Even though Shug had been to the blockaded city of Salem and faced the bloody frontlines of the battlefield, he had never seen so many corpses at once.

He had thought that there might be only a few dozen or even hundreds of people who would retreat to such a place, but when Xiuge had completely stepped out of the fortifications and bypassed some of the cargo boxes that obscured his view, he found that there were actually hundreds of corpses lying in this hall.

In the bright light, in this almost static time, these silent figures maintain their own postures, looking like a broken, rough sculpture waiting to be visited.

“……”

In such a situation, the slightest noise was no different from noise, so Xiuge slowed down his pace and walked quietly forward like an ordinary visitor who had strayed into a cemetery.

Although it had been a long time since the deceased had passed, the nature of the Abyss and the intact confined space had allowed the vast majority of the corpses to remain, and Shuge could even judge their previous duties by the outfits of the deceased.

The clothing of the deceased can be broadly divided into three categories.

The first group of deceased was the most numerous, and they were all dressed in standard overalls, probably because of the material, the colors of these garments were still intact, and the blue lines that dotted the off-white tones could be clearly distinguished.

Judging by the clothing style, these deceased people should have been researchers and workers in this stronghold.

The second group of deceased were soldiers, and the clothes they wore were quite similar to the camouflage military uniforms in Xiuge's impression, but in addition to the military uniforms, their bodies were additionally equipped with a lot of metal exoskeletons, and the weapons they carried with them were similar to those that Xiuge had seen in the fortifications.

The third group was very recognizable, the dark blue clothing was very recognizable, and Hug had found a logo on the hat worn by one of the deceased, although it was very blurred, but Hug was still able to make out the silhouette of the staggered wrench and screwdriver.

"Staff, soldiers, workers...... This seems to be the composition of the foundation. ”

Shuge took two steps back from the shriveled corpse and bowed apologetically towards the other man, who had just moved a little bigger, accidentally breaking the dead worker's forearm.

If the base is still in operation, this kind of thing will be more or less a work-related injury.

He looked around and frowned slightly: "There are no fatal wounds, and there are no signs of struggle...... Many of the deceased kept hugging or holding hands, indicating that they were expecting death, was it a collective suicide? ”

With this in mind, Shuge turned to the body of a soldier, and he crouched down and began to perceive and examine the body as quickly as he could.

Like the rest of the dead, the heavily armed soldier died unharmed, leaning against a large crate, his body relaxed, his legs stretched, his weapon beside him along with a few bits and pieces of personal belongings.

On this body, Xiuge also failed to find any external injuries, but when he tried to use his own perception to conduct a detailed search of the corpse, Xiuge found that there were very obvious traces of magic inside the body of the deceased.

These marks are found all over his body, from his limbs to his torso, and the most obvious "signs of destruction" are none other than the deceased's head, or brain.

Judging from the traces, it was as if countless sharp knives swept over his head in an instant...... This is a very brutal and complete destruction, which not only cuts off life, but also completely destroys the brain, which is the carrier of memory and knowledge. ”

Shug tried to probe his perception to another corpse next to him, and came to a similar result.

So, Shug set his eyes on the relics that the soldier had placed beside him.

In addition to the discarded weapon, the few items left behind were three metal medals, a necklace, a notebook with a dark brown cover, and a square card in a translucent state.

Shuge summoned his mage's hand and picked them up one by one with the gentlest force.

Two of the three medals are illegible, and the third is still clear of the most elaborate workmanship and materials, and on its surface he sees a blue sphere with a "grid", with a delicate ribbon carved in metal on the edges, and below it, a national flag.

In the past, the deceased apparently used to rub his hands against it, which made the pattern of the flag very blurry and no longer recognizable in more detail.

The photographs kept in the pendant have faded badly, but Schug can still make out the figures inside.

This is a miniature family portrait, very common, a simple father, mother and daughter.

The father was in sight, and as for his wife and daughter, Shuge could not give an answer, so he put the pendant back in the soldier's hand, and then dragged the last two things with the mage's hand.

The brown cover of the handbook was destined to be unreadable, its pages were so badly glued together, that when Schug carefully parted them, he found that the ink was left with only a faint blue mark, and that the soldiers were supposed to use ordinary ink when recording the words, and that they were not destined to last long in this environment.

Somewhat reluctantly, Xiuge picked up the translucent card, which looked like a thin and brittle glass plate, and by the light, Xiuge could faintly see some of the textures imprinted on its inside.

"Huh?"

Sensing the peculiarity of this glass plate, Xiuge immediately took it from the mage's hand, and with the mobilization of a small amount of magic power, there was a slight light in the glass plate.

The magic that flowed into it was like flowing water into a river, moving quickly along the textures inside it, and as the magic worked, a gentle light emerged from within.

This is not a glass plate, but a "pass".

The first thing that emerged from the magical light was a photograph of a man with dark skin, a high nose, sunken eyes, and a smile.

Judging by his physical characteristics, Shug believed that the soldier must have come from an arid desert region.

And as the magic of Shuge worked, more information was revealed.

"Mardy Basel Hadlin."

"Designation: UN-4876-5419-DF."

"Pass Level: Medium."

At the bottom, there is a line of red text that appears as an alert.

"Access Permissions: Locked."

"Locked, does that mean it's no longer usable?"

Shuge pinched the special pass and looked left and right a few times, but couldn't find any more useful information in it, so he turned and walked over to the other corpses, and soon collected a dozen more passes of the same style.

Several of the passes had been completely destroyed, but the rest were still functional, and in the process of studying the passes, Shug found that there were small grooves in the edges of the passes that could be embedded in some kind of object, and he deduced that these passes may have been powered by some kind of special "battery" or "energy block" at the time, that is, these deceased people must have also been exposed to something similar to "magic crystals", and there were quite a few of them.

It's a pity that the "access" of each pass shows the word "locked".

"Either the holders of these passes chose to lock it themselves at the last moment, or the 'system' responsible for this part of the function has gone offline...... I hope it's the former, I don't have the ability to fix these complicated things. ”

Shuge was a little worried, but at this point, he had no choice but to continue exploring the place.

Unable to get an answer from the dead for a while, Xiuge walked directly to the huge pedestal, which was the most conspicuous presence in the entire hall, such an important thing, even at the last moment, someone should be responsible for maintaining and inspecting it.

As it turned out, Huge's judgment was correct.

After carefully bypassing the dead staff holding various books, papers, or objects, Shog finally made his way to the base of the massive beam.

Compared to the distance viewed, this pillar of light is more spectacular and more amazing.

As Xiuge got closer to the pillar of light, he gradually became aware of an extremely strong and dangerous fluctuation of magical power, and the source of this fluctuation was the dazzling light.

Despite the fact that the pillar of light was encased in a special transparent material, and despite the fact that the base that launched it was clearly using a number of unknown and mysterious technologies, Shuge was still able to perceive the infinite power within.

"What is its source? What is the role and purpose? ”

Xiuge felt the hum in his spiritual world, and thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind for a moment.

The only thing he could be sure of at the moment was that the source of this light must be related to an extremely large amount of magical power, perhaps driven by some kind of extremely long-lasting special energy, or perhaps, a special circuit or secret ritual that represented the highest level of civilization.

Its importance is evident in the Abyssal Court's attitude towards the place, as well as the surrounding walls and gates that are strong enough to resist the power of the hounds.

Amid the constant humming, Shog made his way to the massive pedestal, where he saw a large number of gathered staff, who were clearly more central to their work in the colony than the others, judging by what they were wearing and what they were carrying.

Through the gap between the corpses, Xiuge could barely see a huge operating table set up next to the base, but a dozen researchers had gathered in front of the operating table, their palms implicated in each other, so Xiuge could not separate or move them aside, and in the process, several more deceased limbs were broken.

In order to express his apology, Xiuge kept apologizing during the process of transportation, they didn't speak, and Xiuge had no opinion.

Finally, he came to the front of the console.

Here he saw two somewhat special deceased.

Judging from the figure, it should be a man and a woman, they maintain a kissing posture, and there are several paper-sized "glass plates" scattered on the ground next to them, and the indicator lights on the operating table are still working, but judging from the signs, the operating table has been completely offline, and there is no way to control the light pillar and the rest of the equipment behind it.

Carefully avoiding the long-dead couple, he picked up the glass plates, examined them for a moment, and carefully poured his magic into them.

After a slight shock, the light spread out along the mana circuit, followed by a series of words rolling past Shug's eyes.

Like those documents, this glass plate obviously has the function of detecting the holder, and after many unfamiliar words rolled over, it was the language he was most familiar with, but what Xiuge saw this time was somewhat warned.

"...... on power"

"The circuit has been disconnected, backup energy has been detected, and it has been connected."

"Now for user authentication, please note that failure to authenticate will trigger 'Measure 5'."

Shuge wasn't quite sure what the so-called "Measure 5" meant, and considering the peculiarities of this place, he immediately freed up his hand and built several sturdy guards beside him in a row before continuing to supply magic to the panel in his hand.

"Restoration of connection to the main loop, updated user list and license agreement."

"Verify Start ......"

"Verified to a new visitor with the username 'Temporary Visitor No. 002', is it confirmed?"

With a slight sigh of relief, Shug raised his hand and pressed the floating button on the glass plate.

With his touch, the button began to deform rapidly, and in a matter of seconds, it turned into a spinning azure sphere, which then spread out in all directions, forming a blue background with a regular grid, and then, a familiar operation interface appeared before his eyes.

On the left side of the "desktop" of this panel, there are various buttons, and on the right side, there is a very conspicuous "file".

The name of the document is "To the Latecomers".

Hug moved his finger over the icon and touched it lightly to open it.

Inside the video, Shug sees a busy hall with many figures flashing by, workers carrying heavy equipment, soldiers busily maintaining weapons, inspecting makeshift fortifications, or manipulating large equipment, while on the other side, next to the huge metal base, a group of researchers of all appearances and complexions are busy.

In the video, the pillar of light has not yet appeared.

"Ah...... Hello, where to start? ”

The familiar language entered Xiuge's ears, and the man in charge of recording muttered a few words to himself, and then he suddenly came to his senses: "Oh yes, I forgot to enable language translation...... Do it all over again, test, 1, 2, okay. ”

The man adjusted his posture for a moment, and then he spoke again: "Hello, latecomer, I hope you understand what I have to say. It's a pleasure to meet you in this form, and although by the time you hear this, I'll probably be a dry corpse, but it at least shows that we succeeded in the end...... Right? Probably, haha. ”

(End of chapter)