Chapter 3170: Chapter 3171: Ring Fort

"A secret?" Angel asked puzzled.

Laplace glanced at Glaipnir, then transmitted a message to Angel: "I’ll explain later."

As soon as those words were said, Glaipnir seemed to receive Laplace’s signal and asked Lita: "Are you truly determined to leave the Crystal City?"

Lita remained silent, merely turning his head to glance in the direction of the continuous snow mountains.

Even though he didn’t answer, his silence betrayed a lingering inner conflict.

Perhaps he was unwilling to leave just like that, or perhaps he was quietly hoping for something.

Glaipnir was silent for a moment, then sighed softly: "I understand... follow me first."

Lita was stunned for a moment, what did Glaipnir understand? He didn’t even understand himself...

"Where to?" Lita asked timidly.

Glaipnir: "To see Fata."

Fata was Hiluda’s loyal servant. Since Glaipnir was a friend of Hiluda, he naturally knew Fata as well.

Glaipnir already realized that the issue might be related to that secret... To resolve it completely, perhaps starting with Fata would be the best approach.

While speaking to Lita, Glaipnir took out a thickly bound crystal shell book and handed it to Angel: "This is the exhibition catalog for this gathering, the specific functions will be explained later by..."

Glaipnir glanced at Laplace and Luigi, then continued: "Luigi will explain it to you."

Having made the arrangements, Glaipnir said to everyone: "I’ll go handle Lita’s issue, I’ll be back shortly."

Finished speaking, Glaipnir turned and walked toward the dark tunnel.

Halfway there, Glaipnir turned to look at Lita, who was still standing there bewildered and not moving: "Hurry up and follow... I’m only helping you now for the sake of Hiluda. You’d better not exhaust my patience."

Upon hearing this, Lita, hair bristling, quickly followed along.

The stooped figure and the crystalline boy walked step by step into the darkness, vanishing in an instant.

Leaving behind only a confused Angel on the platform, along with Luigi and Laplace who were deep in thought.

The quiet atmosphere persisted for a full half minute, finally broken by Laplace: "Let’s go. The first encirclement gathering is about to start, I heard from Luigi that you’re interested in the Heart Fire? The Yingji clan has a Senior General here this time, he will only appear on the first day. If you want to study the Heart Fire through official means, only he can grant you that qualification."

"Yingji clan’s Senior General?" Angel: "Is this part of the Yingji clan’s hierarchy?"

Laplace didn’t answer, instead leaving it to Luigi, the expert in explanations: "You could say that, the Yingji clan internally is a very hierarchical group, with a core system similar to the military."

"In their language, Senior General isn’t the most accurate translation, but it’s close enough; they also refer to Senior Generals, Major Generals, and Brigadiers in diplomacy."

The Yingji clan’s hierarchy, explained in terms Angel could understand, is: Soldiers, Sergeants, Officers, Captains, and Generals.

Though it appears as five levels, there is further subdivision. Soldiers have lower, middle, and upper classes, and sergeants have lower, middle, and upper sergeants, but above top sergeant are the third tier sergeant majors; Officers are divided into warrant officers and commissioned officers... Overall, to truly rise from a lowly soldier to a Senior General requires more than just overcoming difficulties; without immense achievements, it might take centuries to reach the rank of Senior General.

Of course, the military-grade system is only for official purposes, ordinary people have a different algorithm.

After explaining the Yingji clan’s hierarchy, Luigi turned to Laplace and asked: "By the way, is the Senior General coming this time the Three-Star General?"

Laplace: "No, it’s a one-star General."

"Makes sense, it’s just a gathering, no need to send a Three-Star General." Luigi muttered, not continuing further.

Instead, Angel asked puzzled: "What’s the difference between having a Three-Star General come and a one-star General? I don’t mean in terms of rank."

Angel, of course, knew that a Three-Star General surely outranked a one-star General, but why did Luigi specifically mention the Three-Star General?

Luigi glanced at Laplace, leaned close to Angel, and whispered: "There is indeed a difference; the Three-Star General is the highest leader of the Yingji clan, and only at that level might one know of the existence of the true body."

"You get it, right?" With that, Luigi winked at Angel.

Angel: "... Got it."

Laplace’s true body always dwelled in the Sea of Void Mirror; even though its power was immense, not everyone knew about it. Even the mighty Yingji clan, only their top-tier Three-Star Generals might have heard of Laplace, while others certainly wouldn’t know.

If it were a Three-Star General that came, things would be much simpler... At least the other party would, out of respect for Laplace’s true body, offer some leeway.

Whereas a one-star General, though standing at the highest level of the Yingji clan, having not reached the ultimate level, wasn’t privy to the top secrets of the Daylight Mirror Domain.

Then, when dealing with them, it wasn’t certain what benefit could be gained.

Having understood the situation with the Yingji clan, Angel then asked: "What did you mean earlier by encirclement gathering?"

"Let’s walk and talk," Laplace suggested.

Angel nodded and followed Luigi up.

They also entered the dark passage, though they entered shortly after Glaipnir, yet after entering, Glaipnir’s presence was completely undetectable.

It wasn’t until they reached the first fork that Angel understood why the presence faded so quickly.

Because with just one turn, they were out of the silent passage, arriving at a huge and bustling ring fort.

The ring fort, similar to the "tulou" structures Angel had seen on the holographic tablet on Earth, spiraled layer by layer, descending a full ten levels.

Each level was brilliantly lit, teeming with people, looking extremely prosperous. In the open center, crystalline suspension bridges shimmered in multicolored lights, adding to the dreamlike vibrancy and liveliness.

Most of the races Angel had seen outside the city could be found here. They moved through the layers of shops, leaving with small packages and returning with large ones, giving Angel the impression of being in the midst of a bustling commercial district.

"Didn’t you just ask what the encirclement gathering is?" Laplace gently nodded in the direction ahead: "This is the encirclement gathering. However, this is just one of the stations."

After Laplace finished speaking, Luigi offered additional explanations.

Through Luigi’s expanded explanation, Angel began to understand the situation.

Inside the Crystal City, there were many such ring forts. According to Luigi’s incomplete statistics, there were at least over a hundred ring forts, each roughly similar, only differing in number of levels.

The largest ring fort was located at the deepest part of the Crystal City and was the main station for this "encirclement gathering."

There, not only were there goods from various races, but also the core exhibition platform for this gathering.

Multiracial regular gatherings primarily traded goods as a minor part; the true core was the exchange of technology and knowledge. The exhibition platform was the place to showcase each race’s core technology.

And all the technologies displayed on the exhibition stand are available for consultation and exchange.

It can be said that the exhibition stand is the real big stage of the gathering.

If the log-in device could be showcased on the exhibition stand, it would probably spread quickly among the races in the mirror. Unfortunately, they do not have a display slot.

However, even if they did have a display slot, Angel would hesitate about going up. After all, the exhibition stand is facing all life forms in the mirror’s races, and once it spreads, the production capacity issue of the log-in device would have to be brought to the table.

Angel hasn’t even solved the number of log-in devices needed for the Tea Party; if there’s another large-scale production of the Crystal Origin of Dreams, he might not be able to complete it in the short term.

Furthermore, Angel’s initial plan was to first spread the Crystal Origin of Dreams among the upper tiers of the mirror’s races and then gradually infiltrate the ordinary classes.

So, looking at it this way, it doesn’t really matter if it goes on the exhibition stand or not.

As Angel was in a daze, Luigi’s voice reached his ear: "What are you thinking about? Surely you don’t want to stay here and look at the goods sold in the shops, do you?"

"No need, the shops here sell little trinkets, and they’re all registered in the display catalog. We should first go to the main battlefield of the surrounding city gathering; that’s where the real rare items are."

Angel snapped back to reality, nodded to Luigi, and then followed along.

After circling around in the Ring Fort, they came to an ice mirror. Laplace gently pushed it, and the ice mirror slowly dissipated, becoming a pitch-black passageway.

Once they entered the passage, the noise from outside immediately disappeared, as if they were cut off from two different spaces.

Previously, when Angel walked into the passage, he hadn’t observed it carefully. Now, looking around, he found that the passage was made of crystal stone, and walking inside, there was a sense of cold gloom.

This cold wasn’t just bodily cold, but a chill that reached deep into the soul. Although this chill wasn’t surrounded by malicious intent for now, Angel still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Could the material constructing this passage be... Holy Corpse Crystal?" Angel asked.

The unsettling and cold feeling one gets in their soul didn’t seem like the effect of ’Unmelting Ice’ or ’Unfired Frost’.

Laplace’s cool voice came from the front: "I don’t know, but even if there is some, it might have only been mixed in a bit."

As the words fell, an almost invisible, ripple-composed barrier enveloped everyone.

"Talking about the Holy Corpse Crystal inside the Crystal City, it’s better to be careful," Laplace said lightly.

Clearly, this barrier was released by Laplace.

Angel nodded, allowing the barrier to wrap around him.

...

At the moment the barrier appeared, in a room deep within the Crystal City filled with floating crystal dust, a group of Crystal Eye Clan guards with dazzling crystals all over their bodies patrolled back and forth.

"We’ve intercepted a conversation mentioning the Holy Corpse Crystal," one guard suddenly stopped and stood in front of a condensed crystal dust.

Merely watching the gathering and dispersing of the crystal dust, they could investigate the meaning involved, a capability only possessed by the Crystal Eye Clan.

"Anything else mentioned?" the nearby captain asked.

Just as the guard was about to answer, they saw the gathered crystal dust slowly disperse.

This crystal dust only aggregates when someone mentions a "keyword." Now that the dust has dispersed, either the other party has left the surveillance range, or they haven’t mentioned relevant words again.

No need for the guard to reply, the captain already understood the outcome.

Just as the captain was about to speak, another guard voiced, "Someone here mentioned the forbidden area and the Holy Corpse Crystal."

"Here too."

"Captain, I also see several clusters of crystal dust gathering here."

Several voices spoke simultaneously.

The captain closed his single eye, rubbing his sore eyes due to days of fatigue: "Forget it, these are just occasional mentions, ignore them. The gathering is about to start, all major races have arrived, mentions of keywords will only increase. Just pay attention to those who continuously mention keywords, and ignore the others."

Having made the decision, the guards resumed their patrols, silently interpreting the information of the gathering and dispersing crystal dust around them...

...

Elsewhere, as Angel continuously traversed through the passage, he suddenly recalled the "secret" mentioned by Laplace during a voice transmission and queried out of curiosity.

"What does Glaipnir mean when he says there’s a secret behind Lita?"

Upon hearing Angel’s question, Laplace fell into silence.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to speak, but she was currently in mental synchronization, communicating with Glaipnir.

It took a full two minutes before Laplace spoke, "Glaipnir did not provide a clear answer about the specific secret, only some guesses."

"Before discussing these guesses, let me tell you the message Glaipnir just sent me."

"The reason Glaipnir judged that there is a secret behind Lita is because she has met Farda and knows something about Farda’s situation."

Farda is Hiluda’s loyal servant. On the surface, she is a servant, but their relationship is very profound, akin to family.

Hiluda’s dearest is Lita. Loving her implies that Farda also loves Lita deeply. This love is no less than that of Lita’s mother.

Lita’s mother, Glaipnir doesn’t know well, so she cannot judge her character.

But Farda, Glaipnir can be certain, she would absolutely not harm Lita.

With this premise, looking at what Farda does seems very strange: Farda actively tells Lita that his mother is about to give birth to a new life, and advises the sad Lita to leave the Crystal City.

The first half of the sentence, that is, the secret told by Farda to Lita, is not important; what’s important is what she wants Lita to do.

Farda wants Lita to leave the Crystal City.

This is undoubtedly Farda’s real purpose.

And since Farda wouldn’t harm Lita, her desire for Lita to leave the Crystal City is very intriguing.

Could there be a crisis in the Crystal City that makes Farda want Lita to leave no matter what?

Also, considering Lita’s mother, who suddenly changed her attitude towards Lita and even began preparing to give birth to a new child, it becomes even more intriguing.

All these strange aspects point to one answer: Lita is in danger.

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