In the stillness of the night, a sudden and massive explosion rang out, echoing across the entire island and shattering the serene atmosphere.
The birds in the island's forest were startled by the deafening sound. They screamed in panic, flapping their wings and flying off in all directions.
Some timid and foolish birds, acting purely on instinct, tried to flee without paying attention to their surroundings. Collisions occurred mid-air, and they screamed in pain as they fell, then quickly fluttered their wings and tried to take off again—only to crash into their companions once more.
"Whoa!" Not only the birds—many of the island's primitive creatures mistook the blast for a natural disaster and fled in all directions, screeching wildly, as if warning one another.
The explosion was so loud that it felt like a real earthquake.
Suddenly—
A red beam of light shot into the sky, illuminating the entire island.
"What's that?"
Lu Xuan and the members of the Xuan Yuan team had their training interrupted by the noise and all turned their eyes toward the source of the sound.
It had come from deep within the island—the direction they had been heading in.
As the explosion echoed, the team looked up and saw a dazzling red beam piercing the sky like a giant pillar. The island's ground was instantly dyed red by its glow, and even their skin turned a crimson hue.
Rumble— After the red light appeared, sounds of collapsing and shattering objects came from the island's depths. Thick clouds of gray smoke spread rapidly in all directions, rising into the sky.
The red light was so bright that the dust couldn't obscure it. On the contrary, the light made the dust even more visible. Even from afar, the gray particles could be seen drifting through the red glow.
"How is this even possible?"
"Why is that red light so bright?"
"Why did it sound like a volcanic eruption? Then suddenly there's lava spewing upward!"
"Damn, that's intense—just like CGI effects in a movie!"
The Xuan Yuan team stood frozen, completely stunned by the scene unfolding before them.
Lu Xuan also found the red light spectacular—it looked just like a volcanic eruption, with waves of red magma shooting into the sky.
But he knew this wasn't volcanic magma. It was merely a beam of red light.
Lu Xuan recalled how important the inner part of the island was. For such a loud explosion and bright light to suddenly occur, something major had to have happened.
He knew what the true secret of the island was—not the publicly disclosed information about hormone-related drugs.
At the island's core lay the tomb of Egypt's first emperor, Ahmad. It was filled with burial treasures from ancient civilizations.
There could be rare elixirs, magical artifacts—even records of Emperor Ahmad's incredible longevity, possibly including recipes for eternal youth and immortality.
No one knew for sure whether Ahmad the Divine Emperor was actually dead. Historical records stated that a grand tomb was built after his death, involving countless soldiers and laborers. An event of such magnitude couldn't be hidden.
As for the true location of the tomb, no one knew. All the workers involved either disappeared inside the tomb or were killed by the Empress's people.
There were even rumors that Ahmad never died at all. Having lived for thousands of years, he had left traces throughout history and occasionally appeared.
Some speculated that he faked his death, hiding in secret out of fear that people would view him as a monster or god.
To fake death convincingly, he needed a grand tomb. An emperor's tomb couldn't be simple—it had to be filled with treasures and artifacts from his lifetime. Otherwise, if tomb raiders found nothing, they'd know it was fake.
If he had only built a simple grave, future generations might unearth it and find nothing—or detect clues from the remains that something was off—and conclude the emperor had never truly died.
But Ahmad made a public show of his death and built a grand mausoleum. So whether he lived or died, his true identity could remain hidden. Even if he died, he could rest in peace forever.
A figure of such magnitude would have unimaginable wealth buried in his tomb—far more valuable than any hormone-based drug. If there really were immortality pills, it would be insane.
"Something's gone wrong," Lu Xuan muttered after staring deeply at the red light for a few seconds.
The island contained high-level secrets and housed the world's top research teams. So, it wouldn't be surprising if strange events occurred.
This huge red beam and explosion were likely caused by some unknown invention created by the foreigners.
Still, Lu Xuan was certain that the blast was directly connected to Ahmad's tomb.
After all, the tomb was the island's most precious treasure. Everything the foreigners did revolved around it.
Such an enormous disturbance could only be tied to the Divine Emperor's tomb—otherwise, it would be too terrifying to imagine.
"Could it be... they've already opened it?" Lu Xuan's heart filled with foreboding at the thought.
But even if it was opened, the question now was how to seize the treasures from under their noses, not how to break into it.
"The foreigners made a big scene. This is definitely not ordinary," said Leopard, his gaze intense.
Gorilla, the hulking brute, nodded and added, "Yeah, they must've discovered something we don't know."
"What kind of thing could emit such a blinding red light and illuminate the whole island?" Tracker, known for his keen senses, raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
Scorpion observed carefully and said, "A secret weapon? Doesn't look like one."
The red light flickered briefly and then vanished into the sky, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
The distance was great, and without artificial lighting, ordinary people couldn't see a thing. Even the specially trained members of the Xuan Yuan squad could only make out dark clouds in the distance.
"That spot must be four or five hundred kilometers away," Lu Xuan estimated. "Even if we don't encounter any enemies, traveling at full speed will still take us about a week."
"Yeah," Tracker agreed. "Didn't think the island was this huge. We've already gone one or two hundred kilometers from the outer wall, and we're still so far from the core."
"If only we had an off-road vehicle—hit the gas and we'd be there in hours," Gorilla laughed.
Four to five hundred kilometers is like the distance between cities. Usually, you can't see that far. But since the terrain was flat here—no towering mountains or dense forests—the red light and rising smoke, which reached unimaginable heights, were visible even from afar.
"Everyone, stay alert and observe! Starting tomorrow, we'll increase our pace. We must reach the enemy's core area within five days," Lu Xuan ordered.
Now that the red light had vanished and nothing could be seen, Lu Xuan waved his hand and told everyone to rest. They'd assess the situation once they had more information.
"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.
Though all were deeply curious about what that red light was, they had no way of finding out for now.
The distance was too great, and it was night. Visibility was near zero.
With no vehicles, they couldn't reach the site quickly. And ahead of them were sick guards—whether they could even get past them was unknown.
The only way to get answers was to speed up. Otherwise, the pursuers from the core might catch up—and if they got captured, they'd be interrogated.
…
Deep in the island, the castle—which had looked like a city in size—could no longer be called a castle. It was now a pile of rubble.
The massive castle had collapsed. The top two floors were completely destroyed, and the first floor was torn apart into giant chunks.
Due to its enormous size, even broken into pieces, each fragment still held numerous rooms and even people.
The collapse had caused many deaths. But because the space inside was so large, many people survived.
"What happened?"
"How did the castle get destroyed like this?"
"What was that red light? Did the experiment go wrong?"
"This is bad. The castle's collapsed! Quick—rescue the survivors!"
Many sentries stationed outside the castle, guarding against intruders, weren't buried in the ruins.
They were stunned by the sight of the collapsing castle and the red light. Then someone finally shouted for rescue efforts to begin.
No one noticed that in the center of the explosion and rubble, a 50-meter-wide and 100-200-meter-deep rift had formed.
On both sides of the rift, oil lamps were nailed to the walls. Their dim glow illuminated the gorge, making it look like a hallway.
At the end of the rift stood a massive bronze door, split into two leaves, each of them towering—occupying the full 50-meter width of the chasm.
The smaller door that Elder and Dodoro had opened earlier had vanished.
It seemed that this small door was actually the key to the real tomb. Once activated, it would explode, blowing open the surrounding land and space to reveal the true entrance to the tomb.
Poor Dodoro and the other researchers had thought it was merely a destructive entrance, not realizing it was a trigger.
The tomb's designer had been extremely clever. Once the small door was activated, it would detonate, killing all grave robbers. If not for the fortress built with ultra-durable mechanical materials covering the area, tens of thousands of troops might have been stationed around the tomb's gates.
"Keh keh…"
A one-month-old baby hadn't died. It floated in the dimly lit gorge, slowly drifting toward the newly revealed giant silk door.
Above it was a swirling mass of boiling blood—Divine Emperor's blood—now even more abundant, likely also hidden behind the small door. The two blood sources had now merged.
The Divine Emperor's blood hovered above the infant, gently flowing down and fusing into its body.
"Creak—"
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