Taking a few steps and not discovering any changes Liam felt smug. He swiftly crossed the room and arrived in front of another gate. Studying the gate made from thick, silver metal Liam spotted no signs of a crack.
Liam looked around, searching for any kind of control unit but didn't find anything. The gate was seemingly autonomous.
Stumped, Liam pondered his options. He quickly came up with a new idea. A simple flash step should be enough to get him past the gate!
Confident, Liam urged the console to send starlight energy through his body. His muscles twitched as every cell was brimming with energy. Liam focused, connecting with the spot he wanted to travel to.
Yet suddenly he was hit with a strange sensation. He couldn't feel any connection past the gate. It was as if the world was cut off in front of him. Liam had never experienced something like this before.
Unable to reach his target, Liam was forced to dissipate the energy in his body. He shivered, feeling extremely strange like a deflated balloon.
Thinking about it for a moment, thought, Liam was not overly surprised. Since the building could even block the void energy, it was only logical that it could also block his flash step which relied on energy as well.
Met with this setback, Liam had to think of another solution. His eyes wandered towards a few dents at the bottom of the gate. Liam pondered for a moment before clawing his fingers into the dents.
Suddenly he gritted his teeth and, mobilizing all his strength, pushed upwards.
Liam's arms trembled. Cracking sounds could be heard from the gate. For a moment no one surrendered.
Boom!
Suddenly the walls trembled. Something broke inside and the gate instantly shot open as all the momentum erupted.
Liam let go of the gate, tumbling backwards. His fingers pulsed and his arms trembled but at least the gate stayed open, most likely destroyed. The statues turned towards the source of the sound but didn't begin to attack, which reassure Liam greatly.
Finally having access Liam didn't hesitate and entered the next room. He found himself in a spacious, circular room. It was extremely chaotic. Broken screens and toppled tables could be found everywhere. Splintered glass covered the floor.
It looked as if a storm had devastated the room. Towards the back, however, one could see a few extremely sturdy tube-like tanks which apparently survived the destruction.
Liam slowly approached the tanks while continuously scanning the room, searching for anything useful among the rubble.
Suddenly he froze. Leaning against the wall Liam shockingly discovered human skeletons! Although time left its traces on them, they were still mostly preserved. Liam surmised that the special atmosphere in the room must've made this possible.
He got closer, carefully inspecting the skeletons. Liam's breath was somewhat shaky. Although he experienced much in the game, this was the first time he saw a human skeleton in real life.
Liam took a minute to calm himself down before taking a closer look. Even with his limited medical knowledge the skeletons revealed a lot.
For example, one of them had its entire ribcage replaced by artificial ribs made of metal. Liam was unsure if this was a standard procedure in the ancient civilization. It did seem so as the other skeleton also carried an artificial arm.
Surprisingly the artificial arm was heavily damaged, its fingers apparently crushed by a great force and the entire arm severed at the elbow. Similarly, the skeleton's skull had received a tremendous blow towards its temples, caving in and shattering. Liam was certain that such a blow must've been deadly.
He couldn't tell the first skeleton's source of death though as it appeared mostly intact.
After a while Liam took a step back, staring at the two skeletons, unsure how to proceed. Was he supposed to bring them out? Liam felt his stomach churn at the thought.
Eventually he decided to only take the severed arm with him and perhaps tell Hoffman about it. He reached out slowly, avoiding touching the remains. It was like a game where one wasn't allowed to touch the surroundings.
Suppressing the shaking of his arm he grabbed the artificial limb and drew back, retrieving it successfully. Turning it in his hands Liam couldn't help but marvel at the intricately built arm.
This should be far advanced technology as he never heard of artificial body parts being far spread in the Human Federation. Liam couldn't hide his fascination.
Technology had always fascinated Liam as is felt like a constant challenge. There was seemingly no end to technology. New discoveries could be made every day.
Unfortunately, Liam was always busy and never had enough time to delve deeply into technology. And now that he was in a new world there was only even more to learn. Liam probably wouldn't be able to find the time to catch up.
Liam shock his head, dispersing the thoughts, as he stuffed the artificial arm into his chest armor. Next, he continued looking around. Without discovering anything noteworthy he soon approached the three tanks towards the back, which were the only undamaged objects in the room.
Scanning the tanks with his eyes Liam didn't see any obvious signs of their purpose. Made form solid black metal plates the tanks seemed to lock something in. There were once again warning signs surrounding a few buttons. One of the those was obviously meant to open the tanks.
Liam hesitated. But after exploring for so long he encouraged himself. How could he find answers without braving danger?
Taking a deep breath Liam balled his fists and punched the biggest button. Instantly a crack appeared in the solid tank. Steam escaped, spreading a freezing coldness. Liam instantly took a step back.
Slowly a part of the tank opened like a door. More cold air escaped as a cylindrical object was revealed. It was made from silver-black metal, its form resembling a large fire extinguisher.
As Liam eyed it curiously the cylinder suddenly began to tip over. Liam's heart skipped a beat. He instinctively stepped forward, grabbing the object tightly, not daring to let it crash to the floor.
"Ah!"
Liam couldn't suppress a shout. The freezing coldness penetrated his gloves, assaulting his hand. Liam endured with gritted teeth, pondering over what to do next.
Swiping his eyes over the room he knew there was nothing left to do for him. Liam decided to take the cylinder with him and leave.
He had no idea what this object was but judging from the way it was locked up in this lab, it was surely significant. Maybe the federation's researchers could figure it out.
Thinking like this Liam reinforced his grip and lifted the object. But he was immediately shocked. The cylinder was incredibly heavy! With his strength he was barely able to carry it, but this was far from safe enough.
Breathing deeply Liam readjusted his posture. He let the cylinder lean against his back, went to his knees, and stabilized the object on his shoulder while holding it with both hands. The cold instantly attacked his head. But as he took the cylinder out of the tank it gradually became easier to endure.
With heavy steps Liam left the way he came from. He was extremely carefully, afraid to stumble over something on the floor. He was sure damaging the cylinder would be extremely dangerous. All those warning signs weren't there for nothing.
Thus, Liam spent some time to even reach the door. Once there, he glanced at a small screen next to it, which could deactivate the security system.
Pondering for a moment Liam decided to deactivate it. He considered it doing the army a favour if they were to come back to this place.
Subsequently Liam reached the entrance without any trouble. He raised his foot and gave the door a heavy kick, always making sure to keep his heavy load stable.
The entrance opened wide enough for Liam to get out. Void energy spread towards him and the console's protection sprung to life while Liam left the lab.
Once outside he directly made his way towards the exit of the ruins.
C, how much time do I have left?
[Player Liam, your protection remains for 28 minutes and 03 seconds.]
Liam was relieved. This was more than enough time for him to reach the entrance. However, suddenly a thought struck him.
How long have I been in the lab? Possibly more than 30 minutes! If I don't come back, will the others think something happened to me?
Knowing that this was a very real possibility, Liam quickly shouted loudly, his voice spreading through the entire ruin:
"Bleary Mirage here! I'm coming out now! No need to think that something happened to me!"
Outside of the ruins Hoffman wore a solemn face, standing with the rest of the team behind him. Three hours had already passed and one of his teammates had not returned. And it was not just any teammate but their VIP Bleary Mirage.
Hoffman even considered going into the void. With his strength he might be able to endure a bit of corruption. However, even so it wasn't guaranteed that he could find the missing Bleary Mirage.