In truth, once cloaked in darkness, anything was possible, not just murder and arson, provided one had the capability.

Midnight struck; the moon was swallowed by heavy clouds, leaving not a single star in the sky. In a quiet corner of the deserted street, a figure slipped silently from the shadows toward the opposite side, where a colossal museum loomed.

He soon reached the museum's entrance. A faint sliver of moonlight pierced the clouds, illuminating the figure—a youth of about fifteen or sixteen—Lin Luo.

Lin Luo looked up at the sky, feeling a measure of relief. Under such profound darkness, beyond five meters visibility was lost without artificial light; this was an exceptionally rare opportunity for anyone intending mischief… It seemed he had chosen his moment well.

“Still… a bit troublesome,” Lin Luo muttered from behind a supporting pillar near the museum entrance. Although the museum was unguarded at night, extracting what he wanted without alerting anyone inside was no simple feat.

Based on his investigation over the past few days, this museum was privately owned. While managed by ordinary individuals on the surface, the true proprietors were a society of Magicians—or perhaps, more accurately, Sorcerers.

The difference between a Magician and a Sorcerer lay in their application of magic. Magicians generally confined their art to research, rarely employing spells in their daily lives. Sorcerers, however, treated magic as a tool, taking on various contracts—like assassination—to earn money.

Regardless of their raw power level, Sorcerers were far more menacing than Magicians in terms of offensive capability.

Under normal circumstances, Lin Luo would never provoke such a group, but now he had a compelling reason to engage.

“A barrier, just as I suspected.” After thoroughly surveying his surroundings, Lin Luo detected that the museum was enveloped by a massive protective barrier, serving an excellent purpose for both warning and defense. If anyone suddenly entered, the museum's internal defense system would activate immediately. For an ordinary person, nothing much would happen—perhaps just passing out—but for a Magician or someone similar, the consequences would be severe.

“Tch, what a nuisance.” Facing this barrier gave Lin Luo a headache, as this was not his specialty. Fortunately, Aozaki Aoko was an absolute master in this domain. Having communicated with Aoko months prior, Lin Luo had absorbed at least some insight into barrier-breaking techniques.

Of course, theory and practice were worlds apart. While the knowledge gained from Aoko showed him how to dismantle the barrier, achieving it was another matter entirely, given how weak he was as a Magician.

“Forget it. If I can’t break it elegantly, I’ll blast through it.” After a few minutes of thought, Lin Luo made his decision and pulled a crimson jewel from his pocket.

Jewel Sorcery was Rin’s strongest suit. Since he had replicated Rin’s abilities, Lin Luo was naturally familiar with the discipline. Before parting ways with Rin and the others, she had entrusted him with most of the polished jewels she had prepared. Each gem contained immense magical energy, and three of them held power equivalent to a Rank spell—gems Rin had spent three painstaking months grinding from over a hundred Mana Crystals, augmented by her own skills.

If those three Rank jewels were unleashed simultaneously, the destructive force would be enough to slay an ordinary Servant with low magic resistance. For instance, in the original Fifth Holy Grail War, Rin relied on five Rank Mana Jewels to blow off Bazett’s head and take one of his lives—that was the power of the jewels; Rin’s own strength alone could never have achieved that.

Admittedly, this was partly due to Bazett’s low magic resistance. Against someone with high resistance like ABER, even more jewels would be useless, as modern magecraft simply couldn't harm ABER.

Lin Luo was not using a Rank jewel now; its power was roughly equivalent to a B-Rank spell. While not overwhelmingly potent, it was certainly sufficient to breach this barrier.

He raised the hand holding the jewel level and extended it forward… the jewel activated… Mana injected.

Instantly, between Lin Luo and the museum door, where only empty air had been moments before, a faint yellow screen of light materialized. Tracing this screen outward, one could see that the entire museum was enveloped within a vast yellow halo, faintly exuding a mysterious aura.

“Barrier… Breached.”

With a soft cry, the jewel in Lin Luo’s hand shattered. Simultaneously, massive amounts of magical energy surged toward the barrier, as if transforming into a blade that carved a doorway-shaped opening in the light screen before him.

Without hesitation, Lin Luo swiftly slipped through the opening. The yellow light screen immediately sealed the gap, gradually fading from sight.

“Hopefully, this buys me some time…” Seeing the barrier revert to its hidden state, Lin Luo let out a slight breath of relief. He then used his abilities to effortlessly unlock the museum door and walked inside.

Though he had forced his way through using Jewel Sorcery, Lin Luo hadn't shattered the entire barrier. Instead, he used a fixed-point method, breaking only a small section. Upon breaching, he immediately used his own Mana to patch the tear, turning the "perfect" barrier into an "imperfect" one, thus creating the illusion that the barrier remained undisturbed, preventing the caster from detecting an alert.

This was a method Aoko had once mentioned for dealing with barriers. If done perfectly, the original caster might not notice the interference for at least three hours. Although this was Lin Luo’s first attempt, the ample Mana provided by the jewel allowed him to succeed, narrowly. However, he could not guarantee how long the deception would last.

To maximize his limited time, the moment Lin Luo entered the museum, he activated Mikoto’s Synchronization Mode. In this dual state, his mental acuity, vision, and hearing were greatly enhanced, allowing him to search at incredible speed.

The museum appeared entirely mundane, displaying ordinary artifacts: ancient calligraphy and paintings, pottery, and books—nothing that overtly suggested the presence of Magicians.

“Did my intelligence fail me? No, my information shouldn't be wrong.” Failing to find what he sought after searching for a while, Lin Luo couldn't help but doubt himself, yet he had spent seven days and nights investigating before settling on this location.

Lin Luo was unwilling to give up. He closed his eyes, quietly sensing everything around him… If anything related to Magecraft existed here, his innate perception should detect it to some degree.

… A few minutes later, Lin Luo felt a sudden jolt deep within his core—something had been sensed. It was a heart-stopping feeling, one that didn't stem from Magecraft, but rather… the Book of Contracts.

“So, it really is here…” Lin Luo forcibly suppressed his rising excitement and continued to focus his search. Gradually, the sensation of agitation grew stronger until he finally pinpointed the source of that resonance… underground.

“A basement, how cunning, these Sorcerers,” Lin Luo mused silently. He then squatted down, pressing both hands against the floor… Zzzt Zzzt.

Blue and white electrical currents began to snake across the floor, seeping slowly into the ground and surroundings at his command… To avoid affecting the barrier, he kept the current output deliberately low, exercising extreme caution.

“Found it!” In less than a minute, Lin Luo stood up, a smile gracing his face. He walked to a nearby display stand and gently nudged an antique vase sitting upon it.

Kacha.

With a crisp sound, the stone slab where Lin Luo had been standing moments before shifted aside, revealing a hidden underground passage.

“The combination of Magecraft and science truly yields unexpected results,” Lin Luo remarked, stepping into the passage… Using his psychic powers to locate the secret switch for a hidden entrance—he was probably the first in history to do so, but it was undeniably effective.

However, Lin Luo failed to notice that shortly after he entered the passage, the yellow halo outside the museum flickered violently… a silent warning.

The underground passage was pitch black, an environment where even Lin Luo’s night vision was useless. He reluctantly condensed electricity onto his hand, using his own body as a makeshift lamp.

After descending a long flight of stairs, Lin Luo reached the lowest level of the basement: a series of interconnected rooms, one leading to the next in a chain.

He glanced briefly into the first room, finding only jewelry, gold, and diamonds the size of half a fist… Lin Luo had zero interest in these treasures. With his hacking skills, cracking the computer systems of this era would be trivially easy; banks were no more than ATMs to him.

As an aside, a significant portion of why Lin Luo and his group could travel the world unhindered was thanks to the bank accounts unknowingly provided by local crime syndicates.

Moving to the next room revealed magical artifacts, which were also of no use to Lin Luo. He continued deeper until he reached the fourth and final room, where he finally saw what he was looking for… a massive chest.

The chest resembled a coffin, intricately carved with various patterns. The exterior was even studded with numerous green and blue, gem-like beads, immediately evoking images of Egyptian mummies.

Approaching the chest, Lin Luo placed his hand upon it; a cold sensation spread through his palm. It felt neither like wood nor metal, making its material utterly indecipherable.

“No wonder those Sorcerers treasured this box so highly. But fortunately, they have no way to open this specialized smart container… Now, can you open for me?”

Lin Luo murmured softly, pressing each of the beads on the chest’s surface in sequence. Immediately, the blue beads pulsed with a faint light. A few seconds later, as the luminescence died down, a kacha sound echoed as the chest cracked open slightly.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Luo pushed the lid open forcefully, revealing what lay inside… A maiden with magnificent, flowing blue hair and skin that shone like crystal, a beauty so ethereal it seemed dreamt into existence.

“I have found you, the Fifth Person.”