Volume One: First Steps in the City Chapter Forty-Two: Scrutiny of Details

Equipment whose attributes only appear after acquisition, special equipment awarded for achievements—such things are evidently of the highest quality. Though his heart yearned for that piece of equipment, Lu Yi was well aware that he still stood at some distance from attaining it. He stepped slowly into the circle formed by the nine maps, then looked at Helian Ying. “I’m ready.”

She nodded. “Alright. I’m about to isolate all external information.” With a wave of her right hand, a ring of light emerged around Lu Yi. Gel-like substances surged upward, quickly coalescing into a hemispherical shell.

Lu Yi immediately felt as if he were standing inside frosted glass. The nine maps posed little interference, but anything outside the light circle appeared hazy, amorphous, unrecognizable. All sounds from beyond were silenced.

He mused inwardly, “Not letting me see others’ expressions, nor hear any outside voices—this is truly foolproof.”

Lu Yi crouched, examining the maps one by one, even picking one up at random. His wristwatch offered no hints for any of these actions.

After some time, he noticed Helian Ying had marked the maps—just a simple name written on each. Seeing the names, Lu Yi had to admit she was right: he truly didn’t know what each person specialized in.

Was he to rely on sheer luck? He quickly rejected the notion. He sighed inwardly, wishing Fang Hao were nearby. Then, he could use the team channel to have Fang Hao investigate the backgrounds of these people.

He chuckled to himself; Fang Hao likely had no such information either. If he did, he wouldn’t have taken Lu Yi’s speculations about the path to survival so seriously. Even if Fang Hao were here, it would still come down to luck.

“Even if Fang Hao were present, he would probably be just as clueless. This is real fairness,” Lu Yi thought, and suddenly froze.

Fang Hao wasn’t just adept at searching for information; he excelled at spotting details. Yes, the details.

Lu Yi sprang to his feet, scanning the maps scattered on the ground. Helian Ying had obtained these maps through various means and must have examined them herself. Maps with more value might have been scrutinized more closely, handled more often. If so, her metal gloves might have left traces on the maps.

He closed his eyes and crouched again, picking up a map at random. Upon opening his eyes, the map magnified in his vision. Scratches invisible even under a magnifying glass were now crystal clear to him.

He noted a number mentally, then picked up another map, and another, repeating the process. When he reached the fifth map, his expression changed—this map bore more scratches than all the previous ones combined.

Having discovered this, Lu Yi examined the map more closely. Aside from a vague familiarity with the terrain, he gleaned nothing further.

What he didn’t know was that, as he scrutinized the map, the expressions of Helian Xun and Helian Ying subtly shifted. Helian Xun looked quite pleased, while Helian Ying remained composed, though surprise flickered in her eyes.

Lu Yi set the map aside and continued with the others, until he reached the eighth.

He picked up the eighth map, selectively magnifying and shrinking it with his left eye. Suddenly, he frowned—not due to the number of scratches, but because he noticed traces of blood. Unlike the other clean maps, this one seemed almost fresh.

This implied the map had been acquired recently, which was not a reassuring sign. Lu Yi hesitated, uncertain about this map.

Helian Xun grew visibly nervous when she saw Lu Yi linger over the map, her right hand instinctively trembling. Helian Ying’s face reverted to its cold composure, and she glanced at Helian Xun.

Staring at the map, Lu Yi suddenly felt dizzy. Alarmed, he wondered if this ability had limits. As he pondered, the scenery in his vision slipped beyond his control—the map seemed to vanish, replaced by flickering points of light, bright and dark, dancing before his eyes.

The lights drew near, then receded, sometimes sharp, sometimes blurred, moving and arranging themselves with no apparent pattern.

Lu Yi was utterly confused, but as the light points gradually stabilized, he finally discerned their meaning. They formed three maps—not flat, but three-dimensional. The changing proximity of the lights was due to the Magic Eye expending power to reconstruct the maps’ original forms.

Once the maps settled, Lu Yi’s vision returned to normal. He blinked, feeling only mild dryness in his eyes, but no other discomfort. He silently thanked Katarina again; without the blood of the original shaman, he would not have been able to so easily wield the Magic Eye's power.

He refocused on the map, now able to see the hidden dots—those same points of light he'd glimpsed before. To the naked eye, they were indistinguishable from the paper’s texture, but together, they formed three-dimensional maps.

Suddenly, Lu Yi sensed residual power among some of the dots. He recalled what it was—the energy of the original shaman’s blood. It was likely this energy that enabled the Magic Eye to extrapolate the map.

He closed his eyes, feeling the map branded into his memory.

He put the map aside and picked up the last one. Without even invoking the Magic Eye, he noticed patches of dried blood. The Magic Eye immediately sensed a chilling aura pervading the map, as if something momentous had occurred around it.

Lu Yi examined it carefully with the Magic Eye, but was stunned to find the material unusually special—there wasn’t a single scratch. Yet the abundant blood stains clearly told him this map was anything but ordinary.

He scratched his head. This gamble was clearly more complicated than it seemed. He separated the map with the most scratches, the one with hidden secrets, and the one exuding a fierce, ancient air.

“What’s this?” Helian Xun exclaimed in surprise, staring at Lu Yi. “He actually…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but looked at Helian Ying.

“Why rush? Let’s wait until he makes his final decision,” Helian Ying replied calmly, lifting her eyelids.