Wasteland Hideout: Upgrading from the Sewers

[Player ID "Yu Yuan Shelter" detected, possesses highest authority over the Civilization Relic, meeting entry requirements for "The Slumbering Depths"]

As this notification appeared.

The tallest structure of the Morphis Civilization Relic, a tower crafted like a work of art from unknown shells, carapaces, and bones.

After waiting for an unknown length of time, it finally welcomed its first visitor.

Blue grid energy networks emerged across the tower's surface, then rapidly receded.

Yu Yuan stepped forward and placed his hand on the oval, shimmering door assembled from countless shells.

On the translucent, pale golden door, patterns flowed slowly, brightening and dimming like breaths.

With a click, the door swung open slowly.

Revealing the scene behind it—a circular hall.

The floor of the first hall was paved with some kind of stone, bearing fine textures, giving a slight spring underfoot, like stepping on a thick cashmere carpet.

With each step, faint ripples spread across the floor.

The wall tiles were smooth as mirrors, emitting a gentle, milky-white glow that wasn't glaring but bright enough to illuminate every corner of the hall.

Yu Yuan looked up and saw a translucent dome.

Light from the second floor filtered through the dome, casting the statue of a man wearing a monocle and holding a thick leather-bound book in the center of the first hall into brilliant relief.

Text was engraved beneath the statue.

—The greatest pioneer of biological civilization [Mortarian]

But beneath that line, there was another line of small, delicate handwriting.

—Hmph, he should be the most shameless founder! o(︶︿︶)o

The author of the second line was clearly a woman.

Yu Yuan keenly sensed a whiff of gossip and immediately examined the statue front and back in detail, but found no third message.

"Tsk, that's it!" Yu Yuan showed disappointment.

The first floor held nothing of value besides the statue, so Yu Yuan headed to the second floor.

The second floor was similar to the first—also a hall.

But here, the walls were alive. Fungal threads of different colors were stitched together, forming naturally growing patterns that shifted slowly like flowing clouds.

The air carried a faint scent of grass and wood.

One corner of the hall was arranged like a rest area.

But strangely, the decor here was markedly different from elsewhere.

It was saturated with a rich fantasy style.

A dark bookshelf was filled with thick books—not many, just a few dozen.

Beside the bookshelf were a fireplace and a desk.

The desk was covered with a thick, dark purple velvet tablecloth.

On it rested a crystal ball, a pendulum, golden candlesticks, and a deck of cards.

And beneath the cards was a piece of paper, already somewhat yellowed.

By the window next to the desk sat a vintage astronomical observation telescope.

Yu Yuan stepped forward to examine the paper's contents, but perhaps due to age,

most of the handwriting was blurred and illegible.

Only the middle line was barely discernible.

Yu Yuan strained to make it out.

—[Civilization... deviation... new order established from... old civilization...]

The meaning of this sentence was easy to understand.

These words had existed for a very long time, but since Mortarian had preserved them until now, the contents of this paper couldn't be random scribbles.

So was this a prophecy or a conclusion?

And what did the so-called civilization deviation refer to—Mortarian's biological civilization, or the entire Civilization Ladder?

What were the old civilization and the new order?

Yu Yuan felt he might have touched upon a deep secret of the Civilization Ladder.

Unfortunately, it was just a vague piece of information.

It wasn't enough to provide any valuable clues.

But soon, his gaze froze on the very bottom of the paper.

He hadn't noticed it before, but now he saw it.

Below was another clear word—a name.

And it was a name he had seen, even heard, several times before.

—Absinthe

"Absinthe... one of the legendary Four Horsemen, Absinthe."

Yu Yuan looked back at the line above.

"This line was left by Absinthe!"

The Potion Witch Amena was Absinthe's trusted assistant, and now it was clear that this civilization relic's owner, Mortarian, also had an inextricable, obviously deep, connection with Absinthe.

Yu Yuan noticed that the handwriting on this paper was similar to the handwriting on the bottom line of the statue on the first floor.

The message on the statue was clearly also left by Absinthe.

Plus, there was a reading room here specifically reserved for her by Mortarian.

And when he first entered this civilization relic and locked eyes with the Rotten Eye, the knowledge that appeared in his mind also contained information about Absinthe.

"Whoa!"

Could Mortarian and Absinthe be lovers?

That was very possible!

Yu Yuan hadn't expected to stumble upon such an earth-shattering piece of gossip.

And this Absinthe was likely an existence above Gold rank as well.

Yu Yuan couldn't wait to open the Shelter Memo and record his discovery.

Then, he began examining the item descriptions that appeared here.

The astronomical telescope by the window was, as Yu Yuan had predicted, a Legendary-tier item—Absinthe's star-gazing scope.

Its properties and effects were almost entirely related to prophecy and star observation. Not only did it increase prophecy success rates and the detection rate of dangerous or unknown events, it also had an early warning function.

Next was the blurred paper, classified as a [Special] item.

Its description read: Perhaps a prophet could interpret these contents.

Seeing this, Yu Yuan was basically certain that Absinthe's identity was a great existence in the field of prophecy.

Unlike the paper on the desk, the bookshelf was an Epic-tier item that preserved, protected from insects, and resisted moisture for the books stored on it.

A faint film also covered the bookshelf's surface for protection.

But under Yu Yuan's highest authority, he easily eliminated the protective film.

He saw the books stored inside.

Sure enough, just as Yu Yuan had expected.

They were all books related to prophecy and occultism, with only a very small portion covering potions, alchemy, and biology.

Yu Yuan randomly pulled out two books to examine. They bore no author names, but had a "Compiled by" column.

The name that appeared was none other than [Absinthe].

The compiler of those two potion books was also a name Yu Yuan was familiar with—Amena.

Yu Yuan was no longer surprised.

All these books were of Epic-tier quality.

Yu Yuan naturally wouldn't pass them up.

He packed up everything, including the tables and chairs.

He didn't even spare the velvet tablecloth.

After triple-checking that nothing was left behind, Yu Yuan's gaze turned to the stairs leading to the third floor.

What kind of surprises awaited him there?

Yu Yuan had a feeling that this exploration might finally let him truly touch upon some unknown secrets...

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