Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2403: Chapter 2404: Number 23

"So, in Wizard Nis’s opinion, my soul is actually very vulnerable?" The Authority Eye slowly turned its head and stared at Nis.

Because the Authority Eye obscured Angel’s expression, Nis couldn’t immediately discern whether Angel was being sarcastic or genuinely inquiring.

Nis thought for a moment and said, "Your soul possesses a very special trait, capable of even being immune to a large portion of soul attacks. However, can you truly control this special ability?"

Angel remained silent, the answer was evident.

Nis briefly touched on Angel’s soul specialty and then remained silent, for this matter involved some secrets of Angel and even Illusion Demon Island.

"Your soul has a lot of potential, and might become one of your reserves when confronting enemies in the future. Before that, you need to study it, nurture it, and avoid being breached by those proficient in soul matters when it’s vulnerable." Nis said, "And Soul Arms might be able to escort your soul for a while."

Angel still didn’t speak, but his heart had begun to slightly incline.

"So, when you go to the exhibition room on the third floor later, don’t just focus on studying the Magical Energy Array. Choose one first," Kanter suggested.

Angel pondered, "Soul Arms... still need more in-depth research."

Although Angel didn’t directly agree, his response already conveyed his attitude. Previously, he showed disinterest towards Soul Arms, but now that he wants to delve deeper into it, it indicates he has developed some thoughts.

Nis said, "Of course, it’s necessary to first research if there are any drawbacks, otherwise I wouldn’t easily transplant it. After all, it concerns the soul."

Seeing Angel’s changing attitude towards Soul Arms, Nis and Kanter began to explain some types of transplants that don’t enter the inner cycle and are relatively simple to replace during the journey.

As they traveled, they followed the direction of the Magic Pattern and arrived at a double door.

"Has the sub-control node been laid out openly this time? No need to go through the Death Corridor?" Nis looked at the door and said.

Angel shook his head, "The Magic Pattern pointed here, but inside shouldn’t be the endpoint of the sub-control node yet."

Angel meant that the sub-control node might be elsewhere, but instead of going through the normal corridor, they needed to use this room as a transfer to other places.

Nis nodded in understanding. Instead of pushing the door open immediately, he turned to Reynaud: "Do you know what’s inside?"

Reynaud seemed to recall something, his expression looked bad, and it took a while before he said, "Inside is... a medical center."

"Are there any traps?"

Reynaud: "No, just pull the door open and you can enter."

"No traps, and it’s a medical center, why do you look so grim?" Nis was somewhat puzzled, shook his head, sighed, and directly pulled open the door.

Once the door was opened, like the exhibition room, a large amount of white frost mist spread out.

The cold air entered their nostrils, slightly pricking into their brains.

After a good while, the mist gradually dispersed, and everyone looked inside and was taken aback.

There were many people inside.

But they were not alive; instead, they were dead bodies encased within nearly a hundred transparent glass pillars, immersed in a monochrome cold liquid.

These dead bodies floated in the cold liquid, all maintaining the state of the moment before death. Some had died in human form, but more had mutated into horrifying monsters in certain body parts. For instance, some were coated in green mucus, some entirely covered with tentacles, some had abdomens swollen with blood vessels bulging... Just based on the grotesque appearance, ordinary people might be scared sick at the sight.

These dead bodies immersed in the glass pillars shared a common feature: an X tattoo on the left side of the face, with the numbers on the right side being random—some were in the hundreds, others in the tens, and some in... single digits.

Reynaud was now standing beside a corpse with a single-digit number on the right cheek.

Her number was X7, overall retaining a human form, and had a mature, alluring appearance quite in line with Nis’s taste in women. However, everything below her waist was cut off, gone.

"...She was ’蕥.’ We were on a mission to eliminate defectors, and she perished with the defectors while I... survived. She had also been brainwashed by the laboratory once, but seemed to awaken before she died, telling me how she envied my having a name that many recognized its meaning. She had a wish, to also have a name that could be recognized, even if only for one second."

"So, the moment before she died, I gave her the name ’蕥.’ The meaning of this name is a flower bud that will wither before blooming."

Reynaud lowered his head, as if pouring out his heart, or perhaps whispering to himself: "Because of this event, I’m zealous about naming my companions. Like the ones we met just now, ’牙,’ ’镰,’ ’凛,’ and the ’歌’ I mentioned earlier, I named them based on their traits..."

When Reynaud got to this point, he noticeably paused, possibly wanting to say: But they didn’t seem to recognize it.

Few experimental subjects like ’蕥’ awakened, and perhaps others would awaken before dying, but what use is that?

Everyone listened to Reynaud’s story, which wasn’t particularly dramatic, nor as tragic as imagined, bland like a side character’s tale in a novel that could be passed over with a few strokes. Yet, it made everyone understand some things.

Why was Reynaud determined to eliminate the soul body’s sequence marking, even willing to team up with Nausicaa to infiltrate the laboratory and steal data?

Because he wanted to reclaim himself.

This self wasn’t just a name, but a kind of idealistic "I."

Only by finding "I" could he truly abandon the past, step onto the road of the future, and seek the... freedom he longed for.

For him, it was something much more significant than anything, even exceeding the value of life.

In this world, everyone has their own story; even the little people in grand times have a past, and this is Reynaud’s past. Though others might not empathize with Reynaud, they at least began to understand his conviction.

Reynaud’s account cast a slightly somber mood.

Until a "click" sound brought everyone back to their senses.

When Reynaud lifted his head again, he realized Nis, Kanter, and even the skeletal Knight were gone.

Upon closer look, he found Nis swiftly moving among the glass pillars, while Kanter stood in the distance doing something unknown.

A few seconds later, Nis stood still in front of a glass pillar.

Reynaud considered for a moment and approached.

"Master, what’s happening?" Reynaud asked respectfully.

Nis pointed to the person floating in the glass pillar before him and asked, "Who is he?"

Reynaud looked up and saw a man whose upper body was mostly charred, seemingly similar to the other glass pillars around, but upon closer inspection, noticed the numbering on his face differed from the others.

Others bore X on the left cheek and numbers on the right. But his left side was 2, and the right side was 3.

"Sequence No. 23! How is it him!" Reynaud said, "How can he be here? Isn’t he a doctor at the research center? Why did he die here?"

"Dead?" Nis sneered, "This guy isn’t dead."

As Nis’s words fell, the man in front suddenly opened his eyes, his murky brown gaze fixated on Nis.

"This glass column isolates auras, so I didn’t notice at first and thought this place was full of dead people. But this guy made some noise earlier, otherwise, it would’ve been really hard for us to find him."

Nis’s words made Reynaud have an epiphany, that "click" sound just now, was it caused by Number 23?

"Splash splash splash cough—oh—" Number 23 started to speak, seemingly wanting to laugh maniacally to express arrogance, but with the cold liquid pouring into the glass column, his "haha" turned into "splash splash," and he choked.

After a while, he caught his breath.

This time he learned his lesson and didn’t laugh again, but that gloomy expression didn’t disappear: "Number 1, I didn’t expect you to become a traitor... you should obediently stay here like the other goods. This is your final resting place."

Reynaud snorted through his nose: "It’s you who are locked up in the cage now, this is your final resting place, not mine."

Number 23’s gloomy eyes fixated on Reynaud: "It won’t be long before you’ll be in here too..."

Number 23’s words suddenly gave Reynaud a bad feeling: "What do you mean?"

Number 23 cracked an insidious smile: "What do I mean? You’ll find out soon... keh keh keh oh..."

Reynaud, full of worry, turned to look at Nis, who remained silent, seemingly waiting for something.

After a few seconds, Kanter walked over from a distance.

Kanter didn’t use the Mind Ribbon to speak, directly saying: "He probably just activated some switch, trying to convey information to others."

The "click" sound was the sound of the switch being pressed.

Since it had been exposed, Number 23 didn’t hide it anymore. Clutching his throat sore from coughing, he endured the discomfort and said: "Even if you know, it doesn’t matter, very soon, very soon, the Enforcement Sequence and the Hunting Sequence will come, and then you’re finished, ha ha cough..."

"Is that so?" Nis sneered: "Unfortunately, your hopes will soon be dashed. The Enforcement Sequence should refer to your combat personnel. They’ve all gone to The Nest, apparently, you don’t know. This includes the three Official Wizards from your lab. Oh, Number 03 didn’t go, but he’s already locked up in the Flame Cage."

"As for the Hunting Sequence, those Mechanical Puppets that aren’t even qualified to scratch us, what can they do to us? Of course, if you have enough authority, you might know about the Hunting Sequence for the top 5 numbers, but unfortunately, they’re in the control nodes of the Magical Energy Array and won’t appear unless triggered."

Nis’s words left Number 23 stunned. He didn’t know if Nis was telling the truth, but Nis being able to pinpoint even the location of the top 5 Hunting Sequence made it seem quite possible?

Number 23’s cold eyes glared at Nis. He’s a doctor and researcher from the Medical Center, not very familiar with the Southern Domain Wizard World, and doesn’t recognize Nis. But from the other person’s calm demeanor and his disrespectful remarks about Number 03, it was clear that his strength wasn’t weak, probably comparable to Number 03.

In other words, the opponent might be an Official Wizard.

Upon thinking this, Number 23’s expression became uglier. Whether what he said was true or not, having an Official Wizard break into the lab was definitely no small incident!

"Whether what you said is true or not, even if they’re not here, you can’t escape. The noble, great, and invincible existence is still asleep, but once he senses your threat, he will awaken and subdue you with his divine power!"

Number 23 initially spoke normally, but now there was an obvious madness, as if he were a fanatic of an Evil God.

However, his demeanor abruptly stopped with Kanter’s few words.

Kanter: "The button you pressed to convey information is under your foot, right? It’s connected to a broken magic pattern block, bypassing all the glass columns, transmitted through that white metal door to the control node, and then through the Magical Energy Array’s feedback to alert others, correct?"

Number 23 was startled: "How do you know that?"

Kanter smiled slightly: "Of course, because... I understand magic patterns. By the way, your information transmission has already been intercepted."

Number 23 shook his head vigorously: "That’s impossible!"

Kanter shrugged indifferently: "Nothing is impossible in this world. If you don’t believe it, you can keep pressing the button under your foot and see."

Number 23 hesitated for a moment but followed Kanter’s suggestion, pressing the button under his foot, yet, just as Kanter said... there was no reaction.

"Now you understand your situation. Alright, next, I’ll ask, and you’ll answer."

Number 23 wanted to refuse, but Kanter’s eyes suddenly showed the pattern of the sun and moon. Number 23, staring at this pattern, found his gaze gradually blurring, about to be hypnotized.

But just as Number 23’s mind was becoming rigid, he suddenly bit his tongue, and as his tongue’s blood spread in the cold liquid, it seemed to activate a switch. His brow formed a tadpole-shaped pattern that emitted a red light, followed by a scream as Number 23 bowed his head.

Everyone: "..."

Reynaud: "He seems to be dead."

Nis: "Not seems, he’s indeed dead. That symbol just now was text from the Quest World... forcibly broke the hypnosis, but the price was death."

Kanter looked at the deceased Number 23 but said nothing more, merely turning to give Reynaud a deep look: "Your lab’s brainwashing is quite thorough."

Number 23 was clearly very devoted to the lab, even resorting to forced suicide rather than divulge any information.

This raised some doubts for Kanter.

If the lab’s brainwashing is so effective, can Reynaud truly maintain his real self?

Of course, Kanter wasn’t suspecting Reynaud; at least for now, there weren’t many doubts about him, and there were no traces of being brainwashed.

Kanter was thinking about something else: why didn’t the lab brainwash Reynaud?

This returned to the previous problem: both ambushes were directed at Reynaud.

Reynaud clearly holds a special status in the eyes of the lab’s higher-ups.

Nis also realized this, though he didn’t verbalize it, he did consider internally that during negotiations with Number 03, Reynaud hadn’t shown his face from start to finish. If Reynaud did appear, perhaps Number 03 might have reacted differently, instead of passively hiding in the Mechanist Core.

Still, whether Reynaud showing his face is good or bad remains unknown. But for now, the situation is at least under control.

As Nis pondered this, Kanter was hurriedly heading out.

"We must quickly find the control node on the third floor, or it will be uncontrollable!" Kanter said swiftly.

Nis was stunned: "Huh?" What do you mean?

Kanter: "Information transfer can’t be blocked so easily. Just now, according to Angel’s suggestion, I suppressed the speed of information transfer. But with my level of magic pattern expertise, this suppression will soon fail. To completely resolve the issue of information being transmitted across layers, we must immediately find the control node and control the information transfer blockages there!"

Nis’s heart skipped a beat, understanding Kanter’s meaning. If the information here is discovered by others, the consequences would be severe!

It’s possible that access to the Exhibition Room’s items would be locked, which would cut off his profits! Of course, that’s not the most important issue; the crucial problem is that the lab may disconnect the external corridors to capture the intruders, turning the third floor into an isolated island with no exit! Unless they destroy the Magical Energy Array, but such a massive Magical Energy Array isn’t easily destroyed and could lead to backlash.

The only solution now is to swiftly locate the control node and prevent the information transmission!