Chapter 2400 Shadow Demon <TOC> Chapter 2402 Main Control Node Clue
Translator: SumTLMan
As Reynolds approached the door of the exhibition room, an Authority Eye slowly emerged.
When the Authority Eye locked onto Reynolds, his mood became unusually anxious.
At the first level, he had no worries, but after being ambushed on the second level, Reynolds became somewhat fearful, dreading that his authority might be modified by a higher number.
Fortunately, after two or three seconds of identification, the Authority Eye smoothly transitioned from yellow light to green light.
The door opened.
Reynolds’ authority was not revoked, meaning he could still enter at least the second level of the exhibition room.
As Reynolds breathed a sigh of relief, Nisi also exhaled deeply, actually more worried than Reynolds about being unable to enter the exhibition room, as it was filled with visible profits. Now, it seemed, their luck was not bad.
The layout of the second level exhibition room was identical to the first level, only the exhibits were different.
Learning from the lesson of the first level, Nisi didn’t waste even a second upon entering. He moved among the exhibits, quickly filtering and selecting.
However, just a minute into the search, Nisi realized that quick selection would be difficult.
This was because the number of exhibits here was significantly more than on the first level, and many of the limbs were of odd shapes. Identifying their origins in a short time was not simple.
For example, the container on the metal platform to Nisi’s left contained a slender tentacle, which, apart from being dull in color, had no other obvious characteristics. At first glance, Nisi thought it might be a lure of a deep-sea fish, like the little lantern atop an anglerfish’s head.
If it were a lure, its value wouldn’t be great, so Nisi moved on quickly. But after a few steps, he returned, recalling that a type of Grey Skin Ghost from the Abyss, also known as the Stealth Demon, also has a similar tentacle atop its head.
Thus, there was also a possibility that this was a demon tentacle. If it were a demon tentacle, then its value would instantly increase, excluding the internal Soul Armor, its apparent value would be higher than the three items Nisi collected on the first level.
Nisi then stood beside this container, pondering, and the more he thought, the more inspired he became.
It wasn’t just a lure or a demon tentacle; he thought of several creatures with similar tentacles, among which the most valuable was the Void Angler, and the least valuable was a certain ghoul’s heart tentacle.
Now he was in a dilemma, what exactly was this tentacle?
Such situations were not unique to the tentacle; the second level exhibition room contained many such exhibits, exhibiting only a part of an organ without any overly obvious characteristics, making it quite difficult to determine their value.
In the end, Nisi had no choice but to ask Canter for help, albeit reluctantly.
But even Canter couldn’t recognize everything, only doing slightly better than Nisi. Moreover, Canter discovered that the second level exhibition room included some organs from otherworldly creatures.
For instance, there was an arm, two meters long and covered in white fur, which Canter recognized as belonging to a Snow Beast from the Northern Territory Wizarding World.
Many organs not native to the Southern Region could only be identified by Canter through luck.
Together, their efficiency was significantly increased.
“Let’s just stay longer if we need to, at worst we’ll just have to kill another set of Hunt and Kill Numbers.” Eventually, Nisi accepted the situation, indifferent to the possibility of exceeding the time limit.
After deciding to meticulously go through each selection, Nisi couldn’t help but ask Reynolds, “Is the limit three items for the second level as well?”
Reynolds thought for a moment and nodded, “It should be three items.”
Nisi sighed and muttered to himself, “If it weren’t for the concern over the magic formation, who would bother following the rules…”
At that moment, a familiar voice echoed through the mental communication.
“It’s not three items, you can only take two here.”
Nisi was startled, “Angel?”
Angel: “Yes, it’s me. I heard your conversation just now. Currently, you can only take two items from the second level exhibit room.”
Nisi: “How do you know that?”
Angel: “Of course, I saw it.”
Saw it? Nisi’s first thought was that Angel might have discovered something through the magic formation. But then, Nisi felt something was off. He distinctly remembered Angel mentioning that his control node could only manipulate the rune conduits of the first level. If Angel had discovered it through the magic formation, how did he come to know the information about the second level’s magic formation?
While Nisi was filled with doubts, Angel’s voice rang out again, “By the way, the container on the metal platform to your left, where you stood for almost a minute just now.”
Nisi looked in the direction Angel mentioned, which was precisely the location of the earlier tentacle.
“That’s a Stealth Demon’s tentacle. They can sense external malice through the swaying of their tentacles. It’s an organ that can compensate for detection capabilities, and it should be quite valuable.”
Nisi looked at the limp tentacle in the container, feeling both a realization and a question:
“So, this really is a Stealth Demon’s tentacle!”
“But how did you know I stood here for a minute?”
Angel: “I’ve already answered you, I saw it. Turn your head to the left by forty-five degrees, then look up…”
Not just Nisi, but Canter and Reynolds also looked in the direction Angel indicated, towards the direction of the exhibit room’s door.
At that moment, above the exhibit room door, an Authority Eye was quietly hanging on the doorframe, winking at Nisi.
“When did this Authority Eye appear?!” Reynolds exclaimed in surprise.
Nisi cast a fleeting glance at Reynolds, whispering, “What should surprise you isn’t when it appeared, but… whether it’s being controlled by Angel?”
“It’s me.” Angel, manipulating the Authority Eye, nodded up and down, also emitting a bit of green light: “I’m using it to see what’s happening on your side.”
Nisi approached the Authority Eye, curiously asking, “How did you do that?”
Angel replied, “Are you sure you want to hear it now? You have three minutes left here. After three minutes, four rune nodes will be triggered, three of which should be the Hunt and Kill Numbers you encountered before, and one seems to be some kind of long-distance communication switch.”
In other words, exceeding the time limit on the second level means not only facing the Hunt and Kill Numbers but also possibly being discovered by others.
For Nisi, if it were just the Hunt and Kill Numbers, that would be manageable; but being discovered by others could mean he might not get the items below, especially the data he most desired.
Previously, Nisi thought dragging out the time didn’t matter, but now it definitely wouldn’t work. He quickly walked back to the exhibit platform to continue his selection.
While Nisi was seriously selecting, Angel also briefly explained his situation.
Before, Nisi had asked Angel to check if they had triggered a magic formation on the first level. During the investigation, Angel discovered an interesting place.
The exhibit room on the first level and the exhibit room on the second level are directly above and below each other.
That is to say, the ceiling of the second level exhibit room is the level of the first level exhibit room.
What’s more interesting is that in the gap between the two exhibit rooms, the mechanism of the Authority Eye is hidden. Inside the mechanism, there are two Authority Eyes, one responsible for the first level exhibit room and the other for the second level exhibit room.
Because the Authority Eyes are in the same mechanism, it gave Angel the opportunity.
After the door of the second level exhibit room was opened, the Authority Eye was activated, and Angel took this opportunity to take control of it, hence the current scene.
Even though Angel was at a control node on the first level, he used the view of the Authority Eye to see the situation in the second level exhibit room.
“This is a design flaw, isn’t it?” Nisi, while selecting the exhibit items, distractedly communicated through the mental communication.
Canter replied, “Perhaps, this was originally a design. It’s just that Angel’s appearance turned it into a flaw.”
Nisi said, “That’s possible, after all, not everyone can crack the magic formation to this extent…”
After this reflection, Nisi suddenly thought of something: “Right, since you can now control the Authority Eye, you can make it not emit light, extending our time in the exhibit room.”
Angel replied, “…I can control the Authority Eye to not emit light, but not emitting light doesn’t mean the rules of the exhibit room aren’t triggered; they are two entirely different systems.”
Angel’s explanation was very clear; he could control the Authority Eye but couldn’t control the magic formation rules of the second level.
“How did you find out we could only take two items then?”
Angel replied, “I’ve answered already; I saw it with the vision of the Authority Eye.”
It took Nisi quite a while to grasp what Angel meant. He didn’t perceive it through a control node level but directly observed the rune patterns in the second level exhibit room through the Authority Eye, discovering the clues.
This kind of remote operation… Nisi could only express his admiration.
As time passed, the three-minute window began to close.
Since many of the organs were unfamiliar to Nisi, in the end, he chose the “Tentacle of the Stealth Demon” and the “Snow Beast Arm from the Northern Territory Wizarding World.”
The Snow Beast Arm was obviously picked for Angel, mainly to see if Nausica would accept it.
Although, from Angel’s personal perspective, the Snow Beast Arm seemed a bit too bizarre, it was more humane compared to the crab pincer Nisi picked from the first level. Moreover, such a powerful arm might be acceptable to Nausica. Considering Sanders had also transplanted the scythe arm of a Phantom Mantis, whose hands are usually mimicked, it seemed acceptable from a perspective of aesthetics.
After selecting the exhibit items, everyone prepared to leave the exhibit room.
At that moment, Angel’s voice echoed in the mental connection: “Remember to take this Authority Eye with you before you leave.”
Without asking why, Nisi directly manipulated a soul arm and, in the nick of time, grabbed the Authority Eye and took it out of the exhibit room.
Standing outside the closed doors of the exhibit room, Nisi asked, “Are you planning to use this Authority Eye to achieve your vision?”
“I have that idea since I can only control this Authority Eye. However, I have a little idea beyond using it as my eye.”
“A little idea? What is it?”
Minutes later, Nisi and the others stood in front of a narrow, cramped corridor.
Even though they hadn’t stepped into the corridor yet, the sense of crisis in their souls had already started frantically warning them.
Do not enter.
Absolutely do not enter!
Even if Nisi didn’t know what the danger was, it was certain that this seemingly ordinary corridor was the source of danger.
Even Canter, at this moment, had a solemn expression.
Reynolds immediately retreated several meters away, his eyes filled with terror, saying, “This is the Forbidden Corridor, we absolutely cannot enter!”
“The Forbidden Corridor?” Nisi looked over in confusion.
Reynolds said, “Everyone in the laboratory knows this is the Forbidden Corridor, containing the most dangerous mechanisms, a forbidden area left by the creator of the laboratory. Even those in the top three numbers are prohibited from entering!”
Hearing Reynolds’ words, Nisi’s face turned grim, and he said word by word in the mental connection, “Is this what you referred to as ‘a little idea’?”
Even through the transmission of information via a mental connection, Angel could sense Nisi’s gritted teeth in his tone.
Angel: “Yes, if all goes as expected, inside is the secondary control node of the magic formation.”
Nisi: “You’re letting us go in?”
Angel: “Not all of you need to enter, just choose one person to go in, and remember to take the Authority Eye.”
Nisi: “You’re asking us to take the Authority Eye, basically to look at the secondary control node?”
Angel: “Correct. Don’t worry, though this corridor is dangerous, with me here, nothing will go wrong.”
After a pause, Angel cleverly didn’t offer the choice of ‘to go or not to go’ but directly asked: “Who will go? Wizard Nisi or Lord Canter?”
Nisi seemed to be quite taken with the challenge: “Why not Reynolds?”
Angel indifferently said: “He can go too, just hand the Authority Eye to him, and I’ll guide him to the right spot.”
Nisi really wanted to hand the Authority Eye to Reynolds, but Reynolds had a bigger role to play. If he went in and took the wrong path, he might not even be able to save himself.
As Nisi hesitated, Canter reached out, taking the Authority Eye from Nisi’s hand.
With a gentle tap on the Authority Eye, it began to float up, circling around Canter.
“I’ll go.” Canter paused: “I do know a bit about runes, well… at least more than Wizard Nisi.”
Nisi’s forehead vein bulged: “…” No need to drag me into this.
“I’ll head in first. I also want to see what’s special about the magic formation in this laboratory.”
With that, Canter slowly walked down the corridor.
…
Venturing deeper into the corridor, Canter could confirm that it indeed was very dangerous. A slight misstep could cause the entire magic formation’s power to backlash upon him.
With Canter’s abilities, he could barely protect himself, but leaving unscathed would be difficult.
However, under Angel’s guidance, Canter’s journey was smooth, without any obstacles.
In Nisi’s eyes, Canter seemed to be strolling leisurely, easily reaching the end of the corridor.
There was a door at the end of the corridor.
Angel asked Canter to pause for a moment, carefully discerning the runes around the door.
At first glance, the runes seemed normal, but recalling the hidden trigger point on the first level, Angel checked over and over again.
Eventually, he indeed found a trigger point on the inside of the door handle.
After informing Canter of the trigger point’s location, Canter naturally knew how to avoid it.
Seconds later, Canter smoothly entered through the door and finally saw the dazzling, intricate, and galaxy-like flow of rune projections.
Chapter 2400 Shadow Demon <TOC> Chapter 2402 Main Control Node Clue