Chapter 352: At the Core of the Magic Well

"Are you really sure they are doing something shady?"

After Talitaluosi hacked the nearby surveillance, Yun Mu asked Vivian again.

"Of course." Vivian nodded as if it were obvious, pointing her hand toward the distance, in front of the entrance to the Old Days Front program set: "They must be up to something, that's why they won't let anyone get close to that place."

"Just by arranging two security guards?" Yun Mu countered.

"Uh, that's just a way to cover their tracks. Although it looks like there are only two guards, the interior must be heavily guarded. Well, anyway, let's go quickly!" Vivian urged.

I have a feeling this isn't very reliable... Oh well, since we're already here, let's just go in and take a look.

Yun Mu looked at Talitaluosi.

Although it felt like Vivian wasn't very reliable, the fact that Talitaluosi was also participating meant this matter still had some credibility, right?

Perhaps.

"Are we just going to sneak in like this?" she asked tentatively.

With the surveillance hacked by Talitaluosi, they just needed to find a way not to be seen by anyone.

"Hmm," Vivian touched her chin with her hand, pondering for a moment: "We need to find a way to divert the attention of those two guards, or get them to take a break."

"So, what's the specific plan?" Yun Mu pressed.

"Uh, haven't thought of one yet."

Fine, fine, fine. She had assumed that since Vivian called them out, she must have already thought of a strategy, but she never expected that she wouldn't have a single plan.

Since that's the case.

"Let's try my method instead."

Yun Mu took out her Paintbrush from her bosom, intending to repeat the same trick, just like when she infiltrated the Fire Weaver Bird Family, and use Invisibility to get past.

And after the lessons learned from the last infiltration, she had slightly improved the effect of the painting.

The Invisibility effect would only apply to a single target, and while invisible, one could see their own body.

Of course, wanting to see other invisible targets was not very realistic; she couldn't think of a solution for that for the time being.

Yun Mu first applied the Invisibility effect to Vivian.

"Magic is truly amazing."

Vivian raised both hands, looking at her palms, which were as clear as crystal, and said.

"Analyzing... Thermal imaging shows no abnormalities." Talitaluosi looked at the position where Vivian had disappeared, a dazzling red light radiating from his pupils.

"Who would understand you when you talk like that!" Vivian bumped her elbow against his abdomen: "Just tell me if you can see me or not."

"." Talitaluosi was silent for a moment: "I can see you."

"Hmm, so there's really no way to block heat." Yun Mu lowered her head, lost in thought.

"It's fine." Hearing Yun Mu's words, Vivian waved her hand with an indifferent expression: "What normal person would install a Thermal Imaging Prosthetic anyway?"

"We'll just walk over like this, it'll be fine!"

Yun Mu decided to trust her once, so after applying the Invisibility effect to everyone, they walked right between the two security guards 'openly and honestly'.

Come to think of it, the gate was wide open.

If there really were something shady going on, they would definitely have closed the gate, right?

Yun Mu became increasingly suspicious of the truthfulness of Vivian's words.

And just at this moment, a burst of cheerful footsteps sounded from behind her.

Judging by the type of sound, it was likely those small round-toed leather shoes. Yun Mu took Lucy and Brenna by the hand and leaned against the large wooden crate beside her.

There was no need to worry about Talitaluosi or Vivian; after all, the Thermal Imaging Prosthetic the former had installed could see their movements clearly.

But at a time like this, who could be coming? Yun Mu looked in the direction the sound was coming from and discovered that the person arriving was actually a young girl.

Just as she had previously speculated, the girl was wearing a pair of round-toed little red leather boots and a pair of rather classical-looking gray-black stockings.

It was just unclear if it was intentional, but the stocking on the girl's right leg was a section shorter than the one on her left, looking as if someone had folded it outward by hand a few times.

And on the girl's upper body, she wore a complete set of exquisite red and white colored dress; following the girl's brisk footsteps, the hem of the dress was constantly swaying.

Just like her brown-black hair, which was braided into two small buns and then hung down to her waist.

"Eh?"

The girl seemed to have discovered something; she stopped her footsteps, her pink pupils staring at the wooden crate beside her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Oh no, discovered... Wait, why is this voice so familiar? It feels like I've heard it somewhere... Just as Yun Mu was recalling where she had heard this voice, Brenna, who was at her side, had already recognized the other party's identity.

"You, you are Ms. Airui Laya?"

"Oh my, is there any need to be so surprised?" The girl narrowed her eyes, a pleasant, light smile hanging on her face.

Ah? It's actually that Faceless Fool, Airui Laya? Listening to the conversation between the two, Yun Mu was suddenly dumbfounded.

Although the body type, hair color, and everything else matched, she truly had not expected that Airui Laya would look like a child after taking off her Mask.

This is not what she had imagined! "So, why are you sneaking around here in the middle of the night instead of resting at home?" Airui Laya asked with great interest.

"Uh, it has nothing to do with me, it was all this Miss Vivian's idea!" Yun Mu sold Vivian out without the slightest hesitation.

There was no helping it; she was a follower of Pleasure, a Legendary-level Transcendental.

She and Vivian didn't have that deep of a friendship, and furthermore, theoretically speaking, she and Pleasure were on the same side.

If she didn't sell Vivian out, who would? Besides, Vivian was the daughter of a Federal Councilor; she would definitely be fine. Sell away without worry.

"Hey, you..." Vivian said with dissatisfaction. She couldn't see where Yun Mu was, so she could only protest the act of selling out a teammate with her voice.

"Don't be angry, it was all forced by the situation."

Yun Mu waved her hand to dispel the Invisibility painting, and Airui Laya then turned her gaze toward Vivian.

"Hmm, I remember you are Kuoluomajisi's daughter, right? I want to know the reason you came here, and..."

She looked at Talitaluosi with some helplessness: "Why are you here too?"

"Execute the order," Talitaluosi replied coldly.

"Uh," Airui Laya was momentarily speechless, unable to find any fault in Talitaluosi's words.

After all, Talitaluosi's mission was to be responsible for protecting Vivian.

As for why someone was sent to protect Vivian, it had to do with the other party's father, Kuoluomajisi. That man was a partner of the Joy Company, and since the Federation was rather exclusionary toward the existence of deities, the fact that Kuoluomajisi was tied to the Joy Company was, in the eyes of other councilors, somewhat unappealing.

Just in case, Kuoluomajisi hoped the Joy Company could send someone to protect Vivian.

However, for some reason, Vivian did not trust the people from the Joy Company very much and was always trying to dig up dirt on the Joy Company to make Kuoluomajisi stop cooperating with them.

This is truly 'a kind father and a filial daughter.' After learning the details, the way Yun Mu looked at Vivian changed.

Sure enough, she shouldn't have trusted this person from the beginning.

But then again... she was actually a bit curious: "Regarding the power outage—no, wait, the energy supply interruption incident, is it true that the energy was drawn to beneath the Magic Fountain for the second time?"

"Of course it's true!" Vivian said very firmly: "There wasn't a single large piece of equipment that needed power supply reported for that day."

"Heh heh, deliberately drawing energy when the Energy Shield needed a large amount of power to cover one's tracks, you must be doing something unspeakable!"

"... Is this why you called me over?" Airui Laya ignored Vivian's clamoring, lowered her head in thought, and then looked at Talitaluosi to the side.

Talitaluosi did not speak, only silently nodded.

Huh, so Airui Laya came here at this time because of Talitaluosi? Also, what was the reason for calling Airui Laya over? Just as Yun Mu was puzzled, Airui Laya looked at Vivian to the side and said with a tone of admiration: "This time, I really must thank Miss Vivian for her spirit of exploration."

"I really didn't know the news that the energy was drawn away twice that day."

"Hmph, putting on an act!" Vivian looked like she didn't believe her words at all.

Compared to this, what she cared about more at this moment was... "Talitaluosi, you actually secretly leaked this young lady's plan; don't even think about getting this month's salary!"

"... I am sorry, Miss Vivian, my salary is paid directly by your father, so you have no way to directly influence the right to distribute my salary," Talitaluosi said mercilessly.

Not sure if it was an illusion, but Yun Mu felt that Vivian's complexion seemed to be turning red.

Yeah, she wouldn't be blushing from anger, would she?

Yun Mu silently moved two steps away from her.

"Does Miss Airui Laya not know that the energy inside the Magic Fountain was drawn away twice that day?" Brenna felt a bit strange at this time, and she said: "Did Mr. Talitaluosi not explain it clearly in advance?"

"Do not trust the Federation's equipment too much, your highness Princess." Airui Laya knew what Brenna meant, and she explained to her: "In the Federation, it is a very difficult thing to maintain privacy."

"Information on any device could potentially be monitored; only face-to-face conversation is the safest," she said.

Indeed, Yun Mu could understand this point.

Just like when she was on Earth, she would always inexplicably receive all kinds of advertising calls, and she herself didn't even know when it had leaked out.

Brenna had never had this experience, so it was normal for her not to understand these things.

"So, are we going to investigate the equipment that drew away the energy now?" Yun Mu said with a somewhat strange expression.

Wasn't this consistent with their original goal? What do you mean by returning to the original intention? "Hmm... directly beneath the Magic Fountain, do you know roughly how deep it is?" Airui Laya did not answer Yun Mu's question, but looked at Talitaluosi and asked.

"At a position about fifty meters deep below the energy pool," Talitaluosi replied.

"Fifty meters?" Airui Laya raised her eyebrows: "Then I probably know where it is."

She looked at Yun Mu and the others: "You all come along too."

After she finished speaking, she walked toward the inside of the Magic Fountain.

Passing through a long, narrow corridor, a tightly closed alloy Gate appeared before them.

"Are there no guards here?" Yun Mu looked around and did not perceive any danger, guessing there were no traps or mechanisms, so she asked.

"There is no need for such things." Airui Laya tapped the metal door in front of her with her finger.

"A Wonder building is not so easily destroyed; certain conditions must be met. Even if I used my full strength, I could not break this metal door."

Pausing, Airui Laya continued: "You should also know that special items or buildings will be affected by Ether and thus gain some special abilities."

"This kind of building is generally called a Wonder, and the Magic Fountain is clearly a genuine Wonder building."

"As long as the Magic Energy stored within is not exhausted, no means can harm the Magic Fountain itself."

"This is also the reason why our company can lease the short-term usage rights of the Magic Fountain."

"The Federation councilors are not worried at all that there will be any problems with the Magic Fountain."

While speaking, Airui Laya took a metal card from her bosom and swiped it hard against the metal door.

Di Di!

The metal door emitted a crisp sound, and the red light on it turned green.

And after the metal door was opened, what appeared before Yun Mu and the others was an elevator.

"What are you still stunned for? Hurry up and come in." Airui Laya walked into the elevator and urged.

"You, you, you, why do you have an Access Card to the core area?" Vivian looked at her, very puzzled.

"This?" Airui Laya put the Access Card back into her pocket and covered her mouth with a smile: "Of course it was lent to me by your father."

"Damn it, is this kind of thing something that can be lent to outsiders so casually?" Hearing Airui Laya's words, an expression of disbelief appeared on Vivian's face.

No wonder no matter how she acted like a spoiled brat, she couldn't get the Access Card from her dad; it turned out it had already been lent to someone else! Kuoluomajisi, look at the good deed you've done! "So, without even bringing an Access Card, what exactly did you come to investigate?" Airui Laya tilted her head and looked at Vivian, appearing somewhat confused.

"Well... Talitaluosi said he could solve it," Vivian lowered her head and said in a low voice.

"So we have already gone down at this time, haven't we?" Talitaluosi reached out his hand at this moment.

Airui Laya was called over by him, which meant the Access Card was called over by him; since that was the case, was there any problem with him saying he had a way to solve the Access Card issue?

Very reasonable.

Hiss, I didn't see that coming; this guy is a bit dark-bellied.

Yun Mu raised her eyebrows and did not speak, only keeping this matter in her heart.

"..."

The elevator ran very fast and had almost no sound.

During the descent, none of them spoke, just quietly waiting.

Before long, following a soft beep.

The metal Gate of the elevator opened to both sides.

Yun Mu followed behind Airui Laya and walked out from inside the elevator, discovering that here, apart from an energy ball suspended in mid-air in the center, there remained only some control consoles similar to a Mainframe.

It looked very empty.

(End of this chapter)