Chapter 1 When that low rumble sounded, Duncan's attention immediately shifted to the open space in the center of the plaza.

He saw the mottled, old stone slabs suddenly begin to heave and surge like quicksand, and some enormous structure gradually rose from the depths of the earth. At first, a gray-white spire appeared in his view, and after a moment, an ancient, mysterious mausoleum, like a combination of a giant pyramid and palace, gradually appeared before his eyes.

Solemn, silent, and simple, the "mausoleum" building, constructed of some kind of gray-white megalith, stood quietly not far away, like a solidified moment in time, reflecting in this dim chaos. Duncan watched in surprise as this huge building rose from the ground, carefully observing its style and structure with curiosity, only to find that it did not quite match any of the architectural styles of the city-state era he knew.

It was more like the architecture of the Crete Kingdom era that he had occasionally seen in some books.

The soul projections of the Saints in various parts of the plaza also quieted down, and countless eyes couldn't help but fall on the huge pyramid mausoleum. An atmosphere of solemnity mixed with a bit of tension permeated the gathering place, making the scene silent.

Then, after several minutes, when Vanna and Morris began to frown in doubt, wondering if something was wrong, some movement finally came from deep within the mausoleum, and the seemingly extremely heavy stone door finally slowly opened with a low rumble.

The door opened wide, revealing the dark corridor structure inside.

The soul projections gathered in the plaza watched the gate, and the deathly silence lasted for a long time, finally gradually turning into slight commotion and buzzing discussions.

Listening to the low discussions coming from all directions, Duncan realized that something seemed to be wrong. He frowned and whispered to Vanna beside him, "What's the matter?"

"...The tomb keeper hasn't appeared," Vanna also lowered her voice, seemingly feeling a trace of unease in her confusion. "Normally, the tomb keeper should be walking out of the gate at this time!"

Duncan's expression gradually became serious.

As time passed, the ancient and mysterious mausoleum still stood quietly in the center of the gathering place, but the tomb keeper who should have appeared still did not show himself to the crowd—the low-voiced discussion in the plaza was gradually spreading, and this unusual situation even made many people temporarily ignore "Captain Duncan" who appeared in the gathering today.

And some others, instead, subconsciously looked towards Duncan.

Duncan didn't pay attention to the gazes directed at him, but went straight to Helena.

"It seems this is a situation you've never seen before," he said bluntly. "Do you have any response plans? If not, I'm going to go inspect this so-called 'mausoleum.'"

"Please wait," Helena said immediately, then after a little thought, she turned to look at Rune and the others beside her, "...Let's go take a look at the situation first."

"Alright," Rune first nodded, then raised his eyes and issued an order to the soul projections gathered in the gathering place, "Everyone else stay in the plaza and await orders, do not approach Anomaly 004."

After speaking, he turned around and slowly walked towards the solemn mausoleum not far away with Helena, Banster, and Freym.

Duncan thought for a moment and followed suit—Rune heard the movement behind him and glanced back. Duncan casually said, "I'll just go take a look. Don't worry, I won't set anything on fire."

Rune's expression was a little subtle for a moment, probably recalling the great fire at the last moment of Sylandis. Helena hesitated for a moment, then turned her gaze to Vanna. After a little hesitation, she nodded slightly, "Vanna, you come along too."

"Me?" Vanna was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted and hurried to catch up.

Morris and the others stayed in the "safe area" some distance away from the mausoleum, watching the few figures slowly approach Anomaly 004 with some tension.

Duncan followed behind Helena and the others, slowly arriving at the foot of the solemn gray-white pyramid, at the door that was silently open.

The deep, dim corridor stretched far away behind the door. The not-so-bright light dimly illuminated the outline of the depths of the corridor. The interior of the mausoleum seemed to have a much wider and deeper space than it looked from the outside. The corridor seemed to have no end, and one could not see the end in sight.

Freym bent down next to the gate, seemingly carefully examining something. Rune placed his hand on certain positions on the outer wall of the mausoleum. In the vicinity of where his palm touched, faint runes-like brilliance emerged from the air, flashing in mid-air.

Helena and Banster seemed to be silently praying, or guarding against something.

Duncan looked at this scene with some curiosity and couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

"In the ancient years, this 'Nameless King's Mausoleum' had a period of uncontrolled history. At that time, it randomly summoned chosen ones all over the world, causing many terrible events. Later, the Four Gods Churches joined forces to put a layer of shackles on this automatically running ancient 'anomaly,'" Rune casually explained while checking the hidden runes around the mausoleum. "These covenants witnessed by the Four Gods have established rules for the originally disordered 'summoning' behavior of Anomaly 004, which is how the current Xun Clock and Gathering system came about..."

Duncan raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like some kind of containment measure?"

"Just limited 'utilization'," Rune shook his head. "Anomalies cannot be contained, but by mastering their laws, we can minimize their harm and even make them useful—today's Anomaly 004 is still running non-stop as it did in the beginning, but we have found a way to obtain information from it without being killed..."

Anomalies cannot be contained...

Listening to Rune's casual words, Duncan's expression was a little strange.

He thought of the Sea of the Lost—strictly speaking, the current Sea of the Lost is actually in a state of containment, and he, this "Captain Duncan," is the containment condition of the Sea of the Lost.

But this exception happens to conform to the "zeroth rule" of anomalies and visions...

Duncan shook his head, temporarily throwing aside these irrelevant thoughts that suddenly appeared in his mind. At the same time, he heard Freym break the silence in a deep voice, "Looks like there's no problem."

"Yes, everything seems normal," Rune also completed the preliminary inspection. The old elf straightened up, took two steps back, and looked up at the magnificent pyramid mausoleum in front of him, his expression quite solemn, "At least... it is on the outside."

"Everything is normal on the outside—so the problem can only be inside," Duncan said softly, then stepped forward again to the main entrance of the mausoleum, looking at the dim corridor inside the gate that seemed to have no end, "What other plans do you have next?"

Freym walked over. Under Duncan's curious gaze, the silent and tall Senjin Pope raised the scepter in his hand and tapped it on the ground three times, not too hard, not too soft.

The next second, a vague shadow suddenly split from his side, and in the blink of an eye, it solidified and solidified, becoming another Freym.

"This is my historical incarnation from an hour ago," Freym turned his head and casually explained to Duncan. At the same time that his voice fell, that "historical incarnation from an hour ago" had already taken a firm step forward, crossing the gate of Anomaly 004 under everyone's gaze.

The tall figure walked forward in the dimness. Vanna came to Duncan's side, watching him gradually reach the depths of the corridor with some nervousness. Then, she saw this figure suddenly stop at a certain position.

"Why did he stop?" Duncan turned his head and asked with some confusion.

Freym also frowned, obviously not even he, the "summoner" himself, knew why his historical incarnation would suddenly stop in place. He looked at the scene in the depths of the Anomaly 004 gate with doubt, raised his hand and outlined a few runes in the air, seemingly wanting to re-establish the connection with his incarnation, but at this moment, a great unease suddenly surged into his mind!

Almost at the same time, the historical incarnation that remained in the dark depths of the corridor swayed slightly, seemingly slowly turning its head.

Freym's face changed instantly, and he suddenly raised the Pope's scepter in his hand, immediately warning while dispelling the summoning of the historical incarnation, "Be careful, contamination!"

The next second, he decisively cut off the summoning and issued a command to the historical incarnation to disintegrate, but only a fleeting dim light flashed at the top of the scepter in his hand. The tall incarnation standing in the Anomaly 004 corridor did not dissipate at all, but continued to turn its head after a slight sway—

Like a strange corpse, the tall and pale figure turned its head, and the face that slowly turned in the shadows had already begun to show a terrifying and horrifying distortion and a chilling smile. In the dim light and shadow, the tearing smile bloomed in the darkness like a madman's laughter, and layers of whispers, murmurs, and strange howls instantly appeared in almost everyone's ears!

This horrifying and bizarre scene made one's hair stand on end. Banster and the others reacted immediately, instantly preparing to deal with contamination and fight against powerful enemies—although only a historical incarnation had entered the mausoleum, it was also the incarnation of the Fire Transmitter Pope. The power that could make it instantly contaminated and degenerate was obviously extraordinary!

However, at this moment, a tall figure suddenly took a step forward, taking the lead in blocking in front of the gate, blocking in front of the gaze of that "historical incarnation" that was slowly turning its head.

Layers of illusory flames rose from Duncan's body. In the crackling rise of spiritual fire, the ghostly green fire wall almost blocked the entire gate—he stood in the flames, watching the figure that was standing motionless in the distance, already contaminated by some kind of power.

"Why don't you keep turning?"