar, pulled out the [Certification Card], and inserted the card into the slot.

[Authenticating——]
[Matches Orthodox Gear Church Pheromone——]
[Authentication Passed!]

Swoosh—

The water surface ahead of Xiuxian suddenly began to spin on its own, and a small water vortex appeared before him.

Xiuxian retrieved a [Water Breathing Potion] and a [Night Vision Potion] from the dimensional pocket of his Constantine trench coat, and directly injected himself with both. Once finished, he pulled out the [Certification Card] and plunged straight into the water vortex.

Under the influence of the [Water Breathing Potion], Xiuxian could breathe effortlessly underwater. He descended along the water vortex, and with the aid of the [Night Vision Potion], he could clearly see the dim environment of the lakebed.

Ten minutes later.

A research facility forged entirely of steel appeared before Xiuxian. Above the institute was a large circular mechanical emblem depicting a hammer striking lightning-like ore, accompanied by a shattered mountain peak beneath the hammer.

Inscribed below the circular icon was a passage:

[Crafted to answer the divine, serving as hands to restore the divine body]

Xiuxian soon arrived at the deep-sea underground research institute. As his foot approached the institute's floor, the pressure and buoyancy generated by the deep water began to dissipate.

[Adaptive system activated——]

The research facility emitted a faint glow, and Xiuxian strode toward the institute's metallic portal. The metallic gate standing before him was fifteen meters tall, its entire surface densely covered in intricate gears.

As Xiuxian drew near, an archaic stone slab slowly rose from the ground, featuring a sunken slot on its surface as well.

Xiuxian stepped up to the slot, produced the [Certification Card], and inserted it once again.

[Self-check system activated——]
[Rank: Combatant Zealot - Black Knight]
[·······]
[Beginning to retrieve research facility permissions——]
[Elder - Lost Connection]
[Holy Cartographer - Lost Connection]
[Holy Inventor - Lost Connection]
[········]

Xiuxian quietly waited here for the institute's self-diagnosis. This facility was far too ancient; its existence could be traced all the way back to the Glorious Era before the Terran Calendar.

Moreover, the predecessor of the current [Orthodox Gear Church] had been thoroughly shattered and fractured by the Flesh Empire back during the Glorious Era, so Xiuxian had no worries about it connecting to the database of the modern [Orthodox Gear Church].

[All current highest authorities have lost connection——]
[Automatically approving entry request for Combatant Zealot - Black Knight!]

Bzzzz—

The gears on the door began to spin frantically, and the massive metallic portal before his eyes started to part toward both sides. As the doors opened, a bubble-like membrane emerged, acting as a barrier to prevent the deep-sea water from flooding into the institute within.

Xiuxian withdrew the [Certification Card] once more, then lifted his foot and stepped through the bubble membrane.

Before him lay a massive metallic corridor. Most of the lights within the corridor were completely broken, but a small fraction of the lighting equipment stubbornly clung to life.

Clack, clack, clack—

Only the sound of Xiuxian's solitary footsteps echoed within the gigantic metallic research facility.

Xiuxian gazed straight ahead without distraction. In his past life, he was the one responsible for pioneering this area.

Xiuxian knew that awaiting him ahead, aside from the external thaumaturgical system weapon he had come to retrieve, was a [Scranton Guard Dog]—rusted, yet still faithfully carrying out its duty.

The slightly troublesome matter next was that [Scranton Guard Dog]. It was a special mechanical hound standing four meters tall, equipped with numerous laser-emitting weapons, and high-speed tracks mounted on its limbs.

Furthermore, its intelligence level was relatively high, and it would not be easily deceived by the [Certification Card] in his hand. Thus, only by defeating it could he obtain the external thaumaturgical system weapon.

However, since Xiuxian had pioneered this place in his past life, defeating the [Scranton Guard Dog] to claim the weapon would be even easier this time around. The [Sine Wave Interference] he had requested from the "predecessors of heaven" was specifically prepared for this opponent.

Soon, Xiuxian would make the [Scranton Guard Dog] understand what it meant to—die in silence.

Clang—

Xiuxian finally reached the end. Appearing before him now was a gigantic cylindrical pillar a hundred meters tall, densely covered in square hollows. These spaces were originally used to store [Anomalous Weapons], though most of them had essentially vanished by now.

The only weapon still remaining was a cube suspended one centimeter off the ground at the base of the cylinder.

The cube appeared to be over two meters tall, radiating a strange, techno-blue glow. Upon closer inspection, one would realize that the cube was actually constructed from numerous smaller cubes interwoven together.

And standing guard in front of the cube was a massive mechanical hound covered entirely in gears. Its eyes emitted a fluorescent green glow, standing silently as it guarded the cube.

That was the [Scranton Guard Dog].