Chapter 246: Saint's Relic - Marauder's Map (Fake)

, The Genie Starting from Marvel

After roughly understanding the current situation, Frank walked toward the counter and placed the booklet on it.

"Just call me Mr. X. Now you believe we aren't bad people, right? Though caution is never redundant here." Mr. X said to Frank while extending a hand, simultaneously pointing at his companion nearby, "He is Mr. A."

"X? Unknown?" Frank asked after reaching out to shake his hand.

"No, just a simple codename I picked at random." Mr. X continued, "How is the situation outside now?"

"Hmm... not bad." Frank replied vaguely, brushing it off.

"As long as it's not bad, at least World War III hasn't happened." Mr. X was quite optimistic. As he spoke, he took out a registration form from below, "Do you need us to provide you with any services? If so, just fill out the form."

Frank took the form; there were already over a dozen names on it.

"You only need to write your name, gender, age, arrival time, and estimated departure time. Of course, you can write more if you'd like; you can write whatever you want in the introduction column at the back. Just a heads-up, this information is public to everyone." Mr. X continued.

Frank picked up the pen on the table and simply wrote down some basic information according to the form.

"How about Room 213? You don't have any special taboos regarding numbers, do you?" Mr. X asked back after casually picking up a key.

"None, anything is fine." Frank didn't care at all about special numbers like 666, 13, or 4.

"Alright then. My friend will take you to your room in a moment. We provide food, almond water, and some simple clothing and blankets for free. If it's not enough, you can ask us for more, but try not to waste it." Mr. X had quite the air of being wealthy and generous.

"Is there no fee?" Frank asked curiously, also wanting to understand what the economic system of this Backrooms was like.

"No. To be honest, money is useless here because most of the time, once we leave a level, we can hardly guarantee we'll be able to return. So in most cases, it's barter." Mr. X explained enthusiastically, "As for these supplies, they are all opened from boxes on Level 1. In the first few levels, everyone's supplies are quite abundant."

"Opening boxes?"

"They are wooden boxes similar to gift packages. They refresh randomly and disappear randomly. You can find all sorts of messy things inside. Although the randomness is too high, their quantity is indeed very large. You will have a chance to encounter them in the future." Mr. X gestured with both hands to show the shape of a small wooden box.

After the small talk, Frank, led by Mr. A, headed to a room on the second floor to rest.

This level was very special; the entire level was just this huge hotel. Currently, it hadn't been discovered how tall it actually was, nor had it been determined how many rooms it had. The wanderers who had moved in were mainly concentrated in the lower four levels.

Meanwhile, on Level 1, at the M. E. G. headquarters, in the research institute, there were about a dozen researchers here, already a very large research team in the Backrooms.

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"The Saint's Relic has shown an abnormal reaction!" A man ran hurriedly to Dr. Newsboy and said.

"Which relic?" Dr. Newsboy immediately put down his work and asked.

"Relic No. 003, the Marauder's Map." The man replied.

This news made Dr. Newsboy's expression even worse. The M. E. G. organization possessed many relics, and it was precisely with the help of these relics that M. E. G. had slowly developed into the largest group in the Backrooms, and the Marauder's Map was a very important one among them.

The Marauder's Map was generally placed in the Map Drawing Department, the department responsible for copying and drawing maps of various levels. In most levels, the Marauder's Map could scan and reflect the map of a certain area nearby in real-time, while simultaneously marking relatively dangerous areas, which was of great help for map drawing.

Dr. Newsboy rushed quickly to the Map Drawing Department. Now, everyone in the department who was at headquarters was gathered around a table, looking at the Marauder's Map slightly hovering in the air on the table, not daring to move a muscle.

After Newsboy arrived, the crowd cleared a path.

"Observation record, start." Newsboy stood in front of the Marauder's Map and immediately began to direct.

Ada, an important member of the Map Drawing Department, stood behind the Marauder's Map. Like Newsboy, she held paper and pen in her hands, her eyes locked on the Marauder's Map.

"Start description." Newsboy recited softly, "Front observation material is some kind of biological material similar to leather. On it are multi-level maps like sketches. Now the map shows the level is Level 5, showing a total of thirteen floors, no danger warnings have appeared, no personnel signal representation has appeared, and the lamp-pot-like pattern mark in the upper right corner is flashing yellow light."

"Start description." Ada followed up, "Back observation material is some kind of biological material similar to leather. No directly identifiable patterns have appeared. The slogan left by the Saint is—I think we won, but we still have to survive. At the top of the back, there are the words 'Marauder's Map - Replica'."

After a simple description, the two looked at the third person beside them simultaneously. He held the previous observation records of the Marauder's Map. Through this comparison, it could be discovered whether the Marauder's Map had changed, and it could also avoid observation blurring caused by some mental influences.

"The observation record is consistent with most observation results, except that the front map marking has changed; it is not the normal headquarters building map." The third person said.

Newsboy breathed a sigh of relief. If it was just this, the problem shouldn't be big. "When did the abnormality occur? What did you do before?"

"About ten minutes..." The third person said and stopped, pointing at the Marauder's Map in astonishment.

Newsboy turned his head to see that the Marauder's Map was emitting strange light, and strange pictures flashed rapidly across the surface of the map.

"The slogan on the back has changed!" Ada shouted, "You finally came to find me! My brother!"

With a *pat*, the map shrank into a ball and fell onto the desktop.

"I solemnly swear, I will guard the glory of humanity! I will forever uphold humanity!" Newsboy reached out and declared loudly to the Marauder's Map, yet the Marauder's Map did not unfold again. "The activation words are not working..."

"I think we should go to Level 5 to see; something must have happened there." Ada said seriously.

"Notify the Cage Unit first, let them contact the wanderer organization on Level 5. I remember the Home Hotel is stationed there." Newsboy said cautiously.

The Cage Unit was M. E. G.'s communication and patrol department. Most levels of the Backrooms had networks, and through some simple methods, one could connect to M. E. G.'s database. However, because time sometimes had deviations, everyone mostly contacted via email.

Level 5, Room 213, Frank had just washed the entire room with Holy Light, confirming that there were no hidden monsters or demons here.

"Johnson, which level will you be on..." Frank leaned on the sofa, only feeling a headache. He didn't know how long it would take to find a needle in a haystack.

After a while, the door was knocked. After Frank opened the door, he found Mr. X looking at him with a strange expression.

"What's wrong?" Frank asked.

"Mr. Frank, do you know M. E. G.?" Mr. X said, "I don't mean through that booklet, but before you came in, did you know them?"

"No, never heard of them." Frank replied decisively.

"M. E. G. just sent an emergency email asking us to determine what happened on Level 5. During this time, only you have nocliped in..." Mr. X paused as he spoke, "Then do you know the Marauder's Map?"

"Marauder's Map?!" Frank became excited. It was a small prop from Hogwarts. When he went to Hogwarts to find Johnson, the two of them had studied that thing. "I solemnly swear, I am up to no good?!"

"No, it should be 'I solemnly swear, I will guard the glory of humanity, I will forever uphold humanity'." Mr. X retorted.

"Whatever it is! Where is that thing?! Where is its creator?! Is he looking for me?!" Frank stepped forward and shouted at Mr. X.

"... Don't be so excited first. I don't know too much either, only that it is a Saint's Relic of M. E. G., and their headquarters is on Level 1. However, can you tell us something else? I need to reply to them, otherwise, headquarters won't let people in easily." Mr. X was startled by the excited Frank, took a step back, and said.

"Relic..." A bad thought flashed through Frank's mind, but he immediately excluded it. The news Wang got from the Ancient One was that Johnson was still alive, so there must be no mistake. It must be that the wanderers here had misunderstood something!

"Let me introduce myself: Earth civilization citizen, member of the Genie Self-Help Association, codename - Saint Light Ranger, entrusted by the Masters of the Mystic Arts to enter the Backrooms for preliminary exploration, and also to find my closest friend, who has fallen here."

While Frank was speaking, brilliant Holy Light bloomed from his body, sweeping directly across the entire second floor. The entities - death moths - nesting in various corners turned into ashes under this Holy Light, and the whispering sounds that had been murmuring in the shadows also disappeared.

Mr. X's mouth couldn't close at all. Frank, bathed in Holy Light, looked like God descending. "Has the outside world already become like this?!"

"Friend, I come from another world. Could I trouble you to take me to Level 1?" Frank withdrew his power, patted Mr. X on the shoulder, and said.

The shock brought by this level of energy release should be enough to erase any little thoughts in the hearts of any wanderers. Frank didn't worry about anyone's little tricks, but he didn't want to delay time because of such possible actions, especially when he could prevent them directly.

"There is no stable channel from Level 5 directly to Level 1. We might have to take a detour, but with M. E. G.'s help, it might not take too long to arrive." Mr. X quickly calmed down. Having survived in the Backrooms for so long, even if he mainly lived in safe areas, it gave him strong psychological quality.

"Then let's get moving. Where do we go first? How do we contact M. E. G.?" Frank continued to ask.

"We can send letters to their mailbox via Wi-Fi. They just gave me an emergency contact mailbox, which should be monitored in real-time." Mr. X took out his phone from his pocket.

"Use this." Frank's fingers brushed over the suspension ring, and a suitcase appeared in his hand. "Hold it with both hands."

Mr. X held the handle of the suitcase with both hands and looked up at Frank. "Like this?"

【Startup command detected, unauthorized personnel, please enter password.】

"Energy detection, Saint Light Ranger." Frank flicked his hand and input a trace of energy.

【Detection passed, welcome to your use, Intelligent Brain No. 43 is at your service, thank you for your support for Stark Industries.】

Amidst the intelligent voice, the suitcase changed rapidly. Layers of surging nano-machines spread toward Mr. X's body, completely wrapping him in an instant. After determining the shape, the nano-armor gradually stabilized, and a simple portable armor produced by Stark was worn on Mr. X's body.

"This is a product of Stark Industries. You can issue commands to it directly by voice." Frank prompted from the side. Since Mr. X was prepared to set off with him, some simple equipment was necessary. Frank didn't want any accidents to occur on the way to Level 1.

Mr. X was in shock, his words trembling a little. "You... hello..."

【Sir, hello, what help do you need?】

"Can you connect to this m. e. g Wi-Fi?" Mr. X continued.

【11 blurred Wi-Fi signals detected, is it this one?】

The Wi-Fi signals were arranged on the armor's display screen, with the first one with the highest match highlighted.

"Yes, after connecting, open an email website..." Mr. X spelled out the website address word by word.

【Connected, website logged in, Wi-Fi signal weak, do you want to perform signal enhancement?】

"Yes..."

As soon as Mr. X finished speaking, he saw the red Wi-Fi signal in the upper right corner of the display screen soar directly to level four. It was obvious that the loading speed was much faster than before.

"How do I operate it? Virtual keyboard or can I only use voice?" Mr. X awkwardly discovered that he didn't know how to use it at all.

【You can focus your gaze on the screen and select keyboard letters or draw directly.】

After logging into his account, Mr. X began to contact the people at M. E. G.

Frank beside him silently put on a pair of sunglasses. On the inner layer of the sunglasses, all of Mr. X's actions were displayed, transmitted in real-time by the intelligent brain.

Frank had the highest authority for the armor on Mr. X. If he withdrew all authority, this armor would directly become an "iron coffin." However, as long as it wasn't necessary, Frank wouldn't do that.

Moreover, judging from the information in the emails, Mr. X didn't have any special thoughts. Everything in the emails was serious business, just that too many modal particles were used. A dozen "FUCK"s in one email indicated that he was in a completely unsettled state. ===== CHAPTER 247 =====