Absolute Gate

Chapter 86 The Art of Praying for Rain
On shore, McGur obtained the diving video of Perrin and his companion.

But no matter how many times he studied it, he couldn't find any key information.

It was so chaotic. They started running as soon as they saw the statue and corpse area, as if something was chasing them. Then Onion went crazy, kind of like he was in nitrogen narcotics.

Of course, this can be overlooked. Onion's death is quite simple; it's either due to possession or a twisted mind.

The specifics can be ignored for now; the important thing is to avoid getting infected, as triggering the effect is practically a death sentence.

But how exactly was it triggered? This information is crucial.

But this one just wasn't captured on camera.

“Perrin, have you touched the statue?” McGall asked the person directly.

Perrin reviewed the video footage repeatedly and said, "I can confirm that there was no contact."

"At the time, we were about twenty meters away from the statue, which was just within sight... well, the onion was a bit closer."

McGall said coldly, "You mean, seeing it will get you infected?"

Perrin was very serious. He thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No. I think it should be a regional effect."

“A body of water centered around the statue was considered a sacrifice by the ‘Mayan rain god’ if anyone stepped into it.”

"The range was about twenty meters. At the time, the two of us were twenty meters away, and Onion was within twenty meters, so only he was being chased."

McGonagall looked at Perrin with interest: "Oh? You think that after the trait is triggered, instead of an immediate infection effect, something will be chasing you?"

Perrin nodded: "If there's an immediate infection effect, the onions simply won't make it up."

"He ran alongside us all the way until we reached a depth of 200 meters, and that's when he started going crazy."

"And along the way, he grabbed me more than once, pointing downwards as if he had seen something..."

"At that time, Onion was still conscious, so it shouldn't have been an immediate effect of infection."

"It's more like a curse was triggered, a killing intent was locked on, and in the end he was caught, possessed or his mind was completely twisted."

"If caught, they will strip off all their clothes and equipment, and lie on the rock wall like a reptile until they drown completely."

"This looks exactly like the ginger that died last night. The two brothers must have died because of this."

McGar smiled and nodded; Perrin's analysis made a lot of sense.

That's what he thought too, but he deliberately asked Perrin to see if he was seriously analyzing the situation and if he was just fooling him.

If someone is seriously analyzing the situation, it suggests that Perrin did indeed intend to bring the statue up.

This operation involves his life, so Perrin must do everything he can to figure out the characteristics of the statue; he has to take responsibility for his own life.

Conversely, if Perrin is deceiving him, or if he is too lazy to figure out the characteristics, it means that he has no intention of getting any closer to the statue and is only thinking about how to get away.

McGurt narrowed his eyes slightly: "Yang Chunsha, what do you think?"

"The statue has been found, and you're going to salvage it. Don't you want to study its characteristics carefully?"

Seeing that Yang Chunsha was expressionless and somewhat absent-minded, as if she were daydreaming, he couldn't help but ask her.

Yang Chunsha was naturally distracted, because she knew that Onion was just putting on an act, and what was recorded was actually worthless.

However, seeing McGonagall staring at her, she immediately realized what was going on and pretended to say, "Perrin's analysis does make sense, but is this calamity really that simple?"

"This is the rain god of the Mayan civilization. What if it is intelligent? Or is it not just a twenty-meter range, but a curse that locks you in as soon as you see it?"

“Perrin, perhaps you are already cursed and marked by the rain god. If you go into the water again this time, it won’t just be a matter of twenty meters, but that you will be in trouble the moment you enter the water!”

These words really startled Perrin, as this was what he was most worried about.

McGonagall said, "Oh? If that's the case, then Miss Yang Chunsha, you are the most suitable candidate for salvage."

“You’ve never been in the water before, so you’ll definitely be able to get close to the statue safely, even from twenty meters away.”

“I have large salvage equipment here. You take the cable down and use the equipment to grab the statue from 20 meters away… Once the machines on the shore start up, the statue can be pulled up.”

Yang Chunsha hesitated for a moment; normally, she would never have dared to go into the water.

This time was different, though. Since she was planning to fake her death anyway, she was happy to go into the water alone and meet up with Wu Zhong.

So she pretended to be speechless and did not refute this point.

He took the opportunity to say, "There are just too many possibilities, McGall. You want me to salvage it? Fine, but you can't expect me to just guess based on this messy video, can you?"

"Don't you have any information to tell us? How much do you know about the statue?"

"Since you knew about the statue's existence and that it was the Mayan rain god, you must have done some research on it, right?"

Yang Chunsha's words were an attempt to gather real information.

McGonagall was silent for a moment, then suddenly waved his hand, and his eyes emitted a green energy.

The sudden use of the multi-method approach startled Yang Chunsha and the other two.

However, he didn't make a move; he simply took a deep breath.

In an instant, all the surrounding grass withered, and streams of green light flowed into his mouth.

The nearby cedar trees, flowers, fruits and vegetables, and even the plants on Yang Chunsha and the others all visibly withered and decayed.

It was as if McGall was draining away his life force.

In no time, the area within a radius of several dozen meters was completely barren, with all plants withering and decaying.

"Hiss..." Perrin gasped. If this move were used against them, it would be equivalent to continuously losing life while fighting the opponent.

Yang Chunsha immediately lost contact with Wu, clearly indicating that McGur had disabled their external communications.

After a few subtle maneuvers, McGur said leisurely, "I don't know anything about this statue, because it was my great-grandfather who discovered it."

"He was the first enlightened one of the Havel family, and also an explorer with a deep understanding of Mayan civilization." "Through long-term research, he realized that the rain god Chak might be a calamity. The sacrificial well culture must have a real origin, otherwise the Maya would not have so frantically and extensively sacrificed young men and women, who were a very important source of labor in ancient times."

"So he searched everywhere for sacrificial wells, using various forces to explore one Mayan sacrificial well after another, and finally, deep inside this well, he discovered this statue."

Yang Chunsha took a deep breath and calmly pressed, "How did he know that the statue below was a calamity?"

McGur chuckled. "He didn't know, so he died."

“……”Everyone was speechless.

McGur continued, "His abilities were certainly not enough to drown, yet he drowned anyway."

"So his descendants, that is, my grandfather, were able to determine that there were strange and monstrous things below."

Perrin suddenly realized that the first discoverer had risked his life to verify the presence of a calamity here.

"And what about your grandfather? What did he do?"

McGur said with a sneer, "His abilities weren't suited for diving, so he built this manor, enclosed the entire lake, studied its origins from myths and legends, and trained hard for twenty years until he was finally able to dive to the deepest part."

"But he drowned during his first attempt to salvage the body and never came back."

"..." Everyone fell silent again.

This thing is impossible to salvage, right? Two generations of people have died trying to get close to it.

No wonder that when it was McGonagall's turn, even though he was already very strong, he didn't dare to go into the water and instead asked other mercenaries to salvage it.

“This monstrous object is extremely dangerous; it’s practically uncontrollable.” Perrin frowned.

McGonagall smiled: "No, although it's not the kind of portable, usable calamity artifact, my grandfather succeeded in bringing rain."

Yang Chunsha was startled: "The rain prayer was successful? How did you do it?"

McGur said, "It's simple, just call it, just loudly beg it to rain..."

"Huh?" Everyone was stunned. They just made a wish and that was it?

McGur spread his hands and said, "That's right, it's that simple. He didn't spend twenty years researching for nothing. At first, he replicated the ancient Mayan sacrificial ritual, and the rain prayer was successful, and a light rain fell."

"However, the rain was too light. My grandfather thought it might be because there were too few offerings, so he tricked many diving enthusiasts into going into the water. In those days, cave diving technology was not mature, so he didn't have to do anything, and the mortality rate was as high as 30%."

"However, no matter how many people are sacrificed, the rain is very light. Sometimes, it even fails to rain at all."

"So in order to figure out the mechanism, he conducted a lot of experiments and finally discovered that... there was no need to sacrifice anything to get rain."

Yang Chunsha exclaimed in surprise, "No sacrifice is needed? Then all that's required is a ritual?"

McGall shook his head: "Actually, the ceremony isn't necessary."

“My grandfather kept controlling the variables and eventually discovered that rainmaking didn’t require any offerings or rituals; all it needed was one thing… sound waves.”

The three mercenaries looked at each other, dumbfounded.

“Sound waves?” Perrin exclaimed in astonishment. “No wonder you said that to summon it, all you really need is for the sound to reach the statue?”

McGall nodded: "That's right, the key is to make the statue 'hear' your prayers, so a huge sound wave is needed!"

"The Mayan rain-making rituals, with all their complex details, including the offerings themselves, are actually meaningless. Only one action is meaningful: countless people collectively shouting loudly towards the depths of the cave, desperately begging the rain god to send rain..."

"Moreover, the louder the prayers for rain received by the statue, the heavier the rain fell!"

“My grandfather did a lot of experiments to confirm this, and that machine-generated voices are useless; the source must be human.”

"He once dived to a depth of 200 meters underwater, roared loudly, and amplified his sound waves using multiple methods to summon a torrential rain."

Yang Chunsha immediately said, "The louder the sound waves, the heavier the rain! Being close is fine too, because sound waves attenuate too much underwater."

McGur nodded: "Yes, it's that simple, so theoretically, taking it out and praying for rain nearby is the most effective method."

"Moreover, we discovered that rain clouds are generated out of thin air, which is truly an absolute characteristic. Therefore, theoretically, it is possible to get rain in the desert, and there should be no upper limit to the amount of precipitation... it only depends on how much human noise is generated."

"Furthermore, if it is at the bottom of this cave, the rain that is prayed for will only fall in this area. If you want it to rain elsewhere, you have to move it."

"Therefore, my grandfather decided to pull it up. He made ample preparations, but he still died down there under mysterious circumstances."

Yang Chunsha finally understood; this was the so-called 'Rain God Chuck'.

The Havel family had already determined the positive effects of this calamity-causing object and knew it had little combat power, which is why they dared to send other mercenaries to salvage it.

She murmured, "So that's how it is. In ancient times, when this statue was still on the ground, Mayan priests could pray for rain at any time. The duration of the rain depended on how long they prayed. If they prayed for rain every day, it would rain every day, even if it caused a flood."

"Therefore, the rain god Chuck is both the god of rain and abundance, and the god of floods and storms."

"But due to some accident, perhaps geological changes, or war or earthquake, the statue fell into an underground cave."

"From then on, the Maya lost their good weather, but their fervor for the gods led them to believe that they were not devout enough, so they made their rainmaking methods more complicated and added elements such as sacrifices."

As Yang Chunsha spoke, she felt that it was almost certain.

Wu finally used tortoise shell divination to verify that the statue was not pushed down by human hands, but was probably pushed down by a flood or earthquake in ancient times.

McGall chuckled. "Maybe, it doesn't matter."

"No matter how dangerous or unapproachable this calamity is, in order to truly utilize it, we must retrieve it."

"Otherwise, this kind of superficial approach is like scratching an itch through a boot; it's just like a light rain falling in the same spot, which is completely meaningless."

As he spoke, he spread his hands and pointed to the salvage equipment: "So, can you go into the water now? Has the money arrived in your account?"

"Regardless of whether the deaths of several people were due to being too close or whether seeing them would bring a curse, all you need to do is send the cable of this device down, grab the statue, and you can easily retrieve it."

"Miss Yang Chunsha, I await your good news."

……

(End of this chapter)