T-Class Cataclysm Source

"Trapezoid.!!!"

The girl was no fool. Hearing that explanation and looking over the room's layout, she suddenly understood.

Her vision had been deceived!

The room was a uniform concrete color, and in such tones, lines of different lengths were easiest for the naked eye to misjudge.

And most importantly, this was Room 2013!

Under normal circumstances, Experiment Chamber 2012 next door was where that Fallen Witch was kept. Several nearby rooms had all been affected by Mental Pollution.

No one would wander around here aimlessly.

Even if someone passed by, their Mental Power would be disrupted, causing them to overlook those details.

Visual deception plus mental interference—this was why such a tiny difference in the distance to the iron doors had gone unnoticed.

The difference in distance between the doors. This was a brand-new discovery that not even the most detailed intelligence from the Information Broker had recorded.

What an ingenious design!

Having figured it all out, Mechanical Arm Girl looked again at the frail man she had thought she could kill with a casual blow, her face full of disbelief. With so much interference, this guy had actually noticed the anomaly?

This could no longer be explained by mere attentiveness.

"..."

After speaking, Ji Xun showed no unusual expression, as though it was nothing remarkable.

In truth, he had noticed the issue long ago, but he had not wanted to stir up trouble.

Besides, he had not trusted this temporary teammate enough at the time. Since he only wanted to lie low until the third day and leave, he had kept his mouth shut.

But things were different now.

In fact, beyond what he had said, there were many details Ji Xun had not explained.

The bunker's structure was simple: a building shaped like the Chinese character for "four," with one hundred rooms on each floor and only a single rusted elevator connecting the levels.

The design itself was problematic.

First, the purpose of this bunker was right there in its name. Anomaly 407 Containment Facility was obviously some kind of research facility bunker.

But could a laboratory consist only of places for imprisoning monsters?

The locations of other rooms in a normally structured research institute would probably be easy to analyze, which was why they had created this misleading parallel layout.

Following that line of thought and checking the room structures one by one, one could also find the problem.

Of course, that depended on being able to avoid interference from the abnormal mental field on the second floor.

Ji Xun himself possessed an unusually sharp ability to observe his surroundings. After taking only a few steps, he had spotted the problem.

Then he had reverse-engineered the issue with the entire spatial design.

Since this was confirmed to be a dungeon with "clear it, get rewards," then after discovering the hidden door, what interested Ji Xun most was no longer solving the puzzle.

It was reverse-engineering the designer's motive for creating this level.

Mechanical Arm Girl had completely discarded her contempt for this temporary teammate.

Time waited for no one. She walked straight to the wall Ji Xun had indicated.

A "□" symbol had even been carefully marked on the doorframe.

Without wasting time, the girl raised her fully charged Mechanical Arm and aimed at the mark, not forgetting to warn him, "Step back a little."

Ji Xun naturally hid behind the girl.

Then, with a bang, the blast nearly knocked them over.

At the same time, they heard the sound of bricks shattering inside the wall.

"It really broke open!"

Mechanical Arm Girl stared at the huge hole blasted before her, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Although she had just been told the reasoning, truly finding a new way to clear the dungeon still felt surreal.

This meant that the way to clear Anomaly 407 Containment Facility might really be as that man had said. They had found a new approach!

Ji Xun looked at the breach without any delight, because he had already been certain.

He stared into the pitch-black opening, his expression thoughtful.

Breaking through the wall had been easy, but that did not mean the Hidden Scenario it triggered would be easy.

On the contrary, he felt the designer had only neglected to make the wall more elaborate because they were confident in the subsequent design.

Before they could think further, while the dust from the shattered wall had yet to settle, both of them saw a new Revelation: "Hidden Scenario triggered. Exploration Progress increased by +5%. Additional settlement reward obtained."

Mechanical Arm Girl cautiously inspected the opening before her. It seemed to lead to some sort of laboratory area. The sickly green glow was eerie and terrifying, constantly giving the psychological impression that monsters were lying in ambush.

Ji Xun, however, seemed completely unconcerned. He called out, "Come on. Let's go in and take a look."

"..."

Mechanical Arm Girl glanced at him, but still stepped in front of Ji Xun and entered first.

She knew her role in this partnership very clearly.

Before, she had been the one leading. Now, it was this guy.

It was an extremely messy laboratory, with signs of battle everywhere. There were dried bloodstains on the floor and several desiccated skeletons in white lab coats. The metal instruments bore claw marks left by unknown creatures.

A disorderly reagent bench covered in scattered beakers and bottles, a dissection table, monster specimens soaked in yellow-green liquid, all sorts of strange tools...

Every instrument had the dark high-tech style of Steampunk, radiating a strong sense of fantasy and mystery.

It looked like an alchemy laboratory, yet also like a biological laboratory.

Mechanical Arm Girl carefully walked ahead, scanned the room, and said, "This should be the research section of Bunker 407."

Sure enough, a research institute could not possibly contain only places for imprisoning monsters.

Ji Xun looked around and nodded. "Mm. Let's find some useful clues."

"..."

Mechanical Arm Girl glanced at him. For some reason, his tone was so certain, as if he knew they would definitely find something.

There were Gas Lamps in the laboratory as well. The atmosphere was eerie and horrifying, but visibility was decent.

The laboratory was enormous. Rustling noises occasionally came from the darkness, though it was impossible to tell what kind of monsters were making them.

Ji Xun scanned the laboratory's layout and headed straight toward the row of rooms on the left.

Mechanical Arm Girl said nothing and followed beside him.

As Ji Xun walked along, the individual rooms were all functional laboratories of various kinds. He entered some for a look, while merely glancing into others from the doorway before passing them by.

"What are you looking for?"

"I don't know yet."

"..."

Mechanical Arm Girl suddenly found this rather baffling. Instead of looking for an exit, this guy was searching for clues without even knowing what those clues were?

But soon, Ji Xun stopped in front of a room and said gravely, "It should be here."

Mechanical Arm Girl looked over. This room was larger than the previous ones and seemed to be an office for management.

Before she could figure out why he had stopped here, Ji Xun had already gone inside. After rummaging through drawers and cabinets for a while, he soon discovered a safe in the corner.

A safe?

It was clearly an important plot item.

Before Mechanical Arm Girl could marvel at why this guy had been so certain there was something here, she watched Ji Xun take out several crooked pieces of iron, press his ear against the safe, and begin picking the lock.

This was a Master Key.

Ji Xun had made it during the day when he had nothing else to do.

Originally, it had been meant to deal with the iron door locks in the chambers.

Although this world had Extraordinary Power and magical cards, locks were still mechanical devices. No matter how complicated they were, there was always a way to open them.

Fortunately, this safe was not particularly complicated in Ji Xun's eyes.

"..."

Mechanical Arm Girl watched quietly from the side without disturbing him.

There was something dependable about his calmness.

She was no longer in any hurry to search for an exit.

The laboratory was very quiet. The only sounds beside them were the grating friction of turning gears: "creak, creak."

Suddenly, there was a crisp metallic click.

Ji Xun smiled faintly and said softly, "It's open."

So quickly?

Mechanical Arm Girl was somewhat surprised as well.

Watching his professional safecracking skills and recalling the way he had analyzed the wall earlier, she could not help asking curiously, "What exactly is your profession?"

"Profession?"

Ji Xun pondered for a moment before replying, "I'm an actor."

Mechanical Arm Girl said, "I mean your Professional Sequence. Master thief?"

She had thought he was a Mental Type extraordinary, but apparently he was not.

"..."

Ji Xun could not answer.

Before crossing over, he had been an actor.

A clown actor adopted by a circus since childhood.

That inexplicably high Mental Power was related to that profession.

The clown had played too many roles. One day, while acting, he realized he no longer knew which one was his true self.

Or perhaps every one of them was part of him.

Ji Xun could clearly sense that there were many versions of himself in his mind, each playing a different role.

For example, he had always appeared calm. It was not that he lacked the emotion of "fear." Rather, it was suppressed by "reason," "curiosity," "excitement," "the thirst for knowledge," "twisted madness," and other roles.

This overloaded mental activity allowed him to learn things quickly while giving him both meticulous and active thinking.

It had also enabled him to master nearly every difficult circus act.

Tightrope walking, knife throwing, extreme underwater escapes, firearms, card throwing.

"Lockpicking" was a required skill for underwater escape acts.

But that Mental Power had also troubled him deeply.

He could not feel the emotional fluctuations of ordinary people, such as happiness.

Before crossing over, this had made him increasingly fond of seeking thrills.

He used sensory stimulation to find ways of venting his mental distress.

His thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant before returning to the present.

Ji Xun opened the safe and pulled out a stack of documents.

The contents were a mess. It seemed someone had searched through them before, and some were missing.

Mechanical Arm Girl leaned in as well. At a glance, both their attention was captured.

Revelation translated the unknown script, similar to cuneiform, into readable text.

"Taren Calendar, May 3rd, 2401. Unsealed the 'S-Class Cataclysm Source.' Research begins."

"Experiment Chamber 1001. Test Subject No. #1144's awakened extraordinary ability has undergone new changes. It displays extremely high tolerance for the Dark Element. After injecting ten times the normal dose of Heim Type VII Ash Reagent, bodily tolerance continued increasing. Five days later, mutation occurred in an unknown direction. Conclusion: This Source Card possesses S+-class Dark Elemental Affinity growth."

"Experiment Chamber 1099. Test Subject No. #815 attempted to implant the polluted limb Giant Strength Demonic Muscle. The reagent induced a surge in strength, and physical attributes miraculously exceeded their limits without changing professions. However, the test subject lost sanity for fourteen days. Mutation became uncontrollable, and the subject died that day. Conclusion: The Cataclysm Source has extremely high growth potential in the Strength Type."

"Experiment Chamber 2012. Test Subject No. #549 attempted fusion and suffered Mental Mutation. Continued observation recommended. Seven days later, the mutant evolved into a B-Class Calamity, Fallen Witch, possessing extreme charm abilities. Conclusion: This Cataclysm Source has extremely strong Mental Type growth. Continue research in this direction. The test subject's mutated state trended toward stability. The sixteenth injection of T3 Reagent successfully induced Secondary Mutation. The test subject evolved into an A-Class Calamity, Fallen Witch. Conclusion: The Cataclysm Source possesses growth potential."

"Experiment Chamber 3045. The test subject underwent Secondary Mutation into an A-Class Mystic Type Calamity, Curse Gambler. Curses cause instant death."

"Experiment Chamber 4011. The test subject underwent Secondary Mutation into an A-Class Assassin Type Calamity, Shadow Stealth Stab. Hidden in shadows."

"August 16th, 1145.8. Summary report: After fusing with the cataclysm sample, every test subject awakened different talents. So far, the experiment has confirmed thirty-one special talent growth directions. It has been confirmed that this Cataclysm Source is an Epic Source Card never before seen in history. Preliminary conclusion: Fusing with this card requires extremely high base Mental Power, Dark Affinity, Frenzied Mental Force, and other conditions not yet fully understood."

"Research institute recommendation: The Mutation Probability of test subjects is currently 100%. Contamination carries a risk of overflow and spread. Recommend changing the containment level from 'S-Class' to 'T-Class' and sealing it permanently."

"..."

This was what Ji Xun had been looking for—

The crucial clue!