Claire took her place and led Lu Li to the trunk level.
Sterling's makeshift laboratory.
The corridor leading to the laboratory has been blocked by the gatekeeper.
After passing the blockade and wearing beak masks, Lu Li and Claire entered the laboratory.
Lu Li saw Sterling.
He sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace. The fireplace was already burning. Sterling's head was raised, and a piece of charcoal was stuck in his mouth, burning through his throat while it was still burning.
"Ruling out homicide," Claire whispered.
Their arrival went unnoticed by the gatekeepers. They removed the charcoal residue and played with Sterling's head.
"The head is intact."
A gatekeeper took out an octopus-like soft body, a squirming mass of flesh, and covered Sterling's head.
The soft flesh stretched out, wrapped around Sterling's head, and moved like ocean waves.
After more than ten seconds, the waiting gatekeeper picked off the naturally curled up meat ball, threw it into a pocket crucible, mashed it, and poured out the mucus.
The mucus poured into the birdcage, and a pool of pitch-black slime in the birdcage smelled of food and crawled away, being swallowed up by a mass of rotten flesh that didn't seem to be dead.
The rotten flesh that devoured the ooze healed the body and condensed into the outline of a human, as if a miniature human was beating around in a birdcage.
The beating, which has nothing to do with dancing, lasted for several minutes. The miniature figure stopped and was close to the edge of the birdcage, as if there was a fireplace there. He stretched out his hand, grabbing something, and stepped back, as if there was a piece of charcoal in his hand. He sat down, like
There was a sofa there. He raised his head and stuffed the charcoal into his mouth.
"The deceased died of delirium with low sanity." The gatekeeper concluded.
A gatekeeper lit incense like a candle, and the smoke rose more violently than firewood, rising straight up and hitting the ceiling, spreading out and occupying the room.
The smell is not pungent, or rather, there is no smell. Another gatekeeper releases the black threads in the wooden box, and they swallow up the smoke that occupies the laboratory like scavengers.
"No weird smell."
The gatekeeper approached the desk and before touching the scattered notes, Claire stopped him: "Those are important notes. Professor Chris's letter requires you to keep them."
The gatekeeper took away her souvenir and after confirming its authenticity, said: "Then the death incident has been dealt with."
Before leaving, the leader of these gatekeepers warned Lu Li: "Exorcist, we don't want this to happen again. Stay away from the Giant Tree Academy with your danger."
They put Sterling's body into a body bag and left the laboratory.
"Don't worry, my mother won't change her attitude even if she is wearing these stones." Claire said.
"Is there any possibility of misjudgment?" Lu Li asked as the room returned to silence.
Sterling's death does not seem like a coincidence.
"Unlikely. This is a giant tree, and the handler is the gatekeeper." Claire looked at the desk: "The key is that Sterling went crazy after coming into contact with the notes... There may be something wrong with them, and I will temporarily hand over the notes.
Mother."
"Can."
Carrying the notes on the theory of human nature and Sterling's handwritten notes, they left the laboratory that had been transformed into an abandoned utility room after Sterling's death.
"Does he have family?" Lu Li asked before the corridor branched off.
"No. No need to be sad. We are all used to death, if you can be sad."
Claire and Lu Li said goodbye and walked into another corridor.
Lu Li returned the same way and when he was about to enter the mixed zone, he was stopped by the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper did not let Lu Li go.
"We need to test your sanity."
In fact the sanity check is not obtrusive.
As the safest canopy in the entire Midnight City, the gatekeepers prohibit any pollution from being brought there.
They did not give Lu Li special treatment because of his status.
Just like the introduction of gatekeepers: they only follow the rules.
Lu Li was taken away from the mixed area and headed towards the gatekeeper's lair. There were no students passing by, only strange-looking gatekeepers wearing short uniform cloaks.
Before entering the dark cabin, he saw a student walking out of the next cabin.
The oil lamp gave off a dim yellow light, and after a short wait in the dark hut, the gatekeeper arrived.
One of the two gatekeepers sat opposite Lu Li, and the other stood in the shadow behind Lu Li.
The gatekeeper in front of him showed Lu Li an oil painting: seagulls flying in the blue sky and skimming the blue sea with a lighthouse standing on a rock.
"What do you see in this painting?"
"Sea, sky, seagulls, lighthouse."
The gatekeeper flips the painting over to reveal its back: winged, hairless monstrosities hovering in a rocky sky, eyeball beacons monitoring a blood-colored ocean.
"Sea of blood, rock walls, weirdness, eyeball lighthouse."
"Which one do you think is true?"
"former."
"reason."
"That's how old Belfast was." Lu Li replied.
The gatekeeper was silent for a moment, then gave Lu Li a bottle of potion and asked him to take it.
"What effect does it have?" Lu Li asked.
"Have a delirium and describe in detail the visions you've had... Don't hold back, exorcist."
"Don't you have any branches from the Tree of Mind?" Lu Li did not take the potion.
A strange, blocked low voice suddenly came from the shadows behind him. "Can you get it, the tree of the soul."
"I don't know where it is."
The Tree of Mind disappeared into the old days together with the Exorcist Alliance.
"Find it, and you will gain the friendship of the gatekeeper." Behind him, the gatekeeper left the shadow, revealing himself under the light of the oil lamp.
The beak mask he wears covers his face, and the patterned cloak indicates his identity as a gatekeeper elder.
Lu Li did not refuse. Finding the Tree of Mind would obviously speed up the detection of sanity.
It just takes time. Whether it's confirming its location or finding it.
Lu Li still has many things to do yet.
As a reward for finding the Tree of Mind, the gatekeeper paid part of it in advance: he was exempted from taking the potion and subsequent sanity test, and Lu Li was released.
Leaving the cold and silent Gatekeeper's lair, he returned to the mixed zone. Professor Hagrid, who was anxiously crossing, appeared in front of him.
After hearing the news that Lu Li was taken away by the gatekeeper, Professor Hagrid wanted to leave the canopy to rescue Lu Li, but was blocked by the gatekeeper.
Lu Li was relieved when he returned and returned to the office to prepare for the mysterious class that was about to begin.
Due to Sterling's death, the matters facing Lu Li were temporarily put on hold, waiting for follow-up news from Professor Chris.
The newly obtained commission "Investigating the location of the Tree of Mind" is not now...
"Mr. Lu Li...Mr. Lu Li?"
Lu Li was separated from his thoughts by the call. Professor Hagrid on the podium was looking at him with concern, as well as the strange students around him.
"Mr. Lu Li, please tell us what the sanity value detection method was in the old days." Professor Hagrid asked.
"Branches of the tree of the soul."
"The tree of the soul is..."
Professor Hagrid resumed his lectures, and Lu Liheqi had already read the occult teaching materials and confirmed what he was going to do.
