The hands of the elevator went round and round. Alexander rode the elevator, circle after lap, and he broke through the layers of puzzles. Ascending from the lowest level of "Thebes", he arrives at the metropolis of dreams, the metropolis, the new Antioch of the automata, and is about to go to the real New Antioch at the top. The hands are turned 4 times.

These middle three layers are not his design, but the crux and endowment of New Antioch himself. In fact, from the beginning, there were only two layers, New Antioch and Met. That's why New Antioch is located here, with its close connection to the metropolis. But the two gradually developed their own shadows - the new Antioch had an automata, and the metropolis had a dream. Both themselves benefit from the presence of the Met. In the vertical direction, you can stack as many layers as you want.

But none of this has anything to do with Alexander. He's not here to solve problems, he's here to exploit this endless treasure trove. It's just that now that his plans have been disrupted by Shang Luo, he doesn't plan to stay here and take other plans - because Shang Luo may wake up at any time, he will chase after him. Before Shang Luo catches up and settles the score, he must immediately leave the shadows and return to the sun. He still liked the sunlight of the real sun compared to the cold sunlight below.

When the elevator stops at the buzzing [Metropolitan Subway Station] in New Antioch City, his trip to Greentown will be over.

However.

Alexander noticed something unusual. If the elevator wants to stop, it must slow down first. But the pointer of the elevator turned to the fourth turn, but there was no intention of stopping.

Immediately, he pressed all the floors in the elevator and repeatedly pressed the button to open the door. The upward momentum of the elevator has not stopped.

"Stop the elevator! I'm going down! He scolded the elevator lady backwards, but the latter was indifferent.

The elevator passed one floor in a blink of an eye and continued upwards.

"Wang, the elevator is about to rush to the top." Ptolemy reminded, "We should now lean our back against the wall of the elevator and bend our knees, following the prompts written next to it."

"That's not for you." Alexander replied impatiently, "No need to speak, you have not really been reborn from history." You think you're my right-hand man, but you can't help me now. ”

He said this to himself. In fact, neither Ptolemy nor Seleucus, nor the other sages of the Muses, could no longer gain new "experience". They are like lost minds, with deep memories of the distant past, but no memory of what is happening in the present. They may be able to use their powers of observation to solve some problems, but that doesn't make them realize that this modern society exists. None of them can pass the mirror test, and they can't bear that the person in the mirror is themselves.

Only Alexander was an exception. The inner walls of the elevator were as smooth as the mirror, and he looked at himself in the mirror. In the mirror, he is very different from the image in history. He didn't wear Toga's robes, he didn't wear the iconic bronze armor, he was just dressed in civilian clothes. He had changed his clothes in the car so that he could become less conspicuous when he entered New Antioch.

Despite this, however, he retains some key features, such as the golden laurel crown on his head. This was to make it easier for Ptolemy to identify—in a way, they were now perceiving memes not for the light, smell, and sound of the outside world. Keeping the symbols that originally belonged to Alexander allowed them to recognize Alexander's identity.

Occasionally, he would feel strange in the mirror, and Alexander was sometimes afraid of his strangeness, for fear that he would not recognize himself in the mirror, because it meant that he was about to return to history.

But maybe he was complete enough, or maybe he was good enough to observe, or maybe it was simply because of the magic itself, the mirror never let him down. Like countless times in the past, the self in the mirror is still clearly outlined, and the identity is also clear.

As a "sage" who came out of the Philosopher's Stone, the damage to the flesh does not bring irreparable consequences. He is not worried that the elevator he is taking will affect his safety because of the rush to the top.

I guess the elevator is about to reach the top. He straightened his shirt and tie, his horns slightly apart, ready for the onslaught—

However, the shock did not come as expected.

The pointer of the elevator crosses the physical boundary again in the process of going up.

“？？？” A clear sense of self made Alexander recognize almost immediately that a change was taking place. Only this time it's not down, it's up, up, all the way up.

The elevator's dial spun wildly like a fan, already beyond the height of the Metropolitan subway station, and even beyond the height of the Empire State Building. If this altitude really reflects physically, then they should have taken off by now.

However, the completely enclosed elevator cut off the information exchange between the inside and outside, making it impossible for him to see the outside. But even if you don't look at it, you know that there is really a big problem with this elevator - at this moment, his cognition is higher than Shang Luo's.

The part below the ground is a multi-level chess game. Here, Alexander and Shang Luo have the same understanding. But as the elevator gradually ascended, Alexander realized that beyond all this, beyond the whole world that he thought he had control, above the first floor, two floors, three floors, and even the atmosphere, something was waiting for him.

He turned around and asked the automaton girl who was operating the elevator, "Tell me, what's going on?" ”

No response. The automaton looked at him like a doll with a white face made of ceramics, as in the past, and did not intend to give any effective answers.

Alexander confronted her, trying to read more from her eyes. But he couldn't see any trace of life in his eyes made of crystal beads, it was really just a puppet.

However, his doubts did not last long.

Soon, the elevator began to slow down.

Alexander straightened his bow tie. He also went back and asked from Ptolemy for his own toga robe. Toga's robe was carried on Ptolemy's back in the form of a chest. The fine silk fabric creates a natural drape that does not crease even when folded.

He put Toga back on. No matter who it was outside, he had to face it directly.

Finally, after an unknown number of turns, the upward elevator finally stopped. The elevator came to a steady stop, as if the mutation hadn't happened at all.

(End of chapter)