Chapter 7: Dark Grid
Tarrant watched as the poet picked up the dagger and sat down on a "chaise longue", as if he had no intention of attacking him, but not to be taken lightly, Biantris's camp was not yet clear, Tarrant kept trying to get up, but his limbs were as immobile as stone, and after several failed attempts, he was already soaked with sweat.
Biantris over there, is playing with the dagger in his hand at the moment, a very sharp dagger, the handle end, the blade body is not concave and convex, there is no modification, the appearance is the same as an ordinary dagger, if you have not fought with the wielder before, it is difficult to imagine that it has such a powerful ability, "'Sleeping', refined zirconia crystal dagger, simple appearance, identification of the target's vitality, chance of paralysis, giving the holder a three-meter range of vision in the dark. In terms of its damage, it's just a little stronger than a normal dagger. Do you know what it did at the beginning, haha, its first owner made this dagger just to cheat and cheat, he succeeded many times, but unfortunately after the only failure, he was killed by the other party. It's really unlucky, how many times has it changed owners?"
The stalker on the ground laughed, "I can't remember, which of its owners do you know?"
"I've only heard of it, but I've never seen any of it," Biantriston paused, "Let's get down to business, when did you hook up with the Psiach?"
With the three-meter range of vision given by "Sleep", it was clear to Biantriz that the Stalker was thinking deeply, he might be thinking about whether to say it, or maybe he was thinking about which part to choose, so it was better to give him a hint, Biantris prompted: "I don't have a shallow relationship with Fredrica." ”
The Stalker laughed, "I was tasked with seizing the Xun Iron in the innermost room, and I don't know anything else, and I don't know that this is a nest of ghost-sucking monsters, sorry." ”
This conversation gave Tarrant a lot of information, first, Biantris was not a "Falcon" person, or a special operator arranged for this operation, because he did not know the goal of this operation, and second, Biantris was very social, and knew the number one person of "Falcon", he may be a high-level member of other organizations, or "Falcon" 's high-level personnel, but not in charge of the affairs of Watt Town, with these two points, let Tarrant believe that he is safe for the time being, the stone hanging in his heart is finally put down, and there is a third message, if the stalker is not lying, then the partner of the spirit sucking monster is the person who hired the "Falcon", this is a clue, as long as you find the connector above, you can find the real person behind the scenes, if the stalker lies, then the actual partner is the high-level of the "Falcon".
Biantris continued, "And what about after seizing the Xun Tie? You don't know how to use it?"
"If you really know Fredrica, you should ask him. The Stalker stared at Biantris, waiting for his answer.
"Well, I will. "It's like a game, what the stalker said just now is a test of Biantris's identity suspicions, and at this time it is Biantris who is testing the other party's bottom line.
Unexpectedly, the stalker sneered, took out a pill from his leather armor and quickly swallowed it, "You won't get anything from me!"
The poet was sitting on the chaise longue, the atmosphere of the previous "friendly" conversation made him not expect the stalker to commit suicide, such a short moment was too late to stop the stalker, he sighed in disappointment, "It seems that I still think about nothing." He walked over to Tarrant.
Tarrant was holding the ground weakly, Biantris approached, grabbed his right arm, helped him up, and put him on a chaise longue, the poet carefully looked at Tarrant's facial muscles, and skillfully examined his limbs, and said: "It's just a temporary paralysis, you can recover after a while, you should be a little more relaxed than just now, can you speak?"
"Yes", Tarrant tried to make a sound, but found it much easier, the previous feeling of suffocation had disappeared, and he was now anxious to know what Biantris meant by what he had just said, and asked, "Did you get any clues?"
"Well, a little. Originally, I thought I could trick some clues, so I said that I knew Fredrica, and he had already preconceived to raise my stealth level to the level of grandmaster, I didn't say this too fictionally, and the conversation after that didn't show any flaws, I didn't expect that he would kill himself after I said that I would go to Fredrica, so the flaw was to go to Fredrica", Biantriz licked his lips and continued: " I've thought about it, there are two possibilities, first, something happened to this guy Fredrica, and I said that going to him would be tantamount to suing him that I was not a member of the 'Falcon', otherwise it would be impossible not to even know such a serious thing, and second, Fredrica didn't have an accident, but he forbade his subordinates to participate in this kind of incident, and I went to him to expose that I was not in the same camp as them, if this speculation is true, then there must be other big people behind this group of stalkers, and it is very likely that the other two of the 'Falcons' are behind them. ”
"...... your conclusion?"
"My conclusion," Biantris' trademark malice smile appeared on his face again, "that is, if you look for the person who is looking for the 'Falcon', you can get more clues, and that's it." ”
Well, a word of nonsense, Tarrant shouted in his heart, since he knew that this group of stalkers was the people of the "Falcon", of course, he could get more clues from that organization, Tarrant still had one question left, I don't know if he could ask Biantris, even if he asked, he might not tell the truth, but after thinking about it for a long time, he still asked, "So you are not a member of the 'Falcon'?
The poet was lying on the ground helping Mark up, and when he heard Tarrant's question, he smiled evilly and said, "I can only say that I already have my own organization, and I am absolutely loyal to it, hahaha, as for Fredrica, I know him, but unfortunately he doesn't know me, he just heard", he helped Mark to another recliner, "Our sheriff has rested long enough. ”
This passage is as Tarrant expected, with little valuable information, and Biantris's words are ambiguous. Tarrant's limbs began to feel it, the effect of the paralyzing trap was not long, now he could slowly clench his fingers into a fist, his legs could be bent, and in a little while he would be able to regain his basic combat power. He looked at Mark, who was in the same state as before, conscious, but unable to make any movements, and the paralyzing effect of the dagger was still working.
After helping Adrian onto the recliner, Biantris began to look for the loot, he carefully searched the corpse on the ground, and finally only took out a complete white paper from the stalker's pants, Biantris looked disappointed, "There is nothing valuable, they deliberately want to hide their identities to prevent their behind-the-scenes from being revealed after the mission fails, so they only brought weapons", he carefully rubbed the white paper, it was very smooth, and there was no trace of use," Ah, there is also a strange white paper, what is the purpose of the white paper that they specially brought in. ”
Tarrant let out a "hmm" and motioned for Biantris to give him the blank paper, and when he took it, he found it empty, as the poet said, "Stalkers don't carry this thing for no reason, there must be something on it!", he looked at his teammates, "There will be pen marks when you write, can you touch the Braille, maybe you can touch the content on it." ”
"I've seen it, this paper not only uses an invisibility potion, but it is not written with a quill, there are no pen marks at all", Biantris smirked, "Look, fortunately I am here, and I happen to have the manifestation potion, I am simply sent by God to help you, you owe me a great favor", he took out a small bottle of clear liquid from the spirit pattern bag, and slowly applied it to the paper. In an instant, several horizontal lines appeared on the white paper, and four black dots were in the middle of some horizontal lines. Biantris picked up the blank paper, "I can't be sure what it is for the time being, since it's so secret, it will definitely be useful, I'll keep it first." You take a break, and when we're done, we'll go and see the mechanism. ”
The four of them rested in the room for a while, the paralyzing effect on Tarrant's body had subsided, he stood up, slowly moved his limbs, could run and jump, and the strength in his arms had also recovered, he looked at the other two and asked, "Have you recovered?"
Mark sat up with his hands on the chaise longue, coughed to make a sound, he nodded, "It's just harder," and stood up against the recliner. Adrian didn't have the weight of his armor, he was a little more relaxed than Mark, and he stood steadily, "Look at that mechanism, I'm almost recovered." ”
The Xun Iron found in the Stalker's Spirit Pattern Bag, plus one piece from the Tarrant Bag, makes a total of eight pieces. Biantris shook the Spirit Pattern Bag, "It takes eight power stones-powered traps, it must be as simple as more than a secret door, let's see what these octopus faces are doing." ”
"I'll cast Night Vision on you first, I memorized my spells again after resting a while, and now I can cast True Sight and Detection Traps", Adrian began to chant Night Vision.
As a mage, to be able to calmly memorize spells in the case of paralysis, this kind of concentration is not something that ordinary mages can do, it is an honor for the team to have such a mage, Tarrant is pleased with today's action, today's day's harvest has given him a glimmer of light, an opportunity to connect all the previous messy clues.
When he returned to the room, the paralyzing trap was pressed there as it was, and Biantris skillfully dismantled his work, put away the small machinery, and smiled, "Lifted, let's get started." ”
Tarrant looked at the dark grids in the room one by one, and found an awkward problem, there were twelve dark grids in total, three each for squares, rectangles, semicircles, and triangles, the number obviously did not match the starting stones at hand, he sat down with a little disappointment, "We are still missing, four stones are missing, and there are twelve hidden grids here." ”
"Four stones missing?" Adrian was also slightly surprised, "we should have all of them here, the first time we came in, there were so many on the table, although I didn't count them, but I remember putting them in two piles of almost eight." ”
Mark clenched his left hand into a fist and slapped his head, as if he was thinking, and suddenly, his left fist slapped on his right palm, shouting: "No, when we came in, the stalker asked us if we had a power stone, indicating that he was only missing the last power stone, which means that the one we have here, plus the one in his pocket, must be all the power stones!"
"Mark is right, this is all the power stones, you see the shape of these dark grids and the ones we have at hand", Biantris poured all the power stones in the spirit pattern bag on a chaise longue, two of the four shapes, "If there are four other ones, unless they are not here, they can't be lost, because it doesn't happen that one of the four shapes is lost", he held his chin in his right hand, looking like a scholar, "In my opinion, this is an encrypted mechanism, and we still need to figure out the correct way to place it before we can open it." ”
"We'll try it one by one," Mark said with a smug smile on his face, perhaps a shortcut.
"I'm afraid it will take a lot of time, and there are many possibilities for arrangement", Adrian frowned, and his expression was stern.
"Not only that, but the wrong alignment could set up some traps, such as burying us with a big hole in the ground. Biantris interjected, "Maybe the four of us will still hang here." ”
Tarrant on the side thought for a long time, got up and said, "Only that blank piece of paper is left!"
Biantris flipped out the white paper, "That's right, the four less are the same as the number of four dots on the paper, and the place where the black dots are marked is the dark grid where there is no need to place the power stone, I'll check it", he began to look for the four squares marked in the drawing.
According to the drawings alone, there are many possible combinations, plus the four black dots of the comparison need to be exactly four shapes, and there are only two possible combinations left, Biantris gestured, "Now there are two possibilities left, one is counting from left to right, and the other is the opposite, counting from right to left, should we bet once?"
"We shouldn't put our lives on the line with a 50 per cent chance of survival, we need to be absolutely sure," Adrian said.
"Haha, a strict person," Biantris said with a smile on his hands, "cherish your life, this kind of person can often do a lot of great things, but you know, sometimes we have to take a risk to get what we want." What do you think, Tarrant, do you want to stop there?"
"My opinion is simple, I'm going to open it, it's not dangerous", Tarrant stepped forward and stroked the dark grid, there must be a way, he tried to find out what was the difference between the two arrangements.
"Since you are so persistent, then I have a way, I don't know if you are willing to try, this picture is drawn by the falcon man, and the habitual thinking of man is calculated from the door, that is, from left to right, 70% of the likelihood. Biantris gave each of his teammates in the room an inquiring look, "Give it a try?"
The 70% chance seems very attractive, but in fact, it doesn't shake Tarrant in the slightest, he knows a lot about the Psisuction, and knows the habits of the Psivacuums, they prefer the right, so the food in this lair is located on the left, and the meeting room, dormitory, etc. are placed on the right, if this drawing is based on the information provided by the Psions, then it should be calculated from the right, the odds should be half in half, he needs more clues to decide, a flash of light flashed through his mind," Adrian, you've memorized the detection mechanism, right, it can come in handy, as long as we detect the energy and location of this mechanism, we can think about the arrangement that causes the trap in turn. ”
This kind of reverse thinking is based on the initial idea of the trapper, and if the trap triggers what permutation is most likely to hit the intruder, it is generally not wrong. Adrian realized, and cast the detection trap, the function of this spell is to maximize the perception and touch of the recipient in a short period of time, can detect the potential contained energy, so as to know where to place traps, in the adventure team without thieves, this spell is a necessity for mages. Adrian probed the entire room, stopping in the middle of the innermost part, "There's a powerful energy vessel here, it should be... Frost technique, placed underneath, causes a freezing effect on the calf part after triggering, if there is no armor protection, it may be frozen and the leg is broken, it is a repeated trap, if it is placed incorrectly again, the energy of Xun Iron will be excited into the energy container, and the trap will be triggered again. ”
"Understood, since it's set at the innermost end, then the correct arrangement should be from left to right", Tarrant picked up the iron and prepared to place it, "To be on the safe side, you should stand on the deck chair, right, even if you trigger the trap, you won't hurt." ”
"I still haven't thought it through, if I memorize the Ice Armor, the trap won't hurt you, Tarrant, give me some time, I'll re-memorize the spell", Adrian sat down on the chaise longue and prepared to re-remember.
Tarrant patted Adrian on the shoulder, "No need, we've been here long enough to go wrong." Seeing that Tarrant was so resolute, Adrian no longer insisted. After his teammates got on the deck chair, Tarrant put the Xun iron one by one in the dark grid according to the drawing, in addition to insuring his teammates, Tarrant also kept a heart for himself, he started to place it from the inside, and left the last piece closest to the door, but when it came to the eighth piece, it still made him hesitate a little, if his calculation was wrong, then the trap trigger would freeze his legs, the consequences were not something he could bear, he had to jump on the deck chair at a very fast speed to avoid the trap. He paused, tried to take a few deep breaths, the current position is the farthest from the trap, after putting on the Xun Tie, whether it is successful or not, jump on the chaise longue first, the mind has been decided, Tarrant slowly aligned the Xun Tie with the edge of the dark grid, for the sake of justice! Tarrant muttered, and then, he almost let the Xun Iron fall freely into the dark grid along the edge of the dark grid, he supported the chaise longue with his right hand and jumped on the chaise longue.
Deathly silence.
The eighth power stone had been placed in the dark compartment, and the mechanism would have been activated, but now nothing had happened, and Tarrant was on high alert at the moment, trying to find clues in the silence. After a few seconds, still no movement, he looked at Adrian, "Wrong?"
"I don't know...... If it's wrong, why didn't the trap start?"
After another silence, Biantris suddenly spoke: "Tarrant, if you can snatch my gold coins as fast as jumping off the chaise longue just now, then the gold coins must have returned to your pocket at this moment", he smiled evilly, seeing that Tarrant didn't pay attention to his ridicule, he coughed dryly, and added, "Xun Tie is exporting energy, wait a while", Biantris pointed to Xun Tie and drew a long trajectory.
As soon as the words fell, a slight sound of "empty" came from outside the passage, breaking the dead silence echoing throughout the passage, and a mechanical device was activated.