Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1714: Chapter 64: An Heir

The maid ultimately did not dismantle the train—note, it means not completely dismantled… After all, the train is so long, taking apart each component would be impossible in a short time.

“Ah, I see. This compression technology is something I’ve seen for the first time.”

Listening to the elder sister’s self-talk, Reyaz felt reassured… Just as he thought, the elder sister was merely interested in the hunt and was studying the technology used on this train.

Unknowingly, the train’s speed had already slowed down.

At this moment, Cang Xing, who disappeared when the elder sister started twisting the screwdriver, reappeared, “Dear passengers, we have arrived at the final destination, the Central Tower. Thank you for choosing this train, and I’m Cang Xing, the attendant. I look forward to serving you again.”

It feels very welcoming… Reyaz thought.

“Are we there…” Little Siren rubbed her eyes, looking drowsy, “That was fast.”

Indeed, it was fast; after several thousand seconds, it was just over an hour. A little nap could easily make one cross over… Cang Xing opened the train door and graciously sent off the passengers.

The Central Tower station, as the endpoint of all trains, had tracks radiating out in all directions visible on the platform.

On some tracks, similar trains were parked… Reyaz counted, aside from the one he rode in on, there were thirty-seven more on the platform, but the number of tracks far exceeded this number.

Despite its grandeur, the platform was eerily silent…. Apart from their footsteps, there wasn’t a single sound to be heard.

The stairs were covered with a thick layer of dust… Clearly, this place hadn’t seen movement for a long time.

According to Cang Xing, Louis XXXIX was the Shepherd who arrived here before Reyaz… However, Reyaz was puzzled as to how long ago the Emperor had been here, as he moved closer to the nearest lift gate.

His body was scanned with light once again, then the gate opened automatically.

The elevator platform rose slowly… But Reyaz was still clueless about the Emperor’s purpose for letting him into this place.

Suddenly, the elevator platform halted and stopped—when the gate opened, the maid unexpectedly stepped in front of everyone.

With a wave, a wall of gray-black light appeared instantly, blocking everyone’s way.

As soon as the gate opened, dozens of light beams shot in… But the beams were stopped by the gray-black wall and disappeared without a trace.

“What’s going on!” Reyaz cried out in fear, looking ahead.

Outside the gate stood ten human-sized machines—the attack clearly came from the cannons in their arms!

Faced with the sudden attack, Reyaz was caught off guard—yet he immediately pulled Helen into his arms and hid behind the side of the gate.

“It seems the Central Tower isn’t too welcoming of you, Reyaz,” the maid laughed casually.

“But there are still some welcomes, aren’t there? Cang Xing had a good attitude,” Reyaz joked amid the hardship, “Alright, I wasn’t very popular back at the beginner’s school, except for Ke Duojin, few wanted to befriend me… maybe I was just shy?”

The maid chuckled and turned her gaze to Boss Luo.

Luo Qiu casually said, “Handle it, please try not to damage this place.”

The maid nodded, then directly walked out of the elevator platform… Reyaz was still holding Helen and hiding behind the gate, worriedly asked, “Elder Brother Luo, how could you let the elder sister go out alone!”

“She’s enough,” Boss Luo chuckled, “If I had to step in, things might become much more complicated than expected.”

What kind of talk is that!

Reyaz opened his mouth, about to say something, when the maid returned—dragging a human-sized machine behind her.

Reyaz was shocked and peeked out, seeing that the machines on the corridor outside were dismantled into heaps of parts scattered around. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “This… is much more violent than Liuge!”

“Reyaz, were you saying something just now?” the maid suddenly eyed Reyaz and smiled.

“No… no! I didn’t say anything! Really!” He quickly covered his mouth.

The maid did not pursue it further but looked at Boss Luo, saying, “These machines probably don’t have the capability to communicate; they likely just act upon commands.”

As she spoke, the maid gently twisted her hands and removed the head from the machine, prying open its armor to reveal intricate components and circuits inside.

Boss Luo pondered, “If they are receiving commands, then naturally there’s a commander… It seems the Central Tower indeed doesn’t welcome intruders.”

“But Cang Xing did not reject Reyaz’s entry,” the maid continued.

Luo Qiu shifted his gaze, bending down and pulling out a palm-sized metal sheet from the gap in this machine’s chest armor, examining it.

“It seems someone left us a gift early on.”

“What is this?” Reyaz curiously leaned forward.

Luo Qiu handed the metal sheet to Reyaz, saying, “It’s a message, presumably left for you.”

“Left for me?” Reyaz was taken aback, looking down at the metal sheet, discovering inscriptions of Undersea City’s script, “This is… Undersea City’s text? [Please look for the room with the Ω symbol, I’ve left clues for you].”

“Perhaps not for you,” Boss Luo suddenly added, “It’s likely left for someone who will discover this information.”

Reyaz opened his mouth and, instinctively, said, “Do you think this metal sheet was left by the Emperor for those who come later?”

“Perhaps.” Luo Qiu smiled, “He clearly wouldn’t know who would come here after him. But now that you’re here, naturally it’s you.”

“But… how could the Emperor be certain that I… or anyone who comes later would find this information?” Reyaz shook his head, “This thing was hidden inside the machine… How could it just happen to be found by someone coming later?”

“Not just this one.” Luo Qiu shook his head, “If I’m correct, the other machines might have similar objects.”

Reyaz, half-believing, hurried out to the corridor, searching among the scattered machine wreckage. Seeing this, Helen also stepped forward to help.

After a short while, Reyaz returned holding nine similar metal sheets… Adding the original one, there were ten, corresponding to the ten machines in total.

The contents on the metal fragments are completely consistent… Reya had to admit that Elder Brother Luo was right.

“I don’t understand.” Reya shook his head while holding the pile of metal fragments: “Why did the Emperor hide these metal fragments inside the machines… If subsequent people cannot destroy these machines, then wouldn’t there be no way to discover the message he left behind forever?”

Luo Qiu thought for a moment and said, “Probably, there’s no way to leave a message anywhere other than these machines… Or to put it another way, as long as the message is left on these machines, anyone coming after will definitely encounter it.”

“Are you saying these machines will definitely attack those who come after?” Reya was startled, not to mention why these machines would attack newcomers, “But if, by chance, the subsequent people can’t match these machines and are killed, then wouldn’t this information become meaningless?”

“Who knows.” The maid said indifferently, “Perhaps your Emperor thinks that if people can’t even handle these things, then they aren’t qualified to receive what he left behind… dying wouldn’t matter.”

Reya immediately smiled bitterly and said, “In that case, I probably don’t qualify… If it weren’t for the intervention of the elder sister, Helen and I probably wouldn’t have made it out of the gate alive.”

“Luck is also a form of strength.” The maid chuckled, “Since your Emperor set up such a trial, he wouldn’t care how the subsequent people ended up receiving his information.”

Reya shook his head, not entirely agreeing with the elder sister’s words… This time could be considered lucky, but luck won’t always be that good.

He took a deep breath, then began rummaging through the wreckage of the machines on the ground… He picked up some parts that seemed usable as weapons, held them in his hand, and also threw Helen what looked like a short gun resembling a Fire Kirin.

It didn’t require magic energy to activate; just pressing it directly could fire, and there was a gauge panel on the gun’s body similar to an energy scale.

“These should be energy cartridges… just not sure what kind of energy technology it is.”

Reya dismantled several other weapons and extracted a lot of energy cartridges, stuffing them into his pockets.

Boss Luo was also given one… He held it in his hand but showed no intention of using it.

“Now that you’ve received the information left by the Undersea City Emperor, what do you plan to do next?” Boss Luo suddenly asked.

Reya pondered and said, “Since the Emperor left a message, I can only look for the room he mentioned in his message, hoping there are more clues there.”

“But this place is so vast, how do you plan to search?” Boss Luo asked again.

Reya couldn’t help but fall into deep thought… Suddenly, looking at the machine wreckage all over the ground, he got an idea and said, “Elder Brother Luo, suppose, and I’m just assuming. Suppose the Emperor really left the metal fragments on these machines as you said, and these machines would inevitably attack newcomers. How many of these metal fragments do you think the Emperor would leave behind?”

“A lot.” Boss Luo smiled and replied.

Reya’s eyes lit up, “Exactly! A lot! Not just a lot, it should be all! That way, no matter which machine the newcomers encounter or destroy, they have the maximum chance of discovering the information left behind!”

“What are you trying to say?” Boss Luo looked at Reya with interest.

“Suppose these machines are scattered and operate here; putting information on each machine would be too cumbersome.” Reya quickly said, “There must be a place where these machines gather! By staying there, you can ensure putting information in each machine. It could be the place where these machines are manufactured or where they are refueled! The Emperor mentioned hints leading to that room, so I have reason to believe that the hints might be hidden in that place where these machines converge? Elder Brother Luo, what do you think?”

“Now, you are the captain.” Boss Luo gave this answer like encouragement, “We are your team members; you decide the next move.”

“You’re really treating this like an adventure?” Reya groaned helplessly, “I’m not joking! I… I can’t be this captain, Elder Brother Luo, stop teasing me!”

“You think I’m teasing you.” Luo Qiu looked into his eyes and asked.

Reya moved his lips, avoiding the gaze, subconsciously said, “Compared to my clumsiness, Elder Brother Luo is more suitable… see, you’re always calm, and elder sister is so powerful.”

“I see…” Boss Luo thought for a moment, suddenly saying, “Then if we’re not around, you won’t have those concerns.”

“Not around, how could…” He suddenly looked up, and Elder Brother Luo in his view had disappeared!

In shock, Reya scanned the surroundings and discovered not only Elder Brother Luo but also the maid had vanished!

“Helen, did you… did you see where Elder Brother Luo and they went?” Reya anxiously looked at Helen.

The Siren girl looked back with a puzzled expression, curiously asking, “Reya, what are you talking about? What Elder Brother Luo, there’s no one else here but you and me?”

“Impossible!” Reya grabbed Helen’s shoulders excitedly, “How could there be no one? Didn’t we meet Elder Brother Luo and the elder sister by the sea and come all the way… look at these machines, it was the elder sister who disassembled them!”

“Reya, you’re hurting me.” Helen said with some grievance.

“Did you… really forget?” Reya’s voice trembled slightly.

Helen rubbed the place she was grabbed, aggrievedly saying, “We’ve only been you and me along the way, haven’t we? You were the one who destroyed these scary things… Reya, did you hit your head during the fight just now?”

Not memory loss… but suddenly losing that awareness.

Reya thought in horror.

“Reya?”

Seeing Reya leaning dazedly against the wall, Helen had to step forward, softly calling him.

Reya took a deep breath, exhaled the stale air, and said with a bitter smile, “No matter what… I can only be the captain.”

So.

The young man from the Undersea City, together with the Siren girl, leaned against each other, slowly walked out of the hallway, and ventured into the mysterious giant central tower.

…

As they left, two figures slowly appeared on the hallway.

Boss Luo looked at the maid and suddenly asked, “Do you know what Louis finally requested?”

“What was it?”

Luo Qiu gazed at the end of the hallway, softly saying, “An heir.”

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PS: (44/83)