Chapter 804: Beta Tester

"Received." Chen Ling responded calmly.

"But Director, that Lin Yan ambushed me earlier and caused me some injuries... I'm afraid there might be accidents, so send someone else to go with me?"

Chen Ling paused for a moment, modified the walkie-talkie frequency and voice, and said in the Director's tone:

"You're injured? Do you need to come out for treatment first?"

"No, just minor injuries."

The aurora in Chen Ling's eyes flickered slightly.

The referees' communication system had been completely invaded by Chen Ling. This system could be divided into two parts: the referees supervising inside the Old District, and the organizers outside the Old District.

The referees summarized the intelligence from inside the Old District and transmitted it in real-time to the organizers via walkie-talkie, while the organizers were responsible for summarizing, organizing, and dispatching rescue teams...

And now, Chen Ling stood between these two parts.

He was like a relay station; any communication from the Old District had to pass through him to be sent out, and any orders from the organizers had to pass through him to be delivered inside... Only messages he confirmed as non-threatening could be correctly transmitted; otherwise, they would be intercepted or tampered with.

Chen Ling could now be said to be covering the sky with one hand!

Chen Ling used the communication network to sense the current positions of the referees. After picking one close to him, he continued in the Director's tone:

"Alright, No. 17, you go ahead and open the 'Dark Palace' to do a preliminary check."

"Received."

Referee No. 17 responded immediately.

Soon, in Chen Ling's perception, No. 17's signal position moved rapidly, approaching a corner inside the Old District.

Chen Ling calmly put away the walkie-talkie and walked there unhurriedly.

……

Ten minutes later.

Chen Ling slowly stopped on a barren piece of land.

"The referee's signal is here... The so-called 'Dark Palace' is hidden here?" Chen Ling scanned the surroundings; as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but rubble.

Chen Ling walked around the rubble ruins and deliberately searched the details of the ground carefully with his [Secret Pupil]. Finally, he found a trail of faint footprints in a certain area.

Chen Ling seemed to have discovered something. He stepped into the air using the Cloud Step and looked down from this angle, finally discovering some clues...

"The arrangement of the rubble matches the Eight Trigrams... The footprints also disappear at the intersection of Yin and Yang. It seems the entrance is there."

It must be said that the setup of this "Dark Palace" was quite hidden. Although the organizers of the Heaven-Reaching Tower had left the Eight Trigrams layout as a clue, everyone was busy hiding or fighting at this time; who would notice the layout on this wasteland?

It was no wonder that no participant had actively discovered the entrance to the "Dark Palace" until now.

Chen Ling returned to the ground, followed the footprints all the way forward, and finally discovered a corridor leading underground at the intersection of the Eight Trigrams layout. He walked down without much hesitation.

The floor of the corridor was paved with marble, and the walls on both sides were engraved with patterns. It wasn't dark and narrow like a tomb passage, but rather elegant and magnificent... The lights on both sides of the walls were turned on. Whether it was set up that way originally or turned on by Referee No. 17 when he entered, it looked bright and clear.

After walking along the corridor for a while, Chen Ling's view suddenly opened up, and a circular hall resembling an underground palace appeared before him.

At the first sight of this circular hall, Chen Ling thought of the art palace of the Floating Life Painting, but compared to it, the circular hall before him clearly lacked some artistic flair, yet possessed a magnificent, awe-inspiring grandeur.

"This is..."

Chen Ling entered the circular hall and saw six pitch-black arched gates standing in various directions of the hall.

In the center of the hall floor, a passage resembling an elevator shaft extended deep into the ground. Even now, one could see the precise tracks and mechanical devices within, which were dazzling.

Just as Chen Ling was carefully looking down into the bottom of the shaft, a figure walked slowly out of one of the arches:

"No. 6, you're here? How are you feeling?"

The person who came was none other than Referee No. 17, who had met Chen Ling and the others at the station, and was also the "designated" maintenance person for the "Dark Palace" by Chen Ling.

"Ah, nothing serious, just got knocked on the head by that kid, a bit of a headache."

Chen Ling imitated Referee No. 6's tone and smiled helplessly.

"That kid is named Lin Yan, right? I have an impression." No. 17 nodded slightly. "The [Not-a-Human] path, they really do things that aren't human."

Chen Ling: ...

"Right, how was your inspection? Any problems?" Chen Ling changed the subject.

"Basically checked it once, the mechanisms of the Six Palaces of Clever Springs are all normal." No. 17 pointed to the edge of the six arched gates, to a half-hidden secret door.

"But I don't know as much about this as you do. It's best if you check it again in a while. I put the control panel on the table for you... But if you have a headache, it's fine not to check. Don't worry about that guy Old Chang; he's born to order people around."

This Old Chang mentioned by No. 17 should be the Director in the communication channel. It was clear that his reputation among the referees wasn't very good.

"It's okay, I'm fine." Chen Ling smiled weakly.

He secretly touched the walkie-talkie in his bosom with his right hand.

Chen Ling, now in the guise of Referee No. 6, naturally had two sound arms, but because he was originally one-armed, his left hand only had the form and couldn't perform high-difficulty actions, let alone fight... It was more like a natural prosthetic limb.

As an aurora flashed deep in his eyes, Referee No. 17's walkie-talkie suddenly rang:

"The fighting in the west of the city has increased, manpower is insufficient, go help quickly."

Director Chang's voice sounded, and Referee No. 17's face immediately turned sour. He snorted coldly and said helplessly: "Then I'll go get busy first. After you finish checking and there are no problems, remember to restore everything here."

"No problem."

Chen Ling showed an honest man's sincere smile.

As No. 17's figure gradually disappeared at the end of the corridor, the smile on Chen Ling's face gradually faded. He walked calmly to the half-hidden secret door and pushed it open.

Behind the door was a dazzling space. Countless gears and long rods, like perfect works of art, filled every inch of the space. Walking through it, Chen Ling felt as if he were in the heart of some super steel beast.

"This is... the work of the Heaven-Reaching Tower?"

Chen Ling looked up at the dense variety of mechanical parts that looked like an abyss below, a flash of shock in his eyes.

But soon, his gaze fell on a seemingly ordinary control console in the center of this secret room... Mirrors emitting mysterious brilliance were placed on it.