No one knows what the people of Court of Savantae were really trying to achieve by researching the Retroact Rain. Perhaps they wanted to see something? Or maybe to prove something?
Seeing Aalto wandering around on the first floor, Zane accompanied Rover and went up to the second floor along the staircases on both sides.
Compared to the first floor, which was messy and chaotic, even showing faint traces of having been damaged by something, the circular corridor on the second floor looked much cleaner.
It was just that the doors to the rooms on the second floor hadn't been used for many years, and without electricity, they couldn't be opened directly.
"This must be to prevent refunds, right?"
Zane muttered words that Rover and Encore couldn't understand, while circling around the second floor.
Although usually in this kind of puzzle there's always a solution within seven steps, Zane didn't plan to go through that much trouble.
He looked around to make sure no one was following, found an empty corner, and quietly opened the system.
Right now, in his hands, he only had AWM, grenade, swift blade, small sanity potion, Phoenix healing pack, premium golden sesame oil, anti-snatch capture baton, Wasp T800, P320 pistol, riot shield, Phoenix healing pack, and also a stinky egg.
But luckily, his generous "godfather" Xiangli Yao had previously given him enough materials to exchange for 80 pulls.
With so many Star Sounds, Zane didn't believe he couldn't pull out a universal key to open doors.
Thinking this, Zane opened [Otherworld Summon] and tapped his first ten-pull of the day,
[Traveler Swift Blade, Traveler Long Blade, Source Energy Long Blade, Traveler Armguard, Traveler Sidearm, Traveler Matrix, Source Energy Audio Sensor, Traveler Swift Blade, Traveler Armguard, Swift Blade (Purple)]
'Damn, whose summon record wandered into the wrong house and ended up with me? Can someone come claim this, hey!'
Zane wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and unwillingly tapped another ten-pull.
[Dark Night Matrix, Dark Night Long Blade, Source Energy Swift Blade, Traveler Armguard, Dark Night Sidearm, Traveler Matrix, Source Energy Audio Sensor, Dark Night Swift Blade, Traveler Armguard, Sidearm (Purple)]
"..."
'So it's a speedy death, huh.'
'Bro…'
'This isn't right, is it?'
'Didn't I go from unlucky to lucky back in Qichi Village?'
'What now?'
Zane hardened his resolve and did three more ten-pulls in a row. Naturally, his system backpack gained another twenty-seven pieces of trash.
Of course, there were also three pieces of purple trash, greatsword, armguard, audio sensor.
After fifty pulls all going down the drain, Zane's mindset began to shift slightly.
"Damn it, I refuse to believe I can't get something useful today."
With another ten-pull, aside from the usual blue scrap, Zane finally saw something that could open doors...
[Magnetic bombs (Purple)]
Zane, '…'
'Using bombs to open doors, very reasonable, right?'
Meanwhile, at the same time Zane was getting addicted to pulling, it had to be said... She was worthy of being a Rover.
Without tarnishing the reputation of the Fourth Calamity, in just a few minutes she successfully found a battery and opened the first mechanical door.
At present, there were still two doors left in the ruins.
At this moment, seeing Zane walking back slowly with a gloomy face, Rover slightly raised her brows. Her golden eyes flickered a few times, with some obscure meaning hidden deep within.
But right now, Zane's mind was full of blowing doors open, and he didn't notice her scrutinizing gaze at all.
"Step back a little."
Zane glanced at Rover and Encore. Although he really wanted Encore to experience the joy of explosives…
After thinking for a moment, he gave up that idea.
After all, the CVs are different.
"Brother Zane, what is this?"
Encore, however, seemed very curious about the two brick-like objects in Zane's hands. Her pink eyes blinked as she stared at them.
"These two? They're bombs."
"What is a..."
Encore wanted to ask what a "bomb" was, but Rover directly picked her up and carried her away.
However, at this moment, Rover didn't know that the gears of fate belonging to Encore had already quietly begun to turn.
After Rover and Encore walked far away, Zane knocked on one of the metal doors and realized that, for anti-theft purposes, the people of Court of Savantae had deliberately reinforced these iron doors.
Unless a key was used, it would be somewhat difficult to blow them open with just these two small C4 charges.
After hesitating for a moment, Zane stuck the magnetic bombs onto the wall next to the door.
When the door is too strong, the wall becomes the door.
With two consecutive loud explosions, Rover led Encore, whose eyes were shining brightly, into the laboratory on the second floor of the Court of Savantae ruins.
From an experimental table, Zane found a record that had long been damaged by the erosion of time.
[...All the signs we currently have indicate that they did indeed come to Whining Axe's Mire, and that is also the reason we relocated here.]
[...What we want to do is nothing more than to use the "backflow" function of the Retroact Rain to reproduce the miracle once again and seek revelation...]
"They? A miracle?"
Zane frowned tightly. The various phenomena written on this record sheet all revealed a sense of eeriness.
"What exactly is the 'god' they're talking about? What were the results of the experiment? And what did these people want to obtain from that 'god'?"
Zane silently noted these in his mind and continued reading, [...Recently, things in the lab often disappear for no reason... Once it gets late at night, strange noises can always be heard in the laboratory...]
"Are you sure this is an experiment record and not some horror novel?", Seeing this, Zane couldn't help but find it a bit amusing.
If what happened in this lab really matched their records, could it be that they were actually researching aliens?
Or was the "god" they mentioned some kind of entity that cannot be directly perceived?
[...I suspect it's related to Test Subject A038. Recently, its frequency has often shown characteristics of "hunger"...]
"This A038 should be the culprit behind everyone in the lab disappearing. But… why hunger?"
Zane couldn't quite understand why these researchers deliberately reproduced the characteristic of "hunger" in the test subject.
"Could it be that the 'god' they were imitating experiences 'hunger'? Or is it not the 'god' that feels hunger, but one of its followers?"
"Zane, come take a look at this."
Rover's sudden call interrupted Zane's thoughts. He quickly stored the record into the storage bracelet Xiangli Yao had given him and hurried toward another room.
The moment he entered, Zane was drawn to a phantom floating in midair.