Following the security guard, Luo Shu descended into the wine cellar's Sublevel-1—only to find that Site-91 wasn't what he'd imagined.
There were no deeper sublevels.
At the bottom of the stairs lay only a circular chamber, its center dominated by a square altar. And atop that altar—
A giant slug.
Ten meters long, one meter thick, its semi-translucent white flesh glistening under dim lighting.
Luo Shu activated Enhanced Memory, recalling that this was Anomalous Item-4612-A—the corpse of an undecaying god.
The entire site had been built around it.
And yet, here it sat, completely unguarded, like some discount parade float.
But appearances deceived. Despite its bloated, rubbery look, the thing weighed 26 metric tons.
Once, a GoI faction (Serpent's Hand) had breached Site-91's defenses—only to realize they couldn't haul it away.
More alarming were the thaumaturgic sigils etched across the chamber floor. Either a ritual array or a containment trap—either way, lethal to amateurs like Luo Shu.
As he pondered how to approach, a robed thaumaturge materialized at the stairwell.
"Johnson," the man snapped at the guard, "why are you down here?"
Johnson blinked. "I... heard a voice telling me to come..."
The thaumaturge's gaze sharpened, scanning the air behind Johnson.
But even his trained eyes saw nothing.
"You've been ensorcelled," he muttered. "Report to the Thaumaturgy Lab on Floor 1. Now."
Luo Shu abandoned plans to log Anomalous Item-4612-A. Better to scout the site first—no repeat of Site-33's fiasco.
The Illusion Fades
Back on ground level, Luo Shu glanced at the stone archway to Sublevel-1.
The sigils that had blinded him earlier now lay inert.
So they only block outsiders. Once you've entered, they ignore you.
He trailed Johnson to the manor's main building. The lobby housed a portrait of a wigged nobleman—William Henry Eckhart, founder of the Yorkshire Thaumaturgical Society and the estate's original owner.
Past the front desk, a corridor branched into:
Control Room (tech-heavy, no sigils)
Armory
Thaumaturgy Lab (where Johnson headed)
Two High-Security Units (flanking the hall, laced with traps)
Luo Shu peeked into the lab—standard Foundation gear, just occult-themed. As the thaumaturge began diagnosing Johnson, he slipped away.
Control Room Hack
The Control Room's electronic locks were no match for Anomalous Item-005 (Skeleton Key). Inside:
A wall of monitors covering most of Site-91.
The main server, unprotected.
Weak tech defenses. They rely too much on thaumaturgy.
Luo Shu's Mechanical Eye infiltrated the server, downloading files while he studied the feeds:
Sublevel-1: The "slug god" chamber.
Floor 1: Labs, admin offices.
Floor 2:
North Wing (A): Quarantine for Anomalous Item-5079 ("Lonely Mirage") victims—mutated into human-fungus hybrids.
South Wing (B): Archives & Thaumaturgy Library.
Central (C): Dorms.
Floor 3:
NE (A): Director's office.
NW (B): Staff workspace.
SW (C): More dorms.
SE (D): Xenobiology Lab (40% of the floor), studying Anomalous Item-5079-1 fungal samples and other specimens.
Only six anomalies housed here.
Thaumaturgy's weaker than I thought.
Archives & Library
With documents downloaded, Luo Shu headed to Floor 2's archives.
Among stacks of parchment lay files on Anomalous Item-5612 ("Tragic Misstep")—18th-century vellum scrolls detailing a revenge plot tied to Anomalous Item-4612-A.
But this wasn't some Shakespearean drama.
Both items were anomalous entities, steeped in thaumaturgy.
That's the key.
Luo Shu hadn't come just to log anomalies. He needed to understand thaumaturgy itself.
To stop being blind to sigils.
To see the world beneath the world.