Chapter 178 Visiting the Young Girl Lu Chan
The corridor is now empty.
With no guards, no dragons, and no passing researchers, it was a good opportunity to go out and move around.
I moved stealthily into the corridor, quietly making my way forward while recalling the route the senior researcher had previously told me to the "special cell where Lu Chan, the girl, is imprisoned."
We must now avoid engaging the guards as much as possible.
The real problem isn't the guards, but Chenlong, who's highly likely to arrive after hearing the news. Perhaps the magical fluctuations I emitted during my fight with the guards have already alerted Chenlong to the fact that "the intruder is Zhuang Cheng," so there's no way he'll treat me carelessly like an ordinary demon hunter who accidentally escaped from prison. He'll definitely rush to the scene at supersonic speed.
Upon closer reflection, it seems a bit strange. While his movement speed is undoubtedly swift, he should possess an even more efficient means of movement: shadow teleportation. If he had used that technique just now, I wouldn't have had time to hide inside the Iron Maiden; he would have caught me on the spot.
Is it because this independent real space is difficult to access that he cannot conveniently use spatial transfer methods that use the shadow world as a relay station? But I did not experience any similar obstacles when I was teleported here.
Furthermore, given the tight security at this outpost, there must be surveillance cameras or similar devices in the corridors and cells, yet I can't see anything like that. So what will happen next? Will the guards be unable to track me because there are no surveillance cameras in my subjective world? Or will they still be able to monitor my movements normally?
As I moved, I used the Sword of Impermanence of the Outer Path as a "staff" to summon several "fireflies".
One group was responsible for scouting the way, while the other group was responsible for searching Chang'an.
Sometimes I would encounter patrolling guards ahead. They were unusually tense, as if the stronghold was under martial law. Whenever I was about to encounter them, I would hide in a nearby empty room and continue onward. Gradually, I began to have a vague sense of déjà vu about the route I was taking.
This independent physical space is likely because it was cut from the former Humanitarian Affairs Bureau's old base. Although the "decor" is quite different, the overall layout is completely consistent with the old base. I had previously explored the old base carefully, so I wouldn't be wrong about this. In my memory, I once saw a room with a "Director's Office" sign on the top floor of the old base, presumably the office of the person in charge of managing the facilities.
In other words, does that correspond to the room where Dr. Silver Mask is located in this secret base?
There might be crucial clues related to the apocalypse inside the supervisor's office, but it's not convenient for me to fight Dr. Silver Mask right now. As another "possible clone" of Ying Lingyun, Dr. Silver Mask might also possess considerable combat power. If he has extensive combat experience, then at the same level, I would be the one to lose; even if he's a novice like me, I wouldn't be able to end the fight quickly and would be defeated by Chen Long, who would arrive at the scene shortly afterward.
Even if I am destroyed here, I will not really die. I will simply wake up through the body left at the Luoshan office. But that ending would be too ugly.
Furthermore, although this is just speculation, the fragment of the divine seal that I sensed at the old Humanitarian Division's base, which I couldn't pinpoint the location of, is most likely the one on Dr. Silver Mask.
After all, the former stronghold of the Humanitarian Division and this independent reality space are essentially the same place; it's just that the latter was cut away by Ying Lingyun with miraculous means. I don't quite understand the current relationship between this independent reality space and the original reality world, but if there is still some kind of mysterious connection between the two, it wouldn't be unreasonable for me to be able to sense the fragments of the divine seal here from the former stronghold of the Humanitarian Division in the original reality world.
The fragments of the divine seal must have been extremely important to Ying Lingyun himself, and the fact that he left them inside this secret stronghold shows that this secret stronghold has extraordinary significance.
From the moment the senior researcher mentioned "rebooting," I had already made the connection. Although there are clear limitations, this secret base truly possesses the power of "resurrection."
It's very likely that helping the Humanitarian Department hide its secret base was only a secondary objective for Ying Lingyun. What was truly important to him was probably a deeper exploration of the theme of "resurrecting the Silver Moon."
This base alone can only trace back eight months at most, and the "reboot" of resurrection requires both the body and soul of the deceased to remain. Of course, it is impossible to resurrect Silver Moon, who died more than ten years ago. However, he may still gain some inspiration and experience from it.
After navigating around countless guards and researchers, I finally arrived at the door of the special cell where the girl Lu Chan was imprisoned.
This cell was clearly different from the place where I and the other experimental subjects were imprisoned.
The difference was immediately apparent from the doors. The cells holding us had ordinary iron doors, while the special cell holding the young girl Lu Chan had an extremely thick metal hatch reminiscent of a bank vault. However, the material was still black iron, covered in rust, as if it had been submerged in seawater for countless years. The door handle even resembled a sailboat's rudder.
There was a keyhole on it too. Logically, the key to such a large hatch couldn't possibly be the same as the key to those iron doors. However, considering the various oddities that had happened to me, I still took out my extremely cheap iron key and tried to pry it into the keyhole of this luxurious hatch.
And then it actually went in.
Could it really be opened? I tried turning the iron key. Despite the rusty key and rusty keyhole, it didn't feel stiff or difficult to turn; it turned very smoothly. Moreover, I could hear the lock cylinder turning from the inside.
The extremely heavy hatch swung open slightly to the outside, as if inviting me to enter.
Looking around, the two "fireflies" that had been scouting ahead were now acting as lookouts, guarding the corners of the corridors at both ends. No one was approaching yet.
I pulled the hatch open forcefully. The feeling was less like opening a door and more like pulling a fully loaded trolley, with a strong sense of heavy inertia. I opened it only a little bit before squeezing sideways into the gap.
Just like the cell I'd been in before, this special cell was also dark. Come to think of it, it's unusual to be in a lab without lights; I guess that's just my perception. Fortunately, thanks to the faint reddish light filtering through the wire mesh floor, I was able to make out the layout of the place.
There were no elaborate torture instruments, no blood or stench; the place was empty. Aside from the rust and dust that were everywhere in this secret hideout, this special cell was remarkably clean.
In the center of the cell stood a lone cross—which the people here seemed to recognize as some kind of advanced "restraint device"—and on the cross was a beautiful girl, about fourteen or fifteen years old, wearing a white restraint suit.
Her long, jet-black hair, delicate features, and fair, delicate skin, as if she had grown up in a greenhouse, reminded one of a female student in a prestigious school.
She was conscious, and being in this desolate space, she certainly wouldn't miss the obvious noise coming from the door. Her gaze was fixed on me, as if calmly observing who had entered.
Although I was the one who initiated the visit, I'm now somewhat unsure how to proceed.
To be honest, my visit to the young girl Lu Chan had almost no connection with my main objective. She didn't seem to know any clues about the apocalypse, and probably didn't know the location of Chang'an either. It was even less likely that I would expect her to tell me how to help Lu Youxun and Luo Shan attack this secret stronghold from the outside.
She is merely a strange entity bearing the name of someone familiar, like a discordant noise on this terrifying stage, and may even pose a potential danger. Perhaps it would be best to cautiously avoid her.
I walked here almost without thinking.
No, that's precisely why I had to come—
I couldn't bear the thought of missing out on such a mysterious person.
The first person to speak was not me, but her.
"Zhuang Cheng...right?" This mysterious girl actually called out my name.
Does she know me? Or does she know my "identity" here? Unsure of her intentions, I simply voiced my question: "Which Zhuang Cheng are you referring to?"
"Zhuang Cheng, the superpowered one; Zhuang Cheng, the heretic and impermanent one; Zhuang Cheng, the one qualified as the Great Impermanent One..." she said softly, "I know you are not an innocent twelve-year-old child who accidentally witnessed the Humanitarian Division's battle scene while walking at night, and I also know that your purpose in infiltrating this secret base is to save your friends and destroy this place. I have already learned all of this through my external self."
“At first, I didn’t really realize it either. It wasn’t until you returned to the outside world halfway through and communicated with another version of me about your activities in this place that I finally broke through the cognitive distortion and was able to grasp the truth.”
"The you outside?" I felt like she had revealed something incredible. "Are you Lu Youxun's 'possible alter ego'?"
"'Possibility clone'..."
She seemed to feel a pang of nostalgia, then shook her head: "No, not really. If I had to say, I am his keepsake."
“Lu Youxun isn’t dead yet,” I said. “Since you’re not his ‘possible alter ego,’ how can you understand things through him in the outside world? Who exactly are you?”
She showed a hint of sadness.
“I am the past that he abandoned, forgot, and feared. I am his passion, his faith, his innocence, and his weakness. I am the things he loved most and hated most.”
"Sorry, I don't understand. Could you please condense it to ten words or less?"
I felt as if she were reciting poetry, and in a particularly obscure and difficult way.
Upon hearing this, she thought for a moment and then concluded: "Simply put, I am Lu Chan."
(End of this chapter)
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