Forbidden Nightmare

Chapter 127 Optional Branching with Hidden Nodes

Faced with the questioning of the listener Sophia, Li Nanke remained calm on the surface but was shocked in his heart.

Although the blue-haired woman in front of him had no combat power, she could use ego elements to monitor other people's every move, and her ability to use ego elements was even much better than that of the tracker.

It’s just that trackers use ego elements to fight, while listeners tend to use ego elements to assist.

Sophia was unable to control her ego element to listen to Li Nanke's inner thoughts, and therefore suspected that Li Nanke was not using her ego element to fight at all, and that he was fundamentally different from the Tracker.

"Ms. Sophia, just because you can't see through me, you arbitrarily believe that the power I possess does not belong to this world? Isn't this a bit too absurd?"

Sophia shook her head and did not dwell on this topic, but continued:
"Mr. Black Rabbit, no one in this world knows ego better than me as a listener. My eyes and ears will not deceive me."

"I am not interested in the source of your power. I just need to know that you are not on the side of the Alchemist Group."

"Because I need your help to kill Simon, the current leader of the Alchemist Group."

As Sophia's voice fell, a synchronous prompt sounded.

[Nightmare, you have triggered a hidden node! ]

[Hidden Node (Optional Branch): Go to Alchemy Island and seize the God's Arm of Simon, the leader of the Alchemist Group! ]

"The Alchemy Island is shrouded in eternal fog and storms. It is the legendary place where angels and gods fell. No ships can approach or land on the island. The only way to get there is to use the alchemist's teleportation array."

"Now that the alchemy workshop tower in this city has been destroyed, the only teleportation array in Krat City is in the hands of the Puppet King..."

Li Nanke looked at the blood-red words emerging on the hidden node with a thoughtful expression.

Optional branches... In the previous forbidden dream, in the hidden node of rescuing the Lady of Eternal Pain, Anya, the optional branches of "End" and "Rest" also appeared.

However, the branch at that time was within the same node, but this time it clearly shows the "optional branch", indicating that there is at least another subsequent route with a different direction, or even a hidden node that is completely different from the route of this node.

He suddenly interrupted Sophia:
"Ms. Sophia, both the Puppet King and Captain Simon are extremely powerful. If you want me to kill them, you must provide corresponding assistance."

"What can you offer for this commission?"

From the underground laboratory of the cathedral, Li Nanke learned that the champion Victor had failed to evolve. He went crazy and killed several alchemists. In the end, it was the team leader Simon who took action to suppress the champion Victor.

From this, we can see that the current leader of the Alchemist Corps is absolutely unimaginably powerful.

Li Nanke was able to defeat the champion Victor by taking advantage of the ocean's terrain.

Even though his pain essence has been upgraded to level four and his own strength has increased significantly, if he were to fight the champion Victor again, he would definitely lose more than he wins.

If you want to kill Simon, the leader who is stronger than the champion Victor, you can tell how difficult this hidden node is even with your toes.

It would be even more difficult to complete the hidden nodes without external help.

Sophia in front of him revealed the true identity of the listener, and maybe she could provide him with some additional help.

Sophia was obviously well prepared. She said slowly:
"I have a lot of confidential information, which is not only extremely valuable to you, but can also help several trackers of the Black Rabbit Gang."

"And I can use my own butterfly to guide you along the way, so you can get the treasure hidden on the Alchemy Island."

"Also, I can see that you attach great importance to Puppet P. If you are willing to help me, I can provide you with clues to completely control Puppet P."

Li Nanke was shocked. Not to mention the intelligence secrets that Sophia controlled, the fact that she could help him dig out hidden treasures and provide clues about the conditions for Pinocchio to recognize his master was extremely important to him.

Perhaps if you want to use some power to complete the hidden node, the key is some secret things hidden on the Alchemy Island.

Moreover, he had worked hard all the way to help Pinocchio level up and fight monsters, but he hadn't found the key clue for this kid to recognize his master for a long time. He was worried that all his efforts would be in vain in the end.

Now that Sophia can provide clues, it is undoubtedly a guiding light.

Seeing that Li Nanke was quite interested, Sophia continued:
"To show my sincerity in entrusting you with this, I can give you a piece of information first. This concerns the safety of several trackers of the Black Rabbit Gang."

"You have read Gippetto's notes, and you should have some idea of ​​the nature of ego."

According to Geppetto's notes, the ego energy originally came from the fallen "stars". Later, the angels and gods fell, and only the physical arm of one of them was left. The rest of the advanced life forms turned into ego energy and scattered around the world.

Sophia seemed to see what he was thinking and explained:
"The number of angels and gods is extremely small. Even if all of them were to perish, they would not be able to provide the ego element to fill the entire world. Moreover, there are extremely large numbers of ego element crystal veins hidden underground. This cannot be nurtured by high-level life forms alone."

Li Nanke frowned: "Where do these ego elements come from? Could it be that the fallen 'star' has not disappeared and is still releasing ego elements?"

Although he was only a half-baked researcher in reality, after being exposed to the world for a period of time, his curiosity was aroused and he was quite curious about this kind of knowledge that directly pointed to the origin of the world.

This kind of knowledge can help us discover the characteristics of forbidden objects and gain a deeper understanding of the background of the dream world.

The forbidden item No. '6-1828' driven blue crystal provided by Minian, at first glance, is just a large piece of self-element crystal stone, and there seems to be nothing special about it.

The function of the driving crystal is no different from that of an ordinary self-element crystal. It can provide powerful power to keep the gears rotating and allow the mechanical creation to have a certain degree of self-awareness.

Sophia shook her head and said something earth-shattering:

"Ego has nothing to do with gods in essence. The stars and angels simply materialize this free energy that has always existed in the world."

"The true essence of ego is the essence of human beings!"

"Essence is all the energy contained in a complete intelligent life, including memory, soul, emotions, etc."

"After a human dies, his or her essence will be released. The stars can control the human essence that is free from the world, so they can grant special powers to those ancient humans who made a wish, and even fulfill their wish for eternal life."

Li Nanke was startled and blurted out:
"So, the eternal life of angels and gods is not created out of thin air, but is supported by endless human essence."

Sophia smiled and nodded.

"Because the essence of ego element is the essence of human beings, angels and gods can obtain eternal and immortal life as long as they continue to absorb ego element."

Li Nanke suddenly realized, and it felt like a flash of lightning breaking through the fog.

He continued to deduce along this line of thought: "It is precisely because the ego contains human memory, soul and emotions that the robot puppet driven by the ego will produce behaviors beyond instructions and develop self-awareness."

"It's just that the ego elements contained in low-level puppets are very limited, and they can only give birth to the most basic self-awareness. Only high-level special puppets can produce intelligence similar to that of humans."

"For example, Pinocchio..."

"That's right." Sophia continued, "For example, the Puppet King."

"The ego energy that is free in the world is like spores. All ego crystals are also constantly spreading these spores. Everyone is more or less absorbing the essence of the deceased humans without knowing it."

"However, humans who have not transformed into advanced life forms cannot carry the essence of others."

"Humans with a poor ability to withstand essence will suffer from 'petrification', so Simon believes that this is a kind of purification, or even evolution."

"He deliberately spread petrification in order to eliminate low-level life forms that cannot carry essence, so that the fittest can survive and the best can be selected from the experimental subjects to find the correct path to evolve into high-level life forms, thus allowing himself to gain immortality." "And you, the trackers..."

Sophia stopped talking halfway and looked into Li Nanke's eyes.

What she meant was that you should understand what kind of existence a tracker is, and why she said that this concerns the lives of several trackers of the Black Rabbit Gang.

Li Nanke let out a long breath, and he understood in his heart.

He said slowly: "If humans suffering from petrification are a group with a poor tolerance for essence, then trackers are a group of people who are naturally more able to tolerate essence. They can even absorb a lot of ego elements and use them to fight."

"But the trackers are not advanced life forms after all. At best, they are just a group of people with high 'poison resistance'."

"If the trackers continue to use ego elements to fight and continue to absorb ego elements to improve their own strength, they will sooner or later suffer from petrification, just like the strange rabbit, who obviously had no contact with petrified patients but also suffered from this terminal disease..."

Sophia cut a small piece of cake from the coffee table with a fork, put it into her mouth and chewed it gently:
"That's right. So if you don't want them to die of petrification in the end, just let them live peacefully as ordinary people in the future."

Li Nanke had an idea and took out a few gold coin fruits and placed them on the coffee table.

"Ms. Sophia, you are the daughter of the former head of the Alchemist Corps. Do you know alchemy? Can you make a special panacea?"

Sophia looked a little dazed: "The gold coin fruit tree was transformed by the listener who suffered from evil alchemy, and the gold coin fruit is the silent tears left by the listener..."

"I'm sorry, my understanding of alchemy is limited to theoretical knowledge, and I can't really use alchemy to make potions."

Li Nanke had long suspected the identity of his mysterious employer, Mr. X. Now, after a trip to the cathedral area, he had roughly determined Mr. X's true identity.

If the facts are really as he guessed, wanting Mr. X to create a special panacea to cure the strange rabbit may conflict with Sophia's commission.

"Mr. Black Rabbit, how about it, have you thought about it? Do you want to accept my commission?"

"What about the clues to controlling Pinocchio?"

Sophia smiled helplessly: "Mr. Black Rabbit, I have shown my sincerity and paid the deposit. Do you want to show some sincerity as well?"

"Otherwise, if I give you all the rewards first, I can only pin my hopes of revenge on Mr. Black Rabbit's character."

"Once you defeat the Puppet King and reach the Alchemy Island, I will pay the remaining reward."

Having said this, Li Nanke had nothing to hesitate about. He stood up and stretched out his hand:

"Then... it's a pleasure to work with you."

"Pleasant to work with."

……

Late at night, Li Nanke came to the balcony of the suite.

He lined up five gold coins on the marble railing of the balcony, then took out the piccolo he had used to call his employer, Mr. X, and put it to his lips and blew softly.

The piccolo did not make any sound, but an invisible wave spread far away.

After waiting for a long time, he suddenly turned around.

I saw a faint blue light suddenly appearing on the ground of a balcony not far away, as if a large brush was drawing back and forth quickly. Many azure lines appeared on the ground, forming a complicated alchemical array similar to a pentagram.

The light flickered slightly, and two figures suddenly appeared on the balcony.

Compared to the last time when he had no idea how the other party appeared, this time Li Nanke sensed the alchemy array in advance.

The employer, Mr. X, has appeared. He is still wearing a neat gentleman's suit, a tall silk hat, and an elegant metal cane.

The knight in pale armor covered with spikes behind him still triggered Li Nanke's strong sense of crisis.

This sense of crisis is even stronger than that of champion Victor. Even though Li Nanke's pain quality has been upgraded to level four, the sense of oppression brought by the opponent has not decreased at all.

Li Nanke looked at his employer, Mr. X, a man in his forties with a beard and a scar on his left eye.

The pupil of the left eye is grayish white, so this eye must be blind.

Strangely, Li Nanke's danger perception did not work on him, which meant that the man in front of him posed no threat to him.

Mr. X waved his hand, and five gold coins flew into the air and landed in his hand.

"Kuro Usagi, you did a great job. Doll P has grown a lot since last time."

"I will make a special panacea according to the prior agreement."

Li Nanke: “When will it be ready?”

Mr. X chuckled and said, "It won't take long, but you need to take Puppet P and defeat the Puppet King, then go to the Alchemy Island to get it."

Li Nanke suddenly said, "Mr. Simon, why do you care so much about Puppet P?"

When Mr. X heard this address, the gentle smile on his face slowly disappeared, his eyes were fixed on Li Nanke, and the invisible pressure was slowly released.

"Black Rabbit, you are a smart person. Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask. Knowing too much will not do you any good."

Mr. X did not deny his identity. He is Simon, the current leader of the Alchemist Group.

Simon turned to the Pale Knight and said, "Let's go, Laxia."

The Pale Knight knelt on one knee and held out an arm. Mr. X placed his hand on the Knight's arm.

The light of ego emerged from the knights, and the alchemical circle appeared again under their feet.

Before Simon disappeared, he left a few words.

"Don't try to be the master of Puppet P, because you will lose him in the end."

As soon as the words fell, the two of them teleported away.

Laxia... the cathedral nun recorded in Geppetto's notes. She is a woman who volunteered to be a test subject because she loved Simon. She is also a terrifying existence that is closer to perfection than the champion Victor.

It turns out that the pale knight who had been following Simon was Laxia.

At the same time, the synchronous prompt sound sounded again!

[Nightmare, you have triggered a hidden node! ]

[Hidden Node (Optional Branch): Go to Alchemy Island and dedicate the power heart of Doll P to Simon, the leader of the Alchemist Group! ]

(End of this chapter)