"The statue of three monkeys as a mysterious artifact..." Song Yarong showed a thoughtful look, her artificial eye spinning around in its socket. "Honestly, I have no impression of it... Can you describe it in more detail? Like its size, material, the posture of the statue and so on."

"As for the size and material, I'm not sure." Sun Hang shook his head. "But their postures seemed like one covering its eyes, one covering its ears, and the last one covering its mouth."

"Three monkeys?" Ye Jiu suddenly spoke up.

"You know about this thing?" Sun Hang raised an eyebrow, looking at the metal man sitting next to him.

"How should I put it... This thing is actually an anecdote, not a mysterious artifact." Ye Jiu said, "This anecdote can be traced back to the Confucian school's classic, 'The Analects,' where it's said, 'Do not look at what is contrary to propriety, do not listen to what is contrary to propriety, do not speak against propriety'... The image of the three monkeys is the embodiment of these three sentences. Apart from Xiazhou, the image of the three monkeys has appeared multiple times in surrounding countries influenced by Confucian culture, in sculptures, murals, clay models, and so on... But as far as I know, among the discovered artifact-type mysterious objects, there is no statue with the image of the three monkeys."

"I see..." Sun Hang let out a slow breath, his brow slightly furrowed.

Do not look, do not listen, do not speak... As a Xiazhou native, Sun Hang was of course familiar with this anecdote. But very clearly, the three monkeys he had seen had no direct connection with something like "propriety" promoted by Confucian culture. If one were to forcibly apply this anecdote, the "propriety" part in front would have to be removed.

Do not see, do not hear, do not speak.

Sun Hang suddenly realized that this so-called three-monkey statue might not be an artifact-type mysterious object, but rather belonged to the most mysterious kind—"Type A: Rule-based" mysterious objects.

Whether it was the Christmas crystal ball, the sinister office building, or that eerie shadow with the ability to manipulate time, they were all mercilessly erased because they conflicted with the rules of the "three monkeys." Such unreasonable obliteration capabilities can obviously only be achieved by rule-type mysterious objects.

But then why were those mysterious objects the ones obliterated and not Sun Hang?

Could it be that within the rules of the "three monkeys," he himself cannot be directly eradicated?

Just as Sun Hang was deep in thought, Ye Jiu nudged him with an elbow and asked in a low voice, "Why are you suddenly asking about this thing? Did you encounter this mysterious artifact?"

"Yeah, I'm curious too." Song Yarong, seated across from them, nodded repeatedly, "This should be a new mysterious artifact with no eyewitness record. Maybe after getting back, I can specially create a file for it and even apply for a temporary number. This temporary number and file can be kept for up to ten years. If within ten years, the mysterious artifact appears again and receives confirmed eyewitness records, the number can be converted to permanent..."

"As the compiler of the file, you could also earn quite a bit of research points, right?" Ye Jiu mercilessly exposed Song Yarong's true intention.

"Hehe..." Song Yarong awkwardly chuckled, "To quickly advance in my career, I can't pass up any chance to accumulate points. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the world at the Dubhe Tower."

"Dubhe Tower... Tch, you sure have lofty ambitions." Ye Jiu laughed, unclear whether his tone contained more praise or more mockery.

"What is the Dubhe Tower?" Sun Hang suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Ye Jiu's expression stiffened, "You... you don't even know the Dubhe Tower?"

"He just started working as a Mysterious Creature Hunter less than a month ago." Song Yarong explained for Sun Hang, "Moreover, before that, he suffered a head injury, lost a lot of memories, and even his name was confirmed by the personal badge he was carrying."

"Amnesia?" Ye Jiu reevaluated Sun Hang once again before slowly saying, "Dubhe Tower is located in Chunming City. It's the highest-level mysterious artifact research institution of the Xiazhou Federation, also where the federation's most authoritative mysterious artifact research experts and strongest Mysterious Creature Hunters are based."

"What about your No. 1 Research Institute?" Sun Hang asked, "I thought No. 1 Research Institute was the best mysterious artifact research institution in Chunming City."

"Cough cough... In the field of deceitful equipment research, No. 1 Research Institute is indeed the best." Ye Jiu's face turned a bit embarrassed, "After all... um, expertise in specialization, our No. 1 Research Institute specifically handles the research of deceitful equipment and the eligibility of users. Other areas would be slightly..."

"No. 1 Research Institute is a subordinate institution of the Dubhe Tower," Song Yarong didn't spare Ye Jiu's face, directly exposing his rhetoric, "Beneath Dubhe Tower, there are a total of ten research institutions numbered zero to nine, each with an independent research direction. As for their standard, they are the top existence in their respective fields."

"To be precise, they are not subordinate institutions but cooperate with each other." Ye Jiu's cheeks reddened slightly, arguing in a low voice, "Sigh... there's nothing to discuss about this; you might as well talk about your encounter with that three-monkey mysterious artifact."

"Yeah, where did you discover that three-monkey statue? Does it have any obvious characteristics?" When it came to her research points, Song Yarong quickly put aside past differences and joined forces with Ye Jiu.

She even opened a blank file on her tablet, ready to take notes.

"I can't be sure if that thing counts as an independent mysterious artifact." Sun Hang sighed, "I saw it in a sinister office building. My intuition told me that thing was very dangerous, so I didn't approach it; I just watched it from a distance."

"Sinister office building... you mean the Type G mysterious creature you encountered aboard the Black Mamba No. 24?" Song Yarong's eyes lit up, "That mysterious creature is also a new one not recorded in the archives. Although you've destroyed it, it still holds recording value—besides, according to Night Slayer and Yang Lian's eyewitness reports, the 'B634' luring you into the sinister office building likely was an impostor."

"I agree," Sun Hang nodded, and since he couldn't acquire valuable intel from Song Yarong and Ye Jiu, he had no intention of continuing the discussion about the three monkeys with them. Changing the topic, of course, was for the best, "Besides the appearance, that mysterious creature's characteristics are quite different from 'B634'."

"Possibly a symbiotic type mysterious artifact," Ye Jiu suggested, "In nature, there are many such creatures. Symbiotic relationships between mysterious artifacts are not scarce either."

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