As for whose ‘food’ it is.

He Ao's eyes fell on those flickering magic circles.

The answer is self-evident.

The sleeping secret existence seems to be trying to assimilate the consciousness of everyone in this mental hospital.

As Allent said, this mental hospital is a huge breeding farm, and the people living in it are "livestock."

Livestock that are not fully mature live on higher floors, while livestock that are fully mature are moved below and are imprisoned on the sixth floor to become "food."

At this moment, He Ao could clearly see the operating structure of these magic circles to the greatest extent.

Whether it is genetic medicine or these magic circles created by Jace's father, they have only one function.

That's simulating, and trying to replace, that ritual of gaining power from occult knowledge.

And all rituals are equivalent exchanges.

If you want to gain strength, you need something in exchange for it.

Judging from what He Ao observed, those who took the genetic medicine, without exception, handed over their lives and souls after death, and the price they had to pay was likely to be more than that.

After all, the life and soul of an ordinary person cannot be exchanged for C-level power.

But no matter what, it is a genetic medicine and requires a living person to be the user.

Genetic potions are simplified rituals, and the user is equivalent to the performer of the ritual. As a living being, he can naturally pay the price, even if the price is himself.

The magic circle in front of He Ao is a dead object. This magic circle cannot produce a price out of thin air. Without a price, there will naturally be no gift.

So someone needs to pay the ‘price’.

And these ‘patients’ living in mental hospitals are the ‘price’ prepared for sacrifice.

He Ao's footsteps moved forward little by little, staring at these flickering magic circles.

In his observation, this magic circle seemed not completely completed and had obvious flaws.

Because according to the original occult knowledge, the performer of the ceremony must be highly involved in the ceremony in order to obtain the power of the gift.

Whether it is a magic circle or a genetic potion, they are all simplified rituals that require someone to operate them, and that person is the conductor of the ritual and the final beneficiary.

For genetic medicine, it is the person who takes the genetic medicine.

But for this magic circle, it's a little strange.

It is set to operate naturally, and those mentally ill patients are paid as a price for the gift. They are highly involved in the operation of the magic circle, but they are not the real beneficiaries.

He Ao's speed was very fast. He passed through the entire space in a very short time and reached the innermost side of the space.

Here, there is a stone platform covered with purple lines. On the stone platform is a long wooden box about one meter long. The wooden box is also carved with dense purple lines.

Although there are no patterns in Jace's memory that seem to have been created by Jace's father, there are memories of this wooden box.

It was one time when Jess went to his father's laboratory to get some materials and saw this wooden box placed on his father's desk.

This wooden box exuded a vague temptation that attracted Jace to touch it. At that time, Jace didn't know what it was.

Later, after learning some occult knowledge, he realized that this wooden box might be made of some extraordinary tree.

He did not touch the wooden box at that time, but his father, who came back in time, stopped him.

At that time, he also asked his father what it was, and his father's answer at that time was just "a box that a friend left here."

After that, Jess never saw the wooden box again.

He once investigated this as an important clue in investigating his father's accidental death, but in the end he did not obtain any clues.

He Ao did not expect to see this wooden box here again.

The function of the magic circle engraved on this wooden box is very simple. It represents the person who performs the ceremony and the beneficiaries of the ceremony.

In other words, this space, this mental hospital, all serves this wooden box.

Jace had never thought that the beneficiary of a ritual could be a dead object before, because he did not solve the problem that the beneficiary of the ritual must be the performer and main participant of the ritual.

How can a dead thing lead a ceremony?

Jace's father's magic circle seemed to solve this problem, but it only solved half of it.

Judging from the wooden box and the surrounding patterns, he concluded that Jace's father had constructed a magic circle structure that used dead objects to simulate the ritual performer.

But Jace's father did not solve another problem - the person performing the ceremony must be the main participant in the ceremony.

In fact, this is also the position of the payer of the price, which must be a living life.

And this is the flaw of this huge magic circle. On the edge of this magic circle, there are some "patches" whose structure is obviously weaker than the original magic circle.

This 'patch' transfers the price that originally required the ritual performer to pay to the 'patients' in the mental hospital, and allows the wooden box in the position of the ritual performer to receive a 'gift'.

But this patch doesn't solve all the problems.

He Ao stretched out his hand to touch the wooden box. The allure that attracted Jace in the first place had completely disappeared, leaving only dense and flickering lines.

This wooden box is indeed just a box. Inside the box, are the 'gifts' accumulated by this huge array over the past ten years.

But this gift cannot be taken out.

Because the magic circle is not complete.

Sacrifice others and gain power without paying any price. This patched magic circle cannot do this.

The things contained in this box should be related to that hidden existence.

The training system of this mental hospital called the 'breeding farm' should also be part of this magic circle patch. The erosion of the hidden existence is actually trying to make the price converge towards the 'beneficiary' contained in this box.

The mysterious man tried to disguise the price as a beneficiary to satisfy the conditions for the ceremony.

This method succeeded, but it was only half the success.

He Ao spread some spiritual consciousness through his fingertips into the wooden box. He sensed violent and powerful energy in the wooden box, like surging volcanic lava.

As long as He Ao tries to open this wooden box, the powerful power will spurt out directly, destroying everything nearby.

This proves that this magic circle is effective, and the things in the wooden box have indeed gained powerful power.

But this power is uncontrollable.

Theoretically, these powers would explode the moment they entered the wooden box and could not be retained. However, the creator of this magic circle used an ingenious method to maintain the stability of the energy.

The magic circle on the surface of the wooden box flickers. This is not only a magic circle that allows the wooden box to become the 'performer' of the ceremony, but it is also a complete ritual magic circle.

This design cleverly makes the power in the wooden box think that the ceremony has not ended yet and is still in the state of running the ceremony.

This array maintains the stability of the energy in the wooden box and controls the power in the wooden box from exploding directly, but it also cannot use this power.

Unless someone can fill in the flaws of this magic circle, make the ritual complete, and naturally introduce these powers into the wooden box.

He Ao stared at the wooden box. In theory, he should take the wooden box directly.

Taking away this wooden box means that this huge magic circle will lose its holder, and the magic circle will collapse immediately.

Removing the wooden box will end the cruel ritual here.

He Ao turned on his super memory and looked back at the broken pieces of the collapsed door. He looked at some of the magic circles carved on the floor and the shadows emerging from under the floor. He woke himself up from his crazy state.

After thinking for a moment, he rushed out of the hall and jumped into the elevator shaft.

The elevator is now going down to the first floor.

He Ao hung in front of the elevator door on the first floor, pried open the elevators, and rushed out.

He saw the mental patients and nurses in the lobby on the first floor again.

"Everyone, I need you to do a favor."

He watched those people.

In an instant, everyone turned their heads to look at him.

An eerie silence spread.

boom--

A mentally ill patient's head fell off because the angle was too high when twisting, and it rolled to the ground.

The nurse next to him picked up the head expressionlessly and put it back on the patient's neck. Everyone was looking at He Ao.
Chapter completed!