Endless Debt

Chapter 1260 - 74: The Out-of-Control Zone

"Did something happen?"Furya was very perceptive, Bologue’s change clearly reflected in her eyes. She cautiously asked, "Is everything okay, Bologue?"

"Nothing," Bologue restrained his restless heart, "I just realized I’ve been used, drawn into an...office politics struggle?"

"Huh? Are you serious?" Furya asked.

Bologue hesitated for a moment, then confirmed again with helplessness, "You really hit the nail on the head, Furya, I’ve been thrown in here because of office politics."

"Ah..."

Furya didn’t know what to say for a moment. She thought for a bit, patted Bologue on the shoulder, and comforted him, "It’s okay, there’s still a lot in the storage room here, enough food to eat for a long time."

After carefully picking and choosing her words, Furya asked again, "You’re the Undead, right? Skipping a few meals shouldn’t be a problem for you?"

Bologue was taken aback, looking at Furya’s sincere look, he couldn’t help but laugh.

"No problem."

Bologue really hadn’t tried starving himself, but with the Time Reversing Axis here, he supposed that merely being hungry, this kind of negative state, could easily be refreshed.

"Continue, see what he researched next."

Bologue signaled Furya to continue, while he sifted through the stack of design diagrams.

Furya’s "translation" slowed down; the contents of the notes became increasingly complex and in-depth, and Furya couldn’t understand some of it, as unfamiliar terms kept appearing one after the other.

Bologue found the design plan of the secret laboratory, which detailed the layout here. Bologue picked it up and compared it to each room, quickly discovering an anomaly.

Standing in the main corridor of the secret laboratory, at the end of the corridor was a vast circular space. This should be Mamo’s main laboratory, but now the main laboratory had disappeared, replaced by a smooth wall without any seams.

"Did they seal off the main laboratory before evacuating?"

Bologue wondered as he reached out to stroke the wall surface, trying to find a way to open it, but no trigger switch was present.

After pondering for a moment, a light flashed in Bologue’s eyes. He attempted to invade the wall, with the Ether painstakingly piercing into the material, gradually peeling it apart.

The sturdy wall broke into straight lines, layer by layer it cracked open to reveal a narrow path, yet behind the path was still a wall, Bologue advanced several meters, yet still did not find the main laboratory.

Comparing with the design plan, Bologue should be inside the main laboratory by now. Seeing this, he had no choice but to retreat.

"These scholars are really never at ease."

Bologue secretly complained in his heart. First Teda, then Mamo, and even earlier, that mysterious King Solomon.

The scholars seemed to all possess the potential for madness, for the sake of so-called truth, they often could engage in all sorts of insane and transgressive behaviors. But it must be admitted, they indeed propelled the progress of the world; without them, the Devil might still be rampaging recklessly in the mortal realm.

Just as Bologue speculated on what happened to the main laboratory, Furya poked her head out and called out to Bologue.

"Bologue, I think I know what he researched next."

Furya made some progress, and Bologue immediately returned to the office. She picked up the notes and, like showing off her results, excitedly said to Bologue.

"Look here, the writing before and after is different."

Bologue scrutinized it, indeed it was so. The first half of the notes was clearly Mamo’s handwriting, but afterwards, the handwriting became delicate and fine, and once again Bologue saw that pattern.

A strange rabbit head.

It was so out of place here that every time Bologue saw it, he couldn’t help but critique it inwardly.

"Looks like that Mamo abandoned his research on Void Realm intelligence and handed it over to his apprentice?" Furya wasn’t sure if her deduction was correct, "This apprentice continued Mamo’s research and made certain progress."

"Developed Void Realm intelligence?" Bologue pursued the question.

If that apprentice really succeeded, this knowledge’s importance was no less than the secret path to the Holy City.

"No, but the apprentice found an alternative method for intelligence. The notes say the apprentice got inspiration from the Others."

Furya asked with extreme confusion.

"What are the Others?"

Bologue nearly choked, coughing two forceful times.

"What did you say? The Others?"

Damn it, Mamo and his apprentice just wrote the Order Bureau’s top secret into the notes like that? How to explain to Furya, casually lie to fool her, or seriously tell her the Others is the Decision Room, a virtual mind composed of many consciousnesses stacked together.

Wait a minute...

Bologue grabbed the notes, his eyes rapidly catching that glaring term between the lines.

"The Others..." Bologue murmured, "I know what they did."

Bologue turned to look at Furya, "Since it’s extremely difficult for Void Realm to give birth to intelligence, why not directly upload another consciousness into the Void Realm, wouldn’t that work?"

"What are you talking about?"

Furya began to lose track of what Bologue was saying, but instinctively, she sensed a deep sense of crisis from his words.

"These lunatics!"

Bologue loudly complained; the secret path to the Holy City was yet to be found, and instead, they were held back by another matter.

Assuming this apprentice really succeeded in uploading his consciousness into the Cultivation Room, then the collective must be aware, yet nothing here was destroyed, and Mamo wasn’t cleared, indicating that the collective is likely unaware of everything happening here.

In other words, that apprentice... no, anyone familiar with Void Realm Intelligence, there is a significant chance, they could execute this plan to upload themselves to the Void Realm. If he failed, it’s easy to say, but if he succeeded, his consciousness might still be hiding within this Ruins District.

"Void Realm Intelligence, controller, maintains the false operation of the Order Bureau, serving the Decision Room..."

A series of thoughts burst into Bologue’s mind, leading him to feel as if his head was about to explode, "Damn it, Mamo, what do you really want me to do?"

Bologue pulled out the secondary target list, trying to find Mamo’s hint on it, but there was nothing but a series of troublesome demands.

Nothing at all, is also an answer.

Adapt to the circumstances.

Perhaps Mamo himself didn’t know exactly what happened in the secret laboratory after Xilin’s invasion, or even how far the apprentice managed to take his own research.

Mamo might have simply felt he was about to die and wanted to resolve some hidden dangers before his complete demise.

As for how exactly to proceed, Mamo had left the decision to him.

Bologue’s breathing grew heavier, gripping his notes tightly, he solemnly asked, "Furya, you’ve lived in the Ruins District for so long, do you feel the Ruins District has self-awareness?"

"Me? Didn’t I tell you before? It’s also written in the notes."

Bologue sternly said, "I need you to repeat your thoughts now!"

Furya, a bit startled by Bologue, stepped back a few steps, her voice low, "I... I think the Ruins District possesses a certain level of self-awareness."

She immediately added, "Like a kind of animal consciousness. Although it’s not as intelligent as humans, it still possesses a level of logic and self-discipline.

Consider the Ruins District as a massive life form, and those external staff, all their actions are maintaining the operation of the Ruins District, sustaining this life."

For a moment, Furya didn’t know how to accurately describe this peculiar life form, and suddenly, that tiny existence floated up in her mind.

"Ant colony!"

Furya exclaimed, "The staff are like worker ants, but don’t view them as individuals, view the entire ant colony as an individual life form, while the staff could only be considered its ’hair’ or ’organs’?"

Bologue continued to ask, "If you believe this life possesses self-awareness, where do you think its central nervous system would be?"

Furya answered without the slightest hesitation.

"That hazy light."

Just as expected...

Bologue sat back on his chair, pressing his temples firmly.

Assuming this is possible, after Xilin’s invasion, someone got trapped in the secret laboratory. For survival reasons, they chose to upload their consciousness to the Void Realm to extend their life, but what followed was the out-of-control of the holding area, leading to the outbreak of Extraordinary Disaster: Inverted World.

Inverted World would distort the perception of all consciousnesses, so could Void Realm Intelligence be exempt?

"If our speculation is correct, perhaps the Ruins District never went out of control, Furya."

Bologue murmured, "It’s just that its perception was distorted, just like you, seeing everyone as enemies."

Steadily moving towards chaos, blindly maintaining operations.

In the eyes of the Ruins District itself, it wasn’t it that was distorted, but the entire outside world.

Furya’s eyes widened, her pupils reflecting the figure of the Evil Spirit, along with the nearly tangible hostility it exudes.

A rumbling sound resonated, and Bologue rushed out of the office, standing in the main corridor, only to see that the road they came on had now been filled with cracks. Light shone through the crevices, slowly fracturing, as if evaporating, melting under high heat.

Vaguely, Bologue saw the blurry silhouettes of the security staff, relentlessly pursuing them.

"They shouldn’t keep chasing us," Furya was in terror, "If we usually hide and lay low, they pass by, ignoring us."

"This time it’s different, we’ve touched their secret, now they only think about eradicating us completely!"

Bologue said, drawing out the Wailing Bite, the black blade flowing with translucent mucus, weak electrical arcs flickering within the gelatinous mucus, as if harboring Thunder.

"I’ll hold them off, and you..."

Bologue issued commands, "Go and rescue those documents, bring as much as you can."

Those papers aren’t just valuable knowledge, they are the key to unraveling the mystery of the Ruins District.