I write obituaries for the gods.

Chapter 50 "The Archivist"

Not long after Professor Jürgen's communication ended, Lin Chen heard a strange background noise in his ears.

He knew this meant the vehicle was sinking in dimensional space.

"Inject a sanity stabilizer," Jiang Zhengge said.

Everyone on the bus took out syringes, rolled up their sleeves, and injected themselves into their arms.

"Sizzle..."

As the cool sensation permeated my body, the background noise in my ears lessened.

Lin Chen looked out the window and saw that the sky had been dyed black, with faint black filaments floating high in the air and hanging down.

"Don't keep staring at the sky," Li Zhanyi said softly, "it might attract the attention of other entities."

Lin Chen withdrew his gaze and looked towards the end of the wasteland.

The once continuous mountain range has been cut into chaotic geometric shapes, piled up randomly, like Lego bricks that a naughty child took apart and then put back together haphazardly.

The roadside trees were pieced together in a twisted and convoluted way, with some trees upside down, some trunks pieced together on branches, and branches pieced together on vines, with the vines standing upright on the ground.

In the center of this chaotic landscape, a bunker stands.

The bunker remained unchanged, round and looking perfectly normal.

It's so normal it's almost abnormal.

"Why wasn't that bunker eroded by the warp?" Lin Chen asked the girl beside him.

“In the subspace, buildings that can still maintain their original appearance usually house physical entities,” Li Zhanyi explained. “The concept represented by the physical entity, in turn, maintains the existence of the bunker. For example, if an archivist has to ‘manage’ the archive bunker, then the place where it is located must be a ‘bunker’ and cannot be anything else.”

"This proves that Professor Jürgen's prediction was correct," Jiang Zhengge said, "Gamma level."

The troop transport vehicle stopped at the entrance of the bunker. Lin Chen got out of the vehicle and immediately saw another convoy parked not far away.

Strangely, there seemed to be no one guarding the convoy.

"Come with me to check this out." Jiang Zhengge drew his revolver and walked in front.

Lin Chen glanced behind him: the Second Division's convoy had stopped by the roadside, and Marcus was directing two squads to begin deploying dimensional stabilizing anchors and establishing communication with the outside world.

He turned around and followed Section Chief Jiang, approaching the foundation's convoy.

As they drew closer, Lin Chen quickly understood why no one was guarding the convoy—

Books made of flesh and blood lay on the ground, surrounded by undried liquid.

"From this distance onward, do not view any information media, including depth tables."

Jiang Zhengge spoke in a low voice, opened the door of the foundation's vehicle, got into the driver's seat, and connected to their dashcam.

Meanwhile, communication was restored after the second department's dimensional stabilization anchor was set up.

"Louis, the dashcam has been sent," Jiang Zhengge said, pressing his earpiece. "Watch the video, then recount it to us."

Is this how you avoid triggering the "archiver's" teleportation? Lin Chen suddenly felt that fighting against abnormal entities was a rather unconventional task.

"..."

In the dark room, Louis stared at the screen and opened the file sent by Jiang Zhengge.

He saw the guards outside the bunker chatting comfortably by the dimensional anchor.

"Hey, the navigator told us to move the anchor closer!" someone suddenly shouted. "He said there's no signal inside!"

"Damn it, what's going on..."

A guard picked up the dimensional stabilizing anchor and moved to an area closer to the bunker.

He had just planted the anchor in the ground when his phone rang.

"Um?"

The guard picked up his phone and glanced at the information on the screen.

The next second, accompanied by a gust of wind, his neck was snapped instantly.

"Click!"

Before the guards could react, the "archivist" in the suit had already opened his black claws and quickly tore the guard to pieces, then sewed them into a book.

All of this took less than 2 seconds.

"Fire! Fire!"

Gunshots, screams, howling winds, and one guard after another had their necks snapped and their bodies recorded.

"..."

Louis turned off the video and sighed softly.

"Did you do this, Oswald?"

"The archivist's perception range extends to ten meters beyond the edge of the bunker," Oswald's voice came through. "Beware of the boundaries."

"..."

Louis recounted the scene to Jiang Zhengge, who nodded slightly and said:

"Second Division, be careful not to get too close. First Division, prepare to attack."

Jiang Zhengge looked at Li Zhanyi not far away: she had moved a file that had been turned into a soldier to a place more than 20 meters away from the outer wall of the bunker, and was turning the pages with a stick, reading it with great interest.

Lin Chen leaned closer and said:

"Do you have any information?"

"He didn't brush his teeth this morning," Li Zhanyi explained. "Oh, they're from the media enforcement department..."

This file records almost everything about the victim, Qian, including his inner monologues.

"Most of the action team members are mercenaries hired by the Foundation," Lin Chen read through the bright red notebook, "and there's also a film crew... um..."

"They're always trying to put on a show wherever they go..." Lucy muttered.

"Oswald, what's the current situation of Captain England?" Jiang Zhengge pressed his earpiece.

"We're stuck in a maze. This fake Englishman is leisurely strolling around, chatting about the men he's been with," a hoarse, deep voice came through. "After the dimensional anchor was damaged, their reinforcements are expected to arrive in forty minutes. Be mindful of the time."

"Okay, let's go in."

After Jiang Zhengge finished speaking, he waved his hand, and his black trench coat fluttered in the wind.

"Lin Chen, be my deputy. We'll go first. Zhan Yi, keep alert. Lucy, bring up the rear."

"receive."

Lin Chen checked the ammunition for the revolver shotgun once again, and at the same time casually pulled out an axe and swung it twice.

He noticed someone was watching him, turned around, and found many staff members from the Second Section looking at him and talking amongst themselves.

"...It's him, damn it..."

"...This is a newbie, I'll just eat it..."

"...He's kind of handsome..."

"..."

"Don't be arrogant," Li Zhanyi patted Lin Chen on the back, "Let's go, striker, it's time to go in."

Lin Chen smiled helplessly and followed Section Chief Jiang's steps toward the bunker gate.

After passing through the main gate of the bunker, a long passageway comes into view, leading downwards.

The background noise around my ears intensified once again, like a swarm of mosquitoes buzzing incessantly.

Lin Chen knew this meant the depth was decreasing, and he instinctively wanted to check the depth gauge, but then immediately stopped himself.

"Remember, whatever you see inside, do not read it," Professor Jürgen's voice came through the headset. "Your depth is... decreasing... communication quality will deteriorate..."

Accompanied by severe background noise in the communication system, the group finished descending the slope and arrived at a long corridor.

The corridor was piled with messy file racks on both sides, like different models forcibly pieced together. Some of the compartments were very small, while others were large enough to park a car.

These filing shelves were stacked all the way to the ceiling, with densely packed passageways between them.

This is a maze, a maze made of archives.

......