Standing at the end of the long, winding and intricate, yet precise underground tunnel, Lu Ah-Cang couldn't help but gasp in admiration at the pack of mole demons who couldn't even speak human language. These low-level little monsters took less than 24 hours to complete a massive project that would normally take humans at least a month under normal circumstances.
It took Lu Ah-Cang an hour to walk from the place where she was imprisoned to here, accompanied by three individuals. No, they were three monsters.
Two wild boar demons, looking almost identical and still as foolish as ever, wearing matching T-shirts, baring their fangs and drooling, followed her closely. In their left hands, they held flashlights, and in their right hands, each of them held an inconspicuous black stick.
Of course, Lu Ah-Cang knew that those were modified electric batons, far exceeding the 20,000 volts limit. What interested her was not the wild boars or the electric batons, but the man walking in front of her. Under the flickering beams of light, a large trench coat hung open on his lean and tall body, and his gray hair glowed with a dark luster. His face was unseen because he wore a mask, the same kind as the weirdo she saw on the wall, a smiling face. Intuition told her that this man and the weirdo on the wall were not the same. He was also a demon, but she couldn't make out his species. Lu Ah-Cang pondered about his demon aura. Moreover, just as he brought her out of that five-star prison room and sat in the elevator straight to the starting point of this underground passage, she saw a sturdy brown-furred mole demon, leading a group of similar creatures emerging from the shadows, standing upright and chattering in monster language at his feet.
Demons have no borders, and monster language is universally understood throughout the country. Lu Ah-Cang intermittently heard phrases like "it's already connected," "you'll see it when you go out," and "what about the payment?"
The man made a phone call, and soon several strong wild boar demons came out carrying dozens of wooden crates, placing them in front of the mole demons. Lu Ah-Cang sneakily glanced and saw the crates were labeled with "XX Brand Cat Food."
The mole leader directed its subordinates, who happily lifted the crates and left.
"It's only in the city that we get to eat well! Although cat food is not as tasty as worms, it's better than going hungry!"
"Yeah, back in our hometown, the land is full of human factories, and not even a blade of grass grows. Luckily, we followed the boss out!"
"If only we weren't moles but humans!" Lu Ah-Cang overheard two of them saying this.
At the end of the tunnel was a steel wall with a large hole. Behind the wall was a room of about twenty square meters. To call it a room seemed inaccurate; this "room" was more like a large glass cube. Except for a crystal cluster container about a meter high in the center of the cube, there was nothing inside.
The man carefully took out a test tube-shaped, sealed transparent container from his pocket. One end had a metal pressure nozzle, and inside, there was a shallow layer of blood-red liquid that slowly flowed as the tube tilted.
He gazed at this object with a certain weight in his eyes, as if what he held in his hand was not a glass tube but a lifeline.
"Miss Charlotte, please come over here!" The man led her to the front of the cube, aligning the test tube with a square area in the center of the glass and pressed it hard.
The viscous liquid in the test tube sprayed out evenly from the nozzle, transforming into a red mist that adhered to the thick glass. After a strange hissing sound, the blood mist completely permeated the glass, revealing a hexagram mark that dimly shimmered with a blue light.
"Please place your right hand there first, and then your left hand," he politely instructed, pointing to the hexagram.
Lu Ah-Cang obediently followed the instructions. She was a hostage and needed to behave appropriately, especially with two wild boar demons holding electric batons keeping watch behind her.
A row of flashing green numbers gradually took shape in a three-dimensional pattern within the hexagram.
"Please bring your left eye closer to the hexagram, and then the right eye," the man continued instructing, and Lu Ah-Cang continued to comply.
A thumb-sized red circle emerged from the center of the hexagram. The man took out a fine needle from nowhere, pricked Lu Ah-Cang's left index finger, and then pressed the finger with a bead of blood onto the red circle.
Lu Ah-Cang felt a slight tremor in the air. A white, thin line extended from the center of the hexagram, dividing the "glass wall" in front of her in half and opening it to the left and right.
"Take out the blue diamond-shaped block from the crystal cluster," the man said, without any intention of approaching the cube with her. He handed her a small golden square box. "Put it in here."
"Oh..." Lu Ah-Cang pretended to nod timidly.
When her fingers touched the blue diamond-shaped block suspended above the crystal cluster, she felt an intense cold, penetrating from her skin and flesh deep into her blood. Though it was just a moment, it was chilling and frightening. She took a closer look. Within the blue crystal, a tear-shaped white floccule was enveloped. It seemed to be still slowly moving, resembling a nebula in the universe. Staring at it for too long was dizzying, so she quickly placed the diamond-shaped block into the golden box and walked away.
There was suddenly a burst of movement overhead. Out of curiosity, Lu Ah-Cang asked the man, "What's up there?"
"The Louvre," the man replied, carefully taking the golden box from her hands.
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