Volume 3 Chapter 27: The Strange Room

In front of the dark red bronze door, there was a thin layer of ash. At first glance, it looked very similar to the ash left behind after Phantom Demons died, but there were differences.

When Phantom Demons died and turned into ash, it was actually because they suffered too much damage and could no longer maintain the balance between Phantom Demon energy and human genes. This caused the Phantom Demon energy inside their bodies to self-ignite, eventually leaving only the Phantom Demon Pearl formed by concentrated soul energy.

This self-ignition wasn’t very thorough. Often, some hard bones and flesh tissues would remain in the ash. But the ash in front of the bronze door was fine like powder, evenly scattered before the door. Looking closely, it resembled rust scraped off metal.

Qin Lun put away the Time-Space Energy Collector. Now, his Time-Space Core mission progress had reached 3/10. Then, he looked up at the bronze door on the right, glanced at the bloody pit on the left, and turned to walk towards the bronze door.

Qin Lun didn’t know what the layer of ash in front of the bronze door was. Perhaps it was Phantom Demon guards, or perhaps it was a Phantom Demon trap on the bronze door. However, he believed Matthew and the others must have already gone inside. Even if there was danger, they should have cleared it by now.

Despite this, Qin Lun was still very cautious. First, he ate a piece of rye bread to replenish the Health Points he lost from the neck injury earlier. Then he took out his only Self-Healing Crystal, held it in his hand, and summoned the black bear BEN. Only then did he have the summoned creature slowly push open the bronze door.

Qin Lun’s caution saved his life. The moment the black bear BEN entered the bronze door, it let out a miserable cry. Standing behind BEN, Qin Lun only saw a cold flash of light ahead. Then the black bear’s upper body splattered with blood and it stood rigidly in place. However, the black bear’s body was large. It got stuck between the two bronze doors, preventing them from closing automatically.

Qin Lun’s eyes flashed. Through the gap between the two bronze doors, he saw what exactly had killed the black bear. At the top of the door frame, there was a crescent-shaped axe, like a shovel. It had cut into the black bear from the left rib and come out through the right rib, almost slicing BEN’s upper body into two pieces.

The corner of Qin Lun’s mouth twitched slightly. The black bear was much taller than him. Judging by the height of the sharp axe, if he had been the one entering the bronze door first, the axe would have been aimed right at his head.

This trap was silent, and the attack came from the side. Someone entering through the main door would have a hard time noticing it immediately. If his head were split in two, even with a Law Body, he probably wouldn’t survive.

Through the gap in the bronze door, Qin Lun observed for a long time, confirming there were no other traps by the door. Only then did he squeeze through under the black bear’s crotch to get inside.

After entering the bronze door, Qin Lun raised his eyebrows slightly. Besides the black bear BEN’s corpse standing rigidly in place, there was actually a human corpse in front of the bronze door.

“It’s that middle-aged fat man with the gold-rimmed glasses!” Qin Lun recognized him from the clothes the corpse was wearing. This was already the second familiar person he had seen since entering the maze.

Unlike the black bear BEN jamming the axe trap, this fat man, who held a high position in the real world, had his head completely split into two pieces by the sharp axe. His entire face was chopped off from the side by the axe, and a pool of blood and brain matter lay beneath the body.

Qin Lun only glanced at the fat man before shifting his gaze to observe the surroundings. Logically, with a newcomer’s strength, he shouldn’t have been the first to enter the bronze door. But since he had entrusted his life to the Veterans, he naturally had to be prepared to be a pawn. If he died, he could only blame himself for being blind.

Behind the bronze door was a “strange room” about one hundred square meters in area. The reason it was called a strange room was because it had a bit of everything, making it hard to tell its main purpose.

For example, the corners of the room were piled with wooden crates of various sizes, making it look a bit like a storage room. But directly across the room, there was a long workbench covered with glassware and metal instruments.

Yet calling it a research lab didn’t seem right either, because on the right side of the room, there was a large wooden bed. It wasn’t luxurious, but the decorations were quite pretty. However, the quilts and bedsheets were very dirty, seemingly not washed for years.

The most eye-catching thing was a small pavilion with steps in the center of the room. This small pavilion was circular, enclosed on three sides with only one opening. Its shape strongly resembled a demon’s head with its mouth wide open. The “lips” even had a few “sharp teeth,” and on the pavilion roof, there were two metal cones representing demon horns.

The inside of the demon’s mouth was very small, less than one square meter, only enough for one person to stand inside. On the inner side of the demon’s mouth, there was a control panel with a row of buttons and a small lever beside them.

At the moment, the room was a bit messy, as if someone had rummaged through it. The wooden crates, the large bed, and the workbench were all in disarray. Qin Lun knew this must be the handiwork of Matthew and the other two Veterans. He just didn’t know what gains they had obtained.

The three Veterans searched very thoroughly. Not only were all the wooden crates opened, but even the pillows and quilts on the bed were torn apart, leaving almost nothing of value for Qin Lun. The reason for saying “almost” was because Qin Lun found the only intact gene reagent on the workbench.

“Phantom Demon Gene Reagent III (Unidentifiable): This gene reagent is an incomplete, flawed experimental product. It does not possess complete gene laws. Forcibly using it might cause irreversible unknown reactions. Cannot be stored in Storage Space. Cannot be taken out of the Phantom Demon World.”

No wonder Matthew and the others smashed all the other reagents and didn’t take this remaining one. They didn’t dare use it on themselves, and they couldn’t take it out of the Phantom Demon World. It was essentially trash.

However, Qin Lun’s eyes shifted, and he put this reagent into his chest pocket. Just because Matthew and the others didn’t dare use it didn’t mean he couldn’t. At the very least, he still had a summoned creature he could use as a test subject.

As Qin Lun’s strength grew, the black bear BEN’s usefulness was diminishing. If this flawed reagent could enhance its combat power, that would be best. If it couldn’t, at most he would just abandon this summoned creature.

After searching the room, Qin Lun had a faint feeling that this might not be a formal Phantom Demon laboratory. Perhaps it was just a living quarters for a Phantom Demon scientist. Although there were some glassware and instruments on the workbench, a proper laboratory would definitely have more instruments than this. Moreover, no laboratory would have a large bed inside.

As for the small pavilion that looked like a demon’s head, Qin Lun guessed it might be a short-distance transport lift, used to send its owner out of the Skeleton Labyrinth and into the interior of the Phantom Demon base.

From the control panel inside the transport lift, which had small lights lit up, it seemed this transport lift should still be operational. However, Qin Lun believed Matthew and the others probably hadn’t used this transport lift. Who knew where it would send them? If that place was full of Phantom Demons, it would be like throwing meat at a dog- there would be no return.

Getting a tube of reagent he couldn’t use himself, knowing the transport lift could reach the Phantom Demon base but not daring to use it. Qin Lun felt somewhat frantic inside. For someone like him, with a strong thirst for knowledge and obsessive tendencies, this was simply worse than death.

Annoyed, Qin Lun circled the room once more. Only when he found there was truly nothing left to search did he stand still in place. Staring at the dirty large bed, he felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him.

From the moment he received the Time-Space Core mission, he had set a mission stay duration in the Death Notice. By now, it should be night in Paris. Probably, the Phantom Demons’ final assault on the Paris armed forces had begun.

Qin Lun carefully recalled his experiences today, thinking about what to do next. He had already obtained three Time-Space Cores. He could return immediately now. However, since he had entered the Skeleton Labyrinth and was only one step away from the Phantom Demon base, he felt very unwilling to leave just like that.

Qin Lun looked back at the transport lift again, a crazy light flashing in his eyes. His fists clenched, then loosened, then immediately clenched again after loosening.

“If I give up here, then why am I even alive? What’s the meaning of survival?” Qin Lun raised his head and muttered to himself, his face slowly calming down. “I’m reaching my limit. I need to find a place to rest first!”

From the morning when the Phantom Demons descended upon Paris until now, Qin Lun had experienced several life-and-death battles, his nerves constantly tense. Now that he relaxed, he felt his whole body weak and limp.

He carefully squeezed back out through the bronze door. However, he didn’t bother with the black bear BEN’s corpse, leaving it stuck in the doorway. The black bear’s soul had returned to the Summoning Space. What remained was just the discarded summoned flesh.

Qin Lun had already decided to quickly resurrect it. One of the purposes was to inject that gene reagent. However, constructing a new body for a summoned creature not only required soul energy but also some time. Of course, if he paid a higher cost, the process of constructing the summoned flesh could be accelerated.

Qin Lun sighed. For the first time, he felt the importance of adventure experience. This time entering the Phantom Demon World, he had made at least two mistakes.

One of them was regarding equipment and items. Originally, he thought he was well-prepared. He didn’t expect equipment and items to be restricted by the Other World’s laws. As a result, the Shahbakh Ring didn’t provide any Protection. If he had known, he might as well have traded the Shahbakh Ring for some Blue Quality defensive items. It wouldn’t matter if the quality dropped; at least one or two would have been usable.

The second mistake he made was not keeping some virtual currency, forcing him to sell some recovery items now to quickly resurrect the summoned creature. He knew that in the Shattered Starry Sky exchange list, the selling-to-buying price ratio for recovery items was 1 to 5. This kind of loss was truly a lesson learned with blood.

Qin Lun helplessly pursed his lips and walked towards the original three-way intersection of the corridor, arriving in front of that stinky pit. The pit in this corner was about ten meters deep. Next to it was a metal ladder that he could use to climb down directly.

He stretched his head to look down into the deep pit. The light below was rather dim, but he could vaguely see many biological skeletons. He guessed this was a dumping ground where Phantom Demons discarded some remains.

“What a great resting place!” Qin Lun grinned, then climbed down carefully and quietly.