In the past few days, the "Emperor" has been staying in the sewer, and his intuition told him that the end of the maze must lead to some unknown place.
And now, he has finally mapped the changes in the underground waterway.
A holographic projection screen appeared in front of his eyes. He observed that every once in a while, the structure of the water would change accordingly. This is why ordinary people can never get out of the maze once they enter it by mistake.
Every road here looks the same. Human eyes and non-military-grade prosthetic eyes cannot observe the changes in the maze. They will only get lost in it until they enter the tree hole in the center of the maze.
The place where he is now is marked as area b2, and there are a large number of unexplored areas ahead.
His instinct told him that he was getting closer to his destination.
Because the maze not only changes, but also seems to have autonomous consciousness, which also makes it extremely difficult to explore area b. The consciousness of the maze seems to be trying its best to prevent him from passing through area b and reaching the other side.
"Almost there."
This was not a lonely exploration. The voice in his head reminded him from time to time.
The road ahead becomes narrow and bumpy.
Barb-like plants lay on the road ahead, and every corner was blocked by spiderweb-like thorns. Anyone who saw such a sight would instinctively choose to stay away from this dangerous area, but the "Emperor" stepped on the barbs. above, letting himself pass through the passages blocked by thorns.
The more rugged the road ahead is, the closer he is to the finish line.
He didn't know when this maze was built, nor where the end of this road led to, but according to the map of the operating system, he had moved away from the first area and appeared outside the first area. In the deep sea, the big map can no longer serve as a reference.
The concept of space has become extremely vague. Every time he takes a step forward, the coordinates of his body may shift.
Following the voice prompts, the "Emperor" passed through the last thorny area.
In fact, it can hardly be called a road here, because he found a way through barbs, thorns and piranha flowers that kept attacking him.
At the end of the road, two statues of ancient trees stand under the grand steps.
The map also showed his current location - the deep sea.
He was in the deep sea of the first area, reaching a height that only submarines could reach. The whole world was shrouded in darkness, and the dome of the maze was gone. He turned on the lighting equipment of the prosthetic body and looked up. I could vaguely see a huge thing flashing past in the "sky".
There seemed to be eyes peering at him from the depths of darkness where there was no end.
The "Emperor" climbed all the way up the stairs, and finally there was a light source inside the temple.
The light source comes from the retro-style wall lamps on the wall, which are burning incredible flames. Even if no fuel is placed, these flames seem to burn forever.
At the end of this road is an empty garden.
Compared with those mazes full of thorns and piranha, the garden looks pleasing to the eye, and the air is filled with a delicate fragrance.
The flowers are surrounded by a bright red giant flower that beats like a heart. Its appearance is highly similar to the core of the man-eating plant found by the "Emperor" in the maze, but at this moment the "heart" looks sacred.
"Welcome."
A graceful figure was surrounded by colorful petals. She seemed to have known the arrival of the "Emperor" for a long time, but she did not turn around, but took good care of these flowers.
The "Emperor" didn't know if he was hallucinating, but he actually felt the emotions coming from the plant.
These flowers seem to express a "happy" mood.
All of this can only be described as weird.
He was ready for battle. At the end of the rugged labyrinth, there should never be a garden, and a woman caring for the flowers in the garden.
A weak woman would never be able to reach such a place, and the other party's performance also confirmed his guess.
Facing gravity several times greater than before, her actions were not affected in any way and she still watered the flowers calmly.
He walked towards the woman head on.
"I'm going through this garden."
The "Emperor" made his intention clear to the other party.
"Did the person in your mind tell you that?"
The woman still said without looking back, her tone was as soft as a casual conversation.
Hearing this, the "Emperor" suddenly paused.
Before that, no one knew this secret, not even the company, family, or council. From the moment they met, he had a strange feeling. Even though he was silent and reticent, this woman seemed to be able to see through him. The deepest secrets of the heart.
"My name is Trianne, and I'm a botanist."
The woman seemed to have read through his thoughts again and said, "Besides, you can't get through here and reach the opposite room."
The "Emperor" immediately attacked, leaving no chance for the other party to continue.
However, the next moment, all his movements stopped.
He clearly saw a crack appearing in the ancient tree statue next to the stairs under the influence of gravity, and what appeared in front of him was the stairs leading to the temple.
There was still a dark space above the head, but this time the giant shadow swimming in the "sky" stopped. It seemed to have noticed the existence of the "Emperor", staring at the tiny humans below from high in the sky, and this time, He finally saw the appearance of the giant shadow.
A fish floating in the air.
It is so large that it can cover a city block, and the coalition government's airship is as big as a toy in front of it.
In addition to the giant shadow, the "Emperor" also noticed other creatures.
Or more accurately, their eyes.
They lurk in the depths of darkness, but the size of their eyes is enough to imagine their huge size. The presence of these creatures makes the entire sky narrow and crowded.
He quickly understood his situation.
Space jumped again.
Just like the maze and the first time he saw the plant in the center of the maze, whenever the idea of "attack" emerged in his mind and turned it into actual action, he would appear somewhere else, but until Now, he has not figured out the conditions for triggering the spatial transfer.
He launched a total of 12 challenges to the center of the maze in the past few days, and was eventually teleported to other areas of the maze without exception.
Fortunately, he didn't go very far this time.
Two minutes were enough for him to return to the garden and face the woman who claimed to be a botanist again. At least compared to the plants in the center of the maze, Trian still had the possibility of communication.
"You really don't know how to give up."
This time, as soon as the "Emperor" approached the garden, Trian's ethereal voice came from inside, "I have given you the opportunity to leave more than once. You know what you will encounter."
He saw Trian put down the kettle and face him.
"Then you should also know my answer."
As he spoke, the "Emperor" carefully observed the garden, trying to spot any flaws.
The more powerful the ability, the more stringent the triggering conditions are. These plants must have teleported him elsewhere through some means. In other words, as long as he finds the common ground between the garden and the tree pit, he can crack this strange ability. secret.
"Let's go back."
Trian patiently persuaded the other party again, "At least you are not strong enough to touch the place behind me now."
She stared at the "Emperor" and penetrated his heart.
"The thought 'How will you know if you don't try?' will only get you killed."
Trian sighed, "Since the last time we met, you have actually been standing still. In the field of psychic energy, you can no longer find a way to become stronger, so you began to seek other paths and accept Prosthetic body, transform your body until you become what you are now... Is this her promise to you?"
"Have we met before?"
The "Emperor" looked at Trian. His memory should not have declined to the point where even a human being cannot remember clearly. What's more, his operating system has a built-in storage function. At the memory level, machines are much more efficient than the human brain. many.
"No, but you tried to save me, just like what I'm doing to you now."
"Are you mistaken? I don't remember such a thing."
"Yungang Biopharmaceuticals."
Trian said a name that was familiar to the "Emperor", "I once lost contact with my team and company, and you were the only six-star rescuer who came to save me. We were very close at that time, and I could hear Your voice is just a step away from finding us."
The "Emperor" fell silent.
He recalled that rescue operation. At that time, he happened to be conducting an investigation in the Linhai area of the "outside world". After learning that a company's research team was missing, he immediately participated in the rescue operation.
But after staying in the forest for nearly a week, they were unable to find Trian and her team. They seemed to have disappeared without leaving any clues.
Until this moment, the "Emperor" suddenly realized.
Perhaps, the members of the research team at that time were also transferred underground or into other cracks by strange spatial abilities.
"Glad you survived."
Facing the "Emperor's" response, Trian just smiled.
The two looked at each other for a long time, and then she said, "Go back and pretend that you have never walked through the maze."
"If I could have found the maze back then, things would have been different."
The "Emperor" looked at the place behind Trian with firm eyes.
Everyone will experience the process of growth through failure, even six-star rescuers are no exception.
“Not everything in this world will go your way.”
"It's the same thing for me," Triann said.
Although she sincerely wanted to persuade the "Emperor" to leave, she obviously couldn't change the heart of a six-star rescuer so easily.
Tough and powerful, these are the qualities possessed by the "Emperor".
These qualities propelled him through the thorny road to get here.
"So……"
Both of them understood each other's thoughts, "If you can still live, don't listen to the voices in your head anymore. This is my advice to you."
"She's lying, kill her!"
The voice in his mind suddenly intervened in the conversation between the two parties, suddenly conveying new instructions to the "Emperor".
When the "Emperor" came back to his senses, the scene in front of him changed again.
But this time, there were no longer statues of ancient trees or magnificent stairs beside him. At this moment, he was in deep darkness, as if he was high in the sky or at the bottom of the sea.
The giant shadow that existed before him appeared in front of him, baring its fangs towards him.
