After collecting all the materials, everyone started to study the next step.

Geralt scanned the room with his witcher senses and said to Lann, "My witcher senses tell me that there is something wrong with this altar, but I don't know what it is. Maybe this is not the way to the laboratory. Should we try another way?"

Lan had been patiently waiting for the two to extract the surplus value of the gargoyle. Only then did he point to the altar and say, "Look at the shape of that altar. Does it look like the foot of this gargoyle?"

Geralt was stunned. This was a direction he had never thought of. After all, the gargoyle's feet were not made of magical materials, and he had never thought about what use this thing could have.

Who in their right mind would use a gargoyle's feet to make a mechanism?

He squatted down and tried to pry the gargoyle's feet apart. The gargoyle's feet, which had lost their magical connection, were easily removed.

There is indeed a mechanism!

Geralt looked at Lann with a complicated expression, and suddenly said, "I suddenly have a feeling that you seem to be very familiar with this ruins. You prepared bombs in advance before setting off, and specifically asked me to make moon dust and demon-blocking metal bombs, and ordered the soldiers to familiarize themselves with a variety of weapons; after entering this ruins, you also knew the mechanisms in some key places very well.

But it seems like you are here for the first time, and you feel both strange and familiar at the same time. This makes me feel awkward."

Should I sigh that he is worthy of being called White Wolf? He has a keen insight.

Lan shrugged. He couldn't say that he had been to this place in his previous life.

"I have my own information channels, and it seems that the information I have obtained is of very high quality. And wouldn't it be better if we could explore the ruins more easily?"

It's really nice to explore the ruins more easily. Geralt nodded, didn't ask any more questions, turned around and placed the gargoyle's foot on the altar.

There was a sound of springs and stones rubbing against each other that I had heard many times today. The altar slowly descended, and then a strong wind began to blow in the house.

Everyone looked around and saw nearly ten portals suddenly appearing at the same time in front, behind, left and right, including on the second floor of the hall.

Unlike the golden-framed portals that the druid had temporarily opened before, these portals emitted a faint blue light and had a pitch-black center.

If you only observe from this side, it is impossible to perceive the situation on the other side of the portal.

Geralt looked embarrassed. He felt dizzy just looking at these portals.

"Lane, does your information channel explain this situation?"

The druid did not have any negative feelings about these portals. Instead, he was full of amazement: "How much magic power is needed to maintain these. Professor Thomas Moreau deserves his reputation!"

Lan was also very familiar with this scene. After all, this was the puzzle level that had embarrassed him for a long time. Unfortunately, the complexity of this level was not something he could remember completely. He only had a rough idea of ​​how to pass it in his mind:

"The portal on the first floor is connected to the second floor, and only one of the portals on the second floor can connect to our destination - Professor Moreau's laboratory. The other portals will teleport people back to the first floor."

Listening to Lann's story, the demon hunter's brows furrowed. How many times would it take to go through the portal?

"But there are many of us, so we can just try one by one - Geralt can take a short break, it's okay - everyone will choose different portals to enter. Whoever reaches the laboratory first will come back immediately to take the others in, understand?"

"yes!"

The crowd quickly dispersed and each chose a portal to enter.

Lan took a deep breath, looked at the deep darkness emitting blue light in front of him, closed his eyes and rushed in.

After a brief feeling of dizziness, Lan opened his eyes.

As far as the eye can see, there is a brightly lit room in front of me.

He was surprised because what he saw was completely different from what he had imagined.

The room was large, and there was a broken wooden table near Lan En, on which were placed some experimental equipment that Lan En could not understand. Against the wall stood a human statue that looked like a wizard, and there were several broken pieces of the statue on the ground, and it seemed that their owner did not care about them.

There is an upward staircase on each side of the room, and looking forward there is another downward staircase. It is obvious that this room has more than one floor.

This is... Thomas Moreau's laboratory. Is it so easy to get in?

Lan was surprised. Theoretically, shouldn't this place be connected by a portal on the second floor? How did it get here directly?

And then, Lan was even more surprised, because he seemed to faintly hear the hissing of black wind.

…

Toussaint, capital of Beauclair, at night.

The moon was high in the sky, the wind was biting, and from time to time one or two crows flew across the sky, their cawing was annoying.

Tombstones stood in the cemetery, with weeds growing haphazardly beside them that could not be removed no matter how hard they were managed. The bouquets of flowers offered by the family during the day had long been crushed into petals, and the offerings had long been eaten by small wild animals and birds.

There is a big tree in the center of the cemetery. I don’t know if it’s because of its geographical location that it looks particularly strong and twisted.

House and Ace were resting against a tree. They had just checked the tombstones in most of the cemetery and came here to take a break. The four soldiers were dispersed to check the names on the remaining tombstones one by one.

Dikon Paul, Quinn Mason, Edson Jafari... the only one missing was the target of the mission - Thomas Moreau.

Ace muttered, "Tell me, is it possible... that the Earl is wrong?"

House rolled his eyes and shot back, "I think you're wrong to have that idea. There's still some stuff we haven't checked yet. Take a break and then get up and continue."

Ace pointed at the soldiers busying around in the moonlight: "Aren't they still here?"

House stood up and said, "I don't trust them. Only if I see it with my own eyes can I be sure that nothing is missed."

Ace couldn't stand his best friend's stubbornness, so he pouted and followed him.

They worked for another half an hour. The moonlight became brighter and brighter as time passed, but their hearts gradually sank.

All the tombstones have been checked.

"This is the city cemetery. If it's not here, it might be in the mass grave outside the city." Ace sighed, "Isn't that Thomas Moreau a warlock? A figure as noble as Advisor Mossak, can he just find a random place to bury himself?"

House shook his head. "It's hard to say. Druids don't even have graves. They just 'return to nature'. It's normal for some warlocks to have some weird tempers."

"It's not like he would destroy his own body like this, is it?" Ace said indignantly. "If we were to investigate the mass grave, it would take more than a day or two."