"Unos! Rotate me two hundred!"
Master Fuli dove rapidly towards the drilling site, crossing over two hundred meters in a flash. The originally narrow path inside the drill became exceptionally dark until a faint light appeared when the surrounding air became moist.
"Splash—"
Master Fuli reached the end of the drill and plunged into the water, stirring up a wave.
"Blub blub... "
Master Fuli's cheeks puffed up as he observed the glowing item—the entrance at the bottom of the drill, where waterproof spotlights floated in order, illuminating the area for hundreds of meters around.
At the core of the spotlights was a crystal ball about twenty centimeters in diameter.
A milky white octopus, palm-sized, rested at the base of the crystal ball, between its eight tentacles, were tiny golden rings.
While Master Fuli was examining the octopus, waves suddenly spawned at the bottom, parting to form a waterless void that spread towards Master Fuli, enclosing him within it as a large amount of oxygen surged in from the drill.
"....Unos?"
Inside the waterless void, Master Fuli looked at the milky white octopus in shock:
"How... how can you be so adorable? How did you end up looking so cartoonish?"
Upon seeing Unos's true form, Master Fuli was stunned; Unos's head was smooth, complete with big cartoon eyes and short tentacles curled up underneath it, looking like a cartoon octopus with exaggerated effects.
No usual octopus creepiness here; instead, an aura of harmony surrounded it.
"If I were ugly, how could I have awakened in the library, and going ashore would mean becoming takoyaki." The white octopus didn't move its mouth, but faint light emanated from its surroundings, causing the air to tremble slightly, making a sound.
Unos's large eyes revealed an odd look, seemingly puzzled by Master Fuli's surprise.
When it introduced itself earlier, it had mentioned going ashore as a pet?
If it were ugly, it would have ended up at the market earlier than a library.
"Honestly, you've got a point...." Master Fuli paused at his words, three black lines appearing on his forehead.
The mimic octopus wasn't a protected animal and not a mainstream seafood either, but recipes clearly indicated that mimic octopus was great for stir-fry.
If Unos's original form had resembled a blobfish, it might've ended up as a spicy stir-fried octopus.
"Some old stories, let's chat when we have time!"
Unos slightly raised its tentacles, as bubbles emerged from the lake's bottom, lifting a stone slab up quickly into the waterless void. Unos pushed the crystal ball forward, like a hamster on a wheel.
"First, let's head to the relic site. I've discovered something new there, you might discern something." Unos invited Master Fuli.
Master Fuli jumped onto the stone slab, and Unos controlled the slab and spotlights toward the relic site.
With spotlights illuminating the surroundings, the site with its tilted foundations appeared before Master Fuli.
The site covered several acres, with numerous metal pillars submerged in the lake, and at the center of the ruins stood a perfect sphere about forty meters tall and with a diameter of about four to five hundred meters.
"Here, I drew my mark....."
"Though it's negligible, akin to rippling water causing pen strokes to err, I can sense that compared to last night, the sphere has shrunk....."
Unos led Master Fuli to float above the metal sphere, pointing to a damaged section, and shared the anomaly it observed.
Having visited the ruins last night, Unos marked the site, sketched the damage on the sphere, and recorded data in preparation for analysis on how to dissect it.
The marking pen it used is made from a particular spiritual particle plant resin, boasting powerful staining, and forming a coating that's hard to remove, even with fire.
Unos circled the site, labeling everything systematically.
It noticed the first circle it drew, where the paint showed slight wrinkles.
Initially attributing it to error or environmental factors affecting the coating, it was until the wrinkles subtly rose upward before its eyes.
Unos then confirmed that this metal sphere seemed to shrink by several millimeters every day.
"This is...."
Upon seeing the metal sphere, Master Fuli paused, raising a paw to feel its surface, keenly sensing the texture and spiritual particle feedback with a look of astonishment:
"This sphere enveloping the site seems akin to my Gravity Flesh Hammer Pro, made from the same material."
The metal sphere's surface was exceptionally smooth, with a rustic dark green tint, and engraved with numerous characters.
The Gravity Hammer was a dull gray, with slight undulations on the hammer head, yet both shared similar tactile and press feedback, and Ansheng could even trigger spiritual particle impacts by pressing the metal sphere.
The raw materials for the Gravity Hammer weren't processed using modern Blue Star metal but ancient materials barely refined into special spiritual particle weapons.
"Got your phone? Snap these characters and send them to Old Li for translation." Master Fuli suggested to Unos, "If this sphere is of the same material as my Gravity Hammer, we may need to haul it back to Xia Country."
"The Gravity Hammer...."
Upon hearing 'Gravity Hammer,' Unos's big cartoon eyes visibly widened, understanding the Gravity Hammer's strength.
"I've got communication equipment, but...." Unos called over a spotlight, took out its phone from its waterproof compartment, and began photographing the characters:
"Deciphering Second Epoch text might require extensive time..."
"Just send it to him; if he doesn't translate in three minutes, I'll kick it directly." Master Fuli confidently replied.
While First Epoch text was hard to translate, the Security Bureau had systematically grasped Second Epoch text, akin to converting speech to text.
"I've sent it." Unos raised brows at Fuli with a hint of curiosity.
What had the Security Bureau developed secretly?
A moment later.
As Master Fuli and Unos continued researching the metal sphere, Li Wenkang replied.
A screenshot of a Mandarin translation appeared on WeChat.
[My name is Gloom, redoing primary education exams for three years, advanced for five, then interned at Tianxing Research Institution for thirty-seven years before confirmation]
[The calamity approaches, mystically intertwining all spirits.....]
[Do as you please, don't disturb me, in my past four hundred and fifty-three years, I lacked sleep for less than twenty-three years and four months.]
[A life wandering aimlessly.]
[Sleeping, do not disturb.]
" ??? "
Master Fuli and Unos exchanged bewildered glances upon seeing Li Wenkang's translation screenshot.
As Unos contemplated sending question marks via mental input on WeChat.
Li Wenkang: [ ??? ]