Section XXXTI

This is...... No matter how stupid Eshurufat was, he could see it. It wasn't a window to a place (like some magic he'd heard of), but a record of the past.

"Who is this?" he whispered to himself. The fact that the Scarlet Duke kept this record is in itself an indication of the importance of this prisoner...... But who is he?

"It's Bernando," a voice sounded. "He holds the secret of magic locking. In order to prevent data errors, the entire process is recorded to prevent missing information. ”

"Magic lock?" Ashrufat asked subconsciously.

"Yes, long-range positioning technology through the winds of magic...... It seems to be very primitive, but in fact it is very ingenious and extremely technical, and it can be classified as a new invention. However, the core of the problem has been cracked, and it is no longer a problem to bother you. ”

Only then did Ashruphat come to his senses, he turned back, turned around, and the withered sword appeared in his hand. Behind him was not a human, but a metal ball suspended in the air. It took a second for Ashrufat to determine that it was the metal ball that had just spoken (or rather spoken).

It took him a few more seconds to realize that it was the "Carrie" that Laria had mentioned to him earlier, the legendary embodiment of the Dark Castle, a magical creature created by the Scarlet Duke.

Speaking of which, Ashruphat didn't notice at all when this thing came behind him. As mentioned earlier, this room has no entrances and exits, and is surrounded by walls that look like they are drilled through without gaps (although I don't know if it's rock or metal), and this metal ball the size of a human head probably wouldn't have crawled in from the outside like Ashrufat, right?

Lalia had warned her that she had to run when she saw Carrie. Because it's not actually a metal ball, or rather, it's just an incarnation of it. Attacking this metal ball is a pointless act. In this castle, it has a great ability to communicate alarms to every corner in an instant, at least.

But it's a pity that there is no way to run at all now - the route that Ashrufat came in just now, that is, the route that Xiao Bu led the way and climbed through the outer wall, even Ishrufat had to be careful to pass. If Ashrufat did return the way he came, the castle guards would have plenty of time to wait for the rabbit there—and perhaps a hot drink to refresh themselves.

Of course, Ashruphat could also try to escape by magical flight - but it was just as pointless. Ashrufat didn't believe that the castle had no means of dealing with magic. It doesn't even take a lot of brains to do - as everyone knows, all it takes is a Demon Breaker Scroll (a vampire with hundreds of Dark Magic as subordinates is no better than that) and all magic is lost.

Although Ashrufat knew that his vitality was stronger than that of ordinary people, he really hadn't tried what would happen if he jumped from a height of hundreds of cubits. Well, in fact he didn't want to do this kind of experiment at all.

He confronted the suspended metal ball for several seconds before he realized something: Carrie didn't sound the alarm.

In fact, the metal ball was suspended in place, and it seemed to be quiet and well-behaved, without any hint of hostility. Of course, it was just a metal ball after all, and even if it was hostile, Ashrufat couldn't see it.

Eshurufat suddenly realized something - since the vampire's vassals would admit their mistakes, the vampire's guards would admit their mistakes, and the vampire's wives would also admit their mistakes, there was no reason why the magical creature named "Carrie" would not be wrong.

Wait! The next moment, he told himself he wasn't so lucky. It would have been fine if it had been last night, but today the vampire has returned, and has (supposedly) learned about last night. He must have given a special order, and in this case, Carrie would not have admitted her mistake!

Or ...... Already secretly raising the alarm? It's just that Ashruphat isn't aware of it?

Ashrufat didn't know what to do for a moment, but what he feared didn't happen. Not to mention anything else, Xiao Budian has been watching this scene curiously from the side.

"That ......" had passed long enough that Ashruphat felt he had to break the awkward silence. "Carrie, huh? I think...... You should know who I am. "At this point, he also let go, and he didn't want to continue to play any cat-scratching game with the Scarlet Duke.

"Yes, you are the Scarlet Duke Ashrufat. The metal ball replied,

"I'm not the Scarlet Duke Ashrufat...... No, I'm Ashrufat, not the Scarlet Duke...... Because my name is Ishrufat, but I am not the Scarlet Duke Eshurufat...... Well, I'm just the same name as Duke Scarlet!"

"This ...... According to my scans, the similarity between your body cells and that of Duke Eshurufat is more than 99.99 percent...... The similarity has exceeded the default target, and your appearance is also 99.99% more similar to that of the Scarlet Duke Essrufat...... In addition, your eyeprints, fingerprints, voiceprints, soul fluctuations, and other related indicators are all above 99.99%...... Based on all of the above criteria, I believe that you are indeed the Scarlet Duke Ashrufat, my master. ”

What does that mean? Ashruphat didn't understand the bunch of terms. He can only understand that although this "Carrie" seems to be an intelligent creature, she actually has no real, independent intelligence. It couldn't even tell if Aerufat was real or not—even if there was already a real Scarlet Duke in the castle at the moment. In other words, this "Carrie" is like a trap, and it is instinct to bite the flesh of the person who steps into the trap with its iron jaw, and it doesn't care who the unlucky guy is - even the owner of the trap.

"All right," Ashrufat said. "Can you take me to the third floor? He asked tentatively.

"Of course, the hosts. Carrie floated forward, "Please follow me." Then, before Ashrufat's eyes, the thick, gapless walls suddenly opened—as if they were not metal or stone, but a false apparition.

Ashrufaat couldn't help but reach out and touch it, confirming that it wasn't a hallucination. The wall in front of him was indeed stone, very thick (at least so thick that you wouldn't want to dig it).

As soon as they stepped out of the abruptly opened passage, the wall closed silently behind them. Ashrufat reached out again and touched it, confirming that it was indeed a rocky wall, not a visual trick like a curtain.

He was now beginning to understand why there was no entrance to this room - because it was the vampire's secret room, and only the vampire himself could enter and exit these rooms at any time. Finding such a road that is not a road is really a small probability event that cannot be predicted.

He checked everything, then began to look into the room he had just entered.

This is the same room as the previous one, and it belongs to the kind of "room without a door". There were no doors around, only a false, nowhere light to illuminate it. Ashrufat saw that the ceiling, the floor, and the walls were no longer stone, but ...... A certain material full of metallic texture. However, when you touch it with your hands, you will find that it is not metal, but more like wood. Well, it's indescribable, it's hard to tell what it's like. In short, it is neither the cold of metal nor the roughness of stone. It is smooth to the touch and soft to the touch like wood, but it looks as shiny as metal.

It was a large room with a row of shelves on the side, and on the shelves were all kinds of utensils that Ashrufat had never seen before, and whose purpose could not be deduced.

At the side of the shelves are a row of strange cylindrical sinks made of glass and metal, numbering about a few dozen, with glowing lines at the tops that connect to the ceiling. Next to the sink was a huge piece of metal like the surrounding one, with tiny dots of green or red light shining on the shell.

Ashrufat couldn't help but stop, and Carrie didn't rush. Instead, it stepped back a little, "Master, this is the universal healing device, the multi-accessory version." ”

"This ...... What is it for?"

"This one doesn't work at the moment. Carrie replied. "It's put here as a backup. ”

I don't know why, seeing these things that he didn't know, Ashrufat subconsciously remembered what he saw when he was in the chaos, alone in the realm of terror.

Of course, objectively speaking, what he saw in the Dark Castle was very different from what he saw in the realm of terror, but it made people have a certain ...... An indescribable sense of familiarity. It's as if the two come from the same source.

Ashruphat quickly remembered the accounts of vampires...... In the book "On Vampires" published by the Church, there is a statement. That is the origin of the vampire, that is, the vampire queen Kotoshin, a creature from another world. She was pulled into this world by the forces of human pain and hatred.

The Chaos Evil God who is not in this material world, the vampire queen from another world...... Is there some kind of connection between the two?

But immediately, Ashrufat drove the thought away. This is not the time to be at ease with scientific exploration, it is the biggest challenge of his life. This time he was up against a terrifying creature whose strength far surpassed that of humans, the strongest of the vampire clan, the Scarlet Duke with immense strength and overwhelming power. To tell the truth, Ashrufat himself would never have come here to try to challenge him unless he had to.

"What is this place?" asked Ashrufat.

"Warehouse. Carrie replied.

"And where was the place?" asked Ashrufat. "That's it...... The first room I came in?"

"You came in from the utility room on the ground floor where the cleaning tools were kept. Carrie said. "It was a utility room for cleaning tools, and there was no other use. ”

Only then did Ashruphat find out...... In fact, he is far from being as secretive as he expected. He was able to get in and out not because of his skill, but because he was lucky—Carrie, who was the will of the castle, couldn't understand the difference between him and the real Duke of Scarlet (which he suspected was a consequence of his role as a stand-in for Duke Scarlet), which is why he was in the same situation as last night.

Now he knew why the thieves, assassins, spies, and the like who had infiltrated before would never show up again. Although he didn't know what kind of trap the vampire had set up, it was certainly very dangerous.

"This ...... I mean, that room was ......," Ashrufat explained, a little embarrassed.

"Utility room. Carrie replied. "Put some backup stuff, it's all broken, but it can be used as a replacement part. ”

"Those glass ......," Ashrufat thought for a moment, "the ...... that can display images."

"Those are just monitors," Carrie replied. "The real image is backed up in a high-level data array. That display is just a default association. The monitors were still functional, but they were missing corners for various reasons, so they were placed in the utility room. ”

Ashrufat didn't understand what Carrie was saying, but he could understand that the things in the room just now were the kind of things that were "damaged, but still have some use".

"What is this?" Ashruphat gestured to the edge of the warehouse, near the window (this warehouse also has a ventilation window, but I don't know how high it is from the ground). He was interested in it because it was the only thing that looked like a weapon - not a one-man weapon, but a war machine. Because it makes people unconsciously think of ballistas. And more importantly, the thing is making a very slight buzzing sound, indicating that it is working.

"That's the ship's signal transceiver, the ...... used to relay interstellar signals"

It all happened suddenly. Before the words could be spoken, the whole room began to glow - first the "spaceship signal receiver" emitted a blinding light as if it was about to explode. And then everything, the ceiling, the floor, and the walls, was shining and shining. Now Ashrufat finally recognized that the "I don't know where it came from" glow was actually coming from the castle itself—everything, including the swarthy-looking floor. The moment the black stone floor glowed, it looked like some kind of silvery-white metal.

It was as if the whole world was trembling.

Xiao Budian let out an exclamation, holding his head and shrinking into a ball of hairballs, hiding in the corner. Ashrufat was also surprised, but he was not afraid, and Carrie, as for her, kept her original movements, floating quietly in the air.

"It's ...... What?" It took a few seconds for Ashrufat to confirm that it wasn't a surprise attack aimed at him.

"High-frequency signals. Carrie replied. "A very strong high-frequency signal. It paused. "This is the reaction of the signal transceiver to receive a high-energy, high-frequency signal, which is produced because the signal energy is too strong. By the way, this signal has been received many times and is a signal that can be decomposed...... Over the past six months, the signal has been steadily gaining strengthening. It is estimated that it is a special contact signal for interstellar communication, and the cryptographic index is advanced, which requires high-intensity decoding...... As the sole owner of this castle, you have permission to deal with it...... Do you want to decode this signal?"

What does the word mean? Ashrufat asked in passing. "What will be the consequences of this ...... 'decoding' or something?"

"The decoding time is expected to be three hours. Within three hours, most of my computing power would be spent decoding. Your castle will lose most of its functionality. Carrie replied. "Especially as a host, you will not be able to use the private rights you have flexibly. ”

"What do you mean...... Once you start decoding, you can't do anything else?" asked Ashrufat.

"The universal functionality will continue. Carrie replied. "It doesn't affect day-to-day operations. However, if there is an invasion, a battle, or a high-energy attack, I am afraid that there will be a problem of unresponsiveness, and there may be danger. ”

"Let's start decoding. Ashruphat replied immediately. Although Carrie doesn't seem to be able to judge the real or fake Scarlet Duke, if the real and fake vampires come to a big battle in the future, it is undoubtedly more likely to obey the Scarlet Duke's orders.

The little one rolled up in a ball (a ball in the real sense, even the tail was rolled in), lying on the ground and shivering. Ashrufat could faintly hear the poor little fellow muttering. "Nothing bad happened...... Nothing bad happened......" I guess I was frightened by the anomaly just now.

Also, he began to understand a little bit why his little mother sent her out to find the Scarlet Duke.

In front of Ashrufat, the thick walls had once again carved out an entrance and exit for people to pass through. Then again, it's just right to be like this. Because in a little while, she was afraid that she would see something she would never want to see. Eshurufat forced himself to ignore the half-beast and quickly slipped out of the entrance.

Walking out of the room, Ashrufat stepped on the thick carpet.

That's right, this is the third floor of the castle, where the Scarlet Duke and his wife and concubine live. Ashrufat had already been here last night, so he recognized it at a glance.

The place where he appears is a wall in the study—or, in theory, a wall. But Carrie can open an entrance and exit on any wall at will (and open and close it automatically), so the wall seems meaningless.

Stepping on the thick carpet, there is a feeling of light and comfortable. But Ashrufat's heart was already full of spirits.

Because he had no idea what kind of arrangement the vampire would make that awaited him.

Perhaps, the vampire, like an arrogant and self-respecting man, waited for his arrival alone, wanting a face-to-face, one-on-one fight. Perhaps, the Scarlet Duke has prepared a hundred traps to skin and debone Eshurufat. Perhaps, just maybe, the Scarlet Duke had no plan to kill Ashrufat at all, and a wife and concubine meant far less to him than Ashrufath, who could be used as a stand-in.

Because humans have no way to infer a "non-human" pattern of thinking and acting. Not to mention a master of disguise like the Scarlet Duke.

But there was no doubt that Ashruphat was sure that the Scarlet Duke was waiting for him.

He wielded the withered sword and walked forward. Carrie had disappeared at some point—though Ashrufat didn't think it was a vampire trick. Honestly, vampires don't need to play any tricks either.

Surprisingly, the entire third floor was quiet, and in a way, it was no different from last night. Of course, the aphrodisiac incense of last night is gone.

There was no one in the reception room...... There was no one in the study...... The bedroom is in front. Ashrufat didn't think vampires would be waiting in the dressing room, dressing room, or anything like that. It could only be a bedroom.

He raised his sword, made a gesture ready to attack and defend, and slowly, little by little, moved to the edge of the bedroom door. That energy shield armor was his trump card, and he didn't want to expose it too soon.

There is only one last step left, and if he takes this step, he will have to face an inescapable fate.

Then he suddenly noticed that there was a mirror embedded in the wall on his side.

......

In a mysterious hall, a group of figures sat around a round table. Now, there is no longer the joy of victory, and the atmosphere is so heavy that it can almost crush an elephant.

"Ladies and gentlemen......," someone said in a bitter voice. "At present, the construction progress of the spacecraft is 34 percent, and some technologies have not yet been developed...... But we don't have time. ”

"The original plan was too ambitious. "The second person interface. "We shouldn't try to build a ...... To be a qualified spaceship, we only need to build a 'barely improvised' spaceship. As long as we can leave this planet, the Void Storm will become our natural shield. They will never be aware of it. ”

"It's too risky. Someone else said in a deep voice. "There are many details that we can't ignore, otherwise there will be a problem and we will be floating in the universe, and we will really be begging for death. ”

"But at least we can take a gamble instead of sitting here and waiting!" the man from before immediately retorted.

"The Logilas has already started to traverse the Void Storm, and all he needs now is a position!" someone tried to be optimistic. "But, anyway, he's missing a position, isn't he? As we estimated, it shuts down all navigation systems, relying on primitive manual and semi-automatic manoeuvring to avoid most of the effects of the Void Storm. Without effective positioning, it will be like a rat burrowing into a maze and will not find the right way. ”

"You don't necessarily need a positioning, that ship has ultra-high-performance computing facilities," but this optimistic argument was not shared by others. "I'm not sure if that thing will work in a Void Storm. But once it works, it can do relative computation by running it on its own...... Sooner or later, it will finish its positioning. Once the Logilas appeared in orbit above the planet...... "the speaker's eyes were on the one on the edge. "Walchell, our planetary defense system ......"

"Our planetary defenses are capable of dealing with most ships. Worchel spread his hands and made a gesture of helplessness. "But this does not include such heavy battleships as the Logilas. Ladies and gentlemen, we all have the basic parameters of that spaceship...... That spaceship is a J-class ship, and its shields and armor are designed and manufactured to fight against warships of the same type, and its defense capabilities are ...... Hey, if we had a ship that could fight that kind of ship, we wouldn't be chased into the sky and into the ground, and eventually crash into this savage planet! Even in the best of worlds, if his shield is completely destroyed by the Void Storm, we won't be able to penetrate the armor. Ladies and gentlemen, let's admit it, we can only resign ourselves to fate in this matter. ”

The entire venue fell silent.

"Ideally, the Logilas spent too much time locating the Void Storm to eventually choose to abandon forcing its way through the Void Storm and retreat beyond the Void Storm. Warcher eventually broke the silence. "All I can say is that we have only this hope, and there is nothing we can do but pray. ”

"To whom do you pray?" a gloomy voice asked.

"Aren't we gods to ourselves?" replied another voice. It was a bad joke, but no one laughed at this point.

"By the way, according to the monitor report in Sivania, it seems that Ashrufat is not dead. Maybe it was because he told a joke and no one reacted, so he was a little embarrassed and had to change the subject. "There are signs that he seems to be back. ”

"Cut, you didn't mistake the Scarlet Duke and the Magic Map Robot, didn't we calculate, the probability that Ashrufat didn't die was only one in a million......"

"To be specific, it's 1.46 parts per million. Warcher picked up the topic. "But it's not zero after all, is it?"

"We don't have time to care about the Scarlet Duke now. Someone said. "Even if he lives...... No, even if he offered his AI right away, what good could we do?"

"The speed of spaceship construction can be increased by more than 30 percent at once. Someone muttered softly. "After the run-in period, the maximum in the later stage may reach 70%. ”

"Does that make sense to us right now?"

Once again, there was silence.

"I'm worried," Warchel said suddenly. "It's possible that the Scarlet Duke will provide positioning for the Logilas. ”

"That's impossible. "Some people scoffed. "His Dark Castle...... It's actually just a cargo ship. Let's not talk about decoding, but where did that kind of second-hand thing come from, the high-performance signal transceiver? Not to mention that the spaceship is transporting that kind of thing...... Of course, we knew that this was impossible, after all, we had dug before and confirmed that the ship was empty. ”

"Cargo ships don't have that kind of thing, of course. Worchel said. "But, remember, the Scarlet Duke's AI used to build portals...... It's connected to the science ship that exploded later. It's not unusual to have this kind of equipment in that exploded scientific research spaceship. ”

"The likelihood is still too low. "There was opposition. "We don't have time...... If we go all out now, it's at least possible to build our ship before the Logilas makes its second attempt to traverse the Void Storm, but if it costs manpower and resources to entangle with the Scarlet Duke......"

"If we hadn't lost a few comrades to this mistake, and wasted a lot of time and equipment, we would have improved our spacecraft progress by at least four percent. Truth be told, after we take out Kotoshin, we should do a strategic retrenchment right away, instead of letting Carl play tricks there...... Carl is of little use, but if he is alive, he can at least be a quality inspector, and if you think about it, this alone can improve our construction progress by one percent. ”

There was a low sound of approval.

"Anyway, we can't do anything about the Logilas, so let's focus all our energy on construction. We have to speed up the progress, we have to schedule our time, and in particular, we have to reduce the number of ...... things like entertainment."

"What will you do with the Scarlet Duke if the Logilas comes?" Worchel sighed lightly, ignoring the speaker and asking his nearest companion.

"Ah, I guess I'll take him away. He's also the legal husband of Qin Xin, so he, from a legal point of view, already has the status of a full citizen of the Covenant. Although Qin Xin is dead, this legitimacy still exists. Since he was a legal citizen, the wives he married later were all ......"

"Anyway, do you want to take everybody?

"That's right from a legal point of view. Even if they don't, they can only do so by voluntarily returning to the planet of birth after completing their basic education. ”

......

The man in the mirror has a cold and serious face, black hair, black eyes, a tall nose and a slightly thin face that reminds people of an eagle or a wolf. A fitting evening dress covered his body, but his neck, hands, and face were still exposed. The skin in these areas is a little too fair, almost translucent.

Ashrufat in the mirror, smiling. It was a mechanical, lifeless laugh. It's obviously a laugh, but it naturally has a chilling feeling.

Ashrufat instantly felt his body stiffen, and a creepy feeling creeped down his spine. His body slowly turned around mechanically and uncontrollably, and he saw the Scarlet Duke right in front of him.

He didn't know when the other party came, but it seemed to appear behind him in an instant. Although he was bare-handed, if it was a surprise attack, Ashrufat knew he would have died once.

"Your Excellency!" a voice rang out. In the next moment, Ashruphat saw a figure rush out. It's the girl from yesterday - well, Ashrufat now knows that the other party is the vampire's concubine, and the name is supposed to be Leia. A thought flashed through his mind that if he hijacked this girl, maybe he would still be able to ......

In the next moment, he shattered the cowardly idea in his heart. At the same time, Léa had already pounced and hugged him.

"Your Excellency...... My lord...... You're finally back......"

How...... What is going on?Eshurufat looked at the still smiling Scarlet Duke in front of him, looked at Leia who was holding him, and the long sword in his hand, and felt that his mind was in chaos, and it was obvious that something was wrong.

"That...... Ma'am," Ashruphat tried his best to keep himself as polite and calm as possible, "are you mistaken?"

"My lord, what's wrong with you?" Leia looked at him with puzzled eyes. "Isn't it uncomfortable?" Ashruphat noticed that she hadn't even glanced at the Scarlet Duke a few steps away. The distance between the two sides is so close that it is completely impossible to say that one person would ignore such an obvious goal. The blind are exceptional.

"He'......" Ashruphat gestured to the Scarlet Duke, who was still there, looking at his wife and the others hugging each other, but unmoved. "It's the Scarlet Duke!"

"What are you talking about?" another woman walked out of the bedroom. Although she is wearing pajamas, she can still be seen to be tall, with a slender waist and slender legs. The girl had pale red hair and eyes full of confusion. "Master, you left us like this for more than ten years, and you are still interested in playing such a joke with us when you come back?"

Ashrufat took a half-step back. Everything that happens in front of you is like that