Chapter 1294: Chapter 1294: Layers Upon Layers (Big Chapter, Asking for Monthly Tickets)
Nandu Underground Containnt Area
“The Curse Key is classified as a C-level dangerous Extraordinary Item according to the Research Institute’s ranking system,”
Ye Yun led He Ao forward, quickly passing through the corridor, and softly introduced, “It’s kept in the deepest level of the Nandu Research Institute’s Underground Containnt Area.”
“This C-level classification, is it based on the highest level of harm it can inflict on Transcendents?”
He Ao glanced at the special compartnts marked with label numbers beside them, each compartnt had a monitor displaying the status of items inside.
They seed to have already entered the ‘D Area’ of this containnt zone, and all the item numbers began with D.
He Ao was actually not very familiar with the Research Institute’s classification of Extraordinary Items. After all, he had only joined the Research Institute recently, and for most of the ti since joining, he had been abroad on missions, and was therefore not very clear about the internal operations and rules of the Research Institute.
He just vaguely recalled that the classification levels of the Research Institute’s contained Extraordinary Items generally corresponded to the levels of Transcendents.
“This is actually so kind of legacy issue.”
Ye Yun, walking beside He Ao, clearly knew that He Ao had always been in charge of external duties and hadn’t stayed in the country for long, and carefully explained,
“According to the current regulations of the Research Institute, such Extraordinary Items that can easily kill C-level Transcendents should actually be considered as dangerous C-level, or even B-level Extraordinary Items. Such Extraordinary Items are now all kept at the Beidu Dangerous Item Containnt Research Institute.
“But when the Curse Key appeared, it was in the early days of the Research Institute’s establishnt, at a ti when the world had just begun to encounter Extraordinary Powers, and everyone’s understanding of the extraordinary was shallow.
“It’s said that at that ti, Director Li was also only a D-level, and we couldn’t accurately assess the strength of the Curse Key’s power, so it could only be estimated based on intuition.
“The Research Institute at that ti didn’t figure out how many people the Curse Key had killed; they only knew it was dangerous to the point even D-level Transcendents couldn’t handle it, and could only entice it into containnt.
“So they temporarily set a C-level designation.”
He glanced at the corridor extending deeper and continued,
“The containnt chamber for the Curse Key is at the very back of the entire containnt area. At that ti, Nandu didn’t actually have a containnt area, the Curse Key was Nandu’s first contained Extraordinary Item, and only later were the other containnt facilities expanded in the area.”
“Even though the Research Institute’s regulations beca increasingly thorough later on, the Curse Key hadn’t caused many issues during this ti,” He Ao, having roughly figured out the pattern, spoke softly, “For the sake of stability, and since no one wanted to test how strong the Curse Key really was, the previous C-level assessnt was retained, and it was kept in Nandu all this ti?”
“Yes.”
Ye Yun didn’t seem to expect He Ao to grasp the core so quickly, he was slightly taken aback, then gently nodded in agreent.
The young man’s performance in front of him was nothing like the ‘young brave’ image who was still in university a few months ago and involved in major events since entering the Research Institute. Instead, he seed imrsed for many years within a large administrative organization as a seasoned pro.
At this mont, Ye Yun had already developed so awe towards the young man beside him. Although he seed young on the surface and appeared to be like a small pond at first glance, the more he approached, the more he observed, the deeper and unfathomable this pond seed.
Yet the stronger the target, the more it strengthened Ye Yun’s resolve to move forward; he did not feel discouraged, nor did he wish to feel discouraged.
Soday, he would witness the back of the person before him.
However, He Ao beside Ye Yun did not think Ye Yun had this much contemplation.
Not having dealt with the internal rules of the Research Institute simply ant he lacked exposure to them, it didn’t indicate a lack of experience. Therefore, as long as Ye Yun prompted him, he could roughly guess the subsequent developnts.
Strictly speaking, as a newly erging organization, the Research Institute internally is actually relatively simple and stable, people’s intentions are fairly straightforward.
Compared to it, the dungeon world with Ains was a totally ‘colorful grand stage’ where various forces and personnel converged; its complexity was beyond what the Research Institute could compare.
And Suote had lived there for decades, even gradually reaching a position close to the core of power.
He Ao looked up and glanced at a labeled D-295 compartnt beside him.
The monitor on this compartnt was displaying a printer piled amidst stacks of paper.
Standing behind the two of them, Ye Ying evidently also saw the contents displayed on the monitor; she slightly paused, then withdrew her gaze.
Ye Yun beside her noticed He Ao’s montary diversion and scanning gaze, but by then He Ao had already retracted his gaze.
He glanced around once more, then looked towards the depths of the corridor and thoughtfully asked, “Does Xidu also have such ‘legacy issues’?”
Upon hearing He Ao’s question, Ye Yun was slightly taken aback, then shook his head, “I don’t know about that, I can only access the materials for Nandu; generally, the person in charge can only see the data of local Extraordinary Items. It’s probably sothing that the person responsible for Xidu would understand,
“Minister He, your current authority should allow you to access Xidu’s data?”
He paused and added, “However, it seems the Xidu Research Institute hasn’t had any major incidents for many years, so the situation there should still be stable.”
“Alright.”
He Ao slightly nodded and smiled, “I was just asking casually.”
“Mm,” Ye Yun nodded gently, then looked ahead and softly stated, “We’ve arrived.”
He Ao lifted his gaze forward; by now, the group had reached the end of the corridor.
Two staff mbers were currently waiting there.
“Boss,”
Seeing Ye Yun walk over, they hurriedly approached, but then they noticed He Ao standing beside Ye Yun, and were montarily stunned.
“This is Dean He.”
Ye Yun noticed the two’s stunned expressions, raised his hand, and introduced He Ao to them.
When at work, it was still necessary to use titles.
“He···”
The staff mber on the left, wearing thick, fully ard attire, looked visibly stunned while looking at He Ao. He opened his mouth as if wanting to call ‘Dean He’, but the title seed to conflict with the one originally rising in his mind, causing him to beco a bit stuck.
“If you prefer, just call Minister He.”
He Ao extended his hand and smiled.
“Minister He, Minister He.”
That staff mber imdiately reached out, quickly shaking hands with He Ao, “Hello.”
“Minister He, hello.”
The other staff mber beside him also imdiately extended a hand to shake hands with He Ao.
And at this mont, the fully ard staff mber had already turned his attention to Ye Yun and promptly said, “Boss, the Curse Key has breached containnt.”
His speech carried a trace of urgency, and his face flushed red.
He was already sowhat anxious, and seeing Ye Yun leisurely walking over as if nothing had happened made him even more anxious.
“No worries,” Ye Yun realized that he had rushed over too hastily without notifying the people below, and quickly said, “Minister He has already resolved the issue.”
“Huh?”
The staff mber was slightly taken aback, turning his head to look at He Ao.
“Currently, the Curse Key is under Minister He’s control,”
Ye Yun continued to explain.
“Resolved, resolved?”
The staff mber was slightly dazed, seeming sowhat incredulous.
His first reaction was whether Ye Yun was deceiving him.
But as he looked at He Ao, recalling the various legendary tales surrounding this person, he couldn’t help but feel a bit convinced.
“Resolved,”
He Ao noticed the staff mber’s doubt, smiled gently and asked, “May I take a look inside?”
“This.”
The staff mber was slightly stunned; he glanced at the open observation window beside him and the monitor displaying an empty scene inside, montarily at a loss.
“We also don’t know how to open this,”
Another staff mber quickly added, “We’ve not received relevant training, we’re only observers.”
For a mont, everyone’s gaze turned to Ye Yun.
“I don’t know either,”
It was Ye Yun’s turn to be stunned; he picked up his phone, “The Research Institute’s records seem to have how to open this thing, but it’s encrypted, and needs a puzzle-solving. The regular records don’t contain the thod to open this containnt room.
“I hadn’t thought about opening this thing before, so I didn’t spend any ti looking.”
He unlocked his phone, quickly inputting a long complex password, then went through various biotric authentications to access a certain page.
“Found it.”
He walked to the observation window, reached out to feel around, and found a section of the wall, then gently applied force.
Bang—
With a crisp sound, the wall’s surface was directly chiseled open, revealing a cavity embedded within the wall.
A visibly rusty latch appeared before everyone’s eyes.
“This thing is quite old.”
Ye Yun glanced at the people around him, then raised his hand, gripping the latch, and applied slight force.
Ka—
As the latch was pulled down, accompanied by a light sound, the entire wall trembled slightly, with fierce, sowhat harsh grinding noises.
The whole wall, standing before everyone, began to move to the side.
A thin crack accompanied by faint light erged from the wall’s edge.
“A very sophisticated chanism,”
Ye Ying watched the scene and couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s amazing it still works after all this ti.”
Just as she finished speaking, a soft ‘creak’ sound ca, and the slowly moving wall only shifted two centiters before getting stuck in place.
Suddenly, the room was engulfed in a brief silence.
Instinctively, all eyes turned to Ye Ying.
“Well,” Ye Ying retracted her head, “This thing’s age, having so issues is normal, right? So what do we do now?”
At this point, He Ao had already walked to the crack, reached out, and squeezed his fingers into the gap.
He applied slight force.
Boom—
With a sound like a bomb exploding right next to the ear, the heavy wall was suddenly pulled open by He Ao like a thin sheet.
Bright light shone into everyone’s field of view.
He Ao lowered his head, looking into the room in front of him.
The first thing he saw was countless reflections.
The entire room, from the ceiling to the walls to the floor, was almost covered with mirrors. These mirrors weren’t completely flat but had a certain angle, pieced together like a kaleidoscope.
Walking into this room is like stepping into a giant kaleidoscope.
Each person’s reflection was cast onto the floor, ceiling, and walls.
Every angle of a person’s front, back, left, right, top, and bottom seed to be captured in these mirrors.
“This is…”
Ye Yun looked at the mirrors and was slightly stunned.
The records only ntioned leading the Curse Key into the containnt room but didn’t specify the containnt thod.
“These mirrors are used to ‘reflect’ the Curse Key,”
He Ao slowly walked to the central pillar-like platform, roughly over a ter tall. On the platform, fine carvings traced certain ancient compass base patterns.
Whoever made this containnt room simulated the original environnt of the Curse Key and used mirrors to reflect the Curse Key’s own appearance.
This should be how the Curse Key is ‘contained’, making it only see itself.
The cara connected to the monitor should be hidden behind one of the ‘single-toned lenses’ in this vicinity.
As He Ao approached the platform, his gaze shifted to the rear of the platform.
Through the reflection in the mirrors, he could see a decayed corpse leaned against the platform.
Its skull was covered with cracks, draped in tattered clothing.
Nearby, Ye Yun evidently saw the scene too; he spoke quietly, “According to the records, an aged researcher used himself as a lure, leading the Curse Key into the containnt room, halting the endless slaughter.”
Upon hearing his words, He Ao was silent for a mont.
From his sensing, the skeleton had no extraordinary ability, indicating the person was purely a normal human.
“Is there a funeral ho nearby?”
He Ao asked softly.
“Yes,” Ye Yun nodded and picked up his phone, “I’ll call soone over right away.”
“Alright.”
He Ao nodded softly, and then he slowly walked to the platform, looking at the empty pedestal.
Ye Ying followed behind him.
She glanced at the skeleton on the ground, appearing sowhat afraid, but she still walked over slowly, seriously bowing to the skeleton.
She then shifted her gaze to He Ao, who was gazing at the platform.
Her gaze followed He Ao’s.
Above the platform, at the center of the complex compass carvings, a small dark hole appeared.
“Is there a hole?”
She hesitated slightly, speaking up.
“The core of this ‘containnt’ should be creating an environnt familiar to the Curse Key while manufacturing a space where it can only see itself so it stabilizes,
“Everything is ant to ‘pacify’ the Curse Key, making it not want to leave, rather than controlling it.
“These patterns were tested by the Nandu’s researchers who found the most perfect, closest design to the Curse Key’s original pattern.”
He Ao said softly, his finger pressing on the center of the platform, slightly forcing on the small hole, “But this hole disrupts the ‘integrity’ of the pattern, making the Curse Key not want to stay here.”
He applied slight force, and with a light sound, the seemingly sturdy surface of the platform was directly pressed through by him, exposing the hollow below.
Ye Ying looked up into the interior; countless little bugs appeared in her field of view imdiately.
She opened her mouth, instinctively wanting to scream but forcibly suppressing the sound, carefully looking at He Ao, “Minister He, what is this.”
“Termites,” He Ao said quietly, observing the bugs in the hole, “For over a decade, if unguarded and with suitable conditions, it indeed breeds termites. This house seems to have so wooden structure deep within.”
He paused in silence, “What a coincidence.”
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