Chapter 520 The curtain opens (please vote for the super large chapter)
Hazy clouds and mist obscured the moon and stars, and brilliant lights illuminated the vast hall.
Busy staff came and went, filling the round dining table with sumptuous food.
Among them are many local delicacies from Rodan, famous dishes from the Theia Empire, and dishes from China.
The gray-haired man sat in front of the dining table, raised his hand and looked at the mechanical arm inlaid with gems on his wrist, then turned his head and glanced at the bright moon outside the window, which was just obscured by clouds and mist.
Time passes minute by minute as the hands rotate.
The staff were still filling the table with dishes. They walked neatly and acted in unison. Under such frequent movement, the sound of footsteps was almost invisible, and no one said a word.
An eerie silence enveloped the brightly lit hall, with only the ticking sound of the clock remaining.
It seems that time also blurs in this silence.
Woo——
The silence lasted for an unknown amount of time until a shrill whistle covered the entire hall.
An old-fashioned train suddenly drove into this wide hall, startling the surrounding staff.
Immediately afterwards, the door at the front of the train opened, and a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses jumped out from behind the door.
The train behind him did not stop at all and plunged into the chaotic void again.
He Ao straightened his clothes and walked to the sumptuous dining table.
"Mr. Hao Yi, you are here."
The gray-haired man raised his head, looked at He Ao, with a smile on his face, and said in Chinese, "Let me introduce myself, my name is Rhodes, I am the general person in charge of Moonlight in Ruodan, codenamed 'Quester'.
"
"Mr. Rhodes, it seems you have done a lot of homework."
He Ao glanced at the food on the table and chuckled softly when he saw those classic Chinese dishes.
Many people in the Xitu and Tia empires are actually not used to eating authentic Chinese cuisine, and many dishes have undergone localized changes.
This has led to the fact that many Chinese dishes that are famous in Western countries have never been heard of in China.
At this moment, what Rhodes put on the table were all authentic Chinese and Turkish dishes, and there were no weird things that were only popular in Western countries.
Of course, what He Ao is referring to is not only these Chinese dishes, but also the space above your head.
Moonlight's Ruodan headquarters is a pointed tower like a castle. At this moment, the space above the first floor of the tower has been sealed off, as if it was specially prepared to guard against the Verora's breakthrough.
"Since Mr. Hao Yi appears as a Chinese from China, he must have some special feelings for China and some small thoughts. Of course, he also used some extraordinary props that are not worth mentioning."
Rhodes smiled and then looked up at the staff around him who were still serving dishes in an orderly manner. "It's still a little early, so there are still some dishes that haven't been served yet. If you don't mind, Mr. Hao Yi, we can chat while eating,"
I heard that cooperation between China and Turkey is all finalized at the dinner table."
A prop that can block a space is not a small prop.
The 'missing person notice' sent by Yueguang was at nine o'clock, but it was less than eight o'clock now.
He Ao's advance time seemed to be somewhat beyond Rhodes' expectations.
"So Mr. Rhodes came to me and wanted to cooperate with me?"
He Ao did not sit on the chair, but held the back of the chair with his hands and looked at Rhodes with a smile.
"I believe you already know, Mr. Hao Yi," Rhodes still smiled, "The passage to the ruins is about to be opened in Ellen City. This is a very important thing for major organizations in the world.
I think Mr. Hao Yi also came here for this matter."
He paused, "Generally speaking, the ruins passages belong to local forces, but Ruodan is in the border area, closer to the World Tree headquarters than to the Moonlight headquarters. It is not peaceful, and we do not have the strength to fully control it.
This passage.”
Having said this, he smiled and said, "And as you know, Moonlight had a small friction with the institute before, which resulted in damage to its cutting-edge combat capabilities. Currently, the headquarters does not have the energy to take care of us,"
He looked at He Ao, "So now we need the 'support' of a strong person. As a collaborator, we can leave one-third of the final quota to enter the ruins at your disposal.
"What Mr. Hao Yi needs to do is to help us when a B-level outcome occurs.
"Of course, we have also taken into account your personal preferences, Mr. Hao Yi. You don't have to worry about conflicts with the institute. According to the institute's long-standing strategy, they will not interfere in matters that are too far away from China, so we
There is a chance that you won’t meet a Class B from the institute.”
"Of course, this is the condition we offered," Rhodes looked at with a smile, "If Mr. Hao Yi has other requirements, he can also raise them. I believe that we will eventually get a plan that satisfies both parties."
The conditions given by Rhodes are actually extremely generous.
World Tree's two B-levels, if Del was seriously injured, should still be recuperating at this time. As long as He Ao comes forward to support Moonlight, then World Tree will most likely not send B-levels to fight head-on.
As long as they don't break their skins, the superficial alliance between World Tree and Moonlight will still exist, and Liming will not dare to act rashly, and will easily be attacked by World Tree and He Ao.
From Yueguang's point of view, putting aside the past grudges and seeking cooperation with He Ao is a matter of no harm.
After all, the Moonlight Headquarters had just lost a Class B, and at this time it was completely unable to cross the sea to support Ruodan.
When Class B appeared in this competition, Moonlight, who dominated Ruodan, became the most disadvantaged one.
Moonlight's original plan was to rely on the superficial peace with World Tree to share the ruins passage between the two families without dispatching B-class.
But with the appearance of He Ao, Class B was dismissed directly, and the situation was completely different.
What Rhodes said about giving one-third of the quota to He Ao actually means dividing the quota for this passage into three parts, one for Moonlight, one for World Tree, and one for He Ao.
This is the best way to unite everyone and form a community of interests, and it is also the way to ensure that Moonlight will not be kicked out.
Of course, if He Ao really participates, World Tree may not be able to get one-third of the quota. With B-level and Ruodan controlling the situation, Moonlight has already formed a clear advantage, so it does not need to be so
Care about the world tree.
And from the perspective of Moonlight, Rhodes should have also considered the relationship between 'Hao Yi' and the institute, and wooing He Ao would also ease the relationship with the institute to a certain extent.
Give up part of your interests to ensure your status as the 'cake sharer'.
For Moonlight, it is indeed a clever plan.
If the person who proposed cooperation was really Moonlight,
"I only have one question. Is it Moonlight or..."
He Ao looked at Rhodes, holding the back of the chair with his hands, smiling, and paused, "Mysterious Shadow?"
Rhodes' complexion changed slightly, he looked at He Ao and chuckled, "What does this mean, Mr. Hao Yi?"
"In fact, until last night, I always thought that the puppeteer was the leader of the mysterious shadow primitive sect, and his performance seemed to be consistent with this conjecture."
He Ao lowered his head and glanced at the wine glass on the table. "Miss Rose, the puppeteer's deputy, became the main force in spreading pollution. The entire Ruodan branch of World Tree became a hotbed of pollution. This is very reminiscent of World Tree."
The Ruodan branch is where the Mysterious Shadow primitive sect is located, and the puppeteer is the leader of this primitive sect."
The staff member holding a decanter came over and poured half a glass of red wine into his glass. At this moment, his hand shook and some red wine spilled on the table.
The staff member took out a towel and wanted to wipe off the drinks, but was stopped by He Ao.
"No."
He Ao blocked the staff, then continued to look at Rhodes,
"But I found a footprint in the Ruodan branch of the World Tree. It was extremely slight and hidden in the dark shadows. If I hadn't observed it a little more carefully, I might not have been able to find this footprint."
He Ao put his fingers into the red wine scattered on the table,
"This footprint comes from a powerful C-level. His control of strength is almost perfect. It is obvious that he came to World Tree to 'provoke' or 'demonstrate'. At that time, this footprint made me curious, who would come to World Tree?"
Demonstrations in branches of Shu? And also during this recent period?”
He Ao's fingers began to trace on the table, and the red wine liquid left traces on the white table.
"The most important thing is that this footprint is very new. I don't know whether it appeared before the World Tree Ruodan branch was contaminated or after it was contaminated.
"But at that time, some doubts emerged in my mind. These doubts reached their peak when I was fighting the puppeteer, because I did not see the performance of one of my 'old acquaintances'
trace.
"According to the ability of my 'acquaintance', it is impossible for him to not be able to find the Ruodan branch of World Tree, nor to be able to determine who the leader of the primitive sect is. I thought what was waiting for me was an ambush, but everything turned out to be...
No.
"That's when I realized that there might be some flaws in my analysis."
He Ao drew a triangle on the table, looked up at Rhodes, and continued, "After that, I thought of an interesting thing, 'Ged'.
"When I killed Rose, the puppeteer gave up the body of the puppet Gad in order to protect himself. This body fell into the hands of 'Moonlight', and then he retrieved it intact afterwards.
body.
"This all seems reasonable at first, but how did the puppeteer know that the moonlight was coming? You know, he gave up his body at the beginning of the battle, and your people hadn't even appeared in my sight at that time.
"And why can he be so confident that the moonlight will not damage Gade's body, or directly dissect Gade, and that he can successfully get the body back?"
"Of course," He Ao smiled at this, "You gave a perfect explanation, 'There is a mole in Moonlight,' and then you blocked the Ruodan headquarters in Moonlight in the name of checking for the mole."
"With the help of a mole, it would be reasonable for the puppeteer to accomplish this. Everything is so logical and there are no flaws."
He Ao lowered his head, dipped his fingers in a little red wine again, and continued to draw on the white tabletop.
"But just this morning, I once again went to the places where 'homicides' had occurred, and I found that some crime scenes still had contaminated servant monsters active, and their behavior was very orderly.
, seems to be perfecting a certain ritual.
"In this world, extraordinary beings do not have an exact concept of gods, so they do not know that gods generally do not control contaminated servant monsters. Only the agents of gods in the human world can control these servants.
That is, the leader of the primitive church.
"And there is also a little knowledge of occultism. The bottom line of strength that can fully accept the oracle is 'B level' most of the time. Although the puppeteer has gained the power to control B level, he has not really been promoted to B level.
, his own soul strength is not high enough.
"In other words, he is not strong enough to bear the oracle of the mysterious shadow.
"So, on the night when the power of the mysterious shadow came and the Ruodan branch of the World Tree was polluted, there was another extraordinary person present. This extraordinary person was the strongest existence there at that time. He also obtained the mysterious shadow.
The most 'gifts' enable him to be successfully promoted to Class B, and then able to receive the oracle."
He Ao's fingers made the last stroke, a symbol with a triangle on the top and a cross on the bottom was completed on the table. There seemed to be invisible power in the air gathering towards it, making the symbol emit a faint shimmer.
He Ao raised his head and looked at Rhodes with a smile,
"Although the Ruodan branch of the World Tree is well hidden, it is not difficult for an extraordinary person with the ability to explore the unknown to find it. Am I right? Mr. Explorer, or rather,"
He paused for a moment and said, "Mr. Pope?"
Rhodes's face stiffened slightly.
In fact, based on the above alone, He Ao was not completely sure of Rhodes' identity, so he showed Rhodes's portrait to the two thieves who were rescued from the World Tree branch, and finally confirmed Rhodes' identity.
.
Of course, he was able to save the two thieves because he caught the puppeteer off guard, otherwise the puppeteer would definitely not have left him alive.
The special symbol in front of He'ao exudes a shimmering light. This is the emblem that was once engraved on Lyanna's eyebrow. He'ao estimated that this is the occult symbol pointing to the mysterious shadow, so he drew this symbol here.
The glow of this symbol means that there is a very strong power of the gods around, so that anything pointed at the gods will be reflected back.
At the same time, twisted and crazy ravings also poured into He Ao's mind.
For ordinary extraordinary people, this symbol cannot be painted in such a place, as it will be easily contaminated if painted.
As for mental resistance, He Ao still has a little bit of it, so he doesn't worry about it.
"Sorry, Mr. Hao Yi, I don't know much about the mysterious shadow, World Tree branch, or occult knowledge you mentioned."
After an extremely short silence, Rhodes smiled in surprise, seemingly shocked by what He Ao said just now, and completely unable to understand what He Ao was talking about.
"Then it doesn't matter if I destroy the ritual that your body built on the top floor?"
He Ao smiled.
Rhodes finally showed a clear expression change on his face. He slowly stood up and said with a smile, "As the 'boss' said, you are indeed a difficult opponent, and your knowledge far exceeds that of this world."
everyone."
At this moment, his body collapsed into a dark shadow, and his cold voice echoed throughout the hall, "So, please stay here forever."
The staff who were originally standing around turned their eyes at the same time and stared at He Ao. Their eyes were cold, like mechanical puppets.
Rhodes recalled Moonlight's members to Moonlight's headquarters, not to find ghosts, but to assimilate all Moonlight's extraordinary beings.
These people may have been implanted with contaminated seeds by Rhodes, allowing the seeds to take root and sprout in their bodies.
It's just that Rhodes temporarily allowed them to maintain their own sanity, so that they could behave like normal people without being noticed.
As the person in charge of Moonlight, Rhodes himself is the biggest insider.
Thinking about it this way, before Rhodes sent two other C-classes from Moonlight to besiege He'ao's body, he was probably trying to weaken the combat effectiveness of these two C-classes with the help of people from He'ao's research institute, so as to facilitate better pollution.
.
It's just that he didn't expect that these two C-levels would be destroyed directly.
As for the two new C-levels sent by Moonlight, they were probably too strong and the time was too short. He could only contaminate one, so he sent the other one out to investigate the World Tree.
When the mysterious shadow comes, that C-level person will probably die in the end.
It has to be said that the mysterious shadow chose the time very well and polluted the city's top transcendent in one fell swoop.
The three major extraordinary organizations in Ellen City are Moonlight, World Tree, and Dawn, or the ‘boss’ faction in Dawn.
The moonlight and the World Tree are both polluted, and the 'boss' doesn't care about the life or death of this city at all.
And this place is too far away from China, so the institute cannot get involved at all.
This was originally a dead end with absolutely no obstacles.
A mysterious shadow will fall over the corpses of countless people in this city.
He Ao raised his hand and tried to summon the Velora, but there was no response from the surrounding space.
A powerful force blocked the space, preventing the Velora from breaking through the space and entering the building.
However, this situation was also expected by He Ao.
Since Rhodes has a way to block the upper layers, he naturally has a way to block the lower layer.
Of course, what he relied on shouldn't be any extraordinary props, but the power of the mysterious shadow.
In fact, He Ao didn't know where the core location of the ceremony was arranged by Rhodes. Most of his last words were actually to 'deceive' Rhodes.
The basis for his speculation is that since Rhodes has sealed off the space on the upper floors, there is a high probability that the core location of the ceremony is on the upper floors, and most likely on the top floor with the longest path from the ground.
So he directly stated his guess and 'cheated' Rhodes.
Of course, Rhodes's huge reaction was based on He Ao's previous rigorous preparation.
All the analysis he just performed, how he discovered clues step by step, and determined Rhodes' identity step by step, has created an image of everything in Rhodes' mind.
So when He Ao said that Rhodes's true form was constructing the ceremony on the top floor, and he guessed it correctly, Rhodes lost his composure and took action directly.
If we really take the time to investigate the location where Rhodes held the ceremony, I'm afraid it will take a lot of time and may even arouse Rhodes' vigilance.
But now, He Ao doesn't have so much time.
So he had no choice but to venture into the building and use some language skills and observation and analysis to deceive the real location.
It's a pity that Rhodes' image here is just a shadow, otherwise he could just put a mark on Rhodes.
The next step is to go up to the top floor and find the body where Rhodes performed the ceremony.
But to go up to the top floor, you have to break through something.
The bright lights shattered in an instant, and the staff standing in the hall were instantly distorted into indescribable shadows.
Silent darkness enveloped everything, and chaotic low hums exploded in He Ao's mind.
If you want to obtain information quickly, you need to pay some price.
For example, taking the initiative to step into the trap that Rhodes set for him.
A terrifying and shuddering aura filled the entire hall, and the earth seemed to be crawling.
He Ao slowly pulled out the Shadowless Sword from his waist.
