Chapter 158 Where are they?

Mark left in a huff. Zhou Shu made up some more things to tell Gordon before departing as well.

He had already completed his initial task of boarding the lighthouse and had become an official Duster of the lighthouse. It was time for him to work.

According to the mission instructions, his task for today was to clean the perimeter of the Light and Shadow Church's prayer hall. Although he was not allowed inside the prayer hall itself, it was said to be a deeply honorable job.

Even if entry was forbidden, praying to the Lord of Light and Shadow from the outside as a Duster was said to yield remarkable results.

As for what kind of results?

Rumor had it that one could become a Marked.

Of course, that was merely a rumor, as no one had succeeded thus far. Yet, many people still believed in it, and this job of cleaning the outer area of the prayer hall was contested fiercely by countless Dusters.

Even Marked ones fought over it.

Who would have thought that such a stroke of good fortune would fall upon Zhou Shu?

It truly was good fortune; didn't Zhou Shu's footsteps already feel much lighter as he walked?

However, after walking for a short distance, Zhou Shu turned into a corridor and immediately vanished from everyone's sight.

For Zhou Shu, the real stroke of good fortune had only just begun.

Ever since arriving in the Spirit Cage world, Zhou Shu had discovered that the Earth's magnetic field here was exceptionally chaotic. If not for the chaotic magnetic field, he could have continued flying through the sandstorms, as the magnetic field could also be used to determine his position.

Yet, the Earth's magnetic field in the Spirit Cage world was far too chaotic, severely impairing his judgment of spatial coordinates and making him dare not fly recklessly through the sandstorms.

Furthermore, the chaotic magnetic field also affected his own life magnetic field, and the negative impact grew even stronger as his life magnetic field grew more powerful.

It had taken him a full week to slightly adapt to the magnetic field of the Spirit Cage world, and even then, it was only a slight adaptation.

If he were asked to rely solely on magnetic attraction to walk on metal surfaces, he could not achieve the same level of flexibility he had on Earth.

However, once aboard the lighthouse, he found that the chaotic magnetic environment outside suddenly became much milder, allowing his mastery over his life magnetic field to recover rapidly. That was why he was able to use the "wall-climbing gecko technique" in the corridor—the kind that would make Zhang Wuji exclaim in professional admiration.

The archives room was not located in the "prosperous zone" of the Marked district, but rather in a rather remote corner of it. Consequently, the further Zhou Shu walked, the fewer people he saw.

In its early days, the lighthouse was an aerial prison named "Tartarus," so monitoring equipment did exist inside. However, as it was converted into an aerial "city," some of the layouts changed, and the monitoring facilities were naturally dismantled, leaving surveillance equipment only in critical locations.

Still, these surveillance devices had nothing to do with Zhou Shu, as he hadn't touched the ground the entire way, strolling along the ceiling instead.

Soon, he arrived near the archives room.

In the animation, Dust Army power loader warriors would come to inspect the archives room, but Zhou Shu did not see any guarding warriors outside.

If that was the case, the power loader warriors in the animation must have been patrolling past rather than standing guard outside specifically to protect the archives room.

In fact, thinking about it logically, the lighthouse's three strictest laws were dedicated to ensuring the continuation of humanity, so the most important things ought to be energy, food, and population.

As for other aspects, there were various types of technical personnel. Even as technicians aged, new technical personnel who met academic standards and graduated would take their places, forming a self-sustaining cycle. There was no need to visit the archives to cross-reference work every time something was done.

Thus, this place had truly become a warehouse—at most, a specialized warehouse storing things called "data." The security clearance here was not even as high as that of the material warehouses.

After all, theft had occurred in the material warehouses, whereas nothing had ever gone wrong at the archives room, and usually no one even came near it.

Making a special trip here was a waste of physical energy, and data could not be eaten to replenish one's strength anyway.

Moreover, its main gate was extremely sturdy, and the password was formidable; ordinary people simply could not open it, let alone test whether the contents could stave off hunger.

As it happened, what others dismissed as useless was a treasure in Zhou Shu's eyes. It was even better that no one was standing guard here.

Clinging to the ceiling, he observed the entrance of the archives room, only to find not a single surveillance device. He instantly felt that this place was... far too insignificant.

Even he, someone planning to "borrow and read" the materials, found it hard to believe.

No wonder Mark and Ran Bing could sneak in unnoticed in the animation; it turned out there were no protective measures whatsoever. The only thing resembling defense was that heavy door, and they had the access permissions given to them by Jing Nan, allowing them to open the door and walk right in.

Even the Dust Army warrior who entered halfway wasn't there to inspect, but rather to assist them. After a series of dramatic maneuvers, he simply handed the audience a moment of sweet romance and gracefully faded away.

No matter how one looked at it, that person didn't look like a proper Dust Army power loader warrior, but rather like a good Samaritan who was saying, "I can only help you up to here."

Confirming that there was no surveillance equipment and that the patrol squad wasn't coming either, Zhou Shu dropped boldly to the ground.

He walked up to the door, knocked on it, and discovered that this heavy gate... was not actually very thick.

Activating his magnetic field to sense the steel security door, he confirmed it was indeed not very thick.

Of course, to ordinary people, it was truly thick, but to Zhou Shu, could this even be called thick?

His magnetic field sensing remained continuously active as he "observed" the wiring layout of the door.

The place where one could swipe a card and enter a password was naturally where the circuits were densest, and the magnetic field sequences were also numerous.

He first formulated several contingency plans in his mind, such as directly using a magnetic field to jam the password terminal, disrupting the power input, or forcing the door open. Having settled on these, he planned to try them one by one.

Yet, the moment he used his magnetic field to interfere with the password terminal, the door emitted a "beep" and slid open, while a breath of cool air rushed toward his face.

Zhou Shu: "???"

Given how exaggeratedly Gordon had described it, he thought this door must be formidable.

As it turned out, that was it?

With a dark expression, Zhou Shu walked into the archives room. Hearing the door close behind him, he felt as though he had been insulted.

Was the archives room really this insignificant?

Its predecessor was an aerial prison, specifically used to hold dangerous individuals. Weren't they afraid of trouble by using this kind of door?

Or had the lighthouse dismantled its high-end door locks, relocated them to places requiring heavier security, and replaced this one with an ordinary civilian lock?

However, seeing the electronic data cartridges flashing with light all over the archives room, his expression instantly improved.

Rubbing his hands in excitement, he searched while muttering to himself: "Lighthouse history, personnel rosters, major events, environmental observations..."

After searching for a while, however, he began to complain: "This is really hard to find. How did they even organize these files? Why didn't they even set up major categories?"

At the same time, he recalled the process of Mark and Ran Bing searching for information in the animation; it seemed they found what they wanted after barely looking. Was that simply protagonist treatment?

Fortunately, he had plenty of time. Moreover, during his search, he heard the commotion of the patrol squad passing by, but they had no intention of coming in to take a look.

This not only proved that he had ample time, but also confirmed that the warrior in the animation truly had come in just to assist them.

After searching for a little while, Zhou Shu joyfully found what he wanted.

"《Mecha Wreckage Research Records》, 《Mecha Fragment Technology Summary》, 《Mecha Wreckage Reuse Records》..."

Well, the people on the lighthouse really had no other use for these things; they could only dismantle, melt, and reuse them.

Excitedly, Zhou Shu pulled out several data cards and brought them all over to the viewing platform.

Inserting 《Mecha Fragment Technology Summary》 into the card slot, a password input interface popped up on the screen. This, however, could not stump him; his eyes could clearly discern the fingerprint smudge marks left on the screen.

He tried a few times and quickly guessed the correct password. In fact, he felt that the passwords here were likely all the same; otherwise, with so many data cards, it was impossible for every single card to have a unique password.

When he finished quickly reading 《Plan Summary》 and moved on to 《Research Records》, it indeed verified his conjecture.

"Not bad, not bad!"

Just as he was engrossed in reading, someone over at the prayer hall was growing angry. Charles finished leading the believers in their daily prayers, only to discover that no one was cleaning outside the door.

He knew who was supposed to be cleaning today—he was the one who had arranged it in the first place. It wasn't that he usually concerned himself with such trivial matters, but he wanted Zhou Shu to understand that no matter how formidable Zhou Shu was on the surface, once aboard the lighthouse, Charles had the final say.

He had assigned Zhou Shu to sweep outside so that all the believers could witness it. He wanted to assert his power and make Zhou Shu submit to him.

With Zhou Shu's combat strength under his command, the Dust Hunters and the Dust Army would be of no consequence at all.

As for where he got such confidence, it was naturally granted by the Lord of Light and Shadow!

He, Charles, was the sole savior!

And yet, Zhou Shu had actually dared not to show up!

"Very well, very well!"

Charles turned his head to look at the statue inside the prayer hall, keeping his expression hidden from the others. "Upper Eminence, bring Zhou Shu to me."

"Yes, Lord Bishop."

The Upper Eminence accepted the order and departed, accompanied by the great hound and two Law Enforcers.