A moment later, they found themselves standing in front of a corridor filled with water.
This corridor was completely different from the ones they had been through before. The walls were made of a mercury-like substance, which looked like mirrors.
In such a mirror-like corridor, there was a layer of water that flowed like veins.
Due to the reflections on the walls, the corridor looked like an infinitely large pool of water. But in fact, it was about the same size as the other corridors.
"Are you sure the sub-control node is in there?" Ness asked.
"The source of all runes is the deeper part of this corridor," Angor explained. "If there's no other way, the sub-control node is inside."
Ness looked at Reynolds. "Have you been here before?"
Reynolds shook his head. "I didn't know there was such a corridor on the third floor of the lab."
Ness sighed and grumbled, "I can't believe you've lived here for a few decades."
Reynolds looked a little embarrassed. He did live here for decades, but that didn't mean he had been to every corner of the lab. Besides, they had to go through a bathroom belonging to a high-ranking Sequence Wizard to find this place.
No one expected that there was a secret passageway behind the High-Sequence Beyonder's bathroom.
It could be said that this area was unknown to most of the laboratory staff. It belonged to the Hidden Snow Region.
Since he couldn't get any help from Reynolds, Ness ignored him and asked through the Spirit Bond, "What do we do next? Go inside?"
Angor nodded. "We don't have much time left. We need to get inside and control the flow of information. Do you have any suggestions, Wizard Ness?"
Ness said somewhat awkwardly, "I just feel that there's something wrong with the water in this corridor. Should I send the skeleton knights in first? "
"There are runes in the water too. Don't do that."
"Then …"
Before Ness could say anything, Kanter took a step forward. "I'll go with Angor. I know a little about runes, and you don't know much about them."
Ness immediately nodded. He had said so much because he did not want to move forward.
Angor didn't want Ness to come with him anyway. They could just stay outside.
"Are we going in now? Or should we wait for a while? "
"Hold on a second."
Using the Eye of Authority, he carefully scanned the corridor ahead. However, judging from Ness's evasive look and Kanter's serious expression, Lucien could tell that the corridor was giving them a lot of pressure. This was also a wizard's way of warning.
Because of this, Angor stopped underestimating them and began to observe carefully.
One minute, two minutes … Soon, ten minutes had passed.
Kanter's expression turned grim. He was the one who had set up the mageweath to slow down the transmission of information in the medical center. He could clearly feel that the effect was starting to wear off. In no more than five minutes, the mageweath there would lose its effectiveness, and the message sent by Number 23 would reach all the floors in an instant. When that time came, the Magic Array would be fully activated, which would be quite disadvantageous for them.
Kanter was anxious, but he didn't dare to urge Angor. Angor was a Rune Master after all.
"Refraction, reflection, diffraction, scattering, and illusionary runes made of light, shadow, and mirror surfaces. The one who set up this corridor is very careful."
Ness was stunned. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, Mister Kanter. Let's go in. Just follow my lead. Don't use your mind to make decisions. "
Kanter didn't understand Angor's words at first. After following Angor's guidance for a few steps, he slowly understood what Angor meant.
For example, there was a landing point that should be where the mageweaths gathered. Based on his past experience, even Kanter himself could determine the corresponding location. However, Angor pointed at a very "crooked" spot, which didn't seem to be where the runes were converging.
Kanter hesitated for a while and finally chose to follow Angor's words.
Everything was fine, which meant they were on the right path.
This made Kanter a little confused. Why did his judgment fail? Angor didn't tell him the answer directly. Instead, he signaled Kanter to look at the wall.
The mercury walls were all mirrors, and the true convergence point of the mageweath was projected onto the walls through the mirrors.
Kanter seemed to be standing at a "crooked" spot, but the "him" projected on the wall was actually at the correct spot.
To put it bluntly, the runes here were the applications of light and mirror surfaces.
If someone wasn't familiar with them, he or she would easily ignore the mirror surfaces and light, which would lead to a series of mistakes.
Angor had been studying the mirror dimension for a long time, so he had a better understanding of light and mirror surfaces. Besides, he didn't forget what Jon taught him about physics. Even if some of the physical constants in this world were different from those on Earth, the properties of light were similar.
Thanks to this knowledge, he was able to see through all the traps in the hallway in such a short time.
With Angor's explanation, Kanter finally understood what was going on. Instead of relying on his own experience, he followed Angor's lead and moved forward step by step.
While Angor and Kanter were heading to the sub-control node, Ness was still thinking about the conversation he had with Number 23.
Number 23 killed himself in the end, but that didn't mean they didn't get any useful information.
What caught Ness' attention the most was a sentence mentioned by No.23, "That noble, great, and invincible being is still sleeping. Once he realizes that you are a threat, he will wake up and punish you with his divine power!"
Judging from Number 23's expression, he didn't make up those words on the spur of the moment.
In other words, what Number 23 said was very likely true.
Once Number 23's message was sent out, it might really attract the attention of a sleeping powerful being.
Who was this hidden 'powerhouse' that was given the prefixes of 'honorable, great, and invincible' by No. 23?
Nessie looked at Reynolds, who was floating in the air, and asked the question.
"I don't know who Number 23 is talking about. Is there really someone like that in the lab?" Reynolds looked confused.
"Why do I feel like you don't know anything? How did you manage to break in with Nausica and escape with your poor knowledge of the lab? "
Reynolds scratched his head and didn't know how to answer. He was quite familiar with the lab's schedule, which was why he was able to get in so easily last time. However, this didn't mean Reynolds was familiar with all the secrets of the lab.
Reynolds hesitated. "Apart from the hidden areas and some forbidden areas, I'm quite familiar with the first four levels. But I never heard of any hidden powerful being. Maybe the one Number 23 mentioned is hiding in the fifth level? "
Reynolds had only been to the fifth level once. It was reserved for the top three Sequences. It was precisely because he rarely went there that Reynolds had a bigger imagination about that place.
Reynolds: "Oh, right. Number 23 has an assistant, Sequence Number 91. I heard she's his wife. I don't know if it's true or not. But I'm sure they spend a lot of time together. Maybe she knows something. "
"Then where do you think this Number 91 is?" Ness remained expressionless.
"… I don't know."
"Then what's the difference between what you're saying and what you're saying?"
Ness rolled his eyes at Reynolds and ignored him. Instead, he fell into deep thought.
As for the hidden being, Ness had a guess in his mind. Could Number 23 be Number 00?
When he talked to Number 03 outside, Number 03 had never denied Number 00's existence.
However, because of Reynolds' influence, they assumed that even if Number 00 existed, he wasn't in the lab. After all, there had been situations in the lab for decades, and it was always the top three Sequences who came out to solve the problems. Number 00 had never appeared. He had always been a "legend" and had never shown up.
Now that he thought about it, Number 03 didn't say that Number 00 had left. She just kept silent and didn't want to talk about it.
Maybe Number 00 was actually in the lab?
After all, Number 03 had obviously been egging them on when she learned that they wanted to go inside the lab. Maybe she felt that their entry would trigger Number 00?
If Number 00 was really sleeping somewhere in the laboratory, then their actions had to be faster, and they had to be more cautious and secretive.
They had to find the information and leave the lab as soon as possible to avoid being trapped like a turtle.
…
Three minutes after Kanter entered the mirror corridor, Ness received a message from Kanter through the Spirit Bond. "The transmission block has been controlled. Number 23's message has been processed. "
About ten minutes later, Kanter walked out of the mirror corridor with the Eye of Authority.
"What's going on inside?" Ness quickly asked.
"Nothing. It's just like the sub-control nodes from before. Pure runes," Kanter replied.
"Did Angor find anything?"
Ness asked Kanter because the Eye of Authority was still closed. Angor was also silent through the Spirit Bond. Clearly, Angor had blocked all information from the outside world again.
"No details," Kanter replied. "But Angor said he can try to find the location of the main control node. I think he's working on it now."
"Let's go to the showroom on this floor first. According to Angor, we can take two items from here. If we take more, we'll trigger the alarm."
Ness nodded. It would be good for him to collect more items while searching for more information. Even if he couldn't find anything, he could still use these items to study Soul Gear.
On their way back, Ness asked, "Is there anything else in the sub-control nodes apart from the runes? Is there a hunting sequence? "
Kanter nodded. "Yes, the number three on the hunting list is sleeping inside."
Ness said, "In that case, there's a High-Sequence mechanical marionette in every sub-control node."
"Yes, that's right."
The first floor was the hunting sequence number 5, the second floor was the hunting sequence number 4, and the third floor was the hunting sequence number 3. According to this pattern, it was not difficult to deduce that the fourth floor was the hunting sequence number 2, and the fifth floor was the hunting sequence number 1.
However, if they were to proceed according to this pattern, there would be a problem.
"There's a hunting sequence in each sub-control node. The higher the floor, the higher the sequence number, and the stronger it gets. What about the main control node?"
There were five sub-control nodes on the fifth floor. The top five hunters each guarded one.
The main control node was obviously more important than the sub-control nodes. Was there a "guardian" in the main control node as well? Could it be the legendary Hunter No. 00?
Ness felt a little uneasy.
Kanter told Ness not to think too much about it. Even if there was a Hunter No. 00, he wouldn't be too much stronger than the other hunters. Kanter believed he could handle it. Even if Hunter No. 00 was a level-3 truth-finder, Kanter believed he could still escape.
Instead of worrying about Hunter No. 00, Kanter was more worried about the person who blurred Filo's memories.
That existence might be the real hidden boss.
… …
A few minutes later, they returned to the medical center.
Because they were in a hurry to find the sub-control nodes, they didn't spend too much time in the medical center. Now that they had time, they couldn't just skip it.
A medical center like this would definitely have some experimental records.
Finding these records might be of great help to Ness' research on Soul Equipment in the future.
Reynolds was "born" in the medical center, so he was very familiar with the place. Under his guidance, Ness quickly found a stack of records.
Most of them were medical records, while the rest were experimental records. They were all related to Hunter No. X, as well as his research on the compatibility of Soul Equipment.
Although it was a little different from what Ness had envisioned, in theory, these records were related to Soul Equipment, so Ness still managed to learn something.
Moreover, from the medical records, they also learned something.
Hunter No. 23 had voluntarily entered the cold liquid to recover a day ago, which was before the hunters went to the nest.
The reason he needed to recover was because he had been attacked by a magical creature. However, the medical records didn't record what kind of magical creature it was.
Ness guessed that it was a magical creature that specialized in using fire based on the burns on Hunter No. 23.
However, when Ness asked Reynolds if there were any similar magical creatures in the laboratory, Reynolds shook his head.
Shaking his head didn't mean he didn't know.
As far as Reynolds knew, most of the magical creatures in the laboratory were water-type creatures. There weren't any that specialized in using fire. However, since the laboratory required magical organs, it was normal to occasionally encounter fire-type magical creatures in the laboratory. The only downside was that they would be quickly dismembered.
Since he couldn't be sure of the exact situation, and since it wasn't that important, Ness didn't pursue the matter any further. After collecting the relevant records, they left the medical center and headed towards the display room.
They didn't encounter any obstacles along the way, and they arrived at the display room without a hitch.
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