Chapter 2896 Exploration Progress

Special dream? Special person? Exploration level?

After hearing Laplace's words, Angel felt that this was even more like a "copy"... There was actually an exploration level setting?

If this is the case, based on the information and experience Angel saw in the holographic tablet, does it mean that if the exploration is 100%, this copy will be considered a successful pass?

No, it seems that the message Laplace received included a sentence: After the execution, he will leave the special dreamland.

This means that as long as you kill a special person, you can leave this dungeon... which is the so-called special dream?

And the special person is undoubtedly the masked man in front of him who is about to be executed by Laplace.

The whole logic is very simple.

It should indeed be somewhat similar to those "game copies" recorded in the holographic tablet.

However, what Angel didn't understand was that this information was not difficult to understand, and Laplace should also be able to understand it. Since he could leave after executing the masked man, why did Laplace take action at the last moment?

"This power is getting more and more interesting. It can show the degree of exploration. It seems to have digitized a trial space... It is a bit like the endless corridors of Sky Mechanical City." Angel commented on what Laplace received. information, and then asked what was on his mind: "Speaking of which, since this information tells you that you can leave with the execution explanation, why did you stop suddenly?"

Laplace did not answer Angel's question immediately, but asked: "The first thing I pay attention to is that this place is called a 'special dream', and you don't seem to be surprised at all."

Angel: "I said that I have one power that can affect other powers to a limited extent. At the moment when the new power is born, I actually already have a general understanding of the composition of the new power..."

Laplace immediately responded: "In other words, do you know what this power is? Were you lying to me just now?"

Angel: "I'm not lying to you, I'm just saying that I understand the composition of the new power, but I don't know what the new power is. So let me tell you what I know about the composition of the new power."

Angel pondered for a moment and spoke out the information obtained from the new power.

There are only three keywords that can be extracted from a very obscure message: dream world, mirror world, and secret realm.

"According to my speculation, this may be a special secret realm that has both the nature of the dream world and the nature of the mirror world. And you just said that the information you got called this trial space a 'special dream realm', which is actually the same as There is not much deviation in the special secret realm that I thought of, so I didn’t pay special attention to this.”

Laplace believed Angel's statement, because if Angel didn't want to explain, he could just remain silent as before. Now that it was explained, and this explanation made sense, Laplace believed it.

Angel paused: "By the way, you just heard the information I got about the new power. Although I can't fully understand the nature of the new power yet, now that the power has appeared, a name still needs to be decided. of."

Laplace frowned and asked in the void, "Have you given this power a name?"

Angel: "Naturally."

Laplace was silent for a moment: "Your name is..."

Angel: "In Wonderland."

Laplace originally expected to hear a vernacular name like "Dream Crystal Plains", but he didn't expect that Angel would spit out a name that sounded good and seemed to fit well?

"Are you sure you picked this up?"

Angel: "..."

Laplace tilted his head: "I don't mean anything else, I just think the name is good. Dreaming in Wonderland, Dreaming in Wonderland... Unfortunately, the situation here is far from Wonderland."

Laplace: "Didn't you just ask me why I didn't continue to execute it? The reason is very simple. Do you still remember the last row of information in the information I got?"

Angel thought for a while: "The unexplored area will undergo unknown changes after leaving?"

Laplace nodded: "Yes, according to the information I received, my current exploration progress is 65%. Even if I execute the masked man, I estimate that I will not be able to push the exploration progress to 100%. And here I am, There are indeed some unexplored areas, such as the second and third floors. Maybe there is something hidden there. I hope to advance to 100% before exiting. "

"Are you planning to push to 100% exploration? Are you...obsessive-compulsive?" Angel muttered.

"What is obsessive-compulsive disorder? Forget it, I guess it's not a good word. I just don't want to leave any shortcomings when doing things." Laplace explained.

Angel didn't say anything after hearing this, but he still acquiesced in his heart. Isn't this just obsessive-compulsive disorder?

However, it is good to reach 100% exploration progress. 100% exploration means complete clearance. Angel also wants to know, what changes will occur in the copy after completely clearing a "single-player copy"? Will it disappear, or will it be completely open and become a public copy?

Thinking of this, Angel didn't say anything more, but helped Laplace think about countermeasures.

"You just said that the places you didn't explore were the second and third floors?" Angel asked.

Laplace nodded: "Yes, what's the matter?"

Angel pondered for a moment: "Because my observation perspective is similar to the perspective of the Little Garden, I observed the entire Little Garden before locking your position. According to what I saw, there is nothing strange on the second and third floors. ”

Laplace asked in confusion: "No strange places? Then why does the information indicate that unexplored areas will undergo unknown changes after leaving? Is there a hidden snow area in this special dream?"

Angel: "There shouldn't be."

"If there is no hidden snow area, that would be strange..."

Angel didn't know the specific situation at this time. He had only been observing the box garden for a short time and didn't know the information here.

Laplace didn't expect Angel to give an answer. After pondering for a moment, she threw a scale at the masked man on the ground.

Laplace decided to continue looking for a way to explore 100% progress, so she couldn't kill the masked man now, but she couldn't let him run away. Throwing a scale was just in case.

After making sure everything was correct, Laplace came to the fireplace and picked up a picture frame on the ground.

Before, when she was about to look at the picture frame, the masked man appeared, and she didn't see what was painted in the picture frame.

When Laplace opened the picture frame, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Is this... a family portrait?" Angell's voice came: "However, it seems that more than half of it has been burned, and the faces of the two people on the right are no longer clear."

The painting in the frame has traces of burning, so it is difficult to see the details, but the general situation can still be seen.

There are two men and two women.

In the center of the picture is a pair of men and women, the woman's face has been burned, and the man is also half burned, but it can be seen that he is a middle-aged man with a mustache.

Beside the woman is a young girl leaning against her, her face is also burned, and it is unclear who she is.

Next to the man, there is an old man in a tuxedo with wrinkles on his face, slightly old but still thin and energetic. Judging from the old man's dress, he should be a butler.

"It seems that all the burned ones are women. Was it deliberately burned?" Angell asked.

Laplace shook his head: "I didn't burn the two women on purpose. When I found the frame, it was in the fireplace. If I hadn't taken it out in time, it would not just be part of the drawing paper that would have been burned."

In other words, the faces of the two women were burned, not by coincidence, but by bad luck. It happened to start burning from the upper left corner, which "disfigured" the two women on the left first.

Angel: "Then, did you find anything?"

Laplace thought for a moment, stretched out his finger, and pointed to the one of the two men on the right who looked more like the owner of the house: "I've seen a lot of portraits of this man along the way, all of which were fat. In this painting, he should not have become that fat."

"Is there anything special about this?" Angel didn't understand why Laplace cared about the so-called fat and thin problem.

Laplace: "Because he was too fat before, I didn't recognize him. But now, I'm sure I've seen him."

Laplace said this and whispered: "I saw several heads on the door frame of the rose garden outside, and this person is inside."

Hearing Laplace's words, Angel subconsciously turned his eyes to the rose garden.

Before, he saw the heads that Laplace had stepped on. Now, compared with what Laplace said, he really found the "head of the family" in the portrait among the heads rolling on the ground.

"I saw that there was not only this man in the head road outside, but also the butler next to him. However, in addition to this man and the butler, there are three women..."

Laplace: "Two of these three women should be the mistress here and her daughter."

When Laplace said this, he pointed to the two women with burned faces in the picture frame.

"What about the remaining woman?" Angel asked again.

Laplace shook his head: "I don't know about this. Maybe we can only find clues on the second and third floors."

Although Angel said that he had seen the situation on the second and third floors and did not find anything strange, that was from Angel's perspective.

Along the way, Laplace always felt that the atmosphere here was shrouded in a cloud of doubt, and up to now, the identity of the masked man has not been revealed.

So, she guessed that these mysteries might be on the second and third floors.

After Laplace made his decision, he left the main hall and headed for the second floor.

After entering the second floor, Laplace pushed open the surrounding rooms and asked, "Which room on the second floor has a portrait? Also, is there any room on the second floor with bloodstains? Are there any hidden rooms?"

Angel took a glance and quickly answered the first two questions.

"There are no hidden rooms on the second floor. There are no hidden rooms on the third floor either. However, there is an attic from the third floor to the top floor. There is a ladder there, which is also very obvious, and it is not a hidden room."

Following Angel's instructions, Laplace quickly went to several rooms with portraits and several rooms with bloodstains.

Along the way, Laplace thought, paused, and hesitated, but did not speak.

After looking at the second floor, Laplace went to the third floor.

There were not many rooms on the third floor, and Laplace did not ask Angel, but went to see them one by one.

Finally, Laplace's eyes were on the ladder to the attic.

...

In the narrow and cramped attic, there was a bed, a tattered table, and insignificant furnishings.

In Ingres's opinion, there was nothing worth mentioning.

However, Laplace was very interested in this attic and stayed there for a long time, searching everything in the attic in a carpet-like manner.

Angel felt that Laplace was making a big fuss.

But what Angel didn't expect was that Laplace... actually found some things.

Bloody clothes, a lot of bandages, and a homemade cane.

Judging from the size of the clothes and the length of the cane, the person who once lived in the attic should not be an adult. It should be a child, probably less than 1.6 meters tall.

After determining this information, Angel was still thinking about who this child could be, when Laplace actually found a hidden small note in the cane.

Angel was very surprised. How could this be like a treasure hunt game.

He thought there was nothing wrong with the attic, but Laplace found so many hidden items, and even extremely secret small notes. This made Angel, who had previously vowed that there was no problem with the second and third floors, feel a little swollen on his face.

The small note was not a text, but a very childish painting drawn with charcoal sticks.

There were no characters in the painting, but small grids, one of which was marked with a red star.

Angel looked at the immature painting carefully. After a long while, he hesitated and said, "Is this the legendary treasure map?"

As soon as Angel finished speaking, he saw Laplace take out an iron box from behind a brick on the wall.

Angel was stunned. What is this?

Laplace explained leisurely, "This is the treasure in the treasure map you mentioned."

"How did you find it?" Angel asked in confusion.

Laplace: "This is obviously a picture drawn by a child. The places where children can hide are basically within sight. Hiding outside is worried about being taken, so hiding in your own room is safer. So, according to this logic, this treasure must be hidden in the room."

"The grids on the picture should be wall bricks. Therefore, the location of the treasure may be behind the wall bricks. I didn't count which wall bricks specifically, but sensed which wall bricks could penetrate, and that place is probably the treasure place."

"From the results, my guess is correct."

Laplace said as he prepared to open the box.

Angel said silently: "Why do I feel like I've changed from a battle instance to a decryption instance?"

Laplace: "Ah? What did you say?"

Angel: "Nothing, I just think that you should get a reminder at this time. "Ding! Congratulations on finding a new item: a hidden box. Exploration progress +5%"

Laplace: "It would be very useful if we could know the exploration progress in real time. Unfortunately, there is no such reminder. "

Angel thought to himself: Just because there is nothing now doesn't mean there won't be anything in the future.

If it is confirmed that the Wonderland is a copy-like existence, whether it is a puzzle-solving style, a combat style, or a secret room style... you can come up with a progress prompt.

Of course, the premise is that Angel must master the Wonderland through the power tree before it can be implemented. Now it's better to just think about it.

On the other side, Laplace opened the box.

There are very few things in the box, all of which are small things, such as brooches, cloth strips, and a lock of treasured hair. From the details, these things should all come from women.

In addition to these small things, there is only a layer of velvet cloth at the bottom of the box.

"This kind of cloth is generally used by nobles." Angel said softly.

As Laplace uncovered the cloth, he said: "Unfortunately, at present, no one in this family is a noble. "

When the cloth was uncovered, Laplace and Ingres saw a thin portrait hidden under the cloth.

The portrait was not large, but very delicate, with many figures drawn on the small paper.

When seeing the figures in the painting, Laplace said softly: "It seems that I have to take back what I said just now. This family should have nobles. Or, is it related to nobles? "

From the way these characters are dressed, they are basically from the nobility.

But, they are all unfamiliar faces.

The only two faces that are not unfamiliar are a man and a woman.

The man is a thin young man wearing a butler's uniform and has a mustache; the woman is wearing the uniform of a head maid, standing at the edge, looking very beautiful, but with a bit of meanness between her eyebrows.

This man and woman are the wives of the owners of this house.

Laplace did not expect that the owner of the house, who pursued an aristocratic life in his heart, was actually a butler in an aristocratic family.

And the wife of the owner of the house was the head maid of the same aristocratic family.

However, what does it mean to know their original identities?

While Laplace was thinking, his eyes suddenly swept across the photo. A woman in the middle.

This should be a noble lady. She holds a bunch of beautiful big Mary roses in her hand, has long smooth hair, wears a light blue dress, and pinned a sparkling gem brooch.

A careful comparison shows that the things on her body and the little things in the box match exactly. The cloth strips in the box come from the light blue dress she wears; the brooch in the box, although it lacks gems, the outline can still match; only the hair cannot be completely confirmed, but the first two match, and the hair is basically correct.

In other words, the things in this box come from this noble lady.

But the one living here is definitely not the noble lady, if nothing unexpected happens, it is a child.

As for the child... Laplace's eyes moved down from the noble lady's body to the swaddling clothes in the lady's arms.

Could it be that the child living here is actually the baby in the noble lady's swaddling clothes?

Laplace looked at this portrait, and then thought about the various things he had encountered since entering this space, and a vague guess came to his mind.

However, this guess still needs some evidence.

Laplace thought about it, retreated from the attic, and came to a main room on the third floor.

This is the owner's study, which contains a large number of books. Unfortunately, she couldn't understand the words in these books, so she just flipped through them roughly.

But this time, Laplace carefully flipped through the books here.

While flipping through the pages, he did not forget to ask Angell: "Do you recognize the words here?"

Angel gave a negative answer: "No. However, these may not be the words you think."

Laplace paused: "Not words? What do you mean?"

Angel: "Have you forgotten where this is?"

Laplace: "... a special dream."

Angel: "Whether it is special or not, this is a dream. And dreams have a characteristic, they are formed based on the cognition of the dreamer."

Laplace: "You mean, if the dreamer is illiterate, then the words here are actually the words he imagined, not real words."

Angel did not deny: "That's roughly the case, just like a person who doesn't understand mathematics, if he dreams about mathematics, it is likely that all of them are some confusing symbols."

Laplace: "I understand what you mean, but according to you, the dreamer of this dream is not an adult."

Adults are generally literate, especially the butlers and head maids in the aristocratic families. If they don't even know the basic words, how can they be competent for this job?

Angel did not answer but asked: "Don't you think so too?"

Laplace did not refute this time, because the guess in her heart... was indeed as Angel said.

The dreamer of this special dream should be a child.

However, even if it is confirmed that the dreamer is a child, she still needs a corroboration for her guess.

Laplace flipped through the book in silence. Since the text here has no meaning, there is no need to read the text, just look at the pictures.

After a while, Laplace found a picture in a book on the table.

The text under the picture can be basically ignored, but the content on the picture is very clear.

A noble manor caught fire.

There is also a picture on the next page.

A man and a woman brought back a six or seven-year-old boy from the noble manor. In front of the crowd, the man and the woman hugged the boy and cried, and the man seemed to stretch out his hand and swear.

The next page is still a picture.

A new house was built near the rose garden in the manor castle that caught fire, and this house looked exactly the same as the one they were in.

...

When Laplace saw this, she let out a long breath.

She basically knew the story here.

To put it bluntly, the noble mansion caught fire, and the only survivor was adopted and raised by the so-called butler and head maid. Unfortunately, the butler and head maid were ungrateful. They not only did not respect the only descendant of the nobles, but also robbed him of everything, including the manor and the treasures in the castle... Judging from the layout of the house, the former butler was even ready to replace him and become a new noble.

And this descendant of the nobles, if nothing unexpected happened, should be the child living in the attic.

His clothes were stained with blood, and he always had bandages to prevent the wound from getting infected. He also had a homemade crutches, which meant that his legs were broken... maybe they were broken.

This is a story of a cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest.

After learning the story, Laplace can now basically confirm that the dreamer of this dream should be related to the child in the attic, or even that the dreamer is the child in the attic.

The reason for this is that only the child in the attic will hate or even hate everyone here. They took away everything from the child in the name of care. And in this special dream, everyone he hates is almost dead.

Therefore, the child in the attic should have a deep connection with the dreamer.

Either it is his friend who stands up for it in the dream; or it is the dreamer himself, who imagined a powerful masked man in his dream to punish and kill all the people he hates and resents.

This is why there are human head balloons made of the heads of those "evil men" on the gate of the rose garden. In the eyes of the child, they all deserve to die and belong to the death list.

However, even if you know the background story of this special dream and understand some of the truth, there are still some doubts that need to be solved.

For example, among the balloons with human heads on the gate of the Rose Garden, there are three women and two men. The identities of the two women and two men have been confirmed. They are the owner, mistress, housekeeper, and daughter of this big house. But who is the only extra woman?

The second doubt is also related to the balloons with human heads on the gate of the Rose Garden. Since there is a daughter's head on the gate, who is the fat girl that the masked man chased before? Or is this daughter extremely vicious, and the dream maker even wants to kill her twice?

Finally, there is one more question, which is also the most critical one: Does solving the mystery of the background story affect the exploration progress?

Angel is also concerned about the last question, and his suggestion is: "Why don't you go back to the main hall and 'prepare to execute' the masked man again to see if the exploration progress changes?"

However, Laplace did not take Angel's suggestion, but just closed his eyes. A second later, Laplace opened his eyes and shook his head and said: "No change, the exploration progress is still 65%."

Angel was a little surprised and said: "You are..." How did you confirm the exploration progress?

Laplace: "Don't forget that I threw a scale on him. As long as I think about it, I decide to activate the scale. The execution information automatically emerges, and it is still 65%."

This is also the reason why Laplace said with certainty that the exploration progress has not changed.

Angel: "If it is a puzzle-solving copy... I mean the trial space, solving the puzzle should increase the exploration. But now, there is no change in the exploration after solving the background puzzle. Either the puzzle is wrong, or this is not a decryption-type trial space. Other things need to be done to increase the exploration."

"I personally tend to the latter. Maybe other things need to be done to increase the exploration."

The reason why Angel said this is also very simple, because if it is a puzzle-solving copy, only if Laplace solves all the puzzles incorrectly and all the truths are offset, will the exploration stagnate.

But the facts are obviously not the case.

Laplace's analysis is logical, and the series of evidence she found, including the illustrations in this book, all support her speculation.

Even if the speculation is really wrong, it is not completely wrong.

Therefore, this exploration progress is obviously not directly related to puzzle solving.

"So what should we do to increase the exploration progress?" Angel muttered in a low voice: "Does it mean that we need to persuade the dreamer behind the masked man to let go of his hatred in order to increase the exploration progress?"

Laplace said lightly: "According to what you said, this special dream is also a dream involving moral nature?"

Angel smiled awkwardly: "I'm just talking casually."

When he said these words, he subconsciously thought of some puzzles in the holographic tablet. What he said was also the puzzle-solving ideas of this type of game. The protagonist must be "sublimated" spiritually to reflect the correctness of the game.

However, after he finished speaking, he also felt that something was wrong. Although he called the special dream a copy, it was not a game after all.

The real way of exploration would probably not go to this kind of template that requires moral correctness.

Angel couldn't think of a way to increase the exploration, so he looked at Laplace: "What do you think?"

Laplace: "Perhaps, we should start with the masked man. After all, he is the only living being in this dream."

Angel: "The rose outside is also a living being, right?"

Laplace didn't bother to pay attention to Angel's complaints. She naturally knew that the big Mary rose was a living being, but the living being she expressed was an intelligent living being. At present, the only intelligent living being here is the masked man.

Laplace turned around and prepared to leave the study and go to the main hall to see the masked man again.

Just as Laplace walked to the gate, he heard Angel's complaint again: "Even if roses are not considered living beings, the girl outside is considered one, right?"

Laplace: "I know her, she is dead."

Angel: "No, from my perspective, she is not dead, but buried in the rose garden and becomes the nutrient for the roses."

Laplace paused and said in a surprised tone: "You said...she is not dead?"

Angel once again looked down at the rose garden from the perspective of the box garden, and then said with certainty: "Not dead, she has a heartbeat and breathing."

"She is not dead?" Laplace frowned: "Since she is not dead, maybe the exploration degree is on her."

Laplace thought about this and immediately set off, rushed downstairs at a rapid speed, rushed out of the house from the back door, and ran to the place where the girl was buried.

Sure enough, what Angel said was right, she was still alive! The girl's body from the neck down had been pulled into the ground and became the nutrient for the big Mary rose, but the head above the neck was still exposed. With Laplace's eyesight, he could clearly see her breathing and the regular beating of the blood vessels in her neck.

However, although she was alive, her previously obese body had disappeared. She had completely absorbed the nutrients of the Big Mary Rose and now became skinny and bony, looking like she was at risk of death at any time.

Laplace approached the girl and tried to wake her up.

However, the girl had already fallen into a deep coma, and even her brain was damaged. With Laplace's current means, there was no way to wake her up from the coma.

Laplace pondered for a moment: "Since I can't wake her up... then I'll kill her for you."

The "you" in "kill her for you" in Laplace's mouth did not refer to Angel, but to the real owner of this dream, that is, the dream maker.

Since the dream maker hated this woman so much and kept letting the masked man torture her, Laplace would fulfill the dream maker.

While thinking this, Laplace slowly raised his foot.

"Are there any execution reminders?" Angel's voice sounded in Laplace's ears.

Laplace shook his head: "No."

There was no execution prompt, which meant that even if the girl was killed, the dungeon would not end.

However, this was also within Laplace's control. The real way to leave the dungeon was to kill the masked man.

So, Laplace stepped hard on the girl's head without hesitation.

The hoof-shaped foot with muscles and scales was so powerful that it crushed the girl's head directly, and the ground was full of red and white filth.

Laplace was also splashed with these gushing filth, but she ignored it and stood there in a daze.

Angel called in her ear for a long time before Laplace came back to her senses.

And the first sentence she said after she came back to her senses was good news.

"After killing this girl, I tried to execute the masked man remotely, and I found that my exploration degree has increased!"

Angel: "How much now?"

Laplace pondered for a moment and said softly

"99%."