Inbreak and "Trialist"

At the entrance to the Ruins' passage, in front of that round mirror. 👹💗 😝ൠ

Luo Zhe stared intently at the "board" flashing red light in front of him, patiently waiting for Xiao Qi's intrusion to yield results.

suddenly--

Xiao Qi's voice rang in his ear, urgent, "Oh no, the core intelligence of this Ruins has detected my Sub-intelligence!"

"What should we do then?" Luo Zhe frowned.

"It's alright, Master. My Sub-intelligence has already engaged it. It shouldn't have time to notice us now. During the previous intrusion, I already pinpointed the exact location of the Ruins Core." Xiao Qi spoke rapidly. "While we have this time, we can directly enter the Ruins ' core."

hiss hiss hiss~

Several hazy beams of light shot out from the circular mirror, forming a three-dimensional virtual projection next to the entrance of the passage— the Bald Crystal Man had appeared at the Ruins Core.

Suddenly, a series of rapid, Universal Language echoed through the passageway, "Xxx".

Luo Zhe looked at the Black Bracer and asked, "Xiao Qi, what language is this? And what is it saying?"

"Master, ignore it. What it just spoke in the Universal Language is a warning to us to leave this Ruins as soon as possible! Otherwise, when the Master of Yunmo Star, a great Immortal Existence, finds out, he will surely destroy the forces behind us completely!"

"But Master, don't worry. I've already investigated. There's no signal transmitter in these Ruins at all..." Xiao Qi said dismissively. "Besides, it's currently entangled with my Sub-intelligence and doesn't have time to send out any messages. And AI, no matter how smart, is still just AI. Once it can't control weapons and equipment, it's completely useless. As long as we're fast enough to insert the Signal Device into the core, we can instantly take control of the entire Ruins."

"At that time, she'll be like a woman stripped naked and tied up, completely at everyone's mercy!"

Luo Zhe nodded and asked, "What should I do now?"

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

A sound like gears turning rang out. Luo Zhe turned his head and saw that the round mirror, which had originally emitted rays of brown light, had been split in two by some powerful force, and rays of dazzling white light were emanating from it.

"Xxx, xxxxxx"

The Bald Crystal Man in the 3D virtual projection changed its expression and spoke in the Universal Language again, but Luo Zhe and Xiao Qi completely ignored it.

"Master, I have now gained partial control of the Ruins. Just follow my instructions," Xiao Qi said. "We'll now enter the Ruins through this teleportation point."

Luo Zhe nodded and, without hesitation, stepped into the circular mirror of light. The mirror, like rippling water, easily swallowed Luo Zhe.

In that dark hall, the hazy, colorful rays of light that had previously shone down from the ceiling had vanished without a trace.

Luo Zhe stood in the center of the hall, looking around. He saw a black passageway on the right wall of the dark hall, with complex writing beside it. ∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

"Master, just follow the passage. But be very careful, that Bald Crystal Man definitely has other tricks up his sleeve," Xiao Qi warned.

"Clear."

Luo Zhe nodded, and at the same time took out a Origin Force War Blade from his World Ring. His Black God Set instantly spread all over his body, leaving only his eyes, nose and mouth exposed.

Within the Miniature Planet in his dantian, Luo Zhe unleashed his Spiritual Force, exploring the passage. After confirming there was no danger, he walked directly into the passage.

As soon as he entered, the entire passageway of the black hall blurred and disappeared instantly.

At the Ruins Core, in a hall shrouded in a hazy, colorful light, the Bald Crystal Man, who had been anxiously vying with Xiao Qi's Sub-intelligence for control of the Ruins ' core, suddenly looked up as if sensing something, a strange smile appearing on his face.

"Good, very good! I didn't expect you to be a Spirit Reader!" the Bald Crystal Man said. "I was worried about how to effectively intercept you, but since you're a Spirit Reader, I have a plan!"

Whoosh!

Luo Zhe quickly flew several hundred meters through the deep, dark passage when he suddenly felt the passage tremble, before quickly returning to calm.

"Xiao Qi, what's going on?" Luo Zhe frowned. Why would there be a tremor out of nowhere?

"Master, be careful. Something's happened to the core AI of this Ruins. It suddenly seized most of its authority. My Sub-intelligence can only barely restrain its actions, but it has completely lost control of most of the facilities within the Ruins," Xiao Qi said urgently. "Although this Ruins is only for screening purposes, it probably has quite a few control mechanisms. I'm worried it might use these methods against you."

Luo Zhe gripped his War Blade tightly, quickened his pace, and replied, "We'll meet force with force, and we'll dam water with earth. I refuse to believe that an unarmed Intelligent System can turn the world upside down!"

Suddenly, several forks in the road appeared ahead.

"A maze of branching paths? How did we end up in the Elite Passage?!" Xiao Qi exclaimed in surprise. "I clearly opened the passage that led directly to the Ruins Core. Master, this is going to be difficult."

"What's going on?" Luo Zhe didn't stop, rushing straight towards the fork in the road, asking without the slightest hesitation.

"The Elite Passage is a special passage in this Ruins used specifically to select those who can enter the Yunmo Planet. It's a very simple maze of branching paths without any special features! But in each of those branching paths, there will be a ' Trialist. ' Only after passing the tests of all the Trialist can the ' Trial Mission ' be unlocked," Xiao Qi explained.

What happens after the Trial Mission begins?

Hearing that this was a maze of branching paths, Luo Zhe no longer hesitated and randomly chose the leftmost branch, flying into it. In any case, a "Trialist" would appear no matter which branch he chose.

Xiao Qi continued, "Once the Trial Mission begins, the Ruins Core will have its privileges raised to the highest level. I'm afraid my Sub-intelligence will be expelled from the Core Center within three minutes. If we can't get to the Core Center Ruins Core then and insert the Signal Device to seize control, we'll be at its mercy inside the Ruins."

"Three minutes!"

As they were talking, nine more forks appeared at the end of the fork!

Without a second thought, Luo Zhe chose the first fork in the road on the left and entered, saying, "Three minutes is enough! Leave it to me!"

"Damn! Nine paths after nine more, and if this keeps up, we'll be completely lost before we even reach the Core Center." Ahead lies another fork in the road, surrounded by ancient, unremarkable passageways formed by tangled black tree roots.

And just as Luo Zhe was criticizing the maze designer's aesthetics, about 300 meters away from him, on a side path, on the side path wall entangled with black tree roots, a blurry black figure slowly seeped out. After a moment, as if water droplets were falling, the black figure dripped onto the ground of the side path, and then gradually solidified, turning into a Black-Robed Person wearing a gray-black mask.

The nameplate hanging on his body bore several ancient characters, which, when translated into Earth's Chinese, were exactly what Xiao Qi had mentioned earlier: "Trialist"!

The same thing was happening in the other side paths, where a Black-Robed Person wearing a silver-black mask was "born".

Moreover, every one of the Black-Robed Person had green pupils, and their eyes radiated undisguised killing intent!

I went out for driving practice today, cough cough~ I keep failing my second driving test, and my instructor keeps urging me to retake it.

The second update will be a little later. Sorry!