Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 36: Magical Artifacts
Suger stared at the black cat on the edge of the pool.

If it is indeed Xiongbo, one of the twelve divine beasts of the Great Nuo, then at this moment it may be facing a true deity.

Why did Xiongbo take the initiative to come to us? What did it know? Did it see through our disguise?

Socrates asked tentatively, "Why did you come to me?"

“Your fabricated identity as a hibernator is so convincing that even I can’t find any flaws. Li Lou was also fooled by you.”

The black cat licked its lips with its pink tongue.

"But I don't care if you're a god or a ghost. Don't you need a backup of that demon? As long as you bring out her presence, I only need one copy. You can eat the rest or do whatever you want with it."

Suger suddenly felt pressured; the black cat had indeed learned of what he had done in Fengyu.

He successfully established a powerful image in front of Feng Yu's modifiers, but when faced with the black cat's gaze, he felt that his secrets had been seen through.

Fortunately, the black cat also seemed to mistake him for a digital being and didn't care about his background.

He had no choice but to keep pretending.

“You’ve got the wrong person.” He deliberately got up and left. “I don’t want to mess with Li Lou.”

After he finished speaking, the image of the crimson wings that blotted out the sky that he had seen that night resurfaced in his mind.

“You’ve been to the Security Bureau several times already, but since you’ve always managed to hide your identity, there’s no harm in going again.” The black cat paced after him. “The next purification ritual in Yingchuan is in seven days, at Zengxian Temple. If you don’t seize the opportunity, she’ll be eaten by Li Lou.”

[Does Li Lou want to eat Shen Ke?]

Su Ge almost blurted it out, while a host of questions arose in her mind. Yang Guan said that the purification ritual might allow Shen Ke to return to her normal life, so how could she have been "eaten"?
The digital life form's "eating" certainly doesn't involve flesh and blood, but rather data. Could it be that the contaminated data she separated out will be consumed? No, Shen Ke is a sand counter; the contaminated data she sifted out was something even gods and Buddhas would avoid. The digital life form only needs valuable data.

Su Ge couldn't ask any questions, and just remained silent. When dealing with the suspected "Xiongbo" mythical beast, he had to follow the principle of saying less and making fewer mistakes.

The black cat continued, "I already have a plan. As long as you are willing to help me, I am absolutely confident that I can bring her out of her position."

"What's the arrangement?" Su Ge didn't stop and stepped into the elevator, with the black cat following him in.

The elevator doors slowly closed, and the black cat's shadow was reflected on the gleaming silver surface.

"Void Realm Mandala".

The black cat's voice was sharp and elusive.

"The Heavenly King of Transformation once used this artifact to steal the incense offerings of 84 million beings from the Eastern Lapis Lazuli World. I have a replica here. When the time comes, I will infiltrate the Chongming District Security Bureau from the outside. As long as Li Lou falls into the trap, I can create a computing power gap of about two seconds. Inside the Security Bureau, you can virtually open the Void Realm Mandala and connect to the internal network. The demon will see the hope of escaping from the Security Bureau and will crawl in on its own."

Suger mentally rehearsed the black cat's explanation.

The "Void Realm Mandala" it mentioned is probably some kind of spy device that can connect to the Security Bureau's network and reveal Shen Ke's identity.

Things took a turn for the worse than Suger had anticipated.

It's hard to say whether this is a blessing or a curse. He disguised himself as a powerful digital life form and proactively faced this era. Originally, his best hope was to obtain Shen Ke's backup clues from Cheng Yang Gong. But now, he has the clues, brought to his door by a divine beast. This divine beast wants to join forces with him to snatch food from Li Lou's beak. With a ding, the elevator doors slid open, and they arrived at the fifteenth floor.

"So, how about it, will you help?" the black cat asked.

“We’ll see.” Suger couldn’t make a decision. He stepped out of the elevator, then stopped and added, “Could I take a look at the Void Realm Mandala?” He was curious whether there was a difference between so-called “magical artifacts” and technological products.

The black cat strolled past his calf, looked up at him, and said, "Okay, you can think about it again, but time is running out."

Looking at those chrome-yellow eyes, Suger couldn't help but wonder what its virtual form would be like in the Spirit Realm and the Horizon.

"I will think about it."

After finishing speaking, Suger walked towards Room 21. The black cat watched his back for a while before jumping out of the window.

Back in his room, Suger removed the holographic mask from his chin.

He lay down on the bed, already in a daze. After resting for a while, he pulled out his glasses from beside his pillow, put them on, and began searching for "Xiongbo". He quickly found relevant information.

Nuo ritual was one of the main ceremonies for exorcising evil spirits and warding off plagues in this era. It was usually led by the Fangxiang Great God, whose twelve divine beasts and one hundred and twenty sinful servants each had their own roles and specialties.

He unfolded the entries for the twelve beasts, and the appearances of twelve deities appeared: there was the bird-shaped Boqi, the god of dreams; there was Qiangliang, with a tiger's head and a human body, wielding two snakes, the god of plague-eating demons…

Xiongbo, with a human face and leopard body, and fur that gleamed with a bronze luster, his mane curled into horns, was a deity who devoured demons.
Socrates looked out the window; it seemed that gods truly did roam the earth in this era.

If the black cat really was Xiongbo, its attitude towards Lilou would be quite intriguing. The gods of this era were not all in cahoots; there were conflicts between them.

He inexplicably thought of the abandoned Fengyu military base and the unfinished Liuyutian. Wang Mang said that the plan to counterattack Lingjing had failed, but the projects of gods and Buddhas also showed signs of failure.

The sound of an aerial logistics drone's motor came from outside the door. A package was dropped onto the logistics platform outside the door, and the drone quickly left to deliver the next order.

Suger propped himself up, rallied his spirits, and carried the package into the room.

Inside the palm-sized box was a thin, transparent sheet about the size of chewing gum. It was soft, and the dense light patterns on its surface resembled totems, talismans, and lotus leaf patterns from Buddhist temple ceilings.

This is the "Void Realm Mandala," the "magical artifact" the black cat mentioned. He examined it for a while but couldn't see anything special. He only noticed that the Gu Diao couldn't detect this thing. This thing was almost integrated with the skin on his palm, as if it were made of some kind of biocompatible material.

As a hibernator, Suger could never afford this thing, but the black cat handed it to him easily. In the black cat's eyes, the physical object of the Void Realm Mandala was not of much value; what was valuable was its design.

Su Ge held the transparent sheet in his hand, hesitating. In fact, he had already thought that the best way to prevent Shen Ke from leaking secrets was to take her out of the Security Bureau, but he didn't know how to do it.

Now that an opportunity has presented itself, could it be another trap?

He didn't know how to use this so-called magical artifact, and if he wanted to bring it into the security bureau, he had to first confirm whether it would pose a danger to him.

The headache had eased a little, and Suger established a connection with the Void Realm Mandala.

(End of this chapter)