I became a god through archaeology in the Wizarding World.

The underground laboratory of the History Department building.

The air circulation system was running at full power, emitting a low hum, trying to draw away the nauseating, fishy smell.

Benjamin stood three meters away from the lab table, tightly covering his mouth and nose with a perfumed handkerchief, staring in horror at the object on the table that was still twitching slightly.

That was a severed arm.

To be precise, this is a deformed product of three or four human limbs forcibly fused together and catalyzed by some kind of bio-alchemy.

The skin appeared as a translucent gel, and beneath it flowed not red blood, but a dark green fluorescent liquid.

"Is this what Buck's men brought back?" Rhodes asked, wearing heavy alchemy gloves and holding a silver-plated scalpel. His voice sounded muffled through the bird-beak mask.

“Yes, Mr. Rhodes,” Benjamin’s voice trembled. “The scarred man who led the group said it was cut from a huge tumor deep in the sewers. The tumor was surrounded by corpses, and all the corpses were… were burrowing into the tumor.”

Rod did not respond; the scalpel swiftly and precisely sliced ​​through the surface of the severed arm.

There was no blood splattering, and the incision was extremely smooth. The dark green liquid seemed to be aware of its own existence, quickly contracting to both sides of the incision in an attempt to seal the wound.

"Extremely active, possessing rudimentary biological instincts."

Rhodes calmly reported the data, while Professor Isaac, suppressing his nausea, quickly wrote in his notebook.

Rod extended his left hand, and the dark green tattoo on his middle finger glowed faintly.

The genetic ability of the [Poison Vine Fairy] is activated.

Instead of releasing the vines, he used this perception, derived from ancient predatory plants, to probe into the severed arm like a probe.

In his perception, the severed arm was no longer flesh and blood, but a complex energy circuit.

The dark green liquid was not chaotic; it flowed in an extremely precise cycle, with all the energy converging deep into the bone marrow of the severed arm.

Something's not right.

Rhodes frowned. "This isn't a limb designed for combat. Its muscle structure is extremely loose, making it completely incapable of providing effective physical damage. All its energy is used to maintain... a certain frequency of vibration."

"Vibration?" Professor Isaac looked up, adjusting his glasses. "You mean it's making a sound?"

"It's not entirely sound."

Rod put down his scalpel, picked up a bone saw, and with a screeching sound, sawed open the main bone of the severed arm.

The bone marrow had disappeared, replaced by a grayish-white, hole-filled, lens-like object.

The transistor was trembling slightly at an extremely high frequency, and Rhode would not have been able to detect it at all if he hadn't possessed the keen sense of touch granted by [Danger Perception].

"Professor, bring that sound wave collector over here."

Professor Isaac quickly brought over a copper instrument that looked like a trumpet and aimed it at the transistor.

The plotting needle connected to the instrument jumped wildly on the parchment, drawing a series of regular wavy lines.

"This waveform..." The professor stared at the blueprint, his expression gradually becoming serious. "Long wave, low frequency, extremely penetrating. This doesn't seem like the signal characteristics of terrestrial life; it's more like..."

"Like the low murmur of a whale in the deep sea," Rhodes continued.

He looked at the waveform and quickly searched his mind for information in the library.

"This frequency is almost exactly the same as the tidal oscillation frequency around the Storm Islands in the West Sea."

Rod put down his tools, took off his gloves, and threw them into the incinerator next to him.

"I think we've misunderstood Mortimer's purpose."

Rhodes turned to look at Benjamin and the professor, his eyes cold: "We always thought he created the plague to collect corpses and build an army of the undead to fight the Iron Duke. But if it was just to create cannon fodder, there would be no need for such a complex biological structure."

He pointed to the severed arm on the lab table.

"This thing is a signal transmitter."

"That huge tumor deep in the sewers isn't a hatchery at all, but a giant biological beacon. The infected corpses are both the batteries that keep the beacon running and the amplifiers that amplify the signal."

Benjamin was completely bewildered: "A beacon? Who is he signaling to? Death?"

"Something for the other side of the sea."

Rhodes walked to the map on the wall, drew a circle with his finger around the location of the capital, and then extended it westward, across a blue sea.

"Mortimer is recorded in the Necromancer's archives. He once traveled to the Western Sea in his early years. That place is the territory of the Storm Sea Serpents and the Naga, as well as the sacrificial site of some unspeakable deep-sea evil gods."

"He is using the deathly atmosphere and plague of the entire city to construct a huge coordinate."

Rhodes' voice grew lower and lower: "He's calling for reinforcements. Once this beacon is fully activated, its signal will penetrate the continental shelf and reach the deep sea. At that time, it may not only be the undead that come, but also sea monsters and alien races that come with the tides."

A deathly silence fell over the laboratory.

Benjamin's fat face trembled violently. Although he was greedy, he also knew what the alien invasion meant.

That would have been a catastrophe that led to the destruction of a nation and the extinction of its people.

"This...this madman!" Professor Isaac trembled with rage. "He's selling out the country! For his own ambition, he's going to sell the entire kingdom to those deep-sea monsters!"

He has no way out.

Rhodes calmly analyzed, "Under the dual siege of the Iron Duke and the Church, the annihilation of the Necromancers is only a matter of time. Mortimer is well aware of this, so he chose the most extreme approach. Only by stirring up the waters enough, even triggering a racial war, will he have a chance to escape with his research results amidst the chaos, or... become an agent for those monsters on land."

"We have to stop him!" The professor grabbed Rhodes' arm.

"Of course we must stop it."

Rhodes turned to look at Benjamin, a meaningful smile on his face.

"Benjamin, haven't you always wanted to make your mark in front of the royal family and the military? Now, your chance has come."

Benjamin swallowed hard, forcing down his fear: "What...what do you need me to do?"

"Sell this information."

Rhodes pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket; it was a briefing he had just compiled based on the experimental data.

"Make two copies of it. Send one to the Iron Duke, and send the other to the King through Sieg when he returns."

"Tell them that Mortimer is not just creating a plague, he is treason. He has set up biological beacons in the sewers to guide the alien races of the West Sea to land."

Rod paused, then emphasized, "Remember, you must stress the word 'treason.' For rulers, internal strife can be tolerated, and even plague can be used as a political bargaining chip, but colluding with foreign enemies and letting wolves into the house is an absolute bottom line."

"This will completely change the nature of the war."

Benjamin took the parchment, his hands trembling slightly, but the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He was a businessman, and he knew the value of this intelligence.

This is not just intelligence; it is a get-out-of-jail-free card and a ticket to the core of power.

"I understand, Mr. Rhodes." Benjamin took a deep breath and carefully tucked the parchment away from his body. "I'll get on it right away. I'll get this message there, even if I have to crawl."

"Go."

Rhodes waved his hand.

Benjamin turned and ran toward the exit, his obese body now appearing somewhat agile.

Watching Benjamin leave, Professor Isaac asked with some concern, "Rhodes, what will the Iron Duke and the King do if they find out?"

"They're going crazy."

Rhodes walked to the window, and although he was underground, he could almost see the raging waves that were about to rise above ground.

"Originally, they wanted to preserve their strength, to check each other, and to weaken the other while dealing with Mortimer. But now, faced with the threat of alien invasion, this fragile balance will be shattered in an instant."

"The Iron Duke will spare no expense and use all his trump cards to raze the Necropolis to the ground in the shortest possible time. The King will also mobilize the Royal Mage Corps and all hidden forces for a thunderous strike."

"If Mortimer wants to muddy the waters, then I'll boil them for him."

Rhodes turned around and looked at the severed arm on the experimental table, which had stopped trembling.

"Professor, get ready. It's time for us to set off."

"Where to?"

"Go to the Tower of the Dead."

A glint of light flashed in Rhodes' eyes: "When everyone's attention is drawn to that huge beacon, when the army is pressing in and the cannons are roaring, that's the perfect time for us to infiltrate and take what we need."

He touched the black chip in his pocket.

The control core of the underground legion also requires a biological key, and Mortimer's laboratory must contain forbidden knowledge about soul stripping and control.

More importantly, Rhodes developed a strong interest in the so-called Beacon Matrix, the source Mortimer used to create all of this.

It can combine the properties of plants and the undead, and even communicate with the deep sea...

That must be an extremely rare high-level biological sample with powerful genes.

If it could be included in the "Species Atlas"...

A cold smile curled at the corner of Rod's mouth as he casually tossed the severed arm into the incinerator.

Green flames rose up, illuminating his expressionless face.

Chaos is a ladder.

"Mortimer has set up the ladder; wouldn't it be a waste of his efforts if we didn't climb up it?"