yasinovel Chapter 4215 The Mechanized Corridor
Chapter 4215 The Mechanized Corridor
Chapter 4215 The Mechanized Corridor
Ten minutes later, Angel saw a black ball covered in cracks fly unsteadily into the hidden space.
The moment Angell saw it, he knew that Gabriel had won his challenge.
The black ball in front of you is the defeated book demon.
Under Angor's watchful gaze, and with Gabriel's subsequent arrival, the black ball of matter disintegrated its shattered body in mid-air, transforming into countless dark "ink snakes."
The black serpent danced wildly, eventually reflected on the blank cloth, leaving behind its lifelong proverb.
"I guard the scriptures in order to preserve the truth that He scattered."
Angell stared at the line of writing on the cloth for a long time, but couldn't figure out any profound meaning.
Like the other proverbs left by the book demons, they all describe "He" from the perspective of believers, but there are no clear clues pointing to a specific deity.
Angell posted the proverb verbatim in the team chat channel.
The group discussed it in the team chat for a while, but couldn't find anything worth investigating, so they had to put it aside for the time being.
Shortly afterward, Angell and Gabriel returned to the simulated waters and reunited with Gray Porcelain.
The three of them didn't linger and continued walking down the dark corridor.
……
Half an hour later.
A new positioning cursor has appeared on the guidance radar.
This also means that Angel has once again passed the test of a book spirit.
When the three reunited, before they could even celebrate the end of the new trial, they saw Angell gazing thoughtfully ahead.
"What's wrong?" Gray Porcelain asked curiously, following Angel's gaze.
They are currently in the center of a simulated body of water, standing on a "small island in the middle of the lake" made up of a large number of seashells.
These seashells are actually shell books, but the contents are very incomplete, just like some tattered books, hence the name "incomplete shells".
This "island" made of shell fragments stretches all the way to the end of the water, and from a distance, it looks like there is a sinking "full moon" at the end.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this "full moon" is either wallpaper or a painted illusion.
But Angell kept his eyes fixed on the sinking full moon.
"Is there something wrong with the moon?" Gabriel floated over at that moment and asked curiously.
Angell: "Nothing's wrong, it's just that I suddenly had some inspiration..."
"Inspiration?" Gray Porcelain seemed to realize something: "You mean..."
Angell pointed to the moon ahead: "My inspiration tells me that if we keep going forward, there will be a path. This path is a shortcut that will allow us to reach the border area more quickly."
"However, this road is basically a one-way street, and there are many traps along the way, which may require a lot of puzzle-solving."
After a pause, Angell pointed to where the group had come from, at a small door in the wall: "Go out through that door and choose another route to get around to the border area. But the route will be very long and will take a lot of time."
"However, there are many forks in the road to choose from, so even if we encounter a trap, we can detour and won't get stuck because of it."
At this point, Angell looked up at Gabriel and Gray Porcelain: "That's roughly the inspiration. We can discuss how to make our next choice."
After hearing Angell's account, regardless of their final choice, Gabriel and Gray Porcelain's first reaction was—
"Isn't this 'inspiration' a little too specific?"
Faced with Gabriel and Gray Porcelain's questions, Angell shrugged without changing his expression: "There's nothing I can do, when inspiration strikes, you can't stop it."
Gabriel: "..." Are you sure this is inspiration?
Gray Porcelain: "..." It's definitely cheating! Just like the protagonist in the novel in Rabbit Town Library, he's got all sorts of cheat codes!
Although they were inwardly complaining, they still had to show on the surface that they thought, "I see."
"Let's put aside that for now and get back to the choice. Which path do you think we should choose?" Angell asked.
Gray Porcelain and Gabriel fell into deep thought.
After a moment, Gray Porcelain asked, "If we take the shortcut, how much shorter will it be? And if we take the long way around, how much longer will it be?"
“Well…” Angell thought for a moment and said, “Inspiration tells me that if we take the shortcut and don’t get stuck on any puzzles or obstacles along the way, we can reach the border area in less than half an hour.”
"But if we take a longer route, it might take eight or nine times longer."
In other words, taking the long way around could take four hours to reach the border area, and that doesn't even include the time spent participating in the test.
However, taking a longer route also has its advantages, as it allows you to selectively skip some puzzles and mechanisms.
It's worth noting that the puzzle they encountered earlier, the "choose one of two statues" challenge, was actually quite difficult.
It would be good if we could skip it.
However, if you choose the shortcut, the situation is completely reversed. All the puzzles and mechanisms along the way are "must-answer questions," with no room for skipping them.
It's not a big deal if you can solve one or two problems; the key is that if you get stuck on just one, the whole path is blocked.
As a one-way street, if the road ahead is blocked and there are no other forks in the road behind, you'll have to go back here eventually.
In this case, more time will be wasted than taking a longer route.
In short, taking the shortcut carries greater risks but also greater rewards, saving a significant amount of time. Taking the longer route carries less risk but takes much longer due to the detour.
And this is only the second level. They still have to go to the third level and then enter the perfect challenge mode. It's estimated that one day is definitely not enough to go all the way.
Of course, even if it takes a whole day, it's fine as long as they can pass. But the problem is, they don't know the situation of the other challenge teams. What if the other challenge teams pass first?
And that is why Angell suddenly became conflicted.
—The observers suddenly stopped watching them and started watching other teams. Does this mean that some teams are progressing faster and are more worthy of attention?
Therefore, Angell hesitated when faced with the choice between the shortcut and the long route.
He originally planned to take a longer route, after all, even someone with cheat codes might not be able to solve all the mysteries.
For many puzzles, once you get it wrong, there's no second chance.
Just like the original "choose one of two statues" game, if you choose the wrong one time, the mechanism will lock up and you won't get a chance to reset it.
Once locked, they can only turn back.
The choice between the two statues was only made possible by the rabbit girl and the deer Loren. What if no one knows the answer to the question that comes later?
That's why Angell initially wanted to take the long way around.
But the observer's departure made him feel relaxed, but also gave him a sense of urgency.
This sense of urgency made him start to consider the feasibility of the shortcut. However, in the end, Angel didn't intend to make the decision unilaterally on whether to choose the shortcut or the long route; he planned to let everyone vote on it.
“I have a question.” Gabriel extended his tentacles, as if raising a hand: “If we choose the shortcut, will we have enough book demons and book spirits?”
The book sprites are alright, because they have already obtained two positioning cursors, so they can barely use them.
But the Book Demon is far inferior.
The Book Demon must provide at least three proverbs, and they cannot be repeated.
Currently, they have only obtained the first proverb. Choosing the long route will definitely not be a problem, as they will encounter many book demons. However, if they choose the short route, they need to consider whether they will encounter new book demons and whether the proverbs of these book demons will be repeated.
Angel: "Don't worry about that. My intuition tells me... there are both book demons and book spirits. At least when we go to the border region, I can guarantee that there will be three maxims."
Gray Porcelain said softly, "Sir's 'inspiration' is becoming more and more concrete..."
Angell simply smiled and remained silent.
Gray Porcelain paused for a moment, then said, "If I can guarantee that I can get all three proverbs by taking the shortcut, then I prefer to take the shortcut."
Gabriel chimed in, "I support it too."
“Taking the long way is time-consuming. We can gamble on taking the shortcut. If it works, we win; if it fails, we can just turn back and take the long way again. It will only take more time, and it won’t be much different from choosing the long way in the first place.”
Seeing that both Grey Porcelain and Gabriel had chosen the shortcut, Angel nodded: "Alright, let's take the shortcut."
Gabriel: "Sir, aren't you going to choose?"
Gray Porcelain glanced at it and pointed to the text bar: "Check the team chat."
"Clever Gray Porcelain: If I say you're stupid, you're stupid. Mr. Ingres was torn between taking the shortcut and not, which is why he made us choose! Being torn means he was inclined to take the shortcut!"
"Brave Gabriel: Why say it in the team chat?"
"Clever Gray Porcelain: How can you say these things directly? Doesn't that expose Mr. Ingres's true intentions?"
"Angel: ...I'm in the group too."
Clever Gray Porcelain: I know, but there's still a difference between written expression and spoken expression.
"Angol: ..."
"Rabbit Hole Chief: What are you guys talking about?"
Gray Porcelain and Gabriel began explaining to the rabbit girl in the group chat, while Angel temporarily closed the text chat window and led the two internet-addicted teenagers, who were engrossed in online chatting, toward the full moon that had sunk to the surface of the water.
At the end of the shell path, they saw the true face of the full moon.
It is indeed a moon graffiti on the wall.
However, it uses a certain luminescent coating, and when viewed up close, the scattered silver light is even a bit dazzling.
Ingres pushed open the door at the center of the full moon, revealing a long, dark, and narrow corridor.
"Let's go and see if we can get through this labyrinthine corridor."
Angell was the first to step into the narrow corridor.
Gray Porcelain and Gabriel also stopped their team chat and solemnly followed them inside.
They expected to be met with a tough challenge upon entering, such as being subjected to a trap.
But, nothing happened.
There were no doors on either side, only walls painted brown.
There were no forks or bends, just a straight ruler that stretched all the way to the end of the darkness.
“There are actually quite a few of these kinds of secret corridors in the Echo Library; they’re kind of shortcuts,” Angel explained as they walked. “For example, there are some on the first floor. But we weren’t far from the boundary area, so we didn’t take those secret corridors.”
"But the crack on the second floor is too far away from us. Taking the mechanism corridor is the only time-saving way. But the prerequisite is that we can solve these mechanism puzzles."
Gabriel: "I think I understand... These are all inspirations?"
Angell smiled but remained silent.
Gabriel wisely refrained from pressing the matter, and instead asked, "Did the inspiration tell you, sir, when we would encounter the trap?"
Ingres: "Inspiration didn't tell me, but my eyes did."
Angel had barely finished speaking.
Then they saw an unremarkable wall at the end of the path, blocking their way.
It looks like a dead end, but it's definitely not a dead end.
If nothing unexpected happens, it should be a puzzle involving a mechanism.
Gray Porcelain and Gabriel were eager to get started. As soon as they saw the puzzle, they rushed over and searched the vicinity of the wall for possible clues.
A moment later, Gabriel was the first to discover the anomaly.
When it controlled hundreds of tentacles to strike the wall, it found that the sound was crisp in some places and dull in others, which clearly indicated that there was a problem with the internal structure.
Most of the sounds are muted, but four of them are crisp.
When it simultaneously struck those four crisp-sounding spots with its tactile hairs, the wall... collapsed.
The practical significance has collapsed.
Then the long road behind the wall was revealed, still narrow and straight, still stretching as far as the eye could see.
"This is the first puzzle?" Gabriel: "It seems pretty simple. Just tap the weakest point and you can solve it... As expected of me!"
Gray Porcelain pouted: "If I could grow taller, and if I had as many tentacles as you, I could also find it."
Gray Porcelain just noticed that the four crisp sounds were all located in places it couldn't reach with its height... In other words, if it were to solve this puzzle by itself, it probably wouldn't be able to solve it even in ten days or half a month.
But it also has to admit...
"As the first puzzle in the corridor of mechanisms, it is not particularly difficult."
Angel nodded: "It's not difficult, but maybe this puzzle is just a way to lure us in and kill us..."
The earlier puzzles were all easy, but after they had spent a lot of time on them, a sudden, difficult one stumped them. This not only stumped them but also made them waste a significant amount of time in the long corridor.
Gray Porcelain hesitated, "It shouldn't be that bad, right? Didn't Barbaregon and Tretta say before that solving the puzzles along the way wouldn't be difficult?"
Angell: "I hope it won't come to that."
They walked a little further and soon encountered the second puzzle.
A crystal curtain blocked their way.
In front of this curtain stands a two-meter-tall mermaid statue, holding a huge glass bottle that is almost as tall as her.
The glass bottle was empty, but there were markings on it.
The topmost scale has a "crystal curtain" logo.
The riddle was basically laid out in front of them.
They need to pour water into the glass bottle until it overflows the marked position.
It is not difficult.
The normal procedure for clearing the level is to immediately go back to the simulated water area, find the water-holding tool, and keep scooping and carrying water until the glass bottle is full.
The mechanism was then solved.
Although it's not difficult, it's both time-consuming and labor-intensive.