181: Chapter 181 Reconnaissance Confirms, Three Lines Emerge (2)

Lu Changyuan sat behind the table. He took the incomplete map from the corner of the table—and spread it out.

Leng Feng placed the rubbing Jade Slip onto the incomplete map—positioned exactly where the red circle was marked.

The direction of the altar's stone patterns on the rubbing Jade Slip and the path of the Array veins marked at the red circle on the incomplete map—the curvature of the lines, the angles of the turns, the way they branched—aligned the moment the two diagrams were superimposed.

It was not a similarity. It was the exact same set of patterns.

"Ancient Sealing Pattern." Leng Feng used his fingertip to draw a line across the overlapping position of the two diagrams—tracing from the altar toward the red circle.

The starting point of the line was the dark red protrusion at the center of the altar—the endpoint of the line was the center of the red circle on the incomplete map. The straight-line distance between the two points—calculated according to the scale of the seabed topographic map—was less than fifty miles.

"The altar is the lid of the sealing." Lu Changyuan pressed his hand onto that dark red circle on the incomplete map. "It is the Lock Core."

Leng Feng moved his hand away from the rubbing Jade Slip—then pulled another Jade Slip from the waterproof bag at his waist.

This Jade Slip was the one he had used just moments ago while observing the altar to record the number of patrol teams and their shift change times.

He placed this Jade Slip on the table as well—the records on it showed: thirty-person patrols, random shift changes, contracting stone patterns, and a protruding center.

The final line of notes read: central dark red light source—consistent with the ink color of the red circle on the incomplete map.

"Someone is activating two nodes simultaneously from the direction of the altar." Leng Feng moved his finger from the altar's position to the red circle's position—then paused in the blank area between the two locations.

"One lid—one Lock Core. Simultaneous activation—means the opponent is picking the lock from the outside."

Su Qingli walked in from the Formation Affairs Room—she held the latest page of rubbing records from the Receiving Formation in her hand.

She spread the rubbing records on the table—placing them beside the incomplete map and the rubbing Jade Slip.

"A third node." She tapped the rubbing records with her formation pen.

On the record paper of the Receiving Formation—between the forty-breath main fluctuation (the altar) and the other newly appeared weak fluctuation—a new waveform had been added.

The frequency of the new waveform was approximately once every thirty-five breaths—it was not synchronized with the main fluctuation, but the waveform structure was identical to the main one. It was the third node of the same type of Sealing Pattern.

Its location was exactly in the middle of the line connecting the red circle and the altar.

The three nodes—the red circle, the altar, and the middle node—formed the three vertices of an equilateral triangle.

The distance between each vertex was approximately twenty-five miles.

The very center of the triangle—without any markings—was the deepest part of the Dragon Burial Trench.

The thickest Sealing Pattern that Leng Feng had seen on the altar's stone surface when he first explored the trench three months ago—was the one extending outward from that very location.

Lu Changyuan looked at the three diagrams side-by-side on the table. The incomplete map, Leng Feng's rubbing, and Su Qingli's waveform records.

The three diagrams were superimposed—the three nodes connected to form a triangle—the center of the triangle pointed to a depth of two thousand five hundred zhang into the Dragon Burial Trench.

He flipped the incomplete map over. On the back of the incomplete map was that faint dark brown water stain—an old seawater stain from three years ago.

The edges of the water stain were radial—it had been splashed on. Not a single person from the entire exploration team had come out alive—the incomplete map had been mixed into expired old files and stored in the Grain Supervision Office warehouse for three years.

The person who drew the map had drawn that dark red circle along the bottom edge of the incomplete map—the ink was mixed with extremely fine dark brown particles, and the person who wrote it had a wound on the back of their hand that was still oozing blood.

The person who drew the map three years ago already knew what was beneath the red circle. Three years later—someone had activated it.

Early the next morning. Two thousand seven hundred people stood on the flat ground of the Blue Moon Island Outer Port.

The entire Sin Battalion had been summoned to the gravel beach between the Ring Reef and the sea.

The gravel beach was exposed after the tide receded—after the seawater retreated to the outside of the Ring Reef, a layer of pebbles, worn extremely smooth by the seawater, remained on the ground.

The gaps between the pebbles were filled with broken shell fragments and barnacle shells—when stepped upon, the shell fragments would shatter underfoot, emitting a series of extremely crisp sounds.

Two thousand seven hundred people stepped onto the gravel beach—the crunching sounds spread from the front of the formation to the back, and by the time it reached the last row, the sounds had merged into a single continuous noise.

Behind them were the seven transport ships moored in the shallow water.

The claw marks from the fish monsters on the ship hulls had been repaired with new wooden planks—the color of the added planks was a shade lighter than the old ship boards, which was clearly visible in the morning light.

The tears in the canvas caused by fish-bone blades had been re-stitched—the thread was coarse hemp thread produced by the Blue Moon Island weaving workshop, and while the stitches were uneven, they were sewn extremely tightly.

At the top of the seven ships' masts hung the military flags of Blue Moon Island—the small flags with blue backgrounds and gold edges fluttered in the same direction in the morning breeze.

Before them was the Ring Reef of Blue Moon Island.

Embedded on the reef wall were the Array Patterns of the Geng Metal Sword Intent Killing Array—the Array Patterns extended from the bottom of the reef wall to the top, and the edges of every single Array Pattern reflected a faint dark gold in the morning light.

The outermost circle of the Killing Array was the third phase of Array Patterns that had just been laid three days ago—the Array Patterns left a circle of extremely fine sword marks on the surface of the reef wall.

At the easternmost end of the reef wall's perimeter—the installation location of those four sensing Array Plates—the Array Plates themselves were completely invisible in the morning light, and one could only see the four circles of sealing Array Patterns that the Old Formation Master had drawn before leaving, reflecting a faint glimmer on the surface of the reef.

Lu Changyuan stood on a stone platform protruding from the waist of the reef wall.

The stone platform had been newly chiseled out by Leng Feng yesterday—the stone surface chiseled by the chisel was still fresh, and the chisel marks on the stone surface were uniform in direction, running from the left side of the platform to the right.

The height of the stone platform was just enough for him to see the entire formation on the flat ground of the Outer Port—from the first row to the last row, from the far left to the far right.

He held a roster in his hand.

The roster was one he had recorded one by one at the bow of the ship on the night of the bloody battle on the left flank.

That night, the fish monsters surged from underwater onto the deck—the men of the Sin Battalion formed a formation on the deck, two of the three circles were broken, and the remaining men retreated to the bow of the ship.

Lu Changyuan stood at the stern—he did not participate in the battle from beginning to end, but his eyes never left any position on the deck.

He recorded the names of everyone who took an extra step in their position, everyone whose shield was wedged tighter than others, and everyone whose legs did not tremble when the fish monsters pounced—all on this roster.

The roster recorded a total of two pages—the first page recorded nearly five hundred people, and the second page recorded over two thousand people.

He handed the roster to Commander Cai.

Commander Cai took it. He stood below the stone platform—at the very front of the Sin Battalion formation.

Today, he did not have his pipe in his mouth—the pipe was tucked into his belt, and the bowl of the pipe was empty.

He opened the roster—turning to the first page.

The names on the first page were written by Lu Changyuan with a wolf-hair brush—each name was followed by a line of extremely short remarks.

The content of the remarks varied: some read "Shield wedged in the drainage groove, did not loosen from start to finish," some read "Did not abandon shield when fish monster bit leg," and some read "After the small circular formation was torn open, stood in place waiting for the large circular formation to close, did not retreat."

The most frequent remark was only five words: "Did not retreat."