Chapter 64: Messiah

Through Lin Jie's "reverberation" tracking, the Iron Triangle team began a dangerous and deep long-distance trek through this vast maze constructed from the bones of six million people.The action memories left by the two cult members guided them through one abandoned secret passage after another in Lin Jie's perception, bypassing numerous trap areas piled with skeletal remains.

They passed by a wide cavern transformed into an underground chapel, where the walls were painted with massive murals of the "Eternal Serpent" devouring the world in blood-red pigment, presenting a blasphemous, twisted beauty.

They also discovered an area used as a temporary prison, where several living hollow shells with vacant eyes and dull expressions—captured by the Catacomb Nightingale's song—were still confined, awaiting transport to other "processing facilities."

The scenes along the way made the trio's hearts grow heavier as they gradually penetrated deeper into the core area of this secret, sinful underground kingdom of cultists.

After nearly an hour of tracking, the slowly fading "reverberation" led them to a heavy steel gate.

The gate bore the cult's iconic emblem of a serpent coiling around a greatsword, with a thick mixture of alchemical reagents, ozone, and unknown biological odors seeping through the cracks in wisps.

"We can't go in directly from here," William's voice carried a warning tone, "The area behind this door must be heavily guarded. Any form of forced entry would be equivalent to suicide."

However, Lin Jie's target wasn't storming the stronghold.

"I know." Lin Jie nodded, his gaze not lingering on the gate but turning to the broad bone wall beside it, chaotically constructed from numerous human skulls and leg bones.

"Mr. Julian," Lin Jie turned to the knowledgeable "Curator," "based on your understanding of Paris's underground quarries, for bone walls like this that were used later to fill space, could there possibly be older structures behind them... such as Roman-era maintenance tunnels or natural rock fissures?"

This question immediately enlightened Julian!

"Of course!" The Curator's eyes lit up, "Paris's underground world is a layered mille-feuille! What we're in now is only the middle quarry level that saw large-scale use around the 17th century."

"Behind this wall, there should theoretically exist a 'lower world' belonging to the Merovingian dynasty or even the Roman era!"

"Those foolish cult members," Julian's lips curled in a contemptuous smile, "They may have occupied this place, but they only know how to use ready-made spaces. They wouldn't anticipate, nor do they possess the knowledge reserves, to investigate these historical 'interlayers' buried for thousands of years!"

An infiltration approach combining archaeological and tomb raider wisdom emerged.

Their target was no longer the steel gate, but this seemingly equally sturdy bone wall that was actually filled with "historical vulnerabilities"!

William proactively pressed his body against the entire wall.

He was "listening," searching for hollow echoes behind this wall.

He conducted a meticulous "percussion" examination of the barrier with his palms, his movements professional and cautious.

Finally, he detected a faint airflow!

"Here!" He pointed at a corner of the wall where dozens of skulls and leg bones were interlocked, "It's hollow behind here! There's a weak upward airflow!"

The trio hesitated no longer.

They didn't use tools that would create loud noises.

Sergeant William took out a small steel pry bar from his toolkit, while Lin Jie and Julian used their carried daggers as assistance.

They began a silent "archaeological" excavation operation.

William's hands were as steady as bedrock.

He inserted the pry bar's tip into the structural gap between a human cranium and the femur beneath it.

Then, with very gentle but skillfully applied pressure, he gradually increased the force.

"Click."

A sound of bone dislocation.

That cranium, fixed in place for hundreds of years, was completely detached from the wall.

Julian immediately received it with both hands, then gently placed it on the ground nearby.

One piece, two pieces... ten pieces...

When they finally removed the innermost few bones, a chilling wind poured in through the opened gap.

Behind the gap was a narrow fissure formed from natural rock.

They had successfully found the infiltration passage existing within the "historical interlayer."

Lin Jie was the first to probe his body into the fissure.

After walking a few meters.

He saw that they were positioned in a crevice above the stronghold's side.

Their location provided a theater-box-like perspective, allowing them to encompass most of the stronghold's scenery, while those below would struggle to detect these observers hidden in darkness.

This was an excellent "observation post."

The scene below was an "underground factory" far surpassing the scale of what they'd seen in the ancient castle cellar, with dozens of members wearing black cult uniforms conducting a massive, systematic "assembly line operation" with orderly efficiency.

At one end of the factory were several enlarged versions of the "Memory Stripping Array" they'd seen before, with several living "hollow shells" fixed at the array centers.

Cult technicians were using those silver mysterious liquids and complex incantations to extract a viscous substance resembling black venom from the "shells'" brains.

The scene at the factory's other end was even more disturbing—the extracted viscous substances were gathered into a crystal and brass apparatus resembling a giant, pulsating heart.

At the center of that apparatus, they witnessed a sight interwoven with tragedy and horror.

A Catacomb Nightingale, much smaller than what they'd seen in the shrine chamber but with more condensed form and greater spirituality, was bound at the "heart's" core by multiple silver chains glowing with runic patterns!

It was being forced to emit beautiful yet sorrowful "heavenly hymns" from its mouth, and its singing seemed to be the crucial energy source driving this apparatus's operation!

The Eternal Serpent wasn't just harvesting the Catacomb Nightingale's remaining prey—they had even captured a young UMA and enslaved it, forcing it to work day and night for their plans!

At that moment, a cult member who appeared quite high-ranking, wearing purple robes with gold trim, approached the factory center holding documents and began addressing all members.

"Brothers and sisters! Salute our great Mentor! Salute the Eternal Serpent about to be reborn in Paris!"

The purple-robed man's voice carried strong inflammatory power, "Just moments ago, our 'eyes' embedded in I.A.R.C.'s London division sent word that those self-righteous guardians of order have dispatched their so-called elite team to Paris, attempting to stop our magnificent Ascension ritual!"

Lin Jie's heart tightened!

He hadn't expected this organization's infiltration to reach such depths!

"But their efforts are in vain!" The purple-robed man continued with wild laughter, "Our greatest Mentor has foreseen everything! Our operations in Iquitos and Helsinki have achieved remarkable success! Holy blood containing the 'Primordial Dragon Species' divinity will arrive in Paris within three days!"

"And we here," the bishop pointed at the whimpering young UMA and the continuously purified black mucus, "are about to complete our mission! When this final batch of 'Stainless Souls' is purified, we will possess sufficient fuel to activate the 'Messiah' apparatus that will change all of human history!"

He pointed at an object covered with rune-inscribed lead cloth in the factory's deepest area.

"Soon, at the highly anticipated World's Fair opening ceremony!"

The bishop's face revealed a smile blending pity and madness, "We will activate 'Messiah'! To broadcast this 'Nectar of Forgetting'—concentrated from thousands of people's lifetime memories and emotions—across all of Paris in 'Aether' resonance form! It will penetrate buildings and defenses, acting directly on every individual's soul!"

"At that time, all bathed in this 'nectar'—whether king or beggar, general or child—will have their common sense, memories, morality, and faith imposed by this hypocritical, lie-filled civilization erased within a short period!"

"They will become pure 'blank slates'! Followers who can be arbitrarily written upon, easily incited, and freely controlled!"

"And at that moment," the bishop spread his arms as if embracing a new world.

"Our great Mentor will descend upon this blank city carrying the Primordial Dragon Species' divinity in the form of a new god!"

"To bestow new truths upon these lost lambs! To use their 'Collective Unconscious Psychic Energy' to bring the divine kingdom into the world!"