Chapter 1307: Chapter 1307: Who Is in the Darkness (Large Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)
Ruins
Thud thud—
Accompanied by two soft sounds, two figures landed in the pitch-black space.
Li Cheng raised the spear in his hand, a few sparks of electricity gathered at the tip, illuminating a bright light that dispelled the surrounding darkness and showcased the scene next to the two of them.
This seed to be a narrow corridor, the walls on either side made of cent and bricks, now no longer smooth, with multiple spots shattered.
Fragnts of bricks mixed with alloy pieces were scattered on the corridor floor, smashing the ground and revealing the wall behind, with its jagged stone surface seemingly carved out artificially.
The entire ‘corridor’ seems to be built within a man-made ‘tunnel’, with surrounding restored walls making it appear more like an artificial structure.
He Ao looked down at the alloy fragnts mixed between the bricks, these alloys appearing exceptionally thick and sturdy, likely part of the wall’s ‘defense’.
At this mont, He Ao suddenly recalled that in the ‘outside’ research facilities, he had vaguely seen similar alloys on so damaged walls.
The construction thods of the ‘outside’ research facilities are similar to here, except that the alloys on the ‘outside’ have never been damaged, nor can one see the walls hidden behind the alloy.
These ‘alloys’ are difficult to break, even for B-level powers.
He Ao lifted his head, looking towards the deep darkness of the corridor ahead.
The corridor ceiling had long since decayed, also exposing jagged stone walls and so electricity-less wires scattered on the ground.
This corridor is exceptionally deep, Li Cheng’s light is bright enough, but still cannot illuminate the depths.
“Which direction do we go?”
Li Cheng raised his head, looking towards He Ao.
This place is sowhere he has never ventured before.
He Ao turned back, looking behind him.
Behind them, there was also a corridor extending into the darkness.
“Forward.”
He withdrew his gaze, looking ahead, as an orange-gray light flickered in his eyes.
Amidst uncertainty, he faintly felt that the extraordinary forces involved ahead were stronger and more bizarrely terrifying, vaguely exuding an oppressive sense of higher presence.
“Be careful.”
He spoke again, emphasizing the caution.
“Alright.”
Li Cheng gently nodded, lighting up the electricity, illuminating the path, as the two slowly walked forward.
Shortly after the two left, in the deep darkness of the tunnel behind them, accompanied by a soft “pop,” an eyeball slowly squeezed out of the space.
It raised its gaze, glancing at the direction the two departed, slowly following them.
—
Main World
The roaring propeller carried a thundering sound, a black-painted helicopter quickly crossed the night sky, flying into the depths of the forest.
“So what’s the situation?”
He Ao glanced at the mountain shadows swiftly retreating outside the window, taking the docunts handed over by Ming Guang, and asked in a low voice.
“Since the previous order to seal the Eye of the World fragnts and halt new talent detection, the managent authority of the Eye of the World fragnts has been transferred from to Director Liu,” Ming Guang, seated beside him, quickly replied, “Director Liu has frequently co to Dongdu recently to research the Eye of the World fragnts, after which I know nothing about their status.”
Speaking of this, Ming Guang glanced at He Ao, continuing, “After we talked about the Eye of the World fragnts today, I imdiately went to the storage facility to check it, which you already know, by the ti I arrived, the Eye of the World fragnts were already gone.”
“Hmm.”
He Ao lightly nodded while flipping through the docunts in his hand.
During Ming Guang’s arrival, he and Ming Guang discussed the significance of the Eye of the World fragnts and realized their importance.
After that, he and Ming Guang decided to split up; he went to Liu Zhengyun’s missing office, and Ming Guang went to check on the Eye of the World fragnts.
In fact, when he realized that Liu Zhengyun’s office had traces of only Liu Zhengyun, he already had a guess about the status of the Eye of the World fragnts, and the news Ming Guang brought rely confird his suspicion.
“Can you ascertain when they went missing?”
He Ao continued to ask.
“The sealing room storing the Eye of the World fragnts can only be accessed by Director Liu,” Ming Guang pointed to the upper right corner of the docunts He Ao held, “According to the research institute’s surveillance and sealing records, Director Liu last visited the research institute dealing with the Eye of the World fragnts three days ago.”
He Ao’s gaze moved to the upper right corner of the docunts, where it showed Liu Zhengyun’s visit records.
“Are there any blind spots in the surveillance?” He Ao asked softly.
“Yes,” Ming Guang responded without hesitation, looking at He Ao and continued, “The research institute’s access records can also be altered, even bypass registration,”
He paused, “But I believe that the Eye of the World fragnts were taken three days ago, and it was Director Liu… who took them.”
“Reason?” He Ao asked directly.
“The ‘fogging’ marks on the glass,” Ming Guang imdiately said, “The Eye of the World fragnts need to be sealed with glass, in a glass-filled environnt, it will envelop itself in a glow, but,”
He took out a tablet and showed He Ao a photo of a piece of glass.
Though the glass appeared intact on the surface, its interior was already filled with fine cracks, under light, these cracks displayed a gray-white color, making it seem as if so kind of ‘mist’ was rising inside the glass.
“The glow emanated by the Eye of the World fragnts can actually produce ‘damage’ to the sealing glass, causing it to gradually ‘fog,’ and lose sealing effectiveness, hence the glass sealing the Eye of the World fragnts needs constant replacent.”
Ming Guang looked at He Ao and continued, “I have overseen the Eye of the World fragnts for over ten years, and have so understanding of the glass fogging process,
“By reviewing the glass replacent records, I found that if these glasses continued to function until now, the theoretical ‘fog value’ should be higher than the actual, so I roughly speculate that the Eye of the World fragnts were removed around two to three days ago.
“The dust settled on the showcase for the Eye of the World fragnts also proves this point because when the Eye of the World fragnts were present, there would be no dust on the showcase.”
He paused, then continued in a soft voice, “The whole room sealing the Eye of the World fragnts bears no signs of damage, currently only Director Liu, as the primary person responsible, holds the room opening authority, which unmistakably matches Director Liu’s visit records but,”
As he said this, he hesitated, his initially resolute expression revealed a hint of doubt, “These ‘clues’ are too obvious, if Director Liu indeed orchestrated all of this, he should have done it more flawlessly without any ‘loopholes’.”
“Indeed,”
He Ao closed the docunts in his hand, glancing at Ming Guang beside him, softly speaking, “This isn’t like Director Liu’s style.”
He paused, “At least, it doesn’t seem like an event Director Liu deliberately prepared.”
The Eye of the World fragnts were ‘stolen’ three days ago.
Yet He Ao had seen Liu Zhengyun in a eting just yesterday morning, where Liu Zhengyun behaved normally.
There must be sothing amiss with this ‘disappearance,’ and once Liu Zhengyun is found, perhaps many of these issues could be resolved.
Despite being the earliest senior at the research institute to interact with He Ao, Liu Zhengyun hasn’t shown ‘obvious’ preference for He Ao like Yang De and Li Cheng.
However, when He Ao first ca into contact with the Research Institute and the ruins, Liu Zhengyun provided a lot of help without hesitation.
For public and private reasons, He Ao didn’t want to see Liu Zhengyun have any issues.
“Where are we going now?”
Ming Guang turned his head to look at the swiftly retreating night outside the window and asked slowly.
He Ao just asked him to co and exchange information, and as soon as he arrived, He Ao pulled him onto the helicopter, and that was it.
He had already ‘reported’ the situation, but He Ao still hadn’t told him where they were going.
“To Director Liu’s manor.”
He Ao said calmly.
As he spoke, the helicopter had already started to slowly descend.
Through the side window, one could vaguely see a cluster of buildings illuminated with dim lights.
These buildings were connected by dots of light, forming a complex.
Among the several founders of the Research Institute, Liu Zhengyun was the wealthiest. According to the institute’s records, it was clearly stated that during the initial financial difficulties of the institute, Liu Zhengyun personally funded the institute to maintain its normal operations.
“Old Liu… Director Liu’s manor?” Ming Guang was slightly taken aback and asked with so confusion, “What are we doing here?”
“The Eye of the World Fragnt is not an ordinary extraordinary item; carrying it around could lead to it being discovered at any ti,” He Ao stated calmly, “And in order to store it, there must be a dedicated sealing room, and this sealing room cannot be in a bustling area, as the Eye of the World Fragnt could at any ti pierce through the seal, causing harm and attracting the attention of the Research Institute.”
Ming Guang looked at the manor gradually growing larger below and continued He Ao’s words, “So, this sealing room should be in a remote location, and the person who took the Eye of the World Fragnt must have absolute control over this remote location to cover up the construction of the sealing room.”
He paused, muttering to himself, “With Old Liu’s personality, he would indeed choose to hide the Eye of the World Fragnt here.”
The roaring sound of the rotors drowned out his muttering. He turned back to look at the young man beside him.
The young man was bowing his head, gazing at the manor below.
The pitch-black helicopter was now about to reach the ground.
‘Did he think of all this the mont he heard the Eye of the World Fragnt was missing?’
A thought flickered through Ming Guang’s mind.
Ming Guang could actually co up with this too. Given his relationship with Liu Zhengyun, it wasn’t difficult, but he had been imrsed in the news of the Eye of the World Fragnt’s disappearance and hadn’t expanded his thoughts in this direction.
He needed so ti.
“Let’s go down.”
At that mont, he heard the young man beside him call out softly.
Then the helicopter door opened, and the howling wind rushed into the narrow space.
The helicopter was still about twenty ters from the ground. Below was a sowhat wide plaza, with quite a few people already running out, drawn by the sound of the helicopter.
The young man lifted his foot and jumped down without hesitation.
——
Ruins
Flickering electric light illuminated the dark space, spreading brilliance to both sides. Li Cheng frowned slightly, glanced around, and slowly said, “Isn’t this space a bit too long?”
“Hmm.”
He Ao nodded softly.
Previously, they estimated that this hidden space was located in the space ‘stolen’ from the middle of the three circular halls.
However, given the distance they’ve walked now, by the standards of the exterior research facilities, they should have already traversed the area of the three circular halls.
“It seems like we’ve been walking downward the whole ti.”
He Ao looked down at the ground in front of him and said softly.
The entire ground had no perceptible slope; stepping on it, there was no sensation of incline, but his intuition told him that they were indeed going downwards.
“Let check.”
Li Cheng raised his hand, released a streak of electric light that twisted around a nearby shard of rock, instantly shaving it into a sphere.
Li Cheng waved his hand, setting the sphere in motion.
The sphere rolled forward a bit, then halted in place, neither advancing nor rolling further.
It appeared as if it were on flat ground.
Witnessing this, He Ao and Li Cheng exchanged glances.
“The region storing angel-tier items has so peculiar characteristics, which is normal.”
He Ao shook his head, temporarily dismissing the issue, and walked past the stone sphere, continuing ahead.
The two walked another few dozen ters before a massive boulder blocking their path ca into view, obstructing their path and the radiant light.
He Ao raised his hand, the Shadowless Sword flew out, shattering the massive boulder in an instant.
With the boulder shattered, the brilliance from Andaville’s Spear pierced through the narrow channel, lighting up the dim region ahead.
A space even more ‘spacious’ than a corridor gradually ca into their view.
The two exchanged a glance and quickly advanced. The radiant light illuminated the vast space.
Yet this glow only revealed a small portion of the space, while the deeper parts remained shrouded in darkness.
Li Cheng, observing this scene, raised Andaville’s Spear, igniting a brighter brilliance.
This light instantly dispelled all darkness, revealing the entire shape of the hall.
This was a sowhat eerie circular hall. The hall was originally supposed to be a regular shape, but it seed to have been ‘distorted’ by so invisible force.
The do of the hall leaned more towards a circular shape, and the floor featured a round ‘depression’.
At a glance, the hall resembled a ‘sphere’.
On the opposite side of the hall, directly opposite to the channel He Ao and Li Cheng had erged from, stood a tightly closed door.
Vaguely, He Ao could sense a stifling and twisted aura emanating from beyond that door.
He looked at Li Cheng and gave a gentle wave of his hand.
Li Cheng saw his gesture, paused for a mont, but still nodded gently.
The two advanced side by side.
The thunderous radiance that had illuminated the entire hall began to dim.
Everything around them fell silent once more.
Reviews
All reviews (0)