Unfathomable Senior

“This is… different.”

“Senior Brother, is this some kind of high-class resort? The water here could be considered to be a tonic and that food…”

“Qiang… don’t eat that.”

“I wasn’t about to…”

“Then why are you holding that spirit chicken drumstick?”

“I’m not…oh but what about this, the water feels warm…”

“Could you not…”

Huo Qiang dropped a roasted chicken piece that looked to be filled with spiritual energy. It had been laid out on a large dining table with various other delicacies. There were salads made from various vegetables filled with massive amounts of spiritual energy. Dishes that most people could only dream about and not even found in the Long Clan’s kitchen were all here.

This wasn’t the end as soon after dropping the food Qiang was pulled towards a bathing area. It consisted of many pools filled to the brim with regenerative liquid. The Zhang Clan was considered quite knowledgeable when it came to regeneration via liquids. By drenching one's body in any of these baths, they would regain all of their spiritual energy within minutes and all their wounds would be healed.

“Oh, what is this strange contraption, Senior Brother! It looks like there is space to put something in!”

“It looks like a vending machine, you probably need some coins or tokens to use it.”

“Coins? Darn, I don’t think I have any… but that colorful thing looks intriguing…”

Another strange thing was not far away from the bathing area. It was a large lounge with a large vending machine in the middle. There were some snacks inside as well as drinks in cans. While he had brought a lot of modern things into this world, vending machines were not one of them. After having a go around this place it was clear that someone from a place similar to his home world had created everything here.

‘This looks like some kind of spa resort… there is even a large swimming pool, it’s not what I expected to find.’

Zhang Dong expected to encounter a library area with books and maybe some clues but he was given something else. It was a giant resting area inside what looked to be a closed-off hotel. There were no windows or sky that he could see which made some sense. This area was probably just a resting area for people to temporarily inhabit. After passing a floor in the tower people probably ended up here to rest.

There was a lot of food and regenerative liquids to cure even serious injuries and the things inside the vending machine were also special. They looked like consumable items that a person could probably take away from this place. If everything here followed the usual gaming rules. Then people that went through the tower earned some currency that could be spent in the vending machine.

Then there were also closed-off areas with slots for that currency. One of them had ‘Training Area’ written above it. This place was some type of trial tower that allowed people to get stronger by going through the levels. Either it was a testing area or something to get people up in power. It wasn’t strange that a lesser copy was included in the secret ground as the basics were quite similar.

‘Maybe there is an actual library somewhere here but I’m not here to get stronger.’

While these facilities looked to be state of the art they wouldn’t allow him to get any stronger. They seemed to be able to push nascent soul masters a bit higher or help core formation practitioners get through that last hurdle. He assumed that this place had its limitations but why the Long Clan left it here for everyone to enter was somewhat strange. It was possible for their enemy to enter weak and exit stronger than before which would be counterintuitive.

‘Probably another scenario point to help any system holders to get stronger if the need arose…’

His assessment of the situation was simple. People were forced to go through the levels and after finishing up they would be taken here. However, there were no signs of life anywhere and the food had been untouched. It was possible that the people from his sect were in the tower but had perhaps not reached the required floor. Perhaps it was different than the one in the secret ground that allowed them back each time they defeated one of the bosses.

‘Maybe you need to get through multiple levels? The tower is much larger so it makes some sense…’

His senses weren’t picking up any residual Qi left over by anyone but this didn’t mean anything yet. Before he could make a decision he needed Bob to run a few tests. They had gone into this area through unorthodox means. It was not yet obvious where they needed to head out to find their sect members. There was a possibility of others arriving after they left and sometimes backtracking was impossible.

‘Bob, is there an exit or some type of hidden console that we can access? If this was made as a trial then a control room should be somewhere…’

‘Affirmative’

While he was scrolling through his faction window he tried focusing on the more prominent members of his sect like his wife and grandfather that came with him. None of them were showing up but the people that he did encounter apparently had some luck. They did come across some signs of life in the underground tunnels and were now trying to find the people that they belonged to.

“Senior Brother, what are you looking at?”

“Ah, nothing… the food is fine, you can eat it if you want but don’t overdo it, I’ll go look around this place, recover your stamina while I’m gone.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!”

Huo Qiang lost a lot of spiritual energy when he fought the large Azure Turtle and Snake. The food and recovery bath here would allow him to restore himself back to full strength in around half an hour. This would be enough time for Zhang Dong to go through he entire large hotel and perhaps figure out what he was working with.

‘So, this is the living area, the rooms seem to be divided as well…’

The first thing he came across was a set of floors with rooms. The ones on the bottom one were open while the upper area required coins. The free ones were rather small and similar to a dorm room without much inside, just the basic necessities without anything. It became clear that this place was supposed to house a large group of individuals for a long time.

‘It doesn’t fit the aesthetic too much though, could this have been some kind of prototype that wasn’t used?’

Nothing really fit this world’s Eastern aesthetic. Everything was more western and even the hotel reminded him of luxury ones from his old home. It didn’t make sense that this was here as it would be too obvious. The secret ground that he previously visited must have been to a finished product that was altered to fit this world.

‘Why would they need a prototype, could it have been used in another era or something?’

There were a lot of things floating through his head but he couldn’t really make sense of anything. Before he received an even bigger headache, Bob finally finished scanning and pointed him at an unsuspecting wall. The location was strange as it was inside a large bathing area. Above there were many shower heads that could be activated by simply pushing a button on the side.

‘So it’s this one… could the one that designed this have been a pervert?’

The hidden wall started sliding up as a secret room was revealed. The large shower room was on the female side which made this reveal somewhat uncomfortable. When entering inside and looking behind himself he could easily see the whole large bathing area with the showerheads. Any person that was inside this space would be able to easily see anyone showering and they would have no idea.

After arriving inside he saw a similar setup with screens and computers. They were in much better shape than in the room he found at the secret ground. There was even power running through the cables and a few of the screens were flickering.

‘Bob see if you can connect to these.’

While his AI went to work he turned around and began wondering about the reason for this place's existence. He could only imagine someone immature placing such a room in an area like this but it also gave him some hope. Would some ancient godlike being create such an environment for people to go through?

‘Probably not, someone immature like Wang Long is more likely but if it was someone with the same character flaws, then this could be disastrous…’

If the godlike being that ruled over them all was someone like Wang Long, then his efforts could be in vain. However, this realization wasn’t all bad as it also brought something else to the forefront. This place looked to have been created by someone from an earth-like place. It meant that they had at least at some point probably been a regular normal human. It was one thing to go against a true god and another if he was just against another person.

‘Perhaps this was a testing ground for previous system holders like me? Or another scenario like in the world of magic but why would it still be here? Was it not supposed to be found or something?’

He was not sure why this place existed in this Long Clan formation but perhaps it had something to do with him messing with the main scenario. He had defeated the other Emperors in record speed and even forced the Long Clan to act against him. They were supposed to be his allies and perhaps this defensive formation was never to be triggered in the first place.

‘I can speculate all I want, I should focus on the monitors.’

Bob had managed to access the system and the monitors started lighting up. They were divided into smaller squares that allowed him to look through this large hotel. In one of them, he could see Huo Qiang dozing off in the warm regenerative waters, seemingly without a worry in the world.

‘Can you show me something outside of this place? It should link to the other floors.’

Bob continued to go through the consoles and finally, after around fifteen minutes something was triggered. One of the monitors presented him with a familiar face that looked to be in a bit of a bind.

‘Shit, that doesn’t look good but how do I get there? Bob, help me out here!’

His mind raced as he could see several people from his sect running away from a bunch of monstrosities. If something wasn’t done, then their lives would surely be at risk.