Chapter 380 - h.e.l.l of the Tree of Knives
They walked down the next set of steps and soon saw the third level, the h.e.l.l of the tree of knives. There was an empty s.p.a.ce as large as a basketball court. The center contained an iron tree. On that tree, every branch and leaf looked like sharp knives. Many pierced bodies hung on the branches. The tree was full of corpses, among which was a large number of female corpses in white clothes, their black hair hanging down.
Xiao Lou stopped and wondered what the mechanism of this h.e.l.l of the tree of knives would be. It wouldn’t hang them up, right?
Tang Ci released the mechanical ants to explore the road. As a result, the ants had just taken a few steps forward when the iron tree seemed to come alive. It suddenly stretched out a long iron chain, rolled up the two ants and hung them upside down from the tree! The ants were made of metal and were instantly cut apart by the sharp branches and leaves.
Xiao Lou, “……”
Was it really going to hang them from the tree?!
Tang Ci, “……”
It was a pity for his ants. Fortunately, his card allowed him to summon a large number of mechanical ants. Two dead ones had little impact. Lu Jiuchuan once again inwardly scolded A of Diamonds for being abnormal as he glanced at Yu Hanjiang, “Can you avoid it with your skill?”
“It should be possible. My knife can cut iron like it is mud. These vines are made of iron so it shouldn’t be a problem to cut them down. However, it is too dangerous for me to bring all of you over.” Yu Hanjiang’s expression was extremely serious. “Is it a stepping sensor? If we don’t touch the floor, it can’t sense where we are and can’t hang us upside down from the tree?”
“I’ll try.” Tang Ci had many mechanical cards in his hands. In addition to the ants who explored the way and the mechanical spiders for attacking, he also had aerial drones. His drones could carry out large-scale bombings in designated areas, could be used as a stealth reconnaissance aircraft or for transporting. It was very versatile.
Tang Ci sent only two drones into the air. If there was a sensor on the ground so that the tree would sense it when someone stepped on the ground, attacking the target and hanging them from the tree—they just had to avoid stepping on the ground.
As it turned out, they were too optimistic. The drones flew through the air but the moment they entered the area of the iron tree, they were swept up by the iron vines and instantly turned into a pile of debris.
Tang Ci was helpless. “This won’t work. It is a 360 degree sensor with no dead ends.”
It was more exaggerated than modern high-tech intelligence. So why did such a strange mechanism appear in an ancient tomb?
Xiao Lou couldn’t help wanting to complain about the keeper. He rubbed his temples, took a deep breath and quickly calmed down as he examined this strange tree. The iron tree in front of them was covered with corpses. Once they were captured by the iron chains, they would also become corpses hanging from it.
Moreover, this iron tree was extremely st.u.r.dy. It was impossible for them to destroy the entire tree artificially.
Yu Hanjiang’s knife might be able to cut the iron chains grabbing people but he couldn’t cut the iron tree with a diameter of over five meters. Besides, no one knew how many chains the tree could throw at once. It was too dangerous to rush over directly…
Xiao Lou thought carefully before speculating, “Since it is a sensing mechanism, there are only a few types. One is pressure sensing which is where we step on the ground and the iron tree can immediately determine our position. Another is sound sensing. As long as we make a noise such as footsteps or breathing, the iron tree can accurately lock onto our position. Then there is visual sensing. a.s.sume that all the leaves of this tree have eyes then it can immediately notice us wherever we go and pierce us with the sharp knives.”
The team members turned their heads to look at the largest tree they had ever seen in their lives. There were rusty spots on the tree. The rusty iron might have oxidized due to the blood flowing on the tree. Most of the corpses on the tree were dry bodies that had been dead for a long time but one… seemed to have died not long ago.
As a forensic doctor, Xiao Lou was very sensitive to the time of death. He saw that there was a female corpse hanging from the top of the iron tree. She wore a short-sleeved black shirt and jeans with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She was hung upside down on the tree, a sharp branch piercing her chest and her face full of horror. The corpse hadn’t rotted yet and there wasn’t any obvious livor mortis.
Xiao Lou’s heart turned cold. “Look at the female corpse at the top… she should’ve died within 30 minutes…”
Lu Jiuchuan was obviously stunned. Everyone was struggling to figure out how to get through this mechanism while Professor Xiao actually had time to study the dead body hanging upside down on the iron tree and determine the time of death? Was he treating the Diamonds secret room as a Hearts secret room?
Then Lu Jiuchuan carefully pondered on Xiao Lou’s words and realized something. “She died within 30 minutes. Do you mean that this person entered the labyrinth not long ago?”
Xiao Lou’s expression was heavy. “She is probably a hunter.”
Everyone, “……”
In this World Weekly, the keeper already said that all teams were independent and would enter a separate secret room. All players would partic.i.p.ate in the rankings and the elimination was determined according to the elimination system. In other words, their team couldn’t meet other challenger teams in the labyrinth.
On this iron tree, 99% of the corpses were dressed in white with long hair hanging down. Their faces were white like they were hanged ghosts. They should be the evil ghosts punished in this h.e.l.l. The corpse hung at the top was completely different from the other corpses in terms of clothing and time of death. In addition, her skin wasn’t as pale and the place where she was pierced by the sharp branches was… bleeding.
She was human. The only people who could enter this labyrinth were hunters.
Lu Jiuchuan’s back felt cold. “My d.a.m.n mouth jinxed us! The hunters actually tracked down this labyrinth but they probably came in from a different location than us. Perhaps that is why this woman died in the h.e.l.l of the tree of knives?”
Xiao Lou nodded and looked up at the woman’s corpse. He didn’t know if he should be uncomfortable or glad. He was silent for a moment before saying, “We found the body of a hunter here. At least this proves that…”
He glanced at Yu Hanjiang and continued seriously, “In the confrontation between hunters and challengers, the four keepers should maintain a neutral att.i.tude. The hunters who entered the labyrinth have to solve puzzles and mechanisms like us. The loli keeper isn’t throwing the game for them.”
Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Yes, they come to kill us in this labyrinth only to end up killed by the mechanisms. However, the hunters who came here to track Brother Jiu shouldn’t be weak. This hunter was stabbed to death by the iron tree here… it obviously won’t work for us to break straight through.”
Should they go back and find another way? However, they weren’t reconciled at the thought of giving up their previous work.
Xiao Lou hesitated before suddenly saying, “I have a way that we can try.”
Everyone saw him take out a card and look at the iron tree calmly. “This iron tree should rely on vision, sound and pressure sensing. As long as we enter its sensing range, not even a mosquito can escape. Therefore, we must make it unable to sense us.”
The eyes of the team members lit up.
The card that Xiao Lou took out was the invisibility cloak.
Proofreader: Fictional Reality & Paranoid Kitten