Chapter 571: A Grand Survey of Fuyuki City's Spiritual Vein Cave
"Lord El-Melloi."
"Lady Tohsaka Rin."
Facing the Lord of the Clock Tower, with her long hair flowing and looking travel-worn, Tohsaka Rin appeared somewhat flustered.
According to the normal timeline, Tohsaka Rin would only choose to travel to London for further studies at the Clock Tower after the grand finale of one of the Fate routes, and only then would she formally meet Waver.
As the heir of an orthodox mage family, with a completely Westernized family atmosphere, Tohsaka Rin's reverence and yearning for the Clock Tower were naturally self-evident.
Although she could roughly understand what a Lord was from the material, the material alone could not allow one to directly feel the weight that came from a Lord.
The twin-tailed girl was so flustered that she didn't know what to say for a moment, her mouth open for a long time without making a sound. This was also a family trait of messing up.
Fortunately, Waver wasn't exactly in top form either.
Revisiting the old place, a flood of memories buried deep in his heart surged forth; the magnificent back of the King of Conquerors and his wide red cape, swaying in the wind, constantly flashed before Waver's eyes.
In Fuyuki City, that young man who was weak and naive ten years ago, but ultimately found his own destiny, seemed about to break through his initially tempered shell, wanting to emerge once more.
"Should we rest first, or investigate directly?"
However, Tohsaka Rin's fumbling didn't affect Aoko. Cheng Tian's voice also pulled the flustered and dazed duo back to reality.
"Who are you, sir?"
Waver, of course, didn't know who Cheng Tian was.
"I'm also Aoko. If you need to differentiate, you can call me Big Aoko. I am Bazett's assistant."
Cheng Tian did not immediately reveal his identity as a Ruler.
"Let's proceed with the investigation directly. For a curse contamination incident of this Holy Grail level, time is life. Even solving it a minute or a second earlier could significantly reduce the final scale of impact."
Waver, on the contrary, highly praised the "urgency" Cheng Tian displayed.
Although the true nature of the black mud had not yet been clarified, its cursed components had been confirmed, and as long as it was a curse, time was everything.
"OK, I'll lead the way. Any questions or introductions can be discussed on the way."
Cheng Tian pointed to a pre-rented medium-sized bus nearby, and the group filed in.
"Driver, please go to Ryudou Temple on Mount Enzou."
Hearing the patron's instruction, the driver immediately started the engine and began driving towards the destination.
"Flat, how do you feel?"
Waver asked his unusually quiet disciple beside him.
"The spiritual veins here are very strange, as if they have been completely infiltrated by some kind of malice. I'm afraid this influence is no longer confined to the vicinity of the spiritual vein core; the entire city has probably been subtly affected. The closer we get to the core area, the more obvious the influence will be."
Flat, who had been chattering non-stop for the entire three-hour Shinkansen ride, became unusually serious after officially stepping into Fuyuki City.
His magic circuits were somewhat abnormal, allowing him to imitate others' magic relatively easily, which meant he had a more sensitive magical perception than ordinary mages, able to "see" what others could not and "perceive" what others could not.
"...No wonder the number of serious incidents in Fuyuki has noticeably increased these past few days."
Hearing Flat's words, Tohsaka Rin couldn't help but bite her nails, a look of belated remorse appearing on her face.
After Kirei Kotomine ran off, many of the aftermath duties from Servant brawls were forced upon Tohsaka Rin. But as an involved party, her frantic busyness left her no time to notice the changes in Fuyuki City.
"It seems that heading there immediately was the correct judgment."
Suppressing his longing for the King of Conquerors, Waver was also ready to face the trouble head-on.
"By the way, has Arthur not had his soul recovered by the Holy Grail yet?"
Waver, suddenly thinking of something related to his own bodyguard, asked directly.
"Hmm, he's alive and kicking, and it looks like he still has some lingering thoughts about the Holy Grail."
As Cheng Tian chimed in, his gaze also swept over the bodyguard behind Waver, who kept his face hidden by a hood.
"Gray, are you sure you're okay?"
Facing the Lord's question, the petite bodyguard first nodded, then shook her head, pulling her hood further down with both hands.
Tohsaka Rin, who was constantly monitoring her surroundings, followed Cheng Tian's gaze to the Lord's bodyguard named Gray and suddenly felt that her physique looked familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.
As they got closer to Mount Enzou, Flat's brow furrowed even more deeply. And not just him; sensitive individuals like Cheng Tian could also perceive a subtle, pervasive atmosphere in the surroundings, attempting to influence their emotional fluctuations.
Without prior knowledge and vigilance, one would likely overlook this subtle influence.
Outside the entrance to the cave on Mount Enzou, Irene, Aoko, Ciel, and the others had been waiting for a long time.
Not only them, but even Cu Chulainn, who spent his days fishing and his nights brawling, appeared openly.
"Finally, they're here. Are these the professionals?"
The big dog, squatting in a tree, stared intently at the newcomers, then settled his gaze on the long-haired Lord.
Only his aura seemed like that of a professional.
Looking at the messy group of people, Waver frowned but said nothing, instead immediately entering work mode.
According to Flat's perception, the black mud had already infiltrated the spiritual veins and was gradually affecting the entire city, which meant that Fuyuki City's spiritual veins themselves were the strongest source of pollution, and they absolutely could not enter rashly.
And this was the moment for the strongest puppet master to make her appearance.
Only perfect puppets could remain unaffected by the black mud while also enduring the magical detection rituals, bringing back the survey results safely.
They couldn't bet on Servants' magic resistance; that stuff was unreliable.
And the one responsible for this survey mission was... "Bio-Automaton 2.0!"
Aoko almost presented it like a treasure, pushing forward the humanoid individual beside her, which glowed with a silvery radiance.
This was Aoko's special creation, modified by borrowing Cheng Tian's Bio-Automaton and integrating her own understanding of puppets.
It not only retained the Bio-Automaton's inherent writing and combat functions but could also, to a certain extent, restore the characteristics of the program's original entity.
And the data written into this Bio-Automaton 2.0 was... a face change almost comparable to a T1000, with a face identical to Qiongqiong appearing within its silver features!
But just as it completed the change in its facial features, a strong tremor appeared without warning.
Black sludge, like a surging river, burst forth from the cave entrance—
Its target was one and only one: the Bio-Automaton 2.0, which had transformed into Qiongqiong!