The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Professor Kazel observed the temple from the front for a while before heading straight inside.

　Although the exterior of the temple is magnificent, it has already been described in detail in previous documents.

　Those external materials can only be used to find the origin of this "Goddess of Life", which is "Kukuku".

　Once it was confirmed that the deity was indeed "Kukuku", this aspect of the research lost its deepest significance.

　Now we should return to the research on luminescence syndrome.

　Professor Kazel was the first to enter the temple.

　He didn't summon any magical spirits; he simply walked straight in. Clearly, he wanted to experience the "light infection" firsthand. Dark hesitated slightly, but seeing Professor Lily had already flown in, he had no choice but to follow.

　The moment he stepped into the temple, he immediately felt an extremely strange sensation.

　That feeling is very hard to describe.

　He instinctively stepped back and left the temple, and that feeling vanished instantly.

　Inside the main gate of the temple, a white stone-paved staircase stretched out in front, with various statues standing on both sides.

　Besides the statue of the goddess of life, there are many other strange and unusual creatures among them.

　"professor!"

　Dak shouted something instinctively.

　Professor Cazell turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

　Dark stared intently at the statues and said quickly, "I don't know why, but I always have a feeling that those statues are alive."

　"Alive?" Professor Cazell immediately turned to look at the nearest statue.

　Although the statue was in human form, it was covered in armor from head to toe, and even its face was not shown, making it impossible to determine what it was.

　Kazel's eyes glowed, and the "Eye of Truth" activated naturally. Then he walked to the statue, raised his hand, and carefully placed it on it.

　——Nothing happened.

　But he immediately looked up and said, "Lily, come back!"

　Lily, who had already flown to the end of the road, was forced to turn back and flap her wings to fly back.

　If you had shouted "slow down" any faster, she probably would have already flown into the tunnel at the end of the road.

　……

　The two quickly left the temple.

　Professor Lily pouted, looking aggrieved, but no one paid any attention. Professor Cazell's expression was slightly serious.

　"Professor," Dark asked, "did you figure it out?"

　Professor Cazell said, "It's not certain, but your feeling is probably right."

　"You say those statues are alive," Hannah said doubtfully, "but we've been in and out of the temple so many times, and these are the only statues that have never come to life and attack us. Besides, the statue in the research room was also moved from here."

　Professor Cazell said, "That's not what I meant."

　Hannah was still puzzled.

　Dark said, "Those statues are very likely real life forms." Hannah said, "Real...elemental life forms?" Dark said, "They're not as simple as elemental life forms."

　Professor Kazel said, "It seems that what happened inside this temple is more complicated than I had previously guessed."

　Dark said, "It really is the temple of the goddess of life." Hannah said, "What are you talking about?"

　Professor Lily yawned and said, "They're saying that the goddess of life gave life to those statues, turning them from ordinary statues into living beings with real life."

　What an alchemist pursues throughout their life, the goddess of life may only require...

　It can be done with a snap of the fingers.

　Although those statues are exactly the same as ordinary statues on the outside... no, even if you study their interiors, they are actually living beings.

　A golem that is close to "realistic" in quality, and possibly even more so.

　After all, when alchemists create golems, they strive to make them identical to real life both inside and out; they achieve the creation of life through "simulation."

　But the goddess of life, "Kukukuk," did not do that at all. The "living statue" is both a "statue" and "life," both an inanimate object and a "living object."

　“That’s why the error occurred,” Professor Kazel said.

　Dark's gaze continued to sweep across the interior of the temple.

　As the information shows, the interior of this temple is glowing everywhere, with no "shadows" present.

　While monsters spawn continuously within the temple, the items within it do not automatically repair themselves.

　This is the decisive difference between it and the underground labyrinth. Dark saw many empty spaces left after the bricks and stones had been dug away. His gaze was gradually drawn to those empty spaces, and a chilling feeling suddenly rose in the back of his mind.

　Since statues can be alive.

　Why can't the bricks that make up the wall be alive?

　When all possibilities have been ruled out, even the least likely option can only be the truth.

　The investigators' research findings have consistently led them astray.

　The reason why "Light Infection" works on non-living temple items is not due to "Light Infection" itself, but to the temple items.

　If those seemingly "inanimate" temple items were actually "living things," then many contradictions could be explained.

　Darke had only stepped into the temple a single step when he realized the real problem.

　Before coming into this world.

　If someone were to say that something is both "inanimate" and "living," he certainly wouldn't believe it.

　But now he is able to accept this incredible reality with equanimity.

　The "pathogenic factors" that cause "light infection" or "luminescence disease" do not interfere with non-living things, and his previous understanding was not wrong.

　Because all the objects inside this temple are "living things," that is, "real life," the "pathogenic factors" are effective against them.

　But that concept of "life" is a special thing bestowed by the goddess of life.

　Stripped of that conceptual framework, they are still essentially "inanimate objects." Therefore, when the "pathogenic factor" affects them, it cannot be fully effective, resulting in an "error," or "bug." It is this "bug" that causes all the items in this temple to exist in an intermediate state between "glowing" and "disappearing."

　Although they can emit light, they do not disappear.

　And because they do not "disappear," they can be reinfected.

　This creates an endless cycle.

　That cycle was not broken until they were moved out of the temple grounds.

　They are no longer infected, and the white light is diminishing.

　At the same time, the "life" and "immortality" bestowed upon them by the goddess of life are also disappearing, so they will eventually disintegrate.

Chapter 1438 Comprehensive Exploration, Overwhelming (4k)

　"It's getting late, let's head back."

　Dak did not linger at the temple entrance any longer.

　Tonight's findings are enough; we need to take a longer-term view.

　They also couldn't possibly be exploring the temple in depth at this point in time. Professors Kazel and Lily had no objections.

　So everyone left the temple and settled in the rooms Hannah had arranged. These temporary lodgings couldn't possibly be luxurious. But though small, they were fully equipped, even including a shower—though it required a little magic to activate.

　After taking a shower, Dak put on the pajamas Hannah had given him, sat down at his desk, turned on the light, opened his notebook, and began to think carefully.

　Everything about this temple of life is extremely deceptive.

　Fortunately, he had conducted in-depth research on life-related topics and was sensitive enough to discover the real problem in time.

　Since the bricks and objects inside this temple are all "living things," does that mean that the temple itself can also be considered (a living thing)?

　From this perspective, the Temple of Life is an unprecedentedly enormous behemoth!

　And so on.

　The "pathogenic factors" that cause "light infection" are viruses. And could the ever-growing monsters be white blood cells, or immune cells?

　Let's assume the "pathogenic factor" is virus α.

　When virus α invades the Temple of Life, the Temple of Life will inevitably produce immune cells to fight against it in order to eliminate virus α.

　However, as things stand, the Temple of Life has not successfully eliminated the virus; instead, it has created a situation where the virus coexists with it.

　There must be many reasons for this.

　In short, the Temple of Life failed to kill the virus, and the alpha virus did not completely destroy it either, resulting in a delicate balance between the two.

　But now, millions of years later, this temple has been unearthed again, and it has also attracted new invaders, namely humans.

　Let's assume that humans are the beta virus.

　When the beta virus invades the Temple of Life, the Temple of Life will naturally produce immune cells to fight against it in order to eliminate the beta virus.

　However, the subtle point is that the alpha and beta viruses cannot coexist, resulting in the current "three-way standoff".

　If Virus β wants to completely occupy the Temple of Life, it can only wage war against both sides simultaneously.

　However, given the capabilities of the beta virus, it would be difficult to achieve victory when facing both sides simultaneously.

　Therefore, the best approach is to abandon direct confrontation and instead employ strategy. The goal is to disrupt the balance between viral alpha and immune cells, making them unable to coexist.

　In this process, Darke can also achieve his core objective.

　He came here not to conquer the Temple of Life, but to crack the "Radiant Disease".

　Now that the immune cells of the Temple of Life can successfully eliminate virus A, he can use this as a model to develop a specific drug against virus Alpha.

　"it is good!"

　I put down my pen and went to sleep.

　February 7th, Sunday, heavy fog.

　Dak got up, washed, and went out in one go. He met with everyone in the conference room, drafted the day's plan, and had breakfast.

　After breakfast, Hannah led a few people into the conference room and introduced them to Dak and the others.

　These individuals are key personnel from the research lab, the investigation team, and the defense department.

　Dak patiently communicated with them and quickly became acquainted.

　Then the group returned to the Temple of Life, ready to begin their plan for the day.

　The head of the research lab was named Fremont, a maid from "Gemini". She was very interested in the idea proposed by Dark and others the night before, and after studying it all night, she discovered many details that could corroborate Dark's idea.

　The deputy leader of the investigation team was named Maxine, who had been involved in the temple investigation for some time.

　Unlike Hannah, she personally entered the temple and stayed there for well more than three hours.

　Maxine possesses an extremely keen sense of danger, a powerful ability that could even be described as a skill.

　She used this to calculate the longest time one could stay in the temple, which was seventy-two hours.

　Therefore, she has the most comprehensive understanding of the Temple of Life. These two are crucial to the entire team. Fremont can participate in the research.

　Maxine is an indispensable "map".

　The map drawn by the investigators is, after all, just a two-dimensional map; it is impossible to see everything just by looking at the map.

　Dark plans to use the "mind palace" to construct a three-dimensional model of the entire temple in his mind, thereby gaining control of the temple.

　To reiterate, simply conquering the temple is not his core objective. To disrupt the balance between the virus alpha and the temple's immune cells, he must first gain a thorough understanding of the temple.

　This was not difficult for Daq and his team at all.

　"In the name of Dark Demon, I summon the magical creature—'Devimon'."

　As white light burst forth, "Devimon" made its grand entrance.

　Such a three-star magical spirit is certainly no match for conquering the Temple of Life. But it has its value.

　As the magical spirit with the deepest bond with Dark, Dark is already able to share its vision with it.

　This means that in temples where most communication spells fail, it can serve as a decent camera.

　Besides cameras, naturally, other equipment is also essential.