# Chapter 57: Arrangements
Seventh floor of the 'Twilight Dynasty Palace'.
On the golden throne sat the former king, now reduced to bones, yet his majesty remained.
Bubu Wang circled the throne a few times. After finding nothing unusual, this fool grew bolder.
Staring at the pure gold throne, Bubu Wang's tail wagged as if he was plotting something mischievous. He walked to the side of the throne and lifted one hind leg.
Pssst~
A stream of liquid sprayed onto the throne. That's right, this idiot Bubu Wang was taking revenge on the skeleton.
Just as Bubu Wang was enjoying his relief, a surge of electric current suddenly erupted from beneath the throne.
Zzzzzzzt...
Bubu Wang convulsed violently.
"Oww!"
Bubu Wang yelped in agony, tucked his tail between his legs, and limped toward the lower floor, his hind legs clamped together, his gait quite strange.
Su Xiao leaped down from above the palace, entering the seventh floor through a window.
"Bubu?"
Due to the suppression of unknown energy, Su Xiao couldn't pinpoint Bubu Wang's location.
Bubu Wang peeked his head out from the stairwell, his hind legs still trembling.
"What happened just now?"
Hearing Su Xiao's question, Bubu Wang looked up at the ceiling with an expression that said, "Nothing at all."
"What's that strange smell?"
Su Xiao's nose twitched. A faint, pungent odor spread through the seventh floor. Bubu Wang at the stairwell stared out the window, his gaze seemingly saying, "What nice weather today."
Su Xiao looked around but found nothing unusual.
Currently, he was the only one in the 'Twilight Dynasty Palace'. The contractors from Reincarnation Paradise would likely arrive within 10 to 20 hours. As for the contractors from Apocalypse Paradise, they would be slower. In fact, even if they reached the 'Ortland' ancient ruins early, they couldn't enter. That was the consequence of failing to seize the World Core.
Su Xiao began wandering through the 'Twilight Palace', needing to fully memorize the terrain.
If battle broke out in the ancient ruins, the main battlefield would be the 'Twilight Palace' and the surrounding Second District.
The internal structure of the 'Twilight Palace' was complex, easily accommodating hundreds of contractors in chaotic combat. As for the Second District, the terrain there was even more complicated, with countless broken walls and collapsed stone buildings forming a natural maze.
The Reincarnation Paradise side was the defending side, responsible for guarding the [World Core]. The Apocalypse Paradise side was the attacking side, coming to seize the [World Source].
...
Three hours later, Su Xiao had sketched out the internal structure of the 'Twilight Palace'.
The first to third floors of the 'Twilight Palace' had many rooms, all connected by doors. Venturing into these rooms recklessly might make it difficult to find a way out.
The fourth to sixth floors were filled with numerous corridors and passages, far more complex than the first three floors.
If Apocalypse Paradise contractors broke into the 'Twilight Palace', the best strategy was to block their advance to the seventh floor.
There were two routes to the seventh floor in the 'Twilight Palace': one was the winding stone staircase at the center, and the other was the staircases on each floor leading upward.
From the current situation, it seemed simple for Apocalypse Paradise contractors to reach the seventh floor. Whether via the central stone staircase or by climbing the outer walls of the palace, they could enter the seventh floor. As for the staircases between floors, that was the most difficult method, since each floor's staircase was in a different location.
Su Xiao opened the simulated map of the ancient ruins and zoomed in on the central Twilight Palace.
"Supreme Hall, Hiding Room, Central Control Mechanism Room?"
Su Xiao noticed an inconspicuous room on the sixth floor—the Central Control Mechanism Room. Following the map's guidance, he quickly headed there.
After some time and a bit of dizziness from the winding paths, Su Xiao arrived at the Central Control Mechanism Room.
Entering the room, which was about ten square meters, he found an old-fashioned control panel with dozens of metal levers. Each lever had ancient text beneath it.
Thanks to his temporary skill Common Language Lv.40, Su Xiao could read these characters. They respectively read: Mechanism Defense, Palace Sinking, Passage Blockade, Bridge Raising—dozens of functions densely listed.
Su Xiao stroked his chin and tried pulling the metal lever above 'Mechanism Defense'.
Click.
The lever pulled down, but nothing happened. The palace was too ancient; the lethal mechanisms had long been corroded by time.
Skipping the 'Palace Sinking' lever, Su Xiao began trying to activate defensive mechanisms. When he pulled down the lever for 'Passage Blockade', the entire palace trembled.
Rumble.
The stone floor began to shake. Su Xiao rushed out of the Central Control Mechanism Room. Just as he was about to check the seventh floor, a stone wall blocked his path. He was certain that wall hadn't existed before.
Su Xiao began exploring the changes in the Twilight Palace. After about an hour of observation, a hint of delight appeared on his face.
After activating the 'Passage Blockade' mechanism, the windows of the Twilight Palace and the winding stone staircase at the center were all sealed off by layers of stone slabs. Now, to reach the seventh floor from the first, there was only one path—the passages between each floor.
Now, Apocalypse Paradise contractors would have to fight their way up floor by floor to reach the seventh floor, with no other shortcuts, unless someone could penetrate the walls.
As for forced demolition—don't joke about that. Even using Apollo might not guarantee success. Even detonating a nuclear bomb inside the Twilight Palace would at most blast through a few walls. Forced demolition was nearly impossible.
Su Xiao returned to the Central Control Mechanism Room and tried to destroy the control panel. However, the panel was extremely difficult to damage. Even with a full-powered slash, he could at most chip off some crushed stone. Protected by that unknown energy, destroying it was very challenging.
In truth, Su Xiao wasn't completely without options. If he activated Azure Steel Shadow during his slashes, he could devour much of the unknown energy in the palace over time. Azure Steel Shadow was, after all, an energy killer.
But doing so would bring nothing but harm. The Reincarnation Paradise side was the defending side. That meant the more sturdy the Twilight Palace, the more advantageous it was for Reincarnation Paradise. If Su Xiao devoured too much of that unknown energy, the entire palace's sturdiness would decrease.
Though he couldn't destroy the control panel, Su Xiao had other methods. He first went outside the palace to gather a large amount of fine sand, then mixed several alchemical reagents into the sand. He poured this sand into the gaps around the metal levers.
After pouring half a ton of sand into the control panel, Su Xiao waited half an hour. The alchemical reagents mixed in the sand gradually reacted with it.
Half an hour later, the originally loose sand had solidified. Su Xiao tried pushing the metal levers.
Crack, crack...
A harsh grinding sound came. Veins bulged on Su Xiao's hands, but the metal levers remained motionless, as if welded in place.
After completing this, Su Xiao didn't rest. He took out several steel wires, a few pounds of iron beads, and three alchemical bombs.
Twenty minutes later, Su Xiao slowly backed out of the Central Control Mechanism Room. The room appeared completely normal, but was actually filled with deadly traps. If anyone dared to enter, they would either die or lose half their life.
Having done all this, Su Xiao found a random room to wait in. Bubu Wang, surprisingly, had calmed down a lot. Earlier, he had been wandering around the ancient ruins, but now he was just lying nearby sleeping. What puzzled Su Xiao was that this idiot Bubu Wang had his hind legs clamped together, as if having a nightmare, occasionally whimpering in his throat.