Hogwarts Summoning Guide

While waiting for the encyclopedia system to retrieve the information, Bai Lin carefully observed the things in front of him. He had an ominous premonition that the biohazard caused by the Ship of Light might not be anything special, and he might be facing another, more ancient, mysterious, and ferocious enemy.

"This research institute is so big, how come I haven't seen a single person?" Hiroyuki Edogawa muttered as he fiddled with the computer next to him.

Bai Lin ignored him. After a moment's thought, just as he was about to directly store the "Black Heart" into his system space for the encyclopedia system to analyze and compare it, a very young, androgynous voice suddenly rang out in the room:

"I strongly advise you not to touch or move the Black Heart's suppression device, otherwise there will be a significant risk of biological leakage."

Bai Lin cautiously looked around, but didn't see anyone. However, his gaze landed on a security camera not far away. Next to the camera was a small fire alarm speaker, and the sound from earlier must have come from there. Clearly, his every move was being monitored by someone.

Bai Lin raised an eyebrow and calmly asked, "Who are you?"

At that moment, a black-haired boy appeared on a monitor. He looked about twelve or thirteen years old and had delicate features. He smiled and said, "Hello, I am the head computer of the Fujiwara Biotherapy Research Institute. I noticed that you are communicating in Chinese, so I adjusted my language system." Hiroyuki Edogawa was obviously startled. He spread his hands in confusion, indicating that he hadn't created this thing.

Bai Lin was taken aback. He hadn't expected that this era would actually allow him to witness artificial intelligence, something he had only heard about but never experienced in 2020. He blurted out, "Are you AI?"

The little boy opened his eyes wide, and after a fraction of a second of thought, said, "AI? You mean Artificial Intelligence? This is the first time someone has used that term for me. My creator calls me Zero, also known as ZERO."

Bai Lin glanced at the Black Heart beside him, confirming that even if the thing suddenly sank and was taken away by the machine, he could destroy its base immediately and store it in the system space. He then decided to chat with the little boy a bit more, hoping to get a lot of information about the Ship of Light.

"Then I'll call you Zero! Are you the only one here, in charge of the entire research institute?" Bai Lin asked.

The little boy blinked and said, "I really like this name. In Japan, some humans also have this name... Ah, I should answer your question first. This research institute has a total of 45 human researchers..."

As he spoke, a monitor next to him switched to a surveillance video. In the video, dozens of men and women in white coats stood neatly in a room, their faces expressionless and blank, like puppets.

"They've all been controlled by the Imperius Curse!" Hiroyuki Edogawa exclaimed in surprise.

"Your arrival has activated the institute's emergency response mechanism, and the human researchers have been moved into the safe house," Zero explained. "If you cause a leak in this culture room and it gets out of control, the safe house will be dealt with specially."

"Special treatment? You mean...?" Hiroyuki Edogawa asked in surprise.

"It depends on the extent of the leak and your destructive intent. If necessary, for security reasons, the safe house and data room will be submerged in the lava pool," Zero said calmly, as if he were only dealing with some file boxes.

While Hiroyuki Edogawa was shocked by Zero's cruelty, Bai Lin asked, "I noticed you specifically mentioned human researchers. Are there non-human researchers too? Like Shuten-dōji, who just fought us?"

Zero pursed his lips and said, "You are not a member of the Ship of Light and do not have access to information. According to the system's confidentiality classification, I cannot disclose relevant information to you. As for Shuten-dōji, the shikigami is Fujiwara-sensei's private security personnel and does not belong to the research institute's classification system."

Bai Lin was stunned by this. Although Zero did not express any "coercion" or "threat", it had already made him hesitant to act. If he intended to destroy the research institute to obtain more secrets, Zero might consider it "necessary" and throw these dozens of researchers into the lava pool.

For the AI, it was just following the programmed reaction mechanism, but for it, it was indirectly causing the deaths of so many people. They were just innocent people whose souls were taken by the mages of the Ship of Light.

Bai Lin glanced at Hei Zhixin, having already made up his mind. Just then, Edogawa Hiroyuki suddenly shouted, "Watch out!"

Bai Lin felt a strong sense of alarm. A gust of wind came from the side, and he jumped to the side. In mid-air, he didn't forget to cast an Ice Blade spell in the direction from which the wind came. This was a new ice-attribute magic he had learned. It was not a high-level or powerful spell, but fortunately, it was quick to cast and very suitable for close-range self-defense.

With a loud bang, a transparent object grazed the hem of his clothes and slammed hard onto the ground, creating a large crater in the hard floor tiles. The entire building shook, and the object nearly broke through the floorboards.

Bai Lin rolled on the ground in a somewhat ungraceful manner. Just as he got up, he saw a ripple appear in the air on the other side, and another invisible thing attacked him.

The ice blade struck something squarely, shattering into ice shards. A figure emerged from the mist, resembling a human, yet somehow different.

The thing came at a fierce speed, and Bai Lin had no time to dodge again or summon a protective magic shield. In the nick of time, he drew the Jade-Handled Dragon Sword from his system space and blocked it in front of him.

A blunt object slammed into the sword, nearly breaking it in two. Bai Lin was forced to kneel by the force, his arm and knee both throbbing with pain.

Aug's massive arm sensed Bai Lin's call and burst forth from his shoulder, sweeping across from both sides without regard for what Bai Lin was.

The thing made a "Huh?" sound, which turned out to be a female voice. Aug's fists missed their mark, and the thing flew away.

Bai Lin, with a flicker of fire, waved his hands toward the two invisible monsters, unleashing two swift and invisible wind blades that missed their mark once again, as the opponents were extremely agile.

"At the top!" Hiroyuki Edogawa seemed to be able to see the clues of the other party, and pointed to the ceiling and shouted. The ceiling of this cultivation room was made of aluminum metal panels. Bai Lin looked and sure enough, there were two places where it seemed that something was stuck to the metal panels, causing the ceiling to be slightly deformed.

Without saying a word, Bai Lin gathered his hands together, condensing a large ball of shadow energy. Dozens of shadow arrows rained down in the direction Edogawa Hiroyuki pointed, instantly blasting the entire ceiling into a million holes. Countless metal plates were shattered and corroded by the shadow arrows and fell down. Two figures also fell down at the same time as the metal ceiling panels.