Law's words inevitably surprised everyone.
Leaving aside what the strange things were, how could there be instruments and devices in an ancient human site?
"This... is it possible?"
Sheila stared blankly at Law, whose eyes were flickering uncertainly.
Anyone with basic common sense would think it impossible.
But before seeing the ancient labyrinth city, would anyone have believed this was built by ancient humans?
One could only say that on the perilous Dark Continent, the line between possible and impossible is very thin.
"Although it's incredible, the one using En was Law," Knov said, holding unwavering trust in Law. Even if unrealistic, he was willing to believe it.
"So, you're saying ancient humans had modern technological levels?"
"It's still too early to draw that conclusion."
"True, but these lights are quite convincing."
"Why not just go in and see?"
Everyone started talking at once.
"Strange things..." Tonpa looked at Law.
At that moment, Law was silently staring at the doors and windows seeping faint light. Hearing Tonpa, he shifted his gaze to meet Tonpa's questioning look.
"Yes, the humanoid unidentified objects you detected earlier in the ruins. But those humanoid things seem to have a string of tumors growing on their sides."
"Tumors?"
Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this.
"What exactly they are... we'll only know by seeing them with our own eyes," Law said, a thoughtful look in his eyes. He actually had a guess but wasn't very sure.
"So I said, why not just go in and take a look?" Kuro pouted.
Ging glanced at Kuro, then asked, "Law, are the things inside all inanimate?"
"Yes, no moving objects detected for now."
"Shall we go in?"
Law pondered for a moment, glanced around at his teammates, and finally nodded at Ging.
Entering to explore was an inevitable decision. However, he had been thinking about whether to send non-combatants back to Hide-and-Seek first.
But considering En hadn't detected any living things, he felt the danger inside the building shouldn't be high, so he thought it unnecessary for non-combatants to avoid it.
Seeing Law make the decision, Kuro transformed back into housecat size, otherwise, he wouldn't fit through the narrow building doors and windows.
Law took the lead, non-combatants were in the middle, and Ging guarded the rear of the group.
Thus, the group members filed through the small door one by one, entering the building's interior.
The first thing that caught their eyes were the light strips on the walls, resembling cracked eggshells, emitting a dim yellow glow that illuminated everything inside the building.
The floor was in disarray, with broken vessels and items visible, and even what seemed like paper materials.
Sets of desks and chairs covered in thick dust stood or lay fallen, scattered randomly around the room.
At the far end of the room stood over fifty upright glass containers, each filled with an unknown liquid. Within the liquid stood a human body topped with a metallic sphere.
Gurgle...
A small string of bubbles occasionally rose from the bottom of the containers, passing by the human bodies parasitized by Brions.
Everyone stared in astonishment at the lit indicator lights on the glass containers and the many embryos on the sides of the Brion-parasitized bodies.
'That was... what Law called tumors!'
Everyone's attention was completely captured by the various biological embryos inside the glass containers.
As a result, for a short while, no one paid attention to the rows of equipment and instruments lining the walls.
On the numerous screens, resembling those in a monitoring room, only flickering electrical snow appeared from time to time.
The walled building Law's group entered was rectangular. The equipment and containers were placed at the opposite end from the entrance. The floor was over five meters from the ceiling, and in the corner of the wall where the equipment was placed, there was a staircase leading to a second floor.
"Did you see that? Human embryos..."
Shiro showed an expression as if he'd seen a ghost. The embryo types extending from the sides of the Brion-parasitized bodies numbered no less than five, including humans.
"Not just human embryos!"
"Does this mean Brions develop reproductive abilities after parasitizing?"
"So that's why the parasitized hosts don't decay? But the Brions we encountered outside didn't have so many embryos growing from them!"
"Then what... is this situation?"
Everyone couldn't hide their astonishment.
Law remained silent for a while, saying nothing. He simply took a light, slow step forward.
The force of his footstep on the floor wasn't strong, even weak one might say, yet it still stirred up a cloud of dust.
Who knew how long this place had lain silent? Even though the walls and ceiling leaned more towards metallic properties, thick dust had accumulated.
Everyone entered cautiously, light-footed, observing the surroundings warily while on alert.
Apart from the Brion-parasitized bodies at the far end of the room, no immediate threats were detected for now.
Law walked at the front of the group, his steps not large and very light.
While walking, his gaze remained fixed on the containers holding the Brion-parasitized bodies.
As the distance closed, he saw a slit-like eye on the spherical head of the Brion inside the container. His heart skipped a beat.
Just then, he stepped on a piece of paper, abruptly halting his steps while simultaneously raising a hand to signal the group to stop.
His gaze shifted from the containers to the floor.
Among the clutter covered in thick dust, a corner of a piece of paper was visible.
Law immediately crouched down, brushed away the dust, and pulled out the paper.
Rustle...
Dust fell from the paper in a shower.
Law held the paper, gave it a slight shake. A small amount of dust fell from its surface, slowly drifting towards the floor.
"Salin-nee, it's ancient text."
Law looked at the crescent-shaped graphic script on the paper, released his territory to envelop the paper, and tossed it to Salin, who was in the middle of the group.
Catching the paper Law threw, Salin concentrated intently on the graphic script.
"I think this place is no longer what's called a so-called super-ancient human site," Shiro muttered.
No one opposed his statement. If they hadn't walked here step by step, and someone told them this was just an abandoned research facility of some modern country on the Six Continents, they would have believed it too.
Law looked back at his teammates and said, "All of you, stay put. I'll clean up the area."
"Alright."
Subsequently, Law released his Domain, covering over half the room's area.
[Conductor's Baton]
Law stretched his right hand straight forward, as if manipulating puppets. His five fingers trembled rhythmically, like plucking the strings of a harp.
Simultaneously, all inanimate objects within the territory's range slowly floated into the air, including every grain of dust.
Stargie stood not far behind Law. Watching his constantly trembling fingers, a faint light flashed in her eyes.
She guessed Law had integrated harp-playing techniques into his Domain.
So much so that...
Her gaze shifted to the various floating debris in mid-air.
The thick dust originally piled on the floor gradually peeled away from the objects under Law's control, then seemed drawn by a magnet, gathering in a corner one after another.
"Control so refined it's terrifying."
Everyone silently watched Law's operation of extracting all dust from within the territory. Besides admiration, what other feeling could there be?
Right before everyone's eyes, Law quickly sorted the debris into categories.
Vessel fragments, paper, torn cloth, metal fragments...
There were many and varied items, which Law classified one by one, then placed on the floor.
Thus, the debris floating in the air grew fewer and fewer.
Everyone saw many olive-sized silver metal objects in the air, their surfaces engraved with pleasing spiral patterns.
Law looked at the bullet-like metal objects and involuntarily thought of... the seeds from Demon Island that consumed flesh and blood.