Life Dungeon Game

These traces, in turn, told those who came to investigate later that there was something in the office that resisted its 'disappearance'.

The only obvious difference between the office and the lobby was the destroyed lamp.

At first, He Ao and Wu Lan thought there was something wrong with the light. The light distinguished a boundary between disappearance and non-disappearance, and the light might be some kind of 'medium' that devours people.

However, when He Ao was on the phone with Wu Lan, he thought of another possibility by using the memories of Lenk that he had absorbed in his mind, as well as the occult knowledge in his mind.

Mirror.

The day of the incident was a very overcast day. Around nine or ten in the morning, the outdoor light was almost as dark as night. Working in such conditions would inevitably require turning on the lights, and in fact, that was how the research institute branch was operating at the time.

When there is a large difference in brightness between the inside and outside, the glass window will exhibit the characteristics of a mirror, reflecting people's images, which is equivalent to a mirror that is everywhere.

Using a mirror as a supernatural medium and a kind of channel is much more convenient than using light directly.

Of course, to achieve such rapid association,

It also comes from a name that He Ao once heard. In the instance of Ronal, the leader of the Wilderness Wanderers, the A-level alien beast that once migrated past Dawn City was called 'Mirror Butterfly'.

So when He Ao asked Wu Lan to check the curtains, she found that they were drawn and there were bloodstains that Xia Ye had deliberately splattered on them, which could be considered a hint.

Following this line of thought, He Ao opened the missing persons case files collected by the research institute branch and, sure enough, found records about the 'mirror' in many of the missing persons cases. Xia Ye's thoughts may have come from these files.

However, the research institute was not an official investigator, and the information was incomplete. He Ao could not be certain whether the method by which the person behind the scenes made people 'disappear' was necessarily related to the mirror.

However, in occultism, mirrors generally represent some kind of 'channel' and are rarely associated with killing. If they are indeed related to mirrors, then these missing people are very likely still alive.

This raises another question: why did the people who kidnapped them want them to live?

In addition, Heo happened to come into contact with the Church of Chaos at that time, which gave him a new idea.

Is the Church of Chaos the culprit behind this disappearance? Are the abducted superhumans actually some kind of prepared sacrifice?

So when he fought the Right Missionary, he deliberately marked him to try and find out what the Right Missionary was thinking.

Although this guy's mind was in complete chaos, he still vaguely revealed some kind of 'sacrifice' information.

With this information in mind, He Ao reviewed everything again.

If the Church of Chaos was behind the disappearances of this research institute branch, their purpose was to prepare offerings for some kind of sacrificial ritual, and they orchestrated multiple disappearances in the city-state of Newland in order to collect these offerings.

So the question is, what role did the 'Moonlight' branch of Newland City-State play in all of this?

If research institutes can investigate disappearances, how could they not know about them?

And why did the Chaotic Church dare to attack the research institute branch?

Although the research institute usually appears harmless, it remains the strongest supernatural organization in the entire main world.

Did they not consider the consequences of provoking such a behemoth?

Of course, if their leaders have been corrupted and driven mad, they might actually be capable of anything.

So Heo specifically recounted some of the chaotic doctrines, which prompted the leader of the chaotic church to make a phone call to him.

Through this phone call, he could clearly determine that this leader was not only not crazy, but also very calm, and could even disregard doctrine to a certain extent for his own benefit.

At this point, everything becomes very simple; there's one answer to every two questions.

Why does Moonlight ignore the chaotic church? Why is the chaotic church fearless?

Because this is the territory of the Church of Chaos, Newland's Moonlight branch has probably been completely controlled by the Church of Chaos.

After that, He Ao contacted Wu Lan to investigate Newland Moonlight's faction and learned about the factional divisions within the Newland branch, as well as the conflict between the local minister West and the parachuted deputy minister.

But he knew there was something wrong with the moonlight, yet he couldn't accept it.

Which of the ministers, the chief minister and the deputy minister, has a problem, or both of them have problems?

The key point here is that the real church leader may have a spatial artifact, and the missing people may not necessarily be hidden in the main world. If He Ao has found the wrong person, or is unable to control the spatial artifact, it may cause the other party to act desperately, and the hostages may be killed.

Therefore, although He Ao was more inclined to believe that West was the problem, he dared not make a judgment easily.

If Heo had enough time, he could set a trap to lure out the real wolf and rescue the captured people.

But clearly, he didn't have the time.

Even though the Church of Chaos has completely taken control of Newland, it doesn't mean they can withstand the wrath of the research institute, something even the Moonlight Headquarters might not be able to do.

Therefore, the moment they took action against the research institute's branch, they had most likely already considered the subsequent actions.

The research institute will definitely send a C-level investigator from the nearest location, and the closest C-level investigator in this area is Wu Lan from the field operations department.

Their target is not only the extraordinary individuals in the research institute's branch, but also Wu Lan.

He deduced that their plan was to capture Wu Lan and then carry out the sacrifice as quickly as possible.

If He Ao hadn't come here yesterday under Hao Yi's name, they probably would have made their move last night.

As for the deduction step, it only took him most of a day.

"Are you teasing me?"

Upon hearing Heo say it only took 'half a day', West's face darkened. "Do you think you're a prophet? Do you have some kind of prophetic tool?"

"We don't have any props, but we do have an excellent companion."

He Ao held his sword horizontally in front of him and said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Wu Lan, who had just helped Xia Ye into the car, stared at He Ao's retreating figure for a moment, before finally letting out a faint smile.

The Verola sped through the hall, smashing through several guards who tried to stop it, and arrived at a corner where items taken from the prisoners were piled up. Wu Lan quickly reached out and retrieved her whip and dagger.

Then she lashed out with her whip, catching the nearest 'sacrifice' and rolling it onto the carriage.

It's easy to make a prediction about the causes and consequences; the difficulty lies in verifying that prediction and turning it into tangible results.

After deducing the general plan of the Chaotic Church last night, He Ao found Wu Lan and told her his deductions.

However, he did not initially intend to use Wu Lan as bait, or rather, he did not bring up the idea himself, since Hao Yi and Wu Lan were not 'familiar' with each other.

His original suggestion was to let Wu Lan leave directly, then stir up trouble and see if there was a chance to capture the church leader and rescue him.

The advantage of doing this is obvious: Wu Lan will not be in any danger. The disadvantage is also obvious: Wu Lan's departure may alert the enemy, causing them to forcibly start the ritual or execute the hostage.

Although Heo guessed that the Chaotic Church might be related to the Moonlight, West was indeed well hidden, so he could not be sure of the real location of the ritual. If the situation got out of control and he could not find the location of the ritual, things might get even worse.

Although he has follow-up measures, they are more troublesome and riskier.

The suggestion to use bait came from Wu Lan.

It was my own suggestion.

The advantages of doing this are obvious: it allows you to find the location of the ritual, identify the church leader, and make the other party hesitant to use the spatial artifact to escape after the ritual is started.

The downside is also obvious: if He Ao arrives late, or if the other party changes their mind at the last minute, or if He Ao guesses wrong, Wu Lan will lose her life.

Moreover, the probability is not small, because the time is too short and many of He Ao's guesses are not supported by evidence.

By doing this, Wu Lan was essentially betting on He Ao, gambling that his prediction was correct and that he would definitely come.

He Ao asked Wu Lan why she chose this path, and her answer was simple: "I want to take them home."

This is the most likely way to save everyone.

Of course, the final plan was determined by He Ao.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about it, then how exactly did you find this place?"

West looked at Heo, his voice hoarse, "Is it because of that woman? You planted a tracking device on her? You let her get caught by me on purpose, and then used the tracking device to find this place? But I had her searched, and she had nothing on her. Where did you plant the tracking device?"

"It seems you're unwilling to believe that your plan wasn't actually bad; it just happened to run into me."

He Ao looked at him and shook the sword. "As for how to locate it, that is indeed a secret."

He didn't prepare any positioning device at all; he simply placed a marker on Wu Lan and then determined her location by sensing her superficial thoughts.

By this time, Wu Lan had already taken several more of the 'sacrifices' behind him.

West gazed into Heo's calm, still eyes.

As Heo said, he was unwilling to believe that his carefully planned sacrifice had been so easily seen through. The other party, as an outsider, had found this place in just one day, making all his wisdom and schemes seem so simple and laughable.

On the other hand, He Ao genuinely thought West's plan was quite good.

If he hadn't accumulated some knowledge of occultism and had some understanding of deities...

Furthermore, he happens to possess the Substitute Cloak, a prop that allows him to obtain information under two different identities, thus expanding his information pool.

It also possesses a space teleportation device like the Verola that can provide timely support, making it possible to execute extreme maneuvers such as using teammates as bait and launching a surprise attack during the very short time difference at the start of the sacrifice.

It was only through a combination of various conditions that he was able to achieve this.

If any one of these conditions were missing, he probably wouldn't be able to achieve this level of performance.

The most difficult part of West's strategy is that he moves very quickly, leaving very little time for the one who wants to break the deadlock.

If it were any other B-rank character from the main world, unless they used a prophetic item, it would be virtually impossible to break this deadlock within a day.

So He Ao could understand West's incredulous thoughts; if he were West, he wouldn't be able to figure it out either.

However, to his slight surprise, after hearing his words, West remained silent for a moment, then sighed softly.

"I originally thought my plan was flawless, that no matter which B-level fighter came, they would be completely at my mercy. But I never expected that today I'd discover..."

It revealed the vastness of this world.

Upon hearing his words, He Ao's expression turned somewhat strange.

If we limit the scope to the main world, strictly speaking, West's opinion is not wrong.

Because He Ao is not a B-level.

At least not now.

"Alright, Mr. Hao Yi,"

West gripped his rapier. "I admire your wisdom, but in this world, wisdom doesn't determine everything."

A violent aura emanated from his body, and he glanced behind He Ao.

The guards who were originally responsible for watching over the 'sacrifice' had been mostly knocked down by the Verola, and even the skinny left-handed missionary was knocked into the wall.

As for those 'sacrifices', Wu Lan and Xia Ye, who had recovered somewhat, had already rescued a small portion of them and placed them on the Verola.

The ritual patterns on the ground still shone brightly, and the lifeless flames on the firewood continued to burn fiercely.

During the conversation, while satisfying his curiosity, he was also looking for He Ao's weakness. Unfortunately, he did not find any weakness. He Ao's sword-raising movements just now seemed casual, but they actually predicted his possible attack direction.