Chapter 70#

Gears of Fate 12#

After waiting a few more minutes without the door opening, they reached a consensus to go check. After pressing the door button, the door opened to reveal two people against the wall—no one on the beds. Lillia’s small face was pale, hunched in the corner muttering spells, wrapped in a blanket with a sleeping Zheng Yuan cradled in her arms. Hearing the door open, she suddenly looked toward them. Seeing it was her companions, tears streamed from her eyes.

Xue Xin called out “Yuanyuan!” and quickly moved forward to take Zheng Yuan from her. Lingwei felt her pulse and said: “Exhaustion, nothing serious.”

Vincent looked toward Lillia: “What happened to Ko An?”

Lillia’s tears flowed again. Choking, she told them what happened that night.

Unlike the cold that Xue Xin, Chen Tong, and Vincent experienced, their side had been like a furnace. Heat was bearable, but the walls of the room completely deformed. The deformation started from one corner of the wall, then another massive machine slowly ground through the deformed section. Other metal blocks were pushed and shifted. The walls kept contracting, the room’s space repeatedly compressed. Finally, they were driven toward the door.

The space to survive grew smaller and smaller. All directions—up, down, left, right—were inverted. The entire room was shrinking. Finally, the three of them could only huddle together, squeezed tightly at the door.

Lillia paused here, took a breath, and said: “Like ham sandwiched in a hot bun… our bones and flesh deformed, but it kept contracting. It must have been trying to squeeze us into meat paste… Yuanyuan-jie told us not to touch the door button, but our bodies really couldn’t move anymore… Ko An got pushed against it, the door opened, she… fell out.”

Yu Feichen: “What was outside the door at that time?”

“It seemed like… other machines. Couldn’t see clearly. We heard Ko An cry out a few times… then never heard from her again. Then I was pushed out too, but Yuanyuan-jie pulled me back. She wedged me in the corner, then braced herself against the wall, holding me so I wouldn’t fall. I desperately chanted space spells, but I don’t know if they worked… we endured like that for a long time. The room slowly returned to normal, and Yuanyuan-jie lost consciousness.”

Xue Xin sighed and said: “The heat was because you three provided too much energy, but the space compression means the room bugged out. You probably made a mistake with the stones.”

Yu Feichen said: “Go check the Eight-Legged Gentleman’s room.”

The Eight-Legged Gentleman’s room was silent and cold. A slightly deformed badge lay quietly on the floor. No one knew what this badge had experienced in the room last night, but judging from the compression marks on it, it was probably similar to what the three girls endured.

Yu Feichen picked up the metal badge with a cracked side and found a hammer in the desk drawer. He smashed it open directly.

Inside the opened badge were fragments of red-black crystals, and in the interlayer was a fingernail-sized piece of papyrus with incomprehensible black symbols drawn on it—truly not simple.

They had guessed correctly. The papyrus was a magical object, and the badge was the dungeon’s tool for monitoring them.

Chen Tong was still somewhat confused. He asked: “What’s going on exactly?”

This time Bai Song had understood and began explaining. Yu Feichen felt that these two men’s language systems were compatible, making communication remarkably swift.

“First, the people managing us in this academy are machines, not humans.”

“Right.”

“Our badges are ID cards. When the loudspeaker sees the ID, it knows who the holder is and what number they are.”

“Exactly. The loudspeaker only recognizes the badge, not the person. Every day we take our badges to class, it’s like clocking in for work.”

“Very accurate. But if it doesn’t recognize people, how can it judge whether someone is dead or alive?”

“Then it must think the person is dead if the badge breaks.” Chen Tong had a sudden realization: “This fucking loudspeaker is an idiot! It looks like a camera, but it’s actually just a speaker. It can only announce when class starts at set times, and then it senses which badge broke and announces that person failed. It doesn’t actually grade anything!”

Having suddenly understood, Chen Tong slapped Bai Song’s blanket hard: “I was actually fooled by it! I thought this world was so advanced.”

Bai Song was knocked half to death by the slap, weakly saying: “It’s not that the world isn’t advanced. It’s that this is machine thinking. When a product develops a defect during testing, its components break. When components break, it means the product is defective. This is an academy for machines, not for people.”

“Makes sense,” Chen Tong nodded deeply, “so before class we registered dormitory numbers. The three girls share one dormitory. At night, the energy sources picked by the three girls were delivered from the conveyor belt to this dormitory. But one of them made a mistake, so the dormitory malfunctioned. The painter girl died. Then the girl’s badge was crushed by the machine. The loudspeaker sensed it, but it was Vincent’s badge, so the stupid loudspeaker announced Vincent failed… I get it. The logic is convoluted.”

Well, using human reasoning to understand machine mechanics would naturally be this convoluted.

Chen Tong sighed: “So what do we do next?”

Just then, Zheng Yuan stirred awake. Xue Xin poured that day’s breakfast into her: “Yuanyuan, how are you?”

Zheng Yuan weakly looked at everyone, saw that not many people were missing, and showed a slightly relieved expression: “I’m okay.”

Xue Xin gripped her hand tightly, his eyes clearly turbulent with complex emotions, but all he could manage was a hoarse repetition of her name: “Yuanyuan…”

This time Zheng Yuan didn’t pull her hand away. Seeing this, Chen Tong said: “Hey, now that’s resolved! Life is precious. Don’t waste it on quarrels and anger.”

Indeed, life was precious, because class time would arrive soon. The steam train still waited at the entrance. After another round of the roller coaster, they arrived at a different location than the previous two days. Last time was a tall corridor with beast-headed sculptures at each classroom door. This time, looking out the windows, there was a winding corridor with escalators. At the entrance of the corridor, on each side stood a humanoid mechanical statue wearing a tailcoat and top hat, with one hand held flat before them, palm up supporting an exquisite gyroscope. The concentric rings composing the gyroscope slowly rotated, full of mysterious beauty.

Yu Feichen had a premonition that today’s lesson might be different in nature from the previous two days. But he wouldn’t be able to experience it firsthand.

The people in front stood up to leave their seats. Yu Feichen, however, didn’t move. Instead, he removed his badge and placed it in Anphiel’s hand.

Anphiel understood. He curled his fingers to accept the gear badge and pinned it next to his own.

Yu Feichen said: “You all go. I’m staying on the train.”

He couldn’t be trapped in the pre-designed lesson structure. He had to actively explore the entire fortress. But the fortress’s structure was complex and ever-changing with mechanical rotation. There were no pathways designed for humans. One misstep and he might never return.

Yu Feichen looked at a scratch on the train window—he had made it yesterday with his cufflinks. It was still there today, meaning the same train brought them to and from class.

As expected. The plan could proceed smoothly. The only method he had devised last night was—to stay on this train. Wherever the train went, he would arrive there too. When class time ended, this train would return to the classroom entrance to pick everyone up for the dormitory. That way, he could still safely return home.

Of course, there was one possibility—the train would just wait here for everyone to finish class, and he would spend time alone on the train for nothing. But that didn’t match the fortress’s style. Even the students’ dormitories were drawn into other operations during sleep time. The fortress wouldn’t waste such a large-capacity vehicle just sitting idle.

As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone’s faces showed sudden understanding. Chen Tong even said: “That’s brilliant! This is like infiltrating enemy territory! Yu-tong, don’t worry. Even if we work ourselves to death on the assembly line, we’ll definitely clock in for you and complete today’s tasks.”

But Lingwei frowned slightly: “This place is extremely dangerous. Going alone without support is unwise.”

Yu Feichen knew it wasn’t ideal. But in this world, no choice guarantees absolute safety. The difference between them was merely probability—some had better odds, others worse. Having different options to choose from was already the best situation.

Besides, Anphiel would be in the classroom this time. No worries about his back.

Anphiel nodded to him. Yu Feichen understood this person was saying: I will ensure your badge completes today’s lesson tasks successfully.

So he felt assured handing the weakened Anphiel—afflicted by his dizziness—into Bai Song’s care.

Bai Song’s heart trembled. He thought: does this mean big brother is leaving, and if I don’t take care of his sister-in-law well, I deserve daggers in my ribs?

Bai Song’s ribs ached sympathetically.

Anphiel turned back once more to look at Yu Feichen. The young person’s eyes were beautifully almond-shaped. When his eyelashes drooped slightly, it seemed like he had many words to say. Finally, he said: “Don’t take risks.”

Yu Feichen indicated he understood.

The others also gave him reminders before exiting one by one. Then Yu Feichen noticed one person had never spoken and had shown no intention of getting off from the beginning.

—Vincent.

Finally, Vincent stood, turned to face Yu Feichen, his chestnut-haired face handsome but his eyes cold: “Going alone is dangerous. I’ll go with you.”

Yu Feichen met his gaze, a hint of ice in his smile too: “Alright.”

Vincent’s words went through Yu Feichen’s ears and translated directly to: “Too many eyes before. Tonight the wind is dark and the moon is hidden. Perfect time to strike.”

Coincidentally, Yu Feichen thought the same thing.

Though it seemed the god of time did indeed view him as a thorn in his side, willing to abandon his own lesson to make a move against him.

Vincent looked at Yu Feichen coldly, as if looking at a dead man.

But the person returning his gaze didn’t look like a dead man should. Casual yet confident, like a wolf with blood on its teeth wearing a veneer of refinement. Not that Vincent minded. He had already gone through hundreds of plans in his heart.

As if sensing the abnormality between the two, the train car suddenly became deathly silent. The whistle gave a long shriek, echoing starkly and terrifyingly.

Just then, Vincent’s wrist felt a slight chill.

His breathing suddenly caught. A strange feeling surfaced, making him involuntarily lower his head.

Five slender fingers gripped his wrist. The force was barely there, yet it brooked no defiance. Light golden hair hung loosely, obscuring his expression. Only a silhouette that was shockingly silent could be seen.

And on the young person’s left hand holding his wrist, a pitch-black mark grew from beneath elaborate court-style white satin cuffs, etched into the back of his hand with sharp, cold lines.

—It was an obelisk.

Yu Feichen watched Vincent with arms crossed, unsure why the man suddenly turned into a silent statue.

At that moment, Anphiel happened to pass Vincent. The movement was casual and natural. The next moment, Yu Feichen heard the indifferent young voice say: “Go.”

Though it was Anphiel’s voice, it didn’t seem to be addressed at him.