Chapter 542 - Nim

One her way to the site, Shiro raised her hand into the air and several drones were created. Setting a command for them to spread out, she created a tablet so that she could see what the drones were seeing.

Unfortunately, after the drones reached a certain height, they were destroyed promptly due to a barrier of some sort. She tried to send up drones a few more times but the result was the same.

Furrowing her brows, Shiro had a serious expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Nan Tian asked curiously as it was not often that Shiro would have this kind of expression.

"The drones were destroyed by a barrier. Seems like there's something jamming the airspace in the area." Shiro replied with a sigh and dismantled her tablet.

"Seems like we'll need to do the scouting ourselves but I'm not sure how the barrier would react to us. It was quite hostile to the drones so I'm not keen on taking too many chances." She suggested with a frown.

"We'll take things a bit slowly then. It isn't as if there was a time limit or anything. Plus, who knows, we might be rewarded for our patience." Nan Tian laughed as Shiro agreed.

As for Yin… She was eating a mana stone lollipop since she had nothing else to eat.

"What?" Yin asked, seeing Shiro's eyes turn to her.

"Nothing. Just stand there and look pretty for mum." Shiro joked as Yin only shrugged.

"Since we can't use drones, we'll have to map out the entire area bit by bit. Take this and I'll need you to scan the area around here." Shiro said as she created a scanner for Nan Tian.

"So you just want me to fly around this area and scan the entire place?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'll be helping but do note that you need to slow down considerably so that it can actually pick up details in the ground. Since there seems to be a magic circle of sorts, I don't want to risk the chance of missing anything." Shiro replied.

"Sure."

For the next few minutes, they continued to fly through the wasteland while making sure to record every single part of the place down with the scanner.

Naturally, there were a few confused stares from the people who arrived later than them but they didn't care. Scouting the site was basically a race so time was valuable. Most would just scoff at her attempts and laugh while a few others would be curious.

One of them was a young lady by the name of Nim. She had short black hair, black eyes and a small scar just above her left eye. She wore a white t-shirt, a black jacket and a pair of black jeans.

Watching Shiro and Nan Tian fly through the wasteland with scanners in hand, she couldn't help but wonder if there was something strange about the place beneath her feet.

Around her was quite a large group of people as they were all her subordinates.

"Do what the girl is doing and map out the entire area with every single detail you can find. Don't miss out on anything." Nim ordered as the group nodded and followed her order.

While her subordinates were following her orders, she made her way to Shiro.

"Mn?" Noticing the new arrival, Shiro paused what she was doing and looked towards the girl.

"Hello, my name is Nim. I'm a part of the ruin investigation team and I was wondering what you were doing in the wasteland." Nim asked with a smile.

"Ruin investigation team?" Shiro raised her eyebrows.

Regardless of who she was, Shiro wasn't about to tell her what she knew unless the circ.u.mstances changed.

"Yes, our group primarily investigates ruins and 'historical' sites that may not have belonged to our world. Seeing as how you are investigating the surrounding areas rather than the actual site itself, it seems to me that there is something of importance out here." Nim said as Shiro shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. Though tell me, if you're investigating ruins that are not a part of our world, do you have an idea of what this site is?" Shiro asked. If she was able to get some information from the girl then it would be quite helpful.

"A little. But it's at a price, why don't we do a trade?" Nim smiled as Shiro narrowed her eyes.

"What kind of trade?"

"You tell me why you're scouting the wasteland and I'll tell you a bit about what I know." Nim chuckled.

Staying silent, Shiro looked dead into Nim's eyes.

"I decline." Shiro said as she flickered away from her spot and continued her scouting.

Despite the rejection, Nim wasn't too fazed since she had expected this. She's already got her subordinates recording information down about this wasteland so it was fine. In addition to this, she also had enough manpower for them to enter the site.

"Gather a few of our best men and prepare to enter the site. We'll go once we get some basic information about the wastelands." Nim ordered.

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Ignoring the new group of people that had arrived in the wastelands, Shiro soon finished the scanning process with Nan Tian's help.

Sitting down by a boulder, Shiro crafted a holographic device and started to piece together the information they gathered into a map.

As the map was being completed, Shiro finally saw what was bugging her at the start. The magic circle that was etched into the sand due to the shift caused by the site's appearance.

Narrowing her eyes at the faint outline of the magic circle, Shiro could pick up a few details but a lot of it was hidden. It was akin to trying to read a book that had a word censored every few lines.

"Hm… A bit troublesome. I can spend time to estimate what it's trying to convey but it might not be worth it." Shiro muttered with a frown however Nan Tian wasn't focused.

He was constantly looking towards the east as if something was grabbing his attention.

"Lil' Tian?" Shiro called out curiously.

"Mn? Oh sorry, what were you saying?" Nan Tian snapped out of his trance and looked towards Shiro.

"I'm just saying that I can spend a bit of time to decipher this but it might not be worth it." Shiro repeated.

"Hm… well it's up to you what we do. I'm not underestimating the ability of those that have already entered but I don't think they'll be able to solve the site that quickly since even the demons are interested. Therefore, you should have enough time. Plus, you can also rock up late and just steal some information from them." Nan Tian smiled as Shiro nodded.

"In that case then I'll focus on deciphering now."

Placing the device on the ground, Shiro created a specialised laptop and started to type away. Thousands upon thousands of magic circles started to appear on the screen as they were all the ones that Shiro had seen before. Through breaking down the rune language used for the magic circle along with the continuity of the language, she was able to slowly figure what each section of the magic circle was trying to say.

While this was all happening, Nan Tian asked Yin to look after Shiro as he had to excuse himself for a moment.

Disappearing from his spot, Nan Tian dashed towards the east.

Landing in the middle of a dead forest within the wasteland, Nan Tian took off his mask and his face was furious. A hateful glare could be seen in his eyes as stared off into the emptiness.

"Come out. What's your goal, flaunting your aura so blatantly like this." Nan Tian hissed.

If Shiro was here, she'll be surprised at how much hatred Nan Tian was exhibiting right now since he was usually calm.

"I'm not flaunting my aura now am I? After all you're the only one who detected me." A voice replied but nobody appeared.

"No sh*t. If I had to live near you for a majority of my life then obviously I'd recognise you. My question is why are you sending a precious avatar into this place. What is your goal." Nan Tian warned as he was reaching the limit of his patience with this man.

"Nothing much, just curious as to what the little boy I had picked up before is up to. I'll be honest though, I'm surprised that you had actually appeared at one of the anchors. Fate a strange thing wouldn't you agree? Haha, however, there is one more thing that's drawing my interest. The white haired girl, she seems quite precious to you. If I kill her, would you fall?" The voice laughed as Nan Tian immediately created a white sword from his mana and slashed with everything he got.

Suddenly, the space around him seemed to twist, revealing a man that seemed to have been force out of a dimension of sorts. Swinging his sword for a second time, he cleaved the man in half.

"To think you had actually killed my avatar despite my preparations, my my, you really have grown strong haven't you." The man smiled as light faded from the avatar's eyes.

Collapsing on the ground, Nan Tian glared at the dead avatar before burning it away to ash.

"This isn't good." He muttered before putting his mask back on.