Xyrin Empire
Chapter 487: The Anomaly at Yododani Temple

Chapter 487: Chapter 487: The Anomaly at Yododani Temple

Yododani Temple was silent, illuminated only by the blood-red moonlight that shone upon the desolate courtyard filled with fallen leaves. The weeds on the ground were at least two feet high, and broken slate stones from an unknown era lay across the doorway, covered in moss and unnamed vines.

A desolate cold wind blew from some gloomy corner, chilling to the bone, with a whispering sound as if carrying the murmurs of dead souls in their dreams—and yes, this metaphor had a basis. Last time I took Sylvanas to tour Avalon, she fell asleep in the Fairy Garden, and the area within a twenty-meter radius around her was swirling with cold wind.

Okay, I digress.

Anyway, the above scene was what we saw after pushing open the main gates of Yododani Temple.

Realizing how bizarre the situation inside Yododani Temple was, especially with the enormous blood moon hanging in the sky, Sandora and I immediately retreated out of the temple gates, and, as expected, the moment we left, the surroundings returned to normal. Not only did the moon return to its bright sheen, but also, when looking through the temple gates, the front courtyard appeared completely normal, meaning that this ancient temple only appeared abnormal through the eyes of those who entered.

"Is this... Yododani Temple?" Emiya was amazed and incredulous, finding it hard to believe what he was seeing. He had been here several times before, and although he didn’t know every plant and stone in the courtyard, he was certain that the real Yododani Temple shouldn’t look like this.

"The spatial coordinates definitely point to Yododani Temple being right here."

Sandora’s face, which had been relaxed and cheerful until now, took on a slight seriousness, "Vega, go outside and keep an eye on that Heroic Spirit, don’t let him escape."

"Yes, Commander!" Scorpion Sister replied loudly and then stepped away from the eerie temple courtyard.

"Is that necessary?" I whispered, "Sasaki can’t leave the mountain gate; we can go back and ask him about the situation anytime."

"If a time-distorted Yododani Temple can appear, then a Sasaki who can leave the mountain gate can also appear," Sandora said, her bright sea-blue eyes peering at me under her bangs, "Ah Jun, maybe we have already started to touch the distorted part of this world."

After Vega vanished from sight, Tohsaka and Emiya visibly relaxed, then four pairs of eyes intensely seeking the truth simultaneously turned to us—including Saber and Red A, they were all quite concerned about Vega’s arrival.

"That one just now, was one of your people, right?" Tohsaka spoke carefully, afraid to offend and provoke resentment from that bizarre scorpion, "Uh, are all members of the Centaurus race like that?"

I scratched my head, "She’s one of my subordinates. That mechanical body is her battle attire, similar to human armor, but for us, such battle attire can merge with the body, or even become another form of the body. And, although she seems fierce, little scorpion is usually quite approachable."

"I don’t feel that way at all," Tohsaka Rin frowned, still haunted by the trauma of having a blood crystal overflowing with energy threatening her earlier, "Hey, alien uncle, is that also from your photography group, or is it from Centaurus sent to eliminate beings threatening interstellar security like wild Ultraman?"

I looked up to the sky and burst out laughing, haha.

I’m sorry, I was wrong. Let’s not continue with that ridiculous excuse. Now every day in Shadow City, there are several groups idly meeting to discuss how their leader came up with the crazy excuse of "photography enthusiasts from Centaurus." It has almost become a daily affair in Shadow City!

"Let me think, those thick and rugged landing pods filled with military features, the occasional display of a hardened military demeanor by everyone but you, even this Sister Tsuruya who’s normally equipped with a military knife and pistol, and then there’s today’s mechanical scorpion calling you and Sister Sandora ’Commander’," Tohsaka wore a knowing face, wagging a finger in the air, "You guys are actually the vanguard of an alien force here to invade Earth, aren’t you?"

"Stop making things up." I slapped Tohsaka’s head playfully and then quickly withdrew my hand: Oops, I was used to knocking on Lilina, that unreliable Fake Lolita’s head. Seeing Tohsaka Rin running off at the mouth, I subconsciously gave her a knock too.

Tohsaka stared blankly at me. Clearly, she wasn’t used to being patted on the head like that. Rubbing her head, she suddenly bowed and whispered so quietly that it was barely audible, "Since dad died, it’s been a long time since anyone has done that..."

Sandora leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Ah Jun, your ’dad halo’ got triggered by mistake."

Was it my fault for having a dad-like face with an affinity over 3000+? And Miss Tohsaka, as a perfectly healthy high school girl, you shouldn’t be seeing a father figure in your friendly big brother here!

This little episode momentarily diverted everyone’s attention from Vega. Though Tohsaka’s tale was sensational, we all knew it was just a girl’s way of easing the tension under this eerie atmosphere. Everyone has secrets, and "friends from other planets" even more so. On this matter, Tohsaka and the rest always maintained a silent understanding with us. More importantly, our usual flamboyant behavior really let off any sense of crisis.

"Is this the effect of magic, or has Yododani Temple been encircled by a barrier?"

After several days of Tohsaka’s rigorous training, there wasn’t much improvement in our magical skills, but at least some theoretical knowledge was slightly clearer. Emiya quickly calmed down after his initial shock and began trying to explain the strange sight from a mystical perspective.

"I don’t know," Tohsaka also couldn’t clarify anything, "Standing here foolishly won’t yield anything. Let’s not split up; let’s start searching from the left room to see if there’s anyone inside."

A prudent plan. Until we understood the principles of this strange space, Tohsaka’s suggestion was obviously wise. No one objected, and we began to cautiously search the ancient temple.

No one, nothing—a total emptiness that completely matched our expectations.

We pushed open several room doors—all were empty. Not only was there no one, but it also looked as if no one had lived there for decades. The dark brown wooden floors were full of black spots from years of decay, the dim corners of the walls were draped with spider webs, the messy furniture was partially decayed and fell to the floor. Through the cracked wooden boards, we could see the nearly fragmented dry yellow papers and other debris. There were several huge cracks on the wall wide enough for a finger, the blood-colored moonlight poured through these cracks casting strange and ominous shadows on the floor.

"Unnatural decay," Sandora observed with a slight golden sparkle in her eyes, "Every object’s molecular structure shows an enormous time gap. That broom has a history of over a million years, while the floor under our feet appears recently formed. This means, time here is an illusion; all the decay is unrelated to the passage of time, as if everything started decaying the moment it was created."

"But on the surface, this place seems like it was Yododani Temple, completely abandoned for about 80 to 100 years," I added, squatting down to pick up a nail, "No rust—it contradicts itself in details, not a natural anomaly generated by the world."

"But what about the people?!" Emiya was anxious about the ordinary people living in Yododani Temple, "The monks, and..."

Sandora glanced at him, "It’s not that bad. The real Yododani Temple has probably just been displaced. At least, that’s what my experience tells me."

"If Sister Qianqian were here, maybe she could see the direction of time here?" Tsuruya, somewhat scared, moved closer and reached out to grip the hem of my clothes tightly, "Brother... I feel a bit cold..."

"Hmph!" Pandora, seeing Tsuruya so openly competing with her for her brother, immediately snorted discontentedly and then decisively squeezed herself between me and Tsuruya.

Alright, alright, the little girl is jealous.

"It wouldn’t make much difference if Sister Qianqian came," Sandora shrugged to Pandora, who had been thoroughly tamed into another creature, then turned her gaze to the corner of the ceiling, "She can see and control tangible time. But the time here is obviously chaotically scrambled. It would be easy for Sister Qianqian to destroy this space... Ah Jun, did you notice anything unusual?"

Following Sandora’s gaze, I saw nothing but a spider web.

Tohsaka showed a slight interest in the names ’Sister Qianqian’ we mentioned, but since our conversation didn’t continue on that topic, she too focused on where Sandora was looking. After a while, she shook her head, "It’s just a spider web!"

But at this moment, I already had a vague idea of what was going on. Under a spiritual connection with Sandora, I could easily guess things she hadn’t mentioned. With a tone of uncertainty, I asked, "Spiders?"

Indeed, there were only cobwebs here, but no spiders!

Tohsaka and Emiya, overwhelmed by the eerie atmosphere we created, shivered, with the former holding his shoulders and exclaiming, "What kind of riddle are you playing at? It’s just that we haven’t seen any spiders! It’s quite normal for there to be webs left behind but no spiders present, right?"

Sandora shook her head and casually waved a hand in the air, immediately conjuring a spherical, pale blue, semi-transparent projection before us. Displayed on the projection was a scene from Yododani Temple, which quickly captured the attention of Tohsaka and Emiya as they gathered around.

"This is my Life Force radar. These red dots are us, and then..." Sandora adjusted the scan to exclude us, "aside from us, all life waveforms have gone silent, and I’ve set this scan’s accuracy to detect single-cell life responses."

An absolute realm of death! In this "Yododani Temple," not even single-cell life forms existed!

"But what about those leaves and wild grasses outside..." Tohsaka was shocked by the startling truth, but quickly found a point for rebuttal. However, the next second, Visca ran dashing into the courtyard, jumping up to me with two leaves in hand.

As soon as the leaves left the illumination of the blood-red moonlight outside the house, they visibly dulled in speed and turned into gray-white ash within seconds.

They were fakes.

"No matter what’s the deal with this space, we’d better leave now," Sandora lifted her head and gazed through the gaps in the broken roof tiles at the enormous blood-red moon, "before the death here assimilates our Life Force!"

Emiya and others couldn’t wait to leave this peculiar space and nodded immediately upon hearing this, while I asked Sandora through our spiritual connection, "Do you know how this scene came about?"

I always trusted Sandora’s extensive knowledge, so I had no doubt that she had encountered similar scenes before.

"Of course, I know why this kind of space was formed," Sandora said, shaking her head in dismay. "But there could be hundreds of reasons, both natural and man-made, and I can’t analyze anything without more information."

Hmm, is this a side effect of being too knowledgeable?

After locking the sniffing system of Avalon’s Leaving World Garden to the coordinates of Yododani Temple, we left this altered space together. Vega was waiting for everyone in front of the temple gate, while Sasaki was securely shamed in energy shackles, his hands tied behind his back and hung at the tip of Little Scorpion’s tail, helplessly swaying in the air as it turned.

The occasional cruel humor of Scorpions was truly chilling.

Seeing Sasaki’s miserable form and the mechanical scorpion’s stern face with a person hanging on its tail made even Tohsaka forget the creepy encounter in Yododani Temple for a moment, covering her mouth and bursting into laughter, while Vega stepped forward unconsciously and saluted us.

"Hey! I mean, even if we’re the victors, isn’t it unbecoming of a samurai to humiliate prisoners of war like this?"

Hanging high on the three-meter-tall scorpion tail, Sasaki’s voice was full of frustration. I held back a laugh, instructing Vega to let him down and then released those shackles, which were actually entirely unnecessary.

"What happened at Yododani Temple? Do you know?"

"Inside there?" Sasaki looked surprised as he turned his gaze to the temple’s large gate behind him, "What happened there... wait, has it been breached already?!"

"Forget it, it seems you don’t know."

Sasaki absolutely couldn’t leave the steps and gates in front of the Yododani Temple, apparently this restriction was quite inflexible, he couldn’t even enter the yard, but now he was able to stand here properly (aside from the mental trauma), feeling completely normal, which at least proved that the person who summoned him was safe. That meant the real Yododani Temple was just replaced by that bizarre space and not destroyed, which meant Emiya could finally relax completely.

"Go back, get some good sleep, tonight was really exhausting." After adding the continuous monitoring of the Yododani Temple space to Avalon’s short-term tasks, I stretched lazily and then gently tapped each of the already yawning heads of Pandora and others, "Go back to sleep."

Little Baobao, Pandora, Sandora, Tsuruya, the four well-behaved babies who sleep on time—if they fall asleep on the road, how would Sandora and I manage to carry them back!

"Sir, should we take this prisoner?"

Seeing that we were about to return, Vega immediately sought instruction on how to deal with Sasaki, her energy scanning radar had already detected the dependency state between this Heroic Spirit and the nearby space. If we were to take Sasaki with us, it seemed we’d need Avalon’s Law to support it.

"Forget it," I shook my head. Earlier, capturing Sasaki alive was just to draw out his summoner. But now, it seems the secrets hidden in Yododani Temple go much beyond a blade carrying Ghost Energy. It truly is a case of the monk may run, but the temple can’t run. Whether we take the Assassin doesn’t matter anymore, "Anyway, neither he nor the temple behind him can run away, and it won’t be long before we come back."

I should mention that on the way back, Visca and Little Baobao fell asleep again, so our diligent Vega had to play the role of a children’s carriage, carrying the two little girls all the way back, a scene Tohsaka found remarkably surprising, earning Vega the temporary buff of "Human Affinity +1"...

Since Emiya Mansion now clearly wasn’t suitable for us to go back and continue our midnight barbecue and building planetary habitats for Sandora to gnaw on steel bars, staying temporarily at Tohsaka’s place became the only choice. This is where you could see a certain impoverished Miss’s sensitivity to money matters; she managed to produce a detailed bill for each of us in less than half an hour, and it was detailed to the extent that you would likely need over twenty lawyers to wriggle out of paying rent. I wanted to cry, holding the "Alien Uncle’s Temporary Stay at Tohsaka’s House Rent, Utilities, Food, Sightseeing, Entertainment, Education, and Tohsaka’s Personal Mental Damage Prepayment Comprehensive Pricing Bill" handed to me by Tohsaka. I felt like her grey twin-tailed Miss’s ancestors might have been planning since the 70s or 80s of the last century on how to extract a fortune from passing aliens to glorify their ancestors. This level of detail... Are you sure you just thought of and prepared this right now?

And the detailed items are one thing, housing and utilities I can accept, but what the hell is sightseeing entertainment? Are you really sure we need these services when renting a room?

"This place is the most important base for magicians," Miss Tohsaka explained confidently to my puzzled look, "It’s not normally open to the general public, and especially not to non-human beings like you. Don’t you think you should pay to visit the base of another civilization?"

And here in my Shadow City, the infantry training ground has been open till now, and Sal hasn’t even paid a penny for the tickets! Should I take this as a cue to go back and set up a toll collection point at the eastern entrance of Azeroth to charge passage fees?

"So this learning... okay, I guess I understand, it’s about learning the precious magic knowledge of humanity, right? But where does this mental damage prepayment come from? We’re paying such high rent, and you still suffer mental damage? And it seems this item only appears in my bill?"

Tohsaka glanced at me sideways upon hearing this, then replied in a languid tone, "As a young and beautiful underage girl, it’s risky to suddenly let an adult man stay at my home, isn’t it only right to get the money before you can make a night attack?"

The heck, sister! Were you an unabashed Red and White in your past life?

"I’m going to stay in a tent!" Frustrated, I threw down the stack of aggravating bills and turned towards the door.

"Hey, wait!" Tohsaka quickly stopped me, then snatched the ledger and swiftly crossed out the nonsensical mental damage prepayment line, "I was still counting on you guys to help with the water and electricity bills this month... Why be so stingy? With your capabilities, earning human currency should be easy, right?"

So it’s because that would be dirty money, making it worry-free to plunder, right? How many days has it been, and our fine Miss has already been led astray by us? (To be continued. For subsequent developments, please log in to www.qidian.com. More Chapters available, support the author, support genuine reading!)