Chapter 331: Interrogation

To be honest, a cultist with a mind full of delusions suddenly speaking with a determination that seemed as if he were about to embody the Dao was a scene quite memorable, but compared to the "sense of conviction" radiating from the cultist opposite at that moment, Yu Sheng was more curious about another matter.

"How has this world become terminally ill?" he frowned, looking utterly puzzled. "Although there are indeed some strange things in this world, hasn't every place had its share of natural disasters and human-made calamities? We deal with disasters when they come and block calamities when they arise—does this really escalate to the world being terminally ill, requiring us to find a solution on the Dark Angels to 'fight poison with poison'?"

Bai Liqing directly relayed Yu Sheng's words to the staff in the interrogation room.

Conversation from inside the interrogation room came through the speaker—

"What is your standard for judging that this world is 'terminally ill'?"

The cultist sitting in the chair shifted his body, only to be immediately pulled back to his original position by the restraint device.

"You cannot see it, most people cannot see it," the pale-faced man tugged at the corners of his mouth, his tone seemingly carrying a trace of pity. "Listen carefully, listen to the wailing between the stars. The astrologers of Algraid boast they can hear the voices of the stars, but they dare not face the truths hidden in those truly dark depths—

"The entire world is shrouded in the gloom of disintegration. Hidden within those distant starlight are surging thoughts. Every instant, countless possibilities pointing toward the apocalypse erupt from the edge of the observable universe, only to be briefly held back by the stars. Has the Astrological Society issued warnings to you? They have not, because they themselves are full of flaws; they can only observe the most superficial parts of the starlight.

"And those who claim to be prophets, those Bamosa people, they call themselves disciples of the 'Great Prophet' and play tricks of foreseeing the future with the Senjin people, but has anyone among them spoken of the whispers at the border of the observable universe? Has anyone spoken of the curtain at the end of the starlight, of the limits of the material universe, of the collisions and ruptures beyond the end of order... No!

"They know nothing of the true future. Whether Bamosa or Senjin, their so-called prophecies and calculations are merely tricks of capturing phantoms in the ripples stirred up in the flow of time—their methods of observing and interpreting the stars are crude. Only the Supreme Sage, who once peered into the truth of the world's impending disintegration within the light and shadow at the end of the starlight, heard a voice, a voice whispering to him..."

The interrogator in the shadows lightly tapped the table. The tapping sound was not loud, yet it seemed to make the entire room tremble slightly.

A soul-piercing psychic tremor made the Hidden Order cultist, already in a state of excitement, suddenly widen his eyes. Like someone whose throat had been grasped, he strained his neck and propped up his upper body, emitting painful "hah-hah" gasps.

After six seconds of repeated oscillation, the tapping sound subsided. The cultist in the chair was soaked in sweat, breathing with difficulty.

"I am asking you to answer questions, not to preach—I have heard countless variations of your theories."

"I... I understand."

"Very well. I now fully understand your cognition regarding the 'world being terminally ill'. So, next question: exactly how do you intend to use the 'Angel Catalyst' to penetrate the 'lesion'? Or more bluntly... how do you plan to use these 'materials' to destroy what you call the 'cosmic lesion areas', including the 'Otherworld' and the 'Borderlands'?"

"The specific technology is still under research... I am telling the truth! Our research on the Angel Catalyst is still in the early stages," the cultist said with some urgency. "Many things are still at the theoretical stage, or even exist only as fragments of knowledge seen by the Supreme Sage during meditation. Sorting these out and transforming them into applicable technology is a long process..."

"How long has your so-called 'early stage' lasted until now?"

The cultist clearly hesitated, but after a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "According to standard Terra time, about seventeen years."

Silence suddenly fell inside and outside the interrogation room.

"That is to say, seventeen years ago, you had already begun research on the 'Angel Catalyst'—and the essence of the Angel Catalyst is the wreckage left behind after the fall of a Dark Angel," after nearly ten seconds, the interrogator's voice sounded again in the room, "but the Dark Angel Ankaela only fell not long ago, and we have ample evidence proving this is the first angel in history to have experienced a 'fall'—how could your research on angel wreckage have started over ten years ago?! Unless this research started out of thin air, relying solely on some phantoms seen by the so-called Supreme Sage during meditation to deduce the characteristics of angel wreckage from nothing?"

The cultist tried to adjust his sitting posture slightly again. His lips trembled, and after a long while, he spoke as if forcing out a smile, "That is correct, Ankaela is indeed the first angel to have experienced a 'fall', but have you considered that perhaps He was not the first angel to die?"

Sitting behind the observation window, Yu Sheng's eyebrows instantly furrowed, and Bai Liqing beside him directly pressed the intercom button on the console: "What does this sentence mean?"

The cultist in the interrogation room seemed startled, instinctively looking up at a certain corner of the ceiling, and then he heard the interrogator nearby speak in an uncompromising tone: "Answer."

The cultist shivered, and finally continued, "Dark Angels, aside from the common characteristic of 'invasion', each has its own unique traits, so it is no surprise what kind of Dark Angel appears—some Dark Angels are in a 'dead' state the very moment they enter the real universe; this is quite reasonable, isn't it?"

This time, even the interrogator in the room could not suppress the shock in his tone: "You found a naturally deceased Dark Angel!?"

"We call Him the 'Shadowless Skeleton', or simply 'Skeleton'," the cultist said in a low voice. "He was buried in a giant crater known as the 'Adar Crater'—that crater is clearly visible from space, and numerous strange nameless shadows linger at the bottom of the crater. The 'Skeleton' is located in the central area surrounded by shadows, an area also known as the 'Shadowless Zone'...

"The form of the 'Skeleton' itself is a massive humanoid biological skeleton with broken wing bones behind it. Its entire body is curled up in a posture of hugging its knees within a broken crystal base. If it stood up, the height of that skeleton might exceed six hundred meters—obviously not a creature that could be born under normal conditions. Scattered around that skeleton are fragments of bones and crystals. Whether it is the skeleton itself or the surrounding fragments, they possess extremely high physical strength and continuously emit vague whispers to the surroundings.

"We spent a long time confirming what the 'Shadowless Skeleton' actually was, until the Supreme Sage received revelation during meditation, telling us that it was a Dark Angel that was already dead upon entering the real universe, and that the 'remains' were His characteristic."

Bai Liqing pressed the intercom button again: "How did you determine that Dark Angel was in a dead state?"

Her question sounded strange at first, after all, a skeleton buried at the bottom of a pit does not sound like a living thing, but anyone who knows about Dark Angels would have no doubt about this question. After all, these "invaders" are bizarre and varied; a tree, a statue, or even a planet could be an "angel" invading the real universe. Judging life or death based solely on appearance is certainly insufficient.

"He is in a state of 'dead silence'," the cultist on the chair hesitated slightly before answering honestly. "There is no tendency for activation, no movement, and aside from the constant lingering whispers, there is no energy release that can manifest 'activity'. And more importantly... as long as proper protection is in place, mortals can survive contact with Him, and even collect samples from Him, without being affected afterwards."

The last reason given by this cultist was simple and plain, yet very convincing.

After all, it is universally acknowledged that mortals cannot remain lively after close contact with a Dark Angel. Let alone close contact; in some cases, merely glancing at that thing from a distance of over ten kilometers on a battlefield carries a death probability as high as thirty percent.

And those Hidden Order cultists could even scrape bone powder off the 'Shadowless Skeleton' inside the Adar Crater to conduct research.

A typical case of "You touched a Dark Angel, you didn't die, so the Dark Angel must be dead."

"So, you discovered a Dark Angel in a dead state over ten years ago, and from that began your research on the 'Angel Catalyst'?" the interrogator in the room continued to ask. "And what happened after that?"

"... We discovered that the 'Angel Catalyst' collected around the 'Shadowless Skeleton' lacked sufficient activity," perhaps having answered many questions in a row, the cultist's cooperation increased as he continued to answer. "That is, those small bone fragments and crystal fragments scattered around the giant skeleton. Although they indeed exhibit certain 'erosion' characteristics as the Supreme Sage described, their power is far from enough to produce a 'penetration' effect on the Otherworld. It is as if... something is missing. We suspect it is because the 'Shadowless Skeleton' has been dead for too long, and His power has declined."

"So, you set your sights on those Dark Angels that are still alive..." the interrogator's voice was low. "According to the analysis of samples collected from the site around your spaceship, you have been lying low in the 'City in the Mist' for at least ten years. That is to say... from that time, you already knew of Ankaela's existence?"

"... Yes."

(End of Chapter)