After the four of them enjoyed a delightful meal, Xiao Xiao and Qiao Ying continued to study the somewhat messy painting, while Ye Feng and Jiang Si Shan relaxed on the balcony.
"Si Shan, Xiao Xiao said you had something urgent to discuss with me?"
Ye Feng took a sip of ice-cold cola, looking at Jiang Si Shan with a questioning gaze.
Jiang Si Shan did not answer immediately. He frowned, looking at the distant night sky, his expression hesitant.
"Ye Feng... I received some very bad news today..."
As he spoke, Jiang Si Shan took a large gulp of ice-cold cola and slowly said, "Ye Feng... I've gathered some information about Ares, the God of War... The divine messenger Ares sent this time... is Tuo!"
"Huh? Tuo?"
Ye Feng turned his head, looking at Jiang Si Shan with surprise.
"Mhm!"
Jiang Si Shan nodded. "I'm not entirely clear about the specifics... I just know that Tuo somehow gained Ares's trust and became his divine messenger... I heard he doesn't even respect the City Lord anymore..."
"A divine messenger... No wonder Tuo had the Spear of War before..."
Ye Feng frowned slightly.
"Ye Feng, if Tuo truly possesses the Spear of War, then he's likely more than just a simple divine messenger... Aren't you... worried...?"
Jiang Si Shan looked at Ye Feng hesitantly.
"I am a bit... That Tuo is quite insidious..."
Ye Feng nodded seriously.
"I'm not talking about that... Forget it... Perhaps I understand why Bing would... "
Jiang Si Shan sighed, feeling admiration for Ye Feng in his heart.
He had originally meant to ask if Ye Feng was afraid and would no longer insist on finding Bing. After all, if it were someone else, knowing they might face the legendary gods and that the opponent had actually sent a divine messenger, they would have long since fled.
Afterward, Jiang Si Shan chatted with Ye Feng for a while longer before leaving with a heavy heart.
...
"Xiao Xiao, has Shen Botian come to see me?"
Ye Feng, still on the balcony, turned his head and spoke to Xiao Xiao inside the living room. The news from Jiang Si Shan had made him feel a sense of urgency about cultivating in the Calamity Fire.
"Shen Botian? Is that Sister Yun Yao's grandfather? No, he hasn't!"
Xiao Xiao looked up at Ye Feng, recalled for a moment, and replied.
"Is that so..."
Ye Feng looked up at the night sky, frowning slightly.
"Big Brother... Senior Shen Botian came, but Sister Yun Yao didn't know about it... I just heard her say today that she misses home and her grandfather..."
At this moment, Xiao Xiao ran to Ye Feng's side and said crisply.
"Shen Botian came secretly... It's normal for Yun Yao not to know. Let's not tell Yun Yao for now... Shen Botian must have his reasons..."
After speaking, Ye Feng looked at Xiao Xiao with a hint of confusion. "Xiao Xiao, what's wrong? Why are you so down?"
"Big Brother, Sister Qiao Ying and I went to wander around the Golden Building... We found the map you provided a bit strange... Many of the routes are not actually there... and we couldn't figure out what they were for..."
"Sister Qiao Ying and I also tried digging down... but we didn't find any tunnels or anything..."
"We worked for two days and felt like we didn't get much done, and we were so tired... Although Sister Qiao Ying seemed to have discovered something in those strange routes..."
Xiao Xiao rubbed her temples and quickly explained to Ye Feng.
After finishing, she pointed to Qiao Ying, who was staring intently at a messy painting in the living room.
"What the heck?"
Ye Feng got up, feeling puzzled, and walked towards Qiao Ying.
"Qiao Ying?"
Ye Feng walked up to Qiao Ying's side. Seeing her staring at the messy painting with a faraway look, he couldn't help but call out to remind her.
"Ah? Ah~"
Qiao Ying snapped back to attention.
"What are you looking at? You're so engrossed~"
Ye Feng looked at the messy painting with curiosity. He realized it was the map he had drawn based on the cracks in the Flame Ranger's golden medal, except some places were specially marked.
"Big Brother, the routes marked in green are those we searched for a long time but couldn't find... and there are no buildings or anything..."
At this moment, Xiao Xiao, standing beside Ye Feng, spoke up.
"Is that so..."
Ye Feng stared at the green lines marked by the two women for a long time but found nothing. He looked at Qiao Ying inquiringly.
"Uh... Ye Feng, look at this..."
As she spoke, Qiao Ying found several somewhat transparent drawing papers from the pile of messy papers. They all had some lines drawn on them, more or less.
Ye Feng quickly organized those slightly transparent drawing papers, then stacked them in a special order. He then shone a bright flashlight on them, and immediately a pattern formed by green lines appeared in front of the three of them.
"Ye Feng... I suspect these green lines don't indicate routes, but rather resemble some kind of runes... Look at this..."
As she spoke, Qiao Ying extended her fair, slender finger and pointed to a spot on the drawing paper. "This place is almost identical to the runes on the Angel Armor... And here, it's also a rune on the Angel Armor..."
"It's just that these runes are somewhat incomplete... It seems like something is missing... I've tried rearranging the order of these lines, but I can't piece together complete runes..."
Qiao Ying quickly explained to Ye Feng.
"Piecing together... order?"
Ye Feng stared at the pattern formed by the green lines, frowning. "These lines... do indeed resemble the mysterious runes on the Angel Armor..."
After observing for a while, Ye Feng turned to Xiao Xiao and asked, "Xiao Xiao, do you have a drawing of the Golden Building?"
"Oh, yes!"
Xiao Xiao nodded. With a flash of light in her hand, a relatively large drawing paper instantly appeared in her hand.
"This map is from that golden medal of the Flame Ranger... If these green lines are indeed runes composed in a certain order, then the clues are most likely on the Golden Building marked on the map..."
As they spoke, Ye Feng, Xiao Xiao, and Qiao Ying began to study the drawing of the Golden Building that Xiao Xiao had made.
After a long while, the three of them sat down at the table feeling somewhat helpless. Although Xiao Xiao's drawing of the Golden Building was vivid and rich in detail, none of them found any clues from the pattern formed by the green lines.
"Xiao Xiao, is this drawing paper torn because of poor quality?"
Ye Feng touched the somewhat thin drawing paper and pointed to the holes that appeared on it, saying.
"No..."
Xiao Xiao shook her head. "That's because there are holes on the Golden Building, like ventilation shafts. They are not clearly defined, so drawing them was a bit troublesome. Plus, we ran out of time, so I just poked holes..."
"Eh..."
As she spoke, Xiao Xiao let out an exclamation. Ye Feng and Qiao Ying's eyes also lit up, as if all three of them had realized something.
Immediately, Ye Feng and the other two began to study the holes they had previously ignored...
"Ye Feng, if these black holes represent the order based on whether they are dark or bright..."
...
After a while longer, Qiao Ying rearranged the order and angles of the papers. Under the bright flashlight, those green-marked lines presented a set of mysterious runes.
"This..."
Seeing this set of mysterious runes, Ye Feng was deeply shocked.
Because he had seen the runes on them today at Dawn Academy, they were the runes within the rune array between the eighth and ninth floors of the Dawn Academy library...