Long River Eternity

The three of them walked into the rest area.

The rest area at Ruin No. 5 was noticeably smaller than that at Ruin No. 0, consisting of only a few two-story brick buildings and a slightly larger two-story structure. "Ruin No. 5 General Office" was inscribed on the entrance. This building housed the staff cafeteria, infirmary, and administrator's office.

The three of them arrived at the office entrance. Along the way, they felt the entire rest area seemed exceptionally deserted. Only occasionally could they hear noises coming from the brick building, and there was no one else on the street. It was completely devoid of the lively atmosphere of the rest area at Ruins 0.

A breeze blew by, and Liu Xianxian subconsciously leaned closer to Lin Ding and said, "Why do I feel so eerie here?"

"They should all go to work in the ruins. This place is small, so it's normal that there are few people here during working hours." Lin Ding said.

The three of them walked into the office. It was almost noon, and the cafeteria on the first floor, which should have been filled with the aroma of food and the bustling voices, was now empty. Lin Ding even saw spider webs hanging under some of the tables, as if no one had been there for a long time.

"Something is wrong, be careful." Lin Ding reminded.

"What should we do now?" Wei Wu asked.

"Let's go upstairs first to the office of the person in charge. Normally, the person in charge doesn't need to work at the ruins." Lin Ding said.

So the three of them walked up the stairs carefully and came to the second floor. They saw that all the rooms on both sides of the corridor on the second floor were closed. Only the room at the end of the corridor had its door ajar. It was the office of the person in charge.

The three of them tiptoed towards the room. As they got closer, they heard the sound of chewing food coming from the room.

After hearing this voice, the three of them looked at each other and felt a little numb on their scalps. Liu Xianxian even turned pale, pursed her lips, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

Lin Ding sensed Liu Xianxian's fear, and he didn't know where he got the courage from, but he grabbed Liu Xianxian's hand. Liu Xianxian's delicate body trembled when Lin Ding grabbed her hand, and she looked at Lin Ding.

"I...I...I'm a little scared." Lin Ding was a little panicked when he was looked at by Liu Xianxian, and said in a low voice.

Seeing Lin Ding's panic, Liu Xianxian's fear disappeared in an instant and she almost laughed out loud.

At this time, the three of them had already arrived at the door of the room. The chewing sounds became more obvious, and even the sound of tearing muscles could be heard.

The gap between the doors was not very big, and they could not see what was going on inside. The three of them did not know what to do.

There was a loud bang. It turned out that Wei Wu couldn't stand this atmosphere anymore. He kicked the door open and shouted, "Monster, suffer..."

Before they could even utter the word "die", the three of them froze in place.

In the room, there was a slightly plump middle-aged man sitting at a desk with a roasted chicken and a wine glass on the table. The man was holding a piece of chicken in his mouth, a half-eaten chicken leg in his right hand, and was about to pick up the wine glass on the table with his left hand.

The whole person jumped up from the chair at the sound of kicking the door. Seeing that it was three young men coming, he swallowed the chicken in his mouth in two bites.

He then started cursing, "Who are you, you little bastards? You dared to sneak into this important ruins and kick my door, scaring me! Who is your teacher? What are you doing? Tell me now!"

At this time, Lin Ding and the other two were also confused and extremely embarrassed, standing there at a loss as to what to do.

The scene of the monster eating people that was originally expected did not happen, and it even scared the office manager who was eating.

Could it be that what happened in the past few days has made them too nervous? The three of them wondered.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. You got into trouble and are pretending to be dumb?" The man asked when he saw the three people were stunned and silent.

"I'm sorry, we came from Nanshan City, which was invaded by monsters. When we arrived here, we saw that it was deserted and thought it was invaded as well, so we got a little too nervous." After Lin Ding pulled Wei Wu and Liu Xianxian to bow and apologize, he told the man a general account of his experiences over the past few days. Of course, he concealed and modified the part about Yang An and spiritual energy.

After he finished speaking, the man looked at the three people with suspicion and asked, "You said you reached the Yuheng Realm at such a young age, and even killed a powerful Yuheng Realm demon on the way?"

Lin Ding knew that words were not enough, so he took a step forward, then lifted his feet off the ground and floated in the air.

Flying is the iconic symbol of cultivators above the Yuheng Realm, and it cannot be faked at all. Lin Ding couldn't explain the matter of spiritual energy cultivation to the other party, so he simply pretended to be a cultivator of the Yuheng Realm.

Seeing Lin Ding take off on the spot, the man no longer had any doubts. His attitude softened a lot and he no longer cared about the three people breaking into the house.

"At such a young age, he has already broken through to the Yuheng realm. He has a bright future!" the man exclaimed.

"Excuse me, sir, what is your name? Why is there no one here in the middle of the day?" Lin Ding asked.

"My name is Wu Linfeng, you can just call me Old Wu. This is just a small ruins, originally there were only two houses and this office. There weren't many people here, but two years ago, someone successfully repaired an instrument that could see through objects in the ruins, and then a group of people came here. But starting this year, I don't know if there has been any new breakthrough in research, but everyone has been working overtime in the ruins, only coming back at night to have a simple meal and sleep, and going back to work early the next morning. Sometimes they don't come back for two or three days. So usually there are only me and a cook in the cafeteria here." Old Wu explained to the three of them.

Lin Ding couldn't help but feel surprised after hearing this. Even though Ruins No. 0 was so large, the researchers didn't seem to be working day and night on it. What were the researchers here researching that made them work so hard?

After pondering for a moment, Lin Ding couldn't come to a conclusion. He stopped worrying and told Old Wu the purpose of his visit: "Uncle Wu, we actually came here to borrow your X-ray equipment. I wonder if it would be convenient for you."

"This... I can't make the decision. I'm only responsible for the daily management of the rest area. You have to get the consent of the director of the research institute regarding the ruins." Old Wu said.

"Can we go to the ruins now?" Lin Ding asked.

"Of course, cultivators above the Yuheng realm can enter and exit the ruins at will. This is the rule. You can go anytime. By the way, you haven't eaten yet after the long journey, how about I ask the canteen to make some for you and you can eat before leaving. It won't take too long." Old Wu said with a smile.

The three of them looked at the roast chicken on Old Wu's table and swallowed their saliva. They hadn't eaten anything for a whole day and night since they ate the two-headed snake. Although eating wasn't a big deal for Lin Ding and Wei Wu at their current levels, their recent breakthrough meant they hadn't given up eating, and Liu Xianxian still needed to eat.

So the three of them readily agreed to Lao Wu's suggestion, and after having a big meal in the cafeteria, they headed towards Ruins No. 5.

Following the direction pointed by Old Wu, the three of them arrived at the entrance of the No. 5 Ruins Research Institute after a ten-minute walk. This relic did not emit energy like the No. 0 relic, so it did not pose a threat to the human body. It was not far from the rest area.

The Research Institute of Ruins No. 5 is half the size of Ruins No. 0. It is also a place used by researchers for office work. The real ruins are underground.

In fact, almost all existing ruins are underground, because the buildings on the ground cannot withstand the erosion of wind and rain for thousands of years and have long disappeared in history.

The three of them walked into the research institute. There were only four desks on the first floor. The desks were messy, but there was no one there and it was silent.

"What's going on today? There's no one anywhere?" Wei Wu complained.

"Maybe they all went to work underground." Lin Ding guessed.

"I feel like there seems to be a huge energy fluctuation underground." Liu Xianxian said.

Ever since Liu Xianxian learned the Green Leaf Condensation Technique, she has become particularly sensitive to the flow of energy around her.

"Could it be that they are using that instrument to conduct experiments?" Wei Wu asked.

"Let's go down and take a look, and we'll know." Lin Ding looked at the messy table, and a bad premonition arose in his heart. After saying that, he quickened his pace and walked towards the stairs leading to the underground.

Wei Wu and Liu Xianxian didn't understand what was going on, but they hurried to follow.

As the three of them walked down the first staircase, they heard a painful roar from below: "Stop! I can't stand it! Ah!!!"

Lin Ding and Wei Wu looked at each other, then ran down quickly.