201: Chapter 201 begins

The sound did not come from any single direction; it surged in from all sides—low male voices, shrill children's voices, and raspy elderly voices all mixed together like waves crashing against the shore, one after another, without pause.

The window on the second floor of the villa was cracked open a sliver, and the hot wind, wrapped in the current of chanting, crept inside, carrying the mixed scent of incense and dust.

The air conditioner was still running at low power, humming, and as it swirled together with the sounds outside, it eventually began to feel like a constant background noise after listening to it for a long time.

Li Xin sat at the desk, where the items had been rearranged.

The sketchbook was closed and stacked to one side, the charcoal pencils were put away in the holder, and the blank rice paper had been cleared.

Now, an atlas was spread out, opened to the page showing the administrative division map of Kerala, and he had casually circled several place names with a red pen.

If anyone came in, it would look at a glance like he was studying the upcoming travel route—entirely reasonable.

Liu Mo stood guard in the shadows at the end of the hallway, having just made a round upstairs.

The security was all in position: two at the front door, two at the back, and one crouching in the low bushes inside the west wall.

If anyone from the black market climbed over the wall, they would be intercepted immediately.

Everything was as usual, no different from last night.

Eleven thirty-seven.

Li Xin looked up at the wall clock; it was an old-fashioned one with slightly yellowed markings.

He put down the atlas, stood up, walked to the window, and pulled back half the curtain to look outside.

In the distance, the direction of the temple was brightly lit, with patches of orange-red lights connected together, looking like a fire burning on the ground.

Believers sat on the ground in the square in front of the temple, a dense mass of figures; their faces were unclear, and one could only see those shifting black outlines.

White smoke drifted up from the incense burners, rising with the air currents, appearing gray and hazy under the illumination of the lights.

He let go of the curtain and turned to sit back at the desk.

The System interface unfolded silently in his consciousness.

[ Current Time: 23:41 ]

[ Time until the opening of the Divine Realm crossover window: 1 hour 18 minutes ]

[ City-wide sacrificial energy reaches daily peak ]

[ Divine Realm barrier suppression: 38% ]

[ Estimated initial hourly rate: 19 tons/hour ]

This number was one ton lower than estimated in the evening.

Believers were still arriving one after another, and the number of people in the square was still increasing; the peak for tonight might not have been reached yet.

He sat with his eyes closed for a while.

His hand rested on the tabletop, his fingertips tracing the grain of the wood along the edge.

Outside the door, Liu Mo knocked on the door panel twice, gently.

The sound was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet corridor.

"Boss, there's a situation outside."

Li Xin opened his eyes.

"Enter."

Liu Mo pushed the door open, walked to the desk, and kept his voice very low.

"Oliver's group didn't set up their equipment on the hotel roof tonight; they moved all their instruments to the wasteland on the east side.

It's closer to us now."

Li Xin didn't speak.

He looked at Liu Mo, waiting for the rest.

"The terrain over there is open, with less signal interference.

They've set up a temporary tent with four instruments inside, all turned on.

The leader is watching personally.

According to information from informants, this new piece of equipment they've acquired can filter out conventional clutter and lock onto the true precious metal energy underground."

Liu Mo paused.

"They might have already confirmed that there is something in this vicinity, they just haven't locked onto the specific location yet."

Li Xin listened, remaining silent for a moment.

Then he said, "Keep watching, and report if there are any new changes."

Liu Mo nodded and went out, pulling the door shut gently.

The room was left with only the low hum of the air conditioner.

Li Xin leaned back in his chair, and new data popped up in his mind from the System.

[ Detected change in external detection equipment: High-precision directional capture instrument deployed ]

[ Location: Wasteland east of the temple, approximately 1.7 kilometers from this residence ]

[ Can filter conventional stray fluctuations and lock onto fixed-point Soul energy sources ]

[ Probability of source tracing for first-round full-amount Extraction: 78% ]

[ Probability of source tracing for segmented small-amount Extraction: 21% ]

Six points higher than the estimate from the evening.

Li Xin looked at that 78%, not moving.

His fingers, resting on the edge of the table, tapped twice gently.

He looked up at the wall clock.

11:52.

One hour and seven minutes left.

He stood up, walked a few steps in the room, walked to the window, and then walked back.

He didn't look out the window again, just paced back and forth twice.

The temperature was high; although the air conditioner was on in the room, the heat from outside still seeped in through the window cracks, making one feel sticky.

He raised his hand to touch the back of his neck; it was sweaty and slightly damp.

Then he sat down.

The System interface unfolded a new column of parameters in his consciousness.

[ Suggested plan: Segmented small-amount Extraction + Layered clutter interference ]

[ Duration of single Extraction: 2 hours (including two segments of Extraction, 55 minutes each, with a 10-minute interval for releasing interference waves) ]

[ Estimated net gain for this round: 60-80 tons of gold, plus gemstones/artifacts ]

[ Probability of external source tracing lock: 19% ]

He stared at that 19% for a while.

It was neither high nor low, like walking on a slippery stone path, where one had to step firmly with every step to avoid falling.

If he fell, it would all be over.

He went through the procedure in his mind.

Two segments of Extraction, fifty-five minutes each.

Stop for ten minutes in the middle, and the System would automatically release layered clutter interference.

Throughout the process, he would monitor the feedback signals of external instruments; once signs of directional tracking were captured, he would stop the Extraction at any time and extend the release duration of the interference waves.

All operations would be completed at the Soul level, unrelated to the Physical Body.

He could even read books, drink tea, or do anything else; outsiders would not see any abnormalities at all.

12:41 AM.

Eighteen minutes until the window.

Li Xin got up to pour a glass of water, took two sips, and sat back down.

The air conditioner was buzzing, there were insects calling in the courtyard, and occasionally the sound of motorcycle engines passing by outside the wall could be heard.

The tune of the chanting in the distance had changed, from a low humming to rhythmic chanting, as if a group was reciting some scripture.

12:53 AM.

He heard Liu Mo walking a few steps in the hallway outside the door, then stopping.

12:59 AM.

The second hand of the wall clock moved forward, tick by tick.

When it reached the top, it paused for a split second, then continued.

In Li Xin's consciousness, the System interface suddenly lit up.

[ Divine Realm crossover window opened ]

[ Energy gaps appeared in the dual Restrictions of the Serpent God Naga and Vishnu ]

[ Extraction channel established ]

[ Target: Padmanabhaswamy Temple Underground Chamber B Treasury ]

[ Single-time limit: 20 tons/hour ]

[ Extraction started ]

There was no sound.

There was no vibration.

There was no light, no wind, no changes that could be perceived by anyone.

Li Xin sat there, the water cup by his hand was still steaming, the atlas on the table was still open to the original page, and everything outside the window was exactly the same as it had been a few seconds ago.

But he could sense that formless golden current flowing along the crevices of the underground rock strata, silently and steadily surging from the Forbidden Ground of the temple more than six hundred meters away toward this villa.

Piece by piece, gold artifacts were stripped from the floor of the secret chamber; strand by strand, gemstone necklaces detached from their original positions; row by row, ancient gold coins floated up from the stacked chests, all passing through the weak gaps in the Divine Realm barrier, crossing that dark distance underground, and finally disappearing at the entrance of the System space.

Li Xin sat at the desk, his expression unchanged.

He even reached out to pick up the atlas and turned a page, like an ordinary traveler sitting under a lamp, looking through his itinerary.

Fifty-five minutes.

Fifty-five minutes until the end of the first segment.

He filed this time away in his mind, placing it in a corner of his head, and then lowered his head to continue looking at the place names on the map.

Liu Mo in the hallway outside made no sound, quiet as if he had merged into the wall.

Outside the wall, in the wasteland on the east side, Oliver stood in the tent, staring at the screen in front of him.

On the screen was a row of constantly jumping waveforms.

He held a cup of coffee that had already gone cold, his brow furrowed.

"Increase the gain on the one on the left." He instructed his team members behind him without turning his head.

The team member operated the keyboard.

One of the waveform lines on the screen jumped, and the amplitude increased a little.

Oliver stared at it for a few seconds, then slowly put down the coffee cup.

"Damn it."

"What?"

"The energy field underground suddenly showed a weak fluctuation.

Very light, like something is moving... A very small amount, continuously moving, but the source is scattered, unable to be locked."

The team member leaned over to look at the screen.

"Could it be natural geological activity?"

"Doesn't look like it.

Natural activity wouldn't present this kind of rhythmic displacement."

Oliver stood with his arms crossed, his eyes not leaving the screen.

"Continue monitoring.

Once a high-concentration energy burst appears, mark the source location immediately."

The waveform lines on the screen continued to jump, continuously and steadily shifting, never able to converge into a clear direction.

And inside the study of the villa, Li Xin put down the atlas and turned to look out the window.

The lights in the distance were still bright, and the chanting continued to come in an endless stream.

He looked down at the water cup on the table; the water surface was calm, without even a ripple.

First segment, thirty-one minutes remaining.