Crying, wailing...
Ever since stepping onto the passageway, countless strange noises had been ringing ceaselessly in Leilin's ears.
And the secret that Robin had kept for so long was about to be revealed before Leilin's eyes.
"I had a feeling that last expedition wasn't as simple as it seemed..."
Leilin kept watch on both sides of the road while his mind churned over other matters.
"Robin was far too eager during that expedition into the Quicksand Realm, and his knowledge of that realm was definitely not something an inside informant could have brought out. In fact, I suspect he already knew what was inside the Quicksand Ancient Castle — he went there specifically for that very thing..."
After seeing today's mural, Leilin felt even more certain of his judgment.
"Robin's family clearly inherited something, and they may even have connections to the Quicksand organization..."
After the long passageway came two rows of small cells resembling prison compartments.
The walls of these compartments were covered with intricate magical array runes, and Leilin even recognized many of the spell patterns — they were virtually identical to the binding rooms in his Wizard Tower.
"So many binding rooms!" Leilin stared at the seemingly endless rows of cells, and through the bars he could make out faint human silhouettes inside. "How many people does he intend to imprison?"
Leilin thought for a moment, then walked up to one of the compartments.
"Foreign intruder detected. Immediate alert. Initiate destruction protocol!"
The moment Leilin released his Shadow Concealment, a deep male voice rang out — it was the array spirit managing this area, a being similar to a tower spirit.
"Chip!" Leilin said flatly.
"Detecting opponent's spiritual power interface. Executing forced override!" The Chip's voice remained as mechanical as ever, utterly devoid of emotion.
But the male voice on the other end immediately began to fluctuate, turning hoarse.
"Foreign spiritual power intrusion detected! First-level alert!"
"Defenses breached. Initiating second-tier firewall measures! Synchronized alarm! Engaging self-destruct sequence!"
"Foreign spiritual power has infiltrated the central array spirit — alert! Alert!"
"Initiating self-destruct. Countdown: three, two... Alert canceled. All systems nominal. Intercepting outbound spiritual power data. Confirming no information leakage!"
The array spirit's voice was first panicked and hoarse, then became intermittent, and finally, after a burst of flashing light, grew clear again — though the voice had been replaced by the Chip's distinctive mechanical tone.
An intelligence of this level was no match for Leilin's Chip. Breaching it was simply a matter of time.
The manager of this area had now changed from the array spirit to Leilin's Chip.
Once he had taken over the permissions, this place had become Leilin's personal garden — even Robin outside had been kept in the dark.
As Leilin's strength continued to grow, the Chip's capabilities kept expanding as well, to the point where it could be projected outward to seize control of an array spirit entirely.
Of course, today had been a stroke of luck — he had dealt with the array spirit in time. Otherwise, most array spirits would have promptly self-destructed, or even alerted their master outside, leaving Leilin with nothing to show for his efforts.
Moreover, Robin's array spirit was relatively low-level. If it had been a core array spirit laid down by a Dawn Star Wizard, the Chip would not have gotten off so easily.
But now, Leilin was the one calling the shots here.
"Cell 0023 — open observation window!" At Leilin's command, a beam of white light immediately shone down into the binding room before him, dispelling the previous gloom.
The prisoner appeared before Leilin's eyes.
"Hm? This person..." Leilin's pupils contracted sharply. "I've seen him before..."
Before him stood a warlock — more precisely, a Comoin Giant Snake warlock.
The bond between bloodlines could never be mistaken, and the man's appearance was quite pitiful. He was nearly naked, clad only in a tattered scrap of hemp cloth, and his body was covered in grievous wounds.
Flesh buds squirmed over the wounds, slowly knitting them back together — a sight that was more than a little nauseating.
"No... don't come again, you demon..." The warlock's mouth produced a faint, hoarse murmur.
"I'm not Robin," Leilin said lightly, clearing his throat.
Inside the binding room, the warlock raised his head, revealing a strikingly beautiful face. The moment he saw Leilin, a glimmer of hope sprang to life in his previously dead-gray eyes.
"Save... save me! Please, I beg you, save me! Lord Leilin!"
He looked like a drowning man clutching at his last straw, wriggling his way to the front of the binding room.
Only then did Leilin notice that both of the warlock's legs were gone entirely — he had been reduced to a cripple.
A regenerative limb spell or a Holy Potion could repair such damage, but Robin would hardly have been so charitable.
"Tell me what happened. Why are you here?" Leilin's face was dark as iron, his voice deep and low.