Chapter 126: River of Three Ways

Thanks to Iwen, my relatively composed second sister of the Puppeteer Clan, though Iriush had a mind for mischief, she ultimately couldn’t pull it off.

While she was forced to obediently take out some sort of gadget resembling a hairdryer to quickly dry herself and put her clothes back on, several girls led by Little Dragon Daughter plopped down into the water that Miss Vilyric had just clambered out of, and no one was left behind.

This time, from the perspective of an observer, Vilyric finally saw how they had fallen.

It was simple; they had passed directly through the stone wall above, which turned out to be fake.

Aside from Xiao Guang, who reacted the fastest and unfurled her dragon wings in midair to stabilize her balance, the other girls all fell into the water in various clumsy poses, spinning around like a headless chicken before slowly crawling back to the shore, drenched.

“Ouch… what in the world is this…”

With Edwina’s help, Tilysha finally managed to return to the shore, leaning against the stone wall and curling up while using the drying magic she learned from the Winged People, still a bit dazed and complaining softly.

She wasn’t alone in her confusion; Vilyric and the others, including Little Dragon Daughter, were busy dealing with their wet clothes and bodies while casting curious glances around or looking up at the seemingly impenetrable stone ceiling.

Clearly, they were all starting to notice the problem.

Seeing everyone like this, Miss Iwen, who had already dealt with her own moisture, didn’t put on airs this time but instead smiled and explained.

“This is a special material created by our ‘Father,’ known as ‘Magic-Melting Alloy.’ It spontaneously determines the type of magical power it’s in contact with and blocks certain specific targets. Um… do you all understand what I mean?”

“Magic-Melting Alloy? That’s a strange name… but we clearly… when we were taking a bath yesterday…”

Having just been reprimanded, Iriush waved her hand cheerily, interrupting the Mage Wolf, who was trying to dry the Little Wolf Cub’s fur and was hesitating to speak.

“It’s simple! It’s a partition; I added a partition! The bottom of the spirit pool has two layers, and the top layer is retractable!”

“Exactly!”

Miss Iwen nodded as well.

Magic-Melting Alloy…

This naming style is quite reminiscent of a person who crossed over, isn’t it?

Though I couldn’t grasp how it worked, since they could create something as incredible as a Puppeteer, a few metal plates that only prevented water wasn’t that surprising.

Vilyric glanced around.

The environment here resembled an underground waterway, the damp gray walls occasionally dripping liquid, producing a sound like raindrops, as a stream-like underground river flowed around the corner, merging into the pond where they had previously fallen.

This underground river had evidently existed for quite some time, with signs of stalactites already appearing in certain places, which was not a natural wonder that could be completed in just a century.

Strangely, the temperature here was inexplicably high; although it was already deep autumn outside, here, even when soaked, they felt no chill, but instead began sweating as if there were some sort of natural heater continuously emitting energy beneath their feet.

In fact, Vilyric had already personally felt that the underground water here was warm, no wonder the area above had turned into a hot spring.

However, this warmth was within the body’s tolerable range; there were no ordinary folks here, and even if it was uncomfortable, by releasing their magical energy, they could temporarily block the heat’s invasion to some extent.

Leading everyone along the flowing waterway, Iwen softly explained.

“This place wasn’t built by our Puppeteer Clan; over a hundred years ago, when we moved here, it was still a dense forest. Initially, we just took a liking to the seclusion, and it wasn’t until long after settling down that we discovered such a vast and strange space beneath the forest, and…”

At this point, Iwen suddenly fell silent, not because she was trying to keep secrets, but presumably because she thought it would be more intuitive for everyone to see it for themselves.

In the midst of their conversation, they had arrived at what seemed to be an unremarkable stone wall, and Iwen seemed unfamiliar with it; after searching for a bit, she finally pressed her hand against a certain spot on the wall.

In the stillness, only the sound of dripping water echoed in the underground, when suddenly a cold mechanical voice rang out.

“Access request detected; identifying individual target, fingerprint scanning…Fingerprint model not obtained, iris scanning… Iris model not obtained; recognition process error… Activating backup logic code… Activation successful; identified as humanoid bionic magic doll, conducting full body scan.”

“Eh? What is this thing?!”

“Miss Iwen? Are you alright…”

The sudden intrusion of this voice startled everyone; only Iwen and Iriush, who had anticipated this, remained calm, with Iriush grinning and pointing at the red light emerging from the transformed wall, explaining to Iwen, who was being scanned.

“Nothing to worry about; this thing isn’t very intelligent. It always goes through this routine, but at least it recognizes us.”

Saying this, she tilted her head in seeming disappointment.

“Eh? Vilyric, why are you so calm? We were all scared when we first encountered it.”

“It’s not like you want to see me panicking, do you…”

The Priestess shook her head helplessly, choosing not to engage with the chaos-loving Iriush.

She was, of course, quite surprised, but to be honest, she wasn’t entirely unprepared; after all, she had already heard a similar mechanical voice when she went to find the malfunctioning Iriush yesterday.

Having crossed over with memories from Blue Star, she wasn’t as foreign to machinery as the world’s native residents; from the moment she learned about that so-called Magic-Melting Alloy, Vilyric had already guessed that something like this might appear.

Plus, with the Divine race’s excellent psychological resilience, it was only natural for her to stay calm.

After a brief exchange, the red monstrosity that was scanning Iwen—though others might find it unfamiliar, Vilyric could clearly tell it was indeed something like an electronic eye—finished its workflow and emitted a cold, crisp mechanical voice once more.

“Scanning complete. Identity recognition complete. Individual name determined—‘River of Three Ways’ project bionic magic doll No. 0003; access permitted, defensive measures disarmed.”

After speaking, the glowing electronic eye quickly dimmed, retracting back into the wall, and the metallic door disguised as a stone wall silently opened before Iwen.

Wow, what a vibe!

Without mentioning others, the electronic eye just mentioned the “River of Three Ways,” a term that represents ‘the underworld’ and ‘rebirth’ in Blue Star; could this be the plan that Iwen spoke of, formulated by their ‘Father’ in an attempt to revive his beloved?

Adding to the fact that this electronic eye’s AI recognized Iwen…

It implies that this place is, in fact, a secret base once created by that ‘Father’?

   

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