bookbashuk Page 143
Page 143
"Look there!" Sato Miwako pointed to the spot where the tree roots met the water in the reflection. There, due to the refraction of light and the ripples of water, a "key" made of light and shadow appeared, appearing and disappearing in the water, perfectly matching the shape of the groove on the door!
"I understand!" Ariel exclaimed. "The real 'key' isn't a physical object! It's a reflection of light at a specific angle on the flowing water, forming a key on the door! We need to align this light and shadow key with the groove on the door!"
But how do you make the reflection in the water match the groove on the door?
The water flows ceaselessly, and the reflection is constantly changing.
Yuuki Takada recalled Ariel's earlier words—"the angle of light at a specific moment."
He looked up at the top of the cave, searching for any possible openings.
Sure enough, at the highest point of the cave, there was an extremely narrow natural shaft that was almost completely covered by stalactites.
"It needs natural light... maybe moonlight, or starlight, shining down through that shaft, at a specific moment, at the perfect angle so that the reflection of the key in the water precisely aligns with the groove on the door!"
Yuki Takada made a quick judgment.
"Today is the fifteenth of the lunar calendar, the night of the full moon." Sato Miwako glanced at the date on her phone. Although there was no signal, the basic functions were still working. "The moon will soon rise to the right altitude!"
Just then, the underground river suddenly became turbulent, and the roar of a motor could be heard in the distance!
A small underwater vehicle emerged from the dark waterway like a ghost, and standing at the bow was the middle-aged man known as the "mentor"!
He was accompanied by two fully armed guards.
"I must admit, your wisdom and luck have exceeded my expectations, Mr. Takada, Ms. Sato, and Agent Ariel."
The mentor's voice came through the submarine's loudspeaker, echoing in the cave, carrying a hint of praise, but more so a chilling killing intent: "But the game ends here. Thank you for helping me find the final confirmation entrance and the method to open it."
The searchlights on the submersible suddenly lit up, piercing the darkness like sharp swords and locking onto the three people on the platform.
The two guards raised their automatic weapons.
The situation is reversed instantly!
They were trapped on the platform, with a giant metal gate in front of them and an underground river behind them, with nowhere to escape!
"Do you think you've got victory in the bag just because you've subdued a few of my incompetent henchmen?"
The mentor smiled and said, "I have been waiting, waiting for the moon to rise to the right angle. And now, the time has come."
He looked up at the vertical shaft at the top of the cave, where a beam of cool moonlight was slowly shining through the crack, moving downwards like a spotlight on a stage.
"Capture them and eliminate them before the moon takes shape," the mentor calmly ordered.
Two guards jumped off the submarine, climbed onto the platform, and approached menacingly.
With their backs against the cold, massive metal gate, Yuki Takada and his group were trapped in a desperate situation.
Ariel was running out of bullets, Yuuki Takada had excellent marksmanship but was at a disadvantage with his weapon, and Miwako Sato was almost powerless against automatic fire.
The moonlight dappled the cave floor, moving slowly closer and closer to the water in the center of the platform.
At this critical moment, Yuuki Takada's gaze fell once again on the door and on the "Tree of Twilight".
Tree roots, water reflections… He suddenly remembered the marks that Chishima Saori had drawn, resembling “C,” “L,” and “II.”
“C…L…II…not letters, not numbers…it’s ‘Clef de Lumière,’ the abbreviation for the so-called Key of Light and ‘II’ type refraction!” He spoke rapidly in Japanese to Sato Miwako and Ariel. “Sato, your makeup mirror! Ariel, do you have a spare flashlight? We need to make a temporary ‘Key of Light’!”
Sato Miwako instantly understood and immediately took out a small but clean makeup mirror from her bag.
Ariel quickly handed over a small pen-shaped flashlight.
Yuki Takada took the mirror and flashlight and shouted to Ariel, "Cover me!" Then he rolled violently to the side of the platform, where there was a smaller, inconspicuous stalagmite.
"Fire!" Upon seeing this, the instructor immediately ordered the guards to fire.
Bullets chased after Yuki Takada's figure, sending stone chips flying everywhere.
Using the metal door and stalactites as cover, Ariel and Miwako Sato fought back desperately with pistols and as a last resort, temporarily diverting the guards' firepower.
Yuuki Takada hid behind a stalagmite, quickly fixed a small flashlight in a crevice, illuminating the makeup mirror with its beam, and then carefully adjusted the angle of the mirror.
He recalled the subtle curve of the woman's fingers in the painting "The Silent Mona Lisa," the direction of the Seine, and the shape of the key reflected in the water.
He wanted to reflect the flashlight beam to simulate the "key of light" at that specific angle and project it onto the groove on the door in advance!
This is an extremely bold attempt with almost no chance of success!
But he had no choice!
The moonlight has touched the water's surface, and the reflection of the door in the water is beginning to change; a key of light and shadow is forming!
Chapter 185 Forced into a desperate situation
The instructor stared intently at the water, a triumphant smile spreading across his face.
Just then, Yuuki Takada adjusted the angle!
A beam of light, reflected by the mirror, coalesced into a subtly distorted spot and was precisely projected onto the groove in the center of the metal door's trunk!
"Click——"
A crisp, ancient-sounding click echoed through the cave!
The massive metal door didn't open completely; instead, the groove in the center of the tree trunk spun inward, revealing a narrow entrance that could only accommodate one person at a time, exuding an even more ancient and profound aura!
It worked!
Using a forged "Key of Light," the gate was forcibly opened before the true moment arrived!
Everyone was stunned, including the mentor and his men.
"Impossible!" The instructor's smile froze, turning into disbelief and anger.
"Go in quickly!" Takada Yuki shouted to Sato Miwako and the others without the slightest hesitation.
Sato Miwako and Ariel reacted quickly, taking advantage of the moment when the guards were stunned by the sudden change, and rushed towards the narrow entrance.
Yuuki Takada also leaped out from behind the stalagmite, firing his gun at the guards to suppress them while rushing toward the entrance.
"Stop them! Kill them!" the instructor roared in exasperation.
Before the guards could react, bullets rained down on them.
Ariel was the first to crawl into the entrance, followed closely by Miwako Sato.
Yuuki Takada abruptly stopped and turned around at the entrance, throwing the makeup mirror in his hand at the pursuing guard to obstruct his view, while simultaneously sliding sideways into the entrance.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Bullets struck the metal door frame, sparks flying everywhere.
Just as Yuki Takada's body was completely submerged in darkness, he heard his mentor's angry roar and the sound of the submarine's motor restarting.
The entrance was not the treasure trove one might imagine, but rather a narrower, more sloping tunnel that could only be crawled through, leading downwards to an unknown destination.
The inner wall of the pipe was smooth and cold, seemingly made of some kind of artificial material.
The three had no time to think and could only slide down the pipe.
After sliding for about ten meters, the pipe finally came to an end, and they fell into a relatively spacious area. The cell phone's light beam lit up again, illuminating this ultimate secret chamber hidden in the deepest part.
The secret room was not large, about the size of an ordinary room.
There were no mountains of gold and silver or piles of rare treasures as one might have imagined.
The sight inside made all three of them gasp in shock—
In the center of the secret room was a cylindrical container made of transparent crystal or some kind of special glass, filled with a pale blue liquid that emitted a faint glow.
A person is suspended in the liquid!
A young man dressed in 18th-century aristocratic attire, with a lifelike face, appears to be merely asleep.
He wore a badge on his chest that matched the design on the metal door: the "Tree of Twilight".
Around the container, instead of gold and silver jewelry, there were rows of neat, modern server racks!
The indicator lights twinkled like stars in the darkness, emitting a low hum.
Between the servers are several huge culture tanks filled with some kind of biomass solution, where the outlines of various organs and even embryonic tissues can be vaguely seen!
A huge screen occupied one wall, displaying countless complex genetic sequence codes, global financial data streams, and some incomprehensible symbols and charts.
"This...what is this?"
Sato Miwako's voice trembled; the scene before her was beyond her comprehension.
Ariel Kruger, pale-faced, murmured, "Not wealth, but... life and technology. The ultimate treasure the Foundation seeks... is immortality, the key to controlling human evolution,... the power of God!"
Yuuki Takada felt a chill rise up his spine.
What the Twilight Foundation has hidden for hundreds of years is not worldly wealth, but forbidden knowledge and power capable of overturning the world order and touching the essence of life!
The person in that container might be one of the founders of the foundation, or... a test subject?
Just then, a noise came from the entrance to the secret chamber. The mentor, along with two guards, actually forced their way through the narrow entrance and chased after them!
His face was filled with fanaticism and greed, his eyes fixed on the central container and the surrounding servers.
"Finally... finally we've arrived here! The resting place of the Primordial Ones, the source of the Foundation's wisdom!" The mentor opened his arms as if to embrace it all.
He looked at Takada Yuki and the other two with a cold gaze.
"Now, it's time to clean up the last dust."
Two guards raised their guns and aimed.
Yuki Takada and his two companions were trapped in the secret room, with those strange incubation tanks and servers behind them, leaving them nowhere to retreat.
At this final standoff moment, Yuki Takada's gaze swept across the flickering servers and landed on the interface of one of the consoles.
There is a very conspicuous red program with a constantly counting down, named "Self-destruct Protocol: Unauthorized access detected, initiating final purification".
Clearly, they forced open the gate, triggering the ultimate defense mechanism here!
"Mentor!" Yuuki Takada suddenly shouted, "Look at the control panel on your left! The self-destruct program has been activated! You'll get nothing!"
The instructor was taken aback upon hearing this and quickly glanced at the control panel. When he saw the glaring countdown with less than two minutes left, his expression changed drastically.
"No—!" he roared in frustration.
Taking this opportunity, Yuuki Takada winked at Miwako Sato and Ariel, and the three of them acted at the same time!
Yuuki Takada lunged at the nearest guard, slamming him into a nearby culture tank with all his might.
Ariel then swiftly drew a hidden dagger and attacked another guard.