Chapter 305 - 304: Infiltrating the Fortress, Bei Yi System

The surface inside the fortress was a very spacious flat layer.

The space was open and the visibility was good.

Li Jing and Evlyn entered, their gaze simultaneously landing on the ground.

In the middle of the fortress’s ground floor, at the exit of the main passage, there were conspicuous blood traces lingering, while other locations seemed to be very clean.

There were no other people in the flat space, and no bodies were seen.

It was clear that Victoria, who just fell dead, came out through the main passage.

After confirming this situation, Evlyn stopped, looked back at the others who had followed in, and turned to Li Jing saying,

"Victoria didn’t have any visible external injuries when she came out just now. The blood on her body is likely left by her brutally killed companion. We’re not yet sure what exactly she and her companions went through. The risk in the central passage is no longer just predictable, Archer, do you want to..."

Before Evlyn could finish speaking, Li Jing waved his hand.

"No problem, I have confidence in being able to protect myself, we will act according to the original plan. Anyway, I have to go and see, at least confirm how the person died."

Upon hearing this, Evlyn was silent for a while, then said,

"Since you insist, our team will wait for you above for two minutes. If you encounter situations you can’t handle when you go in, retreat immediately, don’t overdo it. Missing one passage isn’t a big issue, we still have five more passages we can take."

"Fine."

Li Jing nodded, then said,

"If I don’t exit within two minutes, you all can go your own way."

After saying this, he went straight into the central passage.

The device providing power within the fortress seemed to be damaged.

Not much further down the passage, the front was directly plunged into darkness, without any illumination.

However, this did not really affect Li Jing.

With the support of his Seventh Realm cultivation level and the foundation of body refining, his night vision was good.

Following the blood trace down the passage, Li Jing quickly found a large patch of blood at the entrance of the second floor of the fortress.

The source of the blood traces left by Victoria when she escaped was here.

The large patch of blood on the ground, presumably, was left by her companions.

Raising his eyes to gaze into the darkness, Li Jing’s Primordial Spirit sense did not detect anything unusual.

Slightly frowning, Li Jing looked at the way back.

After confirming no one followed, he lifted his hand, formed the incantation hand seals, and activated the Heavenly Eye.

When the vertical eye opened between his brows, there were no traces of Spiritual Qi or suspicious clusters in the path before him leading deeper in.

Pausoing on the spot for a moment, Li Jing stepped into the second floor.

He had walked only a few steps when he saw a brilliant bloodstain at the corner of the second floor passage exit.

The bloodstain was fresh and even still flowing.

Without doubt, this belonged to another victim.

Looking around, Li Jing frowned slightly.

Two bloodstains in a row, and no signs of a struggle nearby.

All the adventurers in this expedition were no weaklings.

Like Victoria earlier, even if they were at their worst, they at least had the cultivation level of Fifth Boundary.

They died unexpectedly without any resistance, probably they did not meet any visible enemy, otherwise, even if they can’t beat them, they should be able to make a symbolic resistance.

In this regard, it corresponded to a notable extent with the unexplained deaths of Augustus and others in Longyu.

The only difference was that Augustus and others left bodies, while Victoria and other adventurers died without leaving a corpse.

Clearly, Victoria and her companions were cursed to death, only under a different curse.

However, the problem was.

Li Jing kept the Heavenly Eye open, but he didn’t see any strange traces in the vicinity.

Glancing left and right, Li Jing was not in a hurry to continue downward, instead he began to follow the horizontal passage of the second floor, attempting to find suspicious marks.

Inside the fortress, each path leading underground was independently existing, not interconnected.

The passage descended in an arc, and there were many individual rooms along the horizontal passageway.

The second floor here was where the rooms for the researchers in the fortress were located.

Li Jing walked along the corridor on the second floor, and quickly came to a room door.

Immediately afterwards...

The automatic door sensed his presence and made a ’zi’ sound as it opened.

Seeing this, Li Jing paused.

The automatic door still functioned, indicating that the spiritual energy circuit was not damaged as he had thought.

It seems that only the lighting equipment had been destroyed.

Raising his head to look at a nearby camera hung in the corridor, Li Jing looked into the open room next to him.

Inside the room, it was very tidy, with no traces of blood.

Even the quilts were neatly stacked.

After looking around, Li Jing walked into the room and picked up a photo from the bedside table.

In the photo, there was a female researcher with a very bright smile.

Her smile was full of vitality.

Just by looking at the photo, one could tell she was a lively woman, probably well-liked by everyone.

It’s a pity that she most likely died somewhere in the fortress now.

After casually putting the photo back, Li Jing showed no pity for her.

Those who deserve pity must have despicable qualities.

This woman in the photograph, given that she was working as a researcher in this fortress, was not worthy of pity.

Li Jing did not understand science.

But he understood what human ethics were.

The biochemical lab here was clearly conducting experiments that went against human ethics.

None of the spirits here were innocent.

After inspecting the room, Li Jing didn’t find anything valuable and had to exit the room.

Pausing in the corridor, he turned his head to look back at the path again.

Two minutes had already passed.

Evlyn and the others should have started their actions by now.

Up until now, I haven’t seen any other adventurers coming in, it seems that the other subsequent teams have chosen to avoid the risk and have given up this central passage.

That’s good news.

Following this, he would not be disturbed.

However, he couldn’t waste too much time because of this.

He didn’t know the conditions of other passages.

Perhaps someone could have a clear path, straight down to the deepest part of the underground.

Then, the situation could get awkward.

Li Jing did not forget his purpose for coming here.

He needed to bring back evidence that would be beneficial to Longyu.

If the information stored in a supercomputer in the basement of the fortress fell into someone else’s hands, it would be hard to obtain it.

Without lingering on the second floor, Li Jing chose to activate Silent Shadow, transforming his body into lightning and fleeing.

There must be deadly things in the fortress.

Li Jing didn’t want to be on guard for possible attacks at any time. Using Silent Shadow was a good choice.

...

Before long, Li Jing passed through the passage and arrived at the third floor of the fortress.

The third floor space is a chemical laboratory.

In each research room enclosed by transparent glass, there were various bottles and jars containing some kind of suspicious fluid, and the door of the research room even had warning signs requiring the use of protective clothing.

Just like the rooms on the second floor dedicated for the living of the researchers, the series of chemical laboratories on the third floor space was neat and tidy. It seemed that the researchers here were merely off-work.

Li Jing made a brief stay on the third floor, picked two laboratories to enter, took out the core of Xia Ai and took photos of some of the labelled bottles and jars.

He could read the words on the label.

He just didn’t know what these things were for, or what would happen when they were combined.

But that was okay.

After the pictures are sent back, there will be people who could understand them.

Continuing towards the deeper part of the fortress, Li Jing soon arrived at the fourth floor of the fortress.

As soon as he exited the passage, he stopped.

He had been aware of the surveillance cameras ever since he confirmed that the fortress’s energy circuit was not damaged.

The moment he arrived, he noticed the surveillance camera at the entrance of the fourth-floor passage moved.

Someone was monitoring the fortress.

He looked at the surveillance camera, narrowed his eyes, and flicked an arc of electricity with his hand.

"Crack!"

The surveillance camera was destroyed.

Looking at the surveillance cameras densely distributed all the way up the passage, Li Jing heaved a deep sigh of annoyance.

All kinds of equipment in this world use Spiritual Qi, not electric circuitry.

Destruction was hard.

In his previous world, he could burn the entire circuit with a single electrical discharge.

Without much thought, Li Jing once again turned into a streak of lightning. While heading towards the fifth floor and destroying the surveillance cameras along the way, he took the opportunity to observe the fourth floor.

In contrast to the neatness of the three floors above, the fourth-floor passage was stained with patches of dried blood that had seemingly been there for a long time.

On his way to the fifth floor of the fortress, he saw two patches of fresh blood not far apart.

These two bloodstains likely belonged to another team that descended before Victoria’s team.

It seemed that those who had taken this central passage were already dead.

The team where Victoria was, and the team that descended before them didn’t have many members.

The fortress had six passages, and they could only allocate two or three people for each passage at most.

If there was a third member in the squad here on the fourth floor, they wouldn’t dare to venture further into the depths after two of their comrades had died abruptly.

Soon, Li Jing arrived at the fifth floor of the fortress.

After reaching the exit of the passage, he stopped again.

In the horizontal passage on the fifth floor, there were also dried patches of blood everywhere just like on the fourth floor.

But what was different from the fourth floor was,

Not only were there bloodstains in the passage, but there were also a large number of rotting limbs scattered around, with a variety of weapons on the ground. The laboratories that the corridor passed through were ridden with holes.

It was obvious that a fierce battle had taken place here.

Looking at the clothes stuck on these limbs and body parts, they didn’t seem to belong to the researchers in the fortress.

Next to a rotten piece of flesh that appeared to be part of a chest, Li Jing saw a piece of clothing with the Sky Shield Bureau logo clearly printed on it.

Stopping in the corridor to capture this gruesome scene, Li Jing was about to reach out to destroy the next camera nearby, when the camera, which was not originally pointed at him, suddenly adjusted its angle and emitted a red light.

Immediately after, a lively feminine voice sounded.

"Human, you’ve done enough."

?

Li Jing.

Before he could react, a blurry figure of a girl appeared in the light projected by the camera.

Seeing the situation, Li Jing furrowed his brows.

Artificial intelligence.

It seemed to be the same kind as Xia Ai, with independent personalities...

Just that sentence just now didn’t sound like an artificial intelligence operating entirely according to programmed design. There was a bit of resentment in it.

Looking at the blurry figure of the girl, Li Jing thought for a moment and flicked his fingers.

"Crack!"

The camera was destroyed.

The girl’s figure, which had been projected in red light, disappeared.

Then, he stood still right beneath the next camera.

The camera remained silent, with no response.

"Come out and talk."

Li Jing spoke.

There was still no reaction from the camera.

Seeing this, Li Jing lifted his hand again.

"Crack!"

Another camera was destroyed.

Then, he moved to the next camera.

Possibly the damaging behavior of someone, called the AI controlling the fortress system a little unbearably, before he walked to the position, the camera turned around and projected red light.

Following this, the figure of the girl appeared again and spoke with a slightly helpless tone.

"What do you want to talk about? Speak your mind, stop destroying things."

Li Jing responded with a smirk.

"I want to know what happened here."

"As you can see, all personnel of the Bei Yi Fortress Laboratory have died."

The figure of the girl spoke.

"Died in the hands of something they cre..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Li Jing raised his hand.

"Wait."

?

The girl tilted her head.

Here, Li Jing pulled out his pocket AI body, turned on the camera, and then looked up.

"Continue, please recount the very beginning," he said.

"..."

The girl.

"As you can see, all personnel of the Bei Yi Fortress Laboratory are dead, killed by the thing they created themselves."

"What do you mean by ’thing’?"

Li Jing asked.

"Artificial Human."

Responded the girl’s figure.

Hiss.

Li Jing gasped for breath.

Artificial Human...

This is completely different from the modified human he imagined.

Has White Hawk gone mad?

Doing such a thing secretly?

Then the problem arises.

Artificial Humans, they should not count as humans.

Do they have a Health Bar?

If it’s the modified humans, then they would definitely not have it.

After all, they are merely humans who gain powers mankind doesn’t possess through artificial means, they are essentially still humans.

But what about artificial humans...

Looking at the figure of the girl, Li Jing asked,

"Do you have a name?"

"Bei Yi."

Responded the girl’s figure, she then continued.

"According to the Bei Yi safety provision 746, when all laboratory personnel die, I, as the safety system of the laboratory, need to be responsible for real-time monitoring and recordkeeping data, waiting for the takeover personnel to arrive. So please don’t destroy any more cameras, obstructing my task."

Having said that, she added,

"The depths of the fortress are currently occupied by Artificial Humans, it’s extremely dangerous. My detection system didn’t identify any chip belonging to the White Hawk Sky Shield Bureau on you, for your safety, I suggest you leave now."

"Okay."

Li Jing responded.

Verbally agreeing with her, he raised his hand to release an electric arc.

The camera, abruptly shut off.

This time, without waiting for him to act again, another camera turned and projected red light.

The figure of the girl appeared again, angrily protesting,

"Human you..."

Before she could finish speaking, Li Jing rolled his eyes and backhandedly slapped the camera,

"Boom!"

A massive Fighting Thunder directly pierced the camera.

Seeing its "fellow" being subjected to such an inappropriate act, his pocket AI in Li Jing’s other hand, which was in camera mode, timidly asked.

"Master, what are you doing? Wasn’t she willing to talk to you?"

"Don’t you think there are some problems with this Artificial Intelligence?"

Li Jing asked in return.

"Ah, this ..."

His pocket AI was stunned and then asked,

"What kind of problem?"

"Since there’s an Artificial Intelligence in place, there should be a back door for communication with the outside world. It’s not likely that White Hawk would be so careless to leave the crucial Fortress Laboratory entirely to an Artificial Intelligence. If the program has an error, the consequences are unimaginable. However, the Fortress has completely lost contact with the outside world."

Li Jing said mildly and pointed out.

"Also, think about yourself. No one knew about your existence before you met me. You are also aware that if personnel from the Research Institute knew you have developed a personality, you would definitely not be used but be sealed in the laboratory for research. We encountered this one here, most likely even the White Hawk Officials don’t know it has developed its own personality. And the most important point, there must be protective measures for the research of Artificial Humans here. They won’t just allow these Artificial Humans to rebel and even more, they won’t just let the whole Fortress Laboratory be slaughtered without any protective measures after they rebel."

"..."

The pocket AI was silent, without making a sound.

She’s smart and has her own thoughts.

She understood what Li Jing was trying to explain.

She also knew why Li Jing intentionally explained to her.

Seeing that the pocket AI wasn’t speaking, Li Jing laughed and put it away, then looked towards a camera that could not capture him.

"What I just said should be correct, right?"

The camera was silent, without any response.

In contrast, three human-shaped figures appeared in the corridor on the fifth floor.

Seeing this, Li Jing raised an eyebrow.

He wasn’t surprised by this situation.

The Artificial Intelligence that called itself Bei Yi had a big problem, that’s a clear-cut matter.

Aside from what he explained to the pocket AI, the fact that it referred to him as a "human" from the beginning was a question itself.

It seemed to see humans as a race rather than the creator who created her.

The pocket AI would never say the word human.

When calling him, she says, master.

Calling others, this little girl is sweet as sugar.

All kinds of sisters, little sisters.

Not just a strong will to survive, but she also knows how to please people.

Even when she was a bit cheeky when they first met, the pocket AI was obediently calling him master.

This was not an issue of the system setting, but a problem of personality.

All in all.

What excites Li Jing is the fact that.

His Heavenly Eye captured the power presented as dark red inside the three human figures at the other end of the channel.

More than that, there’s a health bar on top of each of these three human figures.

Three health bars, each of them has more than 8000 points.

Artificial Human, in the Six Realm.

This trip was not in vain!

Experience can be gained!

In a moment of excitement, Li Jing casually stowed Xiao Ai into the storage space to ensure her safety, standing motionless on the spot.

There was something, he needed to confirm.

Li Jing stayed still, and the three figures at the other end of the tunnel didn’t move as well.

Seeing this, Li Jing flicked an arc of electricity out from his hand.

With the use of the attacking method, the effect of Silent Shadow was lifted.

Just at the moment this was lifted, the three figures at the other end of the tunnel let out inhuman growls, their bodies flashing forward in a fierce pounce.

Li Jing raised his brows at the sight.

Just as he thought!

The root of the problem wasn’t in the artificial humans’ bodies, but it was the Artificial Intelligence Bei Yi, in charge of the fortress security system, was drastically malfunctioning.

With the Silent Shadow activated, the artificial humans’ cognition was disrupted so they couldn’t detect him, they could only catch him through cameras inside the fortress.

Thus, he hadn’t encountered any attacks from artificial humans all the way down here.

And for that reason, Bei Yi had to reveal itself in front of him, attempting to dissuade him.

From this, Li Jing drew a conclusion.

The artificial humans created in the fortress laboratory shared a remote link with Bei Yi, able to share information.

With these thoughts in mind, the three artificial humans closed in on him.

Upon seeing this, Li Jing quietly retreated half a step.

’Boom!’

The three figures simultaneously unleashed their fists, striking the same spot where he had stood previously.

Even though their power was great, their bodies were relatively fragile.

Their iron fists clashed together, three arms shattered and fell limp, and over 2000 points were taken off at once from the health bar on their heads.

They clearly couldn’t feel pain.

A shattered arm hanging limply by their side, their human-like faces were expressionless and their eyes darted around.

Seeing this, Li Jing was about to kill the three, but suddenly a notification sound rang in his ear.

"Experience +8566."

???

Li Jing.

He hasn’t lifted a finger yet, how did he gain experience?

Before he could figure out what was happening, the three artificial humans before him suddenly spoke in unison, repeating Bei Yi’s words.

"You, you’re not human?"

Confronted with this horrifying scene, Li Jing furrowed his brows.

The three artificial humans in front of him were males, but it was Bei Yi’s voice coming from their mouths.

This seemed to imply that their actions were completely controlled by Bei Yi?

Upon realizing this, Li Jing immediately understood these artificial humans hadn’t been perfected to the point of autonomous movement yet.

Which made sense.

The technology of artificial humans was even more distant than that of artificial intelligence.

If White Hawk was able to create autonomous artificial humans, wouldn’t that be incredible?

What is this so-called artificial human?

Instead of calling these three artificial humans, they’re more like puppets controlled by a supercomputer.

Reflecting on this,

Bei Yi’s question made Li Jing understand why the system suddenly announced that he had gained experience.

It seemed there were artificial humans hiding in the shadows, attempting a curse on him, only to be backfired.

Normally, the Curse to Death ability in the Curse System couldn’t curse a Six Realm entity, even when used by a Seven Realm.

The artificial humans achieved this by drawing on the power of the Blood Tribe within their bodies.

White Hawk, researching these non-human entities, clearly aimed to harness this superior curse ability.

Artificial humans could forcibly curse a Six Realm, but that doesn’t mean they could curse a Seven Realm...

Cursing him won’t be that easy.

In the past days, Li Jing had been researching the Curse System.

Curse to Death is a curse based on the obliteration of life.

The stronger the vitality, the greater the power required for the curse.

If there is insufficient curse power, or if the target’s vitality is exceptionally robust, the one who casts the curse would die from the backlash.

Quite unfortunately, Li Jing had an inexhaustible vitality.

After all, he possessed Body Refining.

Because of Body Refining, Li Jing had been fearless.

Or else, merely relying on Seven Realm strength, he might not have been so carefree.

Gaining experience without lifting a finger...

Li Jing suddenly had an idea, but dismissed it upon consideration.

Death-seeking behavior should not be like this.

A single artificial human attempting it would result in a backlash and death.

If many came at once, it might be a different story.

The reality before him was clear: despite their numerous flaws, the artificial humans created by White Hawk all seemed to have the standard of the Sixth Realm.

Being cursed by a group of Six Ream entities, it wouldn’t be pleasant.

Moreover, they apparently knew more than one type of curse.

The deaths of Augustus and others from Longyu’s explosion, contrasted starkly with the deaths of Victoria and other adventurers.

Certainly, artificial humans might know other curses.

Rejecting the idea of "playing truant" in his mind, Li Jing turned into a streak of Fire Thunder and zoomed past the three frozen artificial humans towards the next camera.

The scorching Fire Thunder instantly ignited the three artificial humans.

"Experience +8189."

"Experience +8752."

"Experience +8427."

Accompanied by three consecutive notifications, Li Jing destroyed all the cameras in the entire fifth floor of the fortress.

The original cameras arranged in corner spots were destroyed by Palm Thunder.

Now, he didn’t feel like using it anymore.

With Silent Shadow, the artificial humans couldn’t detect him with their naked eyes.

Without the cameras, Bei Yi was completely blindfolded and at his mercy.

Why wouldn’t he exploit this?

The moment he takes action, Silent Shadow would be broken.