The perimeter of the small island was fortified, painstakingly constructed by ordinary civilians.
Within the inner circle, however, the members were almost entirely from the Dark Association!
After Ye Cangtian and Huang Wu followed Xuan Jiu through the checkpoint into the interior, they arrived at the Dark Association's stronghold. All they saw were members of the Dark Association wearing masks.
There were at least dozens of Bronze Masked Yellow rank members, and occasionally they even saw Silver Masks passing by.
"You will spend most of your time on this island. Specific tasks will be assigned to you later!"
As Xuan Jiu spoke, he pointed to rows of bungalows in the distance: "The dormitories are over there, four people per room. Someone will arrange it for you shortly. For now, I'll take you two to see Xuan Qi!"
Ye Cangtian was observing everything around him when he heard Xuan Jiu's last sentence. He felt a pang in his gut.
He most wanted to avoid seeing Xuan Qi at this moment. If that person were to see him, wouldn't he be exposed in minutes?
Moreover, after seeing the number of Dark Association members on the island, he knew that even with his strength, it would be difficult to escape.
This was, after all, the Dark Association's base of operations!
Just as Xuan Jiu was leading Ye Cangtian and Huang Wu to find Xuan Qi, a signal sound suddenly came from above the plaza.
"We've been summoned for a meeting. So, you two go ahead and settle into the dormitories first. If you run into Xuan Qi later, have him come find you!" Xuan Jiu said to the two after hearing the signal.
Ye Cangtian secretly breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled, "My lord has urgent matters to attend to. You don't need to worry about us!"
Clearly, this meeting was for the Xuan rank powerhouses.
They, as Yellow rank members, were not qualified.
Xuan Jiu nodded, gave a few instructions, and then hurried towards a building on the other side of the plaza!
...
In a large, temporary conference hall.
More than a dozen Silver Masks were gathered, each discussing amongst themselves. Xuan Jiu scanned the crowd but did not see Xuan Qi.
He patted a Silver Mask next to him, "Have you seen Xuan Qi?"
The Xuan rank powerhouse pondered for two seconds and then recalled, "Xuan Qi, he seems to have gone down."
Xuan Jiu was taken aback and frowned, "He went down himself? Wasn't it said that the passages below are still unstable? It's dangerous even for us Xuan ranks to go down now!"
"Xuan Qi has no choice. It is said that his subordinates are either dead or missing. Coincidentally, there's an ancient ruin, and he has no subordinates to scout the passages for him, so he had to go himself!"
The Silver Mask sighed, "Xuan Qi is really quite unlucky!"
That was indeed the case!
Xuan Jiu nodded, then thought of Yellow Jiu and Yellow Wu that he had just brought in. Once Xuan Qi returned from below, he wouldn't have to risk going to scout himself anymore!
"By the way, they're calling us for a meeting now. Could it be that the ancient ruin can be opened ahead of schedule?" Xuan Jiu asked thoughtfully.
"Most likely it can be opened ahead of schedule! We have to commend the professionalism of those researchers. They managed to shorten the activation time of the ancient ruin by several months in just a few days!"
As the Silver Mask finished speaking, a person walked into the conference hall, and he immediately fell silent.
At the same time, the entire conference hall quieted down.
The newcomer was a man wearing a golden mask. He walked to the front of everyone, scanned them, and then began to speak:
"Some of you have only recently arrived on the island and are seeing me for the first time! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Kurosaki. From now on, I will be in charge of all your actions."
"Perhaps some Xuan ranks are not aware of our objective this time. I can tell you now that where we are standing, there is an ancient ruin below."
"And our goal is to open this ancient ruin..."
...
Ye Cangtian did not immediately attend to the dormitory arrangements. Instead, he scouted the island.
After all, time was tight. He needed to find the missing researchers as quickly as possible and also survey the island's environment to facilitate his escape at any time.
However, although he did not find the missing researchers, he did see some Yellow rank members carrying various scientific instruments.
This immediately made Ye Cangtian certain that the missing researchers were most likely here.
As he continued to wander with the somewhat impatient Huang Wu, Xuan Jiu walked over from a distance.
"Why are you two still here?"
"Oh, Huang Wu and I are familiarizing ourselves with the surrounding environment. After all, we will be working here for a long time, and we are not yet familiar with the place!" Ye Cangtian replied with a dry laugh, his eyes, however, were looking behind Xuan Jiu.
He did not see Xuan Qi!
Xuan Jiu said directly, "You two come with me. Let's settle the dormitory first. By the way, your Xuan Qi is not here. Until he returns, you can find me directly if you have any questions!"
Xuan Qi is not here? Ye Cangtian was inwardly delighted. This was good news!
His current fear was that the man would also be here, leading to a recognition and the eventual exposure of his impersonation, followed by an attack from dozens of Dark Association members on the island!
Now that the man wasn't here, he didn't have to worry about his identity being exposed!
However, he still feigned disappointment and asked, "My lord, where has our Xuan Qi gone?"
Xuan Jiu shook his head helplessly, "Down below. To be honest with you, there is an ancient ruin beneath the island, and our objective this time is to open it."
"Because the situation in the passage is very complex, someone needs to scout the way. Originally, each Xuan rank needed to send one or two subordinates to explore the passage."
He then looked at Ye Cangtian, "However, you arrived too late. Xuan Qi currently has no other subordinates, so he went down himself!"
Ye Cangtian hurriedly asked, "When will Xuan Qi come up? Is it dangerous inside?"
Of course, he hoped the man would come up as late as possible, and even more so, he hoped there would be danger inside, ideally, if the man died inside, it would be even better.
Then, no one in the entire Dark Association would be able to see through him!
Xuan Jiu shook his head, "I'm not sure about the situation below. It might be one or two days, or even three or four days. As for danger, there probably is some! But Xuan Qi is not weak, he should be fine!"
"Alright, you two first come with me to complete the check-in procedures. Don't worry about anything else!"
Xuan Jiu said no more and led them towards the rows of bungalows.
Beneath Ye Cangtian's mask, the corners of his mouth curved slightly. It seemed Xuan Qi would not appear for at least one or two days.
In that case, he would stay for another day or two and strive to find those missing Chinese researchers as soon as possible. Especially Shangguan Yanran!
He could ignore others, but Shangguan Yun's sister was involved.
As a friend, he still had to find a way to rescue her!
Of course, besides finding those researchers, there was an even more important matter, which was to contact the outside world.