200: Chapter 200 Waiting

Li Xin sat in the second-floor study with an album of historical sites spread out beside him. He had flipped to page thirty-seven but had been stuck there for a long time, unable to turn the page.

Outside the window, the sky was dim, and the streetlights shone brightly, casting a blinding glare onto the gravel path in the courtyard. The air was humid, carrying the scent of rotting leaves, making the back of one's neck feel sticky and stifling.

The old air conditioner hummed, occasionally shuddering. Liu Mo had come up half an hour ago to report that the perimeter was secure: two security guards were watching the front door, and two were guarding the alley behind the house. Ravi was preparing a meal in the kitchen downstairs, and the sound of a spatula hitting the iron wok drifted faintly upward.

He leaned back in his chair, closed the album, and set it on the corner of the desk. The room was left with only the low-frequency hum of the air conditioner.

The System interface floated into his consciousness, and streams of data flashed through his mind. Looking at the descriptions of various treasures, he felt both excited and thrilled. He checked the analysis of the temple.

[Complete Data Analysis of the Treasure Trove in Chamber B of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple]

[Total Capacity: 2850 tons (High-purity ancient divine gold, containing a large amount of gemstones, Magical Artifacts, and royal artifacts)]

[Divine Domain Suppression Effect: Covered by dual Restrictions of the Naga Serpent Deity and Vishnu]

[Global Extraction efficiency permanently suppressed by 50%, cannot be removed]

[Actual Extraction speed: 25 tons/hour]

[Maximum single continuous duration: 12 hours]

[Theoretical maximum output per round: 300 tons]

[Total rounds required for complete clearance: 8 rounds (including 7 forced cooldowns)]

He had seen these numbers before, but seeing them again still left him somewhat stunned.

2850 tons—it was truly a huge surprise.

The only drawback was that due to the influence of mystical religious power, the Extraction speed was halved. Now he could only extract 25 tons per hour, with 12 hours per session, and a maximum of 300 tons per round. It would take eight rounds to extract everything, which, all things considered, would take nearly 8 days.

8 days—to secretly spirit away the biggest Treasure Trove of the locals right under their noses; just thinking about it was thrilling.

Li Xin couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.

[External environmental variables detected to be fluctuating continuously: City-wide large-scale prayer rituals will continue for seven days, with faith energy increasing daily; Divine Domain barrier strength increases irregularly, output stability cannot be guaranteed.]

[Actual output range per round: 180-300 tons; random losses exist throughout the process, preventing stable maximum output.]

Li Xin stared at that line of data for a moment. One hundred eighty to three hundred—a difference of one hundred twenty tons, which meant he could potentially waste several hours every round. This margin of error was ridiculously large, but this was the figure provided by the System, and there was no negotiating it.

He raised a hand and rubbed his temples.

There were two knocks on the door, and Liu Mo pushed it open, holding a rough-looking announcement.

"Boss, just received this." He placed the announcement on the desk.

"The temple management committee has officially issued a notice. For the next seven days, the entire city will hold continuous large-scale prayer rituals. The peak flow of people will be from 9 PM to 2 AM every night."

Li Xin picked up the announcement and looked at it carefully. The text was blurry, and the ink had bled, as if the photocopier were old. The gist was asking the public to cooperate with the ritual activities, to be careful at night, and prohibiting non-religious activities around the temple.

He put down the announcement. "Will there be frequent identity checks?"

"Yes," Liu Mo replied immediately. "During the ritual period, city-wide control will be upgraded, and foreign tenants are easily targeted for checks. Random house checks will be conducted on homestays and private residences along the streets, mainly looking for hidden detection equipment to prevent people from taking advantage of the situation to hunt for treasure."

"We don't have those things in our house, so there's no need to worry about that."

"Right, but being checked frequently is quite troublesome. With us living next to the Forbidden Ground for so long and staying behind closed doors every day, the inspectors might focus on us, which could lead to unnecessary trouble."

Li Xin didn't respond. He picked up the pen on the table and wrote a character on the blank edge of the paper, then crossed it out after writing it.

The sound of Ravi's footsteps coming upstairs drifted from below; he wasn't walking fast. When he reached the doorway, he was carrying a tray with a pot of tea and a cup.

"Mr. Li, I've just brewed some spiced tea. Please try it; it's made the local way with a bit of ginger and cinnamon."

He placed the tray on the corner of the desk and glanced at the announcement on the table.

"You've seen the announcement too, huh? This situation happens every year. The atmosphere in the whole city becomes tenser during the rituals. According to our local customs, this is the time when the gods patrol the world."

Li Xin poured a cup of tea, picked it up without drinking, and held it in his palms. "It looks quite lively. During the rituals, wouldn't those treasure-hunting teams outside have an opportunity to take advantage of it?"

Ravi shook his head. "Yes, every year there are people trying to fish in troubled waters; it's impossible to guard against them all. But the surrounding area is full of religious believers, so in the end, no one ever succeeds."

"So, those treasure hunters will be a bit more restrained, then."

"No, they'll actually watch even closer. Those treasure hunters won't let the ritual phenomena go to waste. They must be planning many actions these few days, but don't worry; there are people in charge of investigating these things."

"Wealth tempts the heart, indeed."

"Who's to say it isn't?" With that exclamation, Ravi left.

Li Xin looked at Liu Mo and asked, "What about those people from the black market?"

"I discovered they are still lurking outside the west wall today. Yesterday, they bribed a child from next door to peek through the cracks in the wall, but they ran away after being spotted by security. Today, they changed their position and are sitting under the coconut tree at the entrance of the alley, pretending to be coconut sellers."

Liu Mo paused for a moment before continuing. "That group of Europeans added new equipment this morning; I heard it was newly shipped from Germany and has higher precision. It looks like they want to seize the opportunity to scout for the Treasure Trove; they won't leave easily."

Li Xin took a sip of tea. The tea was hot, with a strong spiced flavor, and the spiciness of the ginger went down his throat, leaving him feeling warm.

He set down the teacup and looked out the window. The leaves of the coconut trees in the courtyard were drooping, wilted by the sun, and motionless.

He spoke slowly, "If anyone comes to inquire, just say we are here to study the stone carvings of the ancient architecture. Don't worry about anything else, and don't ask about any legends, so as to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."

"Also, tell Ravi that if anyone comes to the door to ask, have him help block them by saying we've been staying in the house reading the whole time."

Liu Mo nodded. "You can rest assured about that; I've already spoken to him. If police inspectors come to the door, he will help explain that you are a long-term cultural scholar focused on research."

Liu Mo still had concerns. "That European treasure-hunting team was scammed by us before. It's already chaotic during the ritual period; they might notice us and are very likely to cause us trouble."

Li Xin leaned back against the chair. "I know."

Seeing that Li Xin said this, he didn't press further.

"What about those people from the black market? They're squatting outside the wall every day."

"Don't worry about them; it's not worth driving them away," Li Xin said in a calm tone. "The shallow-depth detectors they have can't even penetrate the rock layer; they could stare at the wall for a lifetime and still not figure anything out. Just have the security guards keep a hidden watch in the backyard; no contact, no conflict."

Liu Mo nodded and turned to go downstairs to make arrangements.

The study quieted down again. The air conditioner was still humming. Li Xin sat alone at the desk, holding the cup of half-cool tea, looking at the temple spire outside the window. The golden roof gleamed with a dazzling white light under the lamps, and the dense coconut trees around it obscured most of the base, revealing only that pointed tip.

In his mind, the System was still running, quietly. It made no sound, simply calculating all variables in the background.

He finished the tea, set the cup on the corner of the desk, picked up the album again, and flipped to page thirty-seven to continue examining the lines and patterns of the stone carvings.

From the kitchen downstairs came the sound of Ravi chopping vegetables—thud, thud, thud—in a steady rhythm. Occasionally, a motorcycle would pass outside the alley, the sound of its engine approaching from afar and then receding.

Time passed quietly just like that. He occasionally flipped through the album, occasionally used a charcoal pencil to trace a few patterns on paper, and occasionally stood up to go to the window for a while to look at the sky outside. The light and shadow in the courtyard shifted from east to west, the shadows on the ground slowly lengthened, and the heat dissipated bit by bit.

Not long after, Ravi returned. "Mr. Li, I forgot to tell you earlier. After dark, there will be more people on the street, and patrol police are already out. If you want to open the window for ventilation tonight, just pull the curtains halfway; people outside won't be able to see into the room."

"Got it." Li Xin nodded.

Suddenly, Liu Mo pushed the door open and walked in, standing by the desk.

"Boss, the atmosphere outside is starting to tighten. Believers are already heading toward the temple one after another. Several inspection vehicles are parked on the roadside, and police officers are walking through the streets in groups of three or five. Those two from the black market outside the west wall are still there; they changed their spot and are now sitting at the entrance of the grocery store diagonally across."

Li Xin picked up a piece of fish without looking up. "What about the Europeans?"

"Equipment is fully operational. All detection instruments on the hotel roof have been activated and are scanning constantly. Their team leader, Oliver, has been staring at the screen on the roof all night and hasn't left."

Li Xin swallowed the fish and took a sip of water.

"Proceed according to plan tonight."

Liu Mo looked at him, waiting a few seconds, but didn't wait for any more words. He nodded and turned to leave.

Li Xin put down his chopsticks and leaned back against the chair. Outside the window, the sky had darkened, and the orange-red afterglow seeped through the gaps in the clouds, spilling onto the stone-paved ground in the courtyard. In the distance, chanting began—a low, deep sound of many people reciting together, humming like a swarm of bees flying in the distance.

The System interface floated into his consciousness.

[Current time: 20:47]

[Time until early morning Extraction window opens: 4 hours 13 minutes]

[City-wide ritual faith energy continues to climb; Divine Domain suppression increases by 30%. Expected actual speed for the first round will drop to 20 tons/hour.]

Li Xin looked at those numbers, motionless. His hand rested on the desk, his fingertips feeling the warm surface of the wood, which still held residual heat after being baked all day.

[Detection of new high-precision directional capture instruments online from the European exploration team]

[Capable of filtering conventional clutter, identifying sources of false fluctuations, and locking onto fixed-point energy sources]

[First round Extraction leakage and traceability risk: 72%]

[External intrusion detection period detected; suggested to switch the first round of operations to a segmented, small-amount Extraction mode]

[Suggested plan: Reduce total duration of a single round to 2 hours, releasing layered interference waves intermittently every hour]

[Estimated net harvest per round: 60-80 tons]

[Traceability lock probability reduced to: 19%]

He stared at that line of red warning digits for a few seconds. 72%—this probability was excessively high. If he started Extraction at full speed and full capacity, the European equipment would be able to lock onto the villa's coordinates within three hours. By then, the inspectors, the Cultural Relics Bureau, and Oliver's team would all surround him at once; that would be quite troublesome.

He reviewed the second plan again. Segmented small-amount Extraction, two hours per round, with interference waves released in between. With a harvest of sixty to eighty tons per round, he could still clear five or six hundred tons over eight rounds. It just meant stretching the overall cycle by a few days, but the risk would be reduced.

The chanting outside the window grew louder; the entire city district was enveloped in this low-frequency hum. In the distance, someone was ringing a bell—dang... dang... dang—each sound dragged out long and heavy, crashing into the air and lingering for a long time.

Li Xin pushed his bowl and dish aside, spread out a sheet of blank rice paper, picked up a piece of charcoal, and bowed his head to trace lines on the paper. With the first stroke, the starting point was the top of a pillar, following the arc downward in a winding path—it was the pattern from a corner of the temple's outer wall. He traced very slowly, stroke by stroke, unhurried.

If an outsider were to look in through the window, they would only see a refined Eastern scholar hunched under the lamp, tracing drawings of ancient sites, his expression calm and focused.

Yet deep within his Soul, the System interface continued to pulse, all data streams neatly arranged in his consciousness, quietly waiting for that opening time point ahead.

12:59 AM, the window for the Divine Domain transition.

There were still nearly 4 hours until that moment.

He put down the charcoal pencil and flexed his fingers. The night outside had deepened, and the chanting continued endlessly, surging over from the distance like the tide, lapping against the entire city.