Endless Debt

Chapter 1258 - 72: Sword Oil

After enduring numerous hardships and various trials, Bologue finally reached the secret laboratory. Under the influence of high-level authorization, all the doors here were open for him.Thankfully, Bologue wasn’t tempted like a madman to open each door and rummage through. Instead, he stood guard at the entrance, ready for anything.

Everything in the Ruins District was constantly changing, combined with the bizarre powers of the security personnel, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t break through obstacles and force their way into the secret laboratory.

After remaining alert for several minutes, Bologue, noticing no anomalies, relaxed upon determining that the security personnel wouldn’t break through temporarily, and began to survey the laboratory.

"Are you okay?"

Bologue looked at Furya, who was seated to the side; since entering, she had been looking around, trying to identify where that sense of familiarity was coming from.

"I’m fine."

"Do you still feel that this place is familiar?" asked Bologue.

"Maybe."

Furya wasn’t sure either, "Perhaps it’s some kind of illusion? Or other effects brought on by cognitive distortion?"

Looking at Bologue again, even though he had helped her a lot, in Furya’s eyes, Bologue was still a detestable Evil Spirit.

"In this eerie place, anything’s possible." Bologue patted her shoulder, "But first, you need to stay calm."

"Okay."

"Let’s take a look at what’s here first."

Next came a rough half-hour investigation. Bologue found that the secret laboratory was vast. Opening one door revealed another door. Even though Mamo had described what lay within the lab in detail, Bologue still felt like he was walking into a small maze.

Furya didn’t make any reckless moves, as Bologue had advised; this was the secret laboratory of a Seeker of Glory, and she was just an intern, best not to touch anything.

She curled up in a corner, lost in thought, and after a while, hugged her knees and fell into a daze.

Though Furya hadn’t directly fought against the security personnel, not even throughout this passage that Bologue had led her through, the series of events had brought a great deal of pressure to her.

She was quite timid; since entering here, her mind had been filled with constant warnings. Furya attempted to identify the source of danger but returned with nothing.

Furya’s mind was extremely fatigued; it didn’t take long after closing her eyes for her to ignore the warning voices. Her breathing became stable and slight.

When Bologue passed by Furya, he glanced at her to ensure she was alright before venturing deeper into the secret laboratory.

It seemed that the impact of Xilin’s incursion had affected the secret laboratory too. Most rooms Bologue saw were in disarray; instruments and equipment were mostly damaged, with some containers broken. As for what they contained inside, they were long gone, leaving only corrosive traces on the floor.

Many files lay scattered in the corners. Bologue picked them up and organized them. Although Mamo hadn’t requested it, he still prepared to take these files back. After being hidden for so many years, this was what Mamo had been researching.

Apart from this, Bologue began looking for the item Mamo needed.

The search process wasn’t troublesome and went rather smoothly.

Mamo likely had a poor memory; the item he needed wasn’t at the location mentioned in the secondary target list but in a bedroom.

Bologue felt it wasn’t a bedroom at all, more like a warehouse. Various goods piled on iron shelves, a simple single bed in the corner of the room, along with a bedside table.

This was Mamo’s room.

"Should I say, as expected?"

Sitting on the bed, Bologue raised his hand and took the picture frame from the bedside table.

The glass of the frame had shattered, so Bologue simply disassembled it, removing the black-and-white photo inside.

It was a group photo, with many people sitting or standing, male and female, old and young. Most of their faces were hard to distinguish, but Bologue guessed Mamo could identify them even with his eyes closed. Behind them was a low-lying ruin.

Bologue turned over the photo. Black handwriting appeared on it, first a date, then a brief message.

"Ultimately, we decided to name it the Order Bureau."

Suddenly, Bologue felt this lightweight photo become heavy, as Deceitful Snake Scale liquid encased it completely. At the same time, Bologue recalled Mamo’s calm demeanor.

"I’m not afraid of death," Mamo’s voice echoed, "To me, it is rather a blessing and release. I know that at that moment, I will surely be united with the collective, and I will reunite with my friends in that illusory paradise."

"I really don’t know what to say."

Bologue carefully stored the photo, walked out of the bedroom, and proceeded to the next room. It was time to claim his reward.

He pushed open the dust-covered door, and found it well-preserved. Various Alchemy Armaments were securely locked on the weapon racks, and there were sticky notes next to the racks, simply describing the nature of these Alchemy Armaments.

Most of them were still in the experimental stage, some were even semi-finished products, and some had effects that overlapped with Bologue’s existing weapons, like no matter how sharp other blades were, they couldn’t compare to Bologue’s Grievous Bite.

Therefore, there wasn’t much here for Bologue to choose from. He couldn’t help but complain about Mamo, guessing whether he had calculated this step in advance to corner him.

But among these many defective products, Bologue still found one that he could use, and its effect matched what he needed.

It was not an Alchemy Armament, but a special Alchemy Potion, its main ingredient being Transboundary Fuel Oil, which Bologue had seen mentioned in books.

Transboundary Fuel Oil is a necessary resource for large-scale Curved Path Shuttling. Every time the Observation Tower is activated, it requires this type of resource for support, whereas the Key of the Crooked Path type of shuttling does not need these precious resources.

According to records, they originally intended to create a batch of Alchemy Armaments with Curved Path power, but evidently, Alchemy Matrix designs involving Curved Path power are extremely complex, and Bologue has rarely encountered similar Alchemy Armaments up to this point.

Therefore, the Scholars devised another method, optimizing the Transboundary Fuel Oil several times in an attempt to make it lighter, turning it into an oil to be coated on ammunition and blades when required to indirectly release Curved Path power.

However, in this situation, the Curved Path power would be very unstable, or even completely random, and after multiple experiments, they couldn’t stabilize the effect, so they had to abandon it, sealing it here as a failed product.

Void Shedding Sword Oil.

The Scholars called this failed product Void Shedding Sword Oil.

Bologue carefully took out the container, not knowing if the sword oil inside had deteriorated or become ineffective after so many years.

No matter, Bologue didn’t care. In this godforsaken place, anything that could enhance himself, he wouldn’t let go.

He took out the sword scabbard that Aimou specially crafted for Grievous Bite, hesitated for a moment, and then poured all of the sword oil into the scabbard. It quickly filled most of the scabbard.

Bologue then gradually inserted Grievous Bite back into the scabbard. As the sword body compressed it, the sword oil slowly filled the gap between the sword body and the scabbard. Once Grievous Bite was fully inserted, the sword oil merely filled the gap without completely spilling over.

This was not a suitable place to experiment with Void Shedding Sword Oil. Bologue suppressed his curiosity and began searching for other usable items.

After organizing these semi-finished and failed products, Bologue noticed one thing — these Alchemy Armaments seemed not to be crafted by Mamo.

Like blacksmiths, Scholars have a penchant for leaving their names on their creations, such as Aimou, who designed a pattern for themselves.

Mechanic and Heart of Flesh.

Aimou would engrave such a pattern on each of their creations to signify they were its creator.

Bologue also saw a uniform symbol on these displayed Alchemy Armaments.

A slightly cute rabbit.

First off, Bologue had seen Mamo’s symbol, which, akin to the manifestation of his Secret Energy, was a towering tree. Moreover, Bologue didn’t think that old fellow would choose such a cute image.

Additionally, Scholars rarely use "cute" symbols. After all, their crafted artworks are all lethal weapons.

Imagine the scene, you’re wielding a Sharp Sword that cuts through anything, just as you admire the enemy’s blood flowing over the blade, you notice it has stained a bunny head...

The image is somewhat absurd, but not impossible. Bologue once saw a case where a Scholar from the Order of Truth used their address directly as their symbol.

People praised him as a commercial genius. Many, after witnessing the might of Alchemy Armaments, would write to him hoping to have a similar weapon made. Some extremists chose to head straight to his doorstep and eliminate this seller.

Back to the present, Bologue retraced his steps through the previous rooms. Soon enough, on several document signatures, he saw the same rabbit head symbol.

He guessed that the person must be someone cheerful and lively, even using their symbol as a signature.

Who knows if she survived the secret war.

Bologue’s thoughts stuttered. Someone with such distinctive characteristics would have been noticed by others long ago, yet Bologue had never encountered someone similar in the Sublimation Furnace Core.

He became a bit melancholic; it seemed this interesting soul had long fallen in the secret war.