Authority Lock (Part 2)

Ronan deliberately suppressed the "Demon Rune's" devouring of life essence. The turmoil on the Mental Layer ended in just two seconds.

Xie Junping inevitably suffered some impact, but it should have been within tolerable limits.

Seeing Xie Junping dazed, Ronan lightly patted his shoulder again, trying to comfort him. Before he could speak, however, Xie Junping shook his head, his gaze drifting as he mumbled:

"What was that sound?"

Was he talking nonsense?

That was Ronan's first thought, but then he noticed his Dark Heavy Chains slowly trembling and retracting, producing a rattling sound.

"...Senior? What did you hear?"

Xie Junping turned his face toward Ronan, but his eyes could not focus. His mouth opened, and then he suddenly fell backward. Ronan caught him in time, preventing the back of his head from smashing into the floor.

But by then, Xie Junping had already fallen unconscious. He was groggy, as if trapped in a nightmare, and his body temperature rose and fell erratically, triggering a health warning from his wristband and sending out a signal.

The problem was that they were around fifteen meters underground, in a former laboratory. The signal shielding was extremely thorough. No matter how advanced the wristband was, it was Destined to be useless.

The effects were this severe after extinguishing the parasitic Burning Demon Shadow?

Ronan had absolutely not expected this.

He had clearly controlled the damage to Xie Junping's vitality... Could the connection between the Burning Demon Shadow and Xie Junping on the Mental Layer have been deeper than expected?

Ronan's expression darkened. He laid Xie Junping on the ground as the Dark Heavy Chains extended again, allowing the Demon Rune to probe within and around Xie Junping's body.

The problem was, there were no further abnormalities—at least, none on the level the Demon Rune could detect.

As for his physical condition, Ronan was even more powerless.

The human body was far too intricate and complex. Over the years, Ronan had used drugs to shape patterns and mutate his nervous system. That already represented a bold understanding and alteration of the body, yet what he knew was still only a drop in the ocean.

Ronan had never wanted to leave Xie Junping like this.

But what was done was done. After a brief moment of thought, he hoisted Xie Junping onto his back, intending to reach the surface before deciding what to do next. Judging from Xie Junping's wristband functions, as long as its signal could get out, it should be able to connect to the network, raise an alert, and summon medical rescue.

To be honest, carrying Xie Junping was not easy for Ronan at all. The guy weighed seventy or eighty kilograms, and being unconscious, he could not cooperate, making him feel even heavier.

Ronan was quickly drenched in sweat. Fortunately, the elevator was just ahead. He freed one hand and reached for the button, but at that moment, he clearly heard a warning beep, seemingly coming from Xie Junping's wristband.

Thinking something had gone wrong with Xie Junping again, Ronan hurriedly set him down and prepared to check on him. Yet in that instant, a series of circuit breakers tripped, and everything before him abruptly plunged into darkness.

Ronan froze for half a second, then sharply lowered his head. There was still a faint light in the darkness, coming from Xie Junping's wrist—his wristband.

A string of messages flashed across the screen in sequence:

The temporary authority grantor has entered an unconscious state.

The laboratory defense system has entered Level B status.

Wake-up function activated. No response from the temporary authority grantor.

No other authority grantors found within laboratory range.

The laboratory defense system has entered Level A status.

Energy system shut down, communications system shut down, access system shut down, life-support system shut down... Laboratory lockdown complete.

"..."

Once the messages stopped scrolling, the wristband's light also went out. The faint gleam had been like the mocking eye of a demon; after one blink, it ignored him completely.

Ronan tapped the wristband, trying to salvage the situation, but its personal protection function had activated as well. No matter how he tapped it, there was no response.

Ronan drove a heavy fist into the elevator doors.

In contemporary society, there was no doubt that this was an Authority Society.

The Internet of Things covered every corner of the city. The level of one's electronic authority determined which places and which strata of the city one could access.

Your body might be free, but your authority was controlled. If someone with low authority tried to force their way into high-authority territory, they would either hit a wall or, like Ronan, be trapped on the spot by some inexplicable Trap.

"Authority Traps" were common. They were generally set in elevators, hallways, and other relatively enclosed, narrow areas at important locations, meant to trap illegal intruders who had not been granted authority before handing them over to the police.

The Trap Ronan had encountered covered a much larger area, but its location was far from ideal—this was an enclosed space fifteen meters underground.

Here, the darkness was like omnipresent demons, carrying unease and fear through the empty silence.

Standing before the elevator doors, Ronan could clearly hear both his and Xie Junping's breathing. After several seconds, he set Xie Junping down and propped him against the elevator doors.

"Hey, wake up!"

Xie Junping did not respond.

Smack, smack.

Still no response.

He tried calling out, slapping him, pinching the philtrum, and every other method he could think of, but Xie Junping remained asleep. His temperature, however, had settled considerably.

Ronan was speechless. He stood there for another dozen seconds, then struck the elevator doors once more, though more lightly this time, before carrying Xie Junping back the way they had come.

The darkness followed him like a shadow. It was absolute darkness. That damned laboratory defense system had efficiently cut off every source of energy; there truly was not a trace of light.

At first, Ronan had wanted to use his own wristband for illumination, but half an hour ago, it had entered low-power mode because of the "long line." The tiny bit of light it could provide was almost nothing.

So he simply stopped using it. Darkness meant nothing to him anyway.

The Dark Heavy Chains extended once more, the Demon Rune at their tip flickering with an eerie red glow. That light shone only on the Mental Layer, yet through some means it illuminated reality as well, allowing Ronan to observe his surroundings without using his eyes. In some ways, it was even clearer than normal sight.

This was probably a soul's perspective without leaving the body.

No matter what, being able to "see" his surroundings clearly felt wonderful. The unknowable things lurking in pure darkness were suddenly swept away, easing the psychological pressure as well.

Ronan found a chair in the empty Central Control Room and placed Xie Junping on it, temporarily leaving him alone. He then walked to the completely shut-down control console and pressed a few buttons at random. As expected, there was no response.

The threat of reality still weighed heavily on him.

Ronan had not forgotten the final message that had flashed across Xie Junping's wristband.

Of the systems that had been completely shut down, the most deadly was undoubtedly the "life-support system." In an enclosed space fifteen meters underground, without that system constantly circulating air, it would not take long before those trapped inside—including illegal intruders and temporary authority holders—risked suffocating to death.

From that alone, the laboratory's owner was clearly ruthless. If one scrutinized the legal provisions, this was undoubtedly illegal as well. But when Ronan considered who the laboratory's previous owner had been, he felt that it was quite in line with what he had expected.