Chapter 257: House Of Oddities
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
This was actually a double formation!
The first layer was purely set up to protect a certain point in the town. There was another layer of formation at that certain point of town which was relatively smaller than the first one but a lot more complicated. All the signs were pointing towards that the second formation being a s.p.a.ce formation.
Ever since the Ninth Ruins was discovered, the Ro family had devoted three generations to studying the ruins in order to get a conclusion.
Since Tang Ling asked, Ro Xin did not hold back either. “The center of the town is protected by the first layer of formation where there must be something important and it’s the control center for the first layer.
“Our family’s life research revolves around deciphering the first layer. We want to know who the owner of the Ninth Ruins is and why he set up the formations with this much effort. What did he leave behind? Could it be some kind of inheritance?
“As for the second formation, it’s a s.p.a.ce formation and with our family’s capability, we are still unable to decipher it, but a s.p.a.ce formation requires two or more supporting points to be able to work.” As Ro Xin landed the last stroke on her drawing, she tiredly wiped away the sweat on her forehead and explained everything to Tang Ling in detail.
“What do you mean by that?” Tang Ling was confused.
“Meaning, the s.p.a.ce formation is one of the most complicated formation arrays. Since it involves s.p.a.ce, it must have two points in different locations to support its activation, just like how the legendary teleportation array is one of the simplest s.p.a.ce formations. It transports the subject from Point A to Point B, so Point A and Point B are the supporting points. On top of that, both western and eastern mythology mention something like a pocket dimension, which is a little pocket that can hold many, many things. The two-point theory also applies here: one point is outside the pocket and the other is the s.p.a.ce inside the pocket.”
“So, are you saying that the second formation is our door to escape?” Tang Ling asked with a solemn expression.
“Yes, and based on the research done by the three generations of my family, it’s safe for us to a.s.sume that the energy wave of the second s.p.a.ce formation is pointing towards Darkness Port.” Ro Xin looked at Tang Ling pointedly.
Tang Ling raised a confused brow. While he felt skeptical about the theory behind the s.p.a.ce formation, he also understood why the Ro family devoted themselves to researching the Ninth Ruins.
Aside from the fact that it housed a s.p.a.ce formation, the town itself might house some mysterious inheritance knowledge or treasure. Other than that, once they deciphered the formation and attained control of the formation, even if they did not find any inheritance knowledge or treasure, they would be able to control the first layer of the formation. Therefore, the Ro Drifter Camp would gain a safe location for them to settle down and its safety level might be even higher than that in a safety sector.
However, fate was a mischievous child, and the Ro Drifter Camp had fallen into the enemy’s hands.
“Do you have any idea on how to decipher it?” Tang Ling asked the question that concerned him the most.
“I’m not confident enough. Our family devoted three generations worth of effort into studying the ruins and were only 60% confident in controlling this place. Due to the mere 60%, we didn’t take the risk since there are many lives on the line.” Ro Xin softened her tone as she spoke, then she looked up in determination as she concluded, “But we have to gamble right now.”
Ro Xin then quickly tidied up the drawings in front of her and said, “I’ve deciphered the second layer of the formation. Let’s go.”
“Sure.” Tang Ling nodded and tidied up the formation lines and symbols that he got from comparing the two different formations.
…
The Stardust Council had made their way into the Ninth Ruins.
Unfortunately, Tang Ling and the siblings only realized it right after they walked out of the house.
Tang Ling was prepared for the enemy coming in, but Ro Xin found it difficult to accept the fact that the Stardust Council was able to decipher the sequence at the entrance in such a short time. If the Stardust Council was capable of doing so, why had they not done it earlier? Why wait until now?
Draconic Seven looked at the trio as they walked out of the house with a cruel smile. The scientific team was getting faster and faster at deciphering the sequence, and they were at the last part of the entrance. If the soldier made it through the alley, the trio would not be able to outrun them anymore.
Draconic Seven provoked Tang Ling by dragging his thumb over his neck and what he got in return was Tang Ling’s disdainful smile.
“Let’s go to the second formation. We can no longer stop them from taking advantage of us.” Ro Xin inhaled deeply and quickly understood the key point. The hardest part in deciphering the formation was searching for that starting point among a plethora of clues.
She was almost certain that when they had deciphered the first layer of formation, that starting point had already been exposed to their enemy. If they started on the second layer of deciphering, which was on the same street, that starting point would also be exposed.
So, it was a race against time as things started to get worse.
Ro Xin did not tell Tang Ling that even with the note that contained three generations of research and the 60% probability of deciphering the formation, she was still unable to pinpoint the starting point of the second layer. She had spent the whole day yesterday to deduce three possible points to begin.
Should she started on the wrong point, every step that followed would be wrong and the formation would react with heavy attacks that were probably even fiercer than the a.s.saults from the Stardust Council.
Although Tang Ling had only been learning formations for a day, he was still able to understand the basic theory. He knew what Ro Xin meant. Things had really started to worsen.
He had a peek at the Stardust Council and their whole team of geniuses using the most advanced device to decipher the sequence whereas the three of them only had a notebook that was contained three generations of research and had to calculate with their own heads.
The starting point of the second formation was the third house in the street. In order to decipher the second formation, they must get through the house and reach the backyard, which would lead them to the safety zone of the second formation of the Ninth Ruins.
A house which they just had to get through? Would that not be a little too simple?
However, after they opened the door to that house, they found out that the second layer formation was much more difficult than the first.
The house was not just any house. It was a maze! There were many intersecting stairs in the house and a mere glance at all the overlapping stairs would make one dizzy.
The stairs were not normal stairs either, which usually led to someplace. Some of these stairs were connected to the wall or window while some stopped halfway. Others were connected to another flight of stairs and some were crooked or upside down, leading to a mysterious location.
The intersecting stairs were not a major problem. The biggest problem was that some of the stairs defied the logic of architecture. They were crooked in strange angles and would change directions all of a sudden. Some flight of stairs that led up would suddenly lead down. Normal architecture would never be able to build such absurd stairs, at least, not with the architectural level of the old civilization.
Some of the stairs even appeared surreal. They might look like a real flight of stairs, but as they extended towards the wall, a new flight of stairs opened up and it was difficult to tell whether the stairs that opened up at the wall were real or just a realistic 3D painting.
One would easily be confused and feel dizzy by the very sight of the messy and intersecting stairs.
On top of that, the exterior of the house was similar to any other normal-looking residential house, but the interior s.p.a.ce was a lot bigger than it appeared.
If Tang Ling was still reluctant to believe that the owner of the Ninth Ruins was a wizard since he believed there must be a scientist behind all this, after he saw all the crazy and intersecting stairs, he strongly believed what Ro Xin said, a wizard was much more suitable for being the owner of the Ninth Ruins.
The house had a strange sense of trickery to it like a house of magic that played tricks on the mind although it was difficult for one to accept the absurdity.
“So, s.p.a.ce formation really exists.” Ro Xin paid attention to something else. Right after she stepped into the house in which interior s.p.a.ce size did not match the exterior, she immediately realized the authenticity of s.p.a.ce formation.
Right after her voice faded, a thud came from the house like something had fallen on the floor.
“Who goes there?” Ro Li bellowed instinctively, but he quickly hid behind his sister. Tang Ling sighed and shook his head at him. How the h.e.l.l are you going to protect your sister like that?
On the other hand, Ro Xin responded with a jolt but quickly calmed down to fish out the drawings from her bag and said, “Go to the third flight of stairs from our position. Hurry!”
They had to be quick. If they failed to move to a certain point before the Stardust Council arrived, they would be literally waving at the enemy to chase them. They had to at least reach a point where the Stardust Council could not decipher. Only then they could maintain their advantage.
With Ro Xin’s guidance, the three of them moved up to the said flight of stairs. She dared not delay their movement with the drawings in her hand as she pointed out the correct path.
Soon, they reached intersecting stairs, but it seemed like a dead end. There were two branching paths, one of which led outside the window while the other turned at a strange 90° angle and led downwards.
With the papers in her hand, Ro Xin hesitated as she bit her lips nervously and seemed a little lost. Actually, the essence of the s.p.a.ce formation was not about what you saw because the eyes might be tricked.
The trio reached a key turning point within the formation and Ro Xin was having difficulty deciding the correct way. The wrong path might lead to severe consequences and be fatal.
Even if they realized that the path was wrong, there was no going back and they might be forever stuck within the formation. They could not trace their path because the formation was evers.h.i.+fting.
Bang!
The door was kicked open. It was Draconic Seven with his men. He looked up and saw the three of them at the top of the stairs. Without saying anything, he fished out his gun and fired a shot at Tang Ling.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed in the sealed interior s.p.a.ce, ringing loudly in their ears.
Nevertheless, Tang Ling did not respond at all. The formation was not a normal s.p.a.ce and there was more than met the eye. Both sides might be a meter away, but they might be actually hundreds of meters apart. It was a common phenomenon for an illusory s.p.a.ce.
In the next moment, the bullet that Draconic Seven fired remarkably landed on the wall behind him and punctured one of the soldiers’ neck before leaving a hole on the wall.
Draconic Seven gaped in shock. Beside him, Colo quickly held his hand up to stop him. “What are you doing? Do you know how stupid you are? This is a s.p.a.ce formation. It consists of mathematics, physics, and some mysterious knowledge that we don’t know yet, and every single aspect is utilized to its peak performance! Yet, you are firing a gun here?!”
Draconic Seven did not reply to Colo’s criticism as he pitifully kept his gun. He also did not show any guilt about killing the soldier by mistake.
“Quite a decent gun you have there,” Tang Ling mocked. His voice entered Draconic Seven’s ears and echoed multiple times as if it had traveled through s.p.a.ce for a while.
After that, Tang Ling took the drawings from Ro Xin and glanced over them. Then, he walked towards the stairs leading to the window.
“Tang Ling, you…” Ro Xin wanted to hold him back, but she realized that he was quite confident about his choice. After he jumped over three flights of stairs and arrived at the window, he turned around to her and said, “Come on, keep up. You have to trust me.”
Ro Xin did not move as a drop of sweat hung at the tip of her nose. Was Tang Ling agitated by the enemy? How could he gamble with the choice within the formation? How could he let luck decide everything?
Ro Li, however, followed dully.
“Brother, what are you doing?” Ro Xin nervously said, “Tang Ling, come back. Give me two minutes, just two minutes.
Tang Ling smiled and spun around. Without further ado, when he walked past Ro Li, he grabbed Ro Xin and sprinted towards the window.
“Tang Ling, stop acting on impulse, you…Aaah!” With Ro Xin in his arms, Tang Ling pushed the window open and walked out as Ro Li followed closely.
Ro Xin shut her eyes nervously. The moment Tang Ling opened the window, she saw the sunlight from outside and the yard below. It was exactly like the scenery outside the house before they came in, but the height was different. They were at least a hundred meters up in the air. Only a Purple Moon Warrior could survive such a height. If the three of them jumped, they would surely die.
Ro Xin was a little afraid of heights, so her pupils shrunk instinctively before she squeezed her eyes shut. However, she did not feel a falling sensation. Instead, she felt dizzy as if she was spinning through s.p.a.ce. In the next instant, she felt her feet land on solid ground.
What happened? Ro Xin nervously opened her eyes and realized that the three of them were still in the house, and they had strangely moved from the left side of the stairs to the right.
Ro Xin looked at Tang Ling in shock, but before she could say something, she heard the pounding of footsteps from somewhere within the house.
“Huh? Hahaha…” As the footsteps echoed in the air, a burst of strange and eerie laughter followed.
“Who goes there?!” Ro Li was shocked once again and quickly hid behind Ro Xin.
This time, even Ro Xin was scared and the color drained from her face.
Tang Ling, on the other hand, tilted his head and dug his ears. “Ro Li, you were quite decisive just now.”
“My dad told me to follow you, so I must,” Ro Li scanned around and uttered without paying much attention. He continued to hide behind his sister like a scaredy-cat. He then softly asked, “Tang Ling, are there ghosts in this house?”