Chapter 2406 Main Control Node’s Location <TOC> Chapter 2408 Number
Translator: SumTLMan
Nisi and Canter, upon stepping into the fourth level of the laboratory, immediately sensed a distinct atmosphere.
The first three levels were extremely cold and silent. Walking through them, although they did not feel the presence of death, the breath of the living was equally absent, as if they were traversing a forgotten wasteland. However, the fourth level was different. Even though they had not yet seen anyone with their own eyes, the brighter lighting, the mix of different smells in the air, and the occasional distant rustling sounds all unequivocally indicated that there were people here, and quite a few of them.
Under Reynolds’ guidance, they hadn’t walked far before they spotted signs of life.
At the end of the narrow corridor ahead, around the corner, several flickering shadows appeared.
Nisi squinted at Canter: “Do we go straight over, or do we go covertly?”
Canter replied, “If we haven’t found the main control node yet, it’s naturally best to stay hidden. But how do you plan to conceal us?”
Nisi’s face broke into a sly grin, gesturing towards the silent bone armor knight beside them, his meaning clear without words.
Their method of concealment? Naturally, it was to physically hide. By knocking out the two people ahead, they could pass through silently and unnoticed.
Understanding Nisi’s method, Canter felt a slight twitch at the corner of his eye. True to Nisi’s pattern of behavior, he would certainly choose this kind of method, officially termed ‘hardcore’, unofficially ‘reckless’.
Canter sighed silently, extending a finger, with a darkness like the night beginning to condense at his fingertip.
In a short while, this night-like darkness covered Canter and quickly spread, enveloping Nisi, Reynolds, and the massive bone armor knight as well.
Once shrouded in darkness, standing under the light, the four of them looked like silhouettes with their own shadow mosaics, even more conspicuous than before.
Nisi looked at Canter, trying to convey with his eyes: It’s not night, and using Nocturne is less effective than a direct strike.
However, at this moment, they were all engulfed in pitch darkness, making it difficult to convey messages through eye contact alone.
Nevertheless, Canter dared to use this ability, naturally having his reasons. Even if Nisi didn’t ask, he would explain: “Don’t stand in the middle of the corridor, there’s light above, walk by the wall.”
The corridor’s light source came from directly above. Walking in the middle, they were like dark mosaics, nullifying any concealing effect.
However, in Nisi and Reynolds’ view, even sticking to the sides seemed futile. The corridor itself wasn’t spacious, and the light source was sufficient to cover the edges of the corridor.
Sticking to the side would at most make the light dimmer, but their few dark silhouettes would still be detectable.
Amidst their confusion, Canter took the lead and walked towards the wall.
Then, a miraculous scene unfolded. As Canter reached the wall, he blended into the environment, leaving no trace to be seen.
“What’s going on?” Reynolds asked in a daze, now in his soul form, his eyes naturally possessing the triple vision of the flesh eye, energy eye, and soul eye. Yet even so, he couldn’t spot Canter’s trace.
“It’s a little trick. As long as there’s a bit of shadow, it can amplify the effect of being obscured,” Canter said.
Although the corridor was also covered by light, due to the angle, there was always a layer of not-so-obvious shadow at the bottom edge. Normally, these shadows wouldn’t affect the line of sight, but Canter’s trick directly utilized these inconspicuous shadows to hide his own form.
With Canter’s demonstration, the others also leaned against the wall.
Nisi, feeling the unusual sensation of being obscured by shadows, showed a hint of surprise in his eyes: “Is this a shadow-based ability?”
Canter didn’t answer directly, simply stating, “This is a gift from the Nocturne.”
With the cover of shadows, their movements became much simpler. Even if they saw someone ahead, they didn’t hesitate and just walked past.
“Numbers 61 and 62.” After reaching the corner, the first thing they saw was a few figures just walking away, and two people standing nearby, wearing silver-white uniforms with mechanical aesthetics, their faces marked with the numbers 61 and 62.
“They are researchers, what exactly they research, I’m not sure. I don’t usually have contact with them,” Reynolds communicated through the mental connection.
“Researchers, huh? Let’s hear what they’re saying.” Nisi wasn’t in a hurry to leave. After all, they had the cover of shadows, and with their abilities, they were more than capable of hiding any outward fluctuations.
Numbers 61 and 62 didn’t stay in place but walked forward while talking. However, they were unaware that in the shadows beside them, four figures were hidden.
Number 62: “Although Number 47 said everything is under control and it absolutely couldn’t come to the fourth level, I always feel uneasy.”
Number 61: “Don’t worry, the fourth level has activated all the Authority Eyes. It can’t get in. Even if it really does come, it doesn’t matter. Unlike the first three levels, the control panel on the fourth level has been fully mastered. If it dares to come, even if we can’t kill it in a short time, we can trap it and slowly grind it down with the magic formation. Once the higher numbers return, it will be easy…”
As they spoke, they turned and entered a room.
Nisi and the others didn’t follow them, not because they didn’t want to, but because the room was flashing with obvious magic rune lights. Numbers 61 and 62 might have the authority to go directly in, but if they stepped in, the magic runes might detect them.
Nisi, looking at the flashing magic runes in the room, whispered softly, “The fourth level might not be as easy as the previous ones.”
After a pause, Nisi looked at Reynolds: “Do you know what’s going on with these magic runes?”
Reynolds, also observing the activated magic runes, was stunned for a while before responding: “This is the phenomenon of the magic formation being fully activated. The last time this happened, I remember, was when a combat personnel defected. In the situation where the magic formation is activated, if you don’t have the relevant authority, there’s almost nowhere to escape.”
Nisi frowned, “So, you’re saying that we can’t enter any place where the magic rune is activated?”
Reynolds replied, “You must have permission to enter, otherwise, the magic formation will lock onto you.”
The magic formation operates through energy identification. Therefore, as long as there is energy entering it, it will be locked onto immediately, even true knowledge wizards cannot escape. Only those who have mastered certain special laws, or rather, space wizards proficient in runes, might be able to silently enter the activated area through the gaps in the runes.
However, space wizards are rare, and those proficient in runes are even rarer. Moreover, the magic formation here was set up by an enchanter from the Source World. To find a flaw in this magic formation, the strength of one’s runes must be at least comparable to that of the enchanter. The Southern Region is a place where enchanters are at a disadvantage, making it virtually impossible to find someone similar.
“Do you have permission then?” Nisi asked.
Reynolds shook his head, “Such emergency permissions are temporarily issued, and I don’t have one.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Reynolds felt a hint of combativeness emanating from Nisi, probably guessing Nisi’s thoughts. He added, “Permissions cannot be taken by force. Even if you capture and control someone with permission, it’s difficult to use it for our benefit because the permission is imprinted on the soul’s mark.”
“And, the emergency permissions are individual.”
Meaning, even if someone with permission is controlled to go into the magic formation, only that person can use it. It’s not like before, where Reynolds’ single permission could bring everyone else into the exhibition room.
After Reynolds finished speaking, Nisi’s mood immediately soured.
Given the current situation, doesn’t it mean that most of the rooms are inaccessible? What about the exhibition room, and what about his exhibits?
More importantly, the documents he wanted would not be placed in the corridors; they must be in one of the rooms.
If they can’t enter the rooms, the documents might as well be gone.
“So, what do we do now?”
Canter suggested, “If we’re not willing to force our way through, the only option is to wait for the results from Angel’s side.”
After some thought, Nisi realized that this was indeed the only option. He initially wanted Toby to call Angel and inform him of the situation here, but ultimately decided against it. Angel must be researching the runes to find the main control node, and any interruption could disrupt his train of thought. It’s better to wait until he’s finished his research.
In the following time, the group carefully navigated the fourth level while determining the areas where the runes were activated.
During this process, they encountered many researchers dressed in silver-white robes. They all shared one characteristic: their expressions were very serious, and they hurried along as if danger was chasing them, as if slowing down even slightly would result in being swallowed by darkness.
This extreme caution and readiness for response also made Nisi curious about what had happened on the fourth level.
“From the conversation between Number 61 and Number 62, it seems something has broken into the lab?” Nisi mused, “I feel this might be the reason why the first three levels are devoid of people.”
“Could it be some kind of magical creature?”
When discussing the intruder, Numbers 61 and 62 referred to it only as “it” throughout the conversation, a term generally considered in the common language of the continent to denote non-human entities. However, “it” can sometimes be used to refer to humans, such as by extreme anthropocentrists who derogatorily refer to others as “it,” as seen among the Karabians who look down on those knowledgeable in humanity, even after the —Human Revision Act— had been widely recognized for its inclusivity; they still use “it” to refer to humans.
“An intrusion by a magical creature into the laboratory? That seems unlikely. Generally speaking, it’s difficult enough for humans to break into a laboratory,” Reynolds said. His ability to sneak into the laboratory with Nausica was due to his extensive knowledge of the place, including the duty mechanisms, allowing them to enter without detection.
Without the guidance of an insider, not to mention causing a disturbance, merely entering the laboratory would be impossible due to… security permissions.
Nisi pondered and found the explanation plausible, just like this time, if it weren’t for Angel, they would have definitely been stuck at the entrance.
A magical creature, no matter how intelligent, could hardly be expected to understand the application of runes.
“Could it be that a magical creature kept inside the laboratory started a riot?” Nisi asked. “Didn’t you say that the laboratory keeps some magical creatures? Last time, you and Nausica were chased by one, forcing you to flee.”
Nisi hesitated before responding, “It’s possible, but even if a riot occurred among the lab-kept magical creatures, it’s unlikely that there would be no one to handle it. Moreover, if we dare to keep magical creatures, we certainly have means to control them.”
“That’s true, but how do we interpret this record then?” Nisi’s hand revealed a medical record, documented by Number 23.
Nisi flipped to the record from the day before yesterday, which clearly stated that Number 23 was attacked by a magical creature and had to enter cryogenic recovery.
Although the exact nature of the magical creature wasn’t specified by Number 23, making it unclear whether it was one of the lab-kept creatures, it was evident that there was an anomaly involving a magical creature.
At the time, Nisi didn’t pay much attention to this record, but now it seemed to indicate the source of the issue.
Combining this with what Numbers 61 and 62 said, it’s very likely that everyone retreated to the fourth level due to the disturbance caused by a magical creature.
Reynolds was somewhat at a loss facing this medical record.
“Perhaps the absence of combat personnel led to the inability to control certain magical creatures?” Reynolds speculated, though he himself found this guess hard to believe.
Researchers are indeed proficient in their field of study, but to say they possess combat capabilities is unlikely. Wizards are generally well-rounded, with some specializing in combat and others in research.
Because many things were inexplicable and further discussion seemed pointless, Nisi pondered for a moment and said, “Let’s continue to gather information and, along the way, look for the path to the fifth level.”
The fourth level was crowded with people who, despite the situation, had activated all the magic formations without concern for the drain on their resources, making it nearly impossible to achieve anything there. However, the fifth level was different. According to Reynolds, the fifth level was a private domain for those in the first three numbers. Even if magical creatures really invaded the interior of the laboratory, they would at most flee to the fourth level; the fifth level was presumably off-limits to them.
Reynolds nodded, having secretly gathered much information about the fifth level, which was also where his goal lay.
However, Reynolds was somewhat worried. On the way to the fifth level, one would need to pass through many halls, such as the research center. Were the magic formations in these places also activated?
With a heart full of trepidation, Reynolds moved through the shadows…
……
**On the first level of the laboratory, footsteps echoed through the spacious corridor.
Due to the narrow space, the sound of footsteps reverberated, creating a distant and repetitive ghostly sensation.
“I always feel like each of your steps makes my heart skip a beat, it’s eerie,” Dangros shivered as it spoke.
Angel glanced at Dangros, “Do you even have a heart? And, you’ve chosen your words poorly. It shouldn’t be ‘eerie,’ but rather… ‘fiery.'”
“……”
By this time, Angel had already left the first level sub-control node. He was fairly certain that the main control node was on this level. However, to pinpoint its exact location, he needed more information.
He could rely on the sub-control nodes on the second and third levels for calculations, but that method was somewhat slow. Therefore, he decided to wander the first level, using the distribution of runes here in combination with the information from the sub-control nodes on the second and third levels to ultimately locate the main control node.
This was why he was now leisurely strolling through the corridors.
After wandering for about ten minutes, Angel’s gaze suddenly fixed on a corner at a turn.
There, an unusual energy fluctuation appeared… and it was not emanating from the magic formation.
Chapter 2406 Main Control Node’s Location <TOC> Chapter 2408 Number