Comprehensive network wizard, magic emperor.

Chapter 252 Spacetime Anomaly, Difficulty Increased

The deep purple time portal has opened, and Lin Bo's halfling teammate is sorting out the dungeon loot. She grins and marvels at her good luck, as she has obtained purple equipment and skill books.

[Frosty Stew Pot] leaned closer and whispered, "Master, I'm giving you all the dropped items."

"Why?" Lin Bo asked in surprise.

“Since I didn’t put in any effort, this should be considered your spoils of war,” the halfling replied matter-of-factly. She explained that it was a family tradition: “No work, no food; you have to put in the effort to receive a reward.”

"Don't feel guilty," Lin Bo reassured him, waving his hand. "Dungeon drops depend on luck. As for the resources inside the dungeon, they can be distributed according to each person's contribution. This is an unspoken rule for player teams. You don't owe me anything."

"Is there such a rule?" [Frosty Stew Pot] was surprised.

"You've never teamed up before?"

"Ah... just once or twice. I like solving problems on my own, without having to consider other players' feelings or follow arrangements I don't like. It's very free." The halfling twirled his braid with his fingers, smiling shyly.

"You have good taste." Lin Bo nodded in approval. "I also enjoy exploring the map alone, but there are advantages to teaming up. It's always good to get more rewards and make more friends. Socializing can help regulate your mood."

“I have friends, real-life friends,” the halfling said loudly.

They chatted casually as they walked to the administrator's desk deep inside the first floor, which was supposed to be the "front desk," but was actually located quite far back.

The elite monster "Silencer" usually sits on a stool that looks like a coffee table behind the desk. Judging from its size, it can probably only sit on half of its buttocks.

Five safes were placed in the wide drawer of the front desk, but there was only one key. Lin Bo drew the Secret Spirit Mercury into a thin thread and cut the safes open. Inside were mostly local banknotes, ledgers, and shipping documents.

Lin Bo glanced at the inventory list. Some of the items had suspicious names, such as "long pig," "lamb," and "tender skin." A normal library wouldn't use things that looked like food ingredients.

Cutting open the last safe revealed the source of the curse that trapped the elf [Huanji]: a black-covered book with the title written in the local language: "Three Hundred Embarrassing Stories of the Elf [Huanji]".

The soft leather cover felt slightly cool to the touch. Lin Bo flipped through the first two pages, which told the story of the elf [Huanji] befriending a grizzly bear cub in the forest during his childhood. He was then carried to the bear mother's den and fed on animal milk for a week. When his parents found him, he was already a four-legged wild animal.

In his youth, [Huanji] was courted by a human male who offered him a large sum of money because of his handsome appearance. After learning his true gender, the human suitor spent money to buy him a gender-changing belt.

In a fit of anger, Huanji put the gender-changing belt on the man, but the man became even more infatuated with him, so Huanji had to leave for another place. The following year, he met another infatuated suitor, who was also a man.

The entire book was filled with painful memories. Out of curiosity, Lin Bo read two pages, but out of respect, he did not continue reading.

The pages of the book are imbued with a cursed evil power, sharing the same origin as the paper mask.

Lin Bo's research into taboo words was superficial, and he had never explored the true names of forbidden things, nor did he have much knowledge of the dark magic field. However, he had dealt with curses quite a few times; the necromancers of [The Fallen Giants Field] frequently cast spells on him.

He took out the paper mask and placed it on Huanji's chest. With his other hand, he pressed down on the cursed book and chanted dragon language. In the deafening roar of the words, the pages trembled, and the evil magic that permeated the paper and words was torn apart and obliterated. The whole book seemed to have undergone a century of change in an instant, becoming old and decayed.

The paper mask shattered into dust, and the consciousness imprisoned within instantly returned to its body. The evil spirit that had previously occupied the body had perished as the curse's source dissipated, and [Huanji's] skin regained its normal color, though he remained weak and dislocated all over.

"Ugh—ah—" He was in so much pain that he broke out in a cold sweat.

[Frosty Stew Pot] applauded enthusiastically, "Welcome back!"

Lin Bo recited the true name of the skeleton and put the dislocated joint back together, and he broke out in a cold sweat again.

"Thank you! Respected human mage. Vileoria will never forget you."

"You're welcome, friend. This is the book that got you into trouble; keep it as a little souvenir." Lin Bo handed him "Three Hundred Embarrassing Stories of the Elf [Huanji]".

"Hmm." The elf hesitated for a moment, staring at the title, then flipped through the contents before chuckling awkwardly. "This book is indeed very important. By the way, if I may ask, do you have any knowledge of the language and script of this dungeon?"

The elf stared intently at Lin Bo.

The monk smiled but did not answer.

The elf's face gradually turned ashen, his expression one of extreme pain. "Oh—no!"

“I only read two pages, and I’m keeping quiet about it,” Lin Bo reassured him.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" The halfling poked his head out. [Huanji] hurriedly put away the curse book. "Nothing's wrong. Okay, let's talk about something else. Oh, by the way, [Tree Eagle] is here. Let's help him get out of this predicament!"

The halfling stared at him suspiciously.

The Elf Swordsman, also a spellcasting class, took the initiative to rescue his teammates, carrying the wax figure of the [Tree Eagle] up to the second floor, with the halfling following closely behind.

Lin Bo had a bunch of structural components waiting to be studied, so he stayed on the first floor.

He first spent more than ten minutes browsing through the books on the shelf, getting a basic understanding of the local language, so that he could converse with the spirits.

"Come on, let me see how you transfer your consciousness into magical energy." The mage smiled to himself, while simultaneously activating his personal incantation, chanting the true name of the construct, and connecting with the living spirit within the component through the power of resonance.

Within Lin Bo's mental field, one after another living beings in human form appeared on the bright water surface, their postures cowering in fear.

Their appearances are mostly blurred, meaning they can no longer remember what they looked like in life, but they still possess the ability to speak.

When probing the true names of the constructs, Lin Bo glimpsed their memories, but only those from their past as living beings. After their consciousness was uploaded, their true names changed; they were no longer human, so their memories from their human days were buried and hidden.

These memories have not disappeared; every living being remembers what they went through to become this way.

Lin Bo conveyed his feelings to them through resonance, and the living beings dared not disobey the monk's request, and they all recounted the consciousness transfer surgery that had happened to them.

Every mental structure needs a carrier, whether it is a chemical neurotransmitter and nerve potential, or the microcurrent in a chip, the primordial energy that a cultivator has perfected, various magical energies, the four elements, or ethereal spiritual energy.

The technological theory of transferring consciousness from the human brain to another medium is a profound subject of study in the multiverse.

The relevant documents that Lin Bo bought divided consciousness transfer into two schools of thought.

One school emphasizes self-cultivation, with "cultivating qi to transform spirit" as its core principle.

Practitioners of the Eastern lineage repeatedly refine their primordial energy into a pill, which they then fuse with their mind and spirit to cultivate a free and unfettered primordial spirit structure. Meanwhile, psychics continuously hone their minds until their thoughts can exist independently of their bodies.

This path is arduous and challenging, but the achievements are significant, and the technical barriers are relatively low.

Another school of thought directly uses external force to strip away the mind and consciousness, like a transplant surgery.

In the lich transformation ritual, the caster combines their own mind with negative energy and infuses it into the soul casket, thereby gaining an eternally indifferent life.

This path is equally difficult, often requiring extensive experimental research to find suitable mental surgery options.

The living beings told the story that took place in this great library.

Humans from the ground are constantly being brought here as consumables. They are injected with magical potions, their brains dissolving into glowing liquid that flows from their seven orifices mixed with blood.

The experiment failed many times over many years.

The consciousness of many of the deceased failed to be transferred, but it did not disappear either; instead, it lingered in the Great Archives, leading to frequent stalking phenomena.

As technology improved and the solution matured, human-shaped spirits emerged. They were the city's servants, serving all citizens and the sole leader, and their raw materials were the criminals of Sky City and the captive slaves captured from the surface.

Lin Bo asked where these technical documents were stored, but the spirits did not know.

They were imprisoned on the west side of the second floor of the Great Archives before their deaths, while the east side of the second floor was a restricted area where stalker murders were frequent. Apart from constructs, no one dared to approach it. As for the surgery location, it was on the third floor.

Just then, a notification popped up on the integrated network information board.

[Number of players detected in the current instance: four]

[The instance's time and space are fluctuating abnormally. Please leave before the countdown ends. If you exceed the time limit, the (Hard) difficulty challenge will be activated, and any instance rewards you have obtained will be frozen until you meet the completion requirements again, at which point they will be recalculated based on the difficulty.]

[Countdown to the closing of the time-space portal: 10, 9...]

Lin Bo raised an eyebrow slightly and saw [Frost Soup Stew Pot's] message in the team chat that they had already rescued the other player.

[Lighthouse Guest]: Stay, let's continue challenging the dungeon.
[Frosty Soup Stew Pot]: Hmm, whatever you say.
(End of this chapter)