8mi Chapter 153 Hidden Compartment
Chapter 153 Hidden Compartment
Chapter 153 Hidden Compartment
Immediately afterwards, the bowl-sized recessed area in the center of the door, along with its intricate patterns, shrank and slid outwards like flower petals, revealing a circular passage about half a meter in diameter that shimmered with soft white light inside.
The inner walls of the passage were as smooth as a mirror, and the end could not be seen.
"We did it!" Ella couldn't help but exclaim softly, her face full of excitement.
Duden quickly recorded this valuable energy interaction data.
Gorson also breathed a sigh of relief and released his hands from the shoulders of the two men.
As Luo Lin slowly dissipated the simulated energy structure, he felt a strong wave of dizziness and weakness wash over him, his mental energy almost completely depleted.
He immediately took out a bottle of calming potion and swallowed it, barely managing to stand up.
"The door is open, but the situation inside is unknown," Gorson warned, gripping his sword tighter.
"I'll scout ahead."
He carefully extended his sword into the passage, probed left and right to make sure there was no immediate danger, before bending down and crawling inside first.
The passage was short, only three or four meters long, and ended at a downward-facing, equally smooth metal ramp.
The four people entered one by one.
Once they had all passed through, the circular passage behind them closed silently, the patterns lit up again, and it returned to its original state, completely isolating them from the quicksand and energy turbulence of the outside world.
The passageway was silent, save for the faint echoes of their own breathing and footsteps against the smooth metal walls.
Soft white light emanated from the walls and ceiling, illuminating the path ahead.
The air is fresh and the temperature is pleasant, a stark contrast to the hellish environment outside.
After walking down the slope for about ten meters, the view suddenly opened up ahead.
They entered a spacious hall.
The hall is circular, with a diameter of over thirty meters and a height of about ten meters.
The floor, walls, and dome are all made of the same dark silver metal, and the surface is engraved with more complex and grand energy circuits and symbols of unknown meaning.
In the center of the hall, there was a low, cylindrical control console with several smooth, now dull crystal panels on its surface.
Six closed metal doors with intricate patterns are evenly distributed around the hall, their destinations unknown.
The entire hall was spotless, as if time had stood still.
Only the faint, lingering energy of silent observers in the air reminded them of the extraordinary nature of this place.
"We're in—" Researcher Duden's voice trembled slightly, filled with excitement and awe as he greedily gazed at the unprecedented energy circuits and symbols on the surrounding walls.
"These are priceless treasures of knowledge —"
Ella and Gorson were also awestruck by this creation that was ahead of its time, and they looked around warily.
Luo Lin immediately expanded his perception to its maximum.
Information captured by the insight ring and echo unit indicates that the hall is in a "sleep maintenance" state with extremely low power consumption.
The central control console and the surrounding metal doors were all in an energy-locked state.
The hall itself seems to be powered by energy from deeper underground veins, stable and abundant, but all of this energy is contained by a sophisticated system, with no leakage whatsoever.
"The energy environment is extremely stable, and no active defense mechanisms or signs of life have been detected," Rolin reported.
"But all functions seem to be turned off or in standby mode."
"Permissions may be required to activate."
Duden couldn't wait to walk up to the central control console and try to touch the crystal panels.
The panel is unresponsive.
"It seems that without the corresponding permissions, we can only look, not touch." Duden was a little disappointed, but he quickly cheered up.
"Even just recording these energy circuits and symbols is a huge gain!"
The four immediately divided the tasks.
Duden was responsible for using high-precision imaging crystals to record the overall structure of the hall and the details of the control console.
Ella and Gorson were tasked with guarding and exploring the six closed metal doors, trying to find other clues or an exit.
Rowling, using the Ring of Insight in conjunction with Duden, conducted an in-depth scan and local energy characteristic analysis of the energy circuits on the wall in an attempt to understand some of their functions.
The work proceeded in a tense but orderly manner.
Time passed in silence.
Rowling moved slowly along the wall, the light from the Insight Ring sweeping across the intricate patterns.
The design philosophy of these circuits is unlike any system he knows; they seem to focus more on precise energy distribution, information encoding, and lossless transmission, with very few offensive or defensive structures.
When he scanned a relatively isolated area in the southeast corner of the hall, the echo unit suddenly detected an extremely faint sound...
However, there are regular, periodic energy pulses.
The pulse appears to originate from inside the wall.
"There's an unusual energy reaction here," Rolin immediately notified the others.
Duden, Ella, and Gorson quickly gathered around.
Rowling placed his palm against the wall, sensing carefully. The pulse was very weak, occurring approximately every five seconds, like the beating of a heart.
"It's like some kind of low-power beacon, or a pulse from a state-maintaining device," Duden analyzed.
"Can I open it and take a look?" Ella asked.
Rowling searched carefully along the wall and found a tiny, almost flush-lined hexagonal indentation about 1.5 meters above the ground. There was a small, dot-like scratch in the center of the indentation.
He attempted to inject a wisp of starlight, simulating the observer's energy, into the dotted mark.
Click.
A slight click of a mechanism. Centered on the dent, a metal plate about a foot square silently slid inward, revealing a shallow, cabinet-like space embedded in the wall.
There weren't many things in the space. Only three items:
A palm-sized, hexagonal, dark silver metal cylinder.
A transparent polyhedral crystal with an exceptionally complex internal structure, set in a metal base.
There was also a thin metal plate of the same material, etched with countless tiny symbols, like some kind of instruction manual or logbook.
Duden's eyes widened instantly, and his breathing became heavy: "A perfectly preserved—operation unit? Recording medium?"
Roland carefully removed the hexagonal metal cylinder. It was cold and heavy to the touch, with a smooth surface and no gaps. But when his mental energy touched it through the Insight Ring, he could sense a complex energy storage and information encoding structure inside.
"This is likely some kind of portable data recording or interface device," Rowling judged.
He picked up the polyhedral crystal again.
The crystal felt warm and smooth to the touch, and its complex internal structure refracted a mesmerizing light under the illumination of the observation ring.
The energy and structural complexity of this crystal far exceed any they have ever seen at the Fortress Authentication Center.
Finally, there's that metal plate.
The symbols above are too small and too dense to be easily discerned with the naked eye.
Duden immediately took pictures using a high-powered magnifying glass and a microscopic imaging device.
Just as Duden was focused on filming, Ella suddenly whispered, "Something's up!"
Everyone immediately became alert.
Gorson instantly stepped in front of Duden and Rowling, his sword pointing towards the entrance of the hall—the passage they had come through.
However, there was no movement at the entrance.
The source of the sound seemed to be above their heads?