85: Awakening under the gun

Inside the Spire, a deathly silence reigned.

Only Wang Dalong's heavy panting and the faint hum of the internal energy coils from two Gauss Pistols broke the quiet.

"Brother Feng... I... I'm sorry..." Wang Dalong's voice was choked with tears. He didn't dare look back, his body stiff as a rock. "I was too careless... I thought he was injured..."

Lin Feng's gaze shifted from Juan's venomous face to the Team Leader's.

"How did you get in?" he asked, his voice unnervingly calm.

The Team Leader sneered, seeming to relish the feeling of being in complete control.

"That door is indeed impressive. But in the end, it's a mechanical construct. As long as it's mechanical, it has its operating principles." He kicked the floating staircase at his feet. "We don't have your 'talent' for deciphering star charts, but we have a more direct method."

He paused, savoring the grim expressions on Lin Feng and Wang Dalong's faces, then continued:

"We just waited patiently outside the door for a while. Then, we used High-explosives to blast the door seam open a little. Of course, we have to thank your companion. His panicked escape confirmed for us that there were no second-wave traps in the Passageway."

Lin Feng's heart sank.

He had considered countless possibilities, but never anticipated the enemy would use such a simple, brutal method. Even more, he hadn't imagined that his own desperate flight to buy time would become a stepping stone for them.

"What do you want?" Lin Feng stared at him, asking word by word.

"Us?" The Team Leader seemed to find the question amusing. "From the very beginning, our objective has been only one."

His gaze passed over Lin Feng's shoulder, landing on the area behind the Platform, the Spire's innermost core, encircled by countless Streams of Light.

"'The eye of omniscience'."

When those four words left his mouth, Lin Feng's pupils contracted sharply.

They knew that name.

This meant Osiris's understanding of this place was far deeper than he had imagined! He had likely already decippered some of the secrets of El Dorado through certain channels long ago; he was just missing the 'key' and the 'map' to find this place.

And Lin Feng, after painstakingly solving all the puzzles, had ultimately become the one to lead him here.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lin Feng replied expressionlessly. It was a reflexive response; he absolutely could not let them obtain what they wanted so easily.

"Don't know?" Juan let out a venomous, cold laugh, pressing the muzzle of his gun against Lin Feng's forehead. "Lin Feng, stop playing games! Back at the Exhibition Hall, we knew you were interested in that Notebook. Mr. Osiris anticipated long ago that you would definitely find this place!"

"Every one of your livestreams, every move you made, was under the master's watch. Did you think you were safe just by turning off the stream? How naive!" Juan's tone was full of the thrill of revenge. "That Carlos from whatever Foundation, that version of me eaten by the Emperor Crocodile... they were all just parts of the plan! All to make you lower your guard, to make you willingly lead us here!"

Wang Dalong listened, dumbstruck. He finally understood that from the moment they were in Brasília, they had fallen into an elaborately set, enormous trap.

Lin Feng's heart sank lower and lower.

He finally understood now why the difficulty and reward of this mission were so high. This was no simple treasure hunt or expedition; it was a direct confrontation with one of the world's most powerful secret organizations.

"It seems you have no intention of cooperating," the Team Leader said, his patience apparently exhausted.

He raised his gun, aiming it at Wang Dalong's knee.

"I'll give you three seconds. Tell me where the 'eye of omniscience' is. Otherwise, your friend will first become a cripple, and then, a corpse."

"Three."

The cold countdown began.

Wang Dalong trembled with fear, but he gritted his teeth and, surprisingly, did not beg for mercy.

"Brother Feng! Don't worry about me! Don't tell them!" he roared.

"Two."

The Team Leader's finger was already resting on the trigger.

Lin Feng's mind raced.

Everything from the illusion, that enormous device bearing an entire civilization, flashed through his mind.

He could not let the final legacy of the Zhuojin Star people fall into the hands of a madman like Osiris.

But neither could he stand by and watch Wang Dalong die before his eyes.

"One."

"Wait!"

At the instant the Team Leader was about to pull the trigger, Lin Feng spoke.

"I'll take you there," he said, his voice betraying no emotion.

"Brother Feng!" Wang Dalong cried out in despair.

The smile on the Team Leader's face widened.

"A wise choice," he said, lowering his gun but not letting his guard down. "Lead the way, my treasure-hunting master. I hope you won't try any more tricks."

Lin Feng didn't speak. He turned and, under the threat of Juan's gun, walked toward the deep recesses of the Platform, toward that area encircled by Streams of Light.

Passing through a shimmering, radiant curtain of light, they arrived at the very top floor of the Spire.

An unimaginably massive, bizarrely shaped device that defied description appeared before them.

It resembled an inverted giant tree made of metal and crystal. Countless unknown cables extended from the "roots," connecting to every structure of the Spire. At the center of the "canopy" was an enormous sphere of pure energy, emitting a soft white light.

That was the core of the "eye of omniscience."

"This is what you're looking for," Lin Feng said calmly, pointing at the colossal device.

Greed flashed simultaneously in the eyes of the Team Leader and Juan. They could sense the terrifying level of energy contained within that device.

"How do we use it?" the Team Leader asked eagerly.

Lin Feng was silent for two seconds. Then, a bold and risky plan instantly took shape in his mind.

He turned his head, looked at the two men, and, in an utterly flat tone, uttered a carefully crafted lie.

"It's simple."

"You just need to lie down inside that Energy Sphere at the center, and you will obtain what you desire... infinite knowledge."