The codename "General" didn't sound simple at all!
But Li Ban still didn't understand.
If the General was an undercover agent like them, why would he betray the Laboratory and his backup?
Did he no longer want his physical body in the real world?
Or had other organizations in the real world also sent people into the Wizard World?
And the General had defected to one of them?
Li Ban voiced his questions.
Chen Dong silently lowered his head without a word, leaving only the Director to answer him.
"That is classified. Your current level isn't high enough to know," the Director said. "You only need to understand that we must find the General as quickly as possible. Your task is to confirm whether Zhou Gu or Du An in the Death Prison is the General."
A Core Element?!
Bring it back?!
Li Ban looked at the Director apprehensively.
Setting aside what a Core Element was, how could an element be brought back?
How could he bring it back?
If elements from the Wizard World could be brought back, did that mean the eyes on his body, the Iron Fish Scale, the Blazing Flame Art, and the Flute Sound he had just fused with could also return with him?
"Why can things from the Wizard World be brought back? Isn't the Wizard World virtual?"
The Director raised a hand, stopping Li Ban's incoming barrage of questions.
"There is no need to be nervous. The Wizard World is indeed virtual, and the elements inside it will not appear in reality. A Core Element is simply a relatively complex, independent string of data. As long as you obtain the Core Element, the mission assistance system can cut this data and bring it out."
"I see." Li Ban breathed a long sigh of relief on the surface, but inwardly, he felt something was odd.
A Core Element might be data similar to source code.
"But how am I supposed to determine who the General is, or what the Core Element is?"
"It certainly won't be easy. The General betrayed us, so he will definitely hide his origins. If he discovers you are an undercover agent, he will stop at nothing to kill you. However, we do have a way to track him."
The Director had Chen Dong show Li Ban the tablet in his hands.
"Due to the characteristics of a Core Element, the General cannot fuse with it. He can only carry it on him or hide it in a secret location that only he knows about. However, we discovered a pattern: a Core Element requires corpses."
Corpses.
Li Ban immediately thought of prison warden Du An's special regulation.
Aside from the corpses of slaves, all other dead bodies—including those of the prisoners—had to be handed over to Jingyan Hall.
If prison warden Du An was indeed the General...
Could the Core Element be in Jingyan Hall?
Meanwhile, the Director continued his explanation.
"As for the Core Element, we don't know its exact name or appearance, but a Core Element can devour corpses. If you find a target suspected to be the Core Element, you can test it with a piece of a corpse larger than a finger. If you can't find another corpse, chop off your own finger to try it."
Li Ban's mouth twitched when he heard this.
Although his body in the Wizard World wasn't originally his, he would still be the one suffering the pain of chopping off a finger!
"Alright." Li Ban could only nod.
It seemed that even in the real world he had crossed over to, he was just a lowly grunt who had to follow his superiors' orders.
"Director, I don't think Zhou Gu in the Death Prison is likely to be the General. He has failed element fusion three times, and he now has no possibility of promotion. Moreover, although he comes into contact with corpses, he only takes a very small portion each time. In the end, the corpses still have to be handed in. Therefore, I don't think he's the General."
The Director and Chen Dong both looked over. "Oh? You know what Zhou Gu is doing?"
"I've assisted him before. He uses corpses for experiments to exchange for elements he can fuse with, but he ultimately failed."
The Director turned to glance at Chen Dong before looking back at Li Ban. "Why would Zhou Gu let a newcomer like you assist him?"
"Precisely because I'm a newcomer with no background or backing. Also—I once crossed paths with a former prison guard in the Death Prison. He thought he had blackmail on me and could use it to control me, which is why he let me participate in his experiments."
Beside them, Chen Dong smiled bitterly. "So that's how it is. Li Ban, actually—I'm the former prison guard who gave you the eye."
"Wh—" Li Ban nearly jumped up. "Right, you told me to keep going at the very end. I figured you must be a colleague from the Laboratory, but I never expected it to be you."
Chen Dong nodded. "Because I spent such a long time as a corpse, the Director was worried about my mental state, so he temporarily transferred me to an assistant position."
Was this Laboratory... really that kind?
Then why was he still required to continue missions even after experiencing "memory frame loss"?
The Director spoke slowly. "Since Zhou Gu is ruled out, Du An is the only remaining suspect in the Death Prison. Next, you need to get close to him again and confirm his identity as much as possible. If you don't have a way to approach him, you can risk exposure to find a way to investigate him once."
Risk exposure? Then spend a few months as a corpse and slowly go insane?
"If you can confirm the location of the Core Element, you'll take the top credit for this mission. Not only will you be received by the Leader, but you can also live whatever kind of life you desire from now on."
Right now, Li Ban didn't care about the authenticity of the Director's empty promises; he only cared about one question.
"Director, has the issue with my forced logout... been resolved?"
Chen Dong was just about to speak when he heard the Director say, "This problem lies in the data transmission channel. Every employee in this Laboratory has a chance of experiencing a logout failure."
Chen Dong closed his half-open mouth.
Seeing Li Ban's dark expression, the Director smiled and comforted him.
"You don't need to worry too much. After what happened with Chen Dong, the Laboratory decided that regardless of whether the forced logout function is working normally, a forced awakening will be conducted once a month."
In other words, in the worst-case scenario, he would have to stay inside a corpse for a month?
Maybe... he could survive it?
Li Ban smiled bitterly to himself. He had no intention of rashly exposing himself just for the Director's empty promises.
"Alright. But what if the forced awakening happens precisely when it's inconvenient for me to log out?"
Chen Dong explained further. "That won't happen. There will be a prompt for the forced awakening. If you haven't died or if it's inconvenient, you can just choose to reject it. We can also use this method to confirm that your body in the Wizard World hasn't died or encountered other issues."
"I understand. Thank you, Director, and Assistant Chen."
After finishing his conversation with Li Ban, the Director hurriedly left again, leaving only Chen Dong to examine Li Ban's body.
"Assistant Chen, since you were promoted to prison guard in the Death Prison, is there anything I need to pay special attention to when fusing elements?"
Knowing that Li Ban had amnesia, Chen Dong seized the moment to teach him some basic knowledge.
"It's best if the fused elements form a cohesive system. We don't have enough time right now, so if you want to know more, you can ask your companions in the Death Prison. But what you must pay special attention to is that when the backlash from the fusion is particularly severe, it's better to stop the fusion than to force it."
Li Ban lowered his head and stretched his limbs. It seemed that not experiencing fusion backlash was a phenomenon unique to him at the moment.
So, this wasn't an ability of the mission assistance system.
But rather... his own transmigration cheat?
Wasn't the scope of this cheat a bit too small?
Seeing that their time was almost up again, Chen Dong hurriedly operated the machinery to send Li Ban back into the Experimental Capsule.
As Li Ban lay back down in the Experimental Capsule, he took another glance at the door the Director had come through.
He thought Chen Dong would take him out for a walk, but to his surprise, they just stayed within this cramped Laboratory the entire time.
Aside from his Experimental Capsule, there were four other Experimental Capsules in the entire Laboratory.
However, judging from what they said, there were definitely more employees elsewhere.
Li Ban had only taken a brief look around during their conversation. He then lay down in the Experimental Capsule and allowed the liquid to submerge him.
When he returned to the Death Prison, Li Ban opened his eyes once more.
His expression, however, was no longer as relaxed as when he was facing the Director and Chen Dong.
Perhaps because he had stayed in the Death Prison for so long, he was particularly attuned to everyone's subtle expressions.
When the Director smoothly answered his questions about the forced logout and forced awakening, Chen Dong had seemed a bit off, always subconsciously averting his gaze.
It looked like a cover-up, like unease.
This made it impossible for Li Ban to completely trust the Director's words.
For him right now, there was no one he could trust in either world.
He couldn't tell the people in the Wizard World about the Laboratory, and he hadn't told the Laboratory everything that happened in the Wizard World either.
Who knew how many undercover agents the Laboratory had sent into the Wizard World? If a secret only Li Ban knew was leaked from their end, it would be disastrous.
Suddenly, he could understand the General's betrayal.
It was just that Li Ban didn't know how the General had escaped the Laboratory's control.
And what about the General's physical body in the Laboratory? Did he just abandon it?
Who had the General turned to after his betrayal? Other factions?
He couldn't just hide in the Wizard World forever, could he?
Spend the rest of his life as a virtual lifeform?
A faint suspicion arose in Li Ban's mind, sending chills down his spine. It was a terrifying thought, and he didn't dare think too deeply about it.
He sat up in bed and rubbed his face, feeling an overwhelming sense of exhaustion.
Even if he could complete the mission one day and break free from the Laboratory, his future life—might not be all that wonderful.
Therefore, he had to take his time with the mission. Preserving his own life was the most important thing.