Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 537: Luo

When two factions have a conflict in ideology, and one side clearly has significant internal issues yet remains unreasonable to converse with, directly abducting the other side’s boss for a face-to-face discussion isn’t necessarily a bad solution—at least, that’s what Yu Sheng thought.

His approach to problem-solving was always quite straightforward.

It all happened quickly, and evidently, neither side of the door reacted in time.

Under the wide-eyed gaze of Baili Qing, a dozen mass-produced Erins appeared near the golden-haired elf. In the maintenance room, beams of light crisscrossed chaotically, with clanging sounds following, as the golden-haired elf "Luo" tried to fend off the lifeless-eyed puppets charging towards her with her mechanical limbs. Yet, the compact size and agility of the mass-produced Erins left her struggling to cope. After a dozen scorching beams shot down two spiritual fireballs in mid-air, the golden-haired elf found herself swarmed with Erins—far more than Yu Sheng usually had on him.

The little puppets clung to her legs, grabbed her arms, gnawed on her mechanical limbs, pulled her hair, yanked her ears, bit her fingers, and tugged on her skirt. Some, finding no place to cling to, simply pinched a piece of flesh to hang onto the target... A swarm of dwarf-like puppets, scrambling like cursed dolls, lifted Luo up, noisily exclaiming "Got her, got her," and rushed into Baili Qing’s office.

Yu Sheng then waved his hand and closed the door.

Luo struggled desperately on the office floor, her mechanical limbs screeching against the floor, as she screamed continuously: "Ah! Let me go! You little evil... Bai·li·Qing!! You’ll be cur... my ear!"

To be honest, watching from the side, Yu Sheng felt a bit frightened too. From another perspective, he imagined this unfortunate elf as if she had fallen into the set of a horror film— but even the most insane horror movie directors wouldn’t stuff a dozen cursed dolls into their victim in the opening scene. There were already four hanging from the elf’s arms...

Fortunately, Erin, who sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder (the main unit), waved her hand, and the mass-produced Erins finally released the unlucky golden-haired elf. The tiny puppets quickly scrambled off Luo, then obediently lined up behind Yu Sheng.

Luo, in a disheveled state, propped herself up with her arms and mechanical limbs and saw Baili Qing looking at her expressionlessly from behind the desk.

She turned her head to survey her surroundings, confirming that she had indeed been captured and brought to the office of the Special Service Bureau’s chief.

A sense of absurdity and bewilderment struck her, as though fire might burst from her eyes: "I’ve never heard of anyone doing this..."

Before she could finish, Baili Qing sighed. "I’m quite surprised too."

Luo: "...?"

"You’ll get used to it," Baili Qing continued calmly. "Yu Sheng often solves problems in astonishing ways—but they’re usually effective. Look, now we can have a good chat, can’t we?"

Luo was at a loss for words, then heard footsteps from behind. She glanced back and let out another startled cry: "Ah!"

It turned out that Erin had climbed down from Yu Sheng and, with her short legs, made her way behind Luo.

"You’re weaker than I imagined," the little puppet remarked, curiously fiddling with the mechanical limbs behind Luo, seeming carefree. "Seeing you like this, I thought you were tough, like a mad scientist from a movie... But all you can do is throw two fireballs? Are these mechanical arms just for screwing bolts?"

The mechanical limbs twitched violently, causing the little puppet to jump in fright and hurriedly hide behind Yu Sheng. However, the anticipated attack never came—Luo merely furrowed her brows, her gaze turning a bit dazed after hearing Erin’s voice.

Yu Sheng keenly noticed the dazed look in her eyes. Though he didn’t speak, his expression seemed thoughtful.

Baili Qing walked around from behind her desk, extending a hand to help the elf sitting on the floor get up.

"Anyway, I didn’t expect our first face-to-face meeting in reality to be in this form," she said slowly. "Now we should talk about your dangerous ’research project’—whether you believe it or not, the situation is very serious, and I can’t understand why you still..."

She suddenly stopped, staring intently into Luo’s eyes.

A slight gleam flashed through those faded gray eyes.

Luo shuddered abruptly, as if waking from a nightmare. The dazed look vanished from her eyes, and she looked puzzled at the person in front, her voice hesitant and unsure: "...What did you say just now? My research project? What’s wrong with my research project?"

Baili Qing quickly noticed something was off about Luo’s response. Her gaze sharpened, and her voice carried a tone that seemed to influence the mind: "Zolda Black Stone—you’ve been researching it for seven years. Have you forgotten? I’ve argued with you about it more than once recently..."

"Zolda Black Stone? Black Stone..." Luo’s brow knitted tightly, her voice tinged with confusion and bewilderment. But soon after, as if recalling something, she held her forehead with one hand, "Yes, Black Stone, I’m researching it. We found it on a remote, primitive planet; it’s an incredible information carrier with a physical presence in the real world, yet its material structure cannot be decrypted no matter what, knowledge... yes, knowledge!"

Her eyes suddenly brightened, as if emerging from the daze into excitement, her mechanical limbs unconsciously stretching out behind her: "It’s a carrier of knowledge, a massive information structure compressed within its real-world existence! Data... with the right stimuli, it will feed back a wealth of incredible mysteries—it can even decipher the unobservable order in the distant deep space!

"Do you understand? Do you guys understand? All ’properties’ are incidental, the essence of that stone is more fascinating than its power! I’ve learned a lot through it; it wants to convey those..."

The golden-haired elf became fully animated, seemingly forgetting that she had been "captured" through unreasonable means. She even turned to Yu Sheng, as if eager to share her joy with a friend, gesturing with her hands: "Knowledge! Wisdom! It’s the path to save this world from disaster! Everyone’s future! Do you understand? Do you grasp it? So much..."

Suddenly, a pair of crimson eyes appeared in her sight.

Countless pairs of crimson eyes appeared in her sight.

The mass-produced puppets stood neatly behind Yu Sheng, watching her.

Erin stood at Luo’s feet, reaching out to tug at the Elf’s skirt.

"What are you talking about?" The little puppet blinked, "Did you take something?"

Luo’s body wobbled, those crimson eyes seemed to magnify crazily in her vision, and then transformed into two interfering, engulfing whirlpools of loss of control, yanking her mind brutally out of a certain "drowning".

"Knowledge" and "wisdom" collapsed, retreating like a tide.

Only a kind of thought clarity, as if she hadn’t felt in a long time, remained.

"...No way!" Luo suddenly raised her head, turned to Baili Qing, "That stone has a problem!"

Baili Qing and Yu Sheng spoke simultaneously: "Do you even need to say that?!"

"I..." Luo just uttered another word, then suddenly raised her hand to cover her forehead as if another bout of dizziness attacked her, "There’s noise in my head, very chaotic noise..."

Several seconds passed before that terrible dizziness finally receded, Luo gasping heavily as she looked at the figures in front of her, her gaze finally settling on Baili Qing.

"I need help from the Special Service Bureau—the price, you name it."

All the confusion and bewilderment had faded away, her expression grave, completely different from before.

"You need more than just the Special Service Bureau, you also need the power of the ’travel agency,’" said Baili Qing, raising a hand to gesture towards Yu Sheng, "He’s able to bring you here, now it seems only he can help you shut down that out-of-control lab."

"Yu... Sheng?" Luo blinked somewhat perplexedly, turned to look at Yu Sheng for a moment, and seemed to finally subconsciously match certain information in her mind, "Wait, I’ve heard some news... that Angel Hunter?!"

She widened her eyes abruptly, staring in disbelief at this figure who had repeatedly opened doors to her secret base and had just led a dozen cursed puppets to bind her here... the big shot.

"That’s a name I’ve heard," Yu Sheng chuckled as he pulled out a business card from his pocket and stuffed it into her hand, "I opened a Spirit Realm detective agency named ’travel agency,’ handling various supernatural affairs—including dealing with Dark Angels at home."

Luo: "...?"

The Elf took the small card somewhat perplexedly, noticing the front side printed with a large fox head, and the back bearing Yu Sheng’s name, phone number, and a bunch of advertising phrases.

Behind her came Baili Qing’s voice: "We need to shut down your laboratory as soon as possible—at least let that ’Zolda Black Stone’ quiet down. That thing is currently digging holes all over the Boundary Land, if it wasn’t suspected from the beginning that there could be a hidden agenda behind it, the situation would definitely be more serious than you imagined..."

Luo listened solemnly as Baili Qing informed her of the current situation, while her mind swiftly compared those memory fragments she had once ignored, minutes later, she spoke with a heavy expression, breaking the silence: "...Theoretically, as long as I reconnect to the Black Stone Space Station system, activate the nuclear bomb buried under the laboratory..."

But before she finished speaking, Baili Qing interrupted her: "Um, about that nuclear bomb..."

Luo: "?"

Baili Qing: "It’s in our hands now."

Luo: "...Ah?"

Then the gaze of the Elf Mechanic fell on Yu Sheng, her expression odd.

"Mr. Hunter, why did you kidnap my nuclear bomb?"

"Why would I kidnap a nuclear bomb!" Yu Sheng said, struggling to restrain himself, "That thing ’fell’ into the Exotic Realm by itself, okay? We collectively suspect it was sent by Black Stone using a Space Rift."

Luo blinked, frowning slightly: "Is that so..."

But she quickly pursed her lips, swiftly adjusting her expression: "No matter, there are more than one safety measures, and there is another backup bomb above the laboratory, as long as I reconnect..."

Before she finished speaking, hurried footsteps sounded from the hallway, interrupting her again.

Knocking on the door followed, and after Baili Qing responded, Song Cheng pushed the door open and entered, speaking hurriedly: "Director, an operative team found a Fusion Bomb in the ’Museum’, it bears Black Dot Group’s markings..."

Song Cheng paused halfway through, staring blankly at the golden-haired Elf in the office.

After a moment of unspeakable silence, Yu Sheng spread his hands at Luo: "Now you don’t have a backup bomb."