After passing through the second door, Lin Yu and his group entered the interior of the main building.

Just as everyone had expected...

The interior of this towering main building was both vast and intricate. The entire structure featured a massive atrium that extended straight up to the ceiling. Doorways like a honeycomb covered the walls, each with soft light strips embedded beside them. Corridors and escalators intertwined above the atrium in a complex tangle, resembling melted cheese stretched into strands, forming an elaborate transportation network.

If one wanted to "hide" something, this was indeed the best place.

After all, the level of complexity here exceeded all imagination.

However...

Thanks to Fu Luo holding the map, the group's objective was relatively clear.

"Where do we go next?"

"The large-object research containment area," Fu Luo said. "We didn't find the 'cursed statue' in the plaza earlier, so let's prioritize looking for the statue."

After all...

They had followed the map to the plaza where they suspected a statue might be, only to discover upon arrival that... the centerpiece wasn't a statue at all, it was a fountain!

That naturally didn't meet the requirements.

"How do we get to that area?"

King Vulture asked, and Fu Luo began leading the way again.

"The map looks a bit complicated, and we can't be sure these paths actually connect when we walk them... but anyway, let's give it a try."

Fu Luo said, then pressed himself against the wall on the left side.

The moment Fu Luo stood in position, the floating staircase mechanism in the air rotated and came to a stop before him.

The group stepped onto the moving stairs and began ascending.

Under Fu Luo's lead, they doubled back and forth, gradually climbing to an extremely high altitude.

Falling from this height would definitely not be pleasant, and there was even a risk of death.

So Fu Luo, King Vulture, and Kitty couldn't help but feel nervous.

But nervous as they were...

Along the way, they truly hadn't encountered any monsters.

"It seems the main building's systems are relatively intact... Most of the safety measures are still in place, so there aren't any monsters wandering around, nor anything suddenly breaking down," Fu Luo remarked, then added, "But still, it feels like the calm before a storm."

He stopped in front of a tightly sealed security door.

Beside the security door was a password input panel.

"Can this lock be opened?"

Fu Luo looked at Lin Yu.

"Of course," Lin Yu stepped forward and lightly tapped the password panel. "Done."

Accompanied by Lin Yu's crisp words, the door automatically slid sideways and retracted into the wall.

King Vulture was astonished. "This keypad lock looks more advanced than the others, so how did you open it even faster?"

"Ah, because this one's green light is on," Lin Yu pointed to the indicator light on the door. "This door seems like it was never locked to begin with... so all I had to do was press that 'key'-shaped button on the panel, and it opened by itself."

Only after Lin Yu finished speaking did King Vulture notice the color of the indicator light above the door.

"Who would've thought something like that!"

"Now that you mention it, it is a bit strange," Fu Luo looked around. All the indicator lights on the surrounding doors were red. "It seems like only this door was left unlocked... as if it was deliberately left open for us. Could it be a trap?"

The moment Fu Luo said this, Kitty and King Vulture, who were already tense from how suspiciously smooth the journey had been since entering the main building, became nervous all over again.

"It could also be a hint. Maybe the island master was afraid we wouldn't find what we're looking for."

Lin Yu said optimistically.

Fu Luo let out a breath. "That's possible... but regardless, ever since we picked up this screen, I've felt like everything has been designed by someone."

"It feels like... we're playing a game. Not a sandbox type, but a linear game with very clear quest guidance."

As Fu Luo spoke, Lin Yu added, "I do get that feeling a bit... but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, right?"

"Yeah, the other party might be well-intentioned, but... let's head in anyway."

Fu Luo stepped through the open door and entered the area of the research institute where "large objects" were stored.

Behind that modest door lay a space as spacious as an oversized sports arena.

In the center stood a pitch-black four-sided screen, currently powered off.

On both sides, rows of transparent glass chambers were arranged, each containing all kinds of bizarre "things."

Trees that were half-metalized, giant "human organ" systems that floated in fractured pieces yet still seemed to be functioning, sharks that occasionally turned invisible and swam through the air...

And in one of those glass chambers, Fu Luo naturally found the "cursed statue."

Gray stone carved a sorrowful woman. She wore gauze-like garments and knelt in prayer, one hand pressed against her chest, the other raised upward. Behind her grew four broken feathered wings.

The damaged feathers and the folds of her gauze robes were carved with remarkable lifelikeness. Even though the stone statue stood five or six meters tall and every detail was magnified many times over, there wasn't a single flaw to be found.

Determining that this sculpture was the "cursed statue" was simple enough, after all, the lower half of the statue was covered in squirming black shadows. Stare at it long enough, and you'd feel dark red, black-tinged twisted patterns crawling out from the edges of your vision. You could even imagine seeing eye after eye sprouting from behind the statue, bloodshot and swiveling as they peered out.

Clearly, this thing perfectly fit the definition of "contaminated" and "cursed."

"We found the 'cursed statue,'" Fu Luo let out a breath. "Now... the method to clear this dungeon is confirmed."

"As long as we also find that 'inheritance,' we can send out the coordinate and evacuate. We're about to exceed our mission requirements by a long shot!"

After all, technically, one could release the coordinate as soon as they arrived on the Sixth Island.

But that would only increase the difficulty for the "experts" who would be arriving later.

Because...

It was fine for high-tier Players to use their Map privileges while operating near their own coordinates. But straying too far, moving around on the Sixth Island and making any kind of noise, would incur targeted suppression from the Misty Islands' world will.

The more specific a location these pathfinding "legally entered" Players could pinpoint, the more trouble they'd save for the others.

"Anyway, let's keep searching this area," Fu Luo turned to look at King Vulture. "You Night Watchmen should have an instrument that can lock onto that thing, right?"

After all, the Night Watchmen and the Psychological Society had been entangled for a long time, and the Night Watchmen had many means specifically designed to counter the Psychological Society.

King Vulture nodded. "Yes. According to the analysis of the three seniors Bi Fang, Teng She, and Chong Ming, the first-generation Freud's inheritance is certain to carry the imprint of his psychic energy fluctuation. So the organization gave me an item that can trigger psychic resonance, and Senior Teng She, who has fought him before, specifically adjusted the item to better match the psychic signature of that first-generation Freud."

King Vulture took out a metal sphere from her bosom.

She pressed the sphere, and then...

From within the glass chamber housing the cursed statue, a soft white light emanated.

Kitty was somewhat surprised. "What? The statue is the inheritance?"

Fu Luo calmly spoke. "No... it's just that the inheritance was placed in there."

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