Chapter 2397: Chapter 2398: Hunting Sequence
Nis glanced suspiciously at the ghostly floating Reynaud in mid-air.
Reynaudâs expression was also surprised at this moment. He looked at the Authority Eye flashing red with doubt in his eyes.
Nis: "Is this a warning that weâre nearing the limit? Does that mean someone else has entered the Exhibition Room and taken some items today?"
According to Reynaud, once the number of items taken from the Exhibition Room exceeds the limit, the Authority Eye will issue a warning.
But now, Nis followed the Exhibition Room rules by only taking three items, which theoretically should not trigger a warning. The only possibility Nis could think of is that he wasnât the only person to enter the Exhibition Room today. Others, such as the researchers here, might also have entered and taken items, bringing him close to the limit when he took three more.
However, Reynaud shook his head at this moment: "No."
"No? Then what?" Nis looked at Reynaud.
"If it was nearing the limit, it should be flashing yellow as a reminder. But now the Authority Eye is flashing red light," Reynaud said, staring at the Authority Eye.
Nis thought about how Reynaud had expressed before that red was a more urgent state than yellow. So now, with the Authority Eye flashing red light, could it have triggered the Magical Energy Array?
Nisâ heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked, "What does this mean? Has the Magical Energy Array been triggered? Do we need to leave here?"
"No, I feel like itâs not the Magical Energy Array being triggered, but another mechanism." Reynaudâs expression was thoughtful: "Itâs familiar, but I canât quite recall..."
After pondering for several seconds, Reynaud suddenly seemed to remember something, his eyes lighting up: "I remember, sir, I remember!"
At this moment, Nis didnât turn to look at Reynaud but instead stared seriously at the door.
On either side of the door, two white steel chambers filled with various energy tubes suddenly rose up.
With a loud boom, the chamber doors automatically opened.
Two silver-white mechanical puppets appeared before Nis.
These mechanical puppets were in a bare form, without clothing, directly exposing their mechanical parts, gears, and pipes all over their bodies. Under the halo illuminating their heads, all their components emanated a peculiar silvery glow.
Although they werenât wearing clothes, itâs worth noting that, unlike Reynaud, their mechanical faces also had text etched onto them.
The left one displayed two overlapping "X"s, resembling "Yao" in the Chinese trigram system. The right one had numbers, one being 19 and the other 18.
As Nis observed them, the two mechanical puppets simultaneously opened their eyes, the energy tubes on their bodies instantly detaching, their whole bodies spewing steam and wild energy.
Click, click.
Two metallic footsteps sounded.
The two mechanical puppets stepped out of the chambers simultaneously.
Standing at three meters tall, they slowly lowered their heads, their hollow eyes locking onto Nis and Kanter. Then, their eyes unexpectedly turned red.
"Target locked, hunting sequence, initiated." A mechanical voice spoke from the mouths of the two puppets.
As soon as the words fell, Puppet 19 suddenly vanished, as if merging into the surface of water, integrating with the surrounding space.
The other puppet, with the number 18 etched on its right cheek, lightly leapt into the air, clutching its right wrist with its left hand, and forming a gun shape with its right index finger, bamâ
Colorless energy flowed out from the hole at its fingertip, aiming straight at Nis.
At the same time, Reynaud, snapped out of his thoughts, saw the two mechanical puppets. A look of panic crossed his face, and he urgently shouted at Nis: "Not good, they are the baseâs hunting sequence!"
"Hunting Sequence Number 18 attacks with spirit waves! Getting hit will directly explode your head!"
As soon as Reynaudâs warning ended, the spirit wave was already approaching Nis.
However, Nis didnât move at all, as in front of him stood a "person"... Or rather, a knightâs soul clad in bone armor.
The Bone Armored Knight waved his hand, and the bone armor on his arm transformed into a giant square shield, with a whale-shaped relief engraved on it, indicating that this set of bone armor came from a whale-shaped Sea Beast.
"The shield is useless! The attacks from the hunting sequence operating in the Exhibition Room wonât directly target the Material Realm, all materials are ignored, including the shield..."
Before Reynaudâs voice fell, he saw the spirit wave emitted by Number 18 being blocked away by the Bone Armored Knightâs shield.
Reynaudâs mouth fell open, staring in amazement at this scene.
The bone shield... Isnât it part of the Material Realm? How can it defend against spirit waves?
Reynaud felt perplexed, but if he had observed closely, he would have noticed that the Bone Armored Knightâs shield was also covered in a layer of ghostly blue energy, which was the Soul Power of the Bone Armored Knight. While spirit waves might not cause harm in the Material Realm, clashing with energy like Soul Power naturally leads to interactive reactions.
After blocking a spirit wave, the Bone Armored Knight charged forward, swinging his bone sword at Number 18.
As the Bone Armored Knight and Number 18 engaged in combat, Reynaud heard the sound of wind in his ears.
Instinctively turning his head, he noticed the nearby space rippling, with a human silhouette becoming faintly visible beside Kanter.
"Lord Night, be cautious! Hunting Sequence Number 19 excels in space assassination..."
Before he could finish speaking, Reynaud saw Kanter casually reach out, directly probing into the space ripples beside him, and with a boom, the mechanical puppet behind the space ripples turned into dust.
The dust scattered over the spatial gap.
Kanter pulled his hand out, casually wiped it on his Blue Vine Flower Star Moon robe, then looked at Reynaud: "What were you saying?"
"Nothing, nothing at all." Reynaud quietly shut his mouth.
So ruthless... In Reynaudâs heart, his evaluation of Kanter at this moment was summed up in this single sentence.
While Reynaudâs mind was fluctuating, on the other side, with a click, Hunting Sequence Number 18 was directly slashed into two halves by the Bone Armored Knight.
The mechanical structure and gear chains fell everywhere.
Number 18 flashed a spark, and then the red light in its eyes vanished, it was completely destroyed like Number 19.
However, Number 18 fared slightly better than Number 19, at least it left some remnants.
The Bone Armored Knight rummaged through Number 18âs remnants, soon emerging with a large elliptical Crystal Stone, handing it to Nis.
Nis glanced at it, raised his eyebrows: "This is a rare Demonic Material capable of carrying spiritual power. Seems like this was its mechanical core... Unfortunately, it has had Magic Patterns engraved on it, and the Patterns are broken, itâs basically useless now."
After speaking, Nis casually tossed the Crystal Stone aside.
Only then did Nis turn around and look at Reynaud: "You said you remembered something?"
"What did you remember?" Reynaud was still in a confused state. In his eyes, the overwhelmingly powerful Hunting Sequence 18 and 19 were destroyed without a ripple, which left him momentarily unable to regain his senses.
"Didnât you say you remembered something just before those two broken iron puppets appeared?" Nis said irritably.
Reynaud was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and said, "Oh, right... right. I remembered then that the Authority Eye flashing red wasnât because we triggered the Magical Energy Array, but because we stayed too long."
Nis looked perplexed: "What? We stayed too long?"
Reynaud nodded: "My memory is a bit fuzzy. I had no such impressions before, until I saw the Authority Eye just now, and I remembered another rule of the Exhibition Room: each time the room opens, you can stay for a maximum of 10 minutes. If you exceed this limit, you are considered an enemy, and the Hunting Sequence will pursue you."
"Since this is an internal rule, a restriction on the behavior of the lab personnel, it doesnât trigger the Magical Energy Array. But as long as you violate it, the outcome is being hunted to death by the Hunting Sequence."
After Reynaud finished speaking, he revealed a look of guilt. He only remembered this later. If he had remembered earlier, this incident wouldnât have occurred.
"A time limit? Thereâs even a time limit?" Nis finally understood: "An Exhibition Room with a visiting time limit? What were they thinking?"
Kanter said silently, "Doesnât your treasure vault also have visiting..."
Nis immediately interrupted, "Thatâs different. Mine is a treasure vault, a âvault,â a secret room, so strict limitations are normal. This is an Exhibition Room, meaning itâs displayed for people to see, like a gallery or museum. Having a time limit in such a place is definitely problematic."
Evidently, Nis was being somewhat sophistical. However, Kanter didnât care and didnât continue to expose him. It didnât matter, as long as it was mentioned occasionally to let Nis simmer in his own frustration.
Nis took a while to accept this outcome. After all, they were in someone elseâs lab, and the rules were set by others. No matter how many complaints they had, they could only hold them in.
"Since that Authority Eye... huh, itâs disappeared? Never mind, it doesnât matter if itâs there or not. What I want to ask is, the Authority Eye flashing red, does that mean weâve already been discovered?"
Nis didnât care about the rest; his main concern was being discovered by the internal personnel, which would cause setbacks in their next journey.
Reynaud shook his head: "Probably not. Each Exhibition Room has its own internal regulations, and violating these will only be dealt with by the corresponding Hunting Sequence without attracting the attention of others."
After all, the lab was mostly full of researchers who were usually engrossed in their studies. Research is most feared to be interrupted midway. So unless itâs a matter of great importance, they generally wouldnât be overly disturbed.
After speaking, Reynaud added, "Maybe the top three Sequences might notice, but they are not in the lab right now, so thereâs no need to worry."
Upon hearing this, Nis sighed with relief. Not being discovered by others was good news.
However, Nis noticed something else Reynaud mentioned: "Every Exhibition Roomâs internal regulations are different?"
Reynaud nodded: "Yes. The overall rules are generally the same, but some details differ. For example, on this level, you can stay for ten minutes, while the next level might only allow eight minutes."
Nis shook his head, expressing his inability to comprehend these rules: "Oddities... Canât stay here any longer, letâs leave for now."
After leaving the Exhibition Room, Reynaud once again floated ahead as their next target was the second basement level.
On their way, Nis was still puzzled by those strange rules: "Taking items beyond the quota triggers the Magical Energy Array, which might be discovered by other lab members. But staying too long and being hunted by the Hunting Sequence wonât be sensed by others. Your rules are truly peculiar."
"The former is almost impossible to occur. If it does, it indicates potential theft, whether internal or external, threatening the lab as a whole. It entails many people, making it more severe," Reynaud explained. "As for exceeding the time limit, it could just be due to carelessness, a personal mistake, thus not as serious."
While Reynaud explained logically, Nis, already biased, still found it unreasonable.
As they discussed the âviolations and penalties,â they ventured deeper into the darkness, disappearing quietly into the first level.
...
Time continued to pass, and after an unknown period, Angel lifted his head from a corner of the first level.
It was still the narrow corridor around him, with branching paths everywhere.
Angel had been studying the Magic Pattern, following its flow and wandering around, now unsure of his location.
Angel looked at Toby: "How far are we from the entrance?"
Toby stood on Angelâs shoulder, yawning and chirping a few times, seemingly saying: go forward, then turn left, and youâll be there.
Seeing Toby remembered the way, Angel felt a bit relieved.
But even if Toby didnât remember, Angel wasnât too worried. He could just follow the flow of the Magic Pattern backward for a bit to return to the original spot.
This time, Angel awoke from his immersion in the Magic Pattern, not because of getting lost, but because he had discovered some characteristics of this Magical Energy Array and wanted to discuss it with the others.
With that in mind, Angel submerged into the Mind Ribbon.
The Mind Ribbon was unusually quiet, and Angel muttered to himself: "Nis isnât talking for once, how rare."
Pushing aside irrelevant thoughts, Angel spoke through the Mind Ribbon: "Where are you now?"
A silence followed, with no response.
Half a minute later, Angel asked again with a hint of confusion: "Howâs it going with you guys? Wizard Nis, Lord Kanter, Reynaud?"
Still no response... no, this time there was.
"Gibber gibber."
"Honorable Toby, your voice is as delightful as always, even in the Mind Ribbon."
Angel: "..."
No need to guess, the first was Toby, the latter was Dangross.
Ignoring the dialogue between the two little guys, Angel directly asked Dangross: "I asked you to pay attention to their conversation. Did they say anything? Why are they silent now? If something happened, why didnât you notify me?"
Dangrossâs eye on the palm blinked, looking innocent: "Nothing happened."
"If nothing happened, why is there no sound?"
Dangross shrugged: "I donât know either. There was nothing strange in the conversation before they went silent."
"What were they saying right before the Mind Ribbon went silent?"
Dangross thought for a moment: "Seemed like behavioral rules and penalty discussion. Yes, thatâs it."
"Huh? What?"
Dangross repeated himself, and Toby chirped to affirm it was true.
"Behavioral rules? Penalty discussion?"
Angel looked bewildered, wondering why they suddenly started discussing such an odd topic.
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