Chapter 1196: 375. Clear conscience

No, no, no, that’s not how it is.

Just considering Soul Energy, opening the Pollution Zone indeed requires 2 billion points.

However, if using living creatures as sacrifices in a ritual, then only about 1 million life creatures are needed to open the Pollution Zone.

Noland Lee didn’t have a deep understanding of the ritual to open the Pollution Zone, but he knew that the Undead Cult and the Metal Ancestor Dragon could indeed achieve this through a ritual.

“Knowing these things and then looking back at Tatis’s Revival Festival…I can only say that there is something fishy about the ministers in the Emperor’s cabinet,” he mused.

Noland Lee sighed in his heart.

...

He had become aware of the conspiracy of the Undead Cult and the Metal Ancestor Dragon, but he lacked any evidence to prove it all.

To convince Morster to strenuously prevent the Revival Festival based solely on his own worries and conjectures was like talking in one’s sleep.

It was not Noland Lee’s style to just watch a disaster unfold, especially since he had previously promised the Assassin Angel to delay the opening of the Pollution Zone as much as possible.

He had to do something to report to the Assassin Angel who would appear in the future.

After some thought, Noland Lee had a covert plan in mind.

That night, after finishing dinner with Morster, Noland Lee didn’t return immediately.

He and Nolin each controlled about a dozen Mechanos and rapidly explored along the railway of Revival City.

In this era, the main transportation tool within the Tatis Empire was the train.

If the railway was destroyed, then the speed of personnel movement would be greatly reduced.

How to destroy the railway in such a way as to avoid suspicion and not cause any casualties was an art that required meticulous planning.

The thirty-odd Mechanos dispersed along the extensive railways and flew toward the heartland of the Empire.

This exploration journey lasted most of the night, and finally, as the sun was about to rise, Noland Lee and Nolin found suitable places to sabotage the railways.

These places were all located in mountainous areas.

The railways passed through the foot or the waist of the mountains.

A small landslide could make the nearby railways impassable.

But one should not underestimate the power of the Empire’s workers; at most, it would take three days for the boulders on the railway to be cleared and the twisted tracks replaced with new ones.

To completely sabotage the railway due to natural disasters for an extended period of time, Noland Lee had to control the destructive power so that the tracks could not be repaired.

This required him to use Earth Rock Magic to alter the foundation under the tracks.

An Underground Hollow created by vibration and rainwater erosion could lead to widespread collapse at any moment, undoubtedly putting an entire railway line into a state of crisis.

Noland Lee spent three days altering the soil beneath six railways, creating six Underground Hollows.

Throughout the process, he used the “Veil of Different Worlds” to cover his actions, avoiding detection by anyone.

With the rumbling sound of landslides, the tracks of six railways were buried under huge rock fragments within five days; train drivers pulled the emergency brake upon encountering the obstacle on the route, their souls shaken as they stared at the boulders blocking the way, sweating cold sweat.

The workers who hurried to clear the debris and repair the tracks discovered the Underground Hollow beneath the tracks, and then, the railway was shut down until the hollow was manually refilled.

Within five days, six railway lines were taken out of service.

The rate of incoming population to Revival City suddenly slowed.

Technical officials attributed the natural disasters that occurred in quick succession to the pressure on the railway’s capacity, meaning they believed it was the overly frequent train transportation that caused the Underground Hollows.

Noland Lee was satisfied with the outcome; it was the result he had deliberately sought to achieve.

It’s worth mentioning that he didn’t paralyze all the railways.

Those responsible for transporting soldiers, supplies, and medicine were not affected.

The paralyzed railways were only those used for trade and transporting passengers.

Noland Lee simply wanted to prevent the population from concentrating toward Revival City and did not intend to doom it entirely.

Just when Noland Lee thought his plan was a great success, an unexpected change left him astounded.

The Emperor, who had always been vehemently opposed to wizards entering the Empire, had uncharacteristically sought magic reinforcement from the Ulnas Circle.

A support team composed of Earth Vein Wizards and foreign Metal Wizards quickly arrived at the Empire through the Teleportation Gate, starting to repair the train tracks and fill the underground hollows in place of mortal laborers.

After all, a Wizard is a Wizard.

Following meticulous exploration and detection, they concluded that these hollows were artificially created, and that someone was intentionally sabotaging the train operations.

Fierce editorials appeared on the front-page headlines of various newspapers, harshly condemning the actions of the Undead Cult in sabotaging the train.

Noland Lee couldn’t help but feel a tinge of amusement at the fact that the Undead Cult was taking the fall for him, but he couldn’t truly enjoy it…

He was struggling without evidence to prove the malevolent intentions of the Undead Cult, the Pure Light Court, and the Metal Ancestor Dragon. He could only resort to disrupting the train operations in an effort to mitigate a future disaster.

Now, he was regarded as a potential enemy by the Empire.

“Is this what they call a thankless task?”

Looking at the characters in the newspaper, Noland Lee laughed at himself:

“Forget it. Since I can’t prevent the disaster, I might as well take care of myself. After all, I’ve tried, and I can say I’ve done my part with a clear conscience.”

After some thought, Noland Lee wrote an anonymous letter to Morster, warning them that the polluted Underground River beneath Revival City could become the source of a disaster that swallows the entire city.

Having done this, Noland Lee couldn’t be bothered with Morster’s reaction anymore and completely set aside the matters of Revival City.

Now, all he needed to do was continue working on the Mechanos and patiently wait for the emergence of the “Steel Forest of Mortal World.”

Time passed by swiftly with busy work, and before he knew it, another month had gone by.

In the Fifth Underground Level of Island 33, various kinds of Magic Energy appeared in the weakly glowing Energy Storage Array.

A staggering amount of 300 billion units of Magic Energy lingered there, stirring up an energy fluctuation in the air that was faint yet sent shivers down the spine.

With a single misstep, the place could be ignited by a “Mars,” blasting the entire island into the sky.

Noland Lee had to quickly arrange for these Magic Energies to be taken care of, lest he end up as the headline of the Ulnas Circle newspaper and be talked about as a magic lunatic.

That night, when it was deep and silent. noveldrama

Noland Lee came alone to the Fifth Underground Level designated for ceremonies and teleportation and started setting up the ceremony to connect with the Escape Core of the Plane.

The last time he performed the ceremony, Noland Lee used fewer active magic materials from Outer Space, but this time he had as many as fifteen.

Selena managed to get them for Noland Lee through her connections, even at the risk of drawing the Department of Magic’s attention.

Of course, if they were discovered, it wouldn’t be a big deal, as they would simply pay a fine to clear the charges.

Noland Lee placed the sticky active materials into the Array and stepped into the center of the Array, activating the Soul Gem at his feet.

The murky Soul Energy swiftly flowed along the Array’s Magic Chain.

Noland Lee looked up.

The ceiling overhead gradually became transparent under the influence of the ritual array, revealing a dazzling starry sky before his eyes.

He focused his attention, staring intently at the starlight at the edge of the Starry Sky.

The energy fluctuation of the ritual array grew intense, and all other stars vanished, leaving only the one observed by Noland Lee.

The familiar tadpole-shaped body in his field of vision enlarged, and Noland Lee felt a calling from it.

He relaxed his mind, letting his consciousness drift from his body and float toward the star.

After passing through the purple-black mist, Noland Lee saw the Escape Core of the Plane, with which he had a prior encounter.

“I’ve noticed the Magical Energy and Soul Energy around you, very abundant,” it said.

“The energy needed to cast into the Sub-Dimensional Plane is ready. I will draw away the energy around you. After this ceremony, you will be able to observe the existence of that Sub-Dimensional Plane by watching the stars.”

“I have set a Plane Lock in the Sub-Dimensional Plane that only allows your entry, but this won’t completely prevent other Extraordinaries from entering. If the Wizards of your world are powerful enough, they might enter the Sub-Dimensional Plane before you and take control of it. So please enter the Sub-Dimensional Plane as soon as possible and then seal it off.”

The way the “Escape” communicated hadn’t changed, still conveying several pieces of information to Noland Lee at the same time.

No sooner had Noland Lee finished one message than the next, written in an unknown language, appeared, one after the other.

Meanwhile, the Magic Energy on the Fourth Underground Level of Island 33 converged towards the ritual Array on the Fifth Underground Level.