My heartbeat accelerated once again.

Having followed Baiyang for so long, it seemed I was finally about to see his plan reach its endpoint.

“Brother Yang… after I find you… then what?”

He lifted his head to look at me and said, “Wait for someone. When that person comes, I’ll tell you.”

“Wait for someone…?”

He and I waited quietly in the office. Before long, a handsome young man dressed in a black leather jacket walked in through the door.

After entering, he bowed slightly to Baiyang and said, “Is this the business you arranged?”

“Yes.”

“To think it’s an Earth-level ‘Zodiac’—my respects. Fifth Brother has already given instructions. We can begin now.”

“Will you also be nearby?” Baiyang asked.

“Yes, I must be nearby,” the young man answered. “Otherwise, I have no way to exercise my ability. I hope you’ll understand. But not a single word of what is heard today will be leaked—otherwise, everyone will bring their heads to you on a platter.”

“Good.” Baiyang nodded. “Let’s begin.”

The young man closed his eyes slightly. I instantly felt myself surrounded by a wondrous power—the surroundings became completely silent.

It seemed Baiyang indeed had other chess pieces…

This person’s clothing seemed somewhat familiar… Was he from the same organization as Zhoumo?

Baiyang actually paused for a moment.

“Then what…?”

“Then you should lead everyone to immediately dismantle all the ‘Giant Bells’ and ‘Display Screens’ in the city.”

“What…?”

I vaguely sensed an atmosphere of “fighting with one’s back to the river.”

To dismantle all the “Giant Bells” and “Display Screens”… how would those not-so-skilled “Echoes” determine whether they had obtained an “Echo”?

“But you must be fast,” Baiyang said. “Otherwise, the upper levels will definitely interfere during the dismantling.”

“Upper level interference?” I paused, seeming not to quite understand this meaning. “Brother Yang… according to my speculation… those ‘Display Screens’ should have been established by some ‘Participant’ in the past, right? Their existence is mainly to help ‘Participants,’ so why would the upper levels here still interfere? They should wish for all these things to be destroyed.”

“Don’t be naive,” Baiyang said. “If that thing were merely to help ‘Participants,’ do you think Heavenly Dragon and Qinglong would sit by and watch?”

“You mean… that thing is also useful to those two?”

“Yes, it’s a double-edged sword. Not only do we use the display screens to search for ‘Echoes,’ but they do the same,” Baiyang said. “The display screens are not only our eyes and ears, but also theirs. If we want to initiate the final battle with them, this thing must be destroyed.”

This explanation… it seemed that in the coming days we would be advancing in the dark. If we didn’t succeed, this place would definitely fall into great chaos.

“But there are four display screens in total…” I said. “Theoretically, to prevent upper level interference, we must dismantle all four massive ‘Giant Bells’ and ‘Display Screens’ at the same time. Otherwise, they will definitely notice and then kill all my people…”

Even if they didn’t notice and we could successfully dismantle the giant bells and display screens, it would absolutely be impossible to escape afterward. This was a path of heavy casualties.

If Heavenly Dragon and Qinglong truly relied on the display screens to find “Echoes”… I would undoubtedly be challenging their authority.

“You’re overthinking it,” Baiyang said. “Regarding the giant bells and display screens, there’s a huge loophole right in front of everyone’s eyes, but no one has noticed anything amiss.”

“A huge loophole…?”

“Yan Zhichun, if we were to construct four bronze bells weighing several tons each and four enormous display screens that could operate normally, would the existing materials in this city be sufficient?”

I blinked. “You mean…”

“This kind of thing can’t appear out of thin air. Even the most powerful ‘Echo’ must use materials to construct it, but there’s simply no way to collect enough materials for buildings of this scale. Moreover, all four sets of equipment have ‘Karma’ set on them—’when the screen lights up,’ then ‘the bell rings.’ Such an enormous engineering undertaking, such incredible ‘Echo’ products, such a precisely north-south layout… yet no one has discovered where the problem lies.”

“I still don’t quite understand… so what exactly is the huge loophole?” I asked.

“Yan Zhichun, the four giant bells and four display screens look exactly the same, without any difference,” Baiyang turned his head to look at me. “Because one of them is the ‘Original,’ and three are ‘Replicas.'”

“What?!”

“You don’t need to dismantle all the giant bells and display screens at the same time. You only need to find and dismantle the giant bell and display screen engraved with ’87,’ and the other ‘Replicas’ will dissipate accordingly, since the ‘Original’ will be gone.”

Wait… my mind was in chaos.

“What does ‘Replicas’ mean?” I was stunned. “Is it an ‘Echo’?”

“Yes.” Baiyang nodded. “The display screens and giant bells only need one set constructed in the true south direction. The other three directions rely on ‘Replicas’ to create copies. This way, it saves an enormous amount of engineering work.”

My back went cold once again. I suddenly greatly admired whoever created the giant bells and display screens. How did he think of this construction method back then?

The “Echoes” installed on those giant bells and display screens should be even more numerous than what Baiyang described… What kind of person organized these powerful “Echoes” together and then established equipment that could benefit everyone?

“Then what does ’87’ mean?” I asked again.

“This is a marker left by an ‘Explorer.’ He has always been recording the landing positions of each group of ‘Participants’ and leaving numerical markers according to the order in which he discovered them. The team born near the giant bell was called ‘Number 87’ by him.”

Baiyang’s explanation was very clear, but I was somewhat unclear.

“Brother Yang… how do you know all this?” I asked.

“Don’t ask anymore,” Baiyang said. “Remember, when you find me again and discover that I’m starting to recover my memories, you must immediately organize a ‘Destruction Squad.’ This is the first task I’m giving you.”

“Alright…” I nodded with a serious expression.

“The first task is very simple. Next is the second task, which sounds like a path of no return just from hearing about it,” Baiyang said.

I stared at Baiyang, waiting for him to speak, but the young man in the leather jacket spoke up instead.

“Wait, wait a moment…” He looked at Baiyang with a somewhat pale face. “I’m truly sorry… the content you two are discussing is simply too outlandish… I’m just someone out here selling my life—I don’t want to be implicated.”