At the end of the stairs leading to the upper level of the observatory, the door stood quietly in front of Gwen and the others. The old coating on the door, which was made of some unknown alloy, had fallen off. The inevitable signs of aging seemed to be silently telling the witnesses of the vicissitudes of the past seven centuries.
"As long as you touch the door, an authentication system will be activated," Philip said. "Failure of authentication will not trigger any alarm or security device, but the door will remain locked. We have not found where the energy comes from. Probably the entire system is on the other side of the door. For the sake of caution, we did not continue to stimulate this thing. "
Diana stood in front of the door, staring at the mottled door in a daze. Then she frowned slightly. "I … I do remember this door. The director and the grand scholar usually do not allow ordinary guards to enter the observatory, but I have an additional analysis function, so sometimes I help to sort out the information here … "
"Do you still remember how to open this door?" Amber glanced at Diana. She seemed to think that this ancient machine lady with a memory lapse was a little unreliable. She could not help but mutter, "If you can't do it, then I can think of a way …"
"I only remember that the human staff of the observatory need a card to open this door, and an authorized guard like me only needs to …" Diana whispered softly as if talking to herself. She followed some kind of guidance in her heart and pressed her hand in the middle of the door. The next second, everyone present heard a slight buzzing sound from both sides of the door, followed by a stream of light flowing on the door panel and quickly converging into a green mark. A seriously distorted and noisy voice came out of nowhere. "Beep — Employee card, authentication passed.
"Serial number EX-800, Senior Guard Diana, you have been absent for 27,065 days without reason. The penalty for absenteeism is 26,076 million rubles. Your leave has been canceled until Year 3018 of the Imperial Calendar. If you have any questions, please consult your supervisor …"
This series of announcements was not only seriously disrupted, but it was also in the ancient Gondor language of 700 years ago. The pronunciation of many words was very different from today's. Amber was stunned on the spot. She grabbed Gwen's arm and said, "Hey, what is this door blah blah blah? Why is the expression on Diana's face all of a sudden … She can be so expressive? "
"… Don't worry, it's just an error caused by an ancient system that has been running automatically for many years." Gwen's mouth trembled a few times, and it was difficult to maintain a calm expression on his face. He then turned to look at Diana. "Madam, are you okay?"
"I didn't expect …" Diana suddenly felt a burst of heat rising behind her, and there seemed to be a buzzing sound coming from her body. "After 700 years, it still sounds so scary …"
"Ahem, don't take it to heart. Anyway, you don't have to make up for those hundreds of years of absence." Gwen coughed twice, and then noticed that there seemed to be a gap at the edge of the door. "Anyway, it seems that the door is open …"
As his voice trailed off, Diana had already adjusted the state of the core of her mind. She reached out and gently pushed forward. The extraordinarily strong door made of an unknown alloy was easily pushed open by her. Accompanied by the harsh sound of metal friction, the dark space on the other side of the door appeared in front of everyone on the platform as if it was full of chaotic fog.
Gwen poked his head out to take a look at the dark space. He felt that even with the vision of an Extraordinary, he could not see the situation inside, and there was always a layer of fog blocking his vision. This obviously abnormal scene made him instantly alert. "Is this the 'observatory'? I feel that something is wrong … Philip, throw something in. "
"Yes, Your Majesty." Philip nodded at once, and then took a portable magic net terminal from a soldier beside him. He carefully placed it by the door, and then used the scabbard of his sword to push it to the other side of the door. As everyone looked on, the magic net terminal that was on and emitting a faint blue light passed through the door, and then disappeared into the darkness as if it was dissolved by the darkness or passed through a curtain. The thin fog engulfed it, leaving no trace behind.
"This …" Philip frowned at once, and then glanced at the other magic net terminal on the platform beside him. He saw that a certain rune on the base of the device was glowing faintly, but the holographic projection above the terminal was only showing interference ripples. "The magic net terminal is still running and not damaged, but it can't send back images. There seems to be a strong interference, or … is it too far away?"
As he spoke, he looked down at the scabbard of his officer's sword. When he pushed the MDT to the other side of the door, about a quarter of the scabbard was swallowed by the darkness. But after that, he pulled the scabbard back without any hindrance. Now, he carefully examined it for a long time and confirmed that there were no traces of damage on the scabbard, nor were there any remnants of curse or magic corrosion.
"… There must be something strange on the other side of the door, as if there is a curtain blocking peeking, but the thing can be sent in, and it is not damaged …" Gwen also noticed the condition of Philip's scabbard, and said thoughtfully, "Just a shield? A protective measure? "
Then, Philip used another magic net terminal to test it. He adjusted the small terminal to record mode, and then tied it to a long stick and sent it through the door. A few minutes later, he pulled the stick back, and the magic net terminal returned to the other side of the door intact. But when Gwen and the others wanted to play the recorded image, all they saw was a dazzling flickering light spot — a typical sign of severe interference.
"It seems that the energy response we recorded outside the observatory is indeed leaking from here," Philip said with a serious expression. "There is a very strong energy field behind the door, and the magic net terminal cannot operate in it. This small leakage of energy field became the periodic signal that the explorers observed outside with equipment. But it seems that this energy field does not cause direct damage to the entity … It is just interfering with the operation of magic."
"Was there such a high-power energy source on the observatory back then?" Gwen immediately asked Diana.
"No." Diana shook her head. "There were only various observation devices, recording devices, and a large-scale set of magic filters on the observatory. They were all low-power equipment."
Gwen frowned, and just as he was about to ask something, he suddenly heard Amber's voice from the side. "Come on, let me go take a look."
Gwen heard and immediately looked back at the half-elf in surprise. Since when did she become so cowardly? In the past, when faced with similar situations, didn't he throw her to the front before she went to work? Why was she so enthusiastic this time?
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Amber immediately noticed Gwen's strange gaze and suddenly put her hands on her waist. "Didn't you bring me out to scout ahead? Or do you feel that your blood pressure has been low recently and want to chat with me to cure it?"
Hearing the other party's self-aware and shameless words, Gawain at once confirmed that the fellow before him was still Amber and had not been possessed by some unlucky bastard from another world. Still, he could not help muttering, "I didn't expect you to be so self-aware. It wasn't so easy for you to take the initiative in the past …"
"Nonsense, it's better for me to take the initiative than to be thrown in by you later." Amber rolled her eyes, and then her figure gradually faded before everyone's eyes. Accompanied by a burst of light and shadow, she turned and walked towards the door that led to the upper level of the observatory. "I'll go scout ahead …"
As her voice trailed off, her figure had disappeared before everyone's eyes. The curtain of chaotic darkness swallowed her, which made Gwen feel a little uneasy. But at the same time, he had confidence in Amber. He felt that with her first-class running skills and survival first creed, she would definitely be able to escape if there was any danger on the other side …
Just as his thoughts were running through his head, Hu Po had only passed through the curtain for two to three seconds when everyone suddenly felt their vision blur. A flickering shadow darted out from the door, followed by Hu Po, who had jumped out of the shadow and landed on the ground. She was yelling, "Oh my God, the other side is crazy! Go and have a look! My vocabulary is not enough! "
The few who were guarding the door could not help but look at each other. But before anyone could do anything, Philip took a step forward. At the same time, he put his hand on his sword and looked at Amber cautiously. "What's the seventeenth clause of Chapter 7 of the Imperial Charter?"
Amber was stunned. Then, her eyes widened. "Huh? How can I recite that? "
Philip's expression relaxed a little when he heard this. Gwen followed up with a question. "How do you usually call me? I'm talking about when you have a bad mouth. "
Amber shrunk her neck and looked at the sword in Philip's hand. She muttered, "If I say that word, he'll definitely slash at me …"
Gwen breathed a sigh of relief. He reached out and patted Amber's head. "It's a necessary procedure. You understand."
"I understand, I understand. Who knows what kind of strange place the explorers are. Many powerful adventurers have been wiped out in this place." Amber waved her hand generously, indicating that she had rich experience in this field. "Let's talk about the other side. There's no danger on the other side, but it's … a very strange place. It's definitely not in a normal space. You'll know when you see it. "
Gawain raised his head and saw Diana nodding slightly. Then, he took a step forward and led everyone through the strange door.
At the moment when the darkness came, he felt that he had passed through a cool curtain. At the same time, he felt an electric tingling sensation on his skin. The rapid change in the atmosphere made him quickly realize that he was crossing some kind of 'discontinuous space and time'. He was not unfamiliar with this feeling. When he entered the silent 'battlefield of the gods' in the deepest part of the Eternal Storm, he also had this wonderful experience of entering a different space and time.
Then he took a second step. The darkness faded away in an instant, and everyone's eyes suddenly opened up.
Gwen's eyes widened.
He saw a very wide circular platform. It looked like the upper level of the observatory, but it was definitely not a normal 'upper level'. The surrounding walls and the hemispherical dome that should have existed above were torn into pieces by some unknown force. Countless huge walls and roof wreckages floated around the platform as if they had lost gravity and rotated in the air. Beyond the fragmented floating debris was a sky full of chaotic colors. A purple-red background that seemed to have been filtered through a filter covered the entire space, giving everything a distinct 'foreign' feeling.
And right above this' foreign 'space, Gwen saw a starry sky that was clearer and brighter than anywhere else. The purple-red sky seemed to have a crack there, like a hole in the curtain. In the huge irregular crack, he could see the twinkling stars.
It was a magnificent and beautiful starry sky, but in this obviously strange space, the only normal starry sky had become the strangest existence.
"This is …" Philip's voice came from behind as he followed Gwen into this space. The strange scene in front of him made the young imperial general's eyes widen. His eyes first fell on the huge building debris that had lost gravity and was rotating in the air like a vortex. "Those are the debris of the upper level of the observatory? But when we looked from the outside … "
"When we looked at it from the outside, the observatory was complete, and its upper level was clear at a glance," Gawain said in a low voice. "But here, we see a torn apart stargazing platform, and the entire stargazing platform seems to have fallen into a distorted space-time …"
Amber swallowed nervously and looked up at Gwen. "You know a lot. What do you think is going on?"
"Maybe … this is some kind of space-time mirror image, a 'replica' of the Vipranton Observatory in a distorted space and time node. In this distorted space and time, the observatory has been destroyed. Maybe this is an environment similar to the Shadow Realm, and the observatory in the real world has created a false superimposed illusion here, or … someone has deliberately created such an abnormal space." Gwen shook his head. "There are many such guesses, but they are all meaningless. The key is the only one among us who may have a clue. Miss Diana, do you know this place? What do you think? "
Diana also walked past the door. The door was still where it was supposed to be, but there was no wall around the door. It stood alone in the air like a strange space-time entrance, and there was darkness on the other side of the door.
Diana looked up at this strange place. She couldn't help but show surprise on her face. Then she said softly, "This … is indeed an observatory. I can still recognize its appearance, but why did it become …"
She muttered to herself in confusion, and walked forward unconsciously to the center of the platform. It was the center of the entire space, and a hazy light gathered there as if to protect some secret, blocking everyone's sight. Gwen also saw the light, but he did not dare to go forward. When he saw Diana walking forward, he immediately could not help but say, "Be careful, Miss Diana —"
Gwen did not finish his words.
A buzzing sound of energy suddenly rang in the air. A hazy radiance suddenly condensed in front of Diana, interrupting Gawain's words and making everyone feel as if they were facing a great enemy. But Diana immediately saw a familiar figure gradually emerging from the hazy radiance.
"Sir … Scott? Director? "
(End of Chapter)
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