When Todd returned to the ruins village and stood in the center of the village hall, he could clearly feel the villagers' gazes, filled with complex emotions.

The silver-haired Valkyrie Brunhilde, seated at the lower end of the table, frowned as she looked at Todd and Hudgens before her and said, "Chief of Twilight Town, I admit you did us a great favor regarding the water source, but what do you mean by expressing your desire to excavate the ruins?"

Todd glanced around at the women in the room, finally fixing his gaze on the three Valkyrie elders seated at the head of the table, and slowly said, "As I said before, I hope to obtain your permission to excavate and study the ruins..."

Before the words were even finished, a voice of opposition came from among the women: "How could we possibly agree to destroying ruins?!"

Using the wooden table in front of him as cover, Todd carefully unscrewed the bottle cap in his arms, letting the liquid inside slowly evaporate into the air.

The liquid in the bottle is a pheromone concentrate that has been repeatedly diluted, retaining the original alluring properties of the potion but greatly reducing its strength and effect.

The secretions of pheromone parasites produce different effects depending on their concentration. High concentrations can create a hallucinogenic effect resembling "infatuation," but also cause irreversible damage to the brain. Low concentrations, on the other hand, only evoke feelings of "liking" and "attraction," which can be highly effective in negotiations and persuasion. Furthermore, the effects diminish over time without any side effects.

After all, Todd's ultimate goal was to obtain permission to excavate the Valkyries, not to actually take all these girls, from six-year-old lolis to seventy-year-old women, into his harem.

While releasing his modified version of "harem gas," Todd began explaining his reasons: "First, I'd like to talk about the springs that poisoned the infants. These poisonous springs in the village come from underground and have polluted the trees and soil near the village. This means that the grains and fruits grown in the village will cause varying degrees of chronic poisoning if consumed, especially for the weaker children. Therefore, I need to excavate the ruins to find the source of the poison."

Todd's explanation was reasonable and well-founded. Coupled with the dead white mice at the scene and the effects of pheromone gas, many villagers began to change their thinking and start to consider the safety of their children.

Then, Todd offered a second reason: "Excavating ruins is also to satisfy my curiosity. What else is inside? Is the truth of Asgard hidden deep underground? What exactly happened during the Ragnarok long ago? I've always wanted to find the answers to these questions. By the way, don't you want to know what you've been protecting all these years? Don't you want to know the meaning of the clan's precepts?"

Todd's second reason for excavating the ruins touched upon the deepest feelings of some Valkyries. Brunhilde was one of them; she stood up excitedly and nodded in agreement with the outsider.

Finally, Todd offered the Valkyries an irresistible deal: "I can make some concessions to you all. First, I will hire villagers from the village for this excavation of the ruins, without bringing any other people into the village; second, as payment for the employment, I will provide you with clean water and food; third, the village will have the right to dispose of the excavated artifacts and treasures, and I will not make any demands on them. You can supervise the process."

The conditions were so good that it was hard for everyone to believe, but they couldn't find any reason to deceive or any pretense. The three female elders discussed it quietly for a while, and finally all showed expressions of agreement.

Brunhilde walked up to Todd from her seat, looking at him with hopeful eyes: "Todd, are you really confident that you can uncover the secrets of the gods?"

Todd nodded firmly.

The Valkyrie brought her face closer, sniffed, and said with a strange expression, "You... have a certain smell..."

Oh no, I forgot to turn off the pheromones!

Todd quickly twisted the cap back on and gave Brunhilde an awkward smile.

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Excavation work at the Beidao site has begun in full swing.

In the innermost cylindrical room of the ruins—the "Between the Towers"—Todd set up a simple experimental table, where some necessary experimental instruments, such as an optical microscope, a chemical identification table, and a radiation spectrometer, were installed and put into use.

Apart from the villagers who stayed behind, all the other women in Valkyrie Village were summoned to the ruins to carry out excavation work.

Huggins was responsible for communication with the outside world, and the promised clean water and food were continuously delivered to the village through his connections. He also served as the messenger for Todd's orders, as well as requests and reports from the outside world.

The excavation lasted three days, extending downwards by fifteen meters between the towers, and more and more biological skeletons, weapons, and stone slabs were unearthed. The metal pyramid in the very center of the room gradually revealed its true form: a spire made of a mysterious metal, its underground portion stretching for tens of meters, seemingly endless, and growing thicker and thicker.

By the seventh day of the excavation, the metal spire was about 55 meters high, and the widest part was a triangle of 25 square meters. The radiation spectrometer detected that the intensity of radioactivity was gradually increasing.

Fifteen days into the excavation, the space between the towers had transformed into a giant spiral-shaped room more than two hundred meters deep. Looking down from the entrance, the bottomless abyss inspired awe and dread.

Todd examined the bottom of the excavation site and found that the radioactive equivalent was close to the limit of human tolerance. Just as he was considering whether to stop the excavation and go home, the excavators discovered a strange spot on the metal tower.

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