The Coffin Plan

"Nonsense! I'm not that violent!"

Hong Yuan's eyes widened, her fiery red short hair bouncing as she retorted, "My pursuit of power is purely absolute; I would never go around smashing someone else's family heirloom."

Seeing that the two were about to start bickering again, An Changqing gently stepped in to smooth things over. "Alright, let's all calm down. However, Yuehe's speculation isn't entirely wrong."

"Many ancient families with long lineages do indeed enshrine special objects as family totems. If the cracks on that stone stele truly follow a certain pattern, it might actually be a lost ancient text or a vessel for some kind of power."

Su Yuehe nodded earnestly, her clear eyes revealing a deep yearning for knowledge.

"If those are truly words, it would be an incalculable academic treasure. There are too many unsolved mysteries in the world hidden within these obscure ancient artifacts."

"If there's a chance, I'd really love to go to the Demon City to see that stone stele with my own eyes. Even if I could only make a rubbing of a tiny fraction of its edges, it would be a massive breakthrough in the study of ancient textual history."

Hearing this, Yin Chen waved his hands repeatedly, hastily trying to dispel Su Yuehe's bold idea.

"You'd better put away that curiosity right now. My old man values that stone more than my own life."

"Other than during the holidays for ancestral worship, he doesn't even let anyone near the courtyard gates of the ancestral hall. If you ran over there and said you wanted to make a rubbing of the divine artifact in his heart, he would level half the Demon City on the spot."

"By then, even if your mother, the Madam Speaker, stepped in, it might not do any good."

"It's just a broken piece of rock. Isn't your dad exaggerating a bit?" Hong Yuan curled her lips, showing her lack of understanding for such behavior.

"You just don't understand the weight of running a household. That is the spiritual pillar of the Yin family, the source of our entire family's cohesion."

Yin Chen retorted self-righteously. Even if he couldn't see its value himself, it didn't stop him from defending his family.

Thanks to Hong Yuan's banter, for a moment, no one paid attention to Chen Guan, who had initially raised the question.

Chen Guan sat in the window seat, his gaze wandering between the clouds outside and the translucent panel in front of him that only he could see.

The bullet comments were still passionately discussing Yin Chen's dark history from high school, occasionally mixed with a few complaints about the architectural style of the Yin family's ancestral hall.

Chen Guan didn't bother reading through those teasing remarks anymore; his mind was entirely consumed by that dark gray stone stele covered in cracks.

If what Yin Chen said was true, that stone stele must have come from the Lost Era, or perhaps existed even earlier.

Later, by some coincidence, it was obtained by the ancestors of the Yin family and enshrined as a totem.

Why would two boundary steles be exactly the same?

In that underground ruin covered in ice and snow, did the voice that was so certain he would return also know that an identical stele existed in the present world?

Chen Guan couldn't help but feel a surge of curiosity about that stone stele. With so many coincidences piling up, if he didn't take action, he would only be pushed along by fate.

The Yin family was an omnipotent existence in the Demon City, and Yin Chen's father valued that stone stele more than his own life. If he wanted to infiltrate the Yin family's ancestral hall to investigate, a forced entry was obviously unwise. The best way was to walk in openly and honorably.

Perhaps he could wait until the academy went on break and visit the Demon City as a companion's guest.

As long as he could see that stone stele with his own eyes, he could confirm whether the markings on it were completely identical to the one at the entrance of the ruins.

"I just feel it's a pity from the perspective of academic research."

Su Yuehe's gentle voice pulled Chen Guan back from his thoughts. The girl sighed softly. "Even if it's just a broken stele, it could fill a massive void in human understanding. If we don't study it, then it really will remain just an ordinary rock."

Looking at Su Yuehe's somewhat regretful expression, An Changqing smiled and comforted her.

"Yuehe, academic research is certainly important, but we also have to consider reality. Since it is the center of faith for Yin Chen's family, it's really not appropriate for us outsiders to force the issue."

As An Changqing said this, his gaze lingered on Chen Guan for a moment, seemingly by chance.

The fact that Chen Guan had taken the initiative to ask about the stone stele earlier was highly unusual in itself.

Based on An Changqing's understanding of Chen Guan, this person was definitely not someone who liked to pry into other people's family gossip.

Chen Guan must have noticed something.

But An Changqing didn't point it out to his face. There were some things that, when the time was right, the other party would naturally share. He respected privacy, just as he always did.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe one day Young Master Yin will be in a good mood and just bring that broken rock out to broaden our horizons."

Hong Yuan chimed in, making a funny face at Yin Chen.

Yin Chen snorted coldly. "You guys can stop dreaming. My old man is incredibly stubborn. If I dared to tell him I wanted to borrow the ancestral hall's stone stele for my classmates to study, he would publish a notice in the newspaper kicking me out of the family the very next day. You wouldn't want to see me out on the streets, would you?"

Sitting in the corner, Long Ao finally opened his eyes and spat out two words in a cold tone: "Whatever."

"Hey, Long Ao, isn't that a bit too cold-blooded?"

Yin Chen complained, deliberately drawing out his words. In truth, Long Ao was an old acquaintance of his.

Long Ao ignored him, merely crossing his arms a little tighter and looking straight ahead as he spoke.

"Rather than discussing those impractical things here, you'd be better off thinking about how to handle the academy's interrogation later. Even though we have that monster core as a cover, you still need to spin a flawless story. Don't end up contradicting yourselves."

An Changqing nodded in agreement, his expression gradually turning serious.

"Long Ao's reminder is correct. We're about to arrive at the academy, so let's go over the details one more time."

An Changqing's gaze swept across everyone's faces. "Hong Yuan, you need to pay special attention to your story. If the review board asks about the situation inside the alternate dimension, just say you were on high alert the whole time and couldn't see anything clearly."

Being specifically reminded, Hong Yuan scratched her hair in frustration. "I know, I know. I'll just say I didn't see anything clearly and only managed to keep my life thanks to your commands. That should work, right? I'm not stupid; I won't go blabbing about those murals or stone statues or whatever."

"And what about your side, Yuehe?" An Changqing turned to look at Su Yuehe.

Su Yuehe turned off her terminal screen, looked up, and answered earnestly, "I've already sent a message to my mother. Following what we agreed upon earlier, I briefly mentioned accidentally entering a high-level void beast's alternate dimension and explained that we picked up an extremely high-level monster core. She replied saying she would put in a good word for us at the academy to simplify the review process as much as possible."

"That's good."

An Changqing breathed a sigh of relief.

With Madam Speaker stepping up to endorse them, plus the monster core of a tenth-tier void beast as solid proof, the Superpower Association and the academy's investigation team would have to half-heartedly accept this conclusion no matter how many doubts they had.

Based on his understanding of his own old man, he probably couldn't be bothered to ask anyway.

The only one they ever really needed to deal with was Madam Speaker.