Chapter 2524: Chapter 2519: For Whom Does the Lighthouse Burn
The best-case scenario would be for a portal to just pop up so I could step straight into the Inverted Lake.
Too bad that kind of treatment is rare after all; just managing to bring back whatâs "in front of my eyes" is already pretty good.
Daylight was blazing, the sudden downpour had just let up, and the air was still damp and clammy.
Listening to the sound of rainwater flowing all around, Fu Qian casually kept fiddling with the fake eye in his socket, quite satisfied.
Thatâs right, he had actually brought it out.
This was the legendary Realm of the Deadâeasy to associate with going in and never coming back out.
Just that alone seemed to prove he might have chosen correctly, that this Lens Core had some unusual properties?
Even though for now, he hadnât found anything particularly special about it.
Under the refraction of a fake eye whose outer shape wasnât even smooth, the scene really was abstract, a vivid demonstration of what "bizarre and grotesque" meant.
But that was all; for the moment it didnât even let him see ghosts in broad daylight.
Fortunately, he hadnât had excessive expectations to begin with. The whole point of trying to bring this thing out was to have a guaranteed core to work withâto take it back to the previous coordinates and see.
...
This wasnât pure luck-hunting, but a logically consistent guess.
The key was that earlier question: if there really was such a research organization that had discovered the Wise Dead, what would they want to do with it?
Guidanceâthat was indeed the earlier answer.
But why did they need guidance?
Like the Academy Exploration Team, had they also found some older line of research tradition with instructions on this?
A bit too much nesting dolls, and it also underestimates everyone else too much.
If we assume everything in the Sea of Ashes was entirely set up by those soâcalled sages, then the Wise Dead occupies a very specific nicheâdid they first find this place, or did they first discover the Inverted Lake?
At first glance, finding this place first seems more in line with common sense.
They discover some power, or even substances, related to Crystal, everyone comes here and uses the Lighthouse for guidance, eventually discovering some point out in the sea, then heading there for research, and finally an accident happens.
It all flows nicely, but thereâs a crucial step in thereâhow did they know the Wise Dead could be used for navigation?
Think it through and youâll see how big a logical leap that is; chalking it up to "accidental discovery" is nowhere near convincing.
By contrast, Fu Qian was more inclined to believe they first knew about the Wise Dead but didnât know what to do with it, and only in the course of subsequent research did they uncover the connection between the two.
Donât forget, there was a Fallen Star Point at that suspected Inverted Lake.
Just that single concept felt enough to serve as a beacon, to make people go over there and do thingsâit might not require more clues than that.
On the question of which came first, it might sound like nitpicking, but if you take too much for granted youâll muddle cause and effect more often than not.
For instance, once you start deducing on the basis of that premise, the earlier question suddenly becomes interestingâif theyâd already found the endpoint, why still need the Lighthouseâs guidance? Does it make any sense to spend effort setting up that sort of configuration?
It doesâbecause they were afraid of getting lost out at sea.
In fact, that may be the original meaning of a Lighthouse as a device.
...
The Lighthouse wasnât built to guide people on the way to the Inverted Lake, but to guide the researchers over there on their way back.
For Fu Qian, this was the most interesting conjecture heâd arrived at after going through all that deduction just now.
There was definitely a connection; it didnât contradict the information the Academy had previously obtained, and at the same time the motivation suddenly became much more reasonable.
No matter how dedicated to research those sages were, they couldnât possibly have been unaware of the Sea of Ashesâ dangerâmaking some safety preparations in advance would be perfectly sensible.
In fact, judging from how things turned out, that bit of precaution still wasnât enough; something went wrong anyway.
On one hand, after the Academy Exploration Team went in, they directly contracted the Crystal Blessing and ended up wiped out.
On the other hand, when he went around the place himself earlier, didnât that place just disappear entirely?
All in all, if we take this conjecture as the basis, is it possible that this Lens Core that once could indicate direction might resonate in some way with the vanished Inverted Lake?
And then, once brought there, might it be able to trigger some kind of special reaction?
That was the core motivation behind Fu Qianâs last operation; as for discovering other things in Moore, that was just incidental.
...
Harvest gathered; almost time to set out again.
After playing with it for a bit, Fu Qian finally withdrew his hand from his eye socket.
His gaze didnât go vacant, though. Instead, a ring of tiny tendrils formed inside the socket, controlling his eyeball as it rotated and rolled.
With this upâtoâdate gaze, he walked a circuit around the platform and looked out over the surroundings, taking in the view from the highest point in Moore.
Thatâs rightâafter returning from the Domain of the Dead, he hadnât gone back to his original point of entry, Lady Selanaâs place of rest, but instead synced back directly to the last location.
From this alone, it seemed to once again highlight the difference between a death Reflection and a Dream.
The only pity was that, just like before, he still hadnât found anything special.
The Lighthouse nearby was much newer too; it felt less heavyâand even less meaningful.
After circling it once without any gains, Fu Qian returned to the inside of the Lighthouse yet again.
It proved that his earlier doubts hadnât been overthinking it; the Lighthouse in reality was indeed just a model. Neither the lens nor the light body had been actually installed.
...
The chances that heâd gotten something valuable had gone up again.
And it seemed the fake eye really was a foreign object to that Wise Dead brother.
The stark contrast yielded a stark conclusion; at that moment, Fu Qian even used the tendrils in his socket to push the fake eye back out and hold it up to its previous position.
Nothing remarkable.
The researchers appeared to have prioritized practicality; they hadnât made this thing needlessly flashy.
But in any case, it was indeed time to consider setting off.
The tendrils retracted the eyeball; Fu Qian didnât linger any longer and simply chose a discreet angle to leap down.
The storm had just stopped, almost no one was out and about yet, and with dusk coming on, he really didnât need to worry about scaring ordinary people.
As for the notâsoâordinaryâhard to say.
He landed without a sound. Fu Qian didnât hesitate and didnât even acknowledge the only witness, heading straight off in a certain direction.
...
"Pomegranate juice again?"
You could tell the old lady selling drinks had a deep impression of this particular customer; her gaze followed Fu Qian as he sat down, and she took the initiative, smiling as her eyes narrowed, to confirm.
"Sure."
Fu Qian nodded and sat down directly.
The ground was still wet, but the plastic tables and chairs had been wiped absolutely clean; this professionalism had successfully earned the old lady a returning customer.
While he waited for his drink, Fu Qian, in the same posture as before, fixed his gaze once more on the slaughterhouse not far away, and on a certain figure beside it.
The figure wasnât particularly towering, but just standing there quietly, he was already the very image of imposing authority without angerâeven though Lord Sorondir should, in fact, be genuinely angry.
Yes, that sole eyewitness mentioned earlier was precisely that Siren Demigod.