Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

"Nighttime has no effect on the Cult of Mechanism. The reason I chose this time is because of the behavior of you liches. You liches don't like to be out in the daytime, and your necromancy is greatly reduced during the day. Only the dampness and cold of the night can truly unleash your magic, right?"

Lyle smiled and shook his head.

"That's a shallow prejudice. Liches aren't vampires who can't stand the light, and high-ranking vampires can too. Consecration is a profound and complex art, not something the Moon Lady can interfere with. In reality, the effectiveness of a consecration ritual depends on the caster's abilities. Death can't stop us, so how could sunlight possibly surpass death? We prefer to act at night simply for our own pleasure. Most liches are averse to light, especially the Andrei liches, but they abhor holy light even more than sunlight."

The word "prejudice" evoked mixed feelings in both sides, prompting them to truly confront each other's knowledge and the power behind it. This subtle competition, ironically, brought Lyle and SS closer together.

SS spread his hands. "So, Lyle, should we start the infiltration operation now? If day and night don't affect either of us?"

"Let's set the time for tonight. This city isn't just inhabited by machines and liches. Nighttime will shield us from the sight of most races and reduce the chances of unexpected events during our operation. Also, I need to make some preparations."

"Then, please get some rest, Lyle."

SS pressed a button on the wall, and a door to a separate room appeared on the wall.

I will let you know after dark.

Chapter 521 Perfection

The sky was like a sunless earth, its deep blackness speaking of silence. In this silent darkness, a self-illuminating gem was embedded in the seamless layer between heaven and earth, so unusual that it didn't belong to this world, so unusual that it created a miraculous beauty. The light-gathering crystals seemed to retain the residual warmth of the sun, covering the pyramid's surface with a watery blue hue, crystal clear, creating the illusion that one could see right through to the inside.

A small, dark shape moved across the crystalline hill. The focusing device went into standby mode, and the crystals lay flat, so they weren't uncomfortable to step on, like the scales of a slumbering dragon unfurling. Although this didn't significantly affect Nia's spider-like crawling.

Lyle heard the exclamations of surprise from Shining and the others through his headset, the cacophony of voices shattering the tension in his heart. He clutched the snowball in his hand; the large screen in the room displayed the same breathtaking scene before him. The outer walls of the pyramid shimmered like the surface of a lake where the setting sun had sunk.

"The vent should be twenty meters above your head, Lyle."

SS's indifferent voice brought Lyle back to his senses. He raised his head and looked up at the top through the gaps in Nia's tentacles. The dazzling light seemed endless, stretching all the way to the dark night sky. Lyle felt as if he were lost in a labyrinth of light.

"I'm not sure if I can find it. The dazzling brilliance makes me dizzy. It feels like looking for a piece of sugar in a pile of diamonds."

SS's laughter rang in my ears, a helpless, self-deprecating laugh. "It's not as difficult as you think. All you have to do is find that flaw. Remember? My abilities are far weaker than the Executor models. The ventilation openings I designed, even if I try my best to cover them up, are as conspicuous as a stain on a famous painting."

Following the clues, Lyle indeed found an entrance, a slightly dimly lit spot where an ivory-white square door was squeezed between the light-gathering crystals. It wasn't as crude as SS had described, but it appeared somewhat ordinary and dim amidst a scene of perfection.

"I found it, SS."

"Great, now put the snowball on."

The slope was solid and seamless. Lyle slowly approached with the snowball in his hand. The little robot stretched out its tiny claws and fit perfectly into the tiny clover-shaped groove in the center. Then it spun around in Lyle's hand like a top. The door popped open, revealing a pipe with a faint light that seemed to have no end.

"Wait a moment, I'll connect the snowball to the pyramid's internal network first."

"Won't we be discovered?"

"In the past, it might have been possible, but now the computing power of the God of Machines has obviously decreased. If it could find us, it wouldn't have left my question about the twenty-three ways to make fried rice hanging in the waiting queue without being answered for so long."

Twenty-three ways to make fried rice?

"You're going to use your cult's God of Machines to solve this kind of problem?" Lyle was quite surprised. This behavior was like... having Mr. Raymond, the pinnacle of combat power, teach cooking.

"Otherwise what? Even a small problem is still a problem. Besides, Executor 10001 also used the God of Machines to download 'The Devil's Advocate,' 'A Thousand Sophistry,' and 'Law, My Toy,' as well as how to help a fool get a driver's license and how to shirk responsibility in a car accident."

It's no wonder the mechanical god's computing power has decreased.

With that thought in mind, Lyle stepped into the ventilation duct.

The first impression was beyond Lyle's expectations. The ventilation duct didn't feel like a thin sheet of iron, nor did it have the whirring of an exhaust fan or the hollow echo of an empty space. The metal walls were sturdy, yet the entire duct swayed like a rocking boat, a train carriage swaying up and down, or the intestines of a living creature. In short, it felt very unsafe, like a precariously crumbling square iron coffin.

But the door behind him had already closed, and Lyle felt as if he had fallen into a trap.

"SS! Why are your ventilation ducts movable? Magnetic levitation? It's just a duct for air circulation!"

SS calmed Lyle down in the channel, while in Snowball's view, Nia had already braced herself against the four corners of the pipe, ready to break through with her bare hands at any moment.

“This is normal, Lyle! It’s not magnetic levitation, but a multi-point suspension system. The ventilation duct is divided into two layers, an outer ring that is fixed in place, and an inner square channel that can be moved slightly.”

Lyle breathed a sigh of relief. "Why did you do that?"

"For the sake of rotation."

Lyle's heart skipped a beat. He finally understood that familiar feeling. It wasn't like standing in a ventilation duct, but rather the feeling of floating and sinking inside a long washing machine drum.

An ominous premonition turned into an alarm bell in his mind, and Lyle roared in a low voice.

"Are you crazy?! Why would a ventilation duct need a rotating function?!"

SS kept trying to calm Lyle down.

“Relax, Lyle. This is my first design project. You should understand what it means for a passionate newcomer to experiment for the first time. I want to do my best.”

"The ventilation ducts are for air circulation, but I've also added a self-cleaning function. Magic exists in this world, and magic is a magical power. This is the center of the Cult of the Machine God, and also our headquarters for researching magic. Can you imagine how many kinds of magical experimental research residues are mixed in this duct? Without the added cleaning function, the lifespan of this duct would be very short."

Lyle's tension eased a little.

"I still don't understand why it needs a rotating function. Is there any dust that the wind can't disperse?"

"Ordinary dust doesn't need these functions, but Lyle, this is a magical world."

"A magical world?"

"The cleaning function of this duct is to remove dust elements and sludge-like substances, which are byproducts of our experiments and have been lingering in the ventilation duct for years."

There are monsters here?! And I'm not the only one climbing the pipes?!

Lyle looked at the bleak road ahead as if he were looking at the intestines of a man-eating beast.

"Don't worry, Lyle, the cleaning process was initiated twenty minutes ago. Those filthy creatures won't pose a threat to you for at least an hour."

Lyle's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was still not at ease.

"So all you'll be dealing with are some trigger-based cleaning mechanisms that I left behind."

The eyebrows were twitching; heaven knows what this perfectionist designer added.

"The high-speed rotation causes the filthy creations to become chaotic and lose their grip. Then, in the closed environment, the strong pressure generated by the powerful pump will squeeze everything in the pipe into an air cannonball and eject it."

"Hehehehe," Lyle's face was etched with a broken smile, "So I have to be careful all the time, or I'll be squeezed flat by the pressure and blown out?"

"...Actually, it's not just these. This passage is the result of my best efforts. It's so rich in content that I've temporarily forgotten about some of the cleaning functions I added."

"..."

Fortunately, SS wasn't too excessive. These cleaning procedures only targeted mindless elements and slimes, and some of the trigger traps were clearly marked, so at least SS could quickly remind Lyle to watch his step.

"what is this?"

"Laser channel trigger switch, used for breaking up rocks."

"What about this one?"

"Strong acid trigger, dissolves the dirt."

Lyle looked at the clump of bare cables at his feet, the broken ends flashing with a ghastly white light.

"Is it malfunctioning?"

"This was bitten open by a mutated giant rat. The high-voltage electric shock quickly killed it, and I didn't repair it. I let it become a new cleaning function."

"Perfect?"

"Ah."

We made it halfway through the transverse passage without any major incidents.

Lyle took a step forward, and a violent rumble suddenly came from the end of the passage. SS's exclamation also came through Lyle's headset.

"I suddenly remembered!"

"You only just remembered now! What the hell was that?!" Lyle had already turned around and was sprinting at full speed.

"That is……"

A swarm of small, spherical robots rushed toward Lyle like locusts, flooding the pipes. The central camera flashed a dangerous red light, and the pounding of their legs was like a torrential downpour, drowning out SS's voice.

"That's the cleaning guardian I left in the pipes."

"The Little Snowball Army!"

Chapter 522 Lich? Lich!

Quantity is an advantage.

Lyle, who was running desperately, kept this idea in mind. In his hand, Nia's tentacles were tied to an obedient round ball. This auxiliary robot, called Snowball, was regarded by Lyle as a mascot because of its round appearance and slightly clumsy movements.

It's utterly unimaginable that these seemingly harmless little things could form that horrific mechanical torrent behind them, the sound of which alone is enough to make your teeth ache. The swarm of snowballs made the pipe rumble and the rickety passageway seem ready to collapse at any moment.

Lyle attributed all the surge of adrenaline in his body to SS. Given the chance, he wouldn't hesitate to let that perfect mechanic experience the methods of a perfect necromancer. But now, Lyle was suppressing his anger and anxiously seeking help from the other end of the earpiece; the path at the end of the passage was locked. Only SS, who had caused Lyle's predicament, could break this deadlock.

"Still haven't found a solution, SS!" Nia, whom Lyle carried on his back, launched out tentacles. The fleshy hammers, like frog tongues, shattered the clean snowball that was about to touch Lyle's clothes. But such resistance was just a drop in the ocean against the endless army behind him.

"Immediately! Just a little longer!" Inside the room, SS's typing had turned into a torrential downpour, and the pop-up windows and scrolling code on the screen had become a continuously growing data bar, with the green and black percentages increasing rapidly.

The engrossed SS didn't see that on the sofa behind him, three liches sitting in a row had their eyes gleaming with soul fire and were becoming less sedentary.

“The leader of the epidemic doctor is in danger. I warned him not to trust a stranger who is overly friendly, especially when you can’t see his soul flame.”

“He seems to be working on something. Should we stop him? Although he says he’s helping the epidemic doctors, who knows if this is just another trap.”

Looking at the shimmering light and shadow on the screen in the darkness, Lyle's shout was drowned out by the rumbling sound.

Suddenly, an idea flashed into his mind, and he reached out to stop the two eager individuals.

"I understand!"

"?"

Mr. Flexibility smiled confidently.

"Do you really think that Andre Academy's rising star, the top student and plague doctor, would be in trouble?"

"But isn't the boss calling for help right now?"

"He's called out more than ten times, and then what? Has the situation changed? Has his predicament worsened?"

"...No, but isn't this good?"

"Doesn't this just show that the leader of the epidemic medical team is handling the current situation with ease? And if he encountered an emergency, why didn't he ask us for help, but instead asked the robot that got him into trouble? Don't you find that strange?"

"Don't you think we can't help? And we really can't help."