The wheels finally came to a stop at the foot of the Falling Star Mountains.

Wayne kicked open the carriage door and stepped out, carrying the books in both hands.

Rachel moved to the carriage door, looked at the Crusader soldiers all around outside the carriage, composed herself, and stepped out.

Outside the carriage was a temporary military camp located on the south side of the Falling Star Mountains. Originally a training camp for griffins, it had now become a heavily guarded outpost.

Wearing the coat handed to him by his assistant, Wayne packed the books into his backpack and, accompanied by Crusader soldiers, was the first to set off up the mountain.

Alfonso walked up to the neatly dressed Rachel, pointed to a griffin led by an orc not far away, and said, "If you want, you can ride that griffin..."

Rachel quickly rejected the offer: "I've ridden them, but I didn't like the feeling."

After saying this, Rachel quickened her pace and caught up with Wayne.

Wayne looked thin and tired, but he became unusually excited whenever it came to work.

As he climbed up the mountain path, he still had time to chat with Rachel.

"Did you know? The undead actually hate the cold more than high temperatures and flames."

With Alfonso's help, Rachel struggled up the stone steps and asked, "What?"

Wayne continued, "According to statistics, many individuals among the undead have developed varying degrees of resistance to high temperatures, which we speculate may be related to the Sutherland bacteria in the undead parasites. However, very few undead individuals have developed resistance to cold, as low temperatures can induce a semi-dormant state in undead."

As Rachel took a step, she looked up at the mountainside: "So, that's why we built the research institute in the snow mountain in the first place."

Wayne nodded: "For every degree the temperature drops, the undead's behavior slows down. When the temperature drops to a certain level, the undead will stop moving altogether, like an ice sculpture, frozen in place."

Rachel, who had exhausted a lot of energy climbing the snow mountain, began to pant heavily and said only, "Oh."

The group finally arrived at the snow-covered mountainside.

A group of female elves with cold-type abilities were already guarding the place. The leader, a female elf with white hair and red eyes, saw that Wayne and his group had all arrived, and then gently tapped on a steep mountain wall with her hand.

With a rumbling sound, the mountain wall slowly opened to both sides, revealing a passage leading downwards.

Wayne, who had been there countless times, was the first to slip into the passage before the Crusaders even entered.

The passage widened as they went deeper. Wayne said as they walked, "This is a huge cavern inside the Falling Star Mountains. Legend has it that it is over ten thousand years old. The routes inside are complicated, and you can easily lose your way if you're not careful."

Rachel carefully walked forward, hugging the rock face. She heard the sound of flowing water beneath her feet and asked, "Is there an underground river here?"

Wayne said, "About sixty meters below us, there is an underground river formed by melting snow. It flows down the mountain and into the bay at the foot of the snow-capped mountain."

Rachel walked a little further and began to notice signs of human intervention along the roadside.

A bio-powered energy lamp made using the Tesla parasite as an energy source.

On the mountain wall above, there are complex pulleys and steel cables, and one heavy wooden box after another slides down the cable to the bottom of the cave.

By the light of the Tesla parasite bio-lamp, Rachel lowered her head and looked carefully at the cave beneath her feet. There seemed to be more than just the sound of water; there were other strange noises as well.

The sound was somewhat like thunder, and somewhat like drums.

Rachel asked doubtfully, "Down there?"

Wayne laughed and said, "Did you notice?"

Rachel: "What?"

Wayne: "Below this cave, there is another cave, and the two caves are connected by a vertical passage that is 100 meters long."

Rachel: "And that cave below...?"

Wayne: "It's a shipyard for alien warships, and also a testing ground for electromagnetic railguns."

Rachel suddenly realized that the cave where they built alien warships and experimented with electromagnetic weapons was located just below this place.

Rachel was astonished by the size of this enormous cavern in the Falling Star Mountains. Not only did it have a drop of hundreds of meters, but its interior space was also so vast that it was comparable in size to a city. Not to mention, it had a natural cave harbor that connected not only to an underground river but also to the sea.

Wayne looked at a large platform on the distant mountain wall, where many people wearing white lab coats were, as well as many Crusaders who were moving goods.

“We’ve arrived.” Wayne tightened his coat, gesturing for everyone to follow closely. Then, he asked Rachel, “Are you sure Patient Zero has arrived?”

"Marcus should have arrived yesterday," Rachel said.

Wayne nodded and quickened his pace to the gate in front of the platform.

A group of Crusaders first stopped the group, and then the werewolf captain in charge recognized Wayne Dunlop.

The werewolf lowered his head and said to Wayne, "My lord, welcome."

Excited to see Patient Zero soon, Wayne had no time to pay attention to the werewolf. He simply nodded and was about to step into the underground laboratory.

The werewolf quickly stopped Wayne, pointed to a stone pillar carved with a black dragon beside the gate, and said, "My lord, you should know the rules. Everyone who enters must first register their soul."

Wayne patted his forehead and then placed his hand on the stone pillar.

After a faint glow, the werewolf captain nodded: "You may go in now."

Ritchie was the second.

She placed her hand on the stone pillar, and after the light shone through, she was allowed to enter.

After everyone had completed their soul registration, Rachel walked into the underground laboratory and asked Alfonso beside her, "Is that stone pillar at the entrance the same as the soul pillars in the cathedral and the square?"

Alfonso nodded and said, “They are essentially the same. These pillars have all been blessed by His Majesty. Anyone who touches a pillar will form a soul link with His Majesty and gain access to Heaven.”

Rachel took out the black dragon emblem symbolizing the power of the dragon god from her chest and asked Alfonso, "What about this seal? Is it different from these pillars of souls?"

Alfonso glanced down at the black dragon emblem on his chest: "You can also think of this emblem as a small pillar of soul. The wearer can freely enter and leave Heaven at any time. Of course, it can also be used as a tool to complete a soul link."