Closed Beta Player
"Received." Chen Ling calmly responded.
"But Director, that Lin Yan sneak attacked me just now and caused me a little injury... I'm afraid an accident might occur then, how about sending another person to go with me?"
Chen Ling paused for a moment, modified the frequency band and voice of the Walkie-talkie, and spoke in the Director's tone:
"You're injured? Do you need to come out for treatment first?"
"No need, it's just a minor injury."
The aurora in Chen Ling's eyes flickered slightly.
The referees' communication system had now been thoroughly invaded by Chen Ling, and this communication system could be divided into two parts. One part was this group of referees supervising inside the Old District, and the other part was the organizer's office outside the Old District.
The referees would briefly summarize the intelligence within the Old District and transmit it to the organizer's office in real-time via Walkie-talkies, while the organizer's office was responsible for induction and sorting, and dispatching medical teams...
He was like an intermediate station. Any communication from the Old District that wanted to be sent out had to pass through him; and for the organizer's commands to be transmitted into the Old District, they also needed to pass through him... Only messages confirmed by him to have no threat could be correctly transmitted, otherwise they would be intercepted or tampered with.
The current Chen Ling could be said to be covering the sky with one hand!
Chen Ling used the communication network to perceive the locations of the referees currently on the field. After randomly selecting a referee closer to him, he continued to speak in the Director's tone:
"Alright, then Number 17, you go and open the 'Dark Palace' first, and make an initial confirmation."
"Received."
Referee 17 immediately responded.
Very soon, in Chen Ling's perception, Number 17's signal position began to move rapidly, approaching a certain corner within the Old District.
Chen Ling calmly put away the Walkie-talkie and unhurriedly also walked towards there.
...
Over ten minutes later.
Chen Ling slowly stopped his footsteps on a desolate Wilderness.
"The referee's signal position is right here... The so-called 'Dark Palace' is hidden here?" Chen Ling's gaze swept across his surroundings. As far as his eyes could see, apart from rubble all over the ground, there was nothing.
Chen Ling walked a circle around these rubble ruins, and deliberately used the [Secret Pupil] to carefully search the details of the ground again. Finally, he found a string of faint footprint marks in a certain area.
Chen Ling seemed to have discovered something. Stepping on [Cloud Steps], he arrived in mid-air. Overlooking from this angle, he finally discovered some clues...
"The placement of the rubble secretly conforms to the Eight Trigrams... The footprints also disappear at the edge where Yin and Yang converge. It seems the entrance is right there."
It had to be said, the setup of this "Dark Palace" was truly somewhat hidden. Although the organizer's office of the Tower to Heaven had left the Eight Trigrams layout as a clue, at this time everyone was busy hiding or slaughtering each other, who could notice the setup on this Wilderness?
No wonder even now, no participant had actively discovered the entrance to the "Dark Palace".
Chen Ling returned to the ground and walked straight ahead along the footprints. Finally, at the convergence point of the Eight Trigrams layout, he discovered a corridor leading underground, and walked down without much hesitation.
The floor of the corridor was paved with marble, and patterns were also engraved on the walls on both sides. It wasn't dark and narrow like a tomb passage, but instead appeared elegant and grand... The lights on both sides of the walls were all turned on. It was unknown whether it was originally set up this way, or if Referee 17 conveniently lit them up when he entered just now. It looked bright and clear.
After walking along the corridor for a while, the space in front of Chen Ling suddenly opened up, and a rotunda resembling an underground palace appeared before his eyes.
Upon seeing this rotunda at first glance, Chen Ling remembered that art hall of the Floating Life Painting. But compared to that, this rotunda in front of him obviously lacked some artistic atmosphere, yet had a sort of majestic and magnificent uncanny workmanship;
"This is..."
As Chen Ling walked into the rotunda, he saw six pitch-black arched doors standing in all directions of the rotunda respectively.
And on the ground in the center of the rotunda, a passage resembling an elevator shaft extended all the way deep underground. Even now, one could see the precise tracks and mechanical devices inside it, dazzling the eyes.
Just as Chen Ling was carefully looking down at the bottom of the shaft, a figure slowly walked out from inside one of the arched doors:
"Number 06, you're here? How is your body?"
The person who came was none other than Referee 17, who had received Chen Ling and the others at the station, and was also the "Dark Palace" maintenance personnel "handpicked" by Chen Ling.
"Sigh, it's no big deal, just got clubbed by that kid, have a bit of a headache."
Chen Ling imitated Referee 06's tone and smiled helplessly.
"That kid is named Lin Yan, right? I have an impression of him." Number 17 nodded slightly. "The [Inhuman] path indeed does inhuman things."
Chen Ling: ...
"Right, how is your inspection? Are there any problems?" Chen Ling changed the subject.
"I've basically looked through it once, the mechanisms of the Six Palaces of Qiaohuang are all normal." Number 17 pointed to the half-open hidden door at the edge of the six arched doors.
"However, I don't understand this aspect as well as you do. It's best if you check it again later. I've placed the central control panel on the table for you... But if you have a headache, it's fine if you don't check it. Don't mind that guy Old Chang, he just naturally loves bossing people around."
This Old Chang that Number 17 spoke of should be the Director currently on the communication channel. It could be seen that his reputation among the referees wasn't very good.
"It's okay, I'm fine." Chen Ling smiled weakly.
His right hand secretly touched the Walkie-talkie in his clothes.
The current Chen Ling had turned into the appearance of Referee 06, so naturally both his arms were sound. However, because he himself was still one-armed, his left hand only had its form and couldn't do high-difficulty movements, much less fight... It was more like a natural prosthetic limb.
Along with a flash of aurora in the depths of his eyes, Referee 17's Walkie-talkie suddenly rang:
"The battles in the west of the city have increased, we don't have enough manpower, quickly go help."
That Director Chang's voice sounded. Referee 17's expression instantly became stinky. He coldly snorted and spoke helplessly: "Then I'll go get busy first. Later when you finish checking and there are no problems, remember to restore this place to its original state."
"No problem."
Chen Ling revealed the sincere smile of an honest person.
As Number 17's figure gradually disappeared at the end of the corridor, the smile on the corners of Chen Ling's mouth gradually restrained. He calmly walked to that half-open hidden door and pushed it open.
Behind the door was a dazzling space. Countless gears and long rods were like perfect artworks, filling every inch of space here. Walking in it, Chen Ling felt as if he was placed in the heart of some super steel behemoth.
"This is... the work of the Tower to Heaven?"
Chen Ling looked up at the densely packed various mechanical parts below that looked like an abyss, a flash of shock passing through his eyes.
But soon, his gaze landed in the center of this hidden room, on a seemingly ordinary central control console... Mirrors glowing with mysterious brilliance were currently placed on it.