Chapter 434: The attacker
After finishing dinner, Lin Ye took the report and entered the makeshift laboratory. He still had many things to research.
All his plans were proceeding smoothly. He had already earned enough Free Coins. As long as he dealt with the trouble over at the Bottomless Pit, the remaining time would be his to use freely.
If everything went smoothly, that is.
Lin Ye sat next to the experimental table, holding a Rule Crystal in his hand. A figure nearly two meters tall appeared behind him, materializing silently at the very core of the clubhouse base.
It was a humanoid creature with ten arms growing from its body and five pairs of eyes on its head.
All its eyes were bound by circular black cloths, and its arms were nailed into the air with sharp metal spikes.
The humanoid creature bent down, leaning close to Lin Ye. At this moment, Lin Ye was still studying the Rule Crystal, completely unaware of the shadow that had appeared behind him.
It was as if an invisible membrane separated the two. This membrane unilaterally blocked all information from inside it. Until the membrane shattered, the outside world simply couldn't detect its location.
The topmost black cloth on the humanoid creature's head loosened. It gazed greedily at the Rule Crystal in Lin Ye's hand. Its mission was to gather information, not to attack Lin Ye, but it simply couldn't hold back any longer.
The black cloth fell away. The metal spikes trembled. The humanoid creature reached out and grabbed Lin Ye's head, yanking upwards with force! "What are you doing?"
The entire layout of the makeshift laboratory rotated. Lin Ye was now sitting behind the humanoid creature, studying the Rule Crystal in his hand.
The humanoid creature was clutching at empty air, its hands holding nothing.
"Roar!"
The humanoid creature wanted to release all its restraints, but it found it had already lost control of its body.
"A very interesting ability. It can actually unilaterally block information. If you hadn't dispelled that ability, I wouldn't have been able to detect your location at all.
But this ability has a weakness. The user can still receive information from the outside world. If they receive false information, they can be deceived by it. If they receive dangerous information, they can be killed by it."
Lin Ye had long considered the possibility of someone breaking into the makeshift laboratory while he was away. Therefore, he had set up many traps in the lab. Information displacement was just one part of it.
"So, who sent you? You don't seem like the Salvation Cult, nor like any of the familiar factions I know. You're actually closer to anomalous phenomena. Are you a new product created using Rule Crystals?"
Flower vines squirmed inside the humanoid creature's body, piercing into every part of it. Lin Ye used his mental energy to examine the creature's physical structure. He was very interested in that information-blocking ability.
Knock knock.
A knocking sound came from outside the door. Bessie Pro was standing outside the laboratory door. It wouldn't disturb Lin Ye in the lab unless something important had happened.
"Come in. What's wrong?"
Lin Ye discovered there was nothing particularly special about the humanoid creature's physical structure. Its ability was mainly related to those covered eyes and nailed arms.
"Just now, a group of attackers assaulted the clubhouse. However, they were already dealt with by the plants outside."
Bessie Pro reported to Lin Ye.
"Hmm, I have an intruder here too. And it's likely not the only one that entered the base."
Lin Ye used the Mental Marks he had previously placed to sense the entire base. Everything was calm and peaceful throughout the base. There wasn't a single intruder.
"Should we enter the base's activated state?"
Bessie Pro asked.
"No need. That would cause too much commotion, easily drawing the attention of those major factions."
Lin Ye took out his Communication Device. Raymond was inviting him to a video call.
"Are you alright over there? Do you need me to send someone to help you?"
Raymond stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of a high-rise building. His high-end suit was soaked with blood.
"I'm fine here. The intruder has been dealt with. You had attackers too? Did you find out where they came from?"
Lin Ye had thought this was an attack targeting him. He didn't expect the Adventurer's Association to be attacked as well.
"Yeah, the attackers were quite formidable. The association paid a certain price to eliminate them. As for their origin... do you remember that parasite Ms. Carnot asked you to deal with?"
Raymond said with a serious expression.
"Of course I remember. Are those parasites causing trouble? Didn't you clean them all up?"
Lin Ye didn't expect those parasites could still stir up trouble.
"We cleaned up all the parasites that showed themselves. But some parasites might have gone into hiding. This attack incident is likely related to these ones that slipped through the net.
They probably used 'admission tickets' to enter the depths of the Bottomless Pit and did something there.
These attackers should be related to the anomalous phenomena inside the Bottomless Pit, which is why they weren't easy to deal with.
This isn't something those parasites could accomplish alone. There must be a major faction helping them from behind the scenes."
Raymond sighed. Originally, they just needed to execute the cleanup plan step by step, and the Bottomless Pit problem could be solved. He could have returned to the nightclub. He didn't expect such a turn of events.
"Did those parasites bring the anomalous phenomena from below up to the surface? Didn't you check if the people going down had parasites inside them?"
Lin Ye had a bad premonition.
"We can't check the cleanup teams of other factions. That's the rule."
If he didn't want to start a war, Raymond couldn't interfere with those major factions entering the Bottomless Pit.
"It probably wasn't just us who were attacked, right? Can we ally with other factions that were attacked?"
The relationships between factions in Free City were complex and intricate. Lin Ye couldn't distinguish friend from foe either.
"We can, but it's meaningless. The enemy could also pretend to have been attacked... Tsk, I have some things to deal with on my end. Be careful yourself. Contact me if anything happens."
Raymond ended the communication. Just before the call cut off, a sharp scream echoed from his side.
Lin Ye put away the Communication Device. A silvery-white longsword suddenly slashed out from within the humanoid creature's body, almost simultaneously cleaving through both the creature and Lin Ye's body.
Cut!
A bright white sword light flashed. Lin Ye's body was sliced into ten pieces. The entire process happened in an instant; even Bessie Pro couldn't react in time.
The sword light vanished. The humanoid creature was also cut into ten pieces. The chunks of flesh slid to the ground like building blocks. All the restraints on its body had been released.
"Should I go deal with it?"
Bessie Pro wasn't concerned about Lin Ye. It was more focused on the escaped intruder.
"No, you stay at the base. I'll handle that intruder."
The Rule Crystal in Lin Ye's hand disappeared. His Splicing runes couldn't negate the opponent's Cut concept. He could only consume a Rule Crystal to temporarily enhance the effect of his Splicing runes.
Lin Ye hadn't been idle when he was cut just now. He had inserted a flower into the opponent's right hand, the one holding the sword.